tadepalligudem l wednesday l february 8, 2023 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION No separate law to check violence against doctors The Centre has decided not to go ahead with a legislation to protect healthcare professionals from physical violence Bill withdrawn after consultations In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Union health minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya said a draft of the Healthcare Services Personnel and Clinical Establishments (Prohibition of Violence and Damage to Property) Bill, 2019 was circulated for consultations. However, the government decided not to enact a separate law to protect healthcare professionals and institutions ■ 3 months Epidemic diseases act to protect docs ■ The minister said the matter was further discussed with all stakeholders and an ordinance namely The Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 was promulgated on April 22, 2020 Later, the govt passed the Act on September 28, 2020 under which violence against doctors are cognizable and non-bailable offences Jail term and fine of `50,000-2,00,000 for offenders under Epidemic Act 2020 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 With you, dear: Dad holds hand of dead daughter Mesut Hancer in an orange jacket sitting on a pile of rubble, holds the hand of his dead daughter Irmak, 15, who lies on a mattress, crushed by a huge concrete block, in Kahramanmaras, close to the quake epicentre in Turkyie AFP Rescue race on, Toll 6,200 Y e s h i S e l i a n d M AYA N K SI N G H @ New Delhi With the toll crossing 6,200 a day after a 7.8 pre-dawn earthquake shook up Turkiye and Syria, Turkiye President, Recip Tayyip Erdogan declared a state of emergency for three months in 10 of the worst hit provinces in his country. Amid temperatures below freezing point and over 200 aftershocks, rescuers raced against time as nearly 6,000 buildings collapsed in Turkiye alone. Not all buildings have been accessed by the rescuers yet. In the Hatay province in Turkyie where 1,500 buildings were destroyed, rescue effort was yet to begin. But in areas where teams worked, occasional cheers broke out Spl Supreme Court bench to hear Bilkis Bano’s plea S h r u t i K a kk a r @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to constitute a special bench to hear the pleas challenging the Gujarat government’s order allowing premature release of 11 convicts sentenced to life in the Bilkis Bano case. During the 2002 Gujarat riots, Bano, who was five months pregnant, was gang-raped and seven members of her family killed. Urging the bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud to list the plea, advocate Shobha Gupta said Justice Ajay Rastogi was continuously sitting in a combination of himself and Justice Bela Trivedi, who had earlier recused herself from hearing the matter. The bench, also comprising judges P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala, assured Bano that the new bench will be formed at the earliest. The top court had earlier clarified that objections pertaining to locus of pleas filed by third party petitioners by one of the convicts Radhey Shyam and the Gujarat government did not arise anymore. “After victim’s plea comes, the issue of locus goes... Come on merits. In these cases no technicality has to follow,” Justice Rastogi had remarked while posting the pleas for February . YSRCPSCS TO MP REITERATES ANDHRA IN PARLIAMENT YSRC MP V Vijayasai Reddy, reiterating his party’s demand for Special Category Status to Andhra. “BJP & Congress failed to implement the assurances made to the State | P4 through the night as survivors were brought out of the rubble. There were also reports of people stuck in the rubble sending videos and voice messages requesting urgent assistance and rescue. So far, over 8,000 people have been pulled from the debris in Turkiye. Amid a global scramble to rush humanitarian support, Indian field hospital 4 IAF C17 aircraft loads of Indian relief and rescue personnel sent to Turkyie and one to Syria Field hospital sent to Turkiye to establish a 30-bed medical facility. 45-member medical team accompanying it. It has X-ray unit, ventilators, OT and other equipment India on Tuesday sent five aircraft full of relief and rescue equipment, which includes NDRF search and rescue teams, medical equipment for creating a 30-bed makeshift hospital, drilling machines and dog squads. Out of the five IAF C17 aircraft, four have been sent to Turkiye and one to Syria. “PM Modi gave immediate instructions to build a crisis centre and all relevant Indian authorities had a meeting. This is an example of good friendship and we really appreciate it. We are in touch with the Indian Embassy in Ankara along with Indian authorities in Delhi,’’ Turkiye envoy Firat Sunel said. “We really appreciated the Indian heart,” Syrian envoy Bassam Seifeddin Alkhatib said. Rahul questions Adani-Modi link Accuses the BJP govt of tweaking rules to help the conglomerate win mega projects FRESH from his five monthlong cross-country march, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday launched a blistering attack on the Narendra Modi government and its alleged links with the Adani group, which is facing allegations of stock manipulation and fraud. Rahul’s all-out offensive against the government came on a day when Opposition parties decided to end the threeday logjam in Parliament and take part in the motion of thanks to the President’s address. The Wayanad MP alleged that the Modi government has been favouring the Adani group since it came to power in 2014. He also accused the Centre of changing rules to help Adani Rahul Gandhi displays a poster showing Prime Minister Narendra Modi sitting with billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani in what looks like a chartered plane | PTI acquire airports.“There was a rule that only a company or person with experience in airports be given the responsibil- Andhra Pradesh State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) on Tuesday cleared a chain of investment proposals for establishing industries in various sectors, including energy, data centre, in the State. The board, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in his camp office at Tadepalli, cleared proposals to the tune of `1.44 lakh crore that would provide employment to over 1.08 lakh people. During the meeting, the Chief Minister directed officials to stand by V’wada Book Fest begins on Feb 9 Vijaywada: Vijayawada Book Festival Society announced the organisation of the 33rd edition of the Vijayawada Book Festival from February 9 to 19. The long-awaited book festival’s venue has been shifted to Government Polytechnic college. The fest is going to be organised for the first time post the pandemic @ New Delhi/Chennai Lekshmana Chandra Victoria Gowri was sworn in as additional judge of the Madras High Court on Tuesday amid protests outside the court and minutes before the Supreme Court dismissed two pleas against her appointment, saying a “consultative process” had taken place before her name was recommended by the collegium for the appointment. Acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court, T Raja, administered her oath of office at the swearing-in ceremony held on the high court premises. Four others—Pillaipakkam Bahukutumbi Balaji, Kandhasami Kulanthaivelu Ramakrishnan, Ramachandran Kalaimathi and Govindarajan Thilakavadi—were also sworn in as additional judges. All new additional judges will hold their posts for a period of two years from the date of taking oath. “We are not entertaining the writ petition. Reasons will follow,” 50 New Delhi: Congratulating itself on the Union Budget, the BJP in its parliamentary party meeting on Tuesday felicitated PM Modi and FM Nirmala Sitharaman. The PM described the Budget 23-24 as “pro-poor” and “inclusive” while Sitharaman said the proposals took care of the middle class | P7 the investors and ensure that all projects were launched within a stipulated time. Jagan Mohan Reddy once again reiterated that his government was committed to create 75 per cent of jobs in all emerging industries for locals. While clearing the proposals, CM Jagan said, “Important changes have been brought in the energy policy after the YSRC government came to power. The government is paying `31,000 for each acre of land leased to the farmers and it is getting `1 lakh for each mega watt from the power companies.” The SIPB cleared the proposal of Avisa Foods and Fuels to establish ethanol manufacturing unit at Mallavalli Park in Krishna district with an investment of `498.84 crore to produce 500 kilo litres of ethanol on a daily basis. The unit would provide employment to at least 3,300 people. Andhra Paper Mills at Kadiyam would go for an expansion with an investment of `3,400 crore. The expansion would be completed by 2025. This would provide direct emP4 ployment to 2,100 people.  STAR SPEAKERS 16 BJP MPs felicitate PM for Budget 2 DAYS INTENSE HOURS WHERE THE BEST MINDS CONVERGE TO ENLIGHTEN ELEVATE EMPOWER PRESENTS Important changes have been brought in the energy policy after the YSRC government came to power. The government is paying `31,000 for each acre of land leased to the farmers Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, Andhra CM SC dismisses plea, Victoria Gowri sworn in as HC judge SHR U TI K A K K AR & R SIVA K U M AR ity of developing airports. But, the government changed the rules for the Adani group and six airports were handed over express read SIPB clears `1.44L cr investment proposals E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Vijayawada to him. Adani now dominates several sectors such as ports, airports, cement, media and defence,” he added. Rahul Gandhi’s fiery speech drew strong protests from BJP ministers and MPs, who asked the Congress scion to substantiate his ‘wild allegations’ with proof. The former Congress president, then, displayed a photograph of Modi and Adani in an aircraft together, wondering how many trips the duo must have taken together. “Modi goes to Australia and the next day SBI gives a $1 billion loan to Adani. He goes to Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Power Development Board signs a 25-year contract with Adani,” he alleged, demanding answers to his questions from the PM on Wednesday . P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi said a special Supreme Court bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai, which assembled at 10.25 am to hear the pleas against her elevation, five minutes before the scheduled time of the court on Tuesday . The bench told senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, who appeared for the petitioners, that there have been cases where people with political backgrounds have taken oath as judges of the Supreme Court and high courts.Underscoring the fact that Gowri was taking oath as an additional judge of the Madras HC and her appointment won’t be made permanent in case she’s not true to her oath, Justice Gavai said that directing the collegium to reconsider would result in showing lack of respect for it and would also set a wrong precedent. “There are instances where persons (additional judges) have not been confirmed,” Justice Gavai said. “There are two consultee judges from Tamil Nadu. We’ll be setting a very wrong precedent,” he added. nellore stampede Commission of Inquiry quizzes ex-TDP MLA E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Vijayawada The Commission of Inquiry led by retired judge of Andhra Pradesh High Court Justice B Seshasayana Reddy on Tuesday questioned TDP leader T Sravan Kumar with regard to the Kandukur stampede that had claimed eight lives in Nellore. Tadikonda former MLA told mediapersons that he was questioned if permission was taken for the public meeting and was asked by the panel to submit all the necessary documents. Sravan Kumar said that he had submitted the said documents to the commission. The panel has summoned the TDP leader for next round of questioning on February 15 . According to sources, TDP leaders from Kandukur, who took permission for the meeting, also appeared before the commission. The inquiry panel will submit a report to the government after completing inquiry into Kandukur incident. 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