By Anand Singh

New Delhi, May 11 (SocialNews.XYZ) Binod, a resident of Bihar's Muzaffarpur had left his village four months ago to work at a bedsheet manufacturing unit in Haryana's Panipat. But the sudden announcement of nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of novel coronavirus has shattered his dreams.

With only Rs 400 in his pocket, he left on foot from Panipat on May 7 for his home.

On the way back, he was beaten by police on the Delhi-Gurugram border, resulting in damage of his mobile phone.

Now he has arrived at New Delhi railway station after he was turned back from Lal Kuan area in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad district to get a train to travel back to his home.

Speaking to IANS, Binod said, "I used to work at the bed sheet factory. But one and half month ago, the factory was shut as lockdown was announced."

He said, he received the salary of one and half month, the period during which he worked in the factory. "But as the money started running out, I left from my room in Panipat to my village in Muzaffarpur on foot," he said.

Narrating his ordeal, Binod said, "I was having only Rs 400 when I left from my room in Panipat. To save money to reach my home I ate twice in last four days."

He said, a woman in Haryana provided him food free of cost and also gave Rs 50 to him.

"I used Rs 50 to buy the second meal," he said in a choked voice with teary eyes.

He said that he was beaten by police officials near the Gurugram-Delhi border on May 9 when he tried to enter Delhi.

"When police beat me my phone was broken," he said, adding that now he cannot call his family members at home.

He further said that he was returned from Ghaziabad to Delhi on Sunday evening by police as they said that train services will resume from May 12.

However, for Binod buying a ticket is more troublesome as government has said that the tickets will be sold only on IRCTC website and no tickets will be sold on ticket counters.

"Now what should I do? I don't have money to buy ticket and now I don't even have a phone to buy online ticket," he rued.

Similar is the condition of Parmanand Kumar, who has arrived in Delhi from Himachal Pradesh on foot and by hitch hiking on trucks.

Kumar said that he started his journey from Himachal Pradesh's Chamoli on May 5. "After six days of travel on foot and on trucks today I have reached New Delhi railway station. Now I am clueless how to buy a ticket, for Bihar" he said.

Kumar, a resident of Bihar's Jamui further said that the government should make the tickets available for the labourers stranded in several parts of the country.

He said, "We do not have IRCTC ID and we don't know how to book tickets online. Even the fare of the Special AC trains are equivalent to Rajdhani Express which is beyond our reach," he added.

Besides Binod and Parmanand, there are several other migrant workers, who have arrived at New Delhi railway station to buy a ticket and catch a train to return to their homes.

On Sunday, the national transporter announced to gradually resume the train services with 15 pair AC trains equivalent to Rajdhani Express from New Delhi.

According to railway officials these trains in the initial phase will run as special AC trains from New Delhi Station to Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi.

"Only passengers with valid confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter the railway stations," an official had said.

The Indian Railways, which has suspended the passenger, mail and express trains from March 25 amid the nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic has started to run the Shramik Special train from May 1 to transport the stranded migrant workers, students, pilgrims and tourists.

Till 10 a.m. on Monday, the national transporter has operated 468 Shramik Special trains and transported over 4.7 lakh people across several states.

(Anand Singh can be contacted at Anand.s@ians.in)

Source: IANS

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By Anand Singh

New Delhi, May 11 (SocialNews.XYZ) Even as the Indian Railways is all set to start the services of the 15 pair of air conditioned trains from Tuesday equivalent to the Rajdhani Express, the passengers will need to arrive at the stations 90 minutes before the schedule departure of the trains.

Railway Protection Force (RPF) Director General (DG) Arun Kumar told IANS, "The RPF is making adequate arrangements in view of the resumption of the gradual train services amid the Covid-19 pandemic."

He said, "We will ask the passengers to arrive at the railway station 90 minutes before the departure time of the train."

The RPF official said, "All the passengers coming to the railway station will be thermal screened before entering the station premises."

He also said that the entry of passengers will be closed 15 minutes before the departure.

He further said that the national transporter will not be providing blanket and bedsheets in the train and passengers need to bring their own pillows and blankets.

He further said that the RPF team will be also there on the train to ensure the protocol of social distancing.

The remarks of the senior officer came amid the Indian Railways announcement to run 15 pair of air conditioned trains from New Delhi to several cities across the country almost 45 days after suspending the passenger, mail and express train services to combat the spread of Covid-19.

On Sunday, the national transporter announced to gradually resume the train services with 15 pair AC trains equivalent to the Rajdhani Express from New Delhi.

According to the railway officials, these trains in the initial phase will run as special AC trains from the New Delhi Station to Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi.

All the coaches will be AC with limited stoppage and the fare will be equivalent to the Rajdhani Express train. The official further said that in the AC three-tier coaches, 52 passengers will be allowed while in AC two-tier coaches, 48 passengers will be allowed keeping in mind the protocol of social distancing amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The reservation of these special AC trains will start from Monday at 4 p.m. and passengers can book the tickets from the IRCTC website or mobile application.

The railway official further said that the ticket booking counters at the railway stations shall remain closed and no counter tickets, including platform tickets shall be issued.

"Only passengers with valid confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter the railway stations. It will be mandatory for the passengers to wear face cover and undergo screening at departure and only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the train. Further details including train schedule will be issued separately in due course," the official added.

The Indian Railways, which has suspended the passenger, mail and express trains from March 25 amid the nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic has started to run the Shramik Special train from May 1 to transport the stranded migrant workers, students, pilgrims and tourists.

Till 10 a.m. on Monday, the national transporter has operated 468 Shramik Special trains and transported over 4.7 lakh people across several states.

The official said that 363 trains had reached its destination and 105 trains are in transit.

(Anand Singh can be contacted at Anand.s@ians.in)

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, May 11 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Centre on Monday directed all states and Union Territories (UTs) to allow 'Shramik' special trains to operate without any hindrance within their jurisdiction and facilitate faster movement of stranded migrant workers to their native places.

The order followed the Centre's ongoing measures to facilitate bus and train facility to thousands of migrant labourers who have been stranded in various shelter homes and their work places and have been trying to get home as they do not have job to survive in cities due to the ongoing lockdown imposed to break the chain of novel coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic since March 24.

As the Lockdown3.0 will last till May 17, to ease further hardship on the stranded migrant labourers, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla wrote a letter to the Chief Secretaries of all states for the faster movement of this population.

"I urge upon you all to allow receiving of all Shramik special trains without any hindrance and facilitate faster movement of stranded migrant workers to their native places," the letter mentioned.

The order followed Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba's meeting on Sunday with the Chief Secretaries and Principal Secretaries (Health) of all states and UTs through a video conferencing that reviewed the facilitating of movement of migrant workers in buses and 'Shramik' special trains.

The states and the UTs have been requested by the Centre not to allow movements of migrant workers walking on the roads and on railway track and in case they are found in such conditions, they should be "appropriately counseled, taken to nearby shelters and provided with food and water till such time they are facilitated to board the 'Shramik' special trains or buses to their native place".

Further as requested by the Cabinet Secretary, the letter read, all states and UT governments should "cooperate with the Railways in running of more number of Shramik special trains so that travel of stranded migrant workers is facilitated at a faster rate".

The Indian Railways has operated 428 'Shramik' special trains since May 1 and ferried home more than 4.5 lakh migrants stranded in various parts of the country amid the coronavirus-induced lockdown, officials said on Sunday.

The officials have said that out of the 287 trains which had been run already in the first nine days, 127 terminated in Uttar Pradesh, 87 in Bihar, 24 in Madhya Pradesh, 20 in Odisha, 16 in Jharkhand, four in Rajasthan, three in Maharashtra, two each in Telangana and West Bengal, and one each in Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh till May 9.

These trains have ferried migrants to various cities in different states like Tiruchchirappalli, Titlagarh, Barauni, Khandwa, Jagannathpur, Khurda Road, Chhapra, Balia, Gaya, Purnia, Varanasi.

Every 'Shramik' special train has 24 coaches, each with a capacity of 72 seats. However, only 54 people are allowed in a coach and the middle berth is not allotted to any passenger to maintain social distancing norms.

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, May 10 (SocialNews.XYZ) As a relatively relaxed lockdown 3.0 is also halfway through, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting with all Chief Ministers on Monday to discuss the next stage in the exit from the nationwide lockdown enforced to contain coronavirus outbreak, as well as various issues comprising the economy, officials said.

The meeting will be held in two phases.

The first phase will start at 3 p.m. and go on till 5.30 p.m. Sources say, there will be a break of 30 minutes after that and the meeting will resume at 6 p.m. and is expected to go on till 8 p.m.

"PM Narendra Modi to hold the 5th meeting via video-conference with state Chief Ministers tomorrow (Monday) afternoon at 3 p.m.," PMO India tweeted earlier in the day.

Sources said the focus of the meeting will be on further increasing economic activities and on tackling the pandemic in containment zones as the lockdown 3.0 is to end on May 17.

The announcement comes after Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba chaired a meeting with Chief Secretaries and Health Secretaries of all states/Union Territories to review their status of novel coronavirus or Covid-19 management. As the Chief Secretaries informed Gauba about the situation in their states and also said that while protection is required from Covid, economic activities are also needed to be stepped up in a calibrated manner, the Prime Minister also wants to take stock of the situation in one-on-one discussions with the Chief Ministers.

The meeting is also expected to listen to different states' concerns about feasibility of allowing flights, if at all, with strict social distancing norms.

The lockdown, enforced on March 25, was originally supposed to end on April 14. It was then extended to May 3, and then again to May 17.

According to sources familiar with the matter, there will definitely be more concessions in terms of what's allowed, but that there will likely be no changes in Covid-19 hotspots and containment zones.

Source: IANS

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Shimla, May 10 (SocialNews.XYZ) Amid the nationwide lockdown, the district administration of Sirmaur in Himachal Pradesh has launched an initiative under which residents are being encouraged to use their time to grow vegetables through organic farming near their homes.

The state Department of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry have put up a special stall at the Chaugan Maidan in Nahan town where seed kits of vegetables are being provided by the volunteers of the Aravalli Organisation along with vermicompost and cowdung logs.

More than 1,200 seed kits - with seeds of six types of vegetables/grain like ladyfinger, bitter gourd, bottle gourd, maize, French beans and sponge gourd - have so far been made available to people at a subsidised rate of Rs 10, an official statement said on Sunday.

Apart, people are being informed about the method of making vermicompost from the household waste and cultivation methods by utilizing empty plastic bottles, pots, buckets and empty bags.

Vermicompost and cowdung logs are being provided by the Animal Husbandry Department at this stall.

The administration has also started a helpline to educate farmers. Over 2,000 calls have been received on issues relating to weather, pests, diseases, immunity degradation, soil fertility, irrigation, etc.

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, May 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) National carrier Air India on Saturday brought back 129 evacuees from Dhaka to the national capital's IGI Airport.

The flight was operated under the - Vande Bharat Mission - organised to evacuate stranded Indians from abroad.

The Dhaka-Delhi flight ferried back 129 passengers at 3.06 p.m. While another Kuwait-Hyderabad is expected to arrive at 9.00 p.m. Meanwhile, Air India Express operated two evacuation flights earlier in the day. These landed in Chennai from Dubai with 356 passengers and three infants in the wee hours of Saturday.

According to an official of Air India Express, the first flight IX 612 landed safely with 179 passengers and three infants at about 1.10 a.m. The second flight (IX 540) with 177 passengers landed at about 2 a.m.

Additionally, both these airlines have operated these flights under India's massive 'Vande Bharat Mission' which has been organised to bring back stranded Indians from abroad.

Source: IANS

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Kochi, May 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) Senior Kerala police official Vijay Sakhare said on Saturday that all arrangements are in place to receive 698 people who are being evacuated from Maldives on INS Jalashwa, which is expected to arrive here on Sunday at 9.30 a.m.

This operation is part of Indian Navy's 'Operation Samudra Setu'.

"The ship will arrive here tomorrow and everything is ready here. Among the 698 passengers, 440 are from Kerala, 156 from Tamil Nadu and the rest are from various states in the country," said Sakhare.

Also onboard the ship are 19 pregnant women and 14 kids.

"All the Keralaites will be sent for 14 days institutional quarantine at their respective home districts, while those from other states will be kept in quarantine here itself. Those who are having exemption from institutional quarantine have to be at home and there will be mechanism to see that they do it as per guidelines," said Sakhare.

The distance between Male and Kochi is 493 nautical miles. INS Jalashwa is an Indian naval ship attached to the Eastern Naval Command. It was acquired from the United States and was commissioned in 2007.

INS Jalashwa has the capacity to accommodate 1000 troops, and comes equipped with extensive medical facilities, including four operation theatres, and a 12-bed ward facility.

Source: IANS

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Chennai, May 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) Two evacuation flights of Air India Express to Chennai from Dubai landed at Chennai International Airport with 356 passengers and three infants on the wee hours of Saturday.

According to an official of Air India Express, the first flight IX 612 landed safely with 179 passengers and three infants at about 1.10 a.m.

The second flight (IX 540) with 177 passengers landed at about 2 a.m.

According to an official of Tamil Nadu Health Department, samples for Coronavirus testing were taken from the passengers and they were sent for quarantine.

The flights are being operated as a part of the government's campaign 'Vande Bharat Mission' to bring back Indians who were stranded in foreign countries due to Covid-19 lockdown.

A Health Department official said about 10 flights carrying stranded Indians are expected to land in Chennai - one or two flights daily with a total of about 400 passengers.

He said the passengers will be screened at the airport and they would be advised to be quarantined. There will be about 60 health department officials deployed at the airport.

An airport official said the passengers deboarded the plane in small batches and social distancing was maintained at all places.

Source: IANS

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By Fakir Balaji

Bengaluru, May 9 (SocialNews.XYZ) Of the 10,823 stranded Karnataka citizens who registered to return to their home state from abroad, 6,100 would fly back soon, with the first batch of 1,200 arriving next week in some six flights to Bengaluru and Mangaluru, an official said.

"As per the information we have from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi, 10,823 residents of Karnataka have registered their names and other details in the Indian embassies and consulates in the countries they have been stranded since March 23, for returning to their home state at the earliest," Additional Chief Secretary Jawaid Akhtar told IANS here.

To prevent the coronavirus spread, the Indian government suspended all domestic and international flights since March 23 and banned overseas flights into the country due to the lockdown that was extended twice till May 17.

Of the 10,823 citizens, tourists and visitors are 4,408, students 3,074, migrants and professionals 2,784 and ship crew 557.

"The MEA, however, said of the 10,823 registered, 6,100 have been assessed to return early, with the first batch of 1,200 in 4 Air India flights to Bengaluru and 2 Air India Express flights to Mangaluru next week," said Akhtar.

Of the 6,100 citizens waiting to fly back, tourists and visitors are 2,380, students 1,660, migrants and professionals 1,503 and ship crew 557.

"Though we will prepare to quarantine all the 10,823 returnees in the coming weeks for the mandatory 14 days, we are making arrangements for the stay of 6,100 also waiting to return soon, while hotel rooms have been booked for the 1,200 flying back from May 11-15," said Akhtar.

Of the 6,100 in queue to fly back, 2,575 are from the UAE, 927 from Saudi Arabia and the US, 414 from Qatar, 328 from Canada and 929 from European and other countries.

According to the civil aviation ministry sources, which is organising the state-run Air India evacuation flights under the "Vande Bharat Mission", the first flight is likely to land in Bengaluru on May 11 from London (Britain), followed by second from Singapore on May 13, Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) on May 14 and San Francisco (US) on May 15 while two flights to Mangaluru from Dubai are scheduled to land on May 12 and Doha on May 13.

"As per the standard operating procedures of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, though only asymptomatic persons will be allowed to fly back, they will be screened on arrival at the airport for Covid symptoms and sent to hotels of their choice if they test negative and will be tested thrice during their 14-day quarantine period," asserted Akhtar.

The state tourism department has negotiated with the star hotels in the city for concessional room tariff per day to quarantine the returnees who will pay for their 14-day stay. Guest houses and hostels are also kept ready as a stand-by.

"All returnees have to download the 'Arogya Setu App', 'Quarantine Watch App' and 'Apthamitra App' in their mobile phones and fill their details as specified and sought. They will also be stamped on the back of their left palm for 14-day quarantine period after filling a self-declaration form," reiterated Akhtar.

The state government has also allowed mobile service operators to provide sim cards to the returnees for activating their mobile phone for local connectivity in case they don't have it in the arrival lounge of the airport terminal.

"Wearing of mask all the time, washing hands with sanitizer and maintaining 2-feet physical distance will be mandatory at the airport on landing till leaving for the hotel where they have to stay for the quarantine period," added Akhtar.

In the event of the returnees showing the virus symptoms, they will be sent to the designated Covid health care centre for 14-day treatment, followed by another 14-day self-isolation at their home when discharged on recovering.

The state government is also making arrangements to receive the ship crew at Mangaluru and Karwar seaports on the state's west coast and quarantine them after screening at the port of entry.

Mangaluru is 350km and Karwar 525km west of Bengaluru in the state.

If the returnees are residents of other cities and towns across the southern state or neighbouring states, they have to arrange own vehicle to travel after the quarantine period, keeping in view the guidelines of social distancing, wearing mask and using sanitizer during the journey and till they reach home.

Source: IANS

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By Saiyed Moziz Imam

New Delhi, May 7 (SocialNews.XYZ) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's interaction with noted economists Raghuram Rajan, the former RBI chief, and Abhijit Banerjee, the Nobel Laureate, on separate ocassion pondering over the measures taken to fight the Covid-19 pandemic discussing economic strategy going way forward was viewed by massive 7.5 crore people, the party has said.

The strategy devised by the Congress social media team has earned dividend, said sources in the party's social media team who added that there are various layers to reach out people.

Rohan Gupta who heads the Social media team of the AICC said: "Basically we have a social media setup and internal in house system we can do live leaders and supporters page this is helping us to reach all the platforms."

The party is using all live elements on social media platforms. The event of Rahul Gandhi was streamed live on Facebook, Youtube and Twitter which is also streamed on the pages of all the prominent leaders of the state.

Rohan Gupta told IANS how they have managed to reach such a huge number.

"The interaction was live streamed on 300 Twitter handles, 500 Facebook pages and 100 YouTube channels.

"For this the party had sent a circular to all states to live stream the events. The State leaders had further asked district heads to live stream the event to get maximum traction due to independent YouTube channels live streaming it.

"It is pleasant to see that lots of independent media platforms You tube channels and FB pages, Twitter handles and volunteers have used our link to go live," added Gupta.

The Congress has mapped its workers who are active on social media in each district and has put a team in place to counter the BJP-narrative.

Rohan Gupta said that the only to break the myth created by BJP was to take it through the social media route which has no boundaries. "For this we are working to fix the problem of the ground level social media worker," Gupta added.

"I think the kind of traction the party is getting that people now believe that Congress was right on the pandemic and our acceptance is growing on the issue. While the Congress is talking of reality the government is doing only lip service," said Rohan Gupta

He claimed that the Congress has surpassed the Bharatiya Janata Party in its reach on the social media handles despite BJP claiming more followers.

The party said that after the Rajan and Banerjee events got over they translated both into local languages and put small snippets to get more traction for the party. The party got good traction on the Palghar lynching and murder of Sadhus in Uttar Pradesh despite BJP going all out, said an insider.

The social media team meets everyday to devise strategy and all state heads attend the meet daily despite lockdown through video confrencing.

Rohan Gupta said that the party is totally dependent on the volunteers and no outsourcing is done. He took charge after Kannada actor Ramya quit the post.

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, May 7 (SocialNews.XYZ) National carrier Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express are all set to embark upon one of the world's largest evacuation operations on Thursday.

Accordingly, the two airlines will at different time slots operate the first 'special ferry' flights from New Delhi, Cochin and Kozhikode to Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively.

These flights under India's massive 'Vande Bharat Mission' are being organised to bring back stranded Indians from abroad.

The two airlines following the laid down Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) which were released on Tuesday have tested their pilots and crews for COVID-19.

The airlines have readied the aircraft type and taken care of all other logistical aspects to embark on this mission.

According to the schedule, which was first reported by IANS on Wednesday evening, Air India will operate the Delhi-Singapore flight on Thursday around 11 p.m. from IGI Airport.

The flight will arrive back to Delhi at 7 a.m. on Friday morning.

Similarly, Air India Express will operate Cochin-Abu Dhabi-Cochin and Kozhikode-Dubai-Kozhikode services.

These will be the first in the 64 ferry services which will be operated by the two airlines from May 7-13.

Besides one-way ferry service, Air India invited passengers, who qualify under the government's new international travel norms to apply for passage from India to various destinations the airline will send its aircraft to conduct evacuation flights.

The development comes as India will commence one of the world's largest air evacuation operations from May 7, when the two airlines will start the first phase of the mission.

As per plans, these two airlines will operate 64 flights in seven days to bring back 14,800 stranded Indians from 12 countries.

Overall, more than 190,000 Indian nationals, who would have to pay a one-way ferry service charge, are expected to be brought back in the airlift operation.

In comparison, three decades ago, Air India led a group of airlines which included Indian Airlines and Aeroflot as well as IAF to rescue an estimated 111,711 Indians from the Gulf, after Iraq invaded Kuwait in the year 1990.

The 59-day operation involved 488 flights and was conducted before the first Gulf war. This time, the exercise will encompass flights to the US in the West to Philippines in the East.

As per the plan, 10 flights will be operated to the UAE to bring Indians from May 7-13, while seven will be sent to the US, seven to Malaysia and five to Saudi Arabia, amongst others.

Lately, despite its precarious financial position, the flag carrier has emerged as one of the few airlines in the world that have evacuated more than 9,000 passengers during the COVID-19 crisis.

The airline to date has carried out massive flight operations to China, Japan and Europe to bring back stranded Indians, mostly students and pilgrims.

Additionally, the airline has been instrumental in repatriating foreigners to Israel, UK and Germany. Moreover, Air India and its subsidiary Alliance Air has reached every corner of the country to supply essential medical equipment.

Source: IANS

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Agra, May 6 (SocialNews.XYZ) The toe of a 40-year-old cancer patient, was nibbled off by a rat at the SN Medical College in Agra.

The patient, Sakshi Khandelwal had been in 'agonizing' pain since the past four days and on Tuesday, when her husband pulled off her blanket, he found her left foot in a pool of blood. Part of the toe missing.

Husband Indra Khandelwal, told reporters: "Her sample was collected for testing of Covid-19. The report was negative. No doctor came to attend to my wife and no radiotherapy was given to her.

"After four days of admission, staffers just provided oxygen support to my wife when she was having difficulty in breathing. When I found that her toe had been bitten off by rats, the hospital did not even provide first aid. I had to go out and buy a bandage and ointment."

A video showing bleeding foot of the woman, and her husband's desperate calls for help went viral on Tuesday afternoon.

Later, Sakshi, in spite of her poor health, was 'forcibly' discharged from the hospital.

The Khandelwals, who are residents of Loha Mandi area, said that the patient was discharged instead of being treated.

Sakshi was diagnosed with cancer in June 2019. She was getting treatment from a cancer specialist in New Agra area but the facility was closed due to the ongoing lockdown.

On April 28, when her health deteriorated, the family members took her to SN Medical College.

District Magistrate Prabhu N. Singh said, "I have seen the video of the patient and her husband. I am inquiring about it from the SN Medical College administration. Suitable action will be taken against the guilty and the patient will be provided required treatment."

The medical college administration remained unavailable for comment.

Source: IANS

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Bhopal, May 5 (SocialNews.XYZ) With tipplers were eagerly awaiting the word, the Madhya Pradesh, the state government announced its decision to reopen the liquor and hemp (Bhang) vends in 49 out of 52 districts from Tuesday. The excise revenue is very a key factor for the government's keenness to order reopening of the shops.

"The liquor and hemp shops won't re-open in Bhopal, Indore and Ujjain falling under the red zone from Tuesday till further orders," a government release said.

Considering what happened to the states like Delhi and Chhattisgarh which witnessed chaotic scenes, the government was expected to rethink on the issue.

However, it is the liquor retail contractors who are likely to move the state high court on Tuesday to oppose the government order, fearing heavy losses they will incur if the vends were opened under the fresh terms laid down post-lockdown.

The contractors who have invested high amounts for vending licenses will not be able to recover even a fraction in the present stipulations. Before the start of the lockdown, they could keep the shops open for more than 12 hours.

"We are opposed to the reopening of the liquor shops now as it would cause heavy losses to us. The sale will be high for initial two or three days.... after that it will nosedive due to the lock down," a liquor retailer said.

"We met state government officials to give suggestions regarding re-opening of liquor shops during pre-lunch session in Bhopal but by then the authorities had already passed an order clearing the way for resumption of sale from tomorrow," he said.

The sale would be minimal given that the bars and other drinking vends are closed, the liquor vendors believe. "We will be required to pay the license fee of our annual contract. It is hard to recover the license fee under such economic slowdown," the retailer said.

In other red zones of Jabalpur, Dhar, Barwani, Khandwa, Dewas and Gwalior, the liquor and hemp shops will re-open outside the urban limits of the district headquarters, the government said.

Shops in the orange zone districts of Khargone, Raisen, Hoshangabad, Ratlam, Agar-Malwa, Mandsaur, Sagar, Shajapur, Chhindwara, Alirajpur, Tikamgarh, Shahdol, Sheopur, Dindori, Burhanpur, Harda, Betul, Vidisha, Morena and Rewa will reopen. The shops will remain closed in the containment areas of these districts.

It said that all liquor shops will reopen in the green zone of the state from Tuesday.

All the licensees (liquor contractors) have been asked to observe the standard operating procedure (SPO). The authorities will announce the timings in their respective districts.

Source: IANS

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New Delhi, May 3 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Sunday conducted flypast across India and its jets as well as transport planes and choppers showered petals on hospitals and places of national importance to express honour and gratitude towards the coronavirus warriors who are battling the pandemic.

It was part of the nationwide thanksgiving effort by the armed forces to honour doctors, paramedics, sanitation staff, police and other frontline workers battling coronavirus in the country.

The IAF choppers and jets, including MiG-29, Sukhoi-30 and Jaguar, conducted flypasts and Army bands played patriotic tunes outside medical buildings in most districts across the country from east to west and north to south.

The armed forces showered petals at the Goa medical college, SNM hospital in Leh, Jaipur in Rajasthan, Rajpath and police memorial in Delhi, Sukhna lake in Chandigarh, Srinagar's Dal Lake, Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, Panchkula hospitals in Haryana and the Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences in Bhubaneswar.

In Mumbai, military aircraft dropped petals at the King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital and Kasturba Gandhi Hospital, among others. The IAF choppers showered flower petals on the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai to pay tribute to healthcare workers fighting Covid-19 pandemic.

This was the third major display of gratitude to health workers across the country, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's request to countrymen to clap, ring bells and beat utensils to support the Covid-19 warriors from their balconies, and later by people switching off their lights and lighting candles and 'diya'.

The medical fraternity and other corona warriors were seen assembled outside the COVID-19 hospitals and other government buildings putting hands on their chest to show honour to the respect to the efforts of armed forces.

The gesture of expresssing thanks started with laying of flowers by the three Service Chiefs at the police memorial in Delhi in the morning to honour police personnel deployed for enforcement of the nationwide lockdown. Sukhoi-30 MKI, MiG-29 and Jaguars, Chetak did a flypast over Rajpath and circled over Delhi and showered petals over India Gate and Red Fort.

Besides, C-130 transport aircraft followed a similar route. The aircraft flew at an approximate height of 500 meters to 1,000 meters. IAF's MI-17 V5 flew over Port Blair. The IAF fighter jets from the Western Air Command dropped petals at Delhi's Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital and Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, AIIMS, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, GTB Hospital, Loknayak Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Safdarjung Hospital, Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, Max Saket, Rohini Hospital, Apollo Indraprastha Hospital and Army Hospital Research and Referral.

The gesture of gratitude was expressed at a time when 1,301 people have died and nearly 40,000 are infected with the deadly novel coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic across the country. South Western Air Command aircraft showered petals at Doon Hospital, AIIMS Rishikesh, Government Hospital Saharanpur in Dehradun; BJ Medical college in Ahmedabad, GMERS Civil Hospital Gandhinagar and MH Ahmedabad; Central Air Command choppers showered petals at BHU Trauma Centre and Deen Dayal Hospital in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh; IGI in Patna (Bihar), KGMC in Lucknow; Chirayu Hospital and AIIMS in Madhya Pradesh.

Rose petals were showered by the aircraft of Eastern Air Command in Dispur, Itanagar, Shillong and Kolkata hospitals that include M.M. Chaudhary Hospital and Guwahati Medical College, Tomo Riba Institute of Health and Medical Science, Civil Hospital Shillong, and ID & BG hospital Kolkata.

The petals were showered at Jalmahal in Rajasthan, Bada Talab in Madhya Pradesh, Hussain Sagar in Hyderabad, Vidhan Soudha in Karnataka; Vivekananda Rock and Secretariat in Kerala, and Sulur in Tamil Nadu.

Indian Navy personnel at INS Hansa in Goa expressed their appreciation by forming a 'human chain' and thanked the corona warriors in their unwavering commitment to fighting against the dreaded disease.

INS Jalashwa in Bay of Bengal saluted the COVID-19 warriors. Senior Indian Naval officers visited and thanked the Kasturba Gandhi Hospital at Mumbai. Navy Helicopter Chetak also carried out a flypast with showers in the petals over Kasturba Gandhi Hospital and Ashwini Naval hospital Colaba in Mumbai.

The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) also actively took part in the 'India Thanks COVID-19 Warriors' initiative by illuminating ships and showering petals at hospitals treating Corona patients.

In addition, ICG 10 helicopters showered petals on COVID-19 hospitals at five locations in Daman, Mumbai, Goa, Chennai, Port Blair where total of 46 ships will appreciate appreciate the efforts of the COVID-19 warriors by illuminating the ships in the evening around 7 p.m. at 25 locations covering the entire coastline of the country including the remote sites and island territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Lakshadweep and Minicoy islands.

Source: IANS

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By Anand Singh

Hyderabad/New Delhi, May 1 (SocialNews.XYZ) Almost 40 days after the passenger train services were suspended in a bid to combat the spread of novel coronavirus (Covid-19), the Indian Railways deployed the first special train on Friday to ferry stranded migrants from Telangana to Jharkhand.

The move on May Day done in near complete secrecy after the Bandra episode earlier this month and the Anand Vihar mismanagement around the onset of the Covid-19 crisis in the country, was hugely appreciated by people as the news broke and initial videos of the early morning train leaving the Lingampalli station appeared on social media.

Comprising mostly of migrant workers from the IIT-Hyderabad campus among others, the crowd that was sent home after more than a month was seen off by policemen, government officials, managers of companies as the train rolled off the platform at dawn.

Officials in Telangana claimed that the development to run the special train came in the wake of protests on Wednesday by hundreds of migrant workers at IIT in Hyderabad campus, who had allegedly not received payment but were being asked to resume work.

The services of special train comes two days after the central government allowed movement of those stranded, but in buses only. The workers reached the station in designated buses during the night and were then provided with food as social distancing was maintained through out the operation.

According to the railway officials, it is a non-stop train that has been operated as a "one-off" service on Friday morning. The train left the Lingampalli station at 5 a.m. It will reach Hatia in Jharkhand around 11 p.m.

The decision to run a special train came after a meeting between Home and Railways ministries late on Thursday.

Speaking to IANS, Railway Protection Force (RPF) Director General Arun Kumar said the train has 24 coaches and in every coach 54 people are there. He said that the migrants have been provided food, water by the railways. RPF personnel deployed on board will maintain the social distancing norms.

According to officials in Jharkhand, the state government has made adequate arrangements for the testing and quarantine of the migrants returning to the state from the special non-stop train.

The Railway Ministry in a statement said all necessary precautions such as prior screening of passengers, maintaining social distancing at station and in the train were followed.

"This was only a one-off special train and any further trains shall be planned only as per the directions of Ministry of Railways and on request from both the originating and destination state governments," it added.

Following the government's announcement, many states demanded train services to ferry the migrants stranded in their states as well.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren had also spoke to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal about running the special train.

On Thursday, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi in a tweet said, "I appeal GOI (government of India) to allow special trains to bring migrants from distant places."

The railways have suspended the passenger, mail and express train services in a bid to combat the spread of Covid-19. Only freight and special parcel trains were running to ensure the supply.of essential items across the country.

The Centre also allowed special trains for Indian Army personnel, citing national security consideration. Military specials trains have been deployed since April 17.

Last month, hundreds of migrants reached Bandra terminus railway station in Mumbai after rumour was spread that train services were resumed.

(Anand Singh can be contacted at anand.s@ians.in)

Source: IANS

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He called someone over phone and said, "Call this constable to the bungalow and tell me who I am."

There was an uproar as the video of the entire episode went viral on social media.

In the evening, former minister Pradyuman Singh Tomar took his son to the same place and apologized to the policemen and got a red cross receipt of Rs 100.

The former minister's son has returned from the US during the ongoing lock-down. Pradumna Singh was among the supporters of former union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia who deserted the Congress and joined the BJP.

Pradyumna is expected to contest a by-election to sustain his political career.

Ripudaman, alias Sagar also apologized and admitted his mistake. He said that "I apologize to those who have suffered because of me. I pledge to work with patience and understanding. Will follow the law in future".

Source: IANS

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New Delhi/Port Blair, April 29 (SocialNews.XYZ) Four people, including a government official and journalist, were arrested for spreading false information and instigating mistrust about the protocols followed by the administration on social media in the last one week in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Dependra Pathak, Director General of Police (DGP), Andaman and Nicobar Islands, told IANS, "Spreading false information or mistrust about the protocols followed by the administration will defeat/frustrate the efforts of contact tracing endangering the COVID containment process and hence the very life of citizens at large."

The officer said that any false information will defeat the lockdown and social distancing and may lead to mass protests in the territory. He stressed that he would not allow any person to derail the process of containing the Covid spread.

He issued stern instructions that legal action against mischief mongers should be immediately taken upon.

"Whoever came to notice during the due process of administrative and policing scrutiny, due legal action has been taken to nip the danger/apprehension in bud. The legal action taken so far has only been to prevent gullible people getting into disruptions creating law and order problem or communal situation or frustrate the medical and health protocols leading to severe spread of COVID 19 and threat to Island resident's life," he said.

After a media person was arrested, allegations were levelled against the local police of violating right to speech and expression. Citing allegations as baseless, he said that no deliberate or targeted action against any group or community to curtail their civil liberties and Covid is about life and death and not to create or facilitate or assess stories.

"The specific mention of self-styled media person (who is not registered even) is being made to give it a colour of violation of the right to speech and expression and a misplaced narrative that they have been specifically targeted. Law is community, profession and gender neutral. It has to take its own course," Pathak said.

In Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the first legal action was taken against wife of one fire department staff. "On a secret information received by Station House Officer Aberdeen about circulation of communally objectionable and instigating breach of peace message in a WhatsApp group "Mannarghat Gram Panchayat," said another senior IPS officer.

The objectionable message was forwarded by Mehrose, wife of fire service officials posted at Chatham. It was examined and a case was registered and later she was arrested and produced in the court where she was granted bail.

Further probe revealed that message was forwarded by two other persons Nasreem and she got the message from Sabina. Both have deleted their messages, however their mobile phones have been seized and legal action has been initiated.

Second legal action was taken against Mohammad Yunus, a government servant, for posting communally sensitive and instigating tweet to disrupt public harmony. He was arrested and released on bail. "This message again had the potential of spreading disaffection in the community at large which may have led to immediate or long-term law and order issues," the officer explained.

The third action was taken on account of another mischievous tweet by Uttam, son of a Police constable, for posting communally sensitive tweet. "This tweet was malicious and was insinuating towards spread of Covid by a particular community," the officer explained.

"On April 27, legal action has been taken against Zubair Ahmed, a self-styled journalist who is not a registered media person for posting the inciting, false and instigating tweet having potential to disrupt public harmony, violating government order and to create panic among public," said the officer, adding that the accused was arrested and produced before court today.

Further, apart from the tweet, information about his informal efforts to dissuade corona virus positives and quarantined contacts not to reveal details to administration came up. The officer said that his act was to jeopardise the very effort of isolating the correct suspects and contain the pandemic from spreading.

The accused is a resident of Bambooflat area, most of which is declared a containment area after several cases emerged from there.

"Extensive contact tracing exercise is underway in the area currently. However, such messages instigate creating distrust among public for the well-established and universal health and contact-tracing protocols, thus motivating people to conceal correct information, falsify their statements, do not cooperate and/or protest against medical protocols and even break the lockdown and gather in large numbers publicly," said the officer.

He added that in these testing times, Andaman and Nicobar administration had been totally impartial with focused approach only on containing the pandemic.

Source: IANS

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Lucknow, April 29 (SocialNews.XYZ) Afzal Ansari, Member of Parliament from Ghazipur has written a letter to the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court highlighting the prohibitory order banning 'azaan' by the district magistrate. 'Azaan' alerts people about the time of prayer, especially 'sehri' and 'iftar'.

He urged the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court to protect the fundamental rights of the people of his constituency and direct that 'azaan' may be allowed since it involves only one person ('Moazzin')

The Samajwadi Party MP, who is in Delhi since lockdown, said in his letter that the people in his constituency have been diligently following the lockdown rules and Ramzan prayers were being held in the confines of their homes.

"As per guidelines issued by the government, the prayers and gathering at mosque or any other religious place were/are prohibited and was/is accepted by everyone," he wrote.

The MP said that from April 24, "azaan" in mosques have been prohibited by the Ghazipur administration.

"When people asked for a written order, if any, the police said that they have only received a verbal order from the district magistrate and if anyone dared to make 'azaan' from the mosque, he would be booked under National Security Act. Several FIRs have been registered against some Imams of mosques without any rhyme or reason," he stated.

The SP MP further wrote that he had made efforts to contact the local administration but got no response.

Source: IANS

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Varanasi, April 29 (SocialNews.XYZ) Twenty-eight Nepalis have been detained and quarantined in Sarnath while they were found walking along the railway tracks. The group included one woman.

Station House officer (SHO) Vijay Bahadur Singh said that the group was walking along the railway track from Sasaram in Bihar and were trying to reach Gorakhpur.

One of those detained, Basant Kumar, told reporters that they were working in a fertilizer unit and had been turned out of their houses by the landlord because they could not pay the rent.

The members of the group are residents of Bhojpur, Sirha, Rothar, Singhvi, Kotang and Bada districts in Nepal.

The SHO said that the group would remain at the quarantine center for 14 days after which they would be allowed to move to their destination if the lockdown is lifted by then.

Source: IANS

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Srinagar, April 27 (SocialNews.XYZ) Authorities on Monday started a house-to-house health survey in Srinagar district in J&K for better planning and response towards the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic.

The exercise is going to be a huge and ambitious task given the fact that Srinagar city has a population of more than 12.5 lakh.

Shahid Iqbal Chaudhary, Srinagar DM, confirmed this. The DM said the house-to-house audit was indispensable for better planning and response to COVID-19.

The DM has appealed to the residents of Srinagar to cooperate with the visiting teams for accurate health data adding there had been some reports of non-cooperation from households.

Source: IANS

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By Sujit Chakraborty

Guwahati, April 21 (SocialNews.XYZ) Amid the nationwide lockdown, a 45-years-old migrant worker from Gujarat reached his home in Assam in 24-days after a 2,890-km trip, of which he had to walk about 1,500 km.

Jadav Gogoi, who was working as a security guard in Gujarat's Rajkot city, was admitted at the civil hospital at the Nagaon district headquarters for mandatory quarantine for nCoV.

He was rescued by the locals and police at Ahotguri, 35-km from the district headquarters, on Sunday evening.

Doctors attending to Gogoi said that besides obligatory quarantine formalities, he needed other medical treatments as he was physically exhausted apart from other ailments for walking thousand of kolometres without sufficient food and other precautions.

According to the man's family and villagers, when the lockdown started on March 25, Gogoi left Gujarat with his three colleagues from Bihar in an Uttar Pradesh-bound goods-ladden truck.

From Uttar Pradesh, Gogoi and his three companions started walking for Bihar on March 27.

"The exact distance and names of places he walked could not be ascertained because Jadav, who is not comfortable in reading and speaking Hindi, also could not distinguish where he had alighted in Uttar Pradesh.

"Guided by his three colleagues, Gogoi walked till Bihar where the others stayed back," Asom Jatiatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) leader Dibyajit Hazarika told IANS on phone.

The distance by road from Lucknow to Nagaon in central Assam is around 1,500 km.

For Gogoi, the last leg of his journey on foot across Bihar was the most strenuous one. From Bihar, he alone had to walk the remaining stretch of around 1,000 km.

Hazarika said that Gogoi was in a hurry to reach home and did not even take a day's rest when his colleagues stayed back in Bihar.

According to the AJYCP leader, right from the begining, he survived on biscuits and unhygienic water as roadside hotels, food stalls and other eateries had been shut because of the lockdown. Besides, he did not have money as he was robbed of the Rs 4,000 he carried and other valuables including mobile phone on the way.

Gogoi's wife Puspalata told the local media: "He (Gogoi) was working in Gujarat for the past nine months. He had told me that he would come back home permanently on Bohag Bihu and start farming in the village. When the lockdown was announced, he feared we would suffer in his absence and that forced him to come back home on foot."

Ranjit Phukan, a neighbour of Gogoi, told the media, "From March 27 till Sunday, Jadav called me several times from his own mobile and subsequently from others' moble (after he was robbed), but I was not able to lend any real help to him except to give some suggestions during his walkathon."

The Assam government on Monday launched the "Assam Cares" app to provide financial aid to thousands of Assamese stranded in various states due to the lockdown.

Assam's Finance and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said through phones and online platforms, over 4.25 lakh Assamese stranded in other states had been contacted. "We have provided a one-time ex gratia of Rs 2,000 to 86,000 of the 4.25 lakh people.

Another instalment would also be considered during the lockdown," he said.

He said over 68,000 Assamese were stuck in Karnataka, 36,000 in Tamil Nadu, 34,000 in Kerala, 21,000 in Maharashtra and the rest in other states.

"Through the process of providing financial aid, the government will be able to create database of the stranded people. It will help the state locate them on return to the state after the end of lockdown," the Assam Minister said.

According to officials of six other northeastern states (excluding Assam), over 15,000 people including migrant workers of the northeastern region are stranded in different states of the country due to the lockdown.

Source: IANS

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Lucknow, April 17 (SocialNews.XYZ) The Mango Growers Association of India (MGAI) has appealed to the Uttar Pradesh government to provide transportation facilities to mango growers in the 18 odd mango belts in the state.

In a letter sent to UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, MGAI President Insram Ali has said that the mango crop is ripening and certain facilities are needed to ensure that the crop is not adversely affected.

Talking to IANS, Insram Ali said that 24-hour power and water supply must be ensured in the mango cultivation areas where the crop is in the final stages of ripening.

"We have requested the government to purchase mango directly form the growers just like the direct purchases are being ensured or wheat, potato and other crops. Mango is a major fruit crop in the state and in the lockdown situation, it will be difficult for the growers to export the fruit which has a short shelf life. The government should fix a minimum support price and purchase the mango directly from the growers," he said.

Ali further asked the government to allow factories manufacturing cardboard and corrugated boxes to start functioning in order to allow packaging of mango.

"Unless these packaging boxes are made available to us, we cannot transport mango to the various districts and 'mandis'. This will lead to distress sale and mango growers will suffer huge financial losses," he said.

The MGAI, in its letter, has called upon the government to waive off interest on credit cards of mango growers and also the power bills for three months.

Insram Ali said that if train movement does not normalize by next month, special passes should be issued to mango growers to transport the fruit in trucks to various destinations in the country.

In Uttar Pradesh, mango is produced in an area of 2.5 lakh hectares. Lucknow, Pratapgarh, Allahabad, Bulandshahr, Saharanpur, Faizabad, Varanasi, Moradabad, Barabanki, Meerut, Unnao, Sitapur, Hardoi, Gorakhpur, Basti, Amroha and Mathura are mango producing belts where varieties like 'Chausa', 'Dussheri', 'Fazli', 'Langda', 'Mallika' and 'Amrapali' are produced.

Source: IANS

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Hyderabad, April 15 (SocialNews.XYZ) In the backdrop of the Bandra incident in Mumbai, the South Central Railway (SCR) has yet again clarified that there is no proposal to operate special trains for migrants stranded in the railway division that predominantly serves the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and parts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh.

The SCR clarification on Wednesday comes following reports in certain quarters that the particular zone is preparing to start services for migrant labourers in its area of operations.

Taking to Twitter on Wednesday, SCR stated: "CLARIFICATION: A communication related to internal planning of SCR to assess demand for train services is being misinterpreted in some sections as decision to run spl trains for migrant labour.

"There is NO such proposal & ALL Passenger Trains stands CANCELLED till 03.05.2020"

Late on Tuesday evening too, SCR issued a media release stating that all passenger trains remain suspended till May 3, on account of the extended lockdown due to COVID-19. However with reports emerging that special trains are being operated for migrants, SCR hastened to clarify and avert any law and order situations.

On Tuesday, large crowds of migrants had gathered at the Bandra railway station in Mumbai, following rumours of special trains being arranged to transport them to their homes in other states. The railways have been rushing to clarify that no such moves are being initiated.

Source: IANS

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BY VISHAL GULATI

Shimla, April 10 (SocialNews.XYZ) For the monkeys, it's no more business as usual in Himachal Pradesh tourist resorts, for now.

In the absence of adequate food in the populated areas of the state capital and other popular destinations when close to 8.6 billion people staying indoors following the COVID-19 clampdown, the monkeys are no more dangling there.

They have, it appears, made a tactical retreat into the woods, till their predecessors win the war against the pandemic.

Wildlife officials say without tourists on the streets in most of the resorts, monkeys entered to nearby forests for the natural vegetation to forge.

Local residents are stunned by how they moved to the outskirts of cities and towns on their own.

Old-timers say in Shimla that the city hasn't been rid of monkeys for decades. It is time to grow natural food in their habitat when the coronavirus is defeated so they could not return to the 'concrete' jungle.

Sandeep Rattan, Assistant Director with the Forest Department's wildlife wing, has been monitoring three troupes of monkey in the Jakhu residential area of Shimla for quite some time.

"With the imposition of the city lockdown, there is a shortage of foodstuff in human wastes," Rattan told IANS.

With the closure of restaurants, shops and temples and no humans on the streets, the monkeys have moved to nearby villages and forest areas where they are feeding on natural vegetation, he said.

Now only some dominant ones remain in town, wildlife veterinary surgeon Rattan said.

"We got reprieve from the marauding monkeys after a long, long time. We are praying they should not come back with the lockdown getting over," octogenarian Ramesh Sud said, while pointing towards an iron grill erected outside his home to prevent straying of monkeys.

As per the last census conducted in 2015, Himachal Pradesh has a population of 2.07 lakh monkeys.

Barring Lahaul-Spiti district and some pockets in Kinnaur district, the state is in the grip of monkey menace as they have caused crop losses worth hundreds of crores of rupees in recent years.

As the religious sentiments prevent the people from kill the monkeys, their population is multiplying and their menace has increased manifold in cities and villages.

Marauding monkeys, prowling in gangs on streets of Shimla, Kasauli, Chail, Manali and other places create panic among residents and tourists. They have been causing havoc by biting passersby and snatching food.

Pictures of monkeys drinking from abandoned coke bottles and carrying food wrappers up into the trees are common once.

Officials say on an average at least 50 monkey bite cases are being reported every month in the Rippon Hospital in Shimla alone.

In Shimla's localities like Jakhu, Tutikandi, Nabha, Phagli, Kaithu, Summer Hill, Tutu, Boileauganj, Chotta Shimla and Sanjauli, the residents have literally converted their houses into jails by erecting iron grills on the doors and windows to check the intrusion of monkeys.

Wildlife officials said over a decade-and-a-half ago monkeys were trapped from streets of Shimla and banished to the jungles -- a technique to reduce their population.

But Rattan believes the translocation has not resolved the conflict rate, conversely such translocations shifted the problem to new areas instead of resolving the issue.

Activists working for the cause of farmers have been demanding the monkeys should either be eliminated professionally by hiring hunters or lifting the ban on the export of monkeys for bio-medical research to check their rising numbers.

The central government had banned the export of wild animals in 1978.

In written reply last month, Forest Minister Govind Thakur informed the assembly apart from monkey sterilization, the state has got the monkey declared as vermin in the most affected 91 tehsils and sub-tehsils of the state and within the Shimla Municipal Corporation.

He said for designing effective strategy of mitigating damage by monkeys, the population estimation of monkeys has been carried with the help of primate specialists from the Wildlife Institute of India and the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural Historyin December 2019 and the estimation report is under preparation.

The habitat enrichment plantation scheme is being implemented across the state under which fruit bearing trees of different species are being planted in 10 adversely affected forests for providing natural food resource for the monkeys and other wild animals so that they may not come over to agricultural fields.

Also, the Shimla Municipal Corporation has been requested to adopt effective waste management practices to help managing the conflict as throwing of waste specially food items lead to increase in the commensalism in monkeys, the minister said.

Commensalism refers to increased dependence of monkeys on human food.

Himachal Pradesh has declared nine species of wild animals as crop damaging animals.

They are the rhesus monkey, wild boar, blue bull, porcupine, jackal, chittal, sambar, hare and the parrot. All of them are protected under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at vishal.g@ians.in)

Source: IANS

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By Sfoorti Mishra

New Delhi, April 8 (SocialNews.XYZ) With schools, hospitals and therapy centres closed during the 21-day nationwide lockdown in India, everyone is facing challenges but children with special and additional needs are the hardest hit.

Ten-year-old Dimpy and 6-year-old Bani, both sisters suffering from a group of disorders called cerebral palsy are finding it difficult to cope up with the new challenges that the lockdown has thrown upon them.

Having 90 percent disability, they neither can walk nor can they speak, listen or even sit properly. Since one-to-one therapy session is required in such cases, both girls are not able to go for the same. Their mother Pinky is facing the most difficult time during the lockdown.

Speaking to IANS, Pinky, said, "Life is already difficult for me with both my girls, having cerebral palsy. This lockdown has mounted the problems even more. My daughters need to remain in diapers for the entire day, therefore, I need more diapers for them than normal children. But during this lockdown its supply is interrupted. It is one of the essential commodities for my girls."

She also said, "They cannot ask even for food, if they are hungry. I have to give them food many times a day as per their routine but with limited supply of edibles in my locality, I am not able to feed them properly."

Pinky's problems do not end there. She said that she could not renew the disability certificates of the girls as the date on which it was to be renewed, fell in the lockdown period. "My husband ran from pillar to post for their various tests for the entire year. Carrying two grown up girls was not easy for him. The certificate is issued based on many tasks including I.Q. test. But when the date of renewal came, the hospital which has to issue the certificate, is closed. These girls are not getting financial help which they used to get and I have no clue when will the certificate be renewed," she said.

Pinky said that she was also facing problems in getting ration and water from the tanker that the government sends. "I cannot leave home at all because my daughters need me every minute. Therefore, I don't work also. I am facing financial difficulty as my husband is also out of work due to the lockdown. Therefore, this has posed extreme challenges for me," she said.

Abhiraj, a 4-and-a-half year old boy who is also suffering from cerebral palsy, complains to his mother about severe muscle pain as he requires special exercises owing to his physical condition. "Since the lockdown, he has not gone for therapy," his mother Preeti told IANS, adding "telemedicine in his case is also not very helpful as the exercises need to be done in person and not online or over the phone."

"My son largely depends on exercises that his therapist makes him do. It needs space but I stay in a rented one room set which is very small, he is not able to follow his routine. Therapy centres and hospitals are closed. He is not doing those body movements and complains of severe muscle pain," said Preeti.

Also, the little boy is not able to understand why he has to stay at home for the entire day. He is showing anxiety and frustration as he has to remain indoors. "It is very difficult for me to make my son stay at home all the time. He insists to take him outside. Earlier, he used to go to school where he was happy but now schools are closed. He has become very irritable and anxious," said Preeti.

She was planning to go back to her hometown in Etawah but could not go due to lockdown. "I planned to move back to my home town in Etawah, at least I would have my family members and food there. My husband is a daily wager. I have no money, as he is out of work. It's very expensive to take care of a special child. This lockdown has broken our backbone. Not a penny is coming home. I don't know how to fulfill needs of my son when I have no money at all."

Child rights activist and founder of NGO Astha which works for children with disabilities in urban slums of South Delhi, Radhika Alkazi, told IANS, "It is very important to highlight the problems these kids are facing right now. There are problems with their medication especially for those on long term medication or having chronic medical conditions like epilepsy or Thalasemia. The biggest issue is food. Most of their parents work as a daily wager in the unorganised sector. Even if there is food distribution during the lockdown, how much can one carry if there are two kids with disability in one family?"

She also added, "they are anyway isolated mostly but in this kind of lockdown when they are totally locked in the house without much physical movement, it is very difficult for them as well as for their families."

(Sfoorti Mishra can be contacted at sfoorti.m@ians.in)

Source: IANS

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Chennai, April 4 (SocialNews.XYZ) Neighbourhood grocery shops in Tamil Nadu have stocked up better to serve their customers as opposed to bigger retail chains, say residents. Brand loyalty for essential items has gone for a toss with people taking whatever is available amid the Lockdown21 enforced to fight the spread of Covid-19 pandemic.

Similarly supplies of vegetables for small traders has started to normalise with door-to-door sales getting back on tricycle wheels.

"We have an adequate stock of essential items rice, lentils, oil. The issue now is -- we have to go to the distributor to pick up the stock," said a small shopkeeper in Mylapore locality in Chennai.

A similar view was expressed by another shopkeeper.

The outlets see a steady flow of customers making their entry and exit with items.

On the other hand, bigger retail chains have limited or run out of stocks.

"Nilgiris and Amudham outlets have limited stocks. Small outlets in Royapettah are better stocked," Kalpalatha Mohan an executive in a private company told IANS.

A similar situation prevails in the textile town Coimbatore with residents getting their vegetables at their door steps and also at shops.

"The smaller shops have stocks as compared to departmental stores," D.Diwakar a resident told IANS over phone.

"The essential items are available but not biscuits and locally made snacks. Owing to the lockdown the price of sugar has gone up by about Rs 3 per kg," N.R.R.Suresh Alwar, a grocery store owner in Trichy told IANS over phone.

He said prior to the lockdown, distributors used to deliver the products at our stores and there will be a one week credit period. "Now we have to take delivery from the distributor's place for cash. There is no credit," Alwar added.

According to him, the per bill size for smaller outlets have seen a big jump as compared to normal days. "During normal days, people buy their needs daily or once in two days. But not they buy for a week. So the per bill size has increased even for small outlets," Alwar said.

The stores now get customers outside the neighbourhood as people who go in cars stop their vehicle on seeing a grocery shop open and purchase. "The shops are getting new customers. But we know they may not be regular and hence cannot increase our stock in the coming months based on this month's sales," Alwar said.

According to him, sales of maida, sugar and oil have dipped as the government has asked the tea, sweet and snacks shops to shut down.

And there is no brand loyalty now with shoppers taking what is available on the shelves in the case of bigger stores or what is given by a small shopkeeper.

Source: IANS

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