5THE HIMALAYAN MAIL JAMMU THURSDAY JULY 02, 2020

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

NEW DELHI:Mumbaipolice on Wednesday im-posed Section 144 of Codeof Criminal Procedure inthe city, prohibiting move-ment of people in publicplaces and gatherings, toprevent spread of COVID-19, an official said.

The prohibitory order, is-sued by a senior police offi-cial, says restrictions onmovement of residents fornon-essential work will re-main in force till July 15.

The order prohibits 'pres-ence or movement of one ormore persons in publicplaces or gathering of anysort', the official said.

Police have prohibitedgatherings of any sort, in-cluding at religious placessubject to stipulations, hesaid.

The order said movementof one or more persons inareas designated as con-tainment zones by the mu-nicipal authorities is pro-hibited, except for essential

activities, supply of essen-tial goods and medicalemergency.

Police have also prohib-ited movement of one ormore persons in the city be-tween 9 pm to 5 am, exceptfor medical emergencies,the official said, addingemergency services, gov-ernment and semi-govern-ment agencies and their offi-cials on duty are exempted.

Establishments providingessential services like food,vegetables, milk supply,

medical and grocery stores,hospitals, medicines,pharma and related estab-lishments are also ex-empted, the official said.

Movement of one or morepersons in the city for non-essential activities is pro-hibited between 5 am and 9pm, with exclusion of activi-ties allowed by the stategovernment and orders is-sued by competent authori-ties for the enforcement ofCOVID-19 guidelines, hesaid.

Sec 144 imposed in Mumbai tocheck rising COVID-19 cases

NEW DEHLI:Replyingto a notice sent by the Ut-tarakhand government,yoga guru Ramdev's firmclaimed that it has not pro-moted any “kit” to treatCOVID-19 but only sharedwith the media the “suc-cessful trial” of a medicine.

Patanjali Ayurved lastweek launched a drug called“Coronil”, claiming that ithad cured within a week allCOVID-19 patients whotook part in a trial con-ducted at the privately-runNational Institute of Med-ical Sciences in Jaipur.

The claim triggered a rowwith the Union AYUSHministry telling the herbalproducts firm not to sell thedrug till it has examined theissue.

Uttarakhand's Ayurvedadepartment said the firmhad only applied for a li-cence to manufacture animmunity booster, and nota cure for COVID-19.

In its reply on Monday tothe department's notice, theHaridwar-based company

appeared to backtrack fromits claim of finding a cureagainst COVID-19.

The company said it hassnot sold any product called“Corona Kit”, nor has itpublicised it as a treatmentagainst coronavirus.

But it added, "We haveonly promoted the success-ful trial of the medicine be-fore the media."

The company said it hadonly packed medicinesnamed Divya Swasari Vati,Divya Coronil tablet and Di-vya Anu Tel in a carton for“shipping purposes”.

It claimed that it has notviolated any law and thequestion of action against itdoes not arise.

Apparently focusing onthe term used in the Ut-tarakhand notice, the firmsaid it has not produced anymedicine called “CoronaKit”.

It said the notice it gotwas the result of “misrepre-sentation of facts” by themedia.

The UttarakhandAyurvedic department onTuesday said it is studyingthe reply sent by DivyaPharmacy, a wing of Patan-jali Ayurved Ltd.

A drug inspector was sentfor physical verification tothe Haridwar-based com-pany after the reply was re-ceived on Monday and nocoronavirus kit was foundon the premises, Uttarak-hand's Ayurvedic depart-ment licensing officer Y SRawat said.

When asked whether hewas satisfied with the reply,Rawat said, "Everyone hasseen the yoga guru claimingthe product as a cure forcorona and the reply needsto be examined further.”

Patanjali takes u-turn, says neverclaimed Coronil can cure Covid

NEW DELHI:PakistanPrime Minister Imran Khanhas decided to extend hissupport to Nepal PM KPSharma Oli who is findinghimself increasingly iso-lated within the rulingNepal Communist Party af-ter blaming India for a re-bellion in his party, peoplefamiliar with the develop-ment told Hindustan Times.

PM Oli had on Sunday ac-cused his detractors of try-ing to push him out ofpower, accusing India andpoliticians in Nepal of beinginvolved in a conspiracy totopple him for publishingthe country’s new map thatdepicts Lipulekh, Kalapani,and Limpiyadhura as part ofNepalese territory.

This accusation, however,appeared on Tuesday tohave backfired on PM Oli af-ter rival leaders such asPushpa Kamal Dahal“Prachanda” demandedthat he quit his leadershiprole in the party and govern-ment. They had earliergiven him an option to re-tain one of the two posts.

Imran Khan’s outreach toPM Oli comes at a timewhen he is struggling to stayin power.

Officials told HT that Is-lamabad had sent a formalcommunication to the

Nepalese foreign ministry tofix a time for Imran Khan’sphone call to PM Oli.

Imran Khan has proposeda 12 noon phone call onThursday (12.45 pm NepalTime, 12.30 pm IST).

Diplomatic sources said itis obvious that the flavour ofthe conversation is going tobe India.

Imran Khan’s Pakistanhas accused India of engi-neering the terrorist attackat the Pakistan Stock Ex-change in Karachi while PMOli has been accusing Indiaof destablising his govern-ment.

The phone call comes at atime Xi Jinping’s China isengaged in a standoff withIndia over Ladakh. The twoprime ministers also owe ahuge debt to China for pro-jects that critics say, largelyserve Beijing’s interests.“China is their common

link,” a Kathmandu watchersaid.

On the domestic front,PM Oli’s move to come outwith a redraw his country’spolitical map and whip upultra-nationalistic senti-ments was an attempt toconsolidate his supportwithin the party. PM Olitried to use it to the hilt thisweekend, imputing motivesto his rivals who want to seehis back.

Prachanda and Oli are co-chairs of Nepal’s commu-nist party. Oli is, however,seen to lean a little too heav-ily towards China and hasmanaged to hold on to thePM’s post due to Beijing’sintervention in the past.

PM Oli’s hard push to re-draw the Himalayan na-tion’s political map to createa dispute with New Delhiwas also timed to serveChina’s interests.

Imran Khan to join Xi Jinping to shoreup Nepal’s PM Oli against India

NEW DELHI:India willnot allow Chinese companiesto participate in highway pro-jects, including those throughjoint ventures, Union ministerNitin Gadkari said onWednesday.Gadakri alsosaid the government will en-sure that Chinese investorsare not entertained in varioussectors like Micro, Small andMedium Enterprises(MSMEs).

“We will not give permis-sion to joint ventures thathave Chinese partners forroad construction. We havetaken a firm stand that if they(Chinese companies) comevia joint venture in our coun-try, we will not allow it,” Gad-kari told news agencyPTI.The minister also saidthat a policy will be out soonbanning Chinese firms andrelaxing norms for Indiancompanies to expand their el-igibility criteria for participa-tion in highway projects.

The minister said while for-eign investment and joint

ventures in MSMEs will beencouraged, the Chineseshall not be entertained. Hedescribed the move as a steptoward achieving PM Modi’svision of a “self-reliant India”or Atmanirbhar Bharat.Inthe backdrop of the ongoingborder standoff with China,India on Monday banned 59apps, mostly Chinese, citingthreats to national security.

Union minister RaviShankar Prasad on Wednes-day also hailed the govern-ment’s move to ban Chinesemobile apps and described itas an opportunity for Indiansto come up with apps of theirown and put an end to depen-dence on other nations fortechnology-related tools.

“In the wake of the banwhich we have imposed...Ithink it is a great opportunity.Can we come up with goodapps made by Indians? Letthe dependence on foreignapps, with their own agendafor a variety of reasons, stop,”Prasad said.

‘Won’t allow Chinesecompanies to participate inhighway projects’: Gadkari

NEW DELHI:TheBahuda Yatra signifying thereturn of the holy trinity ofLord Jagannath and his sib-lings to the 12th century Ja-gannath temple in Puri be-gan Wednesday morningwith servitors pulling thechariots back from theGundicha temple.

There were no devotees inline with a Supreme Courtorder in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. On June 23too, the Rath Yatra tookplace without any devotees.

After the morning ritualsat Gundicha temple, thethree deities set off for themain temple atop their re-spective chariots. Lord Bal-abhadra, the eldest was thefirst to set off in his red-bluish green coloured char-iot Taladhwaja, followed byGoddess Subhadra in red-black chariot Darpadalana.Lord Jagannath was the lastto start in his red-yellowchariot Nandighosha.

The ritual of chhera pa-

hanra (sweeping) was per-formed by Puri king Gajap-ati Dibyasingha Deb onthree chariots between10.30 am and 11.15 am. Thepulling of chariots started at11.25 am, ahead of a sched-ule fixed by the Sri Jagan-nath temple administra-tion. The entire process isbeing telecast live by Door-darshan as well as state gov-ernment’s own agencies.

Sri Jagannath templechief administrator Dr Kr-ishan Kumar said all the rit-uals of the festival till nowhave been completed ontime.

This was also the firsttime in 285 years when theBahuda Yatra like the RathYatra was held without thepresence of a single devotee.

The Rath Yatra was ear-lier stalled following SC or-der on June 18. However,following interventions byseveral individuals includ-ing the head priest of thetemple, the apex court had

allowed the Rath Yatra onthe condition that there isno public attendance and allentry points into Puri willremain closed. It also saideach of 3 chariots, would bepulled by not more than500 people who test nega-tive for coronavirus.

Though around 2,000servitors were tested aheadof the Rath Yatra on June23, over 5,500 persons in-cluding servitors, police,staff of temple administra-tion and sanitary staff wereagain tested for the BahudaYatra two days ago. Out ofthem 12 including a servitortested positive for coron-avirus.

“The persons who testedpositive have been isolatedand their contact tracing ison. All the servitors whotook part in today’s BahudaYatra had tested negativefor Covid,” said Puri districtcollector Balwant Singh.

After arriving at Simhad-war, the main gate of the Ja-gannath temple, the threedeities will be draped inSunabesha (golden attire)on Thursday.

Adharpana ritual, whichwitnesses serving 100 litresof pana (sweet drink) to thedeities in specially madeterracotta pots, will be heldon Friday. On Saturday, thethree deities would be takenback to the main temple ina ritual called Niladri Bije.

Chariots of Lord Jagannath and siblingsreturn to main temple without devotees

NEW DELHI:AndhraPradesh (AP) government onWednesday acquired a fleetof 1,088 state-of-the-art am-bulances, which will serve asmobile clinics in both ruraland urban areas, at an esti-mated cost of Rs 201 crore.

AP Chief Minister YS Ja-gan Mohan Reddy, whoflagged off the ambulances inVijayawada, asserted that hisgovernment was committedto revamping the medical in-frastructure in the state.

The new ambulances willoperate with two separatetoll-free numbers – 104 and108.

While ambulances withtoll-free number 104 will runas emergency services inrural areas, 108 will be for theurban parts of the state.

Of these new ambulances,412 and 676 have been di-vided for urban and rural ar-eas, respectively.

The ambulances will run asmobile clinics with advancedlife support systems. The am-bulances include 26 vehiclesthat will be used exclusivelyfor neo-natal servicesequipped with incubatorsand other essential facilitiesfor babies born with compli-cations.

The CM said 676 ambu-lances would serve as MobileMedical Units (MMUs),which would provide 20types of medical services, in-cluding all screening for com-municable and non-commu-nicable diseases (NCDs).

Altogether, 744 doctorswould be made available forthese services and they wouldvisit a village once a month tooffer medical services, headded.

Besides oxygen cylinders,

these new ambulances wouldhave ventillators, infusionpumps, syringe pumps, andcomfortable stretchers be-sides provisions for deliveryof babies. The vehicles arealso enabled with surveil-lance cameras to ensureproper healthcare monitor-ing by doctors, he said.

The CM also announced ahike in the monthly salariesof ambulance drivers from Rs18,000 to Rs 28,000 and am-bulance technicians from Rs20,000 to Rs 30,000.

Special chief secretary(medical and health) KSJawahar Reddy said the am-bulances would be attachedto the primary healthcarecentres in all the revenueblocks for the deployment ofdoctors on call.

“This would help peopleknow doctors they shouldcontact in emergencies anddoctors, too, would have anunderstanding of the healthprofile of the villagers in gen-eral and families in particu-lar. The government is in theprocess of preparing digitalfamily health profiles,” hesaid.

The estimated time of ar-rival of these emergency ve-hicles to the spot from thetime of receiving an emer-gency call is expected to be 15minutes in urban areas, 20minutes in rural areas, and 25minutes in the remote tribalareas of the state.

A new programme, Dr YSRRahadari Bhadratha, is alsobeing linked to the urban ser-vice, where any road accidentpatient will be treated free ofcost in any hospital across thestate for the first 48 hoursand up to a maximum expen-diture of Rs 50,000.

AP acquires 1,088 state-of-the-artmobile clinics to provide

emergency medicare to patients

NEW DELHI:TheUnited Arab Emirates isseeking to verify the creden-tials of the Pakistani pilotsand engineers employed inits airlines after the SouthAsian governmentgrounded 262 pilots forholding “dubious” qualifica-tions.

Pakistan grounded the pi-lots on June 26 on suspicionthat they allegedly falsifiedtheir examinations to qualifyfor flying aircraft, leading tothem having licenses thecountry’s aviation ministertermed “dubious.

A total of 262 of the coun-try’s 860 pilots were af-fected, including 141 of na-tional carrier PakistanInternational Airline’s(PIA) pilots.

The Director General of

the UAE’s General Civil Avi-ation Authority Saif Mo-hammed Al Suwaidi re-quested the verification ofthe credentials of Pakistanipilots, aircraft maintenanceengineers, and flight opera-tions officers working in theMiddle Eastern country in aJune 29 letter reviewed byReuters to the DirectorGeneral of the PakistanCivil Aviation AuthorityHassan Nasir Jamy.

“We would like to requestyour good offices to verifythe licensing credentials ofthe attached pilots list whoare currently holding UAE’spilots licences based on li-cences and qualifications is-sued by Pakistan Civil Avia-tion Authority,” the lettersaid.

Pakistan’s aviation min-

istry did not respond to a re-quest for comment.

The European Union AirSafety Agency (EASA) onTuesday suspended PIA’sauthorisation to fly to thebloc for six months becauseof the licensing concerns.

In a statement onWednesday, the PakistanAirlines Pilots Association(PALPA), the union forPIA’s pilots, alleges the an-nouncement of the “dubi-ous” license holders was aplanned government moveagainst the pilots to cut theirheadcount.

“The malicious efforts ofsome at the helm of affairswith a mindset to cut the pi-lots down to size has re-sulted in PIA being reducedto an airline on paper,” theunion said.

UAE seeks to verify credentials ofPakistani pilots in its airlines

NEW DELHI:Extendingthe post-study work visa of-fer from two to three yearsfor those completing PhDfrom 2021 and setting up adedicated Office for Talentin No 10, Downing Street,are among a range of initia-tives announced by the BorisJohnson government onWednesday.

Keen to attract global tal-ent after the Brexit transi-tion period ends on Decem-ber 31, the cross-departmentOffice for Talent will help cutunnecessary red-tape in theUK’s visa system for scien-tists, students, researchersand entrepreneurs. EU andnon-EU citizens will be

treated at par for visa pur-poses from January 1.

Under the revived post-study work arrangement,Indian and other interna-tional students will be ableto stay in the UK for twoyears after completing stud-ies in 2021, but those at PhDlevel will be able to stay onfor three years, officials said.

The Office for Talent, theyadded, begins work immedi-ately to review the effective-ness of the current rules andensure excellent customerservice across the immigra-tion system, so that it is sim-ple, easy, and quick. It willalso help those coming to theUK better understand the

opportunities on offer andbreak down any barriersthey might face.

The government alsoplans to improve the newpoints-based immigrationsystem when it is imple-mented later this year, in-cluding extending the win-dow in which prospectivestudents can make visa ap-plications, removing studytime limits at postgraduatelevel and allowing all stu-dents to switch any othertype of visa from within theUK.

The initiatives, outlined inthe government’s Researchand Development Roadmapby business secretary Alok

Sharma, is aimed at creatingthe conditions for ground-breaking research, attract-ing global talent, and cuttingunnecessary red tape.

Sharma said: “The UK hasa strong history of turningnew ideas into revolutionarytechnologies – from peni-cillin to graphene and theworld wide web. Our visionbuilds on these incrediblesuccesses to cementBritain’s reputation as aglobal science superpower”.

“The R&D Roadmap setsout our plan to attract globaltalent, cut unnecessary redtape and ensure our bestminds get the support theyneed to solve the biggest

challenges of our time”.The initiatives include

funding, international col-laboration and an innova-tion fellowship programmesponsored by the primeminister’s office.

Science minister AmandaSolloway said: “Coronavirushas shown us the agility, cre-ativity and innovative think-ing of our world-leading in-stitutions, scientists andresearchers to tackle this dis-ease and save people’s lives.We want to harness this ex-pertise to rejuvenate scienceand research across the UK,building a future that isgreener, safer and health-ier”.

UK beckons scientists, students with bettervisa offer, new office for talent