VIJAYAWADA l THURSDAY l MAY 28, 2020 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l LATE CITY EDITION APAI TO HELP GET REFUNDS FOR FLIGHT CANCELLATIONS The Air Passengers Association of India on Wednesday launched an online tool to help passengers get full refunds GRIEVANCE CELL TO REGISTER CLAIMS DAMAGES SOUGHT FOR HARASSMENT Passengers can visit the APAI Grievance Cell at https://docs.google.com/ forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfc99rMw9aSTAd0pq8m04VvbpCRcXufBcdaxn5AkSX 760aWsw/viewform and fill in their flight details. APAI national president Sudhakara Reddy told TNIE they have already received over 1,000 complaints and will move the Supreme Court soon against airlines ■ ■ Reddy said passengers who came to know about cancellations after reaching the airport should be compensated for harassment “We have been shouting from the rooftop that airlines are like leaches and ministry has been taking their side all the time and every time and doesn’t care for the plight of pax,” he added 354 NO OF DOMESTIC FLIGHTS OPERATED BETWEEN 12 AM-5 PM ON WEDNESDAY CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Quarantine kicks in as passengers on two more flights test positive EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi TWO persons travelling in different flights have been found positive in the past 24 hours. A passenger on Air India Delhi-Ludhiana flight on Tuesday was tested positive for Covid-19. The passenger was an Alliance Govt to take Eng-medium tussle to SC EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Vijayawada REITERATING his commitment to introduce Englishmedium education in gover nment schools, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday said the government will knock the doors of the Supreme Court with the opinions of parents, 96 per cent of whom gave their consent for English-medium education. “While 94 per cent of parents’ committees voted in favour of English-medium education, 96 per cent of the 40 lakh parents, whose opinions were sought on introducing English as the medium of instruction with Telugu as a compulsory subject, opted for English-medium education,” he said. Jagan further said, “Many parents are sending their children to private schools, where English is the medium of instruction even though they can’t afford it because they feel sending their children to Telugu-medium government schools is a waste.” CONTINUED ON P4  Air employee and a total of 36 passengers on the flight along with four crew members have been put in institutional quarantine as per Punjab government rules. Alliance Air, which operates regional flights, is part of Air India. “The passenger who works in the security depart- ment of Alliance Air was travelling on a paid ticket,”Air India stated. The flight was operated on May 25, when domestic flight services resumed after remaining grounded for two months. In a similar instance, an air p a s s e n g e r t r ave l l i n g o n Ahmedabad-Guwahati flight was found positive after reaching destination on Wednesday . However, the airline the person travelled could not be ascertained immediately . On Tuesday, a passenger on an IndiGo flight from Chennai to Coimbatore had tested positive for coronavirus. IndiGo grounded the entire crew of the Virus can’t spread during flights: CDC Viruses don’t spread easily on flights because of “how air circulates and is filtered on airplanes”, the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday Educational institutions will have to share information regarding their infrastructure and other facilities on the government’s new portal so students and their parents can check if the facilities provided match with those promised Govt action if promises and facilities don’t match Trump again offers mediation, this time to ease tension along the Sino-Indian border @ Vijayawada THE State gover nment on Wednesday launched a web portal on which schools and colleges will have to upload details regarding their infrastructure and other facilities. Students’ parents may visit the institutes, and complain if the facilities provided don’t match the information provided. Complaints will reach the AP School Education Regulatory and Monitoring Commission (APSERMC) and the AP Higher Education Regulatory and Monitoring Commission (APHERMC), and immediate action will be taken, Chief @ New Delhi (From left) Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy speaks during the brainstorming session of ‘Our Governance, Your Suggestion’, at his camp office in Tadepalli on Wednesday; a student participates in the session | EXPRESS Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said at the brainstorming session of ‘Our Governance, Your Suggestion’, adding that these panels have already asked schools and colleges to provide information on their facilities. The APSERMC and APHERMC, headed by retired Judges Justice R Kantha Rao and Justice V Eswaraiah respectively, are tasked with ensuring quality and seeing that private institutes do not charge exorbitant fees. Jagan said that earlier, students used to commit suicide because colleges harassed them with high fees, but now, the government is adopting a humanitarian approach. The APSERMC inspected 170 schools in February and served notices on 62 of them. Similarly, the APHERMC inspected 130 junior colleges and initiated action against 40 of them for various violations. The APSERMC has asked the managements of private unaided schools and junior colleges to submit the relevant data in prescribed schedules at apsermc.ap.gov.in so it can determine the fee structure of the schools and colleges. In a related development, the government issued instructions to private junior colleges to open additional sections as it was found that some of them were being run from apartments, restricting free movement of students. A recent Government Order (GO) issued by the School Education Department said some private junior colleges are being run in urban apartments without sufficient infrastructure, in violation of the Board of Intermediate Education (BIE) norms. “Most private un-aided junior colleges do not have a hygienic environment,” the GO read. Take CBSE boards in the ‘Uncontrolled provocative news’ in the place you are right now media to invite stern action, says DGP EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi IN an attempt to provide relief to students, the Union Human Resources Development ministry on Wednesday announced that those who have moved to other states or districts after lockdown can opt to appear in the Class X and Class XII board exams by the Central Board of Secondary Education from there itself. The decision is expected to benefit students of boarding schools as well as those in coaching hubs who had left for their home districts in the wake of the lockdown to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. The CBSE had rescheduled its board exams as the papers could be completed since the lockdown began on March 25. The remaining papers will now be held between July 1 and 15. Sources said the ministry took the latest decision in view of the long distances students would have to travel and the quarantine measures that school authorities would have been forced to take. MATH & EFFECT OF MODI PACKAGE—BY S GURUMURTHY P7 sovereignty and security, and safeguarding peace and stability in the border areas. Now the IN its first reaction after two China-India border area situastand-offs at the Line of Actual tion is overall stable and conControl between Indian and trollable.” Experts saw it as a Chinese troops on May 5 and conciliatory gesture. May 9, China on Wednesday Hours later, Chinese Ambassaid the situation at the LAC sador to India Sun Weidong, in was ‘stable and controllable’. a webinar, said both nations are US President Donald Trump not each other’s threats but opadded a bit of drama to the situ- portunities. “The Dragon and ation by offering to the Elephant can mediate between Indance together.” Nepal dia and China to set“China and India cartography tle the ‘raging border are fighting together A constitutional dispute’. “We have against Covid-19 and amendment to informed both India we have an imporinclude Kalapani and China that the tant task to consoliand Lipulekh as U n i t e d S t at e s i s date relations. Our ready, willing and Nepalese territories youth should realise in its new political able to mediate or arthe relation between map was put on bitrate their now China and India, the hold after Nepali raging border distwo countries are opCongress sought pute. Thank you!” portunities for each time to take its call Trump tweeted. other and pose no He had in the past threat,” the Chinese made multiple offers of media- envoy said. tion between India and PakiSeveral areas along of the stan on the Kashmir tangle, LAC have been witnessing enonly to be promptly rejected by hanced military activity on New Delhi, saying there was no both sides following a face-off scope for a third nation in what between the troops in Ladakh was essentially a bilateral and Sikkim. India has maindispute. tained that its troops did not do In Beijing, Chinese foreign any activity on the other side ministry spokesperson Zhao of the border and blamed ChiLijian said: “We are committed na for hindering its normal pato safeguarding our territorial trolling operations. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE New system to check edu institutes’ claims EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE since the nationwide lockdown was imposed on March 25. There have been varied guidelines by the States on quarantine. While some States have made home quarantine mandatory for every passenger, many others have talked about institutional quarantine. Border situation controllable and stable, says China Schools, colleges have to upload infra details online If students and parents notice the details provided by institutes on the portal are not accurate, they can complain, and the matter will be taken up by the APSERMC and APHERMC. The government has said immediate action will be taken flight for 14 days and said they were trying to reach out to the passengers of the flight as per government norms. The passenger has been quarantined at ESI state medical facility at Coimbatore. India on Monday resumed domestic passenger flights after a gap of over two months EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Vijayawada AMID the raging controversy over social media posts against Constitutional bodies, particularly the Judiciary Di, rector General of Police (DGP) D Gautam Sawang on Wednesday issued a stern warning to media platforms — print, electronic and social media — not to cross their limits as “uncontrolled provocative news” is causing a stir in society . “Posts targeting individuals are leading to differences between various classes in society. This is leading to an at- mosphere of unrest,” he said, adding that the police are equipping themselves to deal with the situation. “A separate wing has been formed in the Cyber Crime Wing of the Crime Investigation Department (CID) to exclusively monitor and deal with crimes that are related to social media. We have already received several complaints and have expedited our investigations in these cases,” Gautam Sawang said. He added that it is inappropriate for the media to com- ment on Constitutional bodies and those heading them. “Media and individuals should abide by the law in publishing or telecasting news or expressing their opinions. Distortion of facts and publishing or telecasting imaginary news, making derogatory, abusive, insulting and objectionable comments will not be tolerated, and legal action will be initiated. The police will act against such individuals in an impartial manner,” he warned.  CONTINUED ON P4 CAUSE UNKNOWN EXPRESS READ AP VIRAL WATCH 134 48 1 new cases new recoveries new death 1,002 2,057 58 active cases 9,664 total total recoveries deaths SAMPLES TESTED (IN 24 HRS TILL WED 9 AM) NLSIU alumni help migrants fly back home Ranchi: The first batch of 180 migrants from Jharkhand, stranded in Mumbai for over two months, will fly to their Ranchi on a special chartered flight on Thursday. The initiative is by a group of alumni of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru. They initially booked seats for 45 workers from Jharkhand on a flight to Ranchi, but the flight got cancelled and they decided to book a chartered flight for the migrants | P5 DEVIL IN THE DETAIL Vizag gas leak victim passes away No proof of KCR’s claim on Apex Council meet EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Visakhapatnam A 73-year-old woman from Venkatapuram, one of the villages affected by the styrene gas leak on May 7, died at the King George Hospital (KGH) on Tuesday night. The woman, Pala Venkayamma, had fallen ill after inhaling the gas, and was among the hundreds of people who had to be hospitalised. She was admitted on May 7 and later discharged, but then developed respiratory problems and dehydration, and was admitted to King George Hospital (KGH) again on May 19. She died on Tuesday night while being treated, her relatives said. They fear a recurrence of health problems due to the gas leak. KGH superintendent Dr G Arjuna confirmed that Venkayamma had earlier been treated and discharged. After being brought back, she was put on ventilator support, he said, adding that the cause of death is yet to be ascertained. The post-mortem report is awaited. Meanwhile, a 26-year-old from Nandamuri Nagar, near Venkatapuram, who had helped evacuate victims during the gas leak, has developed health complications and been taken to KGH, said Venkata Reddy, a resident of Venkatapuram and former LG Polymers employee. ‘LOCALS GETTING RASHES, NAUSEA, HEADACHE’ The medicines given by ANMs and Aasha workers only provide temporary relief, said a resident of Venkatapuram, adding that locals are now developing rashes, nausea, joint pain and headaches J AYA N T H P @ Vijayawada CONTRARY to the claims of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao that both Telugu-speaking states mutually agreed in the first Apex Council meeting on water resources management, in September 2016, to go ahead with the proposed projects on the Krishna, the minutes of the meeting reveal that no such consensus was arrived at. This, and the fact that the Palamuru-Rangareddy project is yet to get an environment clearance even as works are underway, state officials in- ferred, would give ammunition to the AP government to argue that the objections raised by Telangana regarding the proposed Rayalaseema Pumping Scheme were unjustified. In fact, the AP government, which is preparing a counter to be filed in the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which stayed the project after a farmer from Telangana filed a petition, is ready to move the Supreme Court regarding the proposed scheme as it is only a supplementary scheme to draw the allocated share of water. On May 18, Chandrasekhar Rao, in response to a query on the complaint made by the AP Water Resourc- MINUTES DON’T SAY BOTH STATES AGREED Telangana CM KCR had said both states agreed to go ahead with the proposed projects on the Krishna, but the minutes of the meeting reveal that no such consensus was arrived at es Department about Palamuru-Rangareddy, Dindi and other projects in the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) meeting, said, “The AP government moved the Supreme Court against the PalamuruRangareddy project. The court referred it to the Apex Council. There was another CM back then (September, 2016). We discussed the issue and he (Chandrababu Naidu) agreed. It was agreed that AP would build its project and we would go ahead with ours. Accordingly, we started our works. The same was recorded in the minutes of P4 the meeting.”