CHENNAI  SUNDAY  NOVEMBER 08, 2020  `8.00  PAGES 28  LATE CITY EDITION 5K COACHES TURNED 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 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 573 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 7,48,57,880 votes Electoral college votes 270 7,05,98,535 votes TO WIN 214 PRESIDENT BIDEN! But Trump refuses to concede, threatens further legal action on ballot counting Victory call President-elect Joe Biden and VP-elect Kamala Harris; (R) People in Washington DC cheer at the news of Biden’s victory | AP Biden had 264 electoral votes and Trump 214 until Saturday evening. But later at night, US media projected a win for Biden in the states of Pennsylvania and Nevada (20 + 6 electoral votes), that put him over the 270-mark. 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 Nevada and Pennsylvania, the state where he was born, put him over the 270 electoral votes needed to win. 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.” With Biden’s victory Kamala , Harris has become vice-president-elect, the first time in history that a woman — an IndianAmerican one at that — has been elected to such a White House position. Before becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, Biden served as vice president ‘Kerala church routed money via hawala’ TN bags best State award for water management in 2019 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE T M U R U G A N A N D H A M @ Chennai EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Kochi 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. TAMIL Nadu has been awarded the best State for water management for the year 2019. The State secured the top position under the ‘Normal Category’ in the National Water Awards, besides securing significant places under the categories – Best District in Revival of River, Water Conservation, Best Urban Local Body, Best Research/Innovation/Adaptation of New Technology for Water Conserv a t i o n a n d B e s t Wa t e r Warriors. Of all the awards in as many as 16 different categories to be presented for various States, Tamil Nadu has won 11 prizes under former President Barack Obama. He is also Delaware’s longest-serving senator. 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. MORE REPORTS ON: P12 under five key categories. The awards will be presented during a two-day ceremony to be held virtually on November 11 and 12, in the presence of Vice President, M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, and Union Minister for Environment, Prakash Javadekar. On behalf of the State government, PWD Secretary, K Manivasan will be receiving the award. Under the category of ‘Revival of River’, Vellore and Karur districts bagged the top two spots, while Perambalur district won the second prize in the ‘Water Conservation’ category at the national level. P4 , Mumbai: Republic TV Editorin-Chief Arnab Goswami, arrested in an abetment of suicide case on Nov 4, failed to get any relief on Saturday as the Bombay HC reserved its order on his interim bail plea | P7 WITH THIS ISSUE Kamala’s ascension Kamala Harris made history as the first IndianAmerican woman to become the US Vice President. She will be the highest-ranking woman ever to serve in US govt Winning big One of the State’s major achievements in conservation is renovation of 6,278 water resources at `1,433 crore through the Kudimaramath scheme Plea for straw in jail: NIA seeks 20 days to respond Lucknow: The NIA has sought 20 days to respond to Jesuit priest Stan Swamy’s plea seeking a straw and sipper in prison to drink water, as he can’t hold a glass because of Parkinson’s disease | P8 UNLOCK, TRAVEL PLUS 12 PAGES Tax raids at IT Infra group’s premises; `1,000 cr unaccounted income detected E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai THE Income Tax department conducted raids at six locations in Chennai and Madurai of IG3 Infra Limited, a Chennai-based group operating in the IT Infra sector on Wednesday, and detected an unaccounted income of `1,000 crore. The search also unearthed evidence relating to the group’s investments in a Singapore-registered company – it was found that the group had suppressed foreign income received in form of share subscription, equivalent to `200 crore, taxable in India in the hands of the shareholder, said the I-T department. Incorporated in 2004 as ETL Infrastructure Service Limited (EISL), IG3 Infra also owns the Chennai One IT Special Economic Zone. The group specialises in developing and managing secure business infrastructure across highgrowth sectors, such as Information Technology and Hospitality Its board of . directors include C Ramachandran, a retired senior civil servant who was instrumental in bringing Ford Motors and Hyundai Motors to set up plants in TN, while he was the Industries Secretary . According to a spokesperson from the I-T department, the shareholding of IG3 Infra is held by two companies – one owned by the group searched, while the other company is a subsidiary of a major infrastructure development and fiCONTINUED ON: P5 nancing group. 243 122 Total seats Gains of `200 crore not disclosed in FA schedule It has been found that the company belonging to the group has invested a very nominal amount, although it has a 72 per cent shareholding, while the other company, with 28 per cent shareholding, has invested almost the entire money. This resulted in a benefit of almost Singaporean $7 crore (about `200 crore). This was not disclosed in its return of income and the Schedule FA, which is the details of foreign assets a taxpayer is required to disclose. Needed to win PROJECTIONS MGB NDA LJP OTHER India TodayAxis MGB: 139-161 (150) TIMES NOW C-VOTER 120 116 1 6 NDA: 69-91 (80) TV9 BHARATVARSH 115-125 110-120 3-5 LJP: 3-5 (4) 10-15 OTHERS: 9 REPUBLIC-JAN KI BAAT 118-138 91-117 5-8 3-6 ABP-CVOTER 108-131 104-128 1-4 4-8 TODAY’S CHANAKYA 180 55 0 8 PEOPLE’S PULSE PROJECTIONS 111 100 4 9 Caste out? Analysts feel economic factors may override caste preferences this time in Bihar (Margin of error - Plus or Minus Three per cent) 2015 124 107 EXPRESS READ Bombay HC reserves order on Arnab Goswami’s bail plea EXIT POLLS 80 71 53 27 2 10 MGB RJD INC NDA JDU BJP LJP Others NITISH EXIT WRITTEN ALL OVER EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NITISH Kumar’s 15-year rule in Bihar is set to come to an end in Bihar and Tejashwi Yadav will be the next chief minister, three out of seven exit polls predicted on Saturday . The projected tally for Rashtriya Janata Dal-led Mahagathbandhan (MBD), which comprises the Congress and several Left parties besides the Tejashwi Yadav-led RJD, ranged from 115 to 161 while 122 seats are needed to form government. Most of the exit polls also predicted RJD to again emerge as the single largest party in the 243-member Assembly along with a clear dip in the seat tally of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar-led JD(U). While Today’s Chanakya-CNN News18 projected 180 seats for the MBD, India Today-Axis My India poll gave the alliance between 139 and 161 seats, against 69-91 for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. Counting of votes for the threephase Bihar assembly polls, which ended on Saturday, will be held on November 10. Exit polls are based on feed- back from a limited number of voters in select areas. In terms of vote share, Today’s Chanakya projected 44 per cent for the RJD-led opposition alliance and 34 per cent for the NDA. However, ABP-CVoter projected a higher vote share for NDA at 37.7 per cent followed by the grand alliance with 36.3 per cent and 26 per cent for others. India Today-Axis My India poll showed 44 per cent of respondents prefer Tejashwi Yadav as the next chief minister, while 35 per cent would like to give another chance to Nitish Kumar. It projected 44 per cent vote share for the RJDled alliance and 39 per cent for the NDA. According to political observers, the exit poll projections show caste was not a big factor in the elections as voters were concerned about economic and development issues. “Thanks to the corona-induced lockdown, the factor this time has become livelihood other than caste. The parties have fielded candidates from all castes and that’s a good sign,” said Meera Singh, an educationist from P10 Patna.