HYDERABAD  THURSDAY  MARCH 11, 2021  `7.00  PAGES 16  LATE CITY EDITION LIC IPO LIKELY TO BE PRICED `400-600 PER SHARE: SOURCES The government is expecting to mop up `1 lakh crore from the Life Insurance Corporation IPO, first internal valuation shows PRICE BAND UNLIKELY TO CHANGE, SAYS FINMIN A finance ministry official told TNIE that the price band of LIC’s initial public offering was estimated keeping in mind the current market condition, including the downside risk factors. “Unless there is a big disruption, the IPO will be in the same price range, even with some downside risk. The final report is likely in July this year,” the official added 10% AUTHORISED CAPITAL TO BE INCREASED ■ The Centre has already proposed raising LIC’s authorised capital to `25,000 crore. IPO is expected by the 3rd quarter of FY22 ■ Chief Economic Advisor K V Subramanian had earlier said 6-7% of LIC could be sold. The government plans to hold at least 75% in LIC’s equity for the first five years even after the IPO | P10 OF THE I.P.O. ISSUE SIZE IS LIKELY TO BE RESERVED FOR L.I.C. POLICYHOLDERS 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 HOSPITALISED Experts panel gives Covaxin the thumbs up EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi THE subject expert committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation on Wednesday recommended that Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin no longer needs to be administered under the ‘clinical trial’ mode. Sources said the committee took the decision after taking into account the interim analysis of phase 3 clinical trails submitted by the firm. If the vaccine is taken off clinical trial mode, beneficiaries will not have to sign a consent form for taking the jab. “The recommendations of the SEC have been submitted to the Drug Controller General of India and the final decision is likely soon,” said a source. The Hyderabad-based vaccine maker a few days ago had said its Covid19 vaccine had shown 81% efficacy in latestage trials. While allowing the restricted use permission of Covaxin in January the DGCI had said , it could be rolled out only in clinical trial mode with “abundant caution” due to lack of efficacy data. MAMATA INJURES FOOT ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL, SEES PLOT EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Kolkata WEST Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday suffered a leg injury when she was boarding her car in Nandigram, as its door was allegedly intentionally slammed against her left foot by four-five persons amid lax security She . cancelled her plan to stay overnight in Nandigram and returned to Kolkata. The incident happened hours after she filed her nomination papers for the Assembly elections from Nandigram. The Election Commission of India has sought a full report. The ‘attack’ took place when Mamata came out of a local temple and was about to board her car. “She sat on the seat beside the driver. Suddenly, four to five men reached near the car overpowering her Z-plus security personnel and slammed the door before she could place her left foot inside the car,’’ said a party leader accompanying the CM. Mamata alleged there was no security arrangement by the local police. ‘’Police were not there. The superintendent of police was not seen there. There were four to five men who slammed the Videograb of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee holding her injured foot in Nandigram on Wednesday | PTI door deliberately before I could sit properly I suspect . the incident was a fallout of a conspiracy My leg is swol. len and I am having unbearable pain,” she said. Upon reaching Kolkata, she was taken directly to the state-run SSKM hospital and a five-member medical board was set up to oversee her health parameters. Gover nor Jagdeep Dhankar called on Mamata at the hospital amid ‘’go back’’ slogans from Trinamool workers. State BJP leader Shamik Bhattacharya said the party wants her speedy recovery. “If she wants, she will be provided Central force security cover,’’ he added. But Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury called it MamaP7 ta’s theatrics. EXPRESS READ Khattar govt wins trust vote hands down Chandigarh: The BJP-led government in Haryana survived the floor test on Wednesday, defeating the no-trust motion moved by the Congress. The motion was defeated following division of votes. Fifty-five members voted against the motion while 32 supported. Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had demanded secret voting in the House | P8 HUES OF FESTIVITY The historic Thousand Pillar Temple at Hanamkonda is all lit up on the eve of Mahasivaratri to be celebrated on Thursday | P2 KTR backs VSP employees’ agitation EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad TRS working president KT Rama Rao on Wednesday announced the party’s support to the ongoing agitation by the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) employees against privatisation. This is being seen as an evident move to woo Andhra-origin voters in the ensuing MLC polls. Targeting the Central government also appeared to be the twin motive when the Industries Minister said thousands of steel plant employees would be rendered jobless if the VSP was privatised. Addressing an election meeting of recognised teachers, Rama Rao said the TRS would support the agitation of the steel plant staff. “If necessary, we will take the permission of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and participate in the agitation in Visakhapatnam to express solidarity with the people agitating there,” he said. Rama Rao said that if Telangana ignored the move for VSP’s privatisation, then the Centre might also privatise the BHEL and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) in Telangana later. “The Centre may even question the need for State governments and perhaps privatise the State governments too,” the Minister said with vinegar in his voice. Extending moral support to the VSP employees, the party’s working president blasted the Central government for not even giving Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation to the State. “The Central government stated that it was an act of God and evaded GST compensation too,” Rama Rao alleged. Narayana too supports stir Meanwhile, CPI senior leader K Narayana welcomed KTR’s statement on the VSP. He said if the Chief Ministers of both the States and the people fought together, the Centre would stop privatising the steel plant. If necessary, we will take the permission of Chief Minister KCR and participate in the agitation in Visakhapatnam to express solidarity with the people agitating there — KT Rama Rao, TRS working president TS to boast of largest floating solar power plant EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad THIS year, Telangana will be home to the country’s largest floating solar power plant which will have a power generation capacity of 100 MW. The `423-crore plant, which is expected to be commissioned by Mayend this year, will be developed across 450 acres of water surface area in the NTPC reservoir at Ramagundam. With this, the share of renewable energy in Telangana is set to increase as the State will receive power from the 230-MW ground-mounted solar power plant being developed by the NTPC at Ettayapuram in Tamil Nadu, NTPC Regional Executive Director (South) CV Anand said on Wednesday at a virtual press meet. He said the corporation is developing two other floating solar power plants of 92 MW and 25 MW at Kayamkulam in Tamil Nadu and Simhadri in AP, respecCONTINUED ON P4 tively . Another Rawat gets into the Uttarakhand hot seat Has little time to reset the BJP’s prospects in state polls next year THE father of a minor girl, who was allegedly gangraped by four men in UP’s Kanpur district, was killed after he was hit by an unidentified truck on Wednesday Ex. pressing doubts about the accident, which came a day after they lodged a complaint about the rape, the girl’s family said the rape accused could be behind it. They pointed out that the father of one of the accused is a police official. According to Kanpur police sources, the man met with the accident outside the hospital where his daughter was taken for a medical examination. “The accident took place when RANKING UP 34 IAS, three IPS officers promoted in TS EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad V I N E E T U PA D H YAY @ Dehradun WITH the BJP springing a surprise by asking Lok Sabha member Tirath Singh Rawat to take over the new Uttarakhand chief minister, he has the onerous task of cleaning up the mess created by his predecessor Trivendra Singh Rawat, despite having little legroom and the Assembly elections less that a year away . On the flip side, Tirath knows Uttarakhand’s politics insideout as he did a stint as the state unit chief of the party and is credited with its 2014 Lok Sabha performance. He also has a clean image and is considered close to the top leadership of the party, including Union home minister Amit Shah. However, since the last budget of the state government has already been passed, there is not much in terms of policy he Tirath Singh Rawat can do to redeem the situation before Assemblypolls in 2022, political experts said. What’s doable though is to pacify the dissenters, reverse some of Trivendra’s unpopular decisions such as the Char Dham Shrine Board and the formation of the Gairsain commissionary, tighten the bureaucracy and run a fair and efficient government. Since Tirath alone was administered the oath of office on Wednesday, the first challenge is to pick a balanced council of ministers. There was discontent within the par- Spikes at Delhi border to check violence: MHA S A N A S H A K I L @ New Delhi THE Centre on Wednesday defended its decision to install spikes at farmer protest sites on the Delhi-UP border, saying it is to prevent a repeat of the Republic Day violence. “The barricades at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border were strengthened to prevent any possible repeat of the conduct displayed on January 26,” Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy said in the Rajya Sabha. The minister said no road was dug up at the Delhi border in view of farmers’ agitation. Thousands of protesters had clashed with police near Delhi’s ITO during the tractor parade called by various farmer unions on January 26, with a section storming the Red Fort and clashing with security Over 300 police personnel were . injured during the clashes. The minister said the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, a forum representing 40 farmer unions, broke barricades on Republic Day in violation of the permission granted for taking out a tractor parade on a mutually accepted route. “They proceeded towards Central Delhi despite being stopped inside the city and broke those barricades as well,” Reddy said. Delhi Police have registered as many as 38 cases in connection with the violence. UP man who complained about daughter’s rape dies in ‘mishap’ N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow The 100-MW power plant, expected to be commissioned by May-end, will be developed on 450 acres of water surface area in the NTPC reservoir, Ramagundam the medical examination of the victim was underway and the father stepped out for a cup of tea. After some time, we got to know that he was hit by a truck. He was immediately taken to a Kanpur hospital, but was declared brought dead. We have filed an accident case and are probing,” said Kanpur DIG Preetinder Singh. The truck driver and one of the rape accused have been arrested, he added. After the accident, locals blocked the Kanpur-Sagar highway for five hours demanding a swift action. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced `5 lakh to the girl’s family . ty over giving major berths to Congress defectors in the outgoing ministry At least 10 new . faces are expected to be inducted into the new ministry. “He has to act on four fronts — cabinet composition, budget and finances, Covid vaccination drive, and deal with the unpopular decisions of his predecessor — in less than an year,” said Rahul Shekhawat, a Dehradun-based analyst. Ironically Tirath was denied , a ticket in the 2017 state elections, said party insiders. Two years later, he contested the Lok Sabha polls from Pauri Garhwal and trounced Manish Khanduri of the Congress by over 3 lakh votes. Born in Siron village of Pauri district, he was a full-time worker of the RSS from 1983-88 and then rose to become the state vice-president of BJP’s Yuva Morcha of the erstwhile Uttar Pradesh. THIRTY four IAS officers, including three principal secretaries, and three IPS officers were promoted in Telangana on Wednesday . Principal Secretaries Rajat Kumar (Water Resources Department), Sunil Shar ma (Transport) and Shashank Goel (Chief Electoral Officer) were promoted as Special Chief Secretaries. The 34 IAS officers, who were promoted, also include District Collectors and Additional Collectors. Important officers promoted to the next pay scale are Ag riculture Secretary B Janardhan Reddy HMWS&SB , Managing Director Dana Kishore, Siddipet Collector P Venkata Rami Reddy and School Education Director A Sridevasena. CONTINUED ON P4