30 bodies floating in Ganga trigger Covid panic in Bihar town

30 bodies floating in Ganga trigger Covid panic in Bihar town

Piyush Tripathi & K Kamlesh

Patna/Buxar:  11.05.2021 

Residents of Chausa village in Bihar’s Buxar woke up to the macabre sight of half-burnt bodies dumped in the Ganga washing ashore near Mahadev Ghat on Monday. Villagers said they saw at least 150 corpses, suspected to be of Covid victims, floating down the river at dawn.

The Buxar district administration pegged the number of bodies at 30. “The bodies are not of local residents. It seems they were dumped in neighbouring UP 3-4 days ago,” Buxar DM Aman Samir said. “Instructions have been issued to intensify river patrolling.”

A local resident said he and other witnesses counted not less than 150 bodies. “The situation is dangerous. People in areas are in shock,” he said.

The DM said the unidentified bodies would be cremated in accordance with Covid-safety protocol after autopsy.

TROUBLED WATERS: The bodies may have floated down from UP

‘Govt will bear the cost of cremating Covid-19 victims’

P rem Swaroopam, executive officer of the Buxar municipal council, told a news channel that a probe had already been initiated into “people dumping bodies” in the river. “We have formed three teams to stop people from disposing of bodies like that. The government will bear the cost of cremating Covid-19 victims in accordance with the official guidelines.”

Late Monday, sub-divisional magistrate KK Upadhyay said the cremation of the bodies that washed ashore in the morning had begun. He said bodies were found floating in the river in adjoining Ghazipur district of UP, too.

Some local residents attributed dumping of bodies in the river to the higher cost of organising the cremation of Covid-19 victims and fear of getting infected.

Agree to terms or face limited functions: WhatsApp

Agree to terms or face limited functions: WhatsApp

Pankaj.Doval@timesgroup.com

NewDelhi:11.05.2021 

You won’t be tablet o access your chat list on WhatsApp and may have “limited functionality” on the country’s biggest messaging platform if you do not accept the Facebook-owned messenger’s latest privacy policy, the company said on Monday despite strong reservations expressed by the government, the Supreme Court, and the Competition Commission of India.

While WhatsApp – which has over 53 crore users in India --says that the scale-down of services will not happen immediately for those who do not accept update to the new policy by May15, the downgrade will happen subsequently when a user does not pay heed to repeated reminders from the company.

While the company has made clear that it will not delete the accounts of those who continue to ignore the controversial privacy policy (that have received flak across the world as the update seeks to share business communication of WhatsApp users with Facebook), it has now made it clear that things may not be the same anymore.

Through a blog post/advisory on its website, the company answers the crucial question of ‘What happens after I receive a persistent reminder (to update)?’, “At that time, you’ll encounter limited functionality on WhatsApp until you accept the updates… You won’t be able to access your chat list, but you can still answer incoming phone and video calls. If you have notifications enabled, you can tap on them to read or respond to a message or call back a missed phone or video call.”

Further, after a few weeks of limited functionality, “you won’t be able to receive incoming calls or notifications and WhatsApp will stop sending messages and calls to your phone.”

Govt rejects SII plea to export 50L doses to UK

New Delhi:11.05.2021 

Despite the international pressure and several rounds of negotiations by Serum Institute of India (SII), the government has turned down the request from SII to export 50 lakh doses of Covishield to UK under its prior commitments.

The decision was taken in the wake of severe supply crunch of vaccines locally and government insisting the local production be supplied to protect Indians first. States have been prompted to approach the Pune-based company to negotiate contracts to procure these doses to meet local demand. The doses are likely to be used to vaccinate those between18-44 age. “These 50 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine are now available for inoculating people between 18-44 years age. States have been asked to procure it. Private hospitals can also get them,” an official source said. The ministry has asked the states to contact the company and initiate procurement activity at the earliest. However, sources said, the labels of these doses may have to be changed. Since the vaccines were packed for supply to the UK, a different label was affixed on the vials but now since they have to be supplied in the local market, they need a label for the same. TNN

EPS is TN oppn leader, OPS rejects deputy leader’s post

EPS is TN oppn leader, OPS rejects deputy leader’s post

Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:11.05.2021

The AIADMK on Monday chose former chief minister and party co-coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami as leader of the opposition in the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly. The decision came after much wrangling and muscle flexing. Party coordinator O Panneerselvam initially resisted the move and proposed former speaker P Dhanapal’s name, sources said. But there were few takers for the suggestion. The power struggle was in full display as Panneerselvam and Palaniswami squabbled over who was more eligible to be the leader of the opposition. But with little support from the newly elected MLAs, 63 of them discounting the two leaders, Panneerselvam gave in. He rejected the offer of deputy leader for himself, proposing Dhanapal for the post instead, and left the party headquarters in a huff, sources said.

NEW ROLE: Edappadi K Palaniswami called on O Panneerselvam on Monday evening

OPS fails to garner any support at party meet

AIADMK deputy coordinator and erstwhile supporter of Panneerselvam, K P Munusamy, submitted a letter to assembly secretary K Srinivasan about the ‘unanimous’ choice of the legislature party, on the eve of the oath-taking ceremony of newly elected MLAs. Later in the evening, Palaniswami called on Panneerselvam at the latter’s residence and greeted him with a shawl and a bouquet. Panneerselvam returned the compliment, draping the same shawl on Palaniswami. Former ministers and senior functionaries accompanied Palaniswami. Allies PMK leader S Ramadoss and G K Vasan of TMC congratulated him.

The legislature party unanimously elected Palaniswami as leader of the opposition with a majority of the MLAs, including former ministers, backing him. “Except Alangulam MLA P H Manoj Pandian, no one present at the meeting backed OPS. They were all urging him to sacrifice one more time, like he did when he agreed to project EPS as chief ministerial candidate for the assembly election,” a senior leader told TOI. The decision was made after a three-hour long discussion by MLAs at the party headquarters in Chennai, and Panneerselvam left after signing the necessary papers, “appearing unhappy”.The leader of the opposition must be chosen by Tuesday night since the Speaker-elect would have to be taken to the chair on Wednesday by the chief minister and leader of the opposition. On Friday too, AIADMK MLAs discussed for nearly three hours, but failed to arrive at a consensus. Panneerselvam did not get support even from his own community members and senior leaders in the southern belt.

Close Palaniswami associates P Thangamani and S P Velumani and senior leader K A Sengottaiyan threw their weight behind him. The meeting began with Palaniswami stating he would accept whatever decision the MLAs took.

Except Alangualm MLA P H Manoj Pandian, no one went against Edappadi K Palaniswami

At least11 Covid patients die while Tirupati hosp refills oxygen tanks

SUPPLY DISRUPTION

At least11 Covid patients die while Tirupati hosp refills oxygen tanks

Sandeep.Raghavan@timesgroup.com

Tirupati:11.05.2021 

Several patients died due to shortage in oxygen supply at the SVRR government general hospital in Tirupati on Monday evening. Though the exact number of casualties was yet to be officially confirmed, sources told TOI that at least 11 patients died following a brief disruption in oxygen.

The government claimed that the supply was affected for just a few minutes during which time the tragedy took place. Relatives of some of the patients, however, claimed that supply was disrupted for at least 25 minutes.

There are about 135 ICU beds and 400-plus oxygen beds at the hospital where some 1,100 Covid-19 patients have been admitted at present.

Sources told TOI that the 10,000-litre oxygen tank at the hospital was nearly empty and was being refilled after a tanker arrived from Tamil Nadu. The refilling process led to interruption in oxygen supply and during this time the condition of several critical patients deteriorated.

Their attendants desperately tried to keep them alive by using hand fans and other, means, though in vain.

Jagan orders collectors to keep an eye on oxygen supply in hospitals

Videos coming out of the hospital showed a number of patients lying lifeless on beds even as people run around trying to help them with hand pumps and other equipment.

District collector M Hari Narayana rushed to the hospital after learning of the tragedy. He has asked the police to probe if there was any attempt to sabotage the oxygen supply.

Chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy expressed shock at the death of the 11 patients and asked for a report from officials. He also ordered all collectors to keep an eye on oxygen supply in all hospitals in their districts and ensure that such tragedies don’t take place.

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