SAMBALPUR l monday l january 11, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 28 l city EDITION U.S. LIFTS BAR ON INTERACTION WITH TAIWANESE OFFICIALS The US has lifted the ‘self-imposed restrictions’ on contacts between American and Taiwanese diplomats and officials No need to appease China, says Pompeo 2nd impeachment move to start today The restrictions were introduced decades ago to appease the Chinese government, which lays claim to the island, the US state department said. “The US-Taiwan relationship need not, and should not, be shackled by self-imposed restrictions of our permanent bureaucracy,” Pompeo said. China termed it an attempt to sabotage the next administration ■ ■ The Democrats plan to introduce an article of impeachment against President Donald Trump on Monday, in a bid to stop him from running for president again in 2024 On Sunday, Pennsylvania’s Pat Toomey became the second GOP senator to demand that Trump “resign and go away” | P9 10 Number of days left for Donald Trump to remain U.S. president 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 Chhattisgarh first state to prevent Covaxin State health minister says he is not confident of asking people to take the jab as it is yet to finish phase 3 trial E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Raipur/New Delhi Agitating farmers ransacking the venue of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s Kisan Mahapanchayat, at Kaimla village in Karnal district on Sunday | PTI Farmers ransack venue of Haryana CM’s meet where Khattar’s helicopter was to land. While most of them Haryana Chief Minister squatted on it, some others Manohar Lal Khattar was on damaged the helipad, forcing Sunday forced to cancel a Kisan Khattar to call off the trip. Mahapanchayat that aimed to The farmers held black flags drum up support for the three and shouted slogans against contentious Central agricul- the BJP-led government as they ture laws, as protesting farm- pushed towards the venue. Karers ransacked the event venue nal’s Superintendent of Police at Kaimla village in Gang a Ram Punia Karnal district. 20 booked tried to pacify the The administration for stoning farmers but to no avail. had anticipated trouThe protestors initialThe police ble as farmers belongly staged a sit-in near registered an ing to the Bharatiya the second barricade attempt to Kisan Union (Charubefore breaking it. murder case ni) had on Wednesday The police claimed it against 20 last said they would had made elaborate sefarmers who not allow the event to curity arrangements, allegedly stoned but the situation went take place. the vehicle of Yet, the intensity of out of control as farmthe protest as the farm- Deputy Speaker ers were adamant on Ranbir Singh ers broke through two not allowing Khattar levels of barricades on Gangwa during to address the event. his visit to a the road leading to the L a t e r, K h a t t a r village in Hisar village and kept movblamed the Congress ing ahead despite the and the communists police firing tear gas shells and for the vandalism. “These peousing water cannons, left the ple have defamed the farmers. I administration overwhelmed. am an elected representative. Upon reaching the venue, the We have never stopped anybody farmers vandalised the stage from expressing their views. and broke chairs, tables and But violation of constitutional flower pots, while the police provisions is not right,’’ he was a mere spectator. said, adding the Centre will not The protesters also took con- repeal the laws but was open to trol of a makeshift helipad introducing amendments. H a r p r ee t B a j w a @ Chandigarh Chhattisgarh’s Congress government on Sunday said it was not inclined to use Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin unless the vaccine successfully completes the recommended testing process, thus becoming the first state to indicate it may refuse the jab ahead of the national rollout of the vaccination programme on January 16. Whether or not other opposition states would adopt a similar approach was not immediately known. “The vaccine has been approved for emergency use (by the Drug Controller General of India). But its use should be avoided until its complete results are out,” Chhatisagarh health minister T S Singh Deo said. “In my opinion, it should not be allowed in the state. As of now, I am not confident of asking people to accept this vaccine,” he added. “We mustn’t rush headlong into starting its widespread use but wait for completion of phase 3 trials and its appraisal. Else, it would set a Please ensure there are no proxies at all; the beneficiaries need to be uniquely and undeniably identified Ram Sewak Sharma, head of tech and data management group on Covid-19 SJTA scraps Covid negative norm for Srimadir E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Puri The Sri Jagannath temple will be accessible to all from January 21 with the district administration on Sunday deciding to withdraw the mandatory production of Covid negat ive c e r t i f i c at e a s a precondition for entry into the 12th century shrine. Addressing mediapersons, chief administrator of Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Krishan Kumar said arrangements were being made to facilitate darshan for 30,000 devotees every day . Devotees of Puri would be allowed for one hour from 6 am to 7 am every morning while darshan schedule for others will be in three sessions - 7 am to 12 noon, 2.30 pm to 4 pm and 4.40 pm till closure of the temple gates for the day. Darshan would not be allowed on Sundays. Puri Collector Samarth Verma, SP K Vishal Singh, chief district medical officer Dr Sujata Mishra, sub-collector Bhabataran Sahu and servitors of the temple managing committee participated in the meeting. There was a lot of hue and cry over production of Covid negative certificate at the temple gates as every day, a large number of devotees had to return dejected after failing to get the test report. The administration had announced to facilitate entry of 17,000 devotees into the temple daily However, average entry . was below 3,000 due to the mandatory provision of prod u c i n g C o v i d n e g a t iv e certificate. Devotees had reacted strongly against the administration’s move stating that before making Covid negative certificate Arrangements are being made to facilitate darshan for 30,000 devotees every day - Krishan Kumar, chief administrator E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Umerkote A worker was killed and three others injured after an underconstruction bridge collapsed near Talapadar village of Nabarangpur district on Sunday . The incident occurred when a slab of the bridge being constructed over Nagi river caved in and fell to the ground. While Mahendra Malli (47) of Raighar village in Nabarangpur district was killed in the m i s h a p, P r a k a s h B h o i , Ramesh Bhoi and Santosh Bhoi of Puri district sustained critical injures. Collector Ajit Misra, SP Prahlad Meena and Jharigaon MLA Prakash Majhi rushed to the spot soon after the mishap. Misra ordered a departmental inquiry into the incident and asked the executive engineer of Rural Development department to lodge an FIR against the contractor. The 68.25 mtr long and 8.45 mtr wide bride is being constructed at a cost of `2.41 crore. Construction work had started in 2018 and was supposed to end in 2019. But, it had been delayed. Two slabs of the bridge had already been completed and the third slab was being laid when the mishap occured. E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar WITH THIS ISSUE THE ESSENTIAL CAMPUS DIGEST 28 PAGES, INCLUDING 16 OF edex (TABLOID) YOUR LIFE COACH A devotee Padma Charan Patra and his wife donating three sets of adornments for Lord Jagannath in the shape of sun and moon, weighing 319gm gold and 822gm silver, to Chief Administrator SJTA Dr Krishan Kumar at Puri on Sunday | Express ‘Nasty’ Sydney at it again, six offenders evicted S w a r o o p S w a m i n at h a n @ Chennai THE Sydney crowd it seems has always been hostile. Hurling abuses at players can reach a different level. If Saturday was nasty with allegations of racist abuses against two India players, Sunday turned out to be extremely sour as Mohammad Siraj, who was allegedly racially abused on Saturday as well, had to face the brunt again. He and standin skipper Ajinkya Rahane approached the on-field umpires mandatory, it should have opened adequate testing facilities. Besides, with the Lingaraj temple at Bhubaneswar doing away with the test report production system, pressure had mounted on the administration here to follow suit. Closed since March 20 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Srimandir opened its doors for devotees from December 23. On the first three days, families of servitors were allowed entry while Puri residents had darshan from December 26 to 31 without the Covid negative certificate. Outside devotees were allowed entry into the temple from January 3. out seeing its phase 3 efficacy data. In Delhi, the Union health ministry held a video conference with of ficials from states and Union Territories to get feedback on the CoWIN software that was trialled during the dry runs. Ram Sewak Shar ma, the chair man of Empowered Group on Technology and Data Management to combat Covid-19, asked the states to urge the beneficiaries to seed their current mobile number with Aadhaar for registration on Co-WIN. express read HC accepts fee waiver slab for pvt schools Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has declined to adjudicate beyond the MoU arrived at between private institutions agreeing to waiver of fees in a graded manner in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic | P2 Farmer uses waste to make waterwheel Baripada: A 35-year-old farmer of Mayurbhanj has devised a lift water irrigation mechanism that uses waste materials but does not require power supply. Mahur Tipiria used bamboo, plastic bottles and iron rods to design the waterwheel | P4 Naveen owns property worth `64.98 crore One dead, 3 hurt in bridge black box Found in java sea collapse Indonesian divers on Sunday found the black boxes of a Boeing 737-500 that crashed into sea with 62 people on board shortly after taking off from Jakarta on Saturday | P9 precedent for other companies seeking copycat approvals before completing trials,” Singh Deo said, adding there was no point in risking human lives. India recently g ranted emergency use authorisation to two vaccines, Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield manufactured by Serum Institute in India and Covaxin. Both vaccines achieved parameters set for safety and immunogenicity, the re gulator said. However, experts severely criticised the regulator for clearing Covaxin with- to complain about the behaviour of a section of the crowd at the Sydney Cricket Ground. At least six people were evicted over allegations of racism that is threatening to overshadow the keenly-contested third Test between India and Australia. Just before the hosts declared at tea on the fourth day, Siraj was targeted by the crowd. The security officials, who had instructed the India team to bring such incidents to their notice as and when it happens after Saturday involved the stadium , officials who interviewed the fans before ejecting the offenders. As per protocol, New South Wales police, as well as Cricket Australia opened an investigation into the matter. After the day’s play, India spinner R Ashwin said the team was happy with the action taken. However, he also revealed that the crowd in Sydney has always been like this — hostile and nasty “This . has been a continuous thing at Sydney,” he said. “I have experienced it as well. They do tend to get nasty. I don’t know why and for what reason.” Ashwin, who visited Australia on three previous tours, said, “If I take myself back to the first tour in 2011-12, I had no clue what racial abuse was or how you can be made to feel small in front of so many people.” In the end, Ashwin’s words aptly sums it up: “disappointing is actually a very very mild , P11 word, I must say .” Days after asking all people’s representatives and government employees to make their property statement public to maintain transparency, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has declared his own property list to the tune of `64.98 crore. Naveen’s properties and assets, both moveable and immovable, by March 31, 2020 have gone up in value by `71 lakh over the previous year. The Chief Minister had declared assets worth `64.26 crore for 2019. As per the declaration made by the Chief Minister, his total assets stood at `64,98,19,764.1 which includes movable property worth `1,34,04,503.1 and immovable properties, all inherited, valued at `63,64,15,261. The State Cabinet had approved a proposal on December 28 making it mandatory for people’s representatives and government employees to submit property statements every year which will be made avail- able in public domain. A copy of the property statement of public representatives and the government servants will be sent to the Lokayukta every year. The Chief Minister’s property statement revealed that he has seven bank accounts in various locations such as New Delhi, Bhubaneswar and Hinjilikut in Ganjam district with a deposit of `1,31,06,011.1 and jewellery worth `2,89,587. Besides, he has an ambassador car (1980 model) valued at `8,905. Among immovab l e p r o p e r t i e s, Naveen has a farmland and building spread over an area of 22.7 acre at Tikri Khera village of Faridabad, valued at over `10 crore. He inherited the farm from his mother. He also owns 50 per cent share in his ancestral property at APJ Abdul Kalam Road in New Delhi, valued at over `43.18 crore. Besides, he has two-third share in Naveen Niwas, located near Bhubaneswar airport, worth `9.52 crore. This, too, was inherited from his mother. CONTINUED ON: P5 Making a splash Boat to canoe, MP fisherman’s daughter living her Olympic dream An u r a a g S i n g h @ Bhopal It is another rags-to-riches tale. In 2016, she was ferrying boats to help her father and four elder sisters for fishing in the backwaters of Indira Sagar Dam on Narmada in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh. Her only motive was to repay her family’s debt. Five years down the line, the script has taken a dramatic turn. From boat to canoe, dam to the vast expanse of the Bhopal Lake, the journey has taken her to the India national camp that would select a team for Asian Olympic qualifier in Pattaya, Thailand (March 14-17). She is tipped to emerge as India’s top woman canoer and make her international canoeing debut two months later. We are talking about Kaveri Dhimar, all of 17 years, who has Kaveri Dhimar (centre) already won 12 gold medals at national canoeing events. “I’m fifth among the seven sisters and two little brothers. We didn’t have any land and being from the fishermen community our parents only relied , on fishing in rivers to run the family Kaveri told TNIE. ,” Memories of helping her elder sisters fish in the backwaters of Indira Sagar Dam on river Narmada in 2016 to repay her father’s loan of `40,000 are still fresh in her mind. “We finally succeeded,” she said. I n t h e s a m e ye a r, t h e Khandwa district sports officer Joseph Baxla spotted Kaveri’s talent in swimming and took her to the MP Water Sports Academy in Bhopal. “We still don’t have our own land and my parents fish in the river Narmada. My dream is to make it big in the international arena one day and buy land for my family said Kaveri. ,” Madhya Pradesh Water Sports Academy coach Pijush Baroi, under whom Kaveri trains have encouraging words for the youngster. “Kaveri has emerged as the country’s top female canoer within just four years. In a sport where height is considered advantageous, Kaveri with her short stature has emerged as country’s top female canoer on the basis of her never say die approach and ability to grasp,” he said.