Mainstream papers note the tragic Visakhapatnam gas leak that has killed 11 people, hospitalised over 350 and left 20-25 in critical conditions battling for their lives. What also makes headlines are the first flights reaching Kerala as part of India’s massive evacuation plan and the Karnataka government’s U-turn on its decision to not allow migrant workers in Bengaluru to return home.
Pink papers also take note of the Vizag gas leak and Mint reports that no lessons were learnt from the Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984.
The Times Of India’s lead story is on the tragic gas leak in Vizag. The paper reports, “In a predawn disaster on Thursday that revived the horrors of the Bhopal gas tragedy 36 years ago, 11 people died and hundreds fell sick — many of them collapsing on roads and pavements — as they tried to escape toxic styrene vapours leaking from a chemical plant owned by South Korean firm LG in the densely populated Gopalapatnam area of Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam.”
In news about the national capital, ‘Don’t stall resumption of business: Sisodia to officials’. The paper reports, “The Delhi government has conveyed to the bureaucracy that it has to actively facilitate implementation of the relaxations announced by it, in accordance with the Centre’s guidelines, in the third phase of the extended lockdown. It has expressed its displeasure over district magistrates and senior police officers putting additional restrictions for resuming economic activities.”
And in some disappointing Covid-related news, ‘Doubling time worsens to 10.2 days in 1 week’. TOI reports, “India’s doubling rate for Covid-19 cases worsened to 10.2 days over the last seven days with cases increasing rapidly in states like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi though there is better news on the improving recovery rate and the fatality rate at the national level at 3.3%, health ministry data show.”
The Indian Express leads with a heartbreaking picture of a man rushing to a hospital with a child in his arms after the gas leak in Vizag. The report points out that LG Polymers did not have “an environmental clearance for its petrochemical plant…between 1997 and 2019”.
India’s massive evacuation plan just completed its first stretch. In ‘First flights land in Kerala with 363 from UAE’, the paper reports that passengers who landed in Kochi got an “unusual welcome” — they were “ushered in batches into a triage area, where they were made to undergo mandatory health screening”.
A brief report notes Karnataka govt’s U-turn on its decision to send migrant workers home following “severe criticism”.
And in some disappointing news, over 3,000 Tablighi Jamaat members continue to be confined at quarantine centres despite testing negative for Covid and completing the 14-day quarantine period. In ‘Quarantine, tests long over, 3,000 Tablighi members still not released’, it notes that the Delhi department has written to the Union Home Ministry twice seeking directions on their release.
Hindustan Times, too, leads with the gas leak. An accompanying report is on the survivors of the leak — ‘‘I thought I’m dying’: Survivors in shock’.
There is some new intel from Jammu and Kashmir — ‘New J&K terror outfit run by LeT brass: Intel’. The paper reports, “The Resistance Front (TRF), a new terror group that has taken responsibility for major attacks and gunfights in Jammu & Kashmir over the past few weeks, is controlled by three top handlers of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Pakistan, according to an intelligence report submitted to national security planners in New Delhi.”
And this does not help matters at all — ‘India set to lead post-pandemic baby boom: UN’. HT notes, “India will be at the centre of a baby boom triggered by the Covid-18 outbreak”/ “The pandemic could strain health care capacities for mothers and newborns,” the report by UNICEF, released Thursday, warned.
In its Vizag gas leak story, The Hindu reports, ‘Gasping villagers rush out at dawn’. The paper reports, “It was around 3.30 a.m. on Thursday when thick fog engulfed villages in the R.R. Venkatapuram locality. The unusually foggy dawn in summer surprised the early risers, who suspected it was due to a fire accident nearby. But they were caught unawares by the pungent smell and breathlessness.”
The Covid cases only seem to be rising as ‘India registers 3,561 new cases, 89 deaths in a day’. The paper reports, “India registered 3,561 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 52,952. With 89 deaths, the tally mounted to 1,783 on Thursday.”
Meanwhile, “Four States want U.P. labourers to stay”. Hindu reports, “Uttar Pradesh was the first State to announce plans to bring back migrant workers from other States by buses and other means as the lockdown took effect in late March. Now, the Punjab, Karnataka, Haryana and Gujarat Chief Ministers have dialled their U.P. counterpart Yogi Adityanath to prevent the flight of workers and the grounding of economic activity.”
The New Indian Express paints a vivid picture of the Vishakapatnam gas leak in ‘Killer pre-dawn gas leak’. Styrene, “a flammable liquid used to make polystyrene plastics”, leaked in gaseous form and toxic fumes “enveloped five villages” within a 3-5 km radius, leaving many unconscious and causing three to fall in sewage canals and “die on the spot”. It “even left plants discoloured”. Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy announced an ex gratia of Rs 1 crore to the next of kin of the victims, it adds.
A short item notes that for the first time in 41 years, ‘Tamil Nadu has increased the retirement age of government employees from 58 to 59’. The move is seen to “assuage the feelings of its employees, who are unhappy over the recent cost-cutting measures”, the paper adds.
In an alarming anchor report, ‘Just 10% of bank loan-write offs are recovered’, the daily finds that “a sum of Rs. 4,32,584 was written off by public sector banks between 2015-16 and 2018-19. But only Rs. 45, 659 crore…was recovered…in these four years”.
The Tribune’s second lead is disturbing. It notes AIIMS director Randeep Guleria’s prediction that the coronavirus peak “is likely somewhere between June and July, but this can change depending on our response in the next few weeks”.
In a classic cold case being reopened, former Punjab DGP Sumedh Singh Saini and six others have been booked in a 29-year-old case. A brief report, “Ex-DGP booked in 29-year-old case”, says Saini was booked for “alleged abduction, torture and stage-managed elimination of Balwant Singh Multani, son of former IAS officer Darshan Singh Multani”.
In a teaser above the lead, “GOVT STIMULUS IS KEY TO SURVIVAL, SAYS AUTO INDUSTRY”, Mint talks to various “automobile industry stalwarts” who highlighted the need for a stimulus, shifting factories, pushing forward electric vehicle plans and cut fixed costs.
The paper’s lead, “Tragedy Strikes As India Reopens”, calls the Vizag gas leak “one of the deadliest industrial accidents since the Bhopal tragedy of 1984”. But perhaps no lessons have been learnt since then given that the recent tragedy once again raises “the issue of locating factories that handle hazardous chemicals around densely populated settings”.
A tax relief may be in store for individuals who have technically become Indian residents because they have been forced to extend their stay due to the lockdown, making their global income liable to tax in India under the Income Tax Act, notes Economic Times’s lead. This period of overstay could be exempted, it explains. “The US, UK and Australia are among those that have already announced relaxations in this regard”, it adds.
In ‘Costly Labour to Burn Hole in India Inc Books’, the paper notes India Inc and MSMEs feeling the burn from labour shortage as migrant workers return to hometowns. It adds: “Wages for ecommerce delivery and warehouse staff have increased 50-100% so far,… Flipkart and Amazon are shouldering wage increases of 75-100% while Grofers said it was paying 25-50% more.”