Upload
others
View
0
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
THE HINDU CHENNAI
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2019 9EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
CMYK
M CH-CHE
NATION
Weather WatchRainfall, temperature & air quality in select metros yesterday
Temperature Data: IMD, Pollution Data: CPCB, Map: INSAT/IMD (Taken at 18.00 Hrs)
Forecast for Wednesday: Heavy to very heavy rainfall likely overcoastal Karnataka, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Konkan &Goa, Telangana, Rayalaseema, interior Karnataka, Kerala & Mahe,Chhattisgarh, central Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry andKaraikal.
city rain max min city rain max min
Agartala............. 7.6....33.0....24.0 Kozhikode............... 18.2....31.0....24.0
Ahmedabad...........—....33.0....22.0 Kurnool .......................—....31.0....22.0
Aizawl...................—....26.0....17.0 Lucknow......................—....31.0....18.0
Allahabad..............—....31.0....20.0 Madurai .................. 30.0....32.0....23.0
Bengaluru ........ 38.9....28.0....20.0 Mangaluru ...................—....29.0....23.0
Bhopal ..................—....28.0....20.0 Mumbai .................... 9.8....28.0....24.0
Bhubaneswar.........—....31.0....24.0 Mysuru ................... 20.0....28.0....19.0
Chandigarh ...........—....31.0....16.0 New Delhi ...................—....32.0....17.0
Chennai ........... 25.7....28.0....24.0 Patna ..........................—....31.0....22.0
Coimbatore ........ 0.8....28.0....21.0 Port Blair................ 10.0....30.0....24.0
Dehradun ..............—....30.0....14.0 Puducherry ............... 4.1....28.0....23.0
Gangtok................—....20.0....14.0 Pune....................... 42.4....29.0....21.0
Goa.................. 33.7....32.0....24.0 Raipur ........................... ....28.0....22.0
Guwahati ..............—....31.0....21.0 Ranchi .........................—....28.0....20.0
Hubballi ................—....26.0....21.0 Shillong.......................—....24.0....13.0
Hyderabad ............—....29.0....22.0 Shimla.........................—....21.0....11.0
Imphal ............... 3.6....29.0....18.0 Srinagar.......................—........ —........ —
Jaipur ...................—....32.0....19.0 Thiruvananthapuram...... 3.0....33.0....24.0
Kochi ............... 17.6....30.0....23.0 Tiruchi.................... 26.0....30.0....23.0
Kohima .................—....24.0....14.0 Vijayawada ............... 6.6....27.0....25.0
Kolkata .................—....32.0....25.0 Visakhapatnam ........ 26.8....27.0....25.0
(Rainfall data in mm; temperature in Celsius)
Pollutants in the air you are breathing Yesterday
CITIES SO2 NO2 CO PM2.5 PM10 CODE
In observation made at4.00 p.m., Varanasi, UttarPradesh recorded anoverall air quality index(AQI) score of 276indicating a severe level ofpollution. In contrast,Eloor, Kerala recorded ahealthy AQI score of 30.
Ahmedabad..... ..— 130 .21 ..196 .123 ....*
Bengaluru ....... ..2 .45 108 ....32 ...46 ....*
Chennai .......... 11 .32 .58 ....69 .....— ....*
Delhi .............. ..5 .75 .26 ..260 .299 ....*
Hyderabad ...... ..5 .40 .35 ....88 .....— ....*
Kolkata........... 12 .57 .29 ..220 .129 ....*
Lucknow ......... ..2 .30 .50 ..328 .....— ....*
Mumbai .......... ..5 .22 110 ....32 ...52 ....*
Pune............... 87 ...8 .68 ....36 ...34 ....*
Visakhapatnam 26 .45 .56 ....24 ...28 ....*
Air Quality Code: * Poor * Moderate * Good (Readings indicate average AQI)
SO2: Sulphur Dioxide. Short-term exposure can harm the respiratory system,
making breathing difficult. It can affect visibility by reacting with other air
particles to form haze and stain culturally important objects such as statues
and monuments.
NO2: Nitrogen Dioxide. Aggravates respiratory illness, causes haze to form by
reacting with other air particles, causes acid rain, pollutes coastal waters.
CO: Carbon monoxide. High concentration in air reduces oxygen supply to
critical organs like the heart and brain. At very high levels, it can cause
dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and even death.
PM2.5 & PM10: Particulate matter pollution can cause irritation of the eyes,
nose and throat, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath, reduced
lung function, irregular heartbeat, asthma attacks, heart attacks and premature
death in people with heart or lung disease
Deepavali is a time whenmost Indians spare no expense to be with their families. But not this year. The reluctance to spend on airtravel this festival season hasdampened celebrations andis making airlines nervous,who are forced to lower airfares to fi��ll up their planes.
Data from the travel portalYatra.com shows that fareson key metro routes aredown by 30%, while this isusually a time airlines hikeairfares due to a huge demand and are able to makeup for losses piled up duringthe lean months of July, Au
gust and September. OnMonday, fullservice carrierVistara even launched its‘grand international sale’ fordestinations like Bangkok,Dubai, and Singapore for return fares starting at ₹��14,999.
‘Industrywide trend’“The slowdown is beginningto bite us. The demand forair travel is not growing ascompared to the same timelast year. As a result, ouryields (average fare per passenger mile) are lower. Idon’t see this improving forseveral months to come. Thisis an industrywide trend,”said a top offi��cial at one ofthe leading airlines in the
country on the condition ofanonymity.
DGCA’s monthly datashows domestic traffi��cgrowth rate was at ()4% inApril; it rose to 6% in Juneand then again fell to 1.18% inSeptember. While the closure of Jet Airways in midApril was to be blamed for
many months, industry insiders say by August its impact had diminished.
“Demand is stagnant dueto a slowing economy. Economy class is really struggling. This is a very serioussituation as airlines dependon peak season to make upfor losses in other seasons,”
said another senior executive of another airline.
Data shows that airfaresbooked 15 days before thedate of travel have droppedon Delhi to Chennai route by44% from ₹��5,571 last year to₹��3,071 this year, Delhi toPune by 30% from ₹��5,219 lastyear to ₹��3,631 this year and
22% on ChennaiDelhi from₹��5,688 to ₹��4,382.
The Hindu spoke to Minister of Civil Aviation HardeepSingh Puri on this crisis inthe aviation sector, and hesaid, “No, low fares are notdue to an economic slowdown. Is any plane goingempty, not at all. LCCs arecompeting against each other and dumbing down fares.”
However, both the airlineexecutives quoted above saidthat “competitive pricing isan outcome of weakdemand”.
“People are being morecautious than they have beenin the past. But going by theprevailing last minute farerise trends, we could expecta rise in fares as we get closerto the booking dates.” saidYatra.com’s Sharat Dhall.
Fares on key metro routes are downby 30% at a time when it usually peaks
Jagriti Chandra
New Delhi
Airlines hit as Deepavali travel fails to take off��
The Uttar Pradesh government has granted the statusof State fair to the DeepotsavMela to be held in Ayodhyaduring Deepavali.
The festival, in which over 5.5 lakh lamps will be liton October 26, will be heldat an estimated cost of ₹��133crore, government spokesperson Shrikant Sharmasaid.
With the change, the Melawill now be planned by theDistrict Magistrate of Ayodhya. Earlier, the Tourism Department organised it.
The decision was takengiven the “international status” of the festival and onthe proposals sent by theDistrict Magistrate in lettersdated January 15 and July 3,the government said.
The BJP governmentplans to organise a grandDeepavali celebration inAyodhya.
Last year, the festivalshowcased the Korean connection to the town, andSouth Korea’s fi��rst lady KimJungsook was the chief
guest at the event.Restrictions under Sec
tion 144 of CrPC have beenimposed in Ayodhya untilDecember 10 in anticipationof the Supreme Court’s verdict in the land disputecase.
special correspondent
LUCKNOW
Ayodhya ‘deepotsav’given State Fair tag
The Supreme Court onTuesday allowed NirvaniAkhara, one of the Hinduparties in Ayodhya title dispute, to fi��le a note seekingright to manage the worship of deity as the ‘Shebait’, a person who takescare of the deity and manages its daily aff��airs.
The Nirmohi Akharahad fi��led the suit seekingShebait right in 1959. BothNirmohi Akhara and Nirvani Akhara have contestedeach other's stand.
Nirvani Akharaseeks right to‘Shebait’
Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi
The Alaknanda HydropowerCompany (AHC) has takenthe Union Water Ministryand the Uttarakhand Stategovernment to court following a 2018 notifi��cation by theNational Mission for CleanGanga (NMCG), a Union Water Ministry body, that requires hydropower companies located on the Ganga’stributaries to release morewater than from previous
years. Located on the Alaknanda river — a major sourceriver for the Ganga — the 330MW project was commissioned in 2014 and is amongthe 19 hydropower projectsfunctioning along variousstretches of the Ganga and itstributaries.
‘Financially detrimental’Company offi��cials said thatthe notifi��cation was fi��nancially detrimental to thecompany and that the go
vernment ought to be compensating it for the lossesthat would accrue due to thenotifi��cation.
“The matter is in thecourt. Any losses to the company have to be reimbursedby the State government (Uttarakhand) as this is a changein law,” G.V.K. Reddy, chairman, GVK Group, told The
Hindu in a text message.AHC is run by GVK Power &Infrastructure Ltd.
The 2018 efl��ow notifi��ca
tion specifi��es that the upperstretches of the Ganga wouldhave to maintain 20% of themonthly average fl��ow of thepreceding 10 days betweenNovember and March, whichis the dry season; 25% of theaverage during the “lean season” of October, April andMay; and 30% of the monthlyaverage during the monsoonmonths of JuneSeptember.
This would require existing and upcoming projects tochange their design to ac
commodate greater fl��ows.Companies are reluctant torelease water because it impedes power generation.
The 2018 order by theNMCG gave companies threeyears — until October 2021—to make necessary changesbut site visits to 11 companiesby the Central Water Commission, which is tasked withmeasuring fl��ows, showedthat most companies did notneed to make major designchanges comply with the
new requirements. The compliance date was thereforeadvanced to 2019.
An NMCG offi��cial, who didnot want to quoted, said thatGVK had claimed losses ofnearly ₹��4,000 crore, adding,“We have had some meetings at the Prime Minister’sOffi��ce and the government isconsidering making good thelosses. We will have to seehow the case proceeds.” Mr.Reddy did not confi��rm thisnumber to The Hindu.
The order requires hydropower companies situated on the river’s tributaries to release more water than previous years
Jacob Koshy
NEW DELHI
Power fi��rm takes Water Ministry to court over Ganga notifi��cation
IAF carries out twin fi��ring of BrahMos NEW DELHI
Two BrahMos surface-to-
surface missile tests were
conducted as part of routine
operational training at the
Trak Island in the Andaman &
Nicobar group of islands on
October 21 and 22, the IAF
said on Tuesday.
IN BRIEF
ED custody of HDILpromoters extendedMUMBAI
A special Prevention of
Money Laundering Act court
on Tuesday extended the ED’s
custody of Housing
Development Infrastructure
Limited’s (HDIL) directors
Rakesh Wadhawan and his
son Sarang till October 24.
Services in some public sector banks were partially affected on Tuesday with twounions observing a nationwide oneday strike to protest against the Centre’s proposed merger of banks andbanking reforms.
The strike, called by theAllIndia Bank EmployeesAssociation (AIBEA) and theBank Employees Federationof India (BEFI) saw the participation of 3 lakh employeesand led to about 20 lakhbanking instrument, inlcuding cheques worth around₹��15,000 crore not beingcleared, AIBEA general secretary C.H. Venkatachalamsaid.
Clerical staff�� stay awayMr. Venkatachalam said thestrike aff��ected services as“clerical and subordinatestaff��” stayed away fromwork. The unions had announced in September thatthey would hold the strike to
stop the merger of 10 publicsector banks.
Mr. Venkatachalam saidthe unions would seek support from other unions andOpposition parties ahead ofthe winter session of Parliament. He said the government representatives whomet the union leaders onMonday had said the workers’ issues would be addressed after the merger,but the unions did not ac
cept it as the merger itselfwas the bone of contention.
“Merger of the banks is totally unwarranted in India aswe need more banking services and opening of morebranches to serve the people. Past mergers have resulted in closure of branches. Recovery of the huge badloans is the top priority ofthe banks and mergerswould change the priority,”he said.
We will seek support from Opposition parties, say leaders
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI
Bank employees taking part in the strike at Azad Maidan inMumbai on Tuesday. * EMMANUAL YOGINI
Banking services partially hitas unions protest merger bid
No govt. jobs for thosewith over 2 childrenGUWAHATI
Two years after it adopted a
population policy, the Assam
Cabinet on Monday decided
to make government jobs out
of bounds for people with
more than two children. The
policy will come into effect
from January 1, 2021.
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
The Gujarat AntiTerrorismSquad on Tuesday said ithas arrested the two mainsuspects who allegedly murdered Hindu Samaj Partyleader Kamlesh Tiwari inLucknow on October 18.
The two suspects werenabbed from Shamlaji nearthe GujaratRajasthan border and they were on theway to Gujarat after havingreached Shahjahanpur fromNepal, police said.
The two were identifi��edas Ashfaqhussain Jakirhussain Shaikh, 34, and Moinuddin Khurshid Pathan,27. While Shaikh is a medical representative, Pathan isa food delivery boy, the police said. Both are residentsof Surat.
The ATS said the twowere apprehended on thebasis of technical and physical surveillance mounted ontheir family and acquaintances.
The primary investigation of the accused revealed
that they had committed thecrime “in retribution to purported statements by thedeceased,” the ATS said.
In 2015, Tiwari had shotinto the limelight after hemade some controversial remarks, following which several Muslim groups heldhuge protests demandingaction against him.
Six persons, includingtwo Muslim clerics from Bijnor in west U.P., have beendetained for allegedlyscripting the conspiracy behind the murder.
Kamlesh Tiwari’s killersarrested in GujaratThe two are residents of Surat
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
LUCKNOW
The two were on their wayto Gujarat after reachingShahjahanpur. * PTI
A former BJP MLA’sdaughter, who had lefthome alleging torture bythe family, returned onTuesday.
“We found her at a village near Raver of Maharashtra ... There was nosettlement between thetwo sides,” said Umesh Tiwari, T.T. Nagar City Superintendent of Police. “Shehad run away on her ownaccord and returned thesame way,” he said.
On October 16, formerMLA from Bhopal CentralSurendranath Singh hadfi��led a complaint claiminghis “mentally ill” daughter,Bharti Singh, had gone missing. Days later, Ms. Singhreleased a video online alleging torture by her familyfor a decade, including administration of sleepinducing injections.
On Monday, Mr. Singhtold The Hindu that hisdaughter was a victim of“love jihad”, in which Congress leaders had a hand.
ExBJP MLA’sdaughterreturns home
Staff reporter
Bhopal