The Human Rights and Alliance of Civilizations Room — the meeting room of the UN Human Rights Council, in the Palace of Nations in Geneva TIRUNELVELI  THURSDAY  OCTOBER 15, 2020  `7.00  PAGES 12  CITY EDITION CHINA, PAKISTAN RE-ELECTED TO UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Despite their dismal human rights record, the two countries made it to the UNHRC with 139 and 169 votes, respectively HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSERS IN WORLD BODY ACTIVISTS, POMPEO HIT OUT AT UNHRC Not just China and Pakistan, the world body has a number of countries with questionable credentials such as Cuba, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Senegal, Libya, Somalia, Mauritania, Ukraine and Russia sitting as judges to determine human rights violations. Saudi Arabia, one of the worst human rights violators, contested but failed as it received only 90 votes ■ “UN’s newest world judges on human rights include Pakistan, which persecutes Christians, Hindus; and China, which herded one million Uighurs into camps,” said international lawyer Hillel Neuer ■ US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US now stands vindicated for its decision to quit the Council in 2018 | P9 39 countries HAD CRITICISED CHINA LAST WEEK FOR ITS TREATMENT OF UIGHUR MUSLIMS 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 GST DUES FLOOD TOLL 32 AND COUNTING VINAY MADAPU TN opts to borrow `9K crore from open market Hyderabad stays inundated; swollen rivers snap road connectivity to Andhra villages EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE TWO days after the Tamil Nadu government agreed to go for option 1, as proposed by the Centre for settlement of GST dues, it has formalised its decision to mobilise `9,627 crore through open market borrowings to bridge the revenue shortfall caused by the Covid -19 pandemic. According to an official statement issued by the Union Ministry of Finance, “The permission was issued after Tamil Nadu formally communicated its acceptance for Option 1 to meet the shortfall arising out of GST implementation. As many as 21 States and two Union Territories — Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir — have so far requested for Option 1.” The Centre had given the States two options in August — to borrow `97,000 crore from a special window facilitated by the RBI or borrow a total `2.35 lakh crore from the market. It had said that GST revenue shortfall stood at `2.35 crore this year, out of which `97,000 crore was owing to GST implementation and rest, due to Coronavirus pandemic. Tamil Nadu has now joined 20 other States that have agreed to the Centre government’s borrowing plan, which offers a special borrowing window of `1.10 lakh crore and rest of `1.25 lakh crore via open market borrowing. This extra spending allowed to the States is above `1.10 lakh crore. Together, these 21 States will borrow an additional sum of `78,452 crore. A day after driving rain paralysed Telangana and Andhra Pradesh after a deep depression made landfall, accounts of the nightmares the people went through began unfolding since Wednesday morning. As the day wore on, the toll in Telangana climbed to 32, including 25 within the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits and seven in the erstwhile Mahabubnagnar district. Inundation of all thoroughfares and colonies in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad remained unchanged for the second day with the GHMC’s efforts to drain the water out coming a cropper. In Andhra Pradesh, both the East and West Godavari districts continued to bear the brunt of the floods as inflows from upstream areas cut off road connectivity to villages and many inundated houses in the two districts. In East Goda- @ Hyderabad/Vijayawada @ New Delhi/Chennai EXPRESS READ Expediate waiver, SC to Central government NewDelhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Centre to waive ‘interest on interest’ on loans up to `2 crore soon, while pulling up the government for taking so much time to implement a decision already taken. It rejected the Centre’s request for one month’s time and adjourned the matter for November 2. The court’s direction came while hearing a batch of petitions seeking interest waiver during the loan moratorium. During the hearing, the Centre argued it needed more time to complete certain formalities. Flood waters overflowing the Moosarambagh bridge in Hyderabad after 13 gates of the Himayatsagar reservoir were opened on Wednesday; and (below) a collapsed building at Rayavaram village in East Godavari district’s Jaggampeta mandal TELANGANA ANDHRA PRADESH 32 cm rainfall in Ghatkesar town 98 villages affected, over 5,000 evacuated Ghatkesar, a small town on Hyderabad’s outskirts, bore the brunt of the fury as it recorded 32 cm rainfall, the highest in the entire state. Power shutdowns added to the agony. Even in posh areas like Begumpet, Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills, it took long for power restoration As many as 98 villages across Andhra Pradesh have been affected and more than 5,000 people were evacuated to 19 relief centres. At least 72 houses were damaged while the crop loss is yet to be ascertained as flood waters are yet to recede. Four teams each of NDRF and SDRF have been deployed M S A B A R I @ Salem E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Tirunelveli THE carcass of a 15-year-old cow elephant, with an infected mouth and oesophagus, was found on a farmland near Kallidaikurichi on Wednesday morning. It was 10-12 months pregnant and severely malnourished. The cow elephant was seen roaming in regions abutting the Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KMTR) forest region in the past few days, and farmers had informed the forest officials about it. According to Deputy Director (DD) of KMTR (Ambasamudram Division) Kommu Omkaram, a team of forest personnel had tried in vain to feed the elephant with food mixed with medicine. On Wednesday morning, a resident of South Pappankulam found its carcass on his farmland. The DD and a team of forest rangers inspected the carcass and took it to the Manimuthar forest region. The postmortem examination revealed that the elephant had infection in its mouth and the esophagus, rendering it unable to consume food. Moreover, the animal had diarrhea as a result of its having consumed a large number of palm fruits. The male foetus also died along with its mother. The postmortem examination was performed by veterinarian Manoharan and professor of Tirunelveli Veterinary College and Research Institute Bashir. The carcass was buried later. Kommu Omkaram said that a few elephants were seen roaming in the region in the past few days and that the forest officials were engaged in chasing them back to the forest. The carcass of the elephant being shifted from the farm in South Pappankulam in Tirunelveli | EXPRESS SC upholds order to hand over Mudumalai land to collector E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi TERMING it the duty of every citizen to protect and improve the environment including forests and wildlife and to have compassion for living creatures, the Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the Madras High Court order directing resort owners and other private land owners in Tamil Nadu’s Mudumalai to vacate and hand over possession of land falling within the notified elephant corridor to the Nilgiris Collector. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde said, “We have no hesitation in holding that in order to protect the elephant population in the Sigur Plateau region, it was necessary and appropriate for the state government (Tamil Nadu) to limit commercial activity in the areas falling within the elephant corridor.” The bench said despite being a figure of traditional cultural reverence, today the elephant species is severely threatened in India. Diabetes sets in as Covid-19 leaves? EVEN as the medical fraternity is trying hard to tackle Covid-19, the virus continues to deliver blows by creating fresh complications. The latest phenomenon being observed is that patients, post recovery are , developing diabetes. As many as 14 out of 630 people who visited the Covid follow-up clinic at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai had developed the disease. A senior doctor in-charge of the follow-up clinic said that EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi TWO advocates have filed a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking the removal of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy for his ‘scandalising’ remarks against the second seniormost judge of the top court. The PIL, filed by lawyers G S Mani and Pradeep Kumar Yadav, pointed out Jagan is facing over 20 criminal cases. The plea said Jagan levelled allegations without any basis. It also sought a judicial enquiry, by constituting an internal committee headed by sitting or retired judges of the Supreme Court or any authority including the Central Bureau of Investigation, over the vague allegation made by Jagan against Justice N V Ramana. Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court Bar Association and the Supreme Court Advocates-OnRecord Association passed resolutions condemning the P9 Andhra CM’s letter. A FOOTNOTE IN STATISTICS, BUT IT’S Doubting wife’s fidelity, man sets 4 ablaze A MOTHER & AN UNBORN THAT DIED WORRISOME OBSERVATION O M J A S V I N M D @ Chennai vari district, seven mandals were inundated after the gates of the Yeleru reservoir were opened. More than 2,700 people from the affected villages have been shifted to safer places. Heavy inflows into Krishna, Godavari, Vamsadhara and other rivers are continuing. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy over the telephone and took stock of the situation. In Telangana, the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) at Shamshabad remained inaccessible for those who used PVNR Expressway till Wednesday evening with the National Highway No 44 near Aramg adh being washed away . While the operation of flights was restored in the early hours of Wednesday reaching the air, port was a pain as one had to take a detour via the Outer Ring Road. On the HyderabadVijayawada national highway too, there was dislocation of vehicular traffic at Hayatnagar on Hyderabad’s outskirts. P5 PIL filed in SC seeking Jagan’s removal as CM none of the patients had diabetes during his/her stay at the hospital, but developed the disease a few weeks after recovery. “While most people who returned to the hospital with poor health conditions were aged above 45, those diagnosed with diabetes post recovery were in the 40-45 age group,” the doctor said. So long, breathing issues and myalgia (muscle pain) have FRESH CASES DEATHS been the common post-Covid conditions that majority of people have reported. “Sugar monitoring is part of Covid checks. Even for diabetes patients, insulin shots are given to keep sugar in check during treatment,” the doctor said. The new diabetes patients are given insulin shots and directed to undergo routine treatment for diabetes. TOLL TOTAL CASES 4,462 52 10,423 6,70,392 Rajinikanth pulled up for moving court too soon E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai THE Madras High Court on Wednesday dismissed as withdrawn a plea moved by actor Rajinikanth, challenging the property tax demand of `6.5 lakh by Chennai Corporation for his marriage hall during the lockdown. Saying that the actor should have exhausted all remedies before approaching the court, Justice Anitha Sumanth suggested he approach the Corporation by sending them reminders to representation made earlier. Observing that he had sent a plea to the Corporation only on Sept 23 on its notice, the judge warned of imposing costs on him for rushing to the court without giving time to the civic body to dispose of the plea. P4 A man’s suspicion about his wife’s fidelity took a fatal turn, as he set ablaze four persons, including two neighbours, here in Aragalur village near Thalaivasal on Tuesday evening. While a toddler, staying in his neighbourhood, succumbed to burns, three others are in a hospital. The deceased has been identified as Dhanu Sri (3), daughter of Aragalur panchayat ward member Divya Priya (25) and Manikandan. Thalaivasal police said that G Marudhamuthu (42) of East Fort street in Aragalur village suspected that his wife, Deivanai (35), was having an affair with P4 his neighbour Manikandan.