OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR & AHMEDABAD
CORONA
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ALERT JAIPUR l SATURDAY, JUNE 13, 2020 l Pages 12 l 3.00
COVID-19 UPDATE
WORLD
4,25,917 DEATHS
MAHARASHTRA 3,717 DEATHS 1,01,141 CASES
76,70,288 CONFIRMED CASES
TAMIL NADU 367 DEATHS 40,698 CASES
Jaipur: Two days since Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s comment claiming attempts were being made to poach Congress MLAs, Friday was the day of the ‘big revelation’. While certain faction in the Congress party strictly maintains that these are just rumours, there was, however, the ‘Manesar Mission’ of the disgruntled legislators which was planned to bring down the Gehlot government. Highly placed sources revealed that the ‘disgruntled lot’ had devised the strategy of ‘shock and awe’, which is commonly used by militaries around the world. And June 11 was chosen to be the ‘DDay’, when almost two dozen MLAs were to be shifted to Manesar in Haryana. According to their plan, the annual rally organised on the death anniversary of late Congress stalwart
Rajesh Pilot at Bhandana in Dausa was the meeting point for all the dissidents. Although all Congress leaders were invited, but two dozen ‘dissidents’ were the ones, who after the function, would have travelled by road to Manesar, instead of coming to Jaipur to attend the party’s ‘camp’ at Shiv Vilas Hotel. Once the MLAs would have reached Manesar, the real game would have begun! Interestingly, there is word that some of the MLAs have even taken an advance amount in the entire development. These MLAs even shared the names and contact numbers of their close associates who were to receive the cash from unknown ‘forces’ at some Gurgaon hotel as it was done during the recent “Operation Madhya Pradesh”. This warrants another question. Apart from Gehlot, were Avinash Pande, KC Venugopal, Sachin Pilot and Randeep Surjewala in the
8,890
INDIA
DEATHS
DELHI 1,214 DEATHS 36,824 CASES
11JUNE Aditi Nagar & Kartikey Dev Singh
RNI NO. RAJENG/2019/77764 l Vol 2 l Issue No. 7
3,09,389
CONFIRMED CASES
www.firstindia.co.in www.firstindia.co.in/epaper/ I twitter.com/ thefirstindia I facebook.com/thefirstindia instagram.com/thefirstindia
RAJASTHAN
272
DEATHS
GUJARAT 1,416 DEATHS 22,562 CASES
12,068
CONFIRMED CASES
UTTAR PRADESH 365 DEATHS 12,616 CASES
Mission Manesar crashed on the runway before takeoff!
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot flanked by (L) Rajasthan in- charge Avinash Pande, Rajya Sabha Congress candidate from Rajasthan and party’s national general secretary KC Venugopal, (R) PCC Chief & Deputy CM Sachin Pilot and party spokesperson & observer for the polls Randeep Surjewala during a meeting JW Marriott Hotel in Jaipur on Friday. —PHOTO BY SANTOSH SHARMA
know how of this development? And this is where the ‘referee’ blew his ‘whistle’ in the ‘game’. Vigilant and alert over the developments, CM Gehlot played his masterstroke and two days before the said plan was to
be executed, he sealed the Rajasthan borders, thus effectively turning around the ‘shock and awe’ strategy of the dissidents, on its head, thereby converting what was considered as ‘weakness’ into ‘strength’. More on P2 & P8
CM himself was key player of ongoing political drama which talks of political conspiracy without any facts. I challenge CM to prove horse trading by BJP with proof or else apologise to the people. Deputy CM Sachin Pilot’s ambition is the root cause of the problem. —Satish Poonia, State BJP Chief
Govt is sending its own social distancing advisory for a toss by camping at a resort. It is unfortunate that instead of solving people’s problems, govt was self serving during the desperate corona crisis. I dare govt to prove allegations of political corruption against BJP. —Rajendra Rathore, Dy LoP
ALLOW BUS, TRUCKS SC calls situation in Delhi horrific; raps Kejri govt TO PLY ALL NIGHT ON HIGHWAYS: MHA MHA to states: Movement of individuals shall remain strictly prohibited between 9 pm and 5 am New Delhi: Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla on Friday wrote to states and union territories advising them not to hinder the smooth passage of buses and trucks plying on highways between 9 pm and 5 am and noting that the restrictions only aim at preventing congregation of persons and ensuring social distancing. He said that `Unlock 1’ guidelines state that movement of individuals shall remain strictly prohibited between 9 pm and 5 am throughout the country except for essential activities. Bhalla said it has come to notice that some states and UTs are also restricting the movement of persons and vehicles plying on highways between 9 pm and 5 am which is hindering their smooth passage. “The purpose of restricting the movement of individuals, except for essential activities, between 9 pm and 5 am is primarily intended to
WHY TESTING DIPPED: SC TO GOVT
SC asked Delhi government to explain why its COVID-19 testing had dipped from 7,000 to 5,000 a day when other equally affected cities such as Chennai and Mumbai had increased their testing from 16,000 to 17,000. “We ask State to ensure nobody is denied testing on technical reasons. Simplify the procedure, so more and more can test. It is state’s duty to conduct testing, so more people know their health status,” SC said.
“grim” in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, the top court said, seeking response from the four states and the central government as it took note of re-
ports of improper handling of COVID-19 patients and disposal of bodies in the country. “COVID-19 patients are treated worse than animals. Turn on P6
Corona relief: GST rate PM to interact cut for small taxpayers with CMs on
INDIA’S CASES CROSS 3-LAKH MARK
prevent congregation of persons and to ensure social distancing,” the letter said. It said that the restriction doesn’t apply to loading/unloading of goods (as part of supply chains and logistics),
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday took cognizance on its own of reports of improper handling of COVID-19 patients and undignified disposal of the victims’ bodies in the country. Coronavirus patients are being treated “worse than animals”, the Supreme Court said on Friday as it pulled up the Delhi government over the “horrendous, horrific and pathetic” situation in the national capital amid a spurt in cases. The situation is also
buses carrying persons and trucks and goods carriers plying on state and national highways or persons travelling to their destinations after disembarking from buses, trains and flights. —ANI
New Delhi: The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on Friday decided to waive off fees for late filing returns between July 2017 to January this year in a bid to minimise the impact of COVID-19 crisis on micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Due to the countrywide lockdown stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, a lot of return filing has been pending and revenue collections have been depressed. “For all those who have no tax
June 16-17
liabilities but who have not filed their returns between July 2017 to January 2020 there will be zero late fees,” said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman after the 40th GST Council meeting held through video conference. Turn on P6
New Delhi: PM Narendra Modi will be holding extensive talks with all CMs of states and UTs on June 16 and 17. This will be his first interaction with the CMs ever since ‘Unlock1’ was declared. Earlier also PM had rounds of discussions with the CM. On June 16, the PM is scheduled to hold a video conference with CM of 21 states and UTs. In the second round of VC on June 17, he will speak to 15 CMs.
An injured villager is shifted to a hospital after indiscriminate firing by the Nepal police at the Lalbandi-Janki Nagar border, near Saitmarhi district of Bihar on Friday. —PHOTO BY PTI
1 killed, 2 hurt in firing by Nepal cops along IB in Bihar Patna/Kathmandu: The Nepalese border guarding force on Friday opened fire on a crowd killing a 22-year-old Indian man and injuring two others following an altercation, sparking tension on the Indo-Nepal Border along Bihar’s Sitamarhi district. The border guarding force - Nepalese Armed Police Force - has also detained a person identified as 45-year-old Lagan Yadav after the incident, Indian officials said. The incident comes in the midst of a raging boundary row between the two countries with India sternly asking Nepal not to resort to any “artificial enlarge-
ment” of territorial claims after Kathmandu released a new political map laying claim over Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura. New Delhi maintains that these were part of Uttarakhand while Kathmandu, in its recent map, had shown them as part of Western Nepal. India had published its new map of the border region in November, after it divided Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh into two union territories. The map had incorporated these areas of Uttarakhand, the territories disputed with Nepal, within India’s borders. Turn on P6