KOttayam l friday l january 14, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION No breakthrough in 14th India-China border talks Stage set for next round of talks The Corps Commander-level meeting was held at the ChushulMoldo border meeting point on the Chinese side on Wednesday Troops to remain in friction points With the dialogue failing to move forward, both sides decided to hold the next round of the commanders’ talks at the earliest possible date. “The two sides agreed to stay in close contact and maintain dialogue via military and diplomatic channels and work out a mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues at the earliest,” said a joint statement issued on Thursday ■ ■ Army Chief General M M Naravane had said on Wednesday that India was hopeful of resolving issues related to disengagement at Patrolling Point 15 (Hot Springs) in Ladakh in the latest talks The 13th round of Corps Commander-level talks held on October 10, 2021 had also ended in a stalemate | P7 50,000-60,000 troops each side has deployed along the line of Actual control in ladakh CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Design Covid strategies that save livelihood: PM OBC bleeding continues in UP BJP, one more minister quits N a m i ta Ba j pa i @ Lucknow AAP’s Punjab CM candidate Suggests local containment, steps that insulate the economy THE saga of defections of disgruntled ministers and MLAs in Uttar Pradesh just ahead of elections, after having enjoyed a full term of five years, continued on Thursday with minister Dharam Singh Saini quitting the Yogi Adityanath government and two MLAs — Mukesh Verma (Shikohabad) and Vinay Shakya (Bidhuna) — resigning from the BJP . While OBC leader Saini cited the BJP-led government’s alleged neglect of the backward class, the two MLAs also gave similar reasons. All three are expected to join the Samajwadi Party With this, the . number of leaders who have left the BJP has risen to 13. According to sources, BJP MLA from Dhaurahara Bala Prasad Awasthi is also planning to quit. Notably most of the deserters had defected to the , BJP from the BSP in 2017 just before the polls. Saini won the 2002 and 2007 elections from Sarsawa in Saharanpur as a BSP candidate. He was shifted to Nakur in 2012 where he defeated Congress strongman Imran Masood. He won from Nakur again on a BJP ticket in 2017. AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal launched a phone-in service for Punjabis to suggest AAP’s CM candidate, even as he said his choice is Bhagwant Mann Factoids E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi Rescue operation under way after Bikaner Express got derailed at Mainaguri in Jalpaiguri on Thursday | PTI Four dead as train derails in bengal Rlys announces L5L compensation E XPR E SS N E WS S E RVIC E Accident happened around 5 pm when the train was running at 40 km per hour FOUR persons were killed and over two dozens injured after Guwahatibound Bikaner Express via Patna was on Thursday derailed and four of its coaches rolled into a ditch beside the railway tracks at Maynaguri in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district, around 680 km from Kolkata. Sources said the number of casualties and injured might increase as the rescue team was yet to access the illfated coaches. Among the injured, condition of 15 was stated to be critical. The Railways has ordered a highlevel probe into the accident. According to sources, the train was not at high speed when the accident happened. “After Siliguri, there is speed restriction as the railway tracks pass through elephant corridors in Dooars forest,” said an official. A senior technical officer with the Indian Railways in Delhi said derailment of such grave magnitude generally occurs when tracks are defective or not maintained properly . 12 coaches in all derailed, four of which were badly damaged after falling into a ditch Gas cutters used to access, rescue passengers trapped inside the derailed coaches 51 ambulances sent to the spot, hospitals in Jalpaiguri receive the injured Around 1,150 passengers were on the train at the time of the accident @ Kolkata / New Delhi / Guwahati Advising heightened alert to avoid panic situations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his first meeting with chief ministers since the outbreak of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, suggested adopting local containment strategies that have the least impact on livelihood and the economy . He also urged them to be prepared for future variants of the virus as it mutates very fast. “The earlier confusion about Omicron is slowly getting cleared now. The Omicron variant is infecting the general public many times faster than the earlier variants. We have to be alert, be careful, but we also have to take care that there is no panic situation,” Modi said, whose closing remarks were broadcast on social media. Stressing that the Centre and states are dealing with the pandemic for two years now, Modi urged chief ministers to stick to the past practices and work collectively . “The way the Central and state governments had adopted a pre-emptive, proactive and collective approach, the same is the mantra of victory this time as well. The more we can limit E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Kochi THE CRIME Branch raided the houses of actor Dileep and his brother Anoop in Aluva and the office of his film production house in Kochi on Thursday to trace a pistol the actor allegedly possesses without licence. Mobile phones and computer harddisks were seized during the search that lasted for eight hours, but no pistol was found. The raids were part of the recently registered case for hatching a conspiracy to har m police of ficers who probed the actor abduction and rape case in which Dileep is an accused. Crime Branch ADGP S Sreejith said the search was carried out with the permission of the court. “We had received a search warrant from court. The interrogation in the case related to the conspiracy to harm police officers will be completed without delay said Sreejith. Asked ,” A Crime Branch official scales the locked gate of actor Dileep’s compound | Express about whether Dileep would be arrested soon, the officer said he could not say anything about it. It was director P Balachandrakumar who revealed to the Crime Branch that Dileep possessed a pistol without a licence. The officers verified the New cases in the country as on Thursday morning Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacts with chief ministers via video conferencing, in New Delhi | PTI the corona infection, the less the problem will be,” he said. Underscoring the point that economic activities should not be disrupted, Modi sought to nudge chief ministers to avoid lockdown situations. While Delhi has imposed weekend curfew, other states, too, have announced various restrictions, including night curfew. “While making any strategy , it is very important to keep in mind that there should be minimum damage to the livelihood of the common people. Economic activities and momentum of the economy should be maintained. So, it will be better to focus more on local containment,” he said, while stressing that thrust should be on providing maximum treatment in home isolation. Vaccination, the prime minister said, is the only counter to the pandemic. dist Collectors can give solatium Kasaragod: The state government has empowered district collectors to provide financial assistance to the next of kin of those who died of Covid outside Kerala. The Department of Disaster Management issued the order after complaints from people that there was no provision for the families of Covid patients who died outside Kerala to apply for compensation. P4 8-hr search at houses of Dileep & brother; police fail to find pistol list of persons in the state who hold gun licence and found his name was not there. A 50-member team led by Ernakulam SP Mohanachandran Nair raided the houses of Dileep and Anoop at 11.30am while a 15-member team led by DySP Baiju Paulose — who is also the investigation officer in the case — carried out the search at the office of Graand Production House. The Crime Branch team found the gate of Dileep’s compound locked and the officers jumped over its wall to check the premises. A few minutes later, Dileep’s sister, residing at Aluva, came and opened the house. Dileep arrived two hours later. The officers found the Grand Production House office too locked initially before two staff came in the afternoon and ● More on P4 opened its doors.  The interrogation in the case related to the conspiracy to harm police officers will be completed without delay — S Sreejith, ADGP, Crime Branch 2,47,417 13.11% 10.80% Daily positivity rate Weekly Positivity Rate Health infra expanded Utilising the I23,000 crore package sanctioned by the Centre earlier to revamp health infra, over 800 paediatric units, 1.5 lakh new ICU and HDU beds, more than 5,000 special ambulances and over 950 liquid medical oxygen storage tank capacity have been added across the country so far Jab-o-meter Take your shot Total doses: 1,55,28,76,434 NATIONWIDE jan 12 jan 13 Fresh cases 1,94,720 2,47,417 Recoveries Deaths 60,405 442 84,825 380 statewide THREE fishermen who had ventured into the sea from Kothi in Kozhikode witnessed an unusual sight at 1am on Thursday. Some eight kilometres  off the shore, they spotted something floating. A closer look revealed it was a helpless buffalo. After a two-hour effort, the fisher men rescued the animal, 12,742 13,468 2,552 23 EXPRESS RE A D Poet S Ramesan passes away Kochi: Poet S Ramesan died at his home on Thursday. The 69-year-old poet, collapsed and died early in the morning at his house at Pachalam, family members confirmed. Ramesan, who was active in the cultural sphere of the state, played a key role in the formation of Chalachitra Academy, Vyloppilly Samskrithi Bahvan and Kerala Historical Research Council. P4 PM security breach: Air Force log, Blue Book to be scrutinised New Delhi; The SC-appointed committee probing the PM’s security breach during his trip to Punjab will go through the Indian Air Force logs to see the reports handed by them to the SPG and whether they had given security clearance for the chopper to fly the PM from Bhatinda to the rally site or if they had declined, like is being projected. Delhi High Court stays opaque Chess League tender New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has stayed the All India Chess Federation’s (AICF) tender to organise the ‘Indian Chess League’, ‘Online Chess League’ and ‘Chess in School’ after a petition was filed charging the federation with refusal to clearly inform bidders about the nature of contract and the scope of work. The buffalo which was rescued from the sea by fishermen off Kothi on Thursday | Express jan 13 Recoveries Deaths Fishermen rescue buffalo stranded 8km offshore brought it ashore and handed it over to its owner. “When we heard a weird sound from the sea, we looked around using a torch. It was then we spotted a buffalo floating. It was weak. We decided to stop our day’s work and, instead, spend that time and effort in saving the buffalo’s life,” said A T Firoz, who along with A T Zakir and T P Puvad, saved the animal. jan 12 Fresh cases ‘first-time experience’ E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Kozhikode January 12 66,77,685 doses January 13 63,92,572 doses “We have no idea how the buffalo reached that far in the sea. Spotting such an animal during our work was a first-time experience,” he added. It was impossible for us to pull the buffalo towards our boat. Hence, we arranged another boat from Kothi. We tied two plastic cans to the buffalo to prevent it from drowning and pulled it ashore by 8am, he said. 3,252 21 Unnao rape victim’s mom in Cong list Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Thursday the mother of the Unnao rape victim is among the first list of candidates for UP polls | P8 State may not shut down schools; restrictions likely E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ T’Puram AMID a huge surge in Covid cases, the general education department is considering imposing some restrictions in schools to insulate students from the raging pandemic at the fag end of the academic year. Though a total shutdown of schools is unlikely limiting the ongoing offline mode of instruc, tion to higher classes may be considered. According to sources in the general education department, closing down schools completely is not a practical solution as students are set to appear for the annual examination soon. “The proposal that has been floated is to allow the ongoing classroom mode of instruction only for students of Classes X and XII who are facing the board examinations in a little over two months,” said a senior official. The classes for other students will be reverted to either fully online or digital modes. If health experts concur, arrangements will also be made to curtail the number of hours for classroom● More on P4 based instruction in schools.  EDU DEPT’S PLANS Limiting the ongoing offline mode of instruction to higher classes Classes for other students will be reverted to either fully online or digital modes Arrangements will also be made to curtail the number of hours for classroom