tirupati l sunday l november 08, 2020 l `8.00 l PAGES 24 l anantapur EDITION 5K coaches tuned into covid care units, but only 813 used `90K avg cost of converting a coach On average, about `90,000 was spent on each of the 5,231 coaches, RTI replies received by TNIE from multiple railway offices revealed. The South Western Railway spent `3.55 crore on conversion of 320 coaches. Central Railway zone converted 482 coaches into isolation units for `3.74 crore. North Eastern Railway converted 217 coaches for `1.49 crore Nearly `45 crore was incurred on converting non-AC railway coaches into isolation facilities, according to an RTI reply ■ 573 Patients reluctant to use them ■ Many Covid patients complained of extreme heat inside these coaches during May, June and July. This, the authorities said, was a reason why most of them were not used The converted coaches will be restored for passenger services once their requirement to serve as isolation centres is fulfilled coaches converted into Covid care units by southern railways 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 JOE BIDEN 290 DONALD TRUMP Electoral college votes Electoral college votes 7,48,57,880 votes 270 TO WIN North Carolina (99% votes counted) Electoral votes:15 Trump: + 76,479 7,05,98,535 votes 214 Georgia (99% votes counted) Electoral votes:16 Biden: + 7,248 n Joe Biden n Donald Trump Nevada (88% votes counted) Electoral votes:6 Biden: +25,699 243 122 In Progress president Biden! But Trump refuses to concede, threatens legal action on vote counting Express news service Nitish exit written all over Meanwhile, incumbent Republican President Donald Trump, 74, has not yet conceded defeat yet. “We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him: they don’t want the truth to be exposed. The simple fact is this election is far from over,” Trump said in a hurriedly issued statement, indicating that the fight is far from over. He added Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states and pointed out that highly contested states are headed for recounts. Earlier in the day he had re, iterated allegations of fraud in vote counting and continued to raise doubts about mail-in P9 votes.  Total seats NDA LJP OTHER 116 1 6 TV9 BHARATVARSH 115-125 110-120 3-5 10-15 REPUBLIC-JAN KI BAAT 118-138 91-117 5-8 3-6 ABP-CVOTER 108-131 104-128 1-4 After four days of uncertainty and slow pace of vote counting due to a surge of mail-in votes. US media outlets on Saturday declared Joe Biden as the winner of the November 3 presidential elections. The 77-year-old former US vice president will become the 46th president of the US, after a victory in Pennsylvania, the state where he was born put him over the 270 electoral votes needed to win. With Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes, Biden now has a total of 290 electoral votes, according to some projections. Welcoming the victory call, Biden said, “America, I’m honored that you have chosen me to lead our great country. The work ahead of us will be hard, but I promise I will be a President for all Americans - whether you voted for me or not.” Before becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, Biden served as vice president under former President Barack Obama. He is also Delaware’s longest-serving senator. ‘Kerala church routed money via hawala’ Express News Service After conducting detailed raids in the premises of selfstyled evangelist and Believers Eastern Church founder K P Yohannan at different locations across the country the Income , Tax (IT) sleuths have found that the group routed unaccounted money through organisations that remained only on paper. “The group runs about 30 trusts, registered across the country and most of them exist , only on paper and have been found to be used for routing the unaccounted funds and for accommodation transactions,” said an IT dept communique. “It has been found that the modus operandi of the group is to systematically inflate expenses with the help of other parties, who will return the inflated amount in cash through domestic hawala channels to the functionaries of the group,” it said. The searches were carried out on the basis of credible information that the group, which enjoyed I-T exemption under the IT Act, 1961, received donations from foreign countries ostensibly for helping the poor and destitute. The State government has made amendments to the scheme of setting up 10,000 megawatt (MW) solar plants to provide 9-hour free power to the agriculture sector, for ‘more competitive tariff in bidding’ and ‘smooth completion’ of the project as per schedule. The amendments include increasing the tenure of the power purchase agreement (PPA) with the solar power developer (SPD) to 30 years from 25, extending government guarantee, in addition to the already approved letter of credit, and bringing down land lease rental. 4-8 BJP: 65–75 JD(U): 25–35 CONG: 15–20 LEFT PARTIES: 3–5 LJP: 3–5 GDSF/ Independents: 5–13 Sipping tea at a roadside stall in Nathnagar, Muzaffarpur, Ram Charan Yadav was of the view that under chief minister Nitish Kumar, Bihar has seen unprecedented development. He claimed that not only him but people of all castes, Yadavs included, would vote for Nitish. “At 65, I have seen days when power used to come only for a few minutes. Now it is regular. There were no roads or water but now there is water supply at home. What else do we need, Nitish Kumar is doing his best to change the face of the state and we must support him,” Yadav said. With the third and last phase of the polling over on Saturday, the die has been cast on the Bihar elections. All the rivals can now do the math on the likely outcome at leisure. But is caste no longer a factor in the elections, as the elderly Yadav claimed? Traditionally, caste has always played a dominant role in the elections. Not surprisingly, it is said that the people of Bihar don’t cast their vote, they vote their caste. But the striking feature of this campaign was the emergence of issues, among them development, unemployment, corruption and jungle raj. It is not that caste been cast aside totally But there is a wide. spread feeling that voting this time will n o t t a ke p l a c e s o l e l y o n c a s t e considerations. “It cannot be denied that caste is not an issue in Bihar, but at the same time the development brought by Nitish Kumar is also an issue in these polls,” said Raman Jha, a businessman at Kamtaul village of Muzaffarpur. Jha is joined by Manoj Kumar, 35, of Hajipur and Shashank Kumar Yadav, 30, of Gaya. While Kumar is a Kurmi, Nitish’s caste, Shashank is a Yadav. Both claimed to have not voted along caste lines but on issues such as development and employment. Given this mood, many political parties rose above caste and community even during the distribution of election tickets. The Rashtriya Janata Dal, a champion of caste and mandal politics, effected the biggest change, giving wider representation to candidates of other castes. Of the 144 candidates it has fielded this time, only 58, or 40%, are Yadavs. In 2015, the party had contested 101 seats and gave tickets to 65 Yadavs, or 64%. As for Muslim candidates, the RJD has fielded 17 this time, down from 21 in the last elections. Muslims and Yadavs have always taken the lion’s share of the RJD’s tickets as they constitute the party’s main vote bank. The change this time is largely because of its young leader, Tejashwi Yadav, who has made Nitish his key attack.  P8 Govt increases PPA for solar plants to 30 years from 25 Express News Service People’s Pulse RJD: 85–95 Times Now C-Voter 120 been caste in Bihar? Rajesh Kumar Thakur & Mukesh R a n j a n @ Patna/Muzaffarpur Cut-off mark PRoJECTIONs MGB has the die @ Kochi @ Vijayawada The justification provided by the government, according to an order (MS 25) issued by Exofficio Principal Secretary (Energy) G Sai Prasad on Saturday , for extending the PPA by five years is that the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s (MNRE) tariff based competitive bidding (TBCB) guidelines state that the PPA should not be less than 25 years. “Hence, the proposed change is in line with the MNRE guidelines and the proposed increase in the PPA tenure will reduce levelised tariff and cash outflows to the State government for the entire PPA period, which is made after deliberations by P4 APGECL,” he said.  Today’s Chanakya 180 55 0 8 (Margin of error - Plus or Minus Three per cent) 2015 124 107 80 71 53 27 2 10 MGB RJD INC NDA JDU BJP LJP OTH Sabarimala Covid negative certificate must for pilgrims Express News Service @ Vijayawada Land rental decreased Government has brought down the land lease rental to be paid by Solar Power Developers from `31,000 per acre to `25,000 EXPRESS READ 95,245 get `143 crore under YSR Kapu Nestham phase 2 Vijayawada: The State government on Saturday credited `143 crore into bank accounts of 95,245 beneficiaries under the second phase of YSR Kapu Nestham scheme, covering those who could not make it in the first phase, reiterating its commitment to their economic uplift. WITH THIS ISSUE Last date for applying to CET of RGUKT extended till Nov 13 Vijayawada: The last date for submission of online applications for the Common Entrance Test (CET) of Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT) has been extended to November 13 without fine and up to November 16 with a fine of `1,000. Unlock, Travel PLUS 12 PAGES Cops who kicked 2 youths in full public glare, face action after video went viral E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Kakinada The ‘highhandedness’ of two traffic policemen of Kakinada city police, who slapped, punched and kicked two inebriated youngsters in full public glare, drew flak after the video went viral on social media on Saturday. Police officials, who maintained that the highhanded behaviour of the two policemen was in violation of the friendly policing, said the issue was taken to the notice of East Godavari district SP Adnan Nayeem Asmi for further action. The police also claimed that the two youngsters, who came under attack, misbehaved with a woman and also attacked a sub-inspector of police who went to the rescue of the woman. Though the incident took place a week ago, it came to light on Saturday with the video going viral on social media. In the video, two traffic policemen were seen slapping and punching the youngsters on their face, while the duo were shifted to a nearby police vehicle. When one of them fell on the ground, a constable kicked him. Stung by criticism, Kakinada DSP (Law and Order) Bheema Rao held a press meet to ‘narrate’ the sequence of events that led to the row. He said the bike of A Krishna Chaitanya Reddy and Penumalla Subba Reddy rammed a car from behind at Sarpavaram Junction P4 around 7.30 pm on November 1.  A video grab of Kakinada cops kicking two youngsters who were involved in a minor road accident | Express green run TTD Chairman YV Subba Reddy alights from an electric bus after inspecting it at Tirumala on Saturday. The trial run of electric buses is being conducted on Tirumala ghat road now | express Devotees who want to visit Sabarimala, need to mandatorily register themselves with the Kerala State police on the virtual queue portal. Only 1,000 pilgrims per day on week days and 2,000 on weekends will be allowed to register on this portal on the first come first served basis. The pilgrims will get the clearance for the visit to the temple only if they upload Covid negative certificate obtained 48 hours before registration. For registration, devotees need to visit http://sabarimaonline.org. In view of the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic across the country the State government, , which is taking all possible measures for the safety of pilgrims visiting Sabarimala, issued the guidelines after holding a virtual conference with the Chief Secretary of the Kerala government on Saturday . The conference was attended by Secretary of Revenue (Endowments) Girija Shankar and Commissioner of Endowments P4 P Arjun Rao.  A PD with a commitment to serve society Inspired by subcollector N Ramanna, a PD in a social welfare residential junior college at Badangi, got inspired by T Munivenkatapa, a subcollector who worked in Tekkali in 1968 and helped him in need G R a m e s h B a b u @ Srikakulam This physical director (PD) in a social welfare residential junior college leaves a mark wherever he works. From donating land to libraries for the benefit of students, to construction of playgrounds and daises, Nagiripenta Ramanna contributes to the place he has worked till now. Ramanna, a PD in the social welfare residential junior college at Badangi village in Vizianagaram district, hails from Dandugopalapuram village in Santabommali mandal of Srikakulam. Ramanna says he was inspired by T Munivenkatappa, a sub-collector who worked in Tekkali in 1968 and helped him in need. “Munivenkatappa’s advice to me is to help the society in whatever manner I can and I am following his footsteps,’’ he said. Ramanna, whose wife is also a government teacher, said that they have decided to contribute some amount to social service activities from their salary As . a beginning, he constructed Dhyana Mandir and installed a white marble idol of Goddess Saraswati at Dandug opalapuram high school, where he studied, at a cost of `2.8 lakh and dedicated the structure to Munivenkatappa from whom he was inspired. Starting charity activities from 1993 soon after getting job, Ramanna cleared the bushes and levelled the playground at Kopperla in Vizianagaram in 1993 with his own funds where he was posted as a PD for the P5 first time.