visakhapatnam l sunday l january 10, 2021 l `8.00 l PAGES 24 l late city EDITION Indonesia plane with 62 aboard feared crashed Pontianak-bound domestic carrier loses contact four minutes after take off from Jakarta on Saturday around 1 pm (IST) Suspected debris found in sea, search on Plunged 10,000 feet in one minute Teams have been dispatched to search the waters north of Jakarta. However, rescuers said suspected debris had been found in the sea. According to Indonesian Transport Minister Budi Karya, the Boeing 737-500 run by budget airline Sriwijaya Air had 62, including 12 crew, people on board. No radio beacon signal has been detected, officials said ■ ■ Tracking service Flightradar24 said on its Twitter feed said that the flight “lost more than 10,000 feet of altitude in less than one minute, about 4 minutes after departure from Jakarta” The 26-year-old plane was of the 737 Classic series, not to be confused with 737 MAX that was grounded over safety concerns 2018 A lion air boeing 737 max flight had crashed in indonesia, killing 189 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 Covid vaccination drive from Jan 16 Trump all set to be impeached for 2nd time by Democrats Around 3 crore healthcare workers and frontline staff to get vaccination in the first phase E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ New Delhi The vaccination drive against Covid-19 will begin on January 16, the Centre on Saturday announced after Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the preparedness for the exercise. “After the detailed review, it was decided that in view of the forthcoming festivals, including Lohri, Makar Sankranti, Magh Bihu etc., the Covid-19 vaccination will start from January 16,” said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in a statement. The government said that the Prime Minister took a detailed and comprehensive review of Govt files plea in high court The State government on Saturday moved a house motion petition in the AP High Court challenging the State Election Commissioner releasing the schedule for panchayat elections and sought a stay on the election proceedings. The HC will take up the petition for hearing on Monday. MCC applicable to rural areas: SEC A day after announcing the schedule for elections to Gram Panchayats, SEC Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar clarified that the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) is applicable only to rural areas, not urban regions. The MCC will be in force in the State from January 9 to February 17. the status of Covid management covering various issues. The Drug Controller General of India has granted restricted emergency use or accelerated approval for two vaccines -- Covishield and Covaxin -- which he said have established safety and immunogenicity As the in. oculation drive is launched, the first prioritised group will include the healthcare workers and the frontline staff, who are estimated to be around 3 crore, followed by those above 50 years of age and the under-50 population groups with comorbidities, numbering around 27 crore in the country . The vaccination exercise is underpinned by the principles of people’s participation, utilising experience of elections and universal immunisation programme, no compromise of existing healthcare services, especially national programmes and primary healthcare serv- 2,360 vaccine administrators trained About 2,360 vaccine administrators were trained during the national level training of trainers, who comprised State immunisation officers, cold chain officers, IEC officials and development partners. ices, said the Ministry of Health. So far, nearly 97 lakh beneficiaries have been registered on the CoWin vaccine delivery management system that is being touted as a crucial technological tool to drive the exercise. As per the details shared, 2,360 vaccine administrators were trained during the national level training of trainers, who comprised State immunisation officers, cold chain officers, IEC officials and development partners. Also, more than 61,000 programme managers, 2 lakh vaccinators and 3.7 lakh other vaccination team members have been trained so far as part of training in States. Fate of local elections hangs in balance with roll-out of vaccine, govt-SEC tiff S V i s w a n at h @ Vijayawada Even as State Election Commissioner (SEC) Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar on Friday sprang a surprise by releasing the schedule for elections to Gram Panchayats in February , besides enforcing the Model Code of Conduct from Saturday, there is a question mark over the polls now as the Centre announced the first phase of Covid-19 vaccination drive from January 16. When contacted by TNIE, Chief Secretary Aditya Nath Das said that the State Task Force for Covid management and vaccination is likely to meet on Monday to take stock of the directions of the Centre and the directives of the State Election Commission. Express News Service Twitter Kicks out Don permanently US President Donald Trump has been permanently suspended from Twitter due to the “risk of further incitement of violence”, the social media giant announced, days after his supporters stormed the US Capitol and caused the death of four civilians and a cop. GOP senator asks Trump to resign Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski has said President Trump should resign, making her the first Republican senator to say he should leave office as backlash grows against his goading of violent supporters who stormed the Capitol. “I want him to resign,” she said. 10 babies die in fire at maha hosp E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e People give their swab samples for Covid-19 test at Sanjeevini bus at ENT Hospital in Visakhapatnam on Saturday | G Satyanarayana Though the State government’s stand is that elections cannot be conducted now as the official machinery needs to focus on Covid vaccination, the SEC seems to be firm on his stance. Sources close to Ramesh Kumar said that he is confident of dealing with the situation despite employees’ threat of boycotting the election duties. Even before the announcement of the roll-out of vaccine by the Centre, APNGOs and other employees’ unions opposed the SEC move and threatened to boycott election duties if the schedule was not revoked.  P4 @ Mumbai A fire broke out at the Sick Newborn Care Unit of the Bhandara district general hospital, leaving ten infants dead on Saturday early morning. The fire services personnel rescued seven children from the blaze suspected to have been sparked by an electrical short circuit. Meanwhile, Maharashtra Special ED Court summons Jagan, Vijayasai on January 11 E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Hyderabad jam-packed People’s shopping spree ahead of Sankranti, leads to a chock-a-block traffic at Jagadamba Junction in Visakhapatnam on Saturday | G satyanarayana In a significant development, the Special Enforcement Directorate Court has issued summons to AP Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, YSRC MP V Vijayasai Reddy and the directors of pharma companies Hetero, Aurobindo and Trident Life Sciences, directing them to appear before it on January 11 in the case pertaining to alleged disproportionate assets of Jagan. Following the HC direction in November last year, the case filed by the ED against Jagan and others was transferred from Nampally special court to the Special CBI Court, which Signal, Telegram in race to replace WhatsApp as messaging platform BISMAH MALIK @ Bengaluru with WhatsApp’s new privacy policy receiving flak from all over, rival platforms Signal and Telegram have reported a sudden spike in downloads. The ‘quit WhatsApp’ call got momentum after the richest person in the world, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, tweeted suggesting everybody switch to Signal. In the frenzy that followed, Signal’s registration systems reportedly crashed as it could not handle the surge of new users coming on board. The new privacy policy which , will kick in from February 8, requires users to agree to let owner Facebook and its subsidiaries collect sensitive data. According to data sourced from market intelligence fir m Sensor Tower, downloads for Signal and Telegram in India jumped 55% and 14%, respectively, on a weekon-week basis, in the first week of January In contrast, . the growth for WhatsApp has remained flat between December 26 and Januray 6. However, WhatsApp still re- Downloads jump Downloads for Signal and Telegram in India jumped 55% and 14% on a week-on-week basis, in the first week of January Outgoing US President Donald Trump, accused of inciting his supporters to mount a violent insurrection on Capitol Hill — in which five people died — is all set to become the only US President to be impeached twice, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying she would move forward with impeachment if Trump did not resign immediately . “If he does not, I have instructed the Rules Committee to be prepared to move forward with Cong ressman Jamie Raskin’s 25th Amendment legislation and a motion for impeachment,” Pelosi said. According to reports, nearly 160 House Democrats have signed on the bill, which congressmen Ted Lieu of California and David Cicilline of Rhode Island began drafting while they were sheltering in a place during Wednesday’s cha- os at the Capitol. If the process goes ahead, it would be the second time the House has pursued impeachment against Trump. In December 2019, the lower chamber impeached him on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. But the Senate acquitted him on both the charges in February 2020. No US president has ever been impeached twice. However, the prospect of an impeachment conviction seems remote because of Trump’s Republican broad support in the Senate. President-elect Joe Biden said impeachment was for Congress to decide, but added in the same breath that he has felt Trump was not fit to serve. The White House dismissed the impeachment as a politically motivated move. Meanwhile, CNN has reported that there would be fresh violence ahead of Biden’s inauguration on January 20.  P9, 10 mains the leader with 430 million users in India against Telegram’s 45 million and Signal’s 1-2 million users, according to Counterpoint research. The Facebook-owned app recorded 2.4 million downloads in India, while Telegram had 1.6 million and Signal 17,000 between January1 and 6. On Saturday, WhatsApp clarified its latest update does not change its data-sharing practices with Facebook. WhatsApp head Will Cathcart issued a series of tweets to claim the company’s updated policy is transparent. He added the new policy doesn’t include sharing private chats with Facebook. is also designated to hear the ED cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The ED had registered the case based on the CBI’s quid pro quo case that charged the pharma companies with bribing the firms belonging to Jagan in lieu of the land allotment they got from the State government headed by Jagan’s father and the then CM late YS Rajasekhara Reddy . The CBI alleged that these pharma companies had entered into a criminal conspiracy with the prime accused to get 150 acres of land at Jadcherla SEZ in lieu of `29 crore investment they made in the companies of Jagan. express read Fishing banned along Vizag coast over ring net dispute Visakhapatnam: Fishing was banned along the coast of Visakhapatnam following a dispute between traditional fishermen using gill nets and fishermen using ring nets. The Collector enforced the ban under Section 145 of CrPC to maintain law and order. DCP Aishwarya Rastogi said the ban was imposed as both groups were not in agreement by sticking to their stand. The ban will be in force till an expert panel set up to study the issue, finds an amicable solution. WITH THIS ISSUE India’s Bread Revolution PLUS 12 PAGES Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray ordered a high-level sixmember committee to probe into the mishap, besides announcing an ex gratia of `5 lakh each to the parents of the deceased children. A reply to a query under RTI Act in 2018 had revealed that the hospital was illequipped to deal with fire accidents, and had pointed tow a rd s a l a ck o f s a f e t y equipment on the premises. Further, no fire audit has been done at the hospital since 2018. Soon after the mishap, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar ordered fire audits at all government hospitals across the state. PM Narendra Modi tweeted: “Heart-wrenching tragedy in Bhandara, Maharashtra, where we have lost precious young lives. My thoughts are with all the bereaved families. I hope the injured recover as P8 early as possible”.