AP kollam l Sunday l january 03, 2021 l `8.00 l PAGES 24 l city edition mastermind of ’08 mumbai attack lakhvi held in Pak Lashkar-e-Toiba operations commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was arrested in Pakistan on terror financing charges Funding terrorism through dispensary A UN proscribed terrorist, Lakhvi was arrested from Lahore by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab province on Saturday. Lakhvi (61) is accused of running a dispensary to fund terrorism activities. He was on bail since 2015 in the Mumbai attack case. His trial will be held before the Anti-Terrorism Court in Lahore, official sources said ■ 1.5 Lakh acting under global pressure ■ The arrest follows Paris-based terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force’s pressure on Pakistan to take action against terrorists using its territory to carry out attacks in India Lakhvi was designated as a global terrorist by the United Nations in December 2008 for being associated with LeT and al-Qaeda  pak rupees paid monthly to Lakhvi towards ‘personal expenses’ 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 Bharat Biotech’s swadeshi vaccine receives panel nod, conditions apply Recommendation for restricted use of the shot in emergency situations in ‘public interest as an abundant precaution’, vaccines may be rolled out simultaneously in a week’s time Sumi Sukanya Dutta @ New Delhi ‘Health workers first priority’ A government appointed panel of the apex drug regulator on Saturday recommended emergency use authorisation for Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, India’s first homegrown vaccine against Covid-19, a day after it approved a vaccine against coronavirus by AstraZenecaOxford University . The committee said the recommendation for the vaccine’s restricted use in emergency situations was in the “public interest as an abundant precaution, in clinical trial mode, especially in the context of infection by mutant strains.” Bharat Biotech, in collaboration with the ICMR, has developed Covaxin from inactivated SARS CoV 2, isolated at the National Institute of Virology, Pune. Although the vaccine has demonstrated good safety and immunogenicity in phase 1 and 2 clinical trials, it is still undergoing phase 3 trials and, therefore, its efficacy remains to be established. The Centre also issued a statement that the subject expert committee of the Central Drugs Standards Control Organisation, following its meetings on Friday and Saturday, recommended the vaccines for consideration and final decision of the Drugs Controller General of India. “Grant of permission for restricted emergency use of vaccine (is being given), subject to multiple regulatory conditionalities, to Serum Institute of India, Pune,” said a statement by the ministry of health and family welfare. The back-to-back permission granted to the vaccines could mean they will be rolled out simultaneously in about a week. The panel had refused permission a day earlier citing insufficient data. Continued on: p7  Vaccine shots will be first administered to health workers, and then to senior citizens, said Health Minister K K Shailaja  Up to 14 lakh auto-disposable syringes stored at a godown in T’Puram as part of the vaccination rollout plan Health Minister K K Shailaja observes the dry run procedure at the Peroorkada Govt Hospital in T’Puram on Saturday. Collector Navjot Singh Khosa and MLA V K Prasanth look on | Vincent Pulickal Dry run over. State, armed with a plan, waits for Covishield vaccine to arrive E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @T’Puram KERALA is ready to roll out the Covishield vaccine immediately after the state receives its share, which is expected very soon, Health Minister K K Shailaja has said. Though the Union Health Ministry is yet to announce an official date for the release of the vaccine, the state is armed with a holistic plan that will ensure the proper storage and distribution of the vaccine in every district, the minister said. The vaccine shots will be first administered to the state’s healthcare workers, and then to senior citizens, she added. Farmers issue R-Day tractor rally ultimatum if deadlock continues E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Chandigarh A day after the farmers threatened to step up their agitation, the protesters on Saturday issued an ultimatum to the government and said they would take out a tractor rally to Delhi on January 26 if their demand for the repeal of the farm laws and legalising of MSP was not met. Announcing the decision of the seven-member coordination committee of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, chief of BKU (Rajewal group) Balbir Singh Rajewal and president of Krantikari Kisan Union Punjab Darshan Pal said: “We have given a call for a tractor-trolley parade to Delhi on January 26. The parade with the national flag will be called the ‘farmers republic parade’ and will take place after the official parade.” “We intend to be peaceful. We told the Central government long ago that it has only two options, either repeal the three farm acts or use force to evict us,” the farm leaders said. Rajewal and Pal said the time had come for decisive action. They had chosen January  20 ice-lined refrigerators, 1,800 vaccine carriers, 50 large cold boxes, 50 small cold boxes, and 1,200 ice packs are also at the godown As a prelude to the vaccination programme, the state on Saturday conducted a dry-run at six centres spread over four districts — T hir uvananthapuram, Idukki, Palakkad and Wayanad. The ‘mock-drill’, conducted on a pan-India basis as instructed by the Union Health Ministry, is aimed at ensuring the operational feasibility of the government’s rollout plan, besides identifying flaws in the implementation and reporting mechanisms chalked out for the purpose. “The first phase of vaccination will focus on the 3.13 lakh people belonging to the priority group — those in the van- guard of the fight against Covid-19. This includes health workers, medical students, Asha workers and anganwadi workers, among others. Next in line are the senior citizens. The state has an elderly population of 50 lakh. We hope the Centre will allot enough vaccine vials to the state,” Shailaja said. Up to 14 lakh auto-disposable syringes have been stored at a Thiruvananthapuram godown for the vaccination programme. Twenty large ice-lined refrigerators, 1,800 vaccine carriers, 50 large cold boxes, 50 small cold boxes, and 1,200 ice packs had also reached the godown ● More on P4 earlier.  EXPRESS READ PM Modi to inaugurate GAIL pipeline on Jan 5 Kochi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the KochiMangaluru Natural Gas Pipeline virtually on January 5, GAIL India Ltd chairman and managing director Manoj Jain announced on Saturday. The pipeline is expected to bring a big boost to gas economy, providing cheaper and cleaner fuel to industrial and residential consumers. P4 Exports slip for third month on a trot New Delhi: For the third straight month, India’s exports slipped by 0.8 per cent in December 2020, even as the trade deficit widened to USD 15.71 billion due to the rise in imports. Exports in December stood at USD 26.89 billion, as compared to USD 27.11 in the same month of 2019, according to the data released by the Commerce Ministry on Saturday. sourav suffers mild heart attack 5 players isolated; Covid-19 protocol breach probe on Chennai: Five members of the Indian team — Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Shubhman Gill, Prithvi Shaw and Navdeep Saini — have been isolated from the rest of the contingent after a fan posted a video of them dining at an indoor restaurant. The five will be allowed to train during the period, but under strict protocols, and will not be allowed to mix with the rest of the squad, the Cricket Australia said. As per CA’s Covid-19 protocol, players are allowed to dine outside their hotel but only outdoors. “The BCCI and CA are investigating the matter and seeking to determine whether the outing constitutes a breach of bio-security protocols,” said a Cricket Australia statement. | P11 Indian cricket board president and former India skipper Sourav Ganguly suffered a ‘mild’ heart attack on Saturday when he was in the gym and had to be admitted to a private hospital where doctors found multiple blockages in his coronary arteries. Ganguly underwent angioplasty and a stent was placed in one of the arteries. Doctors treating him said his condition is stable. Ganguly was rushed to the hospital in the afternoon following complaint of chest pain. Sourav’s brother Snehasish Ganguly said in the afternoon that he was stable. Cricket fraternity, led by Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar, wished Sourav a speedy recovery. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and governor Jagdeep Dhankhar visited him in the hospital. | P11 Kappan held talks with Anwar, NCP on verge of split baloo about? I have not held @ T’Puram/Kottayam any talks with the UDF. I won from Pala with a good perIS the NCP Kerala unit head- formance. So how can they ing for a split? The incredi- demand the Pala seat? It is ble performance of the Ker- not meant for someone who ala Congress (M) under Jose has not performed well,” K Mani in the local body said Kappan. polls soon after joining the NCP state chief T P LDF has made him a strong- Peethambaran said he held er contender for the Pala as- talks with Kappan and the sembly seat than latter “has no plans sitting MLA Mani to leave the LDF C Kappan. Even Kacamp”. Peethamppan seems to have baran has also accepted it. Sources called a meeting of said he held private all district leaders. talks with AICC While Anwar, a general secretary former NCP leader, a n d Ke r a l a i n is considered as the charge Tariq Anbrain behind the war during his visit move, Hassan beI won from Pala t o T h i r u va n a n lieves that, with with a good thapuram last week such rumours, Kaperformance. So and explored the ppan is testing the how can they chances of a switch waters before takdemand the Pala to the UDF. If Kaping his next step. P seat? It is not pan decides to mi- meant for someone J Joseph, the leader who has not grate, then the facof the KC(M) facperformed well tion led by tion which has reTransport Minister mained with UDF, Mani C Kappan A K Sassendran had expressed his will stay in the Left willingness to give camp, thereby splitting the the Pala seat to Kappan but NCP. UDF convenor M M Hassan said Joseph did not Hassan and NCP leadership, discuss such a plan in the however, denied such a UDF liaison committee. move. “As far as I know, Joseph Kappan reiterated on Sat- offered the UDF’s Pala seat urday that he would not give to Kappan on the spur of the up the Pala seat and the par- moment. It was not discussed ty’s central leadership has in the UDF. We are not aware given him the assurance. of Anwar holding any talks “NCP is still a part of the with the NCP leadership eiLDF. When no discussion ther. If he had met them, he has taken place so far on the would have told us,” said Pala seat, what is this hulla- Hassan. E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e s t ra y a t t a c k Farmers during their protest against the new farm laws, at Ghazipur border in New Delhi on Saturday | PTI 26 for the rally for two reasons: Re public Day represented the supremacy of the people while the day will also mark two months of their protest. The tractor rally on January 26 will go ahead if there is no resolution during the talks on Monday. Lohri/makar sankranti on January 13 will be observed as Kisan Sankalp Diwas by burning the copies of the three laws. January 18 will be celebrated as Mahila Kisan Diwas to underline the role of women farmers, and January 23, the birth anniversary of Subhash Chandra Bose, will be observed as Azad Hind Kisan Diwas. Protests will be held outside Raj Bhavan in all state capitals.  Continued on: p7 Kids contact CMO, bleeding puppy lives on E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Kozhikode A group of children belonging to households near Mappurath temple at Ulliyeri here, whose swift intervention had saved a two-month old puppy from certain death, are a contended lot now. The responsiveness on the part of Anandu Dev G S, Deeju Dinesh, Akshay K M and Adarsh R ensured that the chief minister’s office (CMO) became involved in the matter. The children had been playing football near their residence around 4pm on Friday when they heard a puppy’s yelp. On looking around, they stumbled on a bleeding female puppy which was being attacked by two stray dogs. They scared away the strays and attended to the dog. Besides a deep gash in the abdomen caused by dog bite, one of its legs had been fractured. “I googled and located a few veterinary hospitals. But their response was hardly encouraging. A staffer went as far as to tell us that we were unnecessarily worrying about the whole thing since it was not our pet dog. Then I called up the CMO and filled in the authorities there on the developments. The CMO staff gave me the number of the district animal husbandry office and also promised to alert them on their own,” said Anandu. Within minutes, C Ajitha, president of Ulliyeri grama panchayat, was contacted from Thiruvananthapuram and she informed ward member N M ● More on P5 Balaraman.  W ITH THIS ISS U E Forces of Nature PLUS 12 PAGES ONLINE GAMING Youth died by suicide after losing `22 lakh playing rummy E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ T’Puram THE youth hailing from Kuttichal near here had ended his life after he lost about `22 lakh playing online rummy game, according to his family and the police. Vineeth, 29, of Bineesh Bhavan, was a contract wo rke r o n the Valiyamala campus of the Indian S p a c e Re search Org anisation. He was found Vineeth hanging from the branch of a rubber tree near his house on December 31. Vineeth’s father Velayudhan Pillai said his son was an avid gamer but said it was not the only reason for his suicide. “We had promised him all support to repay the money he had took from different persons. We were preparing to sell our house,” said Pillai who suspected that his son got threats over the phone. A statement by his brother Bineesh to the Neyyar Dam police pegged the loss at `4 lakh. “We are clueless about the exact amount. The phone has been handed to the cyber forensic wing for examination. The report will give information on the game he played and the money he lost,” Saju, a station house officer with Neyyar Dam station, told TNIE. India-UK flight services will resume on Jan 6, says Civil Aviation Minister Anandu Dev, (R), caresses the puppy at his house in Ulliyeri as Deeju Dinesh (L), Adarsh (2nd L) and Akshay look on | T P Sooraj Air India said, in a tweet, it has opened bookings for its flights from India to the UK. Services from the UK to India will resume from January 8