Itanagar, April 7 

China’s People’s Liberation Army released on Tuesday the 21-year-old Indian man who was abducted on March 19 from near the McMahon line in Upper Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh, a defence spokesman said.

Togley Singkam, who was handed over to the Indian Army personnel guarding the border, was immediately put into quarantine amid fear of coronavirus infection, Defence PRO Lt Col P Khongsai said.

When the incident came to light, the Indian Army swung into action and approached the Chinese side utilising the established border management mechanism. Owing to peace and tranquility existing in the region and the bonhomie that has developed between both the border guarding forces, Singkam was handed over to the Indian Army on Tuesday, he said.

This has provided immense relief to the family members of Singkam and also to the people of the area, he said.

Singkam has been quarantined by the Indian Army and will be handed over to his family after 14 days, the official said.

Singkam along with his two friends — Gamshi Chadar and Ronya Nade — had gone fishing and to collect traditional herbs from the land belonging to the Naa clan of Tagin community on March 19 when the Chinese security personnel allegedly ambushed them.

While his other two friends could successfully escape, Singkam was abducted at gunpoint by the Chinese security personnel.

The Tagin Cultural Society had approached the governor on March 27, urging him to take steps for Singkam’s release.

A complaint was also filed by Singkam’s family at the Nacho police station on March 23.

The McMahon Line demarcates the boundary between the Tibet autonomous region of China and Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as its own.

The McMahon Line is not properly demarcated and small cement pillars erected on the Indian side often get covered under wild growth.

A number of organisations in the state had appealed to the state government for taking up the matter with the Centre for the safe release of the man.

The Siyum Nacho Limeking Taksing Students Union (SNLTSU) had also threatened to launch a democratic movement in the state capital, if his early and safe release was not ensured. PTI

Chandigarh, April 7

The Chandigarh Administration on Tuesday made it mandatory for people to wear masks in public places to check the spread of the novel coronavirus.

“We have made it mandatory for people in Chandigarh to wear masks or cloth on their face from Wednesday,” the Union Territory of Chandigarh Adviser Manoj Parida said here.

He said anybody flouting the order will be warned by the police. However, the decision regarding levying penalty on violators is yet to be taken, Parida said.

He said Chandigarh will be the first Union Territory (UT) that has made wearing masks mandatory.

The UT of Chandigarh has reported 18 coronavirus cases so far and of them, seven have been cured, Parida said.

Besides, the administration has also decided that the payment of water and electricity charges and payment of house rent, including for rehabilitation colonies, will be deferred, he said.

Chandigarh administrator VP Singh Badnore on Tuesday held a meeting to view the situation here.

Parida informed Badnore that the number of positive cases had come down in Chandigarh to 11 because of curfew measures and observation of social distancing by residents. PTI

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 7

To further mitigate the hardships faced by the people amid the COVID-19 crisis and clampdown, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday announced a reduction in the fixed charges for electricity consumers, along with deferment of the deadline for payment of bills, while instructing the power department to provide  uninterrupted 24×7 supply to all Health Care Institutions.

The PSPCL will have to bear the additional burden of Rs.350 crore due to the various reliefs announced for the consumers, an official spokesperson said, adding that the Chief Minister also lauded the employees of PSPCL and PSTCL for their untiring efforts in maintaining a continuous supply of power in this time of crisis.

No new disconnection shall be carried out against non-payment till restrictions are withdrawn by the authority, the Chief Minister has further ordered.

The reliefs have been announced in view of the unprecedented situation in which consumers are unable to pay their dues to Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), according to the spokesperson.

As per the Chief Minister’s directives, the due date of electricity bills of all the domestic & commercial consumers, having current monthly/bi-monthly bills up to Rs. 10,000/- payable on or after 20th March, has been extended up to 20th April, without levy of late payment surcharge.

Further, a one percent rebate will be given to the consumers (exclusive of any previous arrears), who will pay electricity bills online through digital modes by the original due date.

The same applies to all electricity bills payable on or after 20th March of all the Industrial consumers – Medium Supply (MS) and Large Supply (LS) Industrial Consumers.

The fixed charges of the industrial consumers will also be exempted for the next two months, w.e.f 23.3.2020, and Energy Charges may be fixed commensurate with the reduction in Fixed Charges (single rate), the Chief Minister has instructed.

Since, the Revised Energy Charges will be paid by consumers and will not be considered for the subsidy, the MS and LS Industrial Consumers, whose units remained closed during this period will not be required to pay any electricity dues.

Captain Amarinder has further directed A Venu Prasad, Principal Secretary to Government of Punjab, Department of Power, to provide uninterrupted 24×7 supply to all Health Care Institutions such as Medical Colleges, Hospitals, Dispensaries, and other Medical Establishments and Quarantine Centres across the States for their smooth functioning.

He has also directed that PSPCL shall ensure continuity of supply, and complaints related to safety and restoration of supply shall continue to be attended. However, other non-essential services that require visiting consumer premises for meter reading, billing, the release of new connections, etc. may be discontinued during the lockdown period.

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 7

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and advised him to ban all government ads barring COVID-19 related for two years to divert the saved funds to pandemic management.

Writing to the PM a day after latter called her on the phone to discuss the COVID-19 situation in the country, Gandhi also said the Central Vista project coming up at a cost of Rs 20,000 crore should be suspended.

This is not the time for extravagance, she told the PM adding that the existing Parliament building can serve its purpose.

Sonia gave five suggestions to the Government including banning all non-urgent foreign trips by government leaders and bureaucrats.

Supporting the government decision to cut salaries of MPs by 30 per cent, Gandhi said, “Austerity measures which can be used to divert much-needed funds to the fight against Covid-19 are the need of the hour.

In this spirit, I am writing to offer five concrete suggestions.

Gandhi said “Impose a complete ban on media advertisements – television, print and online – by the Government and Public Sectors Undertakings for two years and issue only Covid-19 related advisories.”

Sonia said the Central Government currently spends an average of Rs 1,250 crores per year on media advertisements.

Second, she said, suspend the Rs 20,000 crore ‘Central Vista’ beautification and construction project forthwith.

“Such an outlay seems self-indulgent at this time to say the least. There is no urgent requirement that cannot be postponed until this crisis is contained. This sum could instead be allocated towards constructing new hospital infrastructure and diagnostics along with equipping our frontline workers with Personal Protection Equipment and better facilities, she said.

Congress chief also said the PM should order a proportionate reduction of 30 per cent in the expenditure budget (other than salaries, pensions and central sector schemes) for the Government of India as well.

This would save the government Rs 2.5 lakh crores per year approximately.

“Money saved can then be allocated towards establishing an economic safety net for migrant workers, labourers, farmers, MSMEs and those in the unorganised sector, Gandhi suggested.

She said all foreign visits, including that of the President, the Prime Minister, Union Ministers, Chief Ministers, State Ministers and Bureaucrats must be put on hold in a similar fashion with exceptions in case of special emergency.

This, she said, would bring money as Rs 393 crores were spent for just the Prime Minister and Union Cabinet’s trips in the last five years.

Lastly, she asked all the money of PM Cares’ fund should be transferred to the Prime Ministers National Relief Fund for transparency and efficient use.

handigarh, April 9

An 81-year-old woman, who defeated coronavirus in Punjab, here on Thursday urged people to stay indoors to protect themselves from the infection.

According to a video shared by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Twitter, Kulwant Nirmal of Mohali, a diabetes and hypertension patient, tested positive for coronavirus.

But her will to fight overshadowed everything, and now she is healthy and at home.

She is among the patients in the state who have recovered from the infection. In her video message, she said with folded hands: “Doctors took care of me. Never be afraid of the disease. Follow whatever the government and the doctors are saying.”

“Keep your will power strong. Have courage and do prayers. Waheguru will save you,” the octogenarian said.

Her son Gurminder Singh said he was quarantined in the home along with the other family members when her mother was admitted to a private hospital.

Her mother, a diabetes and hypertension patient for 30 years, was the only coronavirus case in the family, he said.

Harpal Singh, sarpanch of Pathlawa village, as well as seven others from S.B.S. Nagar, tested negative multiple times for COVID-19 and were declared fully cured. Fourteen patients in Punjab have been cured. IANS

New Delhi, April 7

Eight COVID-19 patients died and 354 news cases were reported in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of infected people in the country to 4,421, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus now stands at 117, it said.

During a press briefing, Joint Secretary in the ministry Lav Agarwal said: “Total 4,421 people have been infected with the virus”. Of them, 326 people have recovered.

However, a PTI tally based on figures reported by states directly on Monday night showed at least 138 deaths across the country, while the confirmed cases reached 4,683. Of these, 359 have been cured and discharged.

Agarwal said cluster containment strategies and action plans for outbreaks, which are amenable to management, are giving required results in some areas like Agra, Gautam Budh Nagar, Bhilwara, East Delhi and Mumbai.

These strategies are also being adopted in other coronavirus-affected districts, he said.

According to a study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), one COVID-19 patient can infect 406 people in 30 days if he/she does not follow lockdown or social distancing, Agarwal said.

Meanwhile, Pune reported three more deaths, an official said. This takes the district toll from coronavirus to eight. However, these deaths have yet to be added to the national death tally  PTI

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 9

The coronavirus breakout may end Punjab’s wait to get the Clinical Establishment Act as the government is planning to bring an ordinance to end the plunder by private doctors.

The draft of the act has been hanging fire in the state for the past eight years.

According to sources, the state government is planning to bring an ordinance, ‘the Punjab Clinical Establishments (Registration, Regulation & Transparency) Act, 2019’, in the cabinet meeting slated for Friday.

The Chief Minister has announced that it is not acceptable that the way private doctors have shut down the OPDs. He said they would cancel licences of all the clinics and doctors, who have refused to give services in these testing times. The CM also confirmed in a TV interview that the government would bring in the ordinance regarding the act on Saturday.

Interestingly, with a view to regulating the functioning of private hospitals in the country, the Centre had enacted the Clinical Establishment Act, 2010, which was adopted by several states. But instead of adopting the same act, the then Punjab government decided to draft its own act and in 2012 constituted a Clinical Establishment Act Drafting Committee.

However, thanks to the powerful lobby of the private health care practitioners, the draft was never accepted.

After a series of meetings, the committee headed by Dr Rajesh Kumar, former head, School of Public Health, the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, submitted the draft of the bill to the state government in 2013. The draft had important provisions like every private or government hospital has to display the services it offers and will also mention the fee it charges for all the services. Besides, it was also proposed to make it mandatory for all private hospitals to get themselves registered.

However, the draft was neither cleared by the cabinet nor it was taken to the Assembly. The members of the committee had publicly said that the draft of the move regarding the act was scuttled by the lobby of big corporate hospitals.

After formation of the current government in 2017, the then health Minister Braham Mohindra had also announced to implement the act but he also failed to do anything.

In November last year, the state government once again posted draft of the bill on its website and had asked for feedback.  But once again, the powerful body of private doctors was successful in scuttling the move. Soon after that, Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu assured an IMA delegation that all their genuine demands would be incorporated before finalising any decision. But the act could never see the light of day.

 Provisions of the act

* Mandatory for all private hospitals to get themselves registered

* Private or government hospital has to display the services it offers

* Display the fee it charges for all the services

* Every hospital with more than 100 beds to set up Fair Price Medicine Shop and Fair Price Diagnostic Centre

* Free treatment to 20 per cent of Outdoor Patient Department patients and 10 per cent of Indoor Patient Department patients

Sandeep Dikshit

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 7

Against the backdrop of US President Donald Trump warning of retaliation, India has allowed the export of a drug considered vital for the treatment of Covid.

The government on Tuesday said it would allow the US to import from India previously contracted shipments of the drug.

Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) came into limelight after Trump said he wanted to eliminate all barriers to make it available for the treatment of Covid patients in the US where the death toll has crossed 10,000.

Trump followed up his request to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow export of HCQ by warning India that the US may retaliate if it did not export the drug despite his personal request, saying he would be surprised in case of a negative outcome as New Delhi has good relations with Washington.

India has been preserving HCQ stocks after preliminary findings in the US said it had “significant clearance of the SARS-CoV-2 viral load in the nasopharynx compared with non-treated controls”.

India put on a brave front on its decision to reverse the export ban on HCQ and paracetamol as well as a second decision taken on Monday to lift a one-month ban on 13 active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). It said the decision to recommence exports of 13 APIs was based on a comfortable stock position. HCQ  and paracetamol were shifted from the restricted to the licensed list (meaning case-by-case clearance) after balancing the domestic stock position with India’s obligation to supply it to nations badly affected by the pandemic, said the Ministry of External Affairs.

Not just Trump but several world leaders in phone calls to Modi had requested India for reconsideration, especially on releasing shipments previously contracted by US companies.

The MEA also indicated that apart from fulfilling previous contract obligations and meeting personal requests from world leaders, India will accord top priority to sending paracetamol and HCQ to neighbouring countries that are “dependent on Indian capabilities”, thus indicating that Pakistan may not make the cut.

Further rationalising the decision to allow limited exports of HCQ and paracetamol, the MEA said India had always maintained that the international community must display strong solidarity and cooperation.

MEA spokesperson Anurag Shrivastava said the March 3 order banning the export of over a dozen drugs and the reversal was actually a temporary step as part of the obligation of “any responsible government” to ensure that there are adequate domestic stocks of medicines. Subsequently, the curbs were largely lifted after an assessment confirmed the availability of medicines for all possible contingencies, he maintained while asking that the issue should not be politicised.

Other sources agreed and said apart from paracetmol, most of these are not directly connected with the treatment of Covid. The API and formulations on which export restrictions were lifted are primarily made in Hubei province, the COVID-19 epicentre, whose lockdown prompted the government to impose export restrictions in March to conserve stocks for domestic deployment. The fear of shortages receded after Chinese pharma companies got back on track towards the beginning of this month.

The APIs and medicines on which export restrictions have now been lifted include Vitamin B1, B6, B12 and their formulations; progesterone and its formulations plus antibiotic APIs like erythromycin salts, Tinidazole, Neomycin and drugs manufactured using these.

The restrictions were placed after an assessment which warned that the stock-in hand of APIs may be sufficient for two to three months to manufacture formulations.

In India, the main API makers for HCQ are Ipca Laboratories and Zydus Cadila and the US is now ready to overlook a three-year ban by the US Federal Drug Authority on one of the companies.

Singh was a quiet power — driven by institutions and systems, Modi is visible and vocal, powered by his own personality. Both bring unique strengths to tackle coronavirus.