WARANGAL  FRIDAY  NOVEMBER 27, 2020  `7.00  PAGES 14  CITY EDITION INDIA TO GET CUSTODY OF TAHAWWUR RANA SOON The extradition process of the co-conspirator of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks will begin in January, US told India 12TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ATTACK ON MUMBAI WE WILL NEVER FORGET, SAY TWITTERATI This was conveyed to India the 12th anniversary of the attack on Thursday. Pakistani-Candadian doctor Rana, 59, is serving a 14-year-prison sentence in a Los Angeles prison in connection with another terror plot. It was on November 26, 2008 that 10 members of Lashkar-e-Toiba carried out 12 coordinated attacks in Mumbai. At least 174 died and 300 were wounded | P9 ■ On the 12th anniversary, several celebrities took to Twitter, saying “We will never forget”. Ratan Tata, who was heading the Tata Group at the time and ensured the Taj Mahal hotel’s restoration despite massive destruction to property, wrote: “The wanton destruction that took place 12 years ago will never be forgotten” 174 CASUALTIES IN THE 26/11 ATTACK BY PAK-SPONSORED TERRORISTS IN 2008 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 Barricades fail to stop Delhi Chalo march Water cannons no match for Punjab farmers’ resolve to reach the Capital to protest against the Centre’s new farm laws H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh THERE was plenty of action on the Punjab-Haryana interstate border on Thursday with Punjab farmers beginning their two-day Delhi Chalo agitation, as they broke through barricades on the Haryana side and pushed ahead despite the police using water cannons and tear gas to stop their onward march. The face-off at all entry points along the interstate border was anticipated, as Haryana has a BJP-led coalition government, and the Delhi Chalo agitation is against a bunch of farm laws the Modi government at the Centre steamrolled in Parliament. To start with, farmers broke the barricading at the Shambhu interstate border near Ambala on the Amritsar-Delhi National Highway after the police fired tear gas shells and used water cannons to disperse them, but to no effect. The agitators threw some barricades into the nearby Ghaggar river and made their way into Ambala, pushing trucks aside despite heavy deployment of se- HALF DOSE Oxford vaccine faces questions over quality S U M I S U K A N YA D U T TA @ New Delhi THE Covid-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and manufactured by AstraZeneca has found itself facing a credibility test after the two entities acknowledged faulty human trials where participants were given two dosing regimens. Interestingly, the efficacy of the vaccine in volunteers who got a lower dose was found to be 90%, while it was only 62% among those who got full dose. The difference in doses given to the trial participants had left scientists perplexed but no explanation was offered for that. Also, the trial participants consisted of very few elderly individuals, but this infor mation was not disclosed. It also now emerged that lower dose was given to some people due to an error in the quantity of the vaccine put into some vials, raising questions about the drug’s quality . Experts said the lack of transparency in releasing crucial information could lead to stricter scrutiny by regulators and mistrust among people. Following the uproar, Astra’s C h i e f E xe c u t ive O f f i c e r Pascal Soriot said it would conduct an additional global trial with the half first dose to assess the ef ficacy of its vaccine. Heavy deployment of forces on Delhi border Haryana’s police and paramilitary forces have been heavily deployed at the Singhu border with Delhi. Deployment of forces is equally heavy at the interstate border cities of Faridabad and Gurugram Farmers from Punjab find a heavy police build-up impeding their progress to the national Capital at the Shambu border during their Delhi Chalo protest march against the three new farm laws passed by Parliament, in Patiala district on Thursday | PTI curity personnel, including the Rapid Action Force. After crossing Ambala, they broke police barricades near Tyora village in Kurukshetra, again making water cannons look like toy pistols. At multiple points on the interstate border, Haryana had placed boulders, heavy barricades and even parked trucks bang in the middle of highways to prevent the farmers’ march. Similarly at the Tukar border , of Pehowa in Kurukshetra, Punjab farmers broke open the barricades, throwing some of them into the Markanda river, to enter Haryana though the water cannons were firing away. As the farmers moved forward, they were involved in a face-off with the police. A few of them on both sides were injured in the scuffle and were taken to a nearby hos- Why no action against Care, Yashoda: HC raps TS govt R R A J A S H E K A R R A O @ Hyderabad THE Telangana High Court on Thursday pointed out the State government’s partisan action against big private hospitals fleecing Covid patients. It expressed displeasure over the government’s failure to act against the errant hospitals, despite receiving complaints from the people. “When the government could suspended the licences of Virinchi and Deccan hospitals, why has it not taken any action against hospitals such as Yashoda, Care, KIMS, Sunshine and so on, despite receiving numerous complaints with respect to Covid-19 treatment? About 33 complaints were received against Yashoda Hospital. Why has no action been taken,” a division bench questioned the government. It directed the State to submit a detailed report on the action taken ag ainst all er ring hospitals. The bench, comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy, passed this order in a batch of PILs filed against exorbitant charges being collected by various private hospitals for Covid-19 treatment. Pursuant to an earlier direction, Director of Public Health G Srinivasa Rao filed a report before the court stating that 276 grievances had been registered regarding inappropriate and surplus billing. He stated that district officials had visited these hospitals to address CONTINUED ON P7 the issue. ‘Insurances being rejected’ Advocate Pujitha, appearing for one of the petitioners, informed the court that several private hospitals have not been issuing bills for the actual costs paid by Covid patients, but were giving bills only for the amount specified in the GOs. They are also not accepting insurance Public health director gets contempt notice E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad HC directs TS to test more, follow its orders There is a clear-cut relation between the number of tests conducted and the discovery of +ve cases. Unless a large section of the population is tested, the actual spread of Covid can never be discovered, the court noted. The State is duty-bound to follow the court’s orders, it said THE Telangana High Court on Thursday issued a contempt notice to Director of Public Health G Srinivasa Rao, seeking an explanation as to why action should not be taken against him under the Contempt of Court Act for intentionally , willfully and deliberately disobeying its order on Covid-19 testing. It granted him two weeks to furnish an explanation. The court took serious view of the non-implementation of its earlier order, wherein it had directed the government to conduct 50,000 tests a day and up to one lakh CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 once a week. AMAZON’S SKEWED STAFF RIGHTS SPARK ANGER EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi ACTIVISTS around the world, including India, will come together on Black Friday (November 27) to protest against e-tailing behemoth Amazon’s antiunion practices. Protests will be held across the world, including in New Delhi and Hyderabad, under the #MakeAmazonPay banner. Some of the organisations that have lent their support to the protests include Progressive International, Hawkers Joint Action Committee, UNI Global Union, 350.org and Greenpeace. The movement, endorsed by Noam Chomsky, Cornel West and other eminent activists, workers and supporters, will embark on a day of action with protests to demand that Amazon pays its workers fairly and respects their right to join unions, pays its fair share of taxes, respects small businesses and commits to real environment sustainability . Action will take place across Amazon’s global empire, including its supply chain in countries like Brazil, Mexico, US, UK, Spain, France, Bel- gium, Germany, Luxembourg, Italy, Poland, India, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Australia. “In India, Amazon is undergoing an antitrust probe.... But its labour practices in India deserve equal scrutiny. Warehouses are the new-age sweatshops, relying on over-stressed and under-paid workers with few protections. Today’s general strike in India shows that the people demand better than the government inviting yet more exploitation to the country by companies like Amazon,” a press release of Progressive International’s India P9 campaign lead stated. In India, Amazon is undergoing an antitrust probe.... But its labour practices in India deserve equal scrutiny. Warehouses are the new-age sweatshops, relying on overstressed and under-paid workers with few protections — Progressive International’s India campaign lead pital. The scene was similar in Kaithal in Haryana. On the Dabwali and Khanuari border, famers dug in their heels and laid a siege. Farmers belonging to the Bharatiya Kisan Union (EktaUgarhan faction) decided to stage a protest there for a week. As for the BKU (Rajewal group), its president Balbir Singh Rajewal said, “We have reached Gharaunda crossing Karnal. We will stay here for the night and proceed to Delhi tomorrow.’’ Farmers from Haryana, too, are participating in the protest and have reached Panipat. The Haryana Police detained Swaraj India chief Yogendra Yadav and some farmers accompanying him near Rathiwas on the Delhi-Jaipur national highway . PM CALLS FOR ONE NATION, ONE ELECTION PAGE 9 Modi to review Covaxin progress in Hyd tomorrow E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad PRIME Minister Narendra Modi is expected to arrive in Hyderabad on Saturday to review the progress of Bharat BioTech’s vaccine candidate for Covid-19 — Covaxin. According to sources, the Prime Minister will arrive at the Hakimpet Air Force Station around 4 pm and be driven to the Bharat BioTech facility at Shameerpet. Before landing in Hyderabad, he will visit the Serum Institute of India in Pune, which is developing a similar vaccine for Covid-19 in collaboration with Astra Zeneca and Oxford University Interestingly the same day Chief . , , Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is scheduled to address a public meeting at LB Stadium ahead of the GHMC CONTINUED ON P4 election.