The New Indian Express Wishes its readers a Dasara Our offices and press will remain closed today and there will be no issue of the paper on Monday tirupati l sunday l October 25, 2020 l `8.00 l PAGES 24 l late city EDITION last date to file FY2019-20 ITR extended till Dec 31 The Centre on Saturday extended the deadline for individual taxpayers to file tax returns by a month till December 31 second extension amid the pandemic more time to file GST returns For those whose accounts need to be audited, the new deadline to file income tax returns is Jan 31, 2021. Those who need to furnish report in respect of international/specified domestic transactions have also been given time till Jan 31. In May, the Centre had extended the various due dates to file ITRs for FY-20 from July 31 to Nov 30 in view of Covid-19 ■ ■ Separately, the government extended the due date for filing GST annual returns for FY2018-19 by two months till Dec 31 Further, adding to the festive cheer, the government late on Friday night announced a waiver of interest on interest for loans up to `2 crore, irrespective of whether moratorium was availed or not Jan 31, 2021 new due date for payment of self-assessment tax 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 ‘Low Covid fatality due to poor hygiene’ S u m i S u k a n ya D u t ta @ New Delhi Countries with poor hygiene, sanitation and quality of water appear to have a lower Covid-19 case fatality rate as compared to rich countries with better hygienic conditions, a study has found. The latest analysis by researchers in India has added to the growing body of evidence in support of the “hygiene hypothesis,” which argues that areas or countries with high levels of background infections are likely to experience fewer Covid-19 deaths. Till Friday morning, India had registered 1,17,306 infection deaths even though the total Covid-19 caseload in the country was 77,61,312. This means the country has a case fatality ratio of 1.5%, among the lowest in the world. “We found deaths are low in areas with poorer sanitation and it could be due to a process called immune training,” said Parveen P7 Kumar, epidemiologist. WITH THIS ISSUE Anchor Anarchy PLUS 12 PAGES AP to stand firm on Polavaram cost State govt to push for approval of Revised Cost Estimates of project at 2017-18 price level E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada The State government has decided to stand its ground and push for the approval of Revised Cost Estimates (RCE) of Polavaram Irrigation Project at 2017-18 price level as cleared by technical bodies such as the Central Water Commission (CWC), Revised Cost Committee of Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) and Polavaram Project Authority (PPA). Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy directed officials to take up the issue with the Centre as capping the costs, as communicated by the Ministry of Finance, at 2013-14 price level has “no relevance now” and that “it is impossible to complete the project at that price.” The Water Resources Department officials on Saturday apprised Jagan of the communication from the Finance Ministry, which said only `7,053.74 crore (at 2013-14 price level) was to be reimbursed as against the `47,725.74 crore approved and recommended by the MoJS. The Chief Minister emphasised that the cost of land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement (LARR) itself was around `29,000 crore and c ap p i n g t h e e n t i re project cost at `20,398.61 crore (at 2013-14 PL) has no relevance. “The CM directed the officials to take up the issue immediately with the Government of India duly stating that Revised Cost Estimate as approved by PPA, CWC and RCC of MoJS should be consid- We are against BJP, not India: Farooq F AYA Z WA N I @ Srinagar people’S Alliance for Gupkar Declaration is an anti-BJP platform but it is not antinational, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah said on Saturday after being named chairman of the grouping. PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti is the vice-chairperson while Sajjad Gani Lone of People’s Conference has been named spokes- man of the alliance. Formed by seven mainstream parties to fight for restoration of Article 370, the outfit also adopted the flag of the erstwhile J&K state as its symbol as a mark of defiance to the constitutional changes made by the Centre on August 5 last year. The seven parties are the National Conference, PDP Peoples Con, ference, JKPM, ANC, CPI(M) and the CPI. Congress was also part of the August 4, 2019 Gupkar Declaration but its leaders have of late been skipping meetings. Abdullah said, “The BJP is making false propaganda that People’s Alliance is antinational. We are not anti-national but we are anti-BJP They . have made attempts to divide the country and divide the federal structure. They trampled the Constitution by abrogating Articles 370 and 35A last year. Our aim is to ensure that rights of people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh are restored.” ered in the interest of completion of the project and in the interests of people of AP. The internal correspondence of the Centre in September, 2016 and Union Cabinet memorandum approved in March, 2017, which are being referred to now for capping the expenditure have no relevance now and it is surprising why the then government of AP remained silent on the adverse developments that are against the interests of the people of AP,” a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office after the meeting said.  P4 express read APSRTC starts shuttle bus services from TS border points Vijayawada: In a major relief to the people heading to their hometowns in the State from Telangana for Dasara, the APSRTC started operating shuttle bus services from the AP-Telangana border points on Saturday. About 100 buses are deployed at boarding points in Krishna, Guntur and West Godavari districts for operation of shuttle services depending on festive rush, an official said. No demolition of GITAM structures till Monday: HC E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Visakhapatnam The AP High Court on Saturday night restrained the Visakhapatnam district administration from going ahead with demolition of the structures in GITAM Deemed to be University till Monday morning. The HC, which heard , the House Motion petition moved by the GITAM management on Saturday night, issued the orders and said it will hear the petition on Sunday GITAM group of institutions ,. secretary BV Mohan Rao, moving the petition, said that the revenue officials are unilaterally demolishing the structures without serving any notices. Additional Advocate General P Sudhakar Reddy informed the court that notices were served on GITAM some time back.