c m y k c m y k THE LARGEST CIRCULATED ENGLISH DAILY IN SOUTH INDIA HYDERABAD I WEDNESDAY I 24 FEBRUARY 2021 deccanchronicle.com, facebook.com/deccannews, twitter.com/deccanchronicle Vol. 84 No. 54 Established 1938 | 20 PAGES | `6.00 WEATHER Max: 33OC O Toolkit case: Court grants bail Min: 18.4 C RH: 71% TS Assembly building’s Rainfall: Nil Forecast: Cloudy sky. to Disha, calls evidence scanty Mist or haze likely. BHASKAR HARI SHARMA Disha Ravi, the 22-year-old creating and disseminat- Max/Min temp. 32/18 ºC elevation portion falls with agency inputs activist arrested from ing an online document NEW DELHI, FEB. 23 Bengaluru on February that lists out how people 13. can support the farmers’ COVID-19 A Delhi court on Tuesday Commenting that the prot-est against the three Debris falls in garden; no one is injured; officials worried made strong remarks in police’s case against Ms news laws. Police has DC CORRESPONDENT said, “the main building favour of freedom of Ravi was based on “scanty claimed that the document C UNT HYDERABAD, FEB. 23 structure is strong and speech and expression and and sketchy” evidence, was meant to revive a CASES DEATHS there is no need to worry. the right to dissent in the the court said that “the Khalistani group and was A portion of the elevation Since the building is over country while noting that offence of sedition cannot part of a global conspiracy (+13,550) (+103) of the Telangana Assem- 100 years old, incidents “any call for any kind of be invoked to minister to to “spread disaffection bly building collapsed on like these are common. violence” was absent from the wounded vanity of the against the Indian state”. 1,10,29,326 1,56,598 Tuesday afternoon and fell The engineering wing of the much maligned “toolk- governments”. The court rubbished that into the premises. The 115- the Assembly takes up it” as it granted bail to Ms Ravi is accused of allegation in its order. STATE GOVERNMENT BULLETINS year old Assembly build- periodic inspections of the ing is a heritage structure. entire building premises NA* NA* Fortunately, no one was and takes up repair works injured as the debris fell on a priority basis.” TS: 2,97,712 1,625 into the empty garden area However, Tuesday’s inci- in the vicinity of the dent has left Assembly (+70) (+1) Assembly. officials worried as the According to security Budget session of the Tela- AP: 8,89,409 7,168 personnel who were on ngana Assembly is expect- duty at the Assembly pre- ed to commence in the sec- CASES AROUND THE WORLD mises, the elevation on the ond week of March. Duri- east side of the Assembly ng the session, the premis- 11,24,33,431 building collapsed, with a es will be filled with minis- loud noise. The side por- ters, MLAs, MLCs, DEATHS tion of the elevation of the bureaucrats, media per- 24,89,661 office of the Government A portion of the Assembly building’s parapet wall sonnel, and other visitors. Chief Whip Rega Kanta collapsed on Tuesday, peeling off stucco from a portion The Telangana Assembly Rao was also damaged. was built using public COUNTRIES, of the roof. — P. SURENDRA AREAS WITH 219 Security personnel, who funds by the citizens of CASES heard the noise, rushed to Hyderabad, who raised worldometers.info/ the spot to check if anyone renovation works, the sending shockwaves money to build it, to mark coronavirus was in the vicinity. Howe- incidents of building among Assembly and the 40th birthday of Nizam * TS stopped daily updates ver, they found no one was developing cracks and security staff working in Mahboob Ali Khan. injured in the incident. some portions of the build- the premises. Though officials are tak- ing collapsing are being Legislature secretary V. ■ Page 2: KCR wanted new ASTROGUIDE ing up periodic repair and witnessed frequently, Narasimha Charyulu, building for Assembly Sarvari; Uttarayana Tithi: Magha Shuddha Dwadasi till 5.59 pm Star: Punarvasu till 1.11 pm Varjyam: 9.11 pm to 10.47 pm Classes 6 to 8 will Parents worried Durmuhurtam: 12.06 pm to 12.52 pm Rahukalam: 12 noon to 1.30 pm HIJRI CALENDAR begin from today over kids’ health Rajab 11,1442 AH DC CORRESPONDENT directive before March 1. HARLEEN MINOCHA | DC conformity with safety PRAYERS HYDERABAD, FEB. 23 Somesh Kumar said that HYDERABAD, FEB. 23 protocols, schools are free Fajar: 5.39 am classes should start from to start a shift system. Zohar: 12.40 pm Chief Secretary Somesh Wednesday as far as possi- On a day when the Telan- The decision was wel- Asar: 4.43 pm Kumar on Tuesday held a ble and all schools must gana government announ- comed by the teaching Maghrib: 6.27 pm teleconference with all open by March 1. ced reopening of schools community. The Telang- Isha: 7.35 pm district collectors, district About 17.2 lakh stu- for Classes six to eight, ana state United Teachers education officers and dis- dents, in addition to exist- involving 17.24 lakh stu- Federation thanked the SUNRISE TOMORROW 6.37 AM trict welfare officers of ing students of higher dents, some parents expr- government and said this SUNSET TODAY 6.20 PM the BC, SC and ST, and classes already at school, essed concern over the would ensure academic MOONSET 3.18 AM minority departments to are likely to attend school safety of their children in year is not wasted. MOONRISE 2.36 PM discuss measures to be from classes VI to VIII. the ongoing Covid-19 pan- Some parents Deccan taken for reopening of He directed that an edu- demic conditions. Chronicle spoke to felt schools for students from cation monitoring comm- The decision to reopen there was risk to sending COUNTER POINT classes VI to VIII from ittee, chaired by district schools for upper middle their wards to schools as Wednesday. collectors, should meet classes ended a period of the pandemic refused to The Chief Secretary told and take up the issue of abrupt closure since go away. Venkat Sainath, officials that Chief Mini- reopening of classes. He March last. Education parent of a Class 6 stu- ster K. Chandrashekar said all precautions sho- minister Sabitha Indra dent, said he will not Rao has directed that uld be taken for the safety Reddy who chaired a allow his wards to attend schools be reopened from of students and teachers. meeting of education offi- regular classes. February 24 and asked Classes from IX to XII cials said if classroom officials to ensure that all have already started func- space is not enough to ■ Page 2: Parents question schools comply with the tioning in the state. accommodate students in state’s about-turn in policy Another TS, AP water row erupts L. VENKAT existing Rajolibanda Dive- ster K. Chandrashekar ion and the Apex Council RAM REDDY I DC rsion Scheme (RDS) to Rao that the AP govern- of the Union ministry of HYDERABAD, FEB. 23 draw additional water wit- ment had started making Jal Shakti against the AP hout obtaining any appro- markings to dig a canal on government and ensure Yet another water row has vals from various govern- the right side of the RDS. that Andhra Pradesh sus- erupted between Telang- ment agencies. This will Official sources in the pends these works. ana and Andhra Pradesh. deny Telangana its right- irrigation department said Though TS is supposed INSIDE The Telangana state gov- ful share and adversely that Rao discussed the to get 16 tmc ft of water ernment took a serious affect the erstwhile issue with officials on through the RDS, it is get- ■ CITY... PAGE 3 view of the AP governm- Mahabubnagar district. Tuesday and directed ting less than five tmc cur- 72 fly abroad with ent launching works to Public representatives them to lodge a complaint rently due to leakages. construct a canal at Rajoli- and farmers of Gadwal and with the Krishna River fake Aadhaars banda village in Kurnool Mahabubnagar districts Management Board, the ■ Page 2: Farmers worry district, in parallel to the complained to Chief Mini- Central Water Commiss- about AP’s parallel project HASTY | STEP State to release data of Covid cases weekly, experts criticise move TS stops daily Covid case updates DC CORRESPONDENT gether 1,625 deaths due to ongoing vaccination drive,” HYDERABAD, FEB. 23 the disease. The GHMC area Dr Rao said. PMO CONDUCTS REVIEW MEETING ON including Hyderabad city “In case of any significant The Telangana government had the highest daily cases development,” the media SUDDEN SPIKE IN CORONAVIRUS CASES will no longer release daily in the state, 24, out of the 114 will be informed,” he said. Covid-19 caseload data and new cases recorded on The decision to do away DC CORRESPONDENT and E484Q — have been information on district-wise Sunday. with the daily Covid-19 bul- NEW DELHI, FEB. 23 detected in Maharashtra new cases as also the num- There are no major letins has left public health and Kerala but there is no ber of people dying from changes in Covid-19 behav- policy experts confused. Amid a spike in coron- direct relation between the Covid-19 in the state. iour or cases in Telangana, “Data collection is a daily avirus cases in the country, recent surge in Covid-19 “Henceforth, instead, a the official said, justifying process of disease surveil- a meeting was held at the cases in these states and weekly bulletin will be the stoppage of daily Covid lance.