tirupati l thursday l march 25, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION CCI to probe ‘exploitative’ privacy policy of whatsapp The Competition Commission of India on Wednesday directed its investigation arm to conduct a probe into WhatsApp’s privacy policy Investigation to be concluded in 2 months The move came after the fair trade regulator prima facie found the firm has contravened competition law provisions through its “exploitative and exclusionary conduct” in the garb of policy update. The CCI directed its investigation arm, the director general (DG), to complete the probe into WhatsApp’s updated privacy policy and submit a report within 60 days ■ CCI Disclose To what extent is data shared ■ The Commission said users, as owners of their personalised data, are entitled to know the extent, scope and purpose of sharing of such information by WhatsApp with other Facebook companies WhatsApp claims the update does not expand its ability to share data with Facebook but offers transparency about data usage Observations are preliminary and won’t impact the merits of the case 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 Ball set rolling for appointing Ramana as CJI Vaccinate 1 cr people in next four weeks: CM @ Vijayawada Bobde recommends him for the high office; in-house SC panel dismisses Jagan charges E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e the influencing of the Andhra High Court to stay a probe into an FIR filed by the Anti-CorWith just a month left for his ruption Bureau against former retirement, Chief Justice of Advocate General DammalapIndia S A Bobde has recom- ati Srinivas and 12 others, inmended the name of Justice N cluding his (Justice Ramana’s) V Ramana as his successor. two daughters, in the AmaraParallelly, an in-house in- vati land scam. quiry against Justice With Bobde sendRamana following a ing the recommendacomplaint by Andhra tion letter, Justice RaPradesh Chief Minmana is now in line ister Jagan Mohan to be appointed as the Reddy on allegedly 48th CJI. He is exmanipulating the pected to take over as Andhra Pradesh topmost judge of the High Court’s roster land on April 24 and to lean towards the will retire on August Justice N V Ramana Telugu Desam Party 26, 2022. Only twice and its founder N so far, the set proceThe call of Chandrababu Naidu, dure was not followed convention was dismissed, pav— first when Justice ing the way for his As per convention, A N Ray was appointappointment as the ed the CJI on April the CJI new CJI. 25, 1973 superseding recommends the A bland statement senior-most judge three senior-most issued by the Sujudges and next when of the Supreme preme Court said: “A Justice M H Beg was Court as his complaint dated 6th successor. The law appointed the CJI on October, 2020 sent by January 29, 1977 suminister puts it the Chief Minister of perseding Justice H before the Prime Andhra Pradesh to R Khanna. Minister who the Supreme Court Justice Ramana advises the was dealt with under President on such was appointed perthe In-House Procemanent judge of the appointments dure and the same, Andhra High Court on due consideration, stands on June 27, 2000 and functioned dismissed. It be noted that all as Acting Chief Justice of Andthe matters dealt with under hra High Court from March 10, the In-House Procedure being 2013 to May 20, 2013. Appointed strictly confidential in nature, as the Chief Justice of Delhi are not liable to be made High Court on September 2, public.” 2013, Justice Ramana was eleAmong other allegations in vated as a judge of the Supreme Jagan’s letter to CJI Bobde was Court on February 17, 2014. A closed road in a containment zone in Rajamahendravaram on Wednesday | EXPRESS @ New Delhi national para athletics meet in darkness A s h i m S u n a m @ Bengaluru Exhorting officials to take up the Covid-19 vaccination drive in the State as a yagna to save the lives of people, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said one crore population should be vaccinated in the next four weeks. During a review meeting on the Covid-19 Vaccination Plan on Wednesday Jagan felt that , the remaining six- day MPTC, ZPTC election process should have been completed so that the State government could total 3,68,457 India's Caseload 23,080 Fresh cases24recorded 23,907 Recoveries active in the last hours in a day Centre confirms double mutation in maharashtra S u m i S u k a n ya D u t ta @ New Delhi The Centre on Wednesday officially announced the detection of a new double mutant Covid-19 virus, in addition to several variants of concern (VOC) that have been found in at least 18 states in India. This newspaper in its March 17 edition was the first to report the two mutations — E48Q and L452R — found together in about 20% samples in Maharashtra. This double mutation has not been seen anywhere else globally yet. The Union health ministry said since Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG) began its work, 771 VOCs have been detected out of 10,787 positive samples shared by states. They include 736 samples that tested positive for the UK variant, 34 for of the South African variant and one of the Brazilian variant. These samples came from 18 states across the country . “Such (double) mutations confer immune escape and increased infectivity These mu. tations have been found in about 15-20% of samples and do not match any previously catalogued VOCs,” the ministry said. Also, of the 2,032 samples from all 14 districts in Kerala sequenced so far, the N440K variant that is associated with immune escape has been found in 123 from 11 districts. This variant was earlier found in 33% of samples from Andhra Pradesh, and in 53 of 104 samples from Telangana. N440K has also been reported from 16 other countries, including the UK, Denmark, Singapore, Japan and Australia. Though VOCs and a new double mutant variant have been found in India, they have not been detected in numbers sufficient to explain the rapid increase in cases in some states, the Centre said. AP’s daily count surges to 585, active cases rise to 3K E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Another sharp spike of 585 new Covid-19 infections took the cumulative cases past the 8.95 lakh-mark in the State. Wednesday’s count is the highest spike in cases after December 6, 2020. Chittoor accounted for 128 new infections of the total 585, followed by Guntur with 99 cases and Visakhapatnam with 81 cases. With the surge in daily count, the number of active cases increased to 2,946. Four fatalities, one each from Chittoor, Guntur, Kurnool and Visakhapatnam, were reported taking the Covid toll to 7,197. According to the media bulletin released by the State Command Control Room, 12 of the 13 districts reported double-digit daily count. Kadapa recorded the lowest daily count of eight cases. On the other hand, the number of new recoveries stood at 251, which is less than half of the fresh cases. With the discharge of 251 more Covid patients from hospitals, the total number of recoveries increased to 8,84,978. Of the total caseload of 2,946, 10 districts have more than 100 active cases each. Chittoor has the highest number of 544 active cases, while the case load in Vizianagaram is the lowest at 54. In fatalities also, Chittoor recorded the highest number of 859, while Vizianagaram reported the lowest number of 238. No MPTC polls on my watch: Nimmagadda E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada IF a last minute change of venue sounded extreme enough, paraatheletes at the ongoing National Para Athletics Championships were in for a rude shock on Wednesday night. For shot put was conducted with help from mobile phone lights and car headlights at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium. The Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) didn’t respond to calls but the videos doing the rounds painted a sorry picture about sport in India. This incident under the Bengaluru lights was the latest in a series of snafus the PCI has seemingly entangled itself in since March 21. First, they shifted the competition from Chennai to Bengaluru leaving some athletes stranded. Even if they couldn’t be blamed for that as TN government denied permission due to rising covid cases, the first day itself has eyebrow-raising episodes play itself out. First, de­ iding to organising a para meet c at a venue not friendly to whe­ lchairs. Then, there were multie ple reports of Covid-19 breaches, including not adhering to SOPs, a fact acknowledged by Sports Authority of India.  P11 focus on the vaccination drive. “As it did not happen, there is an uncertainty as to when the MPTC, ZPTC elections will be completed. Though it is causing a lot of anguish, we have to go ahead and intensify the vaccination drive,” he said. The Chief Minister directed the officials to expedite vaccination in urban and rural areas from March 29. “The officials should analyse the shortcomings in the vaccination and rectify them so that 25 lakh people can be vaccinated in a week and one crore in four weeks,’’ he said.  P5 E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e Even as the State government is keen on completing the remaining six-day process of MPTC and ZPTC elections by the end of this month so as to shift its focus to Covid-19 vaccination and development activities, State Election Commissioner Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar has made it clear that the polls cannot be conducted before the end of his tenure on March 31. In an order issued on Wednesday, he stated that going by the verdict of the Su- preme Court that the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for the elections should be imposed four weeks before the date of polling, the MPTC, ZPTC polls could not be conducted now. He also mentioned the Election Commission of India declaring all the polling staff as frontline workers and be covered under priori- ty vaccination in all the five States going to polls. The SEC is strictly bound by the verdict of the Supreme Court with regard to resumption of the stalled MPTC and ZPTC election process, he asserted. He recalled that while hearing the writ petition on March 18, 2020, when the MPTC and ZPTC polls were postponed, the Apex Court categorically mentioned that there should be a post decisional consultation with the State government before the next polling date is notified by the SEC. The MCC for the polls should be reimposed four weeks before the date of polling as per the SC verdict. Stating that the SEC had successfully conducted the elections to panchayats and civic bodies with the MCC coming into force four weeks preceding the polling date, he wanted to adopt the same procedure without exception for MPTC, ZPTC polls as well.  P4 Polls can be completed in six days: Sajjala YSRC general secretary Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy said the State government wants to focus on Covid-19 vaccination, once the MPTC, ZPTC election process, which requires only six days, is completed ‘letter bomb’ Thackeray starts damage control over allegations S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i @ Mumbai Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray called an urgent meeting of senior Cabinet ministers at his residence on Wednesday to discuss the political situation following the explosive letter written by ex-Mumbai commissioner Param Bir Singh. The meeting was in the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s observation that Singh’s allegations against Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh were “quite serious”. Singh had approached the SC challenging his transfer but the apex court directed him to approach the Bombay High Court. According to a minister who attended the meeting, the state government will take the legal course. “A strict message has to be sent to officers who go against the state. Besides, officers with links to the BJP and RSS should be identified to take action against them for leaking information to the Opposition,” he said. The Cabinet meeting was attended by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, NCP state president Jayant Patil, and Congress’ Balasaheb Thorat. Earlier, in a purported ‘clean-up drive’, the Maharasthra government had on Tuesday night transferred 86 police officers including 65 from the Mumbai crime branch, many of these officials close to Singh and suspended assistant police inspector Sachin Waze, who is the custody of National Investigation Agency (NIA) for his alleged role in the Antilia explosives scare case. express read Panabaka files papers for Tirupati byelection Nellore: TDP nominee Panabaka Lakshmi on Wednesday filed her nomination for the byelection to Tirupati LS seat. She submitted two sets of papers to Returning Officer KVN Chakradhar Babu. Centre releases `492 cr to AP for NREGS wages Vijayawada: The Centre has released `492.37 cr for clearing the wages of workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in the State. P4 p o l i t ic a l p u l s e Thumbs up for delivering development in Assam, but a big no for price rise I f upgrading of national highways and construction of roads in the rural belts of Assam could win an election, then the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party should race to power, leaving in its wake a Congress-led alliance and a large number of smaller, ethno-nationalist political parties. From Tinsukia in the eastern tip of the state to Nagaon in middle Assam and beyond, dumper trucks, JCBs, bulldozers and road rollers work through the day forcing traffic , to weave left and right at regular intervals. While rural roads are being metalled, the national highways are being fourlaned. “The BJP has done a lot of development work, it has made roads, toilets and houses,” said Sanjib Bora, an owner of a shack restaurant next to the na- Assam Polls H K h o g en S i n g h @ Dibrugarh/Nagaon (Assam) tional highway in Chabua, Tinsukia. “People here will support the BJP for this.” Bora’s sentiment was endorsed by Dhanesh Pegu, also a roadside dhaba owner in Dhemaji district next to the recent- ly-opened Bogibeel bridge, the longest one on the Brahmaputra river. “Modi ne bahut kaam kiya hain (Narendra Modi has done a lot of work),” he said. “Take the Bogibeel bridge for instance, The foundation stone was laid by (H D) Deve Gowda, then (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee did some work but after that there was a Congress government both at the Centre and in the state but nothing happened. When Modi came he finished the bridge,” Pegu said. It’s no wonder then that from Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister Sarabanda Sonowal and state finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to the ordinary BJP karyakarta (worker), development is one of the main assam Dibrugarh Nagaon Source: Economic Survey 2017-18 talking points. “What we have done in the past five years the Congress could not do in 15,” said Tutun Kar at the party’s dimly-lit and sparse Nagaon district office. Assam’s Swachh Bharat Mission says more than 35.64 lakh toilets have been built since October 2014, with a 62% increase in households with the facility. As for housing, state ROAD NETWORK IN ASSAM (in km) Year 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 culture minister Naba Kumar Doley said in May 2020 that 2.7 lakh houses have been built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. The latest data on the increase in road network is not available but according to the Assam Economic Survey 201718, surfaced road increased from 21,200 kms in 2011-12 to 27,003 kms in 206-17. National Surfaced Unsurfaced National State Major road road Highway Highway dist. road 21,200 22,700 23,747 23,948 25,546 27,003 24,300 2,848 22,800 3,069 21,753 3,069 20,914 3,834 19,316 3,862.53 18,551 3,900 highways in the state increased from 2,848 kms to 3,900 kms in the same period. But the positive sentiment around the Assam gover nment’s development record is somewhat marred by the price rise. “Everything is so expensive now, dal prices have gone up and mustard oil now costs almost Rs 150 (a litre). I voted for Modi the last time, I am not 3,134 3,134 3,134 2,530 2,530 2,530 4,413 4,413 4,413 4,379 4,379 4,379 Rural road Urban road 36,544 36,544 36,544 36,544 36,544 37,030 1,409 1,409 1,409 1,409 1,409 1,615 sure this time,” said housewife Sarita Pegu in Dhemaji. Noor-ul-Islam in Nagaon concurs with Sarita on inflation. “There is no doubt the BJP government has brought development but what about the price rise? If they have given us Rs 2 in our bank accounts, they have taken away Rs 98,” he said.  Continued on P7