tadepalligudem l tuesday l february 16, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Wholesale Price Index for jan touches 2.03% An uptick in demand for manufactured items after resumption in economic activities in September last pushing prices up, say data manufactured items inflation at 5.13% Analysts expect big WPI jump in fy21 Inflation in manufactured items, accounting for 65% weight in WPI, stood at 5.13% compared to 4.24% in Dec. This grouping comprises 22 bands, of which 18 like furniture, motor vehicles, machinery saw prices rising. Data show prices of food items dropped in Jan at (-) 2.8% while prices of nonfood articles rose by 4.16%. Together, they account for 20% weight in WPI ■ ■ Fuel and power index (15% weight) contracted 4.78% in January Analysts say a deeper disinflation in primary food articles helped cushion the impact of the sharp rise in core inflation, but warned headline WPI inflation will record large upticks over the course of the next few months and hover around 5-5.5 per cent in FY2021 4.06% Jan’s retail inflation based on the cpi. A drop of 0.53% over december 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 BCCI Toolkit heat on two more activists SC gives Kappan 5-day interim bail Police claim Nikita & Disha edited doc created by Shantanu; were in contact with Khalistani outfit G ayat h r i M a n i a n d S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i @ New Delhi/Mumbai all-round applause for ashwin Bad start On a pitch that came under criticism after England were bowled out for 134 in the first innings, India wanted to make a statement by batting long enough on Day 3. However, they ended up losing five wickets inside the first session Kohli-ty knock With Jack Leach and Moeen Ali finding enough purchase off the pitch, batting was by no means easy. Batsmen found it hard to negotiate the turn and bounce. But Virat Kohli displayed quality by playing late and stretching forward in order to defend Ashwin’s day out The moment he walked in to bat, Ashwin meant business. He swept the spinners, used his feet against them and scored briskly. After scoring fifty, he quietly went about building the innings in the company of the tail. He scored 106 off 148 balls s ta r i n g at t h e i n e v i ta b l e England need a miracle in the remaining two days to get something out of the contest. Chasing 482 for victory, the visitors were reeling at 53/3 in the second innings, needing 429 more runs for an improbable win | P11 Even as the arrest of Bengaluru student-activist Disha Ravi in connection with Greta Thunberg toolkit case has sparked an outrage, Delhi Police are searching for two other persons, Mumbaibased lawyer Nikita Jacob and environment activist Shantanu Mulak, against whom non-bailable warrants have been obtained. The two moved Bombay High Court for transit anticipatory bail on Monday, a day after a Delhi court re- manded Disha in five-day police custody Jacob and Mulak, who is . based in Delhi but hails from Maharashtra, have been identified by the Delhi Police as creators of the ‘toolkit’ document, along with Disha. According to the police, both Jacob and Mulak are absconding. However, in her plea filed in the Bombay High Court, Jacob expressed apprehension that she may be arrested “due to political vendetta and a media trial” and sought transit anticipatory bail for four weeks. She also sought in- terim protection from any coercive steps by the police. Mulak filed a plea seeking similar relief in the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court. According to Delhi’s Joint Commissioner of Police (Cyber Cell) Prem Nath, initial investigation revealed that Mulak’s e-mail account was the owner of the toolkit that was uploaded and later deleted by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, while the others were its editors. All three — Disha, Mulak and Jacob — have been booked for se- Urban local bodies to go to polls on March 10 E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e Election schedule @ Vijayawada The State Election Commission on Monday issued a notification for the conduct of elections to 12 municipal corporations and 75 municipalities/nagar panchayats on March 10. Counting of votes will be held on March 14. In fact, the process for elections to the urban local bodies was stopped mid-way in March 2020 due to Covid-19. In a press release, SEC Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar said March 2 Commencement of withdrawal of nominations March 3 Last date for withdrawal of nominations March 3 Publication of list of contestants (after 3 pm) March 10 Polling March 13 Repolling if needed TWELVE 75 The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday cleared the hurdle for distribution of rice at the doorstep of ration card holders across the State. Suspending the order of the State Election Commission (SEC) to stop door delivery of ration through mobile dispensing units (MDUs) in rural areas till the time colours on the vehicles are changed as they resemble a particular party, the High Court gave interim orders directing the SEC not to obstruct the distribution till March 15. Justice DVSS Somayajulu said that the State government has a good intention of providing rice and essential commodities to the poor people through door delivery . The wellbeing of people is the supreme law and keeping it in view, the court is issuing the interim orders allowing the government to deliver ration at the doorstep of beneficiaries through MDUs, he said. Justice Somayajulu observed that in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, door delivery of Model Code of Conduct has come into force in the urban areas of the entire State March 14 — declaration of election results ration to beneficiaries will ensure that there will be no gathering of people at fair price shops. He further pointed out that the scheme is already being implemented in urban areas of the State. The operators of MDUs have purchased the vehicles by obtaining bank loans and they need to repay the debt. Changing the colours on MDUs Amicus curiae appointed on Kodali Nani’s plea The Andhra Pradesh High Court appointed senior counsel P Sri Raghuram as amicus curiae (friend of the court) to advise it on the writ petition challenging the State Election Commission (SEC) refraining Civil Supplies Minister Kodali Sri Venkateswara Rao (Nani) from speaking to the media till elections are over. The court went through the videos of Nani’s press briefing, based on which the SEC gave orders refraining him from speaking to the media involves a huge expenditure. It is not correct to stop door delivery of ration till the time colours on MDUs are changed, he said. On the objection raised by the SEC pertaining to photos of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and former Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy on MDUs, he cited the judgement of the Supreme Court in the State of Karnataka and Common Cause & others and also in another PIL, where the apex court did not impose any ban on using photos of political leaders and those in power in advertisements during elections. The scheme was launched much before the Model Code of Conduct for panchayat elections came into P4 force, he said.  express read 16 labourers killed as truck falls into roadside pit Mumbai: As many as 16 persons were killed and five others injured after a truck carrying labourers overturned and fell into a roadside pit at Kingaon, near Yawal Taluka in the Jalgaon district of Maharashtra, in the wee hours of Monday. `5 meal scheme launched in Mamata’s Bengal Kolkata: Taking a leaf out of the book of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jaylalithaa, Mamata Banerjee launched a `5 meal scheme for the poor on Monday. A sum of `100 crore has been sanctioned for implementation of the project.P8 seamless travel The toll plaza at SV Puram in Chittoor district gets ready for implementation of FASTag | Madhav K greenfield airport Flight operations to begin at Orvakal on March 28 E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Kurnool Orvakal airport will get operational on March 28. The first flight will officially land at Orvakal from Bengaluru at 10.10 am on March 28, airport development works in-charge Sreenivasulu said. Booking of flight tickets from Orvakal started on Monday . IndiGo has announced the ticket prices from Orvakal to Bengaluru, Visakhapatnam and Chennai. The flight tickets are available at the airline’s website as per norms. Seats will, however, be available for passengers in IndiGo flights, which will start operations from No. of municipal corporations No. of municipalities and nagar panchayats HC clears ‘SEC hurdle’ for door delivery of ration E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada dition, creating disharmony and ill-will against the Government of India. Briefing the media, the JCP said a Canada-based woman named Puneet connects all the accused with “pro-Khalistan” Poetic Justice Foundation’ (PJF). The police said that on January 11, Jacob and Mulak attended a Zoom meeting organised by PJF in which the modalities of the protests were worked out. The toolkit was created based on that discussion. Disha later shared the toolkit with Greta Thunberg over Telegram P8,10 messenger. The Supreme Court on Monday laid down a set of conditions while granting a 5-day interim bail to journalist Siddique Kappan to meet his ailing mother (90). A bench headed by the CJI ordered him not to give any interview to any media platform. He was told only to meet his relatives and doctors. The conditions were set after the solicitor general argued he might use the bail period to garner support. Kappan was arrested in October last while going to Hathras to report on the alleged gang-rape and death of a Dalit woman. ENS Orvakal under the regional connectivity scheme from March 28, he told TNIE. The airport at Orvakal on the outskirts of Kurnool city had recently got approval from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to start operations. The APADCL has been given the licence to operate flights. Orvakal is the first airport in South India to be developed entirely by a State government. The airport has been developed at a cost of `150 crore. IndiGo flight will take off from Orvakal at 10.30 am and reach Visakhapatnam at 12:40 pm. The flight from Visakhapatnam will depart at 1.00 pm and arrive at Orvakal at 2.55 pm. The flight service will be on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday . The flight from Orvakal will take off at 3.15 pm and reach Bengaluru at 4.25 pm. The flight will depart from Bengaluru at 9.05 am and land at Orvakal at 10.10 am, as per schedule. they reviewed the situation and decided it was conducive for the conduct of elections to the urban local bodies. Two of the four phases of panchayat elections in the State have already taken place. With the issuance of notification, the Model Code of Conduct has come into force in the urban areas of the entire State with effect from February 15. It will be in force till the completion of the election process. It was decided to resume the urban local body election process from the stage where it was stopped on March 15, 2020. Now, the election process will commence from the withdrawal of nominations stage. The withdrawal of nominations will begin on March 2 and conclude on March 3. After 3 pm on the same day the final list of contestants , will be announced. Polling will be held on March 10 and repolling if needed will be conducted on March 13. Election results will be declared on March 14 after counting of votes.  2 RTC sites for online ticket booking New app E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e The APSRTC is coming up with Unified Ticketing Solution App. Tenders for app will be invited soon @ Vijayawada People intending to travel in APSRTC buses can now book their tickets online at its websites -- www.apsrtconline.org.in and www.apsrtconline.in. APSRTC Executive Director (Information Technology) A Koteswara Rao said due to technical glitches, the corporation had suspended the operations of www.apsrtconline. in from February 5. As an alternative, it had come up with www.apsrtconline.org.in. The technical glitches in the www.apsrtconline.in website have been rectified. Now, people can book the tickets online at both the websites,” Koteswara Rao said.