visakhapatnam l sunday l april 04, 2021 l `12.00 l PAGES 26 l late city EDITION Frontliner window closed Centre on Saturday said no fresh registration of frontliners will be allowed to prevent the misuse of provisions by ineligible people to jump the queue Sharp Spike 89,129 cases recorded on Saturday 714 fatalities, the highest in over six months 47,913 cases reported from Maharashtra, followed by Karnataka (4,991) and Chhattisgarh (4,174) The last time such a high spike was reported was on September 20, 2020, when 92,605 infections were recorded in 24 hours ipl under covid scare 50% cases in 10 dists A raft of Covid-19 positives dampened the build-up to the next edition of the IPL, scheduled to begin on April 9. Here's a look at developments 6,58,909 active cases on Saturday (5.32% of total infections) 10 Districts: Pune, Mumbai, Nagpur, Thane, Nashik, Bengaluru Urban, Aurangabad, Delhi, Ahmednagar and Nanded (50% of the total active caseload in the country) Problem states Maharashtra has shown a nine-fold jump in the number of active cases in the past two months In percentage terms, Punjab has reported the maximum increase in active cases ■ Five states — Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, K’taka and Chhattisgarh — together account for 77.3% of the total active cases ■ ■ ■ Axar Patel (DC) becomes second IPL player after Nitish Rana (KKR) to test positive. Rana started training again on Saturday More than 15 others, including six event management officials, also test positive Organisers bringing in different set of groundstaff to tend to Wankhede Stadium after they also test positive Reports suggest Hyderabad kept as a back-up option to shift games but Mumbai to remain venue as of now | P10, 13 24,69,59,192 Samples tested for Covid-19 up to April 2 Eight states Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh account for 81.42% of single-day infections 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 announcement The cover price of The New Sunday Express has been revised to `12 with effect from April 04, 2021. — Editor du college sacks prof saibaba Delhi University’s Ram Lal Anand College has terminated the service of assistant professor G N Saibaba, who is serving life term in Nagpur Central Prison for alleged links with Maoists WITH THIS ISSUE The Spirit is Willing PLUS 12 PAGES Ramana Deekshitulu is set to return as chief priest of the famous hill shrine, hereditary priests thank CM Jagan for honouring the temple’s ancient tradition TTD reinstates retired priests E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has issued orders reinstating all the Pradhana Archakas / Archakas (Chief Priests/Priests) belonging to the Mirasi families, who were forcibly retired in May 2018 under the previous TDP regime by the then TTD Trust Board which fixed a retirement age for them. As per the orders issued Friday all , the priests, who are similarly situated and retired under the controversial decision in May 2018, will be restored to their earlier respective positions. The orders were issued as per the High Court judgement delivered in December, 2018. With this, Dr AV Ramana Deekshitulu will return as the chief priest of the famous hill shrine. Members of the Gollapalli, Peddinti, Tirupathamma and Paidipalli families have been serving at the Tirumala temple for generations on hereditary basis. What the controversial decision of the board under the TDP regime did was to do away with the hereditary system in a way by fixing retirement age for them. The same was challenged in the high court the same year by two priests, Seshadri and Murali, who were forcibly retired. In its verdict, the high court had held the TTD decision fixing retirement age for hereditary priests unconstitutional and ruled that hereditary priests belong to a special category intended as custodians of a temple’s customs and traditions, and cannot be treated TTD not to resume Arjitha Sevas from April 14 Tirumala: In the wake of second Covid wave, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams has decided to postpone resumption of Arjitha Sevas from April 14. The TTD Trust Board at its meeting in March, decided to resume Arjitha Sevas, which were cancelled due to the Covid pandemic, from April 14. The TTD will announce fresh date of resumption of Arjitha Sevas after the second Covid wave subsides fully. AP witnesses sharp spike of 1,398 Covid-19 cases, nine fatalities COVID TRACKER 31,260 New tests 787 9,417 New recoveries Active cases 7,234 Dr AV Ramana Deekshitulu as normal employees. However, the court order was not implemented at the Tirumala temple. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy who was at the time in the op, position, had promised to restore the hereditary priests if he was voted to power. In line with his promise, the State government had last year issued orders restoring hereditary archakas at all the temples but the same could not be implemented in Tirumala as it is governed by TTD rules. Dr AV Ramana Deekshitulu, however, was appointed as Agama advisor and honorary chief priest. A few days prior to the TTD’s latest order, several priests from Tirumala had met Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy . Covid toll 9 Deaths 9,05,946 Total cases 8,89,295 Total recoveries 1,51,77,364 Total tests conducted E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Andhra Pradesh witnessed a sharp spike of 1,398 Covid-19 cases from 31,260 samples in the 24 hours ending Saturday 9 am. It is the highest single-day spike in Covid cases since November 2020. According to a media bulletin released by the government, five districts recorded more than 100 cases each. Guntur reported the highest number of 273 cases, followed by Visakhapatnam with 198, Chittoor with 190, Krishna with 178 and Nellore with 163. Eight districts reported the double digit daily count. They included Kurnool (96), Kadapa (75), Srikakulam (51), Prakasam (48), Vizianagaram (47), Anantapur (36) and East Godavari (28). West Godavari re por ted the lowest number of 15 new infections. As many as 787 people recovered from the infection, taking the total recoveries to 8,89,295, while the total number of cases stood at 9,05,946. With the daily count is more than recoveries, the caseload in the State increased to 9,417. eight charge-sheeted for plotting riots in up N a m i ta B a j pa i @ Lucknow vakeel saab in town Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan participated in election campaign in the temple town of Tirupati on Saturday in support of BJP candidate K Ratna Prabha for the parliamentary belection as part of his alliance with the saffron party The Jana Sena chief accused the YSRC government of booking cases against innocents and harassing them. The government has failed to take action against those involved in vandalising temples in the State, he alleged Tirupati has its own significance in the world. If BJP wins the Tirupati seat in the bypoll, it will lead to the development of the temple town on all fronts, Pawan said, recalling that the party won the LS constituency in 1999 TDP grapples with dissent as more defy Naidu’s MPTC poll boycott call E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada The dissent within the TDP over party chief N Chandrababu Naidu’s decision to boycott MPTC and ZPTC elections intensified Saturday with several secondrung leaders defying his diktat and continuing their campaign for the April 8 polls. Several contestants in Narsipatnam, Bheemunipatnam and Pendurthi mandals of Visakhapatnam district as well as in Anantapur, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and some other parts of the State refused to withdraw from the poll fray At some plac. es, local leaders claimed they were not defying the party diktat but that they were given the option of taking a decision depending on the situation at the grassroots level. Many including the likes of Sirisha, a ZPTC candidate from Badvel mandal in Kadapa dis- trict, were found to be actively campaigning. It may be recalled that just a couple of hours after Naidu’s announcement on Friday, senior leaders P Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Jyothula Nehru had voiced their opposition, pointing out that it was the duty of a political party to contest elections. Nehru had in fact resigned as vice-president of the party . But what came as a surprise on Saturday was the clarification given by TDP candidates in Duggirala mandal of Mangala- giri constituency that they were very much in the poll fray. Naidu’s son and party general secretary Nara Lokesh had contested from Mangalagiri unsuccessfully in 2019 Assembly elections and continues to be the party in-charge of the region. Nonetheless, TDP leaders put up a brave face and skirted any mention of dissent in their statements Saturday Former minis. ter KS Jawahar dared the YSRC to face the polls afresh with a new notification and accused State Election Commissioner Nilam Sawhney of turning the P4 exercise into a farce.  panabaka confident of win in byelection TDP candidate Panabaka Lakshmi says people are vexed with the autocratic rule of the YSRC in the State and the BJP at the Centre. She vows to be the voice of the people of Tirupati Lok Sabha constituency in Parliament, if elected | P4 A five-member team of Special Task Force (STF) of Uttar Pradesh Police filed a 5,000-page charge sheet against eight members of Popular Front of India (PFI) in a Mathura court on Saturday. The Additional District Judge posted the matter for hearing on May 1. Named in the charge sheet are journalist Siddique Kappan, Atiqur Rehman, Rauf Sharif, Mohammad Danish, Alam, Masood Ahmad, Feroz Khan and Asad Badruddin. All have been charged with receiving funds to the tune of `80 lakh from Muscat and Doha for the purpose of creating unrest in UP. Initially, the STF had arrested five PFI members, including Kerala journalist Kappan in Mathura last October when they were on their way to Hathras, allegedly to meet the family of a Dalit girl who Journalist Kappan among accused Journalist Siddique Kappan was among the eight PFI activists named by the STF in the 5,000page charge sheet filed in a Mathura court was gang-raped and died later. As per sources, the STF has indicted the PFI members for plotting caste riots in Hathras and adjoining districts in the aftermath of the incident. The victim died in a Delhi hospital on Se ptember 29. Sources claimed that accused Danish was arrested by Delhi Police earlier for hatching a conspiracy to incite communal riots. T hose named in the charge sheet were booked under charges of sedition, wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot, injuring or defiling places of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class, Information Technology Act, with charges of raising funds for terrorist acts under the UAPA. Journalist Kappan’s family in Kerala had held protests in the state, alleging foul play P10 in his arrest.  A woman clicks photo of her husband while he takes a Covid jab in Vijayawada on Saturday | Prasant Madugula Chittoor continues to be top in the number of active cases in the State with 1,728, followed by Visakhapatnam with 1,444, Krishna with 1,414 and Guntur with 1,096. The caseload is lowest in West Godavari at 154. Nine fatalities were reported in the State, taking the Covid toll to 7,234. Guntur and Nellore reported two deaths each and Chittoor, Kadapa, Kurnool, Prakasam and Visakhapatnam one each. The total number of Covid tests conducted has increased to 1,51,77,364. Maoists kill five jawans in ambush E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Raipur A fierce gun battle between ambushed security forces and Maoists left at least five personnel and two rebels dead in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Saturday. Around a dozen personnel were reportedly injured. Reinforcements were rushed to the site, but the forces were yet to return from the operation, Director General of Police D M Awasthi said. On Friday night, several parties of the security forces fanned out across the BijapurSukma border on anti-Maoist operations. The ultras ambushed one of the parties near Tarrem on Saturday noon, resulting in a nearly three hour exchange of fire. Two choppers and nine ambulances were sent to Bijapur to aid forces. express read Civic chief’s wife drowns in Godavari canal Rajamahendravaram: Bhupathi Andalu (63), wife of Nidadavolu municipal chairman Adinarayana, drowned in Godavari canal at Basivireddypeta village in West Godavari district on Saturday. Sub-Inspector E Jagadeeswara Rao said Andalu accidentally drowned in the canal while taking a holy dip. Her body was found in the canal at Kandari village. A case was registered. Court can’t intervene after poll notification: SEC Vijayawada: The State Election Commission (SEC) on Saturday informed the Andhra Pradesh High Court that the schedule for the MPTC and ZPTC elections was issued on April 1 and argued that judiciary cannot intervene once the schedule was notified. In an affidavit filed before the court, the SEC recalled that the Supreme Court had in quite a few verdicts made this point crystal clear. P4 new project VPT to take up `103-cr cruise terminal Vizag port stands 3rd in performance The VPT stood third among major ports in the country by handling 69.84 million tonnes of cargo in 2020-21. The port earned an operating surplus of `698 crore and a net surplus of `306 crore. The VPT handled 2,040 ships in 2020-21 as against 2,099 in 2019-20. The port railways handled a cargo of 32.35 million tonnes in 2020-21 and exceeded the handling of 32.13 million tonnes in previous fiscal E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Visakhapatnam The Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT) will take up the construction of a cruise terminal in August at a cost of `103 crore. Speaking to mediapersons here on Saturday, VPT Chairman K Rama Mohana Rao said the cruise terminal project will be taken up after the submission of DPR by IIT Chennai. The terminal will help promote tourism in Visakhapatnam and its neighbourhood. As a measure to reduce the pollution caused by ore in the Port City covered storage yards , will be built at a cost of `36 crore and they will be completed by June. Rao said the VPT performed well despite the Covid-19 pandemic last fiscal compared to other major ports in the county . The VPT stood third in the country by handling 69.84 million tonnes of cargo in 2020-21, which is the second highest annual cargo handling in the history of the port. For the second consecutive year, the VPT has achieved the distinction among major ports. The port showed its resilience to severe disruptions in supply chains and economic downturn due to the Covid pandemic. But the port fell short of 3 million tonnes of cargo handling in the last fiscal, compared to the record volume of 72.72 million tonnes achieved P4 in 2019-20, he said.