Vol. 65 No. 222 | MONDAY | JANUARY 17, 2022 | 1 5 P a g e s | Senior citizens bear the brunt in third wave, too MALLS LIKELY TO OFFER RELIEF TO RETAIL STORES, FOOD OUTLETS EDIT FOREST REPORT: MISSING THE WOOD FOR THE TREES I AM IN A GOOD SPACE AND STILL WORKING CONTINUOUSLY: SAQIB SALEEM 71 of the 80 deaths from Jan 1-16 were in 60-plus age group SWAPNIL MISHRA Mumbai Eighty-nine per cent of people who succumbed to Covid-19 in Mumbai from January 1-16, 2022, were above 60 years of age, while 11 per cent were between 40 and 60 years of age. According to the statistics provided by the health department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, 80 Covid deaths have occurred in the city 71 of whom were sen, ior citizens, while the remaining were aged between 40 and 60 years. Cold statistics apart, the rising fatality rate in BETWEEN THE LINES TONGA IS LIKE A MOONSCAPE T he underwater volcano that erupted in Tonga was a 'massive explosion' that only happens 'roughly every thousand years' and was so large it was visible from space. Though the tsunami threat around the Pacific from the eruption began to recede on Sunday, but the massive ash cloud covering the tiny island nation of Tonga prevented surveillance flights from New Zealand to assess the extent of damage. Locals said Tonga looks "like a moonscape." The island remained largely uncontactable with telephone and internet links severed, leaving relatives in faraway New Zealand praying for their families on the Pacific islands as casualty reports had yet to come through. Satellite images showed the spectacular eruption that took place Saturday evening, with a plume of ash, steam and gas rising like a mushroom above the blue Pacific waters. A sonic boom could be heard as far away as Alaska. Up to 80,000 people there could be affected, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) told the BBC. TAILPIECE MP’S SUPERMOM TIGRESS IS DEAD C ollarwali, the famous tigress of Madhya Pradesh's Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR), who had earned the tag of "supermom" for giving birth to 29 cubs, has died, officials said. The 17-year-old tigress, also known as T15, died on Saturday evening, they said. She had given birth to 29 cubs in eight litters in 11 years - between 2008 and 2018 - the officials said, adding that 25 of the 29 cubs survived. The tigress, who looked very weak due to old age, was last seen on January 14. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan paid tribute to the tigress. the city is a matter of concern. Health officials have said in most of these deaths, the lower respiratory tract was involved and this needs to be studied, as most of the deceased had comorbidities. A BMC analysis of the mortalities shows that senior citizens have remained the most vulnerable group throughout the pandemic. Dr Avinash Supe, head of the state Covid-19 death audit committee, says since the pandemic began, most of those who died in the city had comorbidities or had delayed treatment. However, more than 80 per cent of recent deaths were of those partially or fully vaccinated. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE Just below 8,000 After 12 days, less than 10k cases in city SWAPNIL MISHRA / Mumbai After almost two weeks of more than 10,000 cases being reported daily in Mumbai, on Sunday the number dropped , to just below 8,000. There were 7,895 new infections and 11 deaths in the last 24 hours, increasing the total count to 9,99,862, with 16,457 fatalities till now. The recovery rate stands at 92 per cent, with 21,025 patients recovering on Sunday bringing the total , number of those discharged till date to 9,20,383. Maharashtra witnessed a marginal rise in the daily cases on Sunday with 41,327 new , infections and 29 deaths being reported in the last 24 hours, pushing its tally to 72,11,810. According to Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani, the third wave has reached its peak in the city and now, cases have started to stabilise. But authorities will continue to closely watch the situation in Mumbai over the next week and have increased testing and tracing, for early diagnosis. “We still have to wait and watch the situation, as the next week is still crucial. Currently cases are coming , down, which is a good sign for Mumbai and our vaccination status is also the best, because of which patients are recovering in 3 to 4 days,” he said. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE SANJAY JOG Mumbai P unjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi's brother Manohar Singh Bassi on Sunday announced that he will be contesting as an independent candidate from Bassi Pathana assembly seat in the upcoming polls after the Congress did not give him a ticket. Singh was denied a ticket from the constituency apparently because of the party's 'one family one ticket' rule. , CM Channi is yet to react to the announcement. AAP SEES PLOT: Alleging a conspiracy to split Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) votes in next month’s Punjab polls, senior AAP leader and Punjab in charge Raghav Chadha on Sunday urged voters not to waste their vote on a party which was unlikely to win the elections, reports News 18. APARNA YADAV TO JOIN BJP? T he BJP may finally turn the table on the Samajwadi Party if the , grapevine is to be believed. The buzz is that SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in-law, Aparna Yadav is likely to join the saffron party , . Aparna is the wife of Mulayam Singh’s younger son, Pratik Yadav . Sources were cited by India Today as saying that talks have been on be- EC NOTICE: The Election Commission has issued a notice to Uttar Pradesh MLA Nand Kishor Gurjar, asking him to explain a slogan that he tween the BJP and Aparna for some time now, and the two sides have come to an understanding. Aparna contested the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election from Lucknow Cantt seat. She lost to BJP candidate Rita Bahuguna Joshi by a margin of 33,796 votes. It remains to be seen though whether Aparna will be given a ticket and from where. mouthed during a rally . While addressing his supporters after the announcement of his nomination, he coined the following: "Na Ali, Na Bahubali, Loni mei sirf Bajrang Bali" (No Ali, No Bahubali, Only Bajrang Bali in Loni). The EC has asked him to reply in three days. Mamata, Centre quibble over Netaji LAST WORD A ARITRA SINGHA Kolkata day after the Central government excluded West Bengal’s proposed tableau for the Republic Day parade, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday dashed off a letter to PM Modi asking him to reconsider the ‘abrupt’ omission, which amounted to “belittling and undermining” Bengali freedom fighters. The tableau commemorated the contribution of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army on his 125th birth anniversary year. It car- ried portraits of ‘‘illustrious sons and daughters of the country including , Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekanan- All day on Sunday there was a buzz that legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar’s condition was deteriorating. Towards evening, a spokesperson of the singer – who is hospitalised – was constrained to come on record to debunk such ‘false news’. ‘‘It is disturbing to see false news being circulated. Please note that Lata ‘didi’ is stable. She, however, continues to be in the ICU under the treatment of able doctors. Please pray for her quick return home," Anusha Srinivasan Iyer, the spokesperson, said in a statement CONTD. ON NATION PAGE da, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, Sri Aurobindo, Matangini Hazra, Nazrul, Birsa Munda and many patriots,’’ her letter points out. In 2020, too, the tableau proposed by the West Bengal government had been rejected by the Centre. In her letter, Mamata has further asked the prime minister to divulge the reason for the rejection of the tableau. “I have been profoundly shocked and hurt by the decision…It is even more baffling for us that the tableau was rejected without assigning any reasons or jurisdiction,” reads a part of the letter. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE Days after US billionaire Elon Musk said that Tesla’s launch in India was facing a ‘lot of challenges’, he has received invitations from two more states, including Maharashtra and Punjab. And feelers from West Bengal. Already Telangana Minis, ter K T Rama Rao has coaxed Tesla Inc’s chief executive to set up shop in his state and said that his government would be ‘happy to partner Tesla in working through the challenges’. Sunrise: 07:15 am Sunset : 06:22 pm FPJ SPORTS DESK Melbourne Novak Djokovic was deported from Australia on Sunday evening after losing his final bid to avoid leaving. His lawyers failed to convince three senior judges of his right to stay in Melbourne and play in the Australian Open despite being unvaccinated. The tennis star has won a record nine Australian Open titles, including three in a row, but this time won't even get the chance to try . The 20-time Grand Slam champion said he was 'extremely disappointed' at the outcome of the case, but that he 'respected' the court's decision and would co-operate with authorities. Djokovic was seen upon arrival at Melbourne's airport and left on an Emirates flight Maharashtra woos US billionaire, but overnight there are other suitors vying for Tesla -- Punjab, Telangana and West Bengal DEFER PUNJAB CHANNI’S BRO POLL: BJP UNIT TURNS REBEL he BJP has appealed to the Election Commission to postpone the February 14 Assembly election in Punjab in view of Guru Ravidas Jayanti, after the BSP and Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi made similar requests to the poll panel. The birth anniversary of Guru Ravidas falls on February 16. In a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner on Sunday seeking postponement of the election, Punjab BJP general secretary Subhash Sharma said, "The state has substantial population of followers of Guru Ravidas ji, including the Scheduled Caste (SC) community which is about 32 per cent of the population of Punjab." "On this pious occasion, millions of devotees would visit Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh to celebrate ‘gurpurab.’ So, it would not be possible for them to participate in the voting.’’ STAFF REPORTER MUMBAI DJOKOVIC DEPARTS Musk Must for Maha ELECTION KHICHDI T LATA STILL IN ICU, BUT IS STABLE 310c. 210c. On Sunday Maharashtra , Water Resources Minister Jayant Patil, in a reply to Musk’s tweet, said, “Maharashtra is one of the most progressive states in India. We will provide all the necessary help for you to get established. We invite you to establish your manufacturing plant in the state.” Punjab State Congress Chief Navjot Singh Sidhu harped on the Punjab Model, offering to ‘‘create Ludhiana as a hub for Electric Vehicles and battery industry with time-bound single window CONTD. ON NATION PAGE to Dubai. The Serbian national said he was "uncomfortable that the focus had been on him since his visa was first cancelled on arrival at Melbourne’s airport on January 6. "I hope that we can all now focus on the game and tour- nament I love." A deportation order also usually includes a threeyear ban on returning to Australia, though it has not yet been decided whether this will be applied in Djokovic's case. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE UAE returnees: No quarantine, RT-PCR DIPTI SINGH Mumbai International passengers arriving in Mumbai from UAE, including Dubai, are now exempt from the compulsory seven-day home quarantine and RT-PCR on arrival, stated a notification issued by the Brihanmumbai Municipal on Sunday The modification in . the previous SoP applicable , to international arrivals in Mumbai from UAE, including Dubai, will be enforced with effect from midnight on January 17, 2022, the notification says. BMC Assistant Commission- er of K east ward Prashant Sapkale said: “Modifications have been made to the previous SoPs for incoming international passengers. Unlike other international passengers arriving in Mumbai from ‘at-risk’ countries, those coming from Dubai or other places in UAE will be exempted from the special SoPs.” CONTD. ON NATION PAGE