VIJITH HEGDE RENJALA WARANGAL  FRIDAY  FEBRUARY 12, 2021  `7.00  PAGES 12  CITY EDITION 9.15-SECOND DASH BREAKS BOLT’s RECORD, AGAIN Usain Bolt’s 9.58-second 100-metre dash record stood bettered this year, too, with a 23 year-old clocking 9.15 secs in a buffalo race NISHANT SHETTY, SRINIVAS GOWDA BETTERED ELITE CLUB OF FOUR KAMBALA JOCKEYS Kambala jockey Vishwanath Devadiga (23) sprinted through a slushy track in Udupi, taking 0.36 seconds lesser than last year’s champion Nishant Shetty, whose dash had clocked 9.51 seconds. Earlier, Srinivas Gowda’s 9.55 seconds sprint had brought him social media fame, resulting in the Union sports minister offering a nationals trial, which he declined ■ While kambala and a 100-m sprint are markedly different, the former draws national attention owing to the endurance of the buffalo racers, who sprint 140-odd metres through multiple laps ■ Vishwanath joins the elite club of four racers who have bettered the much-vaunted Jamaican sprinter’s 100-m record set in 2009 3rd try VISHWANATH MANAGED TO SET THE RECORD AFTER FALLING TWICE 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 Govt talks tough, says Twitter can’t overstep Indian law EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi BETTER SENSE FINALLY PREVAILS A day after chiding microblogging platform Twitter for noncompliance, the Centre on Thursday warned social media platforms of strict action on failure to crackdown on inflammatory content. Speaking in Rajya Sabha, Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Centre is committed to freedom of media, but it was equally concerned about the security Clockwise from left: Video grab of Indian and Chinese officers shaking hands to break the ice; and tanks rolling back to begin the process of disengagement Full Pangong pullback expected in two weeks Rajnath says vacated space on the banks of the lake will be a no-go zone for both sides; disengagement elsewhere later M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi A day after the Sino-Indian disengagement began from stand-off positions in Eastern Ladakh, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday confirmed the pull back in a “phased, coordinated and verified manner” in Parliament, and gave a sense of how the whole process is expected to unspool. While the Chinese Army will move back to the east of Finger 8, the Indian Army will fall back to Dhan Singh Thapa post, short of Finger 3 in the North bank area of the Pangong Lake. A similar disengagement began on the South Bank of the lake on Wednesday. Full disengagement on both sides of the lake is expected in 10-15 days, a senior officer said. After the drawdown from Finger 4, Rajnath said, unless a decision is taken otherwise, the area in between will be a no-go zone for both sides. “It has also been agreed to have a STRUCTURES BUILT AFTER APRIL 2020 TO BE REMOVED On the heights India occupied in Rechen La and Razang La on the Kailash Ranges and fortified its positions, Rajnath said structures raised by both sides will be removed. “These are mutual and reciprocal steps and any structures that had been built by both sides since April 2020 in both North and South Bank area will be removed and the landforms will be restored.” He said nothing has been conceded as part of the agreements. temporary moratorium on military activities by both sides in the North Bank, including patrolling to the traditional areas. Patrolling will be resumed only when both sides reach an agreement in diplomatic and military talks that would be held subsequently .” A similar action would be taken in the South Bank area by both sides, he said. Given the sensitivities involved, local commanders of both sides are meeting twice a day to iron out the wrinkles. India is wary as a similar dis, engagement in the past was dishonoured by the Chinese side earlier in the hot spring area, although they had withdrawn from the Galwan Valley . Within 48 hours after this phase is over, Corps Commanders of both sides will meet to work on other positions of the stand-off. EVEN as BJP leaders cried foul over the ‘nexus between MIM and TRS’ in the GHMC Mayor elections, the pink party took the support of the former to get its candidates voted to the top posts of the civic body . The new Mayor of Hyderabad is G Vijaya Lakshmi, the daughter of TRS secretary-general K Keshava Rao, and the Deputy Mayor is M Srilatha Reddy Interestingly soon after . , the election, MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi tweeted: “Appreciate TRS for offering us Deputy Mayor’s post,” indicating that though the TRS had offered the post to the party, he declined it. The TRS and MIM had fought the GHMC election as political rivals, with the former’s working president KT Rama Rao even wanting the people to defeat the latter’s candidates. This was a departure from tradition as both the parties were known to be thick allies. But after the polls, the TRS offered the Deputy Mayor post to the MIM which turned it down and instead, supported the pink party’s candidates in the Mayor and Deputy Mayor elections. BJP State president Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who was quick to react to this, tweeted: “The shady relationship between TRS and MIM is exposed.” “They love each other in the dark but in public they say they have no alliance. The BJP is the only party pursuing politics with ethics,” he said. Though, Sanjay Kumar alleged that the GHMC’s steering would be in the hands of the MIM, Asaduddin tweeted: “Congratulations to the newly elected Mayor & Deputy Mayor of GHMC. Hope that under their leadership, Hyderabad will be taken to new CONTINUED ON P3 heights”. EXPRESS READ BPharm student was gang-raped, say cops Hyderabad: The Rachakonda police investigating the kidnap and rape of a B. Pharmacy student at Keesara on Wednesday night, have altered the sections of the case with charges of gang rape, assault and criminal force with an intent to disrobe the victim. They altered the charges based on her statement. They said she is recovering well | P2 24% of TS frontline staff go for Covid jab Hyderabad: The poor turnout in Telangana by frontline workers for getting vaccinated against Covid-19 continued on Thursday, with just 12,294 of the planned 50,766 frontline workers — 24 per cent, turning up for taking the jab. The drive was conducted in 383 sessions across 32 districts. So far, 76,749 workers have got vaccinated | P5 had come down heavily on Twitter, saying social media platforms should not treat differentially the problems at Capitol Hill and the Red Fort. After the Republic Day violence, the Centre had asked Twitter to block over 1,100 handles and posts We respect social media, it has empowered the common people. Social media has a big role in Digital India programme. However, if social media is misused, action will be taken Ravi Shankar Prasad, Information Technology Minister Domestic flights just became costlier Be ready to pay more for air travel as the cap on lower and upper limits of domestic airfares have been raised by 10% to 30% BAND 1 Up to 40 mins flight | Up from `2K-6K`2.2K-7.8K BAND 2 40-60 mins flight | Up from `2.5K-7.5K`2.8K-9.8K BAND 3 60-90 mins flight | Up from `3K-9K`3.3K-11.7K BAND 4 90-120 mins flight | Up from `3.5K-10K`3.9K-13K BAND 5 120-150 mins flight | Up from `4.5K-13K`5K-16.9K BAND 6 120-150 mins flight | Up from `5.5K-15.7K`6.1K-20.4K BAND 7 120-150 mins flight | Up from `6.5K-18.6K`7.2K-24.2K A S E S H A C H A R Y U L U @ Nalgonda A day after Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao vented his spleen at Dalit activists for disturbing his public meeting at Halia in Nalgonda district, police on Thursday slapped cases against 10 Dalit Shakti activists. According to sources, police let the activists go after seizing their cell phones and ordering them to be present before them whenever summoned. However, they remained tight-lipped all day about the IPC sections under which the cases have been booked. In fact, they were not ready to part with a copy of the FIR despite it being a public document. The sources also said that as those at the receiving end of the Chief Minister’s torrent of invective were Dalits, police wanted to keep the details of the cases under wraps. But they disclosed that the cases were registered under Section 341 of the IPC (restraining wrongfully). Though this is a simple case, they are worried that it might become a political powder ke g since it involves Dalits. Police are apparently cagey about revealing details fearing that it would form a fertile ground for a fresh controversy . This comes at a time when the Chief Minister had announced that he would create a sub-plan of `1,000 crore for the SCs and that he would monitor its implementation himself. On Wednesday police round, ed up the activists as soon as KCR ordered their removal. The demonstrators were raising slogans and flashing papers, demanding that action be taken against Parakal TRS legislator Ch Dharma Reddy for passing derogatory comments on Dalits a few days ago. The MLA had said Dalit employees were no good and that they did not know anything about the work they were doing, at a meeting in Warangal recently . KCR, who grew restive when he saw the Dalit activists trying to draw his attention by raising KTR REFUTES CENTRE’S CLAIMS ON ITIR PROJECT E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad Newly elected Hyderabad Mayor G Vijaya Lakshmi and her Deputy M Srilatha Reddy are all smiles at Pragathi Bhavan on Thursday IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao on Thursday disputed the claims of Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Sanjay Dhotre that the Telangana government had not provided information on the location of the Information Technology and Investment Region (ITIR) project in the State. “We have provided all the information. The Union Minister’s reply (in Lok Sabha) is factually incorrect,” Rama Rao said. Replying to a question by Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Sanjay Dhotre on Wednesday said in Lok Sabha that the State government had not furnished the required information on the ITIR. Taking serious exception to his reply, Rama Rao said: “We have sent the DPR and several reminders too in the last six years. But the Union Minister chose to mislead the House.” Rama Rao said it was very unfair on the part of the NDA government and the Telangana BJP leaders CONTINUED ON P4 to blame the State government. New Rahul take on family planning slogan to bait BJP FORMER Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday hurled Hum Do Hamare Do Sarkar (we two, ours two government) barb on the NDA government, alleging that the country was run by only four persons. Without naming anyone, he claimed the contentious farm laws are meant to benefit big corporate entities alone. The BJP hit back sharply at the Congress, saying Gandhi’s barb must be a reference to Didi-Jija and two (sister, brother-in-law and family). The Congress leader sought to link his charge of crony capitalism against the current dispensation with the ongoing farm agitation by harping on his slogan in the Lok Sabha during the Budget discussion. The former Congress president alleged that the first farm law would destroy APMC Mandis as anyone could purchase any amount of food grains; the second would unleash hoarding; the third would deprive the farmers of judicial remedy . slogans, lost his composure and let out a stream of abuses against them. Under the impression that they were propped up by the BJP, he called them ‘dogs’ and that he would not care if they barked at him. He also told them that they were just a handful in number and the TRS, if it really wanted to teach them a lesson, could easily take them to task and wipe them out. The Chief Minister also warned them that they were testing his patience and it too had a limit. “If you cross the limits, we know what to do. We will trample over you,” he said. CONTINUED ON P4 Dalit Shakti activists disrupt Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s public meeting at Halia by raising slogans against TRS MLA Ch Dharma Reddy on Wednesday MINCING NO WORDS M A N I S H A N A N D @ New Delhi that allegedly spread misinformation about the farmer protest. These included accounts of journalists, activists, and politicians. Twitter blocked some accounts, only in India, and said these demands were inconsistent with Indian law. Meanwhile, despite a French expert claiming Koo, a desi alternative to Twitter, exposed user data, its popularity surged among users and investors. The app developer, however, said steps have been taken to protect user data. 10 Dalits booked after raising their voice for justice at KCR’s meeting TRS’ Vijaya Lakshmi elected Hyd Mayor V V B A L A K R I S H N A @ Hyderabad and law and order in the country Naming Twitter, Facebook, . WhatsApp, and LinkedIn, Prasad said: “We respect your good work. You bring FDI, but you have to respect the laws of the country .” On Wednesday, the ministry “The farm laws will destroy the rural economy,” said Gandhi amid protests from the Treasury bench, objecting to his speaking on the farm laws in place of the Budget. Though Gandhi said that he was laying the foundation for discussion on the Budget, he abruptly ended his speech, calling for a “two-minute silence for 200 farmers who have died since the start of the agitation”. Gushing sludge stops tunnel floor boring V I N E E T U PA D H YAY @ Tapovan (Uttarakhand) WITH a change in strategy failing to deliver, attempts to save 37 workers trapped in the Tapovan hydropower plant tunnel since Sunday following flash floods appeared to be a long shot, as no official or agency could say how much longer it would take to reach them. Ravinath Raman, commissioner of Garhwal division of Uttarakhand said, “At this point of time, no one can tell how long the operation will take. This is a developing situation and unstable landscape. The response strategy keeps changing.” Also, a meeting in Delhi discussed reports of a lake formation in Rishiganga in the higher reaches. “We will act as per instructions,” he said. The changed strategy to drill into the floor of the tunnel to reach a silt filtration tunnel underneath in the hope that the men were perhaps stuck there, had to be suspended as sludge and water gushed in when they reached a depth of six metres. Water levels of the Rishiganga and Dhauliganga suddenly rose, forcing rescuers to suspend operations P7 for two hours.