PMR lockdown

The Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad municipal corporations on Sunday evening released identical orders for a ten-day total lockdown to be enforced from July 14. Only milk suppliers, medical stores, hospitals and clinics will be allowed to operate on these five days. There are no restrictions on media operations either.

A few exemptions have been made to allow grocery shops, vegetable vendors, and the sale of mutton, chicken and eggs between 8 am and noon from July 19 to 23.

Vikram Kumar, who took over as Pune municipal commissioner on Sunday, said, “These steps are needed to stop the spread of Covid-19 and also to control the increasing number of positive patients.”

The department of disaster management and rehabilitation authority has empowered municipal commissioners to issue such orders.

“The lockdown is an essential step to break the chain (of the infection spread). Citizens should cooperate with the authorities and inform the health department if they develop any symptoms. Practising social distancing, wearing masks and personal hygiene can help a lot in the current situation,” Pimpri Chinchwad municipal commissioner Shravan Hardikar said.

All types of public and private vehicles — barring those engaged in Covid-19, emergency and essential services, exempted services like media, and transport to and from the airport and railway stations — will be off the roads.

App-based food delivery services will remain closed throughout the 10-day lockdown period, while e-commerce services will be barred from July 14 to 18 and can resume operations thereafter.

Also off limits are morning or evening walks, and all playgrounds, open public places and gardens. Similarly, salons, spas and beauty parlours will remain closed for all 10 days.

The orders further stated that industrial operations will remain functional with 50% staff, while the IT sector has been allowed to remain functional with 15% strength. No restrictions have been put on those assisting the elderly. Housekeeping services will remain suspended. Wedding ceremonies too have been prohibited, but those who have already taken prior permission will be allowed to proceed with a maximum of 20 people in attendance.

Anyone found violating the orders are liable to be prosecuted under sections 51 to 60 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, apart from action under IPC Section 188 and other legal provisions as applicable, the orders stated.

The Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad police will not be issuing separate orders. “PMC’s order is the outcome of an overall comprehensive discussion, which also involved the Pune police,” Pune’s joint CP Ravindra Shisve said.

On Friday, Hardikar and Kumar’s predecessor Shekhar Gaikwad had said that the civic bodies would be utilizing the lockdown to augment critical health care infrastructure, including setting up new Covid-19 care centres, ICUs, ventilators and oxygen beds, enhancing testing capacity and vigorous contact-tracing.

“Construction works shall continue in rural areas. It shall continue in Pune city and Pimpri Chinchwad also on the condition of in situ labour,” Pune collector Naval Kishore Ram tweeted via his official handle (@navalMH).

Covid may have Infected 15% of Delhi’s Population

A sero-surveillance survey conducted across 20,000 households in Delhi shows that around 10-15% of the sample could have been infected by coronavirus. The results of the sero survey conducted from June 27 to July 5 in 11 districts of the national capital have been evaluated and shared with the home ministry.

Conducted by the National Centre for Disease Control and the Delhi government, 22,823 samples were picked up randomly by the surveillance team for antibody testing.

“Sero-surveys help to understand the proportion of the population exposed to SARS-CoV-2 infection including asymptomatic individuals. The survey found that 10-15 % have already got the disease and are over with it. In a very few zones, it ranged higher than 15%,” said a person aware of the findings of the survey. “The prevalence varied in different districts which means that the outbreak is localised,” he added.

Earlier, the Indian Council of Medical Research had also conducted sero surveillance in the containment zones of Delhi along with other cities. While the details of the survey are yet to be made public, sources said that it showed the prevalence of the infection in 10-30% of the sample in the containment zones of Delhi.

The rising number of cases in Delhi has been a major cause of concern, though there have been signs of improvement in the last few days. The active cases reported on Saturday in the national capital were the lowest in the last one month. The fatality figures also showed a decline.

On Sunday, the city reported 1,573 positive cases and 37 deaths due to Covid-19, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 112,494 and the death toll to 3,371. A total of 2,276 people have recovered and discharged in the last 24 hours, taking the recoveries to 89,968.

“The steady decline in daily cases in Delhi is an encouraging sign. A fall in daily death count, if maintained, will be an even stronger indication that the epidemic is coming under control. Over all the recent trends are promising and suggest that increased vigour of public health is paying off,” said K Srinath Reddy, president, Public Health Foundation of India.

Congress: Tumult in Rajasthan as Pilot-Gehlot tussle hits breaking point

Long-standing differences between Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot reached breaking point on Sunday, threatening the stability of the Congress government in the state. A summons by the Rajasthan special operations group served to Pilot on Friday, seeking to record his statement in the alleged horse-trading case lodged ahead of the Rajya Sabha election last month, is said to have been the last straw.

Soon after the SOG notice was pasted outside his official residence in Jaipur on Friday, Pilot headed for Delhi in a huff with some of his close aides, the speculated numbers ranging from five to 19 MLAs. There is buzz that he has told the party leadership that he will move out with his MLAs and launch a regional outfit.

The MLAs’ disappearance sent the Gehlot camp into a huddle—the CM met his ministers on Saturday night and called for a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (all elected MLAs) at 10.30 am on Monday at his official residence. This meeting is expected to shine light on the actual numbers in the Gehlot camp. Congress President Sonia Gandhi despatched senior party leaders to Jaipur to be a part of this meeting and to speak to the MLAs directly.

Late in the night, Pilot said he will not attend the meeting, and claimed that he had the support of more than 30 MLAs, leaving the Gehlot-led government in the state in a minority.

Meanwhile, speculation was rife that Pilot and several MLAs close to him were lodged in resorts in Manesar and Gurugram. Three MLAs—Rohit Bohra, Danish Abrar and Chetan Dudi-—who were said to have left with Pilot and returned to Jaipur late in the evening, were paraded before the media in Jaipur as they repeatedly assured the gathering that they would be with the party “till the last breath”.

Pilot reportedly could not be reached by his own party leadership after he failed to get an audience with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and former chief Rahul Gandhi. Party sources said he had a conversation with Sonia’s close aide Ahmed Patel, and conveyed his strong displeasure at the turn of events in Rajasthan, particularly the SOG’s summons. Pilot alleged that Gehlot, who held the home department portfolio in the state, had engineered the move to humiliate him and that it was unprecedented for a deputy CM to have to appear in a poaching case against his own party. In defence, the Gehlot camp produced similar SOG summons issued to the CM as well as the chief party whip.

Sources said Pilot recalled in his chat with Patel his limited role in governance in Rajasthan with Gehlot “curtailing funds from departments under his charge”.

There was also speculation that Pilot was in talks with the BJP to pull off a coup on the lines of the one in Madhya Pradesh in March, which led to the fall of the Kamal Nath government.

The Congress has 107 MLAs in the 200-member assembly and has the support of 12 independents as well as members of RLD, CPI(M) and Bharatiya Tribal Party. Most of the independents are Gehlot loyalists. The BJP has 72 MLAs and enjoys the support of three MLAs of Rashtriya Loktantrik Party.

Avinash Pande, the Congress general secretary in charge of Rajasthan, maintained that the government in Rajasthan was stable and would complete its full term.

Even if Pilot exits the Congress and manages to topple the government, the BJP has a problem of plenty in Rajasthan for the post of CM: Vasundhara Raje is vying for it along with Om Mathur, Bhupendra Yadav, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Arjun Ram Meghwal. It would be far more difficult for Pilot to make a place for himself in the state while with the BJP unless he gets a cabinet berth at the Centre and moves out of state politics.

Bengaluru, cities in NE go for lockdown

Amid a rapid surge in Covid-19 cases in the state capital and signs of the contact-tracing model crumbling, Karnataka CM B S Yediyurappa announced a complete lockdown in Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts from 8 pm on July 14 to 5 am on July 22.

An unnamed senior cabinet minister was among the 2,798 new Covid-19 cases reported in the state during the day, 1,533 of them in Bengaluru alone. Several other cities and towns — from cities in Maharashtra to Guwahati and Shillong in the Northeast – on Saturday got an extension or a return to lockdown.

The Assam government extended the ongoing 14-day lockdown in Guwahati and other pockets of Kamrup (Metro) district by another week till July 19. For the Meghalaya capital of Shillong, the total lockdown will make a comeback for two days, beginning Monday.

‘Largest-ever camera trap wildlife survey’ puts India in record book

After recording a robust growth in the numbers of tigers in the 2018 Census, India recorded yet another feat by entering the Guinness Book of World Records for conducting what has been referred to as the “largest camera trap wildlife survey”, yet.

The fourth edition of the Tiger Census in 2018–19, was the “most comprehensive” to date, “in terms of both resource and data amassed”, Guinness World Records team said.

“Camera traps (outdoor photographic devices fitted with motion sensors that start recording when an animal passes by) were placed in 26,838 locations across 141 different sites and surveyed an effective area of 121,337 square kilometres (46,848 square miles). In total, the camera traps captured 34,858,623 photographs of wildlife (76,651 of which were tigers and 51,777 were leopards; the remainder were other native fauna). From these photographs, 2,461 individual tigers (excluding cubs) were identified using stripe-pattern-recognition software,” the Guiness team that announced India’s feat added.

Welcoming India’s entry into the Guinness World Records, Union environment and foresign minister Prakash Javadekar said, “We are happy that the proactive measures taken in the area of conservation and environment under the leadership of PM Modi have been endorsed formally and India has been lauded for conducting the most comprehensive survey yet.” In addition to the camera trap usage, India’s 2018 “Status of Tigers in India” assessment also conducted extensive foot surveys that covered 522,996 km (324,975 mi) of trails and sampled 317,958 habitat plots for vegetation and prey dung. It is estimated that the total area of forest studied was 381,200 km2 (147,181sq mi) and cumulatively the collection and review of data equated to some 620,795 labour-days.

The assessment was carried out over three phases, with the various datasets then combined to be extrapolated via statistical computation, which informed the final results published in the survey report. A positive outcome of the survey was that it concluded that India’s tiger population had increased by roughly one-third: from 2,226 in 2014 to 2,927 in 2018.

Lockdown returns to Pune

Political leaders across parties have been demanding it. Now the state government, which was resisting it, has relented and it’s back to lockdown for Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and 22 adjoining villages from the midnight of July 13 to 23.

The decision was taken after a meeting was held by the deputy chief minister and Pune’s guardian minister, Ajit Pawar on Friday. Attended by former chief secretary and present advisor to the chief minister, Ajoy Mehta, Pune divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar, district collector Naval Kishor Ram, commissioner of Pune Municipal Corporation Shekhar Gaikwad and his counterpart in Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation Shravan Hardikar, besides other senior officials, all took stock of spiking numbers of COVID-19 cases and their inability to strike a balance between keeping businesses open in the interest of economic recuperation and battling the pandemic. “The lockdown has been announced to break the chain in the spread of the virus,” explained Mhaisekar.

In the meeting, Pawar expressed concern over the rising cases in Pune district, which are more compared to some of the states in the country. Explaining the need to revert to lockdown at a time when rest of the country has moved into Unlock 1.0, Ram pointed out, “After relaxation was given, it was observed that some people were not following the rules required to contain the spread of COVID-19. They are unnecessarily crowding public places, which is resulting in increasing the cases. Under the circumstances, lockdown seemed like the only recourse to break the chain of the virus.”

While the lockdown has been announced, the administration is yet to work out the modalities of imposing it. “We’ve decided the period of the lockdown but are still working on the details such as what will be restricted. The first five days will see a stricter imposition and we will allow some other services to resume subsequently. We will announce the detailed plan on Saturday,” Gaikwad informed. The strict lockdown from the midnight of July 13 to July 18, will only allow the supply of medicines and milk, keeping all other services closed.

UP Gangster Vikas Dubey killed

Gangster Vikas Dubey, accused of killing eight policemen in a deadly ambush last week, was shot dead on Friday by the police while trying to escape after the car transporting him to Kanpur from Ujjain overturned on an isolated stretch of the highway on the outskirts of the city.

The SUV overturned in Bhaunti about 30 km out of Kanpur district, after an ‘overworked’ driver swerved sharply on the rain-slicked stretch to avoid a herd of cattle, the Special Task Force said in a statement.

The car was part of a small convoy of police vehicles transporting Dubey back to Kanpur after his supposed arrest on Thursday from a temple in Ujjain following a gruelling six-day manhunt that spanned four states.

Police said the gangster snatched a pistol from one of the policemen injured in the accident and was shot when he opened fire while trying to flee, an account being questioned by opposition parties.

Six policemen, including two from the Special Task Force, were hurt in the accident and the exchange of fire around 6 am, an official said.

Earlier, while hunting for him, the police had killed five of close aides.

On July 2, a police team, on their way to arrest Dubey, was attacked by his henchmen in Kanpur’s Bikru village after being allegedly tipped by corrupt officials in the force. Eight police personnel had died and over 15 have sustained injuries in the attack, which has led to the suspension of four cops, including SHO of Chaubeypur police station Vinay Tiwari.

Madhya Pradesh police arrested Vikas Dubey outside the Mahakal temple in Ujjain on Thursday morning. He was handed over to an Uttar Pradesh police team late in the evening.

Kanpur Range Inspector General Mohit Agarwal said Dubey fled from the car with an injured policeman’s pistol. He was chased and surrounded by policemen who asked him to surrender. When he started firing with an “intention to kill”, police opened fire in self-defence, police said.

Blood smudges marked the spot on a dirt road, trailing off the highway, where the alleged gangster was shot. A press release said he was taken to a hospital, where he died during treatment. The primary autopsy report stated that Dubey had sustained four bullet injuries – three to the chest, and one to the stomach.

Two policemen also suffered wounds, one in the arm and the other in the hand.

Hours before the encounter, an advocate had filed a petition in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the UP government and police to ensure that he is not killed.

Questions were being raised over the police version, challenging the account of the attempted escape of a gangster who had made no attempt to flee when nabbed near Ujjain’s Mahakal temple a day earlier.

There was also scepticism over the possibility of someone managing to snatch a policeman’s weapon and then extricating himself from an overturned vehicle. There were allegations that the media trailing the police convoy was stopped for a few minutes before the encounter took place. Video clips also appeared to show Dubey sitting in a different car when the convoy set out from Ujjain.

The UP police have denied switching cars and said the media may have been stopped for checks.

Opposition parties targeted the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh after the encounter.

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the encounter as well as the ambush in which eight policemen died last week.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the criminal is now gone and asked what about those who had “protected” him. Her party has demanded a judicial probe in the entire Vikas Dubey episode.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said it was not the car that had toppled but the encounter had saved the state government from toppling, had facts come to light.

On the day the Bikru ambush took place, two of Dubey’s alleged accomplices, Prem Prakash Pandey and Atul Dubey, were killed in an encounter with police in Kanpur district.

On July 8, police killed another aide, Amar Dubey, in Maudala village in Hamirpur district.

Two more alleged accomplices were killed in Kanpur and Etawah districts on Thursday. One of them, Prabhat, died in circumstances similar to Dubey’s killing, according to the police versions.

He was being brought to Kanpur on transit remand after his arrest in Faridabad when he snatched the pistol of a policeman and tried to flee, police had said.