Vol. 65 No. 305 | WEDNESDAY | APRIL 27, 2022 | 17 Pages | MORNING SIZZLER LIC IPO SIZE AT RS 21,000 CR, PRICE BAND AT RS 902-949 EDITIONS: MUMBAI*, Pune, Indore, Bhopal, Konkan, E-paper EDIT WISHFUL THINKING ON SEA CHANGE IN TWITTER AS TEMPS SOAR, HOUR-LONG POWER OUTAGE IN PARTS OF CITY, MMR SANJAY JOG MUMBAI Consumers from Matunga, Dadar, Mahim and Bandra and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), including Thane, Navi Mumbai, Dombivli, Vasai and Palghar, were left sweltering on Tuesday morning after there was an hour-long breakdown in power supply, following the tripping of 400kV transmission lines of MahaTransco. The tripping caused a disruption in the power supply of Tata Power and Adani Electricity also. However, the power failure did not impact the functioning of Mumbai’s suburban trains. Tuesday’s tripping hit 2,364MW of load and consumers had to sweat it out as humidity soared. As recently URVI MAHAJANI MUMBAI If a person falls off while boarding an overcrowded local train, Mumbai’s lifeline, and suffers injuries, then the incident falls within the ambit of “untoward incident”, observed the Bombay High Court while directing the Railways to compensate a 75-year-old man. On April 12, Justice Bharati Dangre directed the Western Railways (WR) to pay Rs 3 lakh to Nitin Hundiwala, who suffered leg injuries after falling off as February 27, 2022, there had been a major power breakdown and before that, on October 12, 2020, due to grid failure. Incidentally, when the power outage occurred, Gover- nor B S Koshyari was attending a function in the city. Mahato According Transco’s preliminary report, sparking was observed at the isolator, which culminated in the operation of 400 kV Bus Bar, leading to interruption in power supply at 10.08am, which was fully restored, in phases, at 11.30am. The incoming 400kV Talegaon-Kalwa and TalegaonKharghar lines were overloaded and therefore, in order to control the load on these lines, a load-trimming scheme was operated to avoid total blackout. However, power supply at Sonkhar, Nerul, Dharavi and other parts were affected. “The sparking on the isolator at Padghe could have been detected with the help CONTD. ON NATION PAGE Boarding a crammed train not criminal act Falling off and getting injured while boarding is an untoward incident and does not debar one from compensation an overcrowded local train at Dadar station in November 2011. The HC was hearing an appeal filed by Hundiwala challenging the July 2013 order of the Railways Tribunal which had rejected his claim. The WR had contended that Hundiwala’s case did not fall under the provisions of section 124(A) of the Railways Act, which states that compensation has to be paid in cases of untoward incidents, as he had tried to board a moving given a clean chit to Deshmukh. The commission submitted its 201-page report along with 1,400 pages of annexures to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and the present home minister, Dilip Walse . Patil, on Tuesday A senior home department officer privy to the commission’s findings told The Free Press Journal, “The commission did not find substance in the allegations levelled against Deshmukh by Singh. It has cited Singh’s submission, in which the former Mumbai police commissioner had clearly said that he had no evidence but for the letter written to the Chief Minister Uddhav Thack. eray CONTD. ON NATION PAGE Panel gives clean chit to ex-HM SANJAY JOG MUMBAI The one-member commission of Justice K U Chandiwal (retired), set up to probe the corruption charges against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh levelled by former Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh, has Between the lines RANA RAW DEAL: Hours after Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjay Pandey tweeted a video of MP Navneet Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana sipping tea while in police custody, the parliamentarian on Tuesday issued a clarification through her lawyer claiming that “illtreatment” was meted out to her in the lock-up of the Santacruz police station after her arrest last Saturday, and not at the Khar police station. CHINESE ATTACKED: Three Chinese nationals, including two women, were among four people killed when a powerful blast ripped through a van on the Karachi University campus, in what is believed to be a targeted attack. This is not the first time Chinese nationals have been the target of terror attacks in Pakistan. The Baloch Liberation Army has accepted responsibility for the strike. One of the deceased was identified as Confucius Institute Director Huang Guiping. SC WARNING ON HATE: The Supreme Court on Tuesday warned the Uttarakhand government to take measures to prevent hate speeches at a Dharam Sansad planned at Roorkee on Wednesday, threatening to take action against the state's chief secretary if any hatred emanates from there. A bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar, Abhay Sreeniwas Oka and CT Ravikumar was hearing an application filed by journalist Qurban Ali and Senior Advocate and former Patna HC Judge Anjana Prakash, seeking criminal action against alleged hate speeches during such meetings. ‘‘You will have to take immediate action. Don't make us say something. There are other ways of preventive action. You know how to do it!" Justice Khanwilkar told Deputy Advocate General of Uttarakhand. SUPPLY OF WATER HIT KALPESH MHAMUNKAR MUMBAI A major glitch in the state electricity distribution centre at Padgha, Thane district, led to blackouts in several areas of Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Panvel, Kalyan, Dombivli, Palghar, Vasai-Virar, Ambarnath, Kulgaon, Badlapur and other areas on Tuesday. The power outage also hit the BMC’s water supply. Because of the electricity failure, around 25 pumps had to CONTD. ON NATION PAGE train. Refusing to accept WR’s arguments, the HC said that Hundiwala’s case clearly fell within the definition of “untoward incident” as per the Railways Act. “If in daily chores, a passenger attempts to gain entry into an overcrowded train and is pushed by other passengers, resulting in his or her fall, then there is no reason why such an incident cannot fall within the ambit of an untoward incident,” observed justice Dangre. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE Celebs threaten to dump Twitter YORK: Twitter has blocked its developers from making changes to the app to prevent it being sabotaged by left-wing staff angry at Elon Musk's $44billion takeover amid an outbreak of hysteria among liberal social media are who personalities threatening to quit the social media giant, reports Daily   Mail.  CONTD. ON NATION PAGE NEW IF YOU ARE COMFORTABLE WITH YOUR CO-STARS, WORK GETS COMPLETED AT A FAST PACE: TIGER SHROFF 350c. 260c. Sunrise: 06:13 am Sunset : 06:59 pm Mom-to-be shoved, abused on WR local SHERINE RAJ MUMBAI 1st CLASS RUSH HOUR SPAT A pregnant commuter was shoved and abused by a fellow commuter in a firstclass ladies coach of a local train while going from Mira Road to Churchgate on Monday. The victim had boarded a 9.36am fast local from Mira Road, which was jam-packed. In the course of the scuffle, the victim’s clothes got torn and her gold chain snapped. The accused woman was detained by the railway po- lice and has been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt). According to the Government Railway Police (GRP) report, the victim had boarded the first-class ladies coach and in the midst of journey, due to crowding, she was elbowed twice by an unknown woman standing beside her. As the compartment got further crowd- ed in the course of the journey, the victim tried to move further inside the coach and while doing so, her bag hit the accused. Annoyed that the victim had ‘hit’ her, she grabbed the back of the victim’s apparel and began pushing and shoving her. In the process, the police report said, the victim’s dress was torn from the rear and the gold chain she was wearing around her neck also snapped, while the accused continued to verbally abuse her. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE SAFE CHILDREN MEAN SAFE INDIA DGCI nod to Covaxin for 6-12 age group Corbevax gets nod for 5-12 age group Decision comes amid an uptick in Covid cases in schools Nearly five lakh children are eligible in Mumbai will Paediatricians  assist in the inoculation drive COVID CENTURY See report Page 5 SWAPNIL MISHRA MUMBAI There were more than 100 cases of Covid reported in the city on Tuesday, with 102 new infections recorded in the last 24 hours, increasing the total count to 10,59,433 cases as of now. The last time cases in the city breached the 100-mark in a single day was on March 2. However, there were zero deaths reported on Tuesday, with the death toll standing at 19,562. In the rest of Maharashtra 102 CASES IN CITY too, there was a surge in cases in the last 24 hours, with 153 new cases and four Covid deaths being reported on Tuesday, pushing the tally to 78,77,078 and 1,47,838 fatalities so far. Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani said there was no need to panic, considering that most people were vaccinated and this was a barrier against the infection. Moreover, civic staff have been instructed to carry out tracing of up to 15 high-risk contacts and enforce home or institutional quarantine. “We have asked to monitor cases and identify clusters if reported, to carry out 1:15 contact tracing, to enforce quarantine strictly, and speed up vaccination in their respective areas. Meanwhile, higher surveillance is in place for international travellers and it is continued after they return to Mumbai,” he said.  CONTD. ON NATION PAGE PK's romance with Congress is on the rocks OUR BUREAU NEW DELHI Poll strategist Prashant Kishor Pandey’s dalliance with the Congress ended on Tuesday with the former politely turning down the party’s offer to help it address some of the structural problems. Prashant wanted to parachute into the Congress in the top echelons and deal with the Congress President directly; he also wanted a free hand in evolving a transformational strategy for the next general elections. Possibly, Prashant realised well in time that there were few takers for his offer. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi was the first to oppose his lateral entry into the party; Rahul saw in Prashant’s move an attempt to ride roughshod over others, instead of becoming a part of the collective leadership. Congress chief spokesman and general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala broke CONTD. ON NATION PAGE