tirupati l sunday l january 23, 2022 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l late city EDITION influential zen monk and peace activist passes away Thich Nhat Hanh, whose reach within Buddhism is seen as second only to the Dalai Lama, died at the age of 95 Nominated for nobel by martin luther king In the early 1960s, the Vietnamese monk travelled to the US, where he taught at Columbia and Princeton. In 1966, he met civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr and called him a ‘Bodhisattva’. The monk’s efforts to promote reconciliation between communist North Vietnam and the US-backed South impressed King and he nominated Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize ■ >100 books helped spread meditation in the west ■ Barred from home due to his call for peace, the monk spent more than three decades in France. During his stay in the West, Nhat Hanh set up meditation retreats around the world Allowed into Vietnam in 2005, ties again soured after he called for an end to the communist government’s control over religion written by the monk, most of them on meditation and finding inner peace 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 Towering inferno kills six in Mumbai EC extends ban on road shows till Jan 31 E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e K u m a r V i k r a m @ New Delhi @ Mumbai The early morning calm at Tardeo in central Mumbai was shattered around 7 am following a massive fire at an upscale 20-storey building that left six people dead and 29 injured on Saturday . According to fire brigade officials, a fault in the air-conditioning unit of a flat caused the blaze, which quickly engulfed the 18th floor of Kamala Building, perhaps due to the strong sea breeze. Thirteen fire engines and seven jumbo tankers had to be rushed to douse the fire. Residents of the building said they heard a loud sound followed by black smoke and recalled a frenzy among them to get to safety “We heard a big . noise and rushed outside. There was smoke coming out of some floors above us. We immediately rushed downstairs and came into the open area,” a resident said. Nanda Chavan, a relative of an injured person, said the hospitals asked them to deposit money first before admitting the victims. “They even asked for Covid-19 RT-PCR tests. That consumed a lot of time while admitting the injured people,” she added. Smoke billows out from the 18th floor of Kamla Building on Saturday | PTI Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said he has asked for a report in the next 15 days. It was alleged that some additions and alterations were being carried out. RTI activist Anil Galgali claimed the BMC’s fire brigade department does not carry out fire audits of buildings. “I had sought fire audit reports on 1 January 2018, but they are yet to furnish the details,” he said. PM Narendra Modi expressed grief over the tragedy and said ex gratia of `2 lakh each would be provided to the family of the deceased from the PMNRF. Maharashtra Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray went to the site and said the state would give a compensation of `5 lakh each to the families of those who lost their lives. Some curbs eased; physical meetings with 500-people cap allowed from Jan 28 for Phase 1 and Feb 1 for Phase 2 The Election Commission on Saturday extended the ban on physical rallies and road shows till January 31 but gave some relaxation for physical public meetings of political parties and contesting candidates for Phase 1 of the Assembly elections from January 28 and Phase 2 from February 1. The commission also increased the limit of five persons for doorto-door campaigning to 10. The decision to extend the ban was taken following a review meeting that the EC had with the Union health secretary and chief secretaries, chief electoral officers and the health secretaries of the five poll-bound states. After taking into consideration the inputs and ground reports from these officers, the commission deliberated on requirements of the campaign period for Phases 1 and 2 where the candidate lists will be finalised on January 27 and January 31 respectively . The commission decided to allow physical public meetings in designated open spaces with a maximum of 500 persons or 50% of the capacity of the ground or the prescribed limit set by state disaster management authorities, whichever is fewer. The EC has also allowed video vans for publicity with the usual Covid restrictions at designated open spaces. Political parties and contesting candidates shall ensure compliance with Covid-appropriate behaviour and guidelines and the model code of conduct on all occasions during the activities connected with elections, the poll panel said. It shall be the responsibility of the concerned officer to identify and notify the desig- PEOPLE should not panic and rush to hospitals if they have fever or Covid-like symptoms, a senior Pulmonologist said here on Saturday . Instead, they should sequester themselves at their residence, and use the tele-medicine facilities, Dr N Gopichand, Head of the Department of Pulmonology at the Govern- ment General Hospital here, suggested. As the spread of infection is high, though not severe, it is advisable not to visit hospitals for little health issues,” he said in an interview with TNIE. He urged all to adhere to Covid Appropriate Behaviour. Dr Gopichand recommended a week’s home isolation for those infected, since it would take two to three days to get a NGO rolls out ‘Feed the Need’ plan at Tirupati sri krishna kummara @ Tirupati APPLE Homes, a Hyberabadbased NGO, is spreading its wings to Andhra Pradesh to keep the State hunger-free. The move, according to the NGO’s founder Dr Neelima Arya, is to set up food banks under its ‘Feed the Need’ plan, an initiative that is popular in its home city where it , has established 35 such banks, in association with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. The NGO has set up its first food bank at Tirupati Railway Station to feed the destitute and others. “We started our food bank on December 21, 2021, coinciding with Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s birthday with an , objective of transforming AP into a hunger-free State,” Arya, who feels ‘no one deserves to go to bed on an empty stomach’, told TNIE. The food bank was established on the request of Tirupati MP M Gurumoorthy. The NGO is now planning to set up at least one food bank each in all 175 Assembly segments in AP . “A sum of `7.5 lakh is required for setting up a food bank in a permanent structure with a refrigerator, unlike the temporary structures we have in Hyderabad,” Arya P4 said.  A day after hinting that she is the party’s CM face in UP, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra makes a U-turn. “I said that in irritation because you all were asking the same question again and again” Akhilesh Yadav makes official decision to contest from family stronghold of Karhal, promises 22 lakh IT jobs for youth Amit Shah begins door-to-door campaigning from Kairana, where there was an alleged exodus of Hindus before 2017. Meanwhile, the JD(U) decides to go solo in UP Devil in the details With the BCCI closing the registration for IPL 2022, a look at some of the key points about the upcoming mega auction.. 33 `72 cr Punjab Kings is the team to retain the least number of players, two, and will go into the auction with C72 crores in their purse. Retained /drafted seed venture A farmer sows seeds with a machine in his agricultural field at Ramachandrapuram near Tirupati on Saturday | Madhav K Don’t rush to hosps for minor health issues, cautions expert S G u r u S r i k a n t h @ Vijayawada b a t t l e g r o u n d u . p. Mekapati tests +ve Industries Minister Mekapati Goutham Reddy has tested positive for Covid-19. “I have tested positive for Covid. Mild symptoms exist. I have isolated myself at home and those who came in touch with me in last few days, kindly get yourself tested & Stay safe!,” he tweeted confirmation after being exposed to the virus. He opined that chances of asymptomatic people -- unaware that they have been infected -- spreading the virus is more. “Hence it is advisable to keep away from gatherings for some time and stay indoors as much as possible,’’ he suggested. Despite a higher rate of infection, the severity of the dis- ease is less during the third Covid-19 wave, and the majority of the cases reported are mild. The third wave, currently sweeping across the State, has triggered a spurt in daily fresh cases, pushing the active cases up to 73,143 on Saturday from 1,145 on December 31. The daily positivity rate continues to hover above 30%, the PulmonP3 ologist said.  No ‘Abide with Me’ in Beating Retreat E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi The hymn Abide with me, which endeared itself to Mahatma Gandhi and has been a part of the Beating Retreat ceremony since 1950, will not be played this year. All the tunes in this year’s list are of Indian origin, according to a brochure released by the Army on Saturday . Abide with me h a s b e e n re placed by the popular patriotic song Ae mere watan ke logon, written by Kavi Pradeep to commemorate the sacrifices made by Indian soldiers in the 1962 India-China war. In 2020 too, there were reports that the tune would be dropped but no such decision was taken. The soothing hymn was written by Henry Francis Lyte in 1861 and it was set to tune by William Henry Monk. The retreat tune will continue to be Sare jahan se accha. Twitterati reacted sharply to the news. “Gandhi ji’s favo u r i t e hy m n d ro p p e d f ro m Beating Retreat. There is no end to the hate,” said one. “New India, No Amar Jyo t h i , n o Abide With Me during the Beating Retreat. Sicko’s BJP Congress leader Ajoy Ku,” mar tweeted. The move to drop the hymn comes days after the decision to merge the Amar Jawan Jyoti flame at India Gate with the eternal flame of the National War Memorial. A total of 44 buglers, 16 trumpeters and 75 drummers from six bands of the Army, Navy, Air Force and central armed police forces will be performing at this year’s ceremony . Beating Retreat is a centuries-old military tradition of troops disengaging from battle at sunset. As soon as the buglers sounded the retreat, the troops ceased fighting, sheathed their arms and withdrew from the battlefield. With the existing 8 teams retaining 27 players, and the two new teams drafting three each, as many as 1214 players have expressed an interest in taking part at the auctions. 318 As many as 318 overseas players have registered for the auction, with the highest of 59 players from Australia, followed by South Africa (48) and West Indies (41). A maximum of 60 overseas players could get picked in the auction, with 10 players already retained and drafted by the teams. Big names nated spaces in advance for the aforesaid purposes, the commission added. The poll panel also reviewed the vaccination status and action plan for expeditiously completing inoculation for first, second and booster doses for eligible persons among polling personnel. CEC Sushil Chandra along with Election Commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey, accompanied by the secretary general and concerned deputy election commissioners, participated in the review meeting. express read Gudivada row: Cases filed against TDP, YSRC Vijayawada: A day after opposition TDP and ruling YSRC activists clashed during the visit of a Telugu Desam fact-finding panel to K Convention Hall owned by Civil Supplies Minister Kodali Sri Venkateswara Rao (Nani) in Gudivada on casino issue, police filed cases against both the groups on Saturday | P4 US asks kin of embassy staff in Kiev to evacuate Washington: The State Department on Saturday ordered evacuation of families of US embassy personnel in Ukraine as soon as Monday, according to reports. The US is expected to issued guidance next week encouraging American civilians to begin leaving Ukraine on commercial flights | P9 Scientists flag concerns on Omicron sub-variant Paris: With more than 400 cases in Britain and the new sub-variant being detected in some 40 other countries, scientists are keeping a close watch on the latest version, dubbed BA.2. Though the subvariant spreads rapidly, experts say that it is too early to conclude that the sub-variant is more virulent | P12 David Warner, R Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan, Quinton de Kock, Faf du Plesis, Dwayne Bravo, Trent Boult & Pat Cummins are top draws. Missing out Ben Stokes, Chris Gayle, Jofra Archer, Chris Woakes, Mitchell Starc, and Sam Curran are among the overseas stars who have opted p11 out citing various reasons.  WITH THIS ISSUE Jab-o-meter Take your shot January 21 58,37,209 doses January 22 61,62,171 doses Total doses: 1,61,81,65,913 NATIONWIDE Jan 21 Jan 22 Fresh cases 3,47,254 3,37,704 Recoveries Deaths 2,51,777 2,42,676 703 488 statewide Jan 21 jan 22 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths Samples tested 13,212 12,926 2,942 3,913 5 6 44,516 43,763 Cryptoman Rises PLUS 12 PAGES Bitcoin crash optimum utilisation Cryptos shed over $1 tn in market cap It’s all green, no waste for this weaver couple U m a K a nn a n @ Benglauru Cryptocurrency prices, which have been falling ever since Russia’s central bank proposed a ban on crypto trading, touched a new low on Saturday with Bitcoin tumbling to $36,000 levels, a drop of over 17% from last week. In the past 24 hours alone, Bitcoin has shed over 8.5%. Ethereum, the second largest crypto, also dropped 12% in 24 hours. Other altcoins such as BNB, ADA and SOL too tanked. In all, the cryptocurrency market cap has shrunk a whopping $1.3 trillion. On Thursday, Russia’s central bank had called for a ban on cryptos citing threats of citizens’ well-being and also financial stability. The move created considerable concern among investors as Russia is one of the world’s largest crypto adopters. However, major players such as CoinDCX, India’s largest cryptocur- rency exchange, are unfazed as they believe the current meltdown won’t have a longterm impact on the crypto market. They point out the sector has weathered bans, restrictions and regulatory scrutiny in the past as well. Not just cryptos, most other markets are down this week, points out Sathvik Vishwanath, co-founder and CEO of Unocoin. He attributes the fall to the Covid pandemic, among other things. Bitcoin was trading at $35,486 on Saturday . IV N P P r a s a d B a b u @ Ongole For Chenna Venkata Nagendra Rao (45) and his wife Malleswari (38) of Chirala nothing is waste. Believing that there is value in everything, the weaver couple has been growing a wide variety of plants in used tyres, broken cups and other discarded items for the past 15 years by converting them into innovative plant holders. Their children are also wholeheartedly engaged in the pastime of promoting greenery . Chenna Venkata Nagendra Rao and his wife Malleswari of Chirala in Prakasam district grow a variety of plants in discarded items by converting them into attractive holders | Express The family’s greenery includes 200 to 250 varieties of plant species. Cactus, crotons, xerophytes, flower and vegetable plants, herbs and rare plant species of the geographic region are part of it. A variety of flowers and other plant species, including hibiscus, sunflower, turtle vine, tangled heart, purple heart, water apple, ferns, lotus, marigold, chrysanthemum, oleander, coneflower, zinnias, lilys and vinca flowers are seen blooming in a variety discarded items on their premises. P4