visakhapatnam l wednesday l february 17, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION formality complete Needing seven wickets to win, India posted a massive 317-run win against England in the second Test on Day Four home truth Virat Kohli is already India’s most successful Test captain ever and the win in Chennai was his 21st at home. As of now, this is a joint-home record with former skipper MS Dhoni patel rap Left-arm spinner Axar Patel had a memorable debut. He picked up five wickets, including that of Joe Root, in the second innings. He is the ninth Indian to take five wickets on debut local touch R Ashwin, who was declared the Man of the Match, dedicated the victory to his home crowd (Chennai). “I’m speechless. I’ve played four Tests here and this is the most special,” he said 38 over to motera Both the teams will be travelling to Ahmedabad next for the third day and night Test. After levelling the series, India would be looking to consolidate the lead in the pink ball match India team celebrates after winning the second Test in Chennai on Tuesday. The four-Test series is 1-1 level | BCCI | P11 runs scored by england’s last pair, the highest in match for visitors 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 Advance bail to activist as police Zoom in Police write to Zoom app to provide details of contents, locations and people who attended Jan 11 virtual meeting Muluk can go to Delhi court CM Jagan Mohan Reddy receives the SKOCH Chief Minister of the Year Award from SKOCH Group Chairman Sameer Kochhar at Tadepalli on Tuesday | Express Jagan gets SKOCH CM of Year Award Environment activist Shantanu Muluk was granted anticipatory transit bail by Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court on Tuesday. The bail granted to Muluk would enable him to apply for protection before an appropriate court in Delhi. Jacob’s lawyer told a single-judge bench that the toolkit only spoke of support to the farmers and not about violence bail plea by lawyer-activist Nitika Jacob for Wednesday . Meanwhile, a Delhi court allowed Bengaluru’s student-activist Disha Ravi to speak with family over phone for 15 minutes and meet with her lawyer for 30 minutes every day while in police custody . Chief Metropolitan Magistrate also allowed her to get warm clothes, masks and books and ordered the Delhi Police to provide a copy of the FIR and remand documents to Disha. Delhi Police have, meanwhile, 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 Two of the three activists named in the farmer protest toolkit FIR got relief from courts even as the Delhi Police ramped up efforts to build its case against them. Environment activist Shantanu Muluk was granted anticipatory transit bail by Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court on Tuesday for 10 days while the main bench of the HC reserved its order on a similar @ Visakhapatnam The YSRC has decided to organise a rally— ‘Visakha Steel Plant Parirakshana Porata Yatra’—covering all the Assembly segments on February 20 protesting against privatisation of the steel plant, YSRC Rajya Sabha MP V Vijayasai Reddy announced on Tuesday . Addressing mediapersons, he said that the padayatra will commence from Gandhi statue at the GVMC office at 8.30 am and culminate into a public meeting at Kurmannapalem. “The 25-km-long yatra will cover Visakhapatnam East, West, North and Gajuwaka Assembly segments,” the MP said. Vijayasai stated that Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is trying for an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apprise him of Andhra Pradesh people’s sentiments regarding Visakhapatnam Steel Plant’s privatisation. It may be noted that Jagan has already written a letter to the Prime Minister to rethink the decision and also suggested alternatives for reviving the steel plant. The YSRC yatra as- @Vijayawada homage to martyr A State funeral was accorded to Naik Pandranki Chandra Rao, who laid down his life in the line of duty, at Bheemasingi village in S Kota mandal of Vizianagaram district on Tuesday | Express CM likely to meet PM on steel plant issue CM Jagan Mohan Reddy is trying for an appointment with the PM to apprise him of the sentiments of people of AP against privatisation of the steel plant, the MP said. sumes significance in the wake of the announcement of elections to the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) on March 10. “The YSRC won’t tolerate if the VSP is privatised. We will intensify our agitation,” Vijayasai said, adding that the government has made its stand clear against VSP privatisation and “we are ready for any kind of agitation.” Vijayasai said they believe the plant will be on a recovery path, if captive iron ore mines are allocated and loans taken for project expansion are con- express read Nearly 50 die as bus falls into canal in MP Bhopal: At least 47 passengers were killed in Madhya Pradesh’s Sidhi district, about 560 km from Bhopal, when an overcrowded private bus plunged into a canal on Tuesday. Police said the 32-seater bus headed from Sidhi to Satna with over 50 passengers met with the accident around 8 am. Seven passengers either swam to safety or were rescued by villagers. The victims, including 24 men, 21 women and two children, mostly were from Sidhi district. Early warning of another Covid resurgence in India? 4,092 new cases, the highest since January 6 when 4,382 new cases were reported. It may be too early to say if InIn Mumbai, the number of dia is heading towards daily cases have starta fresh wave of Cov- Daily count ed climbing over the id-19, but some states in Haryana last few days, especiallike Gujarat, Maharly since local trains ashtra and Haryana started rolling again. are perhaps showing Haryana, which had e a rl y s i g n s o f a less than 100 new cases Haryana, which for quite some time resurgence. had less than Overall for the counnow, has started registry too, beginning Feb- 100 new cases tering over 100 new , ruary 6, there have for quite some cases almost every day time now, is been quite a few days since February 11. Ditwhen the active Cov- registering over to Gujarat. id-19 cases have gone 100 new cases Health economist up, as compared to the every day since Rijo M John said, “The February 11 previous day, after situation in Kerala, on staying flat for weeks. the other hand, seems In Maharashtra that had a to be improving. Both daily heavy case load, the graph new coronavirus cases and test started flattening last month. positive rates are on the deP7 But on February 14, it recorded cline there.”  Kiran Bedi removed as Puducherry LG New Delhi: Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry Kiran Bedi was removed Tuesday night at a time when the UT was witnessing a political crisis following the resignation of Congress MLAs from the V Narayanasamy government. A brief communique issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan said Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan will hold additional charge of Puducherry. P5 S u m i S u k a n ya D u t ta @ New Delhi 100 der to this effect and also directed officials to install CCTV cameras in counting The Andhra Pradesh High centres of sensitive villages. Court on Tuesday said elec- Both the SEC and the State tion officials should imple- government had informed ment the order of the State the court that all arrangeElection Commission (SEC) ments were made to ensure to install CCTV cameras in free and fair elections. counting centres of panchayDuring the arguments, SEC at elections and the counting counsel N Aswini Kumar said process be CCTV cameras videographed. were installed and ‘Respond to Dealing with micro observers complaints’ separate petitions appointed in senJustice DVSS filed by S Penchasitive villages. ArSomayajulu said the laiah of Kadapa guing on behalf MPDO and other and Nancharaiah of the petitioners, officials should of Krishna dissenior counsel trict seeking court immediately respond D a m m a l a p a t i to any poll related directions to imSrinivas said the complaint and any plement the SEC contesting candiorder on installa- volatile situation in a date should be alsensitive village and tion of CCTV lowed to install inform the matter to cameras in countCCTV camera the Collector ing centres to vidwith his own exeograph the countpenditure, if the ing process, Justice DVSS government cannot do it. Somayajulu said the MPDO The government pleader and other election officials informed the court that it is should immediately respond implementing the SEC order to any election related com- on installation of CCTV camplaint and any volatile situa- eras in sensitive villages. tion in a sensitive village and After hearing all the sides, it should be taken to the no- the court issued the orders tice of the District Collector directing the officials to imand Joint Collector. plement the SEC orders The SEC had issued an or- strictly . E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e YSRC to take out Porata Yatra on Feb 20 for Vizag steel plant E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e tended the meeting to chalk out the modalities of creating the toolkit. Dismissing criticism over arrest of the 21-year-old activist, the police denied any lapse. “Disha’s arrest has been made in accordance with the law, which doesn’t differentiate between a 22-year-old or a 50-yearold,” said Delhi Police Commissioner. After Disha’s arrest, Jacob and Muluk moved the high court for anticipatory transit bail on Monday . Follow SEC diktat on counting of votes: high court E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Vijayawada Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was conferred with the SKOCH Chief Minister of the Year Award. SKOCH Group Chairman Sameer Kochhar called on the Chief Minister at his camp office at Tadepalli on Tuesday and presented the award to him. Jagan was selected for the SKOCH Outcomes Chief Minister of the Year Award based fetch award on a year-long study of results of projects Jagan was selected being implemented by governments in . for the SKOCH Chief various States of the country Conferring the award on the Chief MinMinister of the Year Award based on a ister, Kochhar said, “YSR Rythu Bharosa year-long study of Kendra stands out as an interesting model results of projects for village level procurement of farm probeing implemented duce at a pre-announced MSP and it is by the government yielding good results. YSR Cheyutha focuses on economic empowerment of middle-aged women through which livelihood linked loans are provided for over four-year period. It is again a great example of financial inclusion. Similarly, initiatives like Disha and Abhay that aim to enhance women’s safety and security have made a marked difference in the law and order P4 perception as well as the confidence levels of women.”  written to Zoom app to provide details of the contents, locations and the people who attended the January 11 virtual meeting organised by Pro-Khalistani group Poetic Justice Foundation. According to Joint Commissioner of Police (Cyber Cell) Prem Nath, about 60-70 people, including Disha, Jacob and Muluk — whom he identified as creators and editors of the toolkit — attended the meeting. Canada-based Khalistan supporter MO Dhaliwal and Anita Lal, co-founders of PJF, also at- verted into equity . Stating that the steel plant workers’ unions had put forward three demands which include Assembly resolution against the privatisation, and meeting with the CM and the PM, Vijayasai said MPs of various parties will meet Modi and apprise him of people’s opposition to the Centre’s move. He lashed out at TDP for its stand on steel plant privatisation as it did not oppose when the proposal was made initially. The CM will never change his stance unlike TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, he said. Petrol price crosses `95, diesel inching to `90 Sistla Dakshina Murthy @ Vijayawada The fuel prices reached an alltime high in the State on Tuesday with petrol costing more than `95 and diesel inching closer to `90 per litre. This effectively means that the prices of petrol and diesel have increased by more than `15 per litre in one year. The price of petrol stood at `79.63 per litre on January 4, 2020. Though the fuel prices slightly vary from city to city even within the State, petrol cost more than `95 per litre all over AP except in Visakhapatnam. In the latest revision, petrol price hiked by 29 paise and diesel by 36 paise. City Petrol Diesel V’wada `95.06 `88.65 Vizag `94.22 `87.82 Guntur `95.23 `89.06 Tirupati `95.45 `88.91 Nellore `95.35 `89.45 (price per litre) The fuel prices are the highest in Tirupati when compared to other major cities in the State. The price of petrol rose by more than `12 in the State since the start of 2021. According to petroleum dealers, the steady increase in crude oil prices in the international market, apart from the levy of excise duty and additional VAT imposed by the Centre and the State government, are the major reasons for the steep hike in petrol and diesel P4 prices in the State.  housing dream shattered Termites devour pig-rearer’s lifetime savings of `5 lakh E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Vijayawada A pig-rearer of Mylavaram and his family members had the biggest shock in their life on Tuesday after they found their hard-earned savings of `5 lakh turned into scraps due to termite infestation. Bijili Jamalayya (52) who dreamt of owning a house, had saved `5 lakh by keeping himself and his family members away from luxuries to realise his dream. When he fell short of `1 lakh to invest in his business, Jamalayya opened the old trunk box in which he hoarded the money after several months, only to find his savings amount was devoured by termites. Unable to bear the shock, he cried loudly and collapsed on the floor. His family members found the termite-eaten currency on the floor. On seeing the damaged currency notes in the hands of his children, locals informed the matter to Mylavaram police who rushed The termite-eaten currency notes found at Mylavaram on Tuesday | Express to the house of Jamalayya and began investigation. When police sought the details of cash, Jamalayya broke down and told them that the amount was his lifetime savings to purchase a house. He further informed the police that he or his family members did not have any bank account and he kept all the money in the old trunk box. The police who are probing the source of cash, promised to extend help to Jamalayya if he did not commit any malpractice