· 2020. 12. 29. · december 26 listing the agen-da for talks. in the letter, ... once again...

14
C aught off guard after six people tested positive for the super-infectious UK strain of the coronavirus on Tuesday, the Government has now decided to conduct genome sequencing on all internation- al passengers who were symp- tomatic and tested positive for coronavirus in the last 14 days. The Union Health Ministry has already decided to conduct genome sequencing on 5 per cent of the total Covid positive cases detected daily to check for new variants. Experts feel that the response is too late as it will not be an easy task to trace the 33,000 flyers from the UK who had returned to India during the last one month. “Many of them must have come into contact with their relatives and others. The con- tact tracing is going to be a dif- ficult task,” they said amid reports that many UK returnees in India have either switched off their phone num- bers or are not available at their residences. However, the Government assured that the vaccines under development would also work against the mutated pathogen first reported in the UK. “No need to worry about vaccines. Vaccines will work against the variants detected in the UK and South Africa. There is no evidence that cur- rent vaccines will fail to protect against the new mutant strains,” said Principal Scientific Adviser K VijayRaghavan at a presser here. At the same time, he said, there is a need to reduce trans- mission through physical dis- tancing, follow all public health measures scrupulously, wear masks, follow hand-washing, Covid appropriate behaviour, infection control, amplify test, track, isolate efforts.” The Ministry has so far carried out genome testing of 144 positive Covid samples of which six have been found to be carrying the new variant reported in the UK. Three samples in NIMHANS of Bengaluru, 2 in CCMB, Hyderabad and 1 in NIV, Pune have been detected out of all the 144 samples test- ed. The new variant of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 that causes Covid-19 is believed to be 71 per cent more transmit- table than the other variants, the Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) said on Tuesday when India confirmed six cases of the new strain. The leading research insti- tute has underlined the impor- tance to launch an extensive genome surveillance of the virus to assess the extent of the spread of the new virus. “We should also keep an eye on other variants that might emerge independently, as India houses the second largest population infected with this virus, at present,” CCMB Director Dr Rakesh Mishra said as per a news agency. The presence of the new UK variant of the coronavirus has already been reported by Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore so far. “The Government was well aware of the mutated virus doing the rounds in several countries. It should have start- ed genome testing of the flyers returning from these mutated affected countries as was being done by other nations. But the Government was either apa- thetic or negligent towards this important measures which it has now decided,” said a doc- tor from a Government hospi- tal who refused to be named. The Government said that all the persons with the new variant have been kept in sin- gle room isolation in designat- ed healthcare facilities by respective State Governments. Continued on Page 11 T he temporary suspension of India-UK flights is likely to be extended beyond December 31. Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said he expected a slight extension of temporary suspension of passenger flights between India and the UK where a new variant of coron- avirus has been detected. “I foresee a slight extension of temporary suspension of India-UK flights. In the next day or two, we will find out if any additional steps need to be taken, or when we can start eas- ing the current temporary sus- pension,” Puri said while addressing a Press conference. India had last week sus- pended passenger flights to and from the UK between December 23 and 31, after a growing list of countries like Canada, Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Italy did the same due to a more infectious coronavirus variant there. The presence of the new UK vari- ant has already been reported by Denmark, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, and other countries. India, UK have 67 weekly flights operated by four airlines — Air India, Vistara, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. Almost 2,000-2,500 passen- gers fly in daily on these flights. Continued on Page 11 A few hours ahead of the talks between farmers and Government scheduled for Wednesday, protesting farm unions on Tuesday wrote to the Centre, saying the discussion will only be on the modalities of repealing the three legisla- tions, giving a legal guarantee on the MSP, and on two other issues they proposed earlier this week for a resumption of the dialogue. The Government has invit- ed the protesting farmers for the sixth round of talks on Wednesday. In its letter on Tuesday, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, which represents 40 farm unions, said the modalities for repealing the three contentious laws and a legal guarantee on the mini- mum support price (MSP) must be part of the agenda for the talks. The Morcha further said the agenda of the meeting should also include amend- ments to be made and notified in the Commission for the Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance, 2020 to exclude farmers from its penal provisions. Through the letter, the Morcha also formally accepted the Government’s invitation for the dialogue. The letter also stated that withdrawal of the Electricity Amendment Bill 2020 to pro- tect the interests of farmers should also be part of the agenda for the dialogue. The farmers had also writ- ten to the Government on December 26 listing the agen- da for talks. In the letter, the Morcha said that in its December 26 communication to the Government, it had mentioned “changes” by mistakes instead of “withdrawal” of the Electricity Amendment Bill. Meanwhile, also on Tuesday the unions deferred to Thursday their proposed trac- tor march against the con- tentious agriculture laws, so that the rally does not clash with their talks with the Government. Thousands of protesting farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, have been camp- ing at three Delhi border points — Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri — for the past 31 days, demanding a repeal of three farm laws and legal guarantee for minimum support price. On Monday, farmer lead- ers agreed to the government proposal for holding the next round of talks on the new agricultural laws on December 30, but remained firm on their agenda of scrapping the laws. Continued on Page 11 T he Centre on Tuesday said it has proposed to make airbag mandatory for the pas- senger in the front seat of a vehicle. The step is aimed at improving passenger safety in case of accidents. The Road Transport Ministry has issued a draft notification. The proposed timelines for the implementa- tion of the move is April 1, 2021, for new models and June 1, 2021, for existing models. “In a significant measure to boost passenger safety, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) pro- poses to make it mandatory that an airbag be provided for the passenger seated on the front seat of a vehicle, next to the driver,” the Ministry said in a statement. The addition of a dual front airbags would spell an increase of roughly between 10,000 to 20,000 in the prices of entry-level versions of the car models. The MoRTH has planned to implement this norm for all new models of cars which are manufactured from April 1, 2021, onwards. For the existing units, the date for complying with the new rule is proposed to be June 1, 2021. Previously, the Government had made having an airbag mandatory for the driver’s seat in all cars which came into effect from July 1, 2019. “Comments/ suggestions are solicited from all stake- holders within a month time,” the draft notification by the MoRTH said. The draft notification fur- ther reads, “Vehicles manufac- tured on and after 1st Day of April 2021, in the case of new models, and 1st day of June 2021, in the case of existing models, shall be fitted with airbag for the person occupy- ing the front seat, other than the driver. The requirement for such airbag shall be as per AIS 145...under the Bureau of Indian Standards act, 2016.” “As of now, only the driver’s seat airbag is mandatory for all cars. However, this leaves the passenger in the front seat completely vulnerable to severe injury or even death in case of accidents as they are not pro- tected by the airbag,” said a senior MoRTH official. Continued on Page 11 P oet Laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s Shantiniketan (abode of peace) once again turned into a political theatre less than 10 days after the Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a massive parade at Bolpur in Birbhum district. Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday led an equally impressive road- show attacking Shah and the BJP for importing “fake politics and hate politics” in the State. Calling upon the people to “oust the Bargis (Maratha invaders of 18th century were called thus in Bengal) who have come here to generate fake pol- itics, spread hatred and spark riots,” Mamata said, adding, “they have not only smeared the Viswa Bharati campus which was scarcely politicised in the past but they have also not spared even a Nobel laure- ate and a son of the soil like Amartya Sen.” A time has come when the people of Bengal were tasked with a duty to “oust the Bargis who are soiling our culture and spoiling our lives by splurging money in order to buy not only the people’s representatives but also the voters,” Mamata said. She asked the people to accept the cash offered but not vote for their symbol (lotus) as they are masters of fake and hate politics whose duty is only to spread hatred and ignite riots. Referring to Shah’s rally Mamata said, “There are some parties that organise roadshows where you will find more ban- ners and flags than the people.” “Hours after the Chief Minister’s roadshow TMC strongman and district party president Anubrata Mondal said at least three lakh people had gathered at the Bolpur rally.” Continued on Page 11 A ctor Rajinikanth, who had declared early this month that he would announce the details of his political party on the New Year eve, made a quick volte-face on Tuesday by announcing through social media that he was not launch- ing any political outfit. This means that Tamil Nadu may have to wait for long to see an effective and viable third front to take on the DMK and the AIADMK, the tradi- tional rivals of the State politics for the last 35 years. The State’s thirst to see the emergence of a charismatic leader too remains unquenched. “With a heavy heart, I announce this: Due to health reasons I am not able to enter politics by launching a politi- cal party. Only I know the pain with which I make this announcement,” Rajinikanth said in the statement. “I will continue to serve people without coming to elec- toral politics. I will never hes- itate to speak the truth. I appeal to all my fans and people of Tamil Nadu to accept my deci- sion. Rajini Makkal Mandram will continue to function,” the actor said. He stated that it would not be fair to campaign through social media. If I develop health complications during my cam- paign, it would severely affect those who accompany me in politics, he said. Continued on Page 11 P ierre Cardin, the French designer whose famous name embossed everything from wristwatches to bedsheets after his iconic Space Age styles shot him into the fashion stratosphere in the 1960s, has died, the French Academy of Fine Arts said on Tuesday. He was 98. A licensing maverick, Cardin’s name went on thou- sands of products and in the brands heyday in the 1970s and 80s, while goods bearing his fancy cursive signature were sold at some 100,000 outlets worldwide. That number dwindled dramatically in later years, as his products were increasing- ly regarded as cheaply made and his clothing — which, decades later, remained virtu- ally unchanged from its 60s-era styles — felt laughably dated. Continued on Page 11 Allahabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday hit out at previous Governments for delaying the Dedicated Freight Corridor project and ignoring modernisation of rail- ways, and said his Government engaged with stakeholders to speed up works and carried out reforms at all levels. Inaugurating the New Bhaupur-New Khurja section of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) via video conferencing, he said the “vibration” and “roar” of Bharat and ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ were clearly heard as the first freight train ran on the Khurja-Bhaupur freight corri- dor. Attacking previous gov- ernment, the prime minister said the project was given per- mission in 2006 but it was only on paper as the then govern- ment lacked the seriousness and urgency with which it had to take it up with the states. “Till 2014 not a single km track of the project was laid and the funds sanctioned could not be spent properly. After 2014 ,it was restarted and offi- cials asked to take it forward and by then the budget had gone up by 11 times”, the prime minister said. The 351-km section, which has been built at a cost of Rs 5,750 crore, will open new avenues for local industries in Uttar Pradesh. The EDFC is 1,840-km- long and extends from Ludhiana in Punjab to Kolkata in West Bengal. Modi also inaugurated the EDFC’s operation centre at Prayagraj and flagged off the first 1.5 km long goods trains. The prime minister said that on coming to power, he personally monitored the pro- ject and held a dialogue with the stakeholders and got new technology as a result of which about 1100 km work will be completed in the next few months. Political apathy not just hampered the freight corridor project but also had a bearing on the entire Railways system, he said adding that earlier the focus was on increasing num- ber of trains for political ben- efit in elections but not on the tracks on which the trains were run as there was no investment on it. There was no seriousness towards modernisation of the rail network, trains were being run on slow speed and the entire network was full of dan- gerous unmanned crossings, he said. “We changed this work culture and thinking after 2014 and ending the separate Railway budget, invested in rail tracks, ended unmanned crossings, focussed on broad- ening and electrification of the network”, he said. The Vande Bharat express, the semi high speed train is now being run, he said, adding that now Indian rails are more secure than before. In the past few years reforms have been carried out at all levels and can be seen, he added. The new freight section will open new vistas of oppor- tunity for local industries such as aluminium industry in Pukhrayan region of Kanpur Dehat, dairy sector of Auraiya, textile production and block printing of Etawah, glassware industry of Firozabad, pottery products of Khurja, asafoetida or ‘heeng’ production of Continued on Page 11 T he India Meteorological Department (IMD) will now provide localised weather forecasts, issue warnings for adverse weather conditions for traffic movement on highways, agriculture, and defence per- sonnel, from its meteorological centre, Leh in Ladakh, having extreme wide-ranging climate and topography. The centre was virtually inaugurated by Minister for Earth Sciences (MoES) Dr Harsh Vardhan. After Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh, the Leh centre is the second meteoro- logical centre located in the Himalayas. This will also help the defence personnel which have been guarding the frontiers of the entire Ladakh region assid- uously for the last 70 years, to get better prepared to cope with adverse weather conditions amid China standoff at the Line of Control on western sector. Continued on Page 11

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    Caught off guard after sixpeople tested positive forthe super-infectious UK strainof the coronavirus on Tuesday,the Government has nowdecided to conduct genomesequencing on all internation-al passengers who were symp-tomatic and tested positive forcoronavirus in the last 14 days.

    The Union HealthMinistry has already decided toconduct genome sequencingon 5 per cent of the totalCovid positive cases detecteddaily to check for new variants.

    Experts feel that theresponse is too late as it will notbe an easy task to trace the33,000 flyers from the UK whohad returned to India duringthe last one month.

    “Many of them must havecome into contact with theirrelatives and others. The con-tact tracing is going to be a dif-ficult task,” they said amidreports that many UKreturnees in India have eitherswitched off their phone num-bers or are not available at theirresidences.

    However, the Governmentassured that the vaccines underdevelopment would also workagainst the mutated pathogenfirst reported in the UK.

    “No need to worry aboutvaccines. Vaccines will workagainst the variants detected inthe UK and South Africa.There is no evidence that cur-rent vaccines will fail to protect

    against the new mutant strains,”said Principal Scientific AdviserK VijayRaghavan at a presserhere.

    At the same time, he said,there is a need to reduce trans-mission through physical dis-tancing, follow all public healthmeasures scrupulously, wearmasks, follow hand-washing,Covid appropriate behaviour,infection control, amplify test,track, isolate efforts.”

    The Ministry has so farcarried out genome testing of144 positive Covid samples ofwhich six have been found tobe carrying the new variantreported in the UK.

    Three samples inNIMHANS of Bengaluru, 2 inCCMB, Hyderabad and 1 inNIV, Pune have been detectedout of all the 144 samples test-ed.

    The new variant of thecoronavirus SARS-CoV-2 thatcauses Covid-19 is believed tobe 71 per cent more transmit-table than the other variants,the Hyderabad-based Centrefor Cellular and MolecularBiology (CCMB) said onTuesday when India confirmedsix cases of the new strain.

    The leading research insti-tute has underlined the impor-tance to launch an extensivegenome surveillance of thevirus to assess the extent of thespread of the new virus.

    “We should also keep aneye on other variants thatmight emerge independently,as India houses the secondlargest population infected withthis virus, at present,” CCMBDirector Dr Rakesh Mishrasaid as per a news agency.

    The presence of the new

    UK variant of the coronavirushas already been reported byDenmark, the Netherlands,Australia, Italy, Sweden, France,Spain, Switzerland, Germany,Canada, Japan, Lebanon andSingapore so far.

    “The Government was wellaware of the mutated virusdoing the rounds in severalcountries. It should have start-ed genome testing of the flyersreturning from these mutatedaffected countries as was being

    done by other nations. But theGovernment was either apa-thetic or negligent towards thisimportant measures which ithas now decided,” said a doc-tor from a Government hospi-tal who refused to be named.

    The Government said thatall the persons with the newvariant have been kept in sin-gle room isolation in designat-ed healthcare facilities byrespective State Governments.

    Continued on Page 11

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    The temporary suspension ofIndia-UK flights is likely tobe extended beyond December31. Union Civil AviationMinister Hardeep Singh Purion Tuesday said he expected aslight extension of temporarysuspension of passenger flightsbetween India and the UKwhere a new variant of coron-avirus has been detected.

    “I foresee a slight extensionof temporary suspension ofIndia-UK flights. In the nextday or two, we will find out ifany additional steps need to betaken, or when we can start eas-ing the current temporary sus-pension,” Puri said whileaddressing a Press conference.

    India had last week sus-pended passenger flights toand from the UK betweenDecember 23 and 31, after agrowing list of countries likeCanada, Germany, France,Netherlands, Belgium,Denmark and Italy did thesame due to a more infectiouscoronavirus variant there. Thepresence of the new UK vari-ant has already been reportedby Denmark, the Netherlands,Australia, Italy, Sweden, andother countries.

    India, UK have 67 weeklyflights operated by four airlines— Air India, Vistara, BritishAirways and Virgin Atlantic.Almost 2,000-2,500 passen-gers fly in daily on these flights.

    Continued on Page 11

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    Afew hours ahead of thetalks between farmers andGovernment scheduled forWednesday, protesting farmunions on Tuesday wrote to theCentre, saying the discussionwill only be on the modalitiesof repealing the three legisla-tions, giving a legal guaranteeon the MSP, and on two otherissues they proposed earlier thisweek for a resumption of thedialogue.

    The Government has invit-ed the protesting farmers forthe sixth round of talks onWednesday.

    In its letter on Tuesday, theSamyukt Kisan Morcha, whichrepresents 40 farm unions, saidthe modalities for repealing thethree contentious laws and alegal guarantee on the mini-mum support price (MSP)must be part of the agenda forthe talks.

    The Morcha further saidthe agenda of the meetingshould also include amend-ments to be made and notifiedin the Commission for the AirQuality Management inNational Capital Region andAdjoining Areas Ordinance,2020 to exclude farmers fromits penal provisions.

    Through the letter, theMorcha also formally acceptedthe Government’s invitationfor the dialogue.

    The letter also stated thatwithdrawal of the ElectricityAmendment Bill 2020 to pro-tect the interests of farmersshould also be part of theagenda for the dialogue.

    The farmers had also writ-ten to the Government onDecember 26 listing the agen-da for talks.

    In the letter, the Morchasaid that in its December 26communication to theGovernment, it had mentioned“changes” by mistakes insteadof “withdrawal” of theElectricity Amendment Bill.

    Meanwhile, also onTuesday the unions deferred to

    Thursday their proposed trac-tor march against the con-tentious agriculture laws, sothat the rally does not clashwith their talks with theGovernment.

    Thousands of protestingfarmers, mostly from Punjaband Haryana, have been camp-ing at three Delhi border points— Singhu, Ghazipur and Tikri— for the past 31 days,demanding a repeal of threefarm laws and legal guaranteefor minimum support price.

    On Monday, farmer lead-ers agreed to the governmentproposal for holding the nextround of talks on the newagricultural laws on December30, but remained firm on theiragenda of scrapping the laws.

    Continued on Page 11

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    The Centre on Tuesday saidit has proposed to makeairbag mandatory for the pas-senger in the front seat of avehicle. The step is aimed atimproving passenger safety incase of accidents.

    The Road TransportMinistry has issued a draftnotification. The proposedtimelines for the implementa-tion of the move is April 1,2021, for new models and June1, 2021, for existing models.

    “In a significant measure toboost passenger safety, theMinistry of Road Transportand Highways (MoRTH) pro-poses to make it mandatorythat an airbag be provided forthe passenger seated on thefront seat of a vehicle, next tothe driver,” the Ministry said ina statement.

    The addition of a dualfront airbags would spell anincrease of roughly between�10,000 to �20,000 in the pricesof entry-level versions of the carmodels.

    The MoRTH has plannedto implement this norm for all

    new models of cars which aremanufactured from April 1,2021, onwards. For the existingunits, the date for complyingwith the new rule is proposedto be June 1, 2021.

    Previously, theGovernment had made havingan airbag mandatory for thedriver’s seat in all cars whichcame into effect from July 1,2019.

    “Comments/ suggestionsare solicited from all stake-holders within a month time,”the draft notification by theMoRTH said.

    The draft notification fur-ther reads, “Vehicles manufac-tured on and after 1st Day of

    April 2021, in the case of newmodels, and 1st day of June2021, in the case of existingmodels, shall be fitted withairbag for the person occupy-ing the front seat, other thanthe driver. The requirement forsuch airbag shall be as per AIS145...under the Bureau ofIndian Standards act, 2016.”

    “As of now, only the driver’sseat airbag is mandatory for allcars. However, this leaves thepassenger in the front seatcompletely vulnerable to severeinjury or even death in case ofaccidents as they are not pro-tected by the airbag,” said asenior MoRTH official.

    Continued on Page 11

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    Poet Laureate RabindranathTagore’s Shantiniketan(abode of peace) once againturned into a political theatreless than 10 days after theUnion Home Minister AmitShah held a massive parade atBolpur in Birbhum district.

    Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee on Tuesdayled an equally impressive road-show attacking Shah and theBJP for importing “fake politicsand hate politics” in the State.

    Calling upon the people to“oust the Bargis (Marathainvaders of 18th century werecalled thus in Bengal) who havecome here to generate fake pol-itics, spread hatred and sparkriots,” Mamata said, adding,“they have not only smearedthe Viswa Bharati campuswhich was scarcely politicisedin the past but they have alsonot spared even a Nobel laure-ate and a son of the soil like

    Amartya Sen.”A time has come when the

    people of Bengal were taskedwith a duty to “oust the Bargiswho are soiling our culture andspoiling our lives by splurgingmoney in order to buy not onlythe people’s representatives butalso the voters,” Mamata said.

    She asked the people toaccept the cash offered but notvote for their symbol (lotus) asthey are masters of fake andhate politics whose duty is onlyto spread hatred and igniteriots.

    Referring to Shah’s rallyMamata said, “There are someparties that organise roadshowswhere you will find more ban-ners and flags than the people.”

    “Hours after the ChiefMinister’s roadshow TMCstrongman and district partypresident Anubrata Mondalsaid at least three lakh peoplehad gathered at the Bolpurrally.”

    Continued on Page 11

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    Actor Rajinikanth, who haddeclared early this monththat he would announce thedetails of his political party onthe New Year eve, made aquick volte-face on Tuesday byannouncing through socialmedia that he was not launch-ing any political outfit.

    This means that TamilNadu may have to wait for longto see an effective and viablethird front to take on the DMKand the AIADMK, the tradi-tional rivals of the State politicsfor the last 35 years. The State’sthirst to see the emergence ofa charismatic leader tooremains unquenched.

    “With a heavy heart, Iannounce this: Due to healthreasons I am not able to enterpolitics by launching a politi-cal party. Only I know the painwith which I make thisannouncement,” Rajinikanth

    said in the statement.“I will continue to serve

    people without coming to elec-toral politics. I will never hes-itate to speak the truth. I appealto all my fans and people ofTamil Nadu to accept my deci-sion. Rajini Makkal Mandramwill continue to function,” theactor said.

    He stated that it would notbe fair to campaign throughsocial media. If I develop healthcomplications during my cam-paign, it would severely affectthose who accompany me inpolitics, he said.

    Continued on Page 11

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    Pierre Cardin, the Frenchdesigner whose famousname embossed everythingfrom wristwatches to bedsheetsafter his iconic Space Age stylesshot him into the fashionstratosphere in the 1960s, hasdied, the French Academy ofFine Arts said on Tuesday. Hewas 98.

    A licensing maverick,Cardin’s name went on thou-sands of products and in thebrands heyday in the 1970s and80s, while goods bearing hisfancy cursive signature weresold at some 100,000 outletsworldwide.

    That number dwindleddramatically in later years, ashis products were increasing-ly regarded as cheaply madeand his clothing — which,decades later, remained virtu-ally unchanged from its 60s-erastyles — felt laughably dated.

    Continued on Page 11

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    I, Army NO-JC 733891A Nayabsubedar B.K. Tripathi R/o Vill-Babhangawan, Post-Jhauara,Dist- sultanpur, hereby declarethat my daughter SHREYA'SDOB-01.11.2010 is registeredin my service record which iswrong. Her corrected DOB- is01.11.2009. This should beread and written in future.

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    Lucknow (PNS): Samajwadi Party chief AkhileshYadav said when his party would come to power in UP, thegovernment would withdraw all cases registered againstthose associated with anti-CAA protests.

    He said in the 2022 Assembly elections in UP, therewould be a historic change and the SP would emerge as thepowerhouse of the state. “People will come in support ofthe Samajwadi Party just to save democracy,” he said.

    Akhilesh Yadav said his party would make alliance withsmaller parties and the doors for the smaller parties werealways open. “We can promise that when we come to powerin UP all the cases related to CAA/NRC and other fake casesregistered against the people for opposing the governmentwould be withdrawn,” he said.

    ����� 1-�:.#0

    The Uttar Pradesh govern-ment issued directions forcompletion of all Centrally-sponsored projects as per sched-ule. The projects are listed onPRAGATI (Pro-active gover-nance and timely implementa-tion) portal of the PMO.

    The progress of the projectswas reviewed by Chief SecretaryRK Tiwari here on Tuesday. Theprojects include the third railline between Mathura andJhansi, health insurance schemeAyushman Bharat, PradhanMantri Jan Arogya Yojna, JalJeevan Mission, Har Ghar JalYojna and disposal of the com-plaints in the consumer affairsdepartment.

    The chief secretary askedthe departments concerned toadhere to the timeline for thecompletion of the projects.

    The chief secretary wasinformed that Railways intend-ed to purchase 20,200 hectaresof land for the rail project andof this registry of 15,640 hectaresof land had been done in favourof the Railways.

    The Railways is taking fol-low-up action for the acquisitionof the rest of the 4,559 hectaresof land. The total length of theMathura-Jhansi rail line is 274km and of this 98 km falls inUttar Pradesh, 141 in MadhyaPradesh and 35 km in Rajasthan.The total cost of the project isestimated to be Rs 3, 678 croreand the project is targeted to becompleted in September 2022.Till date 30 per cent of the phys-ical work has been completed.

    For the Ayushman Bharatscheme, as many as 1.01 croregolden cards of 40.37 lakh fam-ilies have been delivered and therest of the families will be cov-

    ered by the end of December. Under the health insurance

    scheme, 841 community healthcentres and 158 district hospi-tals have already been empan-elled and by the end ofDecember 15, as many as 5.38lakh cards were used to the ben-eficiaries. Presently 2,646 hospi-tals have been empanelled in thestate, including 1,102 publichospitals and 1,544 private hos-pitals.

    Under the Jal JeevanMission project, out of 462 areaswith poor water quality 315 havebeen covered under the schemeand work is in progress in therest of the 138 locations. Asmany as 15 lakh householdshave been given piped watersupply and out of 3,089 villagesaffected by the Japaneseencephalitis, 544 villages havebeen covered by piped watersupply.

    ����� 1-�:.#0

    Acting on a complaint received onChief Minister Yogi Adityanath’sportal, IG, Lucknow Range, LakshmiSingh, conducted a raid inLakhimpur Kheri and suspendedthree cops, including a police outpostincharge, after finding trees were cutillegally under their jurisdiction.

    She also got a case registered inthe matter against the local police andforest officials and sent a report forfurther action after fixing the respon-sibility of the officials concerned.Surprisingly, the local superintendentof police as well as district forestofficers were aware of the illegalcutting of trees after which theChief Minister’s Office was informedabout it and subsequently direc-

    tions were passed to Singh for sternaction.

    Sources said that Lakshmi Singhwas camping in Kheri as nodal offi-cer to manage the ongoing farmers’protest when she was tipped-offabout a complaint received on theCM’s portal.

    A social activist. Ritu Verma,claimed that some miscreants wereillegally cutting green trees in Bajpaihamlet in Kheri without taking anypermission and that she hadinformed the local authorities,including SP Kheri and DFO Kheri,about it at least half-a-dozen timesbut no one took pain to respond toher complaint.

    Sources further said that Verma’scomplaint was forwarded to LakshmiSingh for necessary action.

    Singh, after completing discus-sion with the officials in Kheri onhow to handle the ongoing farmers’agitation, suddenly left the venue onMonday night and raided the placeat Bajpai hamlet to confirm the alle-gations. She was surprised that thetrees were cut freely in the area andno action had been taken by the localauthorities.

    She immediately summonedforce and got all the felled trees seizedand later got a case registered againsthalf-a-dozen officials, including for-mer gram pradhan who was alleged-ly involved in cutting of trees.

    She also suspended incharge ofthe LRP police outpost and two beatconstables and ordered a departmen-tal probe to bring the culprits tobook.

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    In a tragic incident due to dense fog in Agra, atruck crushed a cyclist and then hit a car earlyTuesday morning, killing four people.

    According to reports from Agra, the incidentoccurred on Agra-Fatehabad highway, near apetrol pump in Dauki police station area.

    The local police claimed that the truck com-ing from Agra crashed with the car coming out ofthe petrol pump after hitting a cyclist.

    The cyclist and three persons in the car werekilled on the spot.

    The deceased were yet to be identified. Dense fog was said to be the reason for the acci-

    dent. After the accident, the local people blocked the

    highway and staged a protest after keeping the bod-ies on the road.

    Later, on assurance of local officers of initiat-ing stern action against the truck driver, the protestwas called off and the bodies were sent for post-mortem.

    ����� 1-�:.#0

    Uttar Pradesh Congressaccused the state govern-ment of indulging in corrup-tion in the name of launching‘Swadeshi’ mobile anddemanded a probe by theCentral Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) besidesimmediate removal of theminister concerned.

    The UPCC alleged thatearlier also Prime MinisterNarendra Modi facilitated thelaunching of 4G service of aprivate mobile operator as itsowner was his corporatefriend and now both Modiand Chief Minister YogiAdityanath’s photo were usedto promote a private mobile inthe name of ‘Swadeshi’.

    The UPCC reaction camesoon after the brother of UPMinister Kapil Dev Agarwalwas booked in a case of fraudand forgery.

    The FIR was registered atthe Hazratganj police stationin Lucknow against LalitAgarwal, brother of state min-ister Kapil Dev Agarwal.

    Lalit Agarwal and hisaccomplices had put uphoardings for the launch of a‘Swadeshi’ brand mobilephone across the state byputting pictures of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi and

    ����� 1-�:.#0

    Uttar Pradesh, on Tuesday,received a gift from PrimeMinister Narendra Modi whodedicated to the nation theNew Bhaupur-New Khurja sec-tion of the Eastern DedicatedFreight Corridor (EDFC)through video conference inthe presence of Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath.

    Built by Tata Projects Ltd,the New Bhaupur- New Khurjasection of the EDFC will be aboon for landlocked states likeUttar Pradesh that are notconnected by maritime bound-aries.

    “We have planned to starttwo dedicated freight corridors.The first one will connectPunjab’s Ludhiana to Dankuniin West Bengal. The secondone will connect JNPT(Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust)in Maharashtra to Dadri inUttar Pradesh, which will beclose to Jewar Airport,” PMModi said.

    Praising PM Modi’s leader-ship, Yogi said that it was onlybecause of the prime ministerthat the Indian Railways wererunning on the track of devel-opment. “The prime ministerhas dedicated the NewBhaupur-New Khurja sectionof the Eastern DedicatedFreight Corridor to the nationtoday, which is a matter of hap-piness for the people of thestate,” he said.

    Pointing out that the workon about 6,000 new lines, gaugeconversion and doubling pro-jects was in progress in UttarPradesh, the CM said that withthe formation of this freightcorridor, there would be ease in

    carrying and transportinggoods.

    “The construction of thisfreight corridor is very impor-tant for a landlocked state likeUttar Pradesh. It is a pleasurefor the people of the state that

    75 per cent of this section of thecorridor passes through UP,”the CM added.

    Built at a cost of Rs 5,750crore, the 351-kilometre-longNew Bhaupur-New Khurja sec-tion of the EDFC in Uttar

    Pradesh is completely dedicat-ed to freight trains.

    The average speed of thefreight trains on this corridorwill now increase from 25km/hour to 75 km/hour.With the increase in speed,

    the new corridor will reducecosts and the risks of damageto the goods will also be veryless. This section will open newvistas for industries, traders andfarmers and will play a majorrole in making India self-reliant

    (Atmanirbhar).It may be mentioned here

    that this section will not onlydecongest the existing Kanpur-Delhi mainline but also enablethe Indian Railways to runfaster trains.

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    As many as 21 meritorious stu-dents of City Montessori Schoolhave been offered admission withscholarships by the leading univer-sities of the USA, UK, Canada,Australia, Ireland etc. These stu-dents have been offered scholar-ships by more than one foreign uni-versity. Prakriti Tandon has beenoffered a 100% scholarship of US$3,26,000 by Cornell University(USA) while Tanya Samyak hasbeen offered admission byUniversity of Evansville (USA)with a US$ 1,46,000 scholarship.Kaustubh Singh has been offered ascholarship of US$ 1,63,200 byDrexel University (USA) andAnshika Srivastava a scholarship ofUS$ 1,32,000 by Drexel University.Prabal Agarwal has been offeredadmission to Deakin University(Australia) with a US$ 1,37,600

    scholarship while Eklavya Agarwalgot a US$ 1,32,000 scholarship offerfrom Drexel University, USA.Others students who have receivedadmission offers from various for-eign universities include ShyamAgarwal, Aditya Chaturvedi,

    Utkarsh Shukla, Avni Sonkar,Adwant Mishra, Anjali Tiwari,Pihu Jain, Utkarsh Singh, GauravPal, Syed Ahmad Sabaat, StephenMadan, Abhirup Gunakar, AnandKrishna Mishra, Satwik Shuklaand Harsh Singh.

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    Lucknow (PNS): Directing offi-cials to launch a campaign under own-ership scheme, Chief Minister YogiAdityanath said that the land on whicha poor person had made his/her hutshould be transferred in his/her nameif the land was undisputed and not inany reserved category and, if required,houses could be built in clusters insome districts.

    Speaking at a virtual programmeheld at his official residence here onTuesday CM Yogi also said that a cam-paign should be launched to saturate allthe beneficiaries of the Prime MinisterAwas Yojana and Chief MinisterHousing Scheme with the benefits of

    the government schemes like toilet,kitchen, electricity, Ayushman Bharat,and Jivan Jyoti schemes.

    The CM issued these directionswhile transferring Rs 87 crore as thefirst instalment in the accounts of the21,562 beneficiaries of the ChiefMinister Housing Scheme (Rural).

    “These beneficiaries should also beassociated with self-employment pro-grammes (goat, poultry, dairy, etc.) asper the requirement. They should alsobe given the necessary training and alsobe facilitated in getting bank loans andalso be motivated for self-employ-ment,” he said.

    Those present in the programme

    included Rural Development MinisterMoti Singh and other senior officials.

    The CM also said that the localadministration should ensure that thebeneficiaries used the money in build-ing houses and the poor got the bricks,cement etc. at reasonable prices.

    He said nodal officers should alsobe appointed for weekly review of theconstruction of houses.

    “The section of the people who arethe beneficiaries of houses are also themost vulnerable to encephalitis, tuber-culosis, kala azar and malnutrition-borne diseases. They should also begiven a healthy cow from the cow shel-ters and Rs 900 per month for the

    maintenance of cows. The cow shed canalso be constructed under the MGN-REGA,” he said.

    Yogi interacted with some of thebeneficiaries and told them to constructa toilet along with the house. He alsoenquired from them about the govern-ment schemes from which they weregetting benefits and instructed thedistrict administration to hold a cam-paign and extend the benefits of theschemes to those who were eligible.

    The CM interacted with Prema(Ayodhya), Soni (Azamgarh), Sangeeta(Kushinagar), Asha (Jaunpur), AkshayBar (Gorakhpur), Anshu (Rae Bareli),Meera (Sonbhadra) and others.

    Uttar Pradesh Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath. The photoand the phone on the hoardingswere shown in such a way thatit seemed that the governmentwas planning to launch the‘Swadeshi’ mobile phones.

    It may be noted that KapilDev Agarwal and other minis-ters were also involved inlaunching the phone.

    Attacking both Modi andYogi for facilitating their corpo-rate friends, UP Congress pres-ident Ajay Kumar Lallu said onTuesday that the launch of a pri-vate mobile giving it a tag of‘swadeshi’ was yet another act ofcorruption in which both theCentral as well as state govern-ments were involved.

    The Congress alleged thatthe company which developedthe so-called ‘Swadeshi’ phoneasked Lalit Agarwal to advertiseand promote it in exchange ofa huge sum of money.

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    ����� 1-�:.#0

    Striking ahead of time, All IndiaMajlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen(AIMIM) has declared its first candi-date — Dr Abdul Mannan — for theUttar Pradesh assembly elections in2022.

    Mannan, an eye surgeon, will befielded by the AIMIM for UtarauliVidhan Sabha constituency inBalrampur district.

    Mannan had joined the AIMIMafter leaving the Peace Party.

    AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisiwas in Lucknow on December 16 andhe had met Suheldev Bhartiya SamajParty chief Om Prakash Rajbhar tostitch an alliance for the 2022 UP polls.

    A day later, Pragatisheel SamajwadiParty (Lohia) chief Shivpal SinghYadav had met Rajbhar in a bid to ally

    with him. Shivpal Yadav, who was eye-ing to ally with estranged nephew andSamajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav,said that he received no “positive reac-tion” from Akhilesh Yadav.

    The AIMIM has managed to winfive of the 20 seats it contested in the2020 Bihar assembly polls. Moreover,it also managed to retain 44 seats in thehigh-octane Hyderabad civic polls,which saw the BJP throw its entire pollmachinery into making inroads in theelusive south. While several oppositionparties have accused Owaisi of being a“vote-cutter} and ‘BJP’s B-team’, theHyderabad MP has denied it saying, “Itis the fundamental right of my party tocontest elections to provide a betteralternative to BJP”.

    Moreover, AIMIM has alsoannounced it will contest for the 2021Assembly polls in West Bengal.

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    NOTICENotice is hereby given that the Share

    Certificate/s Nos. 24284 for 261 Fully paid up EquityShares of Rs.5/- each of this company bearingDistinctive Nos. 3154833 to 3155093

    Respectively standing in the name/s ofLATE SUDHA SRIVASTAVA has/have been report-ed to be lost or mislad. Any claim relating to this/these share certificate/s should be notified withinFifteen days from the date of publication of thisNOTICE to the Registered Office of the Company.Otherwise duplicate share Certificate/s in respectof lost share certificate/s will be issued to the abovementioned Owner/s and no claim will be entertainedthereafter.Place LucknowDate:- 28-12-2020

    For BF Utilities Limited MR. BHALCHANDRA MITKARI

    (Company Secretary)

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    The total number of peoplewho have recovered fromCovid in the state capitalreached 74,123 on Tuesday.The Covid recovery rate of thedistrict has been good at 95.6percent. Lucknow has main-tained a good recovery ratebecause a large number ofpeople showed less severesymptoms, as has been thetrend across the globe.

    A senior health officialsaid the positivity rate is stillhovering around 2.9 percentthis month. “However, as thecases are coming down acrossthe district, the positivity ratein areas like Gomtinagar,Indiranagar, Chinhat,Alambagh and Aliganj isslightly above average,” hesaid. He pointed out that thenumber of patients who aresevere at the moment is a lit-tle less than 700.

    On whether they are facing

    challenges regarding availabil-ity of beds for severe patients,he said there was a slight prob-lem with ICU beds.

    On Tuesday, 194 personstested positive for coronavirusin Lucknow while the death tollrose to 1,111. The fresh casesincluded 23 from Gomtinagar,22 from Indiranagar, 14 fromMahanagar, 12 fromJankipuram, 11 fromAlambagh, and 10 each fromAshiyana, Hazratganj &Gudamba.

    Across the state, 1,044 per-sons tested positive, including41 in Kanpur, 59 in Ghaziabad,24 in Gautam Buddh Nagar, 45in Varanasi and 43 in Meerut.There were 18 deaths in thestate, including two each inPrayagraj & Varanasi, and oneeach in Lucknow, Kanpur,Ghaziabad, Gautam BuddhNagar, Meerut, Gorakhpur,Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar,Rampur, Pratapgarh, RaeBareli, Chandauli,

    Farrukhabad & Banda, takingthe UP toll to 8,340.

    Head of KGMU’sPulmonary department DrSurya Kant Tripathi said theremay be several reasons for thegood recovery rate. “It hasalready been evident thatIndians have a good immuni-ty because of the rough andtough lifestyle. Our kids playoutside in the soil which helpsin building of immunity.Besides, the BCG immunisa-tion programme has alsohelped a lot. It is the first vac-cine given to any child afterbirth. Above all, the measurestaken by the state govern-ment, including the isolationpolicy, have helped. UP is theonly state where Ivermectinwas prescribed as it is thecheapest drug besides beingeffective and prophylactic. Noother state has used this as aprophylactic and the GO wasissued on August 6,” heexplained.

    He claimed the situationhas been very much undercontrol in UP, with the recov-ery rate being very good andmortality rate being low.“Timely and strict measureshave been taken for breakingthe chain of transmission.However, people are not fol-lowing Covid protocols. Theymust understand that the bat-tle is not over as yet,” headded.

    Meanwhile, a joint high-level meeting was held to dis-cuss measures to check thespread of coronavirus. Themeeting was presided over byAdditional Chief SecretaryManoj Kumar Singh. He saidthat with the new year eveapproaching, the administra-tion must remain alert. He saidpeople are not observing thesafety protocols, includingsocial distancing, even as thenext 15 days are likely to becrucial. He said enforcementhas to be increased.

    Singh said a crackdownhas to be launched at malls,markets, malls and restaurantswhere people are not followingthe Covid protocols.

    District MagistrateAbhishek Prakash said jointenforcement teams have beenmade for the purpose. “Theseteams will move around toenforce social distancing andensure that people mask up.They will also issue challans tothose not following Covidguidelines,” he said.

    The DM also directed allthe Covid testing labs to followsafety protocols as stern actionwould be taken against thosefound flouting the guidelines.

    The DM said that all theRR teams and surveillanceteams had been made active.He said directions have beengiven to all the CHCs to carryout contact tracing on a war-footing, with special focus onareas having maximum num-ber of cases.

    ����� 1-�:.#0

    The largest mask (100square metre) will belaunched shortly in the statecapital for promotion of Covidprotocols and as a tribute to allthe women weavers across thestate who worked in these dif-ficult times to prepare themasks. This mask is the brain-child of fashion designerManish Tripathi, who belongsto Lucknow and whoapproached the state govern-ment for this initiative. Earlier,a 72 square metre mask wasmade in Jeddah to promote

    Covid protocol and it holds aplace in the Guinness Book ofWorld Records.

    “I was given a lot of sup-port by the government, espe-cially by Additional ChiefSecretary Navneet Sehgal. Themask has been made in jointcollaboration with UP Khadiand Village Industries Board.

    Sehgal said the mask willbe launched in the middle ofJanuary. “It will help in pro-moting the idea that a mask isimportant in these times. Itwill also highlight that khadican be used to make masksand give livelihood opportuni-

    ties to others,” he said.The mask has been made

    from the cloth made bywomen weavers from all 75districts of the state and tenother states of the country sothat it represents the textilerichness of the country. “Wehave folk arts of Madhubani,Phulkari, Sambalpuri andChikankari also woven into themask and the work is still on,”he said. Tripathi said he trav-elled across ten states so thathe could highlight the fact thatthe country was rich in textiles.

    “We are always lookingfor a global market but thereis a huge scope in India. It isalso important to give creditto these women weavers andcome out of the mindset oflooking for foreign affilia-tions. These women weaversare always looked upon as‘bechari’, which should not bethe case because these craftsand textiles are unique,” hesaid.

    The mask will be put ona hot air balloon and releasedto spread the message.Tripathi pointed out that theybegan stitching the mask onMarch 27.

    $��5�������������������!��6,����(4"7"45Lucknow (PNS): Head ofKGMU’s Respiratory Medicinedepartment Dr Surya Kant waselected national vice-chairman ofIndian Medical Association-Academy of Medical Specialities,the premier institution of modernmedicine in India with over 4 lakhphysicians as its members.

    The IMA concluded the elec-tions for its executive body onDecember 28 and Dr. Surya Kantwas elected the national vice-chairman till 2022. He has beenthe chairman of IMA-Lucknow in2018, and is currently an honoraryprofessor in the IMA as well. DrSurya Kant said that in the nexttwo years, he would facilitate thetraining of physicians in the lat-est treatment modalities of majordiseases, and promote healthawareness in general population.

    ����� 1-�:.#0

    Police said on Tuesday theywere close to working outthe murder case of formergram pradhan Sujeet Pandey.Though officers spearheadingthe probe remained tightlippedabout details, sources said thepolice got a lead about some ofthe conspirators.

    “A team visited the jail andcollected details of the miscre-ants. A lead about the miscre-ants and conspirators emergedas a result,” the sources said.

    They said the police were look-ing for one of the shooters whocame on their radar duringinvestigation.

    Recently, the police hadreleased sketches of the twoaccused and started a manhuntfor them. The police have alsoannounced a cash reward of Rs50,000 to anyone who sharesdetails about the suspectswhose sketches were madepublic.

    Sujeet was gunned downon December 20 evening whenhe was on the way to his brick

    kiln in Gaura village of the area.Sujeet tried his best to defendhimself and even returned fire,but he suffered bullet woundsin the stomach and died later.He was the leader of traders’association in Mohanlalganjand was popular among hispeers and general public. Hiswife is the sitting gram prad-han. Top leaders, includingDeputy CM Dinesh Sharma,had visited his house anddirected the police to expeditethe probe into the case andarrest the killers.

    Meanwhile, two youthswere killed while their compan-ion suffered injuries in a roadmishap in Chinhat early morn-ing on Tuesday. The deceasedwere identified as Sandeep andJitendra Kumar while theinjured as Kuldeep. Reportssaid the trio (of Barabanki)wereon a motorcycle when hit bysome unidentified vehicle inTiwariganj. They were rushedto RMLIMS where Jitendraand Sandeep were declareddead while Kuldeep was undertreatment.

    Lucknow (PNS): LucknowUniversity will hold theexaminations of graduatestudents in multiple-choicequestions (MCQs) format.This decision was taken atthe examination commit-tee meeting held onTuesday under Vice-Chancellor Prof AK Rai. It

    was also decided that forPG students, the examina-tions would be held atdepartmental level inMCQ format. LUspokesperson DurgeshSrivastava said the exami-nations for BEd, Med,BPEd, MPEd, BAMS,BUMS, LLM, MVA and

    other professional diplomacourses would be held inregular manner in the lastweek of January.

    He said LU wouldfelicitating teachers undervarious research projects,including ACCLAIM,PROTSAHAN andUDDEEPAN.

    ����� 1-�:.#0

    Gunner of a former MLAshot himself inside ahotel room in Vipul Khandunder Gomtinagar police sta-tion on Monday night. Hewas identified as Rajesh ofJhansi. He had checked intoroom number 105 of thehotel. Police said Rajesh usedhis licenced rifle to shoothimself. “He put the riflenozzle under his chin andpulled the trigger. The bulletripped his head apart,” thepolice said.

    In another case, a manended his life after beingbullied allegedly by his for-mer business partner inMadiaon. Police registered acase of abetment to suicideafter the deceased’s wifenamed the accused in theFIR. The deceased was iden-t if ied as Marshal ofAziznagar in Madiaon. Hiswife Huma Par veen ofBasmandi in Wazirganjlodged an FIR against Shanuof Aziznagar in Madiaon.Both Marshal and Shanuwere living in the same houseon rent.

    According to Huma,Marshal and Shanu began a

    start-up for supply of sanitis-ers and glucose. In duecourse of time, both fell apartand Shanu demanded Rs 2.08lakh as his profit share. OnDecember 24, Marshal gaveRs 25,000 to Shanu as also acheque which was to beencashed in January.

    However, Shanu alleged-ly started playing bullyingtact ics and threatenedMarshal, demanding cash.“Marshal ended his life in therented house when I was inWazirganj on Monday. I triedcalling him but the calls wentunanswered. After a while, anunidentified man picked upthe phone and informed methat Marshal had committedsuicide,” Huma alleged. Shealleged that Marshal endedhis life after being bullied byShanu.

    Meanwhile, a 40-year-old man was found dead athis house in Gosainganj onTuesday. Reports said RamKhelawan was living in thehouse in Amethi Kasbaunder the Gosainganj policestation all alone. Said to be analcoholic, he fell into a drainoutside his house on Mondaynight and was found dead onTuesday.

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    A woman set herself afirenear Deen Dayal Park in PGIpolice station area and died onTuesday. Police said they wereascertaining the identity of thedeceased. As per reports, thewoman reached the park on ascooty and started sprinklingpetrol on her.

    Before passersby couldresponded, she set herself afire.She was rushed to a hospitalwhere she was declaredbrought dead. A policespokesman said the scooty wasregistered in the name ofSeema Rani of Sitapur. “Thepolice have to ascertain if it wasSeema herself or some of herkin,” he said.

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    Directing officials to main-tain complete vigil in viewof the new strain of the novelcoronavirus, Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath stressed onmaking proactive measures tobreak the chain of COVID-19transmission.

    The CM, who was presid-ing over an unlock reviewmeeting at his official residencehere on Tuesday, also said thatfor the new strain of coron-avirus, all testing arrangementsshould be ensured by upgrad-ing the laboratories of the state.

    Directing officials to ensureeffective contact tracing andsurveillance systems, the CMsaid that contact tracing shouldbe increased in Lucknow dis-trict to control coronavirusinfection. Instructing officialsto maintain an effective systemof prevention and treatment ofCOVID-19 cases, the CM said

    that all arrangements at Covidhospitals should be maintainedeffectively. He said adequateavailability of medicines, med-ical equipment and oxygenbackup should be ensured inCovid hospitals and senior fac-ulties should take regularrounds in medical colleges andhospitals and attend to thepatients. “It is necessary to becareful at every level and a lit-tle bit of carelessness can proveto be costly,” he said.

    Directing officials to spreadawareness about COVID-19,the CM said that people shouldbe motivated and encouragedto follow social distancing anduse masks. He said publicaddress systems along withother publicity mediumsshould be widely used to spreadawareness about COVID-19.

    Those present in the meet-ing included MedicalEducation Minister SureshKhanna, State Health MinisterAtul Garg, Chief Secretary RKTiwari, Additional ChiefSecretary (Home) AwanishKumar Awasthi, DirectorGeneral of Police HC Awasthi,Additional Chief Secretary(Finance) Sanjiv Mittal,Additional Chief Secretary toCM, SP Goyal, AdditionalChief Secretary (MedicalEducation) Dr Rajneesh Dube,Principal Secretary to CM andInformation Sanjay Prasad andother senior officials.

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    �� +����������5������������������������������!�������Lucknow (PNS): Clarifying theapprehensions in new farm lawsdirector of IISR Dr AD Pathaksaid there are reasons for initiat-ing reforms in the agriculturesector. “The rising disparitybetween farm income and non-farm income is one of the mostsignificant reasons for newreforms in the farm sector.People working outside agricul-ture are progressing much fasterthan those who work in this sec-tor. A cultivator earns about Rs80,000 per year whereas a non-agriculture worker earns threetimes more. Other reasonsdemanding immediate inter-vention in terms of new laws arefragmented and insufficient mar-kets with high market fees andcharges, inadequate infrastruc-ture and credit facilities, informa-tion asymmetry, restriction in

    licensing, pressing need forimproving export competitive-ness, low investment in storageand warehouses and dominanceof local traders in the market andlack of food processing facilitiesin agri sector,” he explained.

    Citing the benefits of newfarm reforms for farmers prin-cipal scientist Dr AK Sahexplained that there will beavailability of single unified mar-ket, freedom for farmers to selltheir produce to whoever theywant and wherever they want,end of APMC cartel monopoly,legal framework protectingfarmer rights, reduction in mar-ket fees, taxes etc, and better pricediscovery, development of infra-structure close to farm gate,price assurance and boostinglinkages with food processingsector with contract farming.

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    India Hypertension ControlInitiative (IHCI) under theNational Programme forPrevention and Control ofCancer, Diabetes,Cardiovascular Diseases andStroke (NPCDCS) waslaunched by Chief MedicalOfficer (CMO) Dr VB Singh atCommunity Health Centre(CHC), Cholapur here onMonday. Speaking on the occa-sion, Dr Singh said that keep-ing in view the increasingdeaths due to high blood pres-sure and COVID-19, it hasbeen seen that most of the peo-ple who died had problems likehigh blood pressure and dia-betes so the importance of thisprogramme increases evenmore.

    ACMO Dr PP Gupta saidthat at present, the number ofpatients whose blood pressureis not under control is lessthan 10 per cent and in view

    to keep the improvement in itby 2025, IHCI has beenlaunched with an aim toreduce the mortality rate by 25per cent due to high bloodpressure. Epidemiologist DrDP Singh said that to improvethe condition of high bloodpressure, the blood pressureof every patient above 30years visiting the hospitals

    should be checked and thosepatients who do not haveblood pressure under controlgiven proper treatment adviceapart from starting their treat-ing immediately.

    Medical Superintendentof CHC Cholapur Dr RBYadav gave the details of drugprotocol advised by the stategovernment to all the staff

    under IHCI campaign. CVHOof WHO Dr Lalitha Chauhanand Dr Abhinav informedthat a Simple App has beencreated for reporting of thisprogramme, in which com-plete information of all thepatients of hypertension willbe compiled and through this,the patients would beinformed about the dateswhen they have to be exam-ined by the doctors automat-ically.

    ICMR Project TechnicalAssistant of Ranjit Singh saidthat NCD clinics and NCDareas/ corners should be madeat CHCs / PHCs so that all theadults above 30 years can getthe blood pressure and sugarchecked.

    On this occasion, alladults above 30 years weretested for blood pressure andsugar at CHC Cholapur andpatients with high blood pres-sure were registered in SimpleApp under this programme.

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    For the majority of the farm-ers, farming is not entrepre-neurship; it is a source of liveli-hood. And 70 per cent of itsrural households still dependprimarily on agriculture fortheir livelihood, with 82 percent of farmers being small andmarginal. Hence, the recentthree Farm Acts, viz., (i) TheFarmers’ Produce Trade andCommerce (Promotion andFacilitation) Act, 2020 (ii) TheFarmers (Empowerment andProtection) Agreement onPrice Assurance and FarmServices Act, 2020, and (iii) TheEssential Commodities(Amendment) Ordinance,2020 passed by the governmentin the Parliament must be seenand studied in the context offarmers’ problems and size ofland holding.

    ‘Through these Acts, thegovernment is trying to doublethe income of farmers andmaking them self-reliant and

    thereby achieving the objectiveof self-reliant India. The posi-tive side of The Farmers’Produce Trade and Commerce(Promotion and Facilitation)Act, 2020 is that it allows bar-rier free trade to farmers andtraders of farm produce whichmeans that farmers and traderscan now trade farm produceoutside the physical premises ofmandi or Agricultural ProduceMarket Committee (APMC)yard. Earlier agricultural prod-ucts were sold only in theAPMC Yard like warehouses,cold storage or mandis’, theEconomist and Head,Department of Economics,Mahatma Gandhi KashiVidyapeeth (MGKV) ProfRajesh Pal while talking to the‘The Pioneer’.

    ‘We must remind here thatthe situation of most of thefarmers in Bihar deterioratedafter abolition of APMC Act inBihar in 2006 as they had nooption to store their produce.And perhaps this is the reason

    why farmers in Punjab andHaryana are protesting thisAct. When farm produce willbe sold outside the premises ofAPMC, there would be noAPMC in the future, and con-sequently lost of MSP. Large-farmers may get the benefit offreedom of selling farm pro-duce inter-state and intrastatebut under the new Act govern-ment cannot intervene to pro-tect farmers when they wouldlose crops due to bad weather,war, famine, and naturalcalamity of grave nature. Theirfear is genuine as most of thefarmers are poor and not ableto bear the loss’, he adds.

    The Farmers(Empowerment andProtection) Agreement onPrice Assurance and FarmServices Act, 2020 introducesa farming agreement betweenfarmer and sponsor, whereinfarmers are given guaranteedprice of their produce and nosponsor can take over the own-ership of land. And so, farmers

    have doubt that their owner-ship may be snatched and maynot get price of their produceat the time of the delivery, heviews adding, though the gov-ernment is trying to promotestrong local linkages fordomestic industries or to par-ticipate in the Global ValueChains (GVCs) wherein link-ages are globally dispersedthrough The EssentialCommodities (Amendment)Ordinance, 2020.

    ‘Hence, it is in our interestto promote local and globallinkages for the agriculturesector and allied activitiesthrough which farmers may beturned into processors andmay be able to take the bene-fits of globalisation. The gov-ernment must address theworries of farmers andanswer why the government isnot intervening in themarket through minimum sup-port price on which the Actseems to be silent’, he views fur-ther.

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    About 7,080 people werescreened for Covid test onMonday to detect corona infec-tion of them, the report of 48people came positive in 24hours. 94 people beat corona.One infected died during treat-ment.

    According to CMO DrPrabhakar Rai, 12 people weredischarged from Covid hospi-tals on Monday out of 94people who became infection-free. At the same time 82 peo-ple recovered in home isola-tion. So far 20,474 peoplehave become infection-free inhome isolation in the district.

    He said that out of total28,275 infected in the districts,6,825 patients admitted tohospitals have been dis-charged. So far 372 peoplehave died due to corona infec-tion. The number of activepatients in the district hasreached 604, the same figureswhich stood five months ago.This is a relief, CMO Raiadded.

    According to the NodalOfficer for Corona Dr RishiSahai, those infected onMonday included a doctorfrom the SRN HospitalSurgery Department, anMMU sampling, a ward boy.

    At the same time, theCovid report of three JuniorEngineers of Public WorksDepartment, three advocates,Assistant Manager of Yes BankCivil Lines has come positive.At the same time, IFFCO'sdata entry operator, two teach-ers, the owner of a private edu-cational institution have alsobeen infected with the deadlyvirus, added Dr Sahai.

    PREPARATIONS COM-PLETE FOR COVID VACCI-NATION: Preparations are

    complete in the district forCovid vaccination.Administrative and HealthDepartment officials gave thisinformation to PrincipalSecretary Sudhir Garg, thenodal officer for Corona onMonday. It was reported that30 doses are expected for thefirst stage vaccination. In orderto keep the vaccine safe,arrangements have been madeto place 32 inter liner refrig-erators (ILRs) in the newlyconstructed cold chain centreto maintain the cold chain.Currently three ILRs havebeen installed and tested.

    Nodal Officer for Coronaand Principal Secretary SudhirGarg held a meeting onMonday with DistrictMagistrate, CMO, NodalCorona, nodal vaccinationand other officials regardingpreparation of corona vaccina-tion. He obtained point-wiseinformation regarding cold

    chains, vaccine carriers, taskforces, vaccinators and surveil-lance for vaccination.

    District MagistrateBhanuchandra Goswami saidthat according to the guidelineof the government, prepara-tions are complete. CMO DrPrabhakar Rai gave informa-tion about the training ofemployees. Nodal Officer forCovid Vaccination Dr RahulSingh gave information onpreparation of vaccination andmonitoring of health of ben-eficiaries by maintenance ofvaccine dose.

    The district 's NodalOfficer for Corona Dr RishiSahai, described progress incorona testing and treatmentof patients.

    Two more centres havenow been set up in the districtfor corona vaccination. The 45centres were listed two daysago. Nodal Officer for CovidVaccination Dr Rahul Singh

    said that counters will beincreased on the basis ofpatients registered on the por-tal in private hospitals, not justthe government.

    Principal Secretary SudhirGarg directed the officers thatduring the Covid vaccination,the beneficiary would be keptin the waiting room for half anhour and kept under thesupervision of doctors. Undervaccination protocol, a teamshould be constituted to mon-itor the health of the beneficia-ry after vaccination.

    These teams will providephone numbers to the benefi-ciaries. In case of any problem,the team reached the spot, itsarrangement should also beensured.

    No apprenticeship will beexcusable during the Covidvaccination. He also directedto increase the scope of testingto prevent the spread ofCorona.

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    Deputy Chief MinisterKeshav Prasad Mauryareviewed Magh Mela workprogress and inaugurated/ laidfoundation of 44 projectsinvolving � 38.94 crore inPhulpur area on Tuesday. Theabove development projectsare under the work area of thePWD.

    Maurya first visited theSangam area to review melawork and instructed officials tocomplete work within timeframe.

    He laid stress on Covidprotocols and said that safety ofthe devotees is on top of thepriority of the government.

    The Deputy Chief Ministerinstructed the officials to com-plete bathing ghat constructionat the earliest for the conve-nience of the bathers.

    He also ensured that shal-low waters will be made avail-able for bathing, and there willbe barricading to stop devoteesfrom entering the danger zoneof deep waters.

    Maurya inspected theprogress of pontoon bridgeconstruction, power supply,water supply, road construction

    with chequered plates andother facilities to be madeavailable to the mela visitors.He offered prayers at the

    Sangam nose, Bade Hanumantemple and Akshayvat beforeleaving for Jamunipur DurvasaAshram, Kakara.

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    As many as 28 new COVID-19 patients have beendetected in the district onTuesday, increasing the totalnumber to 21,097. The day alsosaw two more deaths, increas-ing the toll to 357. During theday, the follow-up negativereports included 46 and all ofthem have been recovered fromhome isolation, increasing thenumber to 17,388. As none ofthe patient has been dischargedfrom any hospital, the numberremained at 2,919. The totalnumber of patients who havebeen recovered so far is 20,307,

    leaving 433 active cases. Therecovery rate is 96.25 per cent,while the mortality rate is 1.69per cent.

    Chief Medical Officer(CMO) Dr VB Singh hasinformed that in the firstreport of the day, 18 positivepatients were found out of2,640 reports received. Tillthen, the total test reportsreceived were 5,12,270 and theresults of 2,535 are awaited.Out of them, 4,90,183 werenegative, while 21,087 positive.The total number of samplescollected was 5,37,301. Earlier,a male aged 65 fromChaubeypur succumbed to

    COVID-19 at Sir SundarlalHospital, Banaras HinduUniversity (SSH BHU), whilea male aged 66 fromMadhopur died at ApexHospital. With the addition oftwo new red zones, the totalnumber of hotspots hasincreased to 2,639 including199 red zones. Two greenzones have been convertedinto the red zones again. Thereare 2,440 green zones withthree new ones.

    Meanwhile, mass / groupcorona antigen tests continuedat the static booths and sta-tions of the district under thedirection of District Magistrate

    (DM) Kaushal Raj Sharma. Allthe 174 tests were found neg-ative at SSPG HospitalKabirchaura apart from 151atDistrict Women’s Hospital, 32at CHC Shivpur, 46 atVivekanand HospitalBhelupur, 137 at LBS HospitalRamnagar ans 145 at SSHBHU. Apart from this, all the56 tests at Varanasi Junction(Cantt) railway station and 38at Manduadih were foundnegative. Along with this, sam-ples of 110 from SSH BHU,125 from Women’s Hospital,four from Vivekanand and116 from LBS have been sentfor RTPCR investigation.

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    To mark the party’sFoundation Day, the work-ers of the Congress Party tookout Congress Sandesh padya-tra in Cantt assembly con-stituency on the second consec-utive day on Tuesday andpledged to continue their fightto protect democratic values.

    The Congressmen gath-ered at the statue of BharatRatna Pt Madan MohanMalviya at Lanka here andtook out Congress Sandeshpadyatra which culminated atat the statue of SwamiVivekanand by covering theareas of Lanka, Assi, Bhadaini,Shivala and Vijya trijunction.During the padyatra, theyapprised the people of theparty policies and ideologiesand also honoured the veteranparty leaders.

    The aim behind to take outthe padyatra on the occasion ofFoundation Day of party is toget the party ideology andpolicies reach to common menand apprise the people aboutthe anti-people and anti-democracy policies of the gov-ernment at Centre, the presi-dent of City CongressCommittee (CCC) RaghvendraChaubey informed saying, theparty has played an importantrole right from getting the

    nation independence andbuilding a modern India. TheCongressmen will continuetheir fight to protect the demo-cratic values and against thepresent anti-farmer and anti-youth government, he saidadding, when the British Rulerswere making excess on poor,labourers and farmers, theCongress Party under the lead-ership of Mahatma Gandhi,Jawaharlal Nehru, RajendraPrasad, Sardar VallabhbhaiPatel and others fought anunforgettable battle against theBritishers and got freedom.

    ACS INSPECTS PADDYPURCHASING CENTRES:Additional Chief Secretary

    (Agriculture) and DistrictNodal Officer Dr DeveshChaturvedi inspected thepaddy purchasing centres inthe district here on Monday.While inspecting the paddypurchasing centre at PCF MirzaMurad, he held talks with thefarmers selling paddy throughmobile. He made calls to thefarmers Mansharam(Lachhapur) and TribhuvanSingh (Pratappur) and inquiredabout the problems faced inpaddy sales and payment. TheACS was informed by the cen-tre incharge that so far 5,220quintal paddy has been pro-cured from about 135 farmersand 50 per cent of the farmers

    have been paid. In reply,expressing displeasure,Chaturvedi directed the offi-cials concerned that the pay-ment process should be com-pleted immediately and thereshould not be any kind of lax-ity in it.

    During inspection of ACSat food marketing centre atAraziline, he was informed bythe incharge that 10,910 quin-tals have been sold by 258farmers so far and payment hasalso been made to 198 farmerswhile the payment proceduresof rest of farmers is underprocess. ACS directed the offi-cers to update tokens andensure purchasing in a trans-parent manner. He alsoinquired regarding dispatch ofpurchased paddy to the ricemills. During the inspection,ADM (Supply), Deputy RMO,AR (Cooperative) and otherofficers of the concerneddepartments were also pre-sent.

    Later, at a meeting withofficers at Circuit House, theACS reviewed the progress ofdevelopment works. The meet-ing was also attended byDistrict Magistrate (DM)Kaushal Raj Sharma, ChiefDevelopment Officer (CDO)Madhusudan Hulgi and otherofficers of various departmentswere present in the meeting.

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    Another step has been takenunder the efficient leader-ship of Yash Pal Singh, GeneralManager of the CentralOrganisation for RailwayElectrification (CORE). In thiscontext, the IntegratedFacilitation Cell was inaugurat-ed by General Manager forHRMS, UMID, and e-Suvidhapass / PTO following the Covidprotocol for assistance to theofficers / employees working inCentral Organisation forRailway Electrification,Prayagraj,

    With this, the work relat-ed to Personnel departmentwill get unprecedented contri-bution in smooth, easy and fastrunning. Due to all the facili-ties being operated electroni-cally, the requirement of paperwill be less and we will have tocut less trees for paper. Thus, itwill also protect the environ-ment. This was said by theGeneral Manager.

    Prominent among thosepresent on the occasion includ-ed Arun Kumar, ChiefAdministrative Officer, SureshKumar, Principal Chief Signaland Telecom Engineer,Ashutosh, Principal ChiefEngineer, Pramila Singh,Principal Chief PersonnelOfficer, Akmal Vadud ChiefStore Manager and other offi-cers were present.

    KILLED: In a sensationalincident, a 17-year-oldteenaged was strangled to death

    by some unidentified miscre-ants in the Pure Khargarai vil-lage of Fatanpur area inPratapgarh district of UP. Thefamilies of the missing teenag-er got puzzled to see the bodylying in the bush.

    On receipt of information,police reached the spot andstarted the investigation andtook the body into its custodyand sent it to the mortuary forthe postmortem examination.According to police the teenag-er left home for defecation onMonday night and did notreturn since then. The familymembers launched a hunt forhim till late night but failed totrace him.

    Vinod Kumar, son of BrijlalYadav, resident of the PureKhargarai village of Fatanpurarea of the district, came out ofthe house on Monday nightsaying the family that he wasgoing to relieve himself. Whenhe did not return till late night,the family members were upset.The relatives started looking forhim.

    During the search, Vinodwas found lying unconscious inthe bush of the Primary School,about 200 metres away fromthe house. Seeing this, the kinburst into tears. Crowds ofpeople gathered in the villageafter hearing the noise.

    Vinod had bruises in histhroat. In a hurry, the kinsmenran to the hospital with him. InCHC Gaura, after the doctorstold Vinod to be dead, a pall ofgloom prevailed over the fam-

    ily members. The weepinghousemates came home withVinod’s body. The case hasbeen reported to police.

    The police took the bodyinto its custody and sent it forpostmortem. Police took infor-mation about the murder fromVinod Kumar’s family mem-bers and villagers. Police saidthat a investigation is beingdone after registering a case onthe basis of a written complaintbeing given by the family mem-ber of the deceased.

    ARRESTED: A man, whowas enticing a minor student ofclass ninth living in Jhunsi, wasarrested late on Monday night.On finding them loiteringalong in the midnight at CivilLines area, the police intercept-ed the two and questionedthem. On getting the informa-tion, the Jhunsi police reachedthe spot and then took both ofthem to the police station.Where the minor was handedover to her family and theaccused was arrested and sentto jail. The 14-year-old daugh-ter of an electric goods dealerliving in Jhunsi is a ninth classstudent in a school located inthe area. On the evening ofDecember 26, she went miss-ing under the mysterious cir-cumstances. The familysearched a lot, but failed to findher out. Around 11 o’clock inthe night, they lodged a miss-ing report at the Jhunsi policestation. The police were look-ing for her.

    On the other hand, around

    2.30 am, S-I Ajit Kumarstopped the young man walk-ing in a suspicious conditionwith a minor girl in the CivilLines and he was shocked.When questioned, the youngman told her to be his sisterand said that he was goinghome with her, but both cameunder suspicion after investiga-tion and inquiries came toknow about different commu-nities. Policemen were stunnedto hear what came out after hewas strictly questioned. Hetold the police his name YusufKhan aka Aditya Raj son ofAbdul Karim. He also told thecops that he is originally fromKasganj who currently works ina glass factory in Lucknow.When asked where he wasgoing with the teenager on sucha night, he could not give a sat-isfactory answer. After whichinformation was given aboutthe case, S-I Manoj KumarYadav, who was looking for aminor, also came and thenboth were taken to Jhunsipolice station. During interro-gation of the teenager, it wasfound that she had befriendedthe accused young man sever-al months ago on Facebook.After this, she started talkingoften to him. On the eveningof December 26, he came fromLucknow to meet her. Both metin Jhunsi after which he start-ed taking her with him. Policesaid that the youth has beenarrested and sent to jail on thecharge of kidnapping theminor.

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    The railway administrationhas extended the followingspecial trains already being runfor the convenience of the pas-sengers. However, their stop-pages and timing of these trainswill remain as before. All coach-es will be of reserved categoryand passengers travelling inthem will have to follow theCovid-19 guidelines, CPRO PKSingh said. The 08181 Tata-Chhapra puja special will be runevery Monday, Tuesday, Thursdayand Friday till March 29, 2021.The 08182 Chhapra-Tata Pujaspecial will be run everyWednesday, Thursday, Saturdayand Sunday till March 31, 2021.The 09601 Udaipur-NewJalpaiguri weekly puja specialhas been extended till January 30.The 09602 New Jalpaiguri-Udaipur weekly puja special hasbeen extended till February 1 andits rake composition has been

    changed. According to thechanged rake structure, a total of20 coaches, including two coach-es of SLR, four of general secondclass, seven of sleeper, five of ACthird and two of AC second classwill be attached. The 02521Barauni-Ernakulam weekly pujaspecial has been extended tillJanuary 27. The 02522 Ernakulam-Barauni weekly puja special will beextended from Ernakulam everySunday till January 31. The 05269Muzaffarpur-Ahmedabad weeklypuja special has been extended tillJanuary 28. The 05270Ahmedabad-Muzaffarpur weeklypujaspecial has been extended tillJanuary 30 and its rake compo-sition has been changed.According to the changed struc-ture, a total of 22 coaches, includ-ing two of generator- cum-lug-gage van and 20 coaches ofgeneal second class will beattached in this train. The 05251Darbhanga-Jalandhar City week-ly puja special has been extend-

    ed till January 30. The 05252Jalandhar City-Darbhanga week-ly puja special has been extend-ed till January 31. The 05531Saharsa-Amritsar weekly pujaspecial has been extended tillJanuary 31. The 05532 Amritsar-Saharsa weekly puja special hasbeen extended till February 1.The 05211 Darbhanga-Amritsarpuja special has been extendedtill January 29. The 05212Amritsar-Darbhanga weeklypuja special has been extendedtill January 31. The stoppage ofthis train at Haiaghat station hasbeen withdrawn. As a result the05211 Darbhanga-Amritsar pujaspecial train from January 1 and05212 Amritsar-Darbhanga week-ly puja special from January 3 willnot stop at Haiaghat station. The05529 Saharsa-Anand ViharTerminus weekly puja special hasbeen extended till January 27. The05530 Anand Vihar Terminus-Saharsa weekly puja special hasbeen extended till January 28.

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    The railway administrationhas extended the run of thefollowing special trains for theconvenience of people. Changeshave been made in the timingsand stoppage of these trainsfrom January 1, 2021. Theircoach structure will remain thesame. All coaches will be ofreserved category and passen-gers will have to follow theCovid-19 prevention guidelines,CPRO PK Singh said.

    05048 GKP-KOLKATAPUJA SPL: The 05048Gorakhpur-Kolkata puja specialtrain will be run till March 30and changes have been in itstiming and stoppages. As per thechanged timing from January 1,2021, the puja special train willevery Sunday, Monday, Tuesdayand Friday leave Gorakhpur at11.30 hrs, Deoria Sadar at 12.22hrs, Siwan at 13.25 hrs, Chhapraat 14.50 hrs, Hajipur at 15.57 hrs,Muzaffarpur at 16.55 hrs,Samastipur at 17.55 hrs, Barauniat 19.30 hrs, Jhajha at 21.50 hrs,Jasidih at 22.27 hrs Madhupurat 22.52 hrs, Chittaranjan at23.33 hrs, Asansol at 00.16 hrson second day, Durgapur at00.47 hrs, Barddhaman at 01.53hrs, Bandel at 02.55 hrs, Naihatiat 03.20 hrs and reach Kolkataat 04.40 hrs. The 05047 Kolkata-Gorakhpur puja special will berun till April 1 next year andchanges have been made in itstiming and stoppages. As per thechanged timing from January 1next year the 05047 Kolkata-Gorakhpur puja special will onevery Monday, Tuesday,Thursday and Saturday leaveKolkata at 14.30 hrs, Naihati at15.18 hrs, Bandel at 15.45 hrs,Barddhaman at 16.48 hrs,Durgapur at 17:40 hrs, Asansolat 18.22 hrs, Chittranjan at 18.45hrs, Madhupur at 19.26 hrs,Jasidih at 19.54 hrs, Jhajha at21.10 hrs, Barauni at 23.25 hrs,the second day from Samastipurat 00.20 hrs, Muzaffarpur at01.30 hrs, Hajipur from 02.25hrs, Chhapra at 04.30 hrs, Siwanat 05.25 hrs, Deoria Sadar at06.20 hrs and reach Gorakhpurat 07.50 hrs.

    05050 GKP-KOLKATAPUJA SPL: The 05050Gorakhpur-Kolkata puja special(via Mau, Ballia, Desari) will berun till March 31 next year andchanges have been made in its

    timing and stoppages. The trainwill leave Gorakhpur everyWednesday and Saturday at 08.45hrs, Deoria Sadar at 09.38 hrs,Bhatni at 10.10 hrs, Salempur at10.30 hrs, Belthara Road at 10.52hrs, Indara at 12.02 hrs, Rasra at12.33 hrs, Ballia at 13.13 hrs,Suraimanpur at 13.48 hrs,Chhapra at 15.05 hrs, Hajipur at16.35 hrs, Desari at 16.57 hrs,Shahpur Patori at 17.38 hrs,Mohiuddinnagar at 17.54 hrs,Barauni at 19.40 hrs, Jhajha at21.50 hrs, Jasidih at 22.27 hrs,Madhupur at 22.55 hrs,Chittaranjan at 23.33 hrs, Asansolon second day at 00.16 hrs,Durgapur at 00.47 hrs,Barddhaman at 01.53 hrs, Bundelat 02.55 hrs, Naihati at 03.20 hrsand reach Kolkata at 04.40 hrs.The 05049 Kolkata-Gorakhpurpuja special (via Desari, Ballia,Mau) will be run till March 31,2021, and changes have beenmade in its timing and stoppage.From January 1 as per changedtiming the train will leave Kolkataevery Wednesday and Sunday at14.30 hrs, Naihati at 15.18 hrs,Bandel at 15.45 hrs, Barddhamanat 16.48 hrs, Durgapur at 17.40hrs, Asansol at 18.22 hrs,Chittaranjan at 18.45 hrs,Madhupur at 19.26 hrs, Jasidihat 19.58 hrs, Jhajha at 21.10 hrs,Barauni at 23.35 hrs,Mohiuddinnagar on second dayat 00.10 hrs, Shahpur Patori at00.24 hrs, Desari at 00.50 hrs,Hajipur at 01.20 hrs, Chhapraat 02.55 hrs, Ballia at 03.55 hrs,Rasra at 04.30 hrs, Indara at05.00 hrs, Mau from 05.40 hrs,Belthra Road at 06.10 hrs,Salempur at 06.40 hrs, Bhatni at07.15 hrs, Deoria Sadar at 07.45hrs and Gorakhpur at 09.10 hrs.

    05052 GKP-KOLKATAPUJA SPL: The 05052Gorakhpur-Kolkata puja spe-cial train (via Narkatiaganj) willbe run till March 25 and changeshave been made in its timingand stoppages. As per thechanged timing from January 1the train will every Thursdayleave Gorakhpur at 10.10 hrs,Pipraich at 10.35 hrs,Kaptanganj at 11.02 hrs, SiswaBazar at 11.38 hrs, Bagaha at12.49 hrs, Narkatiaganj at 13.33hrs, Bettiah at 14.02 hrs, Sugauliat 14.21 hrs, Bapudham Motihariat 14.41 hrs, Chakia at 15.07 hrs,Muzaffarpur at 17.30 hrs,Samastipur at 18.20 hrs, Barauniat 19.30 hrs, Jhajha at 21.50 hrs,

    Jasidih at 22.27 hrs, Madhupur at22.52 hrs, Chittaranjan at 23.33hrs, Asansol at 00.16 hrs on sec-ond day, Durgapur at 00.47 hrs,Barddhaman at 01.53 hrs, Bundelat 02.55 hrs, Naihati at 03.20 hrsand reach Kolkata at 04.40 hrs.The 05051 Kolkata-Gorakhpurpuja special (via Narkatiaganj)will be run till March 26 and thetime and stopover of this trainhas been changed. As per thechanged time from January 1 the05051 Kolkata-Gorakhpur pujaspecial will leave Kolkata at14.30 hrs every Friday, Naihatiat 15.18 hrs, Bandel at 15.45 hrs,Barddhaman at 16.48 hrs,Durgapur at 17.40 hrs, Asansolat 18.22 hrs, Chittaranjan at18.45 hrs, Madhupur at 19.26hrs, Jasidih at 19.54 hrs, Jhajhaat 21.10 hrs, Barauni at 23.25 hrs,the second day Samastipur at00.20 hrs, Muzaffarpur at 01.30hrs, Chakia at 02.17 hrs,Bapudham Motihari at 02.44hrs, Sugauli at 03.03 hrs,Bettiah at 03.23 hrs,Narkatiaganj at 04.08 hrs,Bagaha at 05.19 hrs, SiswaBazar at 06:30 hrs, Kaptanganjat 07.05 hrs and reachGorakhpur at 08.10 hrs.

    GKP-HATIA PUJA SPL:The 05028 Gorakhpur-Hatiapuja special will be run tillMarch 31 and changes havebeen made in its timing and stop-pages. As per the changed timingfrom January 1 it will leaveGorakhpur at 07.25 hrs daily,Chauri Chaura at 07.57 hrs,Gauri Bazaar at 08.12 hrs, DeoriaSadar at 08.35 hrs, Bhatni Jn at08.56 hrs, Bhatpar Rani at 09:13hrs and after stopping at Mairwa,Siwan Jn, Duraundha Jn Ekma,Chhapra Jn, Dighwara, Sonpur,Hajipur, Bhagwanpur Goraul,Muzaffarpur, Dholi, Khudi RamBose Pusa, Samastipur,Dalsingsarai, Bachhwara,Barauni, Hathidah Upper,Luckeesarai, Kiul, Jamui, Jhajha,Jasidih, Madhupur, Vidyasagar,Chittaranjan on the second dayat 00.11 hrs, Kumardubi at 01.05hrs, Dhanbad at 02.20 hrs,Katrasgarh at 02.46 hrs.,Chandrapura at 03.24 hrs, BokaroSteel City at 04.30 hrs, Kotshila at05.03 hrs, Muri at 05.40 hrs,Ranchi at 07.05 hrs and reachHatia at 07.25 hrs. The 05027Hatia-Gorakhpur puja specialwill be run till April 1 andchanges have been made in itstiming and stoppages.

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    UP Minister of State for EnergyRama Shankar Singh Patelsaid that khadi and gramodyog wasa boon for not only rural economybut for national economy too.While speaking at the inauguralfunction of the 10-day-long KhadiGramodyog exhibition at theground of BLJ Inter College,Mahuaria, on Monday as the chiefguest he said the government hadpaved the way for promotion of cot-tage industries based on rural products and nowit was the duty of people to adopt items which werebeing produced by such industries. He said ruralindustries were helpful in earning more withoutleaving home. He appealed to people to avail thefacilities provided by the government and beinvolved with rural industries to increase per capi-ta income. MLA Ratnakar Mishra also expressed hisviews on the occasion. MLA Shuchsmita Maurya saidkhadi was not merely a cloth but an ideology. The

    programme concluded with the dis-tribution of tool kits to the artisansof ODOP (one district one product)and started with the lighting of cer-emonial lamp by guests. Amongthose who present were DM SushilKumar Patel, commissioner KhadiGramodyog, Vinod Chaudhary,besides Prem Singh Garg,Dhanendra Pandey, Rama Pandeyand Udaybhan Tiwari.

    WARNED: NPP ChairmanManoj Jaiswal at a meeting held atits office warned the agency asso-

    ciated with AMRUT scheme. He said during thelaying of pipeline, roads were being damaged andno proper filling of soil after laying them wascausing great inconvenience to people. Hedirected the working agency to connect watertapes with new pipeline simultaneously toavoid further inconvenience to the residents. Hesaid fund should be provided to NPP according tothe damage. The members and engineers of NagarPalika and Jal Nigam were prese