STATES CRACK THE WHIP DELHI Is witnessing the fourth wave of Covid-19 infection Fourth wave seems less serious than previous ones as there are fewer deaths and Govt not planning hospitalisations, a lockdown as says CM Arvind of now Kejriwal visakhapatnam l saturday l april 03, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION MAHARAShTRA 47,827 cases across state, 9,086 in Pune on Friday l Eateries, bars and restaurants in Pune district KARNATAKA ordered to be shut for seven days from Saturday School hostels, l Will order complete lockdown across state if situation gyms, club doesn't improve in 2 days, says CM Uddhav Thackeray houses and l Children and youngsters constitute 47% of new cases pools shut 2nd wave fast-n-furious, 10 states fighting infection explosion SU M I SU K A N YA DUTTA @ New Delhi At least 10 states are fighting the fresh Covid-19 wave, according to government data. The second wave, which started in February in a handful of states led by Maharasthra, has now spread to more states. Till last month, it was Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat that were riding the second wave of the pandemic. But now, four more states — Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana — are showing alar ming growth rates in active cases. Worryingly, the seven-day moving average of the test positivity rate, which is 6.3% nationally is seen rising in some , states including West Bengal, Odisha, Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand. Over the past 24 hours, the country has recorded 81,466 new cases taking the cumula- tive active cases to 6,14, 696 — the highest since October. In the past 21 days, cases have zoomed from 18,377 (March 10) to 81,466 (April 1). In the first wave, which peaked in September last year, daily cases had jumped from 18,000 to 80,000 plus in 65 days. Trends suggest India may soon surpass the peak of 93,277 cases recorded on September 17. Not just infections, Covid deaths are also rising. For more than a week now, the daily death count has been above 200. On April 1, this number touched a whopping 469. Experts say the second wave could be more intense than the first one. The oft-cited reason for the infection explosion is the relaxed, careless behaviour by public and lax health administration. However, the role of mutant virus in driving the transmission is also under investigation. According to Union health ministry data, eight states -Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Kar nataka, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh -- have shown a steep rise in cases. As much as 81.25% of the new cases are P10 from these eight states. 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 Fissures in TDP over Naidu Daily count of 1,288 pushes caseload to 8.8K call to boycott MPTC polls E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e Ready beds in govt hosps, DMHOs told @ Vijayawada The spike in Covid-19 cases continued in the State with 1,288 new infections reported in the 24 hours ending Friday 9 am, taking the total past the 9.04 lakh-mark. With new infections on the higher side, the caseload continues to witness a surge and the State now has more than 8,815 active cases. The hotspot districts of Guntur, Chittoor, Nellore, Krishna and Visakhapatnam continue to witness a virulent spread of Covid. All the five districts reported more than 100 new cases with Guntur recording the highest of 311. With 191 new infections, the total cases in Visakhapatnam went past the 62,000-mark. West Godavari is the only district where the virus spread seems to be under control as it reported just sev- Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Nehru say cadre opinions not considered E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada A crisis of sorts appears to be brewing in the TDP after party chief N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday announced his decision to boycott MPTC and ZPTC elections scheduled to be held on April 8. Hours after his announcement, former Union minister and senior leader P Ashok Gajapathi Raju and party vice-president Jyothula Nehru came out openly questioning Naidu’s decision. Nehru went a step further and tendered his resignation to the party post. While Naidu reasoned there was no point in contesting the elections as “they are being held in the most undemocratic manner,” the dissenting leaders countered, asserting that boycotting polls was not the way forward. Addressing a press conference, Naidu accused SEC Nilam Sawhney of taking a unilateral decision to issue the poll notification even before consulting the political parties. “The schedule announced by the SEC is the same as announced by some ministers earlier and is also in tune with the call of the Chief Minister to complete the elections within six days. The TDP cannot expect free and fair polls under these circumstances,’’ he said, adding that the party was forced to take the ‘drastic’ decision as they have no trust in the SEC going by the developments that took place on the very first Fighting ruthless elections is nothing new to the TDP. But what is new is the fight with criminal elements. We will continue our legal battle. We have filed a petition in the HC against the SEC’s notification N Chandrababu Naidu, TDP chief TDP national president N Chandrababu Naidu addressing the media at the party office in Mangalagiri in Guntur district on Friday | Express day of her assuming office. “The SEC, who called for an all-party meeting on Friday did , not even wait till the meeting was held and released the notification! Though Sawhney’s predecessor N Ramesh Kumar had written to the Union Home Secretary saying that too many violations took place in the parishad elections and YSRC leaders caused chaos during the nomination process, the new SEC did not take those issues into consideration,’’ he pointed out. He also charged the new SEC with ignoring Supreme Court guidelines and accused her of behaving like the government’s rubber stamp and not even following the court direction that the MCC should be imposed four weeks before the notified P4 date of polling.  Man killed by co-workers after quarrel over `100 E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e It is true that the MPTC and ZPTC elections are being held in an undemocratic manner but being a political party, we must not shy away from polls Vijayawada: In the wake of surge in Covid cases in the State, Deputy Chief Minister (Health) Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas (Nani) on Friday directed DMHOs to ready beds in all the government hospitals located in district headquarters to treat corona patients. Meanwhile, lockdown was imposed in Bhattiprolu of Guntur district with the spike in Covid cases. A closed road in a containment zone in Rajamahendravaram on Friday | Express en new infections. On the other hand, the recoveries continue to be low compared to the new cases and with 610 more infectees recovering, the total recoveries now stood at more than 8.88 lakh. With the active cases in Gun- In a clash in broad daylight, a worker was allegedly murdered by three of his co-workers in the city on Friday. The clash erupted over `100 and the attackers too suffered severe injuries and fell unconscious as they attacked each other indiscriminately with paper cutters. The incident happened near Durga Bar in Pipula Road under Ajith Singh Nagar police station limits. Ajith Singh Nagar Circle Inspector SVV Lakshmi Narayana said they received a phone call stating that four persons were attacking one another with paper cutters at Durga Bar. When the police rushed to the place, they found one person lying dead in a pool of blood and three others unconscious. The trio were shifted to Govern- ment General Hospital. The deceased was identified as Boddupalli Nagaraju (31). Lakshmi Narayana said Nagaraju and his co-workers Shaik Hussain, Shaik Rafi and Dodda Kishore went to Gannavaram for work on Thursday where the contractor gave them `2,000 as wages at the rate of `500 for each one. Three of them took `500 each as their share and gave Nagaraju `400 only after deducting `100. Nagaraju quarrelled with his co-workers for paying him `100 less and went home. On Friday morning, Nagaraju met his coP4 workers at Durga Bar.  E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada The State continues to reel under heat wave much to the discomfort of children and old people. Tirupati recorded the highest temperature of 43 degree Celsius on Friday, followed by Vijayawada with 42.8 degree Celsius, Nellore with 42.4 degree Celsius and Ongole with 42.3 degree Celsius. According to the prediction of India Meteorological Department (IMD), the heat wave will continue for the next couple of days in the State. There may be an appreciable decline Jyothula Nehru, TDP leader More consultations should have been held with the party cadre prior to the decision. It is the cadre at the ground level whose voice should have been considered Ashok Gajapathi Raju, TDP leader in temperature (2.1 to 4 degree Celsius) in some parts of the State. In Coastal Andhra region, there may be an appreciable rise in temperature (2.1 to 4 degree Celsius). Thunderstorms with gusty winds of 4050 kmph along with lightning are very likely to occur at iso- p ravindra babu vsp sets new production record E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL), the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), which set a new milestone in overall sales turnover in 2020-21, has created another record by achieving the best ever monthly production in March 2021. According to an RINL official tweet, till now, December 2020 was the best month since its inception with crude steel production of 4.98 lakh tonnes. The VSP exceeded the monthly best performance in March as it achieved its best ever production of 5.37 lakh tonnes of crude steel. The RINL also achieved the best production in all shops (steel melting shop and others) in February and March 2021. According to official figures, it achieved over 100 per RINL can achieve excellent results with regard to production if the Central government allocates captive mines or supplies iron ore from NMDC on a long term basis at reasonable prices Katam Chandra Rao, joint secretary of Steel Executives Federation of India cent growth in hot metal in 2021 as against the previous best of 9 per cent. It recorded hot metal production of 2.268 million tonnes in 2020-21 as against 0.853 MT in 2019-20. Similarly, in liquid steel production, SMS2 (steel melting shop) achieved a 6 per cent growth as against the previous best of 3 per cent. The SMS 2 produced liquid steel of 2.435 MT in 2020-21 as against 2.292 MT in 2019-20. Whereas in expansion units, it maintained 11 per cent growth over the previous best. It produced 2.340 MT in 2020-21 as against 2.106 MT in 2019-20. T he RINL also achieved 80 per cent value addition in 2020-21 as against According to infor mation, Sheikh Shafiq was playing at the Anganwadi centre making noise even as ayah Sravani asked him to keep quiet. She got angry when Shafiq continued to make noise and allegedly took a hot spatula from a boiling milk vessel and branded Shafiq with it. When the boy’s lips got swollen, his parents took him to the Anganwadi centre and demanded an explanation 76.5 per cent value addition in 2019-20 recording a 12 per cent growth. Its previous best was 7 per cent in value addition. Steel Executives Federation of India joint secretary Katam Chandra Rao said the plant achieved the best ever production despite adverse conditions due to Covid-19. The RINL could produce normal production in the first and second quarters of 2020-21 fiscal despite Covid. However, the RINL achieved the best ever production in the third and fourth quarters of the last fiscal and this reflected the commitment of RINL workforce. The RINL can achieve excellent financial results if the Central government allocates captive mines or supplies iron ore from the National Mineral Development Corporation on a long term basis at reasonable prices, he said. five, orders booth repoll P r a s a n ta M a z u m d a r @ Guwahati The Election Commission on Friday suspended five polling personnel, including a presiding officer, and ordered repoll at a polling booth in Assam after a polling team, travelling with polled EVMs in a car registered in the name of a BJP MLA’s wife, was held hostage and allegedly attacked. A sub inspector of police tasked with escorting the polling party was also suspended for leaving them stranded and not ensuring their safe arrival at their destination. With the incident triggering a flutter, the EC explained it was raining heavily and the polling party of No 149 Indira MV School of Ratabari seat was returning with escorts when the vehicle broke down and got detached from the convoy . While an alternative vehicle was being arranged, the polling party boarded a ‘passing vehicle’ without checking its ownership. When the car slowed down in the traffic at Kanaishil in Karimganj around 10 pm, it was surrounded by about 50 people who started pelting stones. The mob abused the officials and did not allow the car to pass, the EC said. The mob said the vehicle belonged to sitting MLA of Patharkandi and BJP candidate Krishnendu Paul, and alleged the EVMs were being taken to be tampered with. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra lit into it, saying the EC needs to start acting decisively on these complaints. express read Anganwadi ayah brands 3-year-old boy with hot spatula In a shocking incident, an ayah of an Anganwadi centre at Timmapuram in Tuni rural mandal branded a 3-year-old boy with a hot steel spatula on his mouth on Thursday. The incident came to light on Friday when the boy’s parents took up the matter with the Anganwadi centre staff after his lips got swollen. lated places near the sea. According to the Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (APSDMA), the extreme heat wave conditions prevailed in 148 mandals in the State on Friday . They included 33 mandals in Guntur, 24 in Krishna, 18 each in West Godavari and Vizianagaram, 15 in East Godavari and 10 in Srikakulam. The APSDMA has asked the district administrations to set up water kiosks at all public places for the benefit of people. Children, women and old people have been advised to stay hydrated to beat the heat. stainless steel cruelty E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Kakinada garam is the lowest at 153. The number of fatalities was slightly high with five infectees succumbing to the virus. Anantapur, Chittoor, Guntur, Prakasam and Visakhapatnam reported one death each, taking the Covid toll to 7,225. Heat wave to continue till Sunday EC suspends @ Visakhapatnam @ Vijayawada tur too crossing the 1,000-mark, four districts in the State now has a caseload of more than 1,000, accounting for more than half of the cumulative total. Chittoor has the highest number of 1,673 active cases, while the caseload in Viziana- from the staff and ayah. The ayah initially tried to convince the parents that she only tried to warn the boy by showing the steel spatula, but it accidentally touched the his lips. When the parents confronted her, the ayah urged them not to report the matter to the higher-ups by tendering an apology for the incident. Women and Child Welfare Department Project Director GV Satyavani, who came to know about the incident, directed Tuni Rural Mandal Cluster Development Project Officer Padmavati to submit a report on the matter. Satyavani told TNIE that disciplinary action would be taken against the ayah for her failure to look after the children with case and affection. However, no police complaint has been made by the boy’s parents against the ayah. Ugadi fete at Tirumala temple on April 13 Tirumala: Sri Plava Nama Samvatsara Ugadi festival will be celebrated at Sri Venkateswara temple on April 13. Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams Executive Officer KS Jawahar Reddy on Friday said Ugadi Asthanam and Panchanga Sravanam will be held at the temple on the occasion of Telugu New Year. The TTD will organise Ugadi festivities at Mahathi Auditorium and SV Vedic University. BJP moves HC seeking MPTC poll process afresh Vijayawada: The BJP on Friday moved a house motion petition in the AP High Court seeking directions to the SEC to commence the poll process to MPTCs and ZPTCs afresh instead of resuming it from the stage where it was withheld last year. BJP leader P Nagabhushan Rao and three others moved the petition. The SEC is empowered to issue a fresh notification as per the AP Panchayat Raj Act, they said.