AHMEDABAD l SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2020 l Pages 12 l 3.00
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BJP GOVT EAGER TO GET ITS ‘RICH FRIENDS’ INTO AGRI SECTOR, SAYS PRIYANKA GANDHI
RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208 l Vol 1 l Issue No. 295
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CORONA ENTERS PARLIAMENT
Monsoon session likely to be curtailed
SPEAKER OM BIRLA TO DECIDE ON A DATE; MORE THAN 30 MPs, INCLUDING UNION MINs GADKARI & PATEL, TEST POSITIVE Aditi Nagar New Delhi: The ongoing monsoon session of Parliament is likely to be curtailed and may end by the middle of next week in view of the threat of the COVID-19 spread among parliamentarians, official sources said on Saturday. The move comes after more than 30 MPs, including Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari and Prahlad Patel, tested positive for Covid-19 over the past week. The situation prompted stricter protocols and discussions on the possibility of curtailing the monsoon session. “There is a consensus on curtailing the Parliament session. We left it
Ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament is likely to be curtailed and Speaker Om Birla will announce the last working day of the House. —PHOTOS BY ANI
to the discretion of the Speaker while adjusting business of the house,” a participant of Parliament’s Business Advisory Committee
meeting said. The Speaker will announce the last working day of the House. At a meeting of the business advisory committee of Lok
Sabha, which has floor leaders of all parties besides the government representatives and is chaired by the Speaker, most political parties
favoured curtailment of the session, which started on September 14 and was scheduled to conclude on October 1. A final decision will be taken by the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs. After some MPs tested positive for COVID-19 during the session, some Opposition parties had conveyed to government that conducting the full 18-day session could be a risky affair, sources said. Several MPs had also tested positive for COVID-19 around the time the session began and they were advised not to attend proceedings.Parliament session began on September 14.
Engage with int’l media to build pressure on Pak: Oppn to govt
RANDOM BUT ROUTINE TESTING OF MPs
New Delhi: A demand for the government escalating its engagements with the international media to build a global opinion against Pakistan for sponsoring cross-border terrorism and harbouring fugitives such as Dawood Ibrahim was made in the Rajya Sabha on Saturday. Through a Zero Hour mention, Sasmit Patra of the BJD said the government should also engage with the G-8 nations to increase international pressure on Pakistan just like its engagement with the US that reflected in the recent Indo-US joint asking Pakistan to ensure that no territory under its control is used for terrorist activities.
TRS MPs TO OPPOSE AGRI BILLS IN RAJYA SABHA
Two of the parliamentarians have tested positive within four days of their negative COVID-19 test result, arrangements have been made to keep a check—random but routinely—on health updates of the ministers and MPs. The government has arranged for testing at their residence, near the residence and in the parliament annexe. Union minister Nitin Gadkari and BJP Rajya Sabha member Vinay Sahasrabuddhe tested positive for COVID-19.
Hyderabad: Alleging that the agriculture bills brought in by NDA government would cause great injustice to farmers in the country, TRS president and Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao on Saturday asked his party MPs to vote against them in the Rajya Sabha. Observing that the bills would hurt farmers and benefit corporates, Rao told the TRS parliamentary party leader K Keshav Rao to strongly oppose them in parliament.
—With Agency inputs
To plug Pak infiltration, Army deploys addl brigade on LoC New Delhi: With Pakistan Army trying hard to push terrorists across the Line of Control (LoC), the Indian Army has deployed additional 3,000 troops in Jammu and Kashmir to plug any such infiltration attempts. “An additional brigade has been deployed on the LoC to plug infiltration and this move has given good results too,” top sources said. The additional troops deployed on the LoC have been successful in foiling almost all the major attempts of infiltration and terrorists have not been allowed to cross over, they said. Sources said Pakistan Army has failed to achieve much success in pushing terrorists this year and there would be multiple attempts to do so before higher reaches Turn to P6
CSK BEAT MI BY FIVE WICKETS IN IPL OPENER Trent Boult of Mumbai Indians appeals successfully to get the wicket of Shane Watson of Chennai Superkings during the opening match of IPL 2020 at Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Saturday.
9 Al-Qaeda men held from Kerala & WB
ARRESTED SCRIBE WAS PASSING INFO TO CHINA New Delhi: Delhi Police on Saturday said arrested freelance journalist Rajeev Sharma was allegedly passing sensitive information about India’s border strategy and Army deployment to Chinese intelligence. At a press conference, Special Cell DCP Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said Sharma was writing on defence-related issues for some Indian media organisations, as well as China’s Global Times. P5
New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) busted Pakistan sponsored AlQaeda modules in Murshidabad, West Bengal and Ernakulam, Kerala and arrested nine terrorists on Saturday. The NIA conducted simultaneous raids at multiple locations in Ernakulam and Murshidabad early morning today in which nine arrests were made, six from West Bengal and three from Kerala, according to the probe agency. The NIA had received inputs about an inter-state module of Al-Qaeda operatives at various locations in the country who were planning Turn to P6
—PHOTO BY ANI
ECI to set up national database to track status of ex-gratia payments Dr Anita New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) under the leadership of chief election commissioner (CEC), Sunil Arora, is planning to set up a national-level database to track the status of ex-gratia pay-
Sunil Arora
ments to those who got injured or lost their lives while polling or poll-related duty. Along with the national-level database, Chief Electoral Officers of all states have also been asked by the ECI to track all such claims, in an attempt to ensure
they are not delayed. “ECI is looking to set up a national database to track settlements of the ex-gratia payments for those who lose their lives or get injured while performing election-related duty,” sources from ECI told ANI. Turn to P6
Government health guidelines could be worsening nCoV situation Hospitals being flooded with patients needing critical care as those with mild or no symptoms are getting little or no treatment Gargi Raval Ahmedabad: With the government asking people infected with the Sars-CoV-2 virus, but showing mild or no symptoms to stay away from hospitals, doctors say that patients who do get ad-
mitted require urgent critical care. This is further increasing the strain on healthcare infrastructure. In Ahmedabad alone, only 27 of the 138 ICU beds with ventilator support are vacant at designated private hospitals and just 56 of the
This COVID-19 testing booth in Ahmedabad’s Usmanpura area was bereft of a medical team as well as anyone wanted to get tested for the Sars-CoV-2 virus on Saturday. —PHOTO BY HANIF SINDHI
278 total ICU beds without ventilator support are unoccupied. Dr JP Modi, medical superintendent at the Civil Hospital in Asarwa told First India, “There is a guideline of the government that asymptomatic patients and those with mild symptoms should be treated at home. So, now, they only come to the hospital when their condition worsens. Hence, the hospitals are getting more patients in critical
condition, who need oxygen and ventilator support. Plus, most patients who get admitted to the hospital also have comorbid conditions.” However, he also said that the Civil Hospital has enough ICU beds and oxygen for now. President of the Ahmedabad Medical Association, Dr Mona Desai, added, “Hospitals are getting more serious patients now than they did before. In the past week, more
than 40% of patients who visited hospitals were in critical condition. People need to wear masks and understand that hospitals are also burdened.” Dr Chandresh Jardosh, president of the Gujarat chapter of the Indian Medical Association, blamed the system for the increase in critical-care patients. “The main reason for the increasing number of COVID-19 patients in the country Turn to P6