82 years of service to the nation PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY FROM GUWAHATI & DIBRUGARH GET IT ON RN-1127/57 TECH/GH – 103/2018-2020, VOL. 82, NO. 123 www.assamtribune.com Google Play ePaper app for The Assam Tribune Pages 12 Price: 6.00 GUWAHATI, FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2020 p2 China flaunts French link to p7 Tripura tops COVID-19 tally p11 11 villages in Cachar brought Wuhan lab in NE with 22 new cases under containment zone COVID-19 cases rise Chemical plant gas leak kills 11, Mask law affects 1000 in Visakhapatnam GUWAHATI, May 7: Not to 53 in State wearing masks while coming out of homes will Community surveillance invite a fine of Rs 500 and a law in this regard will be in villages launched notified by the Assam STAFF REPORTER return from red zone areas, even if asymp- government tomorrow, official sources said here tomatic, will be under facility quarantine till today. – Staff Reporter GUWAHATI, May 7: Eight more per- we are sure that they are not carrying the sons tested positive for COVID-19 in virus,” Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sar- Liquor tax Assam on Thursday, taking the total ma said. GUWAHATI, May 7: The number of cases in the State to 53. This decision will also result in limiting the State cabinet is likely to While four persons tested positive for the number of people entering the State every day. take a decision on hiking liquor tax tomorrow, virus in Guwahati, the other four are from “We will restrict the number of passes eve- Finance Minister Himanta Silchar. Among the COVID-19 positive pa- ry day as we do not have sufficient institutional Biswa Sarma today said, tients from Guwahati, one recently came from quarantine facilities. The number of people who adding that Assam was outside the State and was in home quaran- will be allowed entry every day will depend working with Arunachal tine. The other three had no travel history. on the capacity of the testing labs,” he said. Pradesh and Meghalaya for The four from Silchar were co-passengers So far, passes have been issued to 2,056 an “integrated decision” in of Faridul Islam – who tested positive for the people returning to the State in their own this regard. – Staff virus yesterday – in the same bus on which a vehicles, and passes for another 3,420 are un- Reporter total of 42 people, including seven children, der process. Return journey arrived Silchar from Ajmer in Rajasthan. Yesterday, Faridul Islam, who had visited GUWAHATI, May 7: The latest development has led to several Ajmer Sharif Dargah, reached Silchar along Cancer patients stranded places in the Cachar district headquarters be- with 41 others in a bus that was issued a pass in Mumbai’s Assam ing notified as containment zones. by the administration of the Rajasthan district. Bhavan will begin a return With asymptomatic Faridul Islam testing “It is surprising how the DC allowed 35 journey to the State positive for COVID-19, the Assam govern- adults and seven children to travel in one bus. tomorrow in eight sleeper A young man affected by gas leak being carried to a hospital for treatment, in Visakhapatnam on Thursday. – PTI buses. After reaching here ment has decided to put under mandatory All were sent to home quarantine initially and in three days, they will be quarantine all those arriving from red zone the samples of this person were taken on sus- put under quarantine in areas till they are tested for the novel coro- picion and it turned out to be positive for VISAKHAPATNAM/NEW DELHI, nam’s King George Hospital, police said. factory that was closed during the hotels and COVID-19 tests navirus. As the government has allowed re- COVID-19. Now, the remaining 41 have been May 7: Gas leaked from a chemical plant About 800 people in ground zero, RR lockdown was being prepared for re- conducted on them. – Staff turn of stranded people to their respective brought to facility quarantine and tests are in Visakhapatnam in the early hours of Venkatapuram village in Gopalapatnam, sumption of operations, he said. Reporter states, Assam had been advising home quar- being conducted,” Sarma said. Thursday and quickly spread to villages were evacuated and most needed only About 500 people from 200-250 JEE-Advanced antine for asymptomatic returnees. in a five-kilometre radius, killing at least first aid. families in a three-kilometre radius 11 people and impacting about 1,000, Cries for help broke the silence of the were evacuated to safer places. NEW DELHI, May 7: “However, from now on, all those who SEE PAGE 6 The Joint Entrance many collapsing to the ground as they night and many people fell unconscious Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Examination (JEE- tried to escape the toxic vapours. in their sleep, a villager said. Jaganmohan Reddy has ordered a probe Advanced) for admission to Hours after the styrene gas leak Taking stock of the situation, Prime into the matter, state Director General IITs will be conducted on Govt planning to alter around 2.30 am from the multinational Minister Narendra Modi said he had of Police D Gautam Sawang said. August 23, the HRD LG Polymers Plant at RR Venkatapuram spoken to officials of the Ministry of “How the gas leaked and why the Ministry announced on village near here, scores of people could Home Affairs and the National Disaster neutraliser at the plant did not prove Thursday. The exam was be seen lying unconscious on sidewalks, Management Authority (NDMA). effective in containing the leak will all earlier scheduled to be held State academic year near ditches and on the road, raising “I pray for everyone’s safety and be investigated. Styrene, though, is not on May 17, but was STAFF REPORTER for State schools will be from tives and proposals for the deferred due to the fears of a major industrial disaster. well-being in Visakhapatnam,” Modi a poisonous gas and can be fatal only if coronavirus lockdown. – PTI May 1 to May 31 instead of education sector that includ- Among the dead was a child and two said in a tweet. inhaled in excess quantity,” Sawang said. GUWAHATI, May 7: The July. The summer break ed the proposal of “flexible people who fell into a borewell while President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice The Chief Minister also announced Rs Subsidy Assam government is con- would be partially adjusted in classes” for higher second- fleeing the vapours from the plant, getting President M Venkaiah Naidu also ex- 1 crore each as relief to kin of people killed. GUWAHATI, May 7: The templating on altering the the lockdown period, if not ary second year students. ready to reopen after the lockdown. pressed their distress and condoled the Styrene, a chemical used to make State government has State’s academic year from fully. The government has also “If the COVID situation pre- As rescue officers and police loss of lives. synthetic rubber and resins, affects the announced a subsidy for January 1-December 31 to asked the Board of Second- vails beyond May 31, we will personnel rushed to take people to Addressing a joint press conference central nervous system, throat, skin, the students who are to April 1-March 31 to minimise ary Education, Assam have to take innovative meas- come back to Assam. While hospital and revive them, many people in Delhi in the afternoon National eyes and some other parts of the body. Rs 5,000 will be given to the damage induced by the (SEBA) and the Assam High- ures to start HS second year could be seen gasping for breath as they Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Though the source of the leak was the students coming from COVID-19 pandemic. Float- er Secondary Education classes from June. The students staggered their way to safety, dazed and NDMA officials said 11 people died and contained in the morning itself, the western and southern ing the proposal, the govern- Council (AHSEC) to an- would be allowed to attend disoriented. Some tried to walk but fell 1,000 were exposed ,to the gas. effects were seen for many hours after. India, those coming from ment has sought opinion from nounce the HSLC and HS fi- classes in their nearest HS to the ground in a faint. NDRF Director General SN Pradhan Daybreak revealed the full magnitude north zone will get Rs the State academia, so that a nal year results by mid-June. school or college, irrespective The death toll from the accident could said leakage from the factory had been of the tragedy. 3,000 and those coming concrete decision could be Education Minister of the institution in which he or go up with at least 20 people on reduced to minimal but NDRF Hundreds of villagers, most of them from eastern zone will get taken in the next 15 days. Himanta Biswa Sarma, while she is enrolled,” he said. ventilator support. Besides, 246 people personnel would be at the spot till it is children, suffered from irritation in Rs 2,000. – Staff Reporter The government today also addressing the media, an- with health complications are totally plugged. their eyes, breathlessness, nausea and Military posts notified that summer vacation nounced a number of initia- SEE PAGE 6 undergoing treatment at Visakhapat- The gas leak took place as the plastic rashes. – PTI NEW DELHI, May 7: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today approved abolition of 9,304 posts in Steps taken to face CM seeks suggestions the Military Engineering Service as part of a reform process aimed at enhancing from economic panel combat capability of the floods: Sonowal WORLD armed forces and re- Confirmed cases 3,870,300 STAFF REPORTER storage and other such facili- balance expenditure, STAFF REPORTER Referring to the resumption of construc- ties was the need of the hour officials said.