Leaders detained, won't contest BDC polls: NC - SPLessons

13chandigarh | gurugram | jalandhar | bathinda | jammu | srinagar | vol.3 no.277 | 16 pages | ~4.50 | regd.no.chd/0006/2018-2020 established in 1881

Selja: Tanwar episodehistory, looking to win The Congress is all set to fight pollon the basic issues of bread andbutter with state unit chief KumariSelja claiming these will be differ-ent from 2019 LS poll as regardsvoter preferences. TNS

It’s disadvantage allmain political parties Haryana’s main political partieshave gone into the Assembly elec-tions at a disadvantage, which isweighing them down as campaign-ing gathers pace. TNS

2019

HARYANAELECTIONS

SC to hear PIL on Aareytree felling todayNew Delhi: Converting a letterwritten by a law student onfelling of trees in Aarey colonyin Mumbai into a PIL, Chief Jus-tice of India Ranjan Gogoi hasordered a special sitting of theSupreme Court on Monday totake up the issue. The hearingwill take place despite the factthat the SC is closed forDasehra vacation from October 7 to 12. PAGE 11

IN BRIEF

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, October 6A Cessna plane crashed inthe fields of Sultanpur vil-lage in Vikarabad district ofTelangana, 100 km from thecity, at noon today, killing atrainee pilot and her instruc-tor. The plane had taken offfrom the Begumpet Airportin Hyderabad.

Trainee pilot AmanpreetKaur Sidhu belonged toChandigarh. The instructor,Prakash Vishal, of RajivGandhi Aviation Academy,hailed from Patna. He wasidentified from his ID foundat the crash site. Later,academy officials identifiedboth victims.

Additional SP of VakirabadR Bhaskar said it was rain-ing at the time of themishap. Reports said thecrash occurred after thetrainee pilot lost control

because of high-speedwinds. The plane flipped inthe air and crashed, claimedwitnesses, who informedthe police about the mishap.The SP said the pilots lostradar contact about an hourafter takeoff.

India to receive1st Rafale jet on DasehraNewDelhi, October 6 Defence Minister RajnathSingh will on Tuesday per-form ‘Shastra Puja’ (worshipof arms) on the occasion ofDasehra in Paris where hewill receive the first Rafalefighter jet, officials said.“The Defence Minister willperform shastra puja in Parison the occasion of Dasehra.He has been doing so for lastseveral years, including asUnion Home Minister,” said asenior official.

Rajnath will be leaving forParis on a two-day visit, pri-marily to receive the first of36 Rafale fighter jets on Tues-day when Dasehra coincideswith the foundation day ofthe Indian Air Force. TheDefence Minister will take asortie in the aircraft from anairbase in Paris for first-handexperience. The first batch of

four aircraft will reach Indiaby May next year.

Officials said top militarybrass of France as well as sen-ior officials of Dassault Avia-tion, the makers of Rafale,

would be present at theRafale handing-over ceremo-ny. Sources said a high-levelteam of the Indian Air Forcewas already in Paris to coordi-nate with the French officials

on the ceremony. On October9, Rajnath is scheduled tohold extensive talks with topdefence brass of the FrenchGovernment on ways to fur-ther deepen defence andsecurity cooperation betweenthe two countries.

The sources said the firstsquadron of the aircraft willbe deployed at the AmbalaAir Force station. The India-Pakistan border is about 220km from there. The secondsquadron of Rafale will bestationed at Hasimara base inWest Bengal. The Rafale jetswill come with India-specificmodifications, includingIsraeli helmet-mounted dis-plays, radar-warningreceivers, low-band jammers,10-hour flight data recording,infra-red search and trackingsystems. — TNS/PTI

see also back page

Capt to aid of ailing Kashmiri student

Toll plaza fined ~1.05 lakh per dayTribune News Service

Ropar, October 6Following a delay in the repairof toll road from KiratpurSahib to Una, the PublicWorks Department (CentralWorks) has imposed a penaltyof Rs 1.05 lakh per day onRohan Rajdeep TollwaysLimited. The company main-tains the road on a build, oper-ate and transfer (BOT) basis,and has set up a toll plazanear Kiratpur Sahib. Thecompany was supposed to

continued on page 7

Sushil ManavTribune News Service

Rohtak, October 6It is life as usual as one arrivesat Makrauli Kalan villagethrough the dusty road fromthe Rohtak-Panipat NationalHighway. Ask a villager aboutthe poll scene, pat comes thereply: “Arhey to Hooda hijeetiya karey (Here, only Hoo-da wins the election).”

The twin villages ofMakrauli Kalan and MakrauliKhurd fall in former Chief

Minister Bhupinder SinghHooda’s Garhi Sampla-KiloiAssembly segment, which ispart of Rohtak district as wellas Lok Sabha seat.

Not only has Hooda beenwinning the seat since 2004,

his victory margin too hasbeen impressive. However, themargin has been on the wanewith each passing election.

Hooda was elected for afourth term from the RohtakLS seat in 2004 when the

Congress nominated him aschief minister following theAssembly polls in 2005.

He contested the bypollfrom the seat, vacated by SriKrishan Hooda, and won by1.03 lakh votes with 97 percent vote share. In the 2009election, Hooda won by 72,100votes and his vote share fell to80 per cent. In 2014, too, theformer CM’s victory marginwent down to 47,185 and voteshare to 60 per cent.

continued on page 11

Chandigarh, October 6Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh today cameto the aid of a 24-year-oldKashmiri student sufferingfrom colon cancer by securingtreatment for him at the PGI.

Mujeeb Ahmad Malla, a BBAgraduate from a Jalandhar-based college, had been facing

hardship in receiving treat-ment at the hospital. A distresscall to the Chief Minister’sOffice by Nasir Kheuhami,spokesperson for the J&K Stu-dents’ Association, ensured hegot immediate relief. Afterreturning disappointed fromthe PGI on Saturday, the


Ishfaq TantryTribune News Service

Srinagar, October 6The National Conferencetoday said it would notfight the upcoming BlockDevelopment Council pollswith its top leadership stillunder detention.

After meeting incarceratedparty leaders Farooq Abdul-lah and Omar Abdullah, NCprovincial president Deven-der Rana said his party wouldnot take part in the BDC elec-tions unless all party leaderswere released.

“The NC would strive forthe welfare of the people of

Jammu and Kashmir andshall continue to work forcommunal harmony andbrotherhood,” he told themedia outside Farooq’s resi-dence after he led a delega-tion of party leaders fromJammu to meet the former

Chief Minister. The meetinglasted 30 minutes. The dele-gation then headed for HariNiwas Guest House to meetOmar Abdullah. Asked if theNC would participate in theelections if its leaders were


Dinesh ManhotraTribune News Service

Jammu, October 6As suggested by the partyhigh command, Jammu-based PDP leaders havedeferred their meeting withparty president MehboobaMufti scheduled for Monday.Permission for the meetingwas granted by the Adminis-tration on the request ofPDP’s Jammu leaders.

“We have deferred our Mon-day meeting with the partypresident,” general secretaryof the party, who was to led an18-member delegation, toldThe Tribune. Highly placedsources said the detainedPDP president had conveyedto party leaders that a meetingfor merely discussing BDCselections would send thewrong signal to the masses.Subsequently, an emergencymeeting was held whichdecided to defer the meeting.

The PDP leaders had writ-ten a letter to the Administra-tion, saying they needed to consult their presidentregarding elections to Block Development Councils(BDCs) announced by the authorities.

National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah and wife Molly Abdullah with party leaders at their residence in Gupkar, Srinagar, on Sunday. PTI

15-MEMBER DELEGATION MEETS PARTY CHIEFThe delegation, led by provincial president Devender Rana, was withthe former Chief Minister for 30 minutes. Rana said the party wouldcontinue to strive for people’s welfare and communal harmony

OMAR TAKES SELFIE WITH PARTY MPsA bearded Omar Abdullah clicked a selfie with party MPs JusticeHasnain Masoodi (retd) and Akbar Lone. After the selfie, he returnedto Hari Niwas Guest House, which has been declared a sub-jail

An ‘overdue’ hug from Hasina

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra gets a hug from Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina as former PM Manmohan Singh looks on, in New Delhi. Priyanka had tweeted that a hug from Hasina was ‘overdue’. PTI PAGE 7

Union Defence Minister to perform‘shastra puja’ in Paris, say officials

Chandigarh girl diesin T’gana plane crash


NewDelhi, October 6Alarmed by the recent armsdrop cases in Punjab fromacross the border, the Min-istry of Home Affairs (MHA)has asked border guardingforces, particularly the Bor-der Security Force (BSF),patrolling the InternationalBorder with Pakistan, toexplore all technological possibilities to have anti-drone capabilities.

MHA officials said theinstructions in this regard wasgiven to the chiefs of the bor-der guarding forces during asecurity review meeting,which was chaired by UnionHome Minister Amit Shah.

The direction was given tothem in the backdrop ofalleged use of heavy-dutydrones by Pakistan to dropweapons into India for terror-ists, the officials said, adding

that chiefs of the border guard-ing forces had been asked tospend more time in the fieldwith their units rather than inthe headquarters in Delhi.According to officials, theDirector Generals (DGs) of


Develop anti-droneabilities, forces told

Justice Jha takes oath as 35th CJ of Punjab and Haryana HCChandigarh, October 6Justice Ravi Shankar Jhatoday took over as the 35thChief Justice of the Punjab andHaryana High Court. He wasadministered oath by PunjabGovernor VP Singh Badnore atRaj Bhavan this afternoon.

At a simple but impressiveceremony attended by sittingand retired judges of highcourt, bureaucrats, relativesand advocates, the Chief Jus-tice swore to “bear true faithand allegiance to the Consti-tution of India as by lawestablished”.

Justice Jha replaces ChiefJustice Krishna Murari, who

was elevated as Judge of theapex court last month. JusticeRajiv Sharma was functioningas Acting Chief Justice of Pun-jab and Haryana High Court in

the interregnum. The swear-ing-in, attended by PunjabCM Capt Amarinder Singh,was conducted by Chief Sec-retary Karan Avtar Singh.Besides an array of distin-guished Judges, Punjab Vid-han Sabha Speaker Rana KPSingh, Punjab DGP DinkarGupta, media adviser to Pun-jab CM Raveen Thukral,Advocate-General Atul Nan-da and Chief InformationCommissioner Suresh Arorawere present. UT DGP San-jay Beniwal and UT DeputyCommissioner MandipSingh Brar were present too.


Hooda sway on bastion hard to missGARHI SAMPLA-KILOIBJP looks to spring surprise, fields former INLD rival

BHUPINDER SINGH HOODA

ANYBODY’S GAMECan’t underestimate

BJP candidate. If it getsnon-Jat vote, it may springa surprise. Brij Mohan, A SHOPKEEPERKIRATPUR SAHIB-UNA ROAD NOT RECOATED

■ Rohan Rajdeep Tollways Ltd has been penalised for not layinga renewal coat on the toll road from Kiratpur Sahib to Una

■ The company was supposed to start the work on laying therenewal coat in November last year

■ After getting reminders from the PWD, the contractor agreedto start the work from June 1 but work was done on merely500-metre stretch of the 38-km highway

❝

Parts of the crashed plane in Vikarabad, Telangana.

Leaders detained, won’tcontest BDC polls: NC

PDP leadersdefer meetingwith Mehbooba

Mujeeb Ahmad Malla

ON FRANCE VISIT, RAJNATH TO FLY SORTIE ■ 1st aircraft to be ‘handed over’at Merignac; French

Minister of Armed Forces Florence Parly to attend event■ Rajnath will address CEOs of the French defence indus-

try and urge them to participate in ‘Make in India’■ First squadron of the aircraft will be deployed at the

Ambala Air Force station

ATTENDING TO EVERYONE, EVERYWHEREINFOCUS

NITISH ELECTED JD-UPRESIDENT AGAIN NATION

SHAMI, JADEJA BOWL INDIA TO203-RUN WIN OVER SA SPORT

/thetribunechd /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com monday, october 7,2019

Justice Ravi Shankar Jha

Mumbai, October 6Waryam Singh, former chair-man of Punjab and Maharash-tra Cooperative (PMC) Bank,was today remanded in policecustody till October 9 by the Hol-iday Magistrate’s court here.

Singh, 68, is the fourth per-son to be arrested in connec-tion with the PMC scam.

The court granted Singh’scustody to the city police afterits lawyers submitted that theyneeded to question him overthe sanction of loans to HDILover the past several years.Singh’s lawyers, however, con-tended that he was not incharge of day-to-day opera-tions at the bank and Thomaswas responsible for sanction-ing loans to borrowers. — TNS

PMC Bank ex-chiefin police custody

The direction comes in the backdrop of

reports of armsdropping in Punjab

THE TRIBUNE02 CHANDIGARH | MONDAY | 7 OCTOBER 2019PUNJAB


Chandigarh, October 6Continuing the war of wordsover the joint celebrationsof the 550th birth anniver-sary of Guru Nanak, theCongress today accused theBadal family of creatinghurdles in the occasion.

The SAD counter-attackedthe Congress, saying the par-ty was playing divisive poli-tics by interfering in religious

affairs of the Sikhs. SADSpokesperson Daljit SinghCheema said religious func-tions of the Sikhs had alwaysbeen organised by the SGPC.

Cabinet Ministers Sukhjin-der Randhawa, Tript Rajin-der Singh Bajwa and Cha-ranjit Channi accused SADchief Sukhbir Singh Badalof misleading the people onthe matter. They rejectedSukhbir’s contention that350th anniversary of GuruGobind Singh was celebrat-ed in Patna by the SGPC.They asserted that thedesign of the Badal familywas to get its legitimacyrestored by dominatingover the Guru Nanakanniversary celebrations.

Bajwa said he had joined

Guru Gobind Singh 350thanniversary celebrations atPatna and the function wasorganised under the com-mand of Bihar Chief Minis-ter Nitish Kumar.

The function wasaddressed by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, the thenBihar Governor Ram Nath

Kovind and the then PunjabChief Minister ParkashSingh Badal, besides NitishKumar. The stage was con-ducted by the then PunjabiUniversity vice chancellor DrJaspal Singh. He futher saidthe then SGPC president justpresented vote of thanks.

“These facts are too well-

known to Sukhbir, who,accompanied by his wifeHarsimrat Kaur Badal, satamong the sangat in frontof the stage. Sukhbir isnow purposely spreadingmisinformation as thedesign of the Badal familyis to seek rehabilitationafter having been rejectedby the people in the stateand alienated due to sacri-lege incidents,” he added.

He reminded the Akali Dalpresident that the tercente-nary of the Khalsa in 1999was celebrated by the PunjabGovernment, while GurtaGaddi Divas of Guru GranthSahib at Nanded in 2007 toowas organised by the Maha-rashtra Government.

Randhawa said the Badal

family, in order to maintainhold on the party, was com-mitting a political hara-kiriby dragging the 550thParkash Purb celebrations ofGuru Nanak Dev into a con-troversy every now and then,besides misusing the SGPC.

Randhawa said the Badalsought to have understoodthe significance of thissacred occasion and cooper-ated with the governmentin putting up a united facefor the sake of Punjab atleast on this issue.

Tourism and CulturalAffairs Minister CharanjitSingh Channi said it wasnarrow mindedness of SADpresident, who consideredhimself superior to AkalTakht Jathedar.

Row over celebrations refuses to die downBadal family misleading people: Ministers | Cong govt interfering in Sikh religious affairs: Cheema

GURU’s550THBIRTH ANNIVERSARY

The Congress isplaying divisive politicsby interfering inreligious affairs of theSikhs. Religiousfunctions of the Sikhshave always beenorganised by the SGPC.Daljit Singh Cheema, SAD LEADER

❝ The Badals, in orderto maintain hold on theparty, are committing apolitical hara-kiri bydragging the ParkashPurb celebrations into acontroversy, besidesmisusing the SGPC.

CABINET MINISTERS

❝


Jalandhar, October 6Condemning the politicsover the events related tocelebrations of the 550thbirth anniversary celebra-tions of Guru Nanak Dev,AAP state convener andSangrur MP BhagwantMann on Sunday said thereshouldn’t be feud overstage or events concerningthe auspicious occasion.

While campaigning infavour of AAP candidateSantosh Kumar Gogi across10 villages of the PhagwaraAssembly constituency,Mann said the differencesbetween the Congress andthe Shiromani GurdwaraParbandhak Committee(SGPC) over the functionswere unfortunate.

He said while the Con-gress and the SGPC hadalready announced to setup parallel stages at Sul-tanpur Lodhi, on herrecent visit to the historic

town, Union Minister Har-simrat Kaur Badal said theCongress wanted to ruinthe programmes plannedby the Sikh body.

Taking a dig at both theparties today, Mann said, “Itis shameful that religiousand political leaders arefighting over names onfoundation stones or seatson the stage and draggingsuch a pious occasion intopetty politics.”

On the break-up of SAD-BJP alliance in Harayana,Mann said, “The Akali Dal isindulging in politics of con-venience by siding with theBJP where they have hopesof winning seats even asthey have fallen out with thesaffron party in Haryana.”

Mann said AAP would beholding roadshows on Octo-ber 13 and 14 in Phagwara.He alleged that the Con-gress government had failedto fulfil its promises made tothe people prior to the 2017Assembly elections.

Politicking oversacred occasionshameful: Mann

AAP state convener and MP Bhagwant Mann addresses anelection rally in Phagwara on Sunday. PHOTO: MALKIAT SINGH

Ravi DhaliwalTribune News Service

Dera Baba Nanak(Gurdaspur), October 6Hoteliers of cities located inthe vicinity of Dera BabaNanak are all set to rake in abonanza even as thousandsof tourists are all set to arriveat the Integrated Check Post(ICP) when the corridor willbe thrown open to the publicon November 9.

Intense competition, hightaxes and low occupancyrates had sounded the deathknell of the hotel industry inthe region. However, all thisis bound to change after morethan 15,000 pilgrims startarriving every day at the ICPfrom all parts of the countryand even abroad.

There are reports that notonly Dera Baba Nanak town,but the entire border districtof Gurdaspur will benefit

from religious tourism. Amritsar, which has Golden

temple, Durgiana temple, anairport and a railway junc-tion, will be the main benefi-ciary as a majority of the pil-grims will make a stop-overin the city before proceedingto Kartarpur from the ICPthrough the corridor.

Gurdaspur and Batala willcater to devotees arrivingfrom J&K and HP.

Amarjit Singh Grewal, whois supervising the cere-monies to be conducted inthe run-up to the opening,said, “Once connectivity tothe corridor has been estab-lished, premium hospitalityis always going to be just onestep behind. Spiritual desti-nations like Kartarpur willbe in high demand through-out the year. Political situa-tions will have a bare mini-mal bearing on visitors.”

All four main roads lead-ing from Gurdaspur, Amrit-sar, Batala and Dera BabaNanak to the ICP are on theverge of completion.

“These new highways willact as a catalyst for the hospi-tality industry to set up busi-nesses near the ICP. The onlything is that they will have to

get approval from the DeraBaba Nanak DevelopmentalAuthority. The hotel industrywas floundering but fortu-nately a revival can be seennow with the influx of at least15,000-20,000 devotees everyday,” said Cabinet Ministerand local MLA SukhjinderSingh Randhawa. He claimed

that he had already beenapproached by scores of hote-liers who were keen on stitch-ing up local alliances.

“If hoteliers don’t estab-lish actual businesses, theycan open offices near theICP where transport, dis-counts, incentives and oth-er freebies can be offered,”

said Romesh Mahajan,president, Gurdaspur Dis-trict Hotel Association.

“Concepts like medicaland wellness tourism haveemerged lately in India andit will be safe to say thatreligious tourism too hasalso picked up. The corridoris all set to act as a catalystin hastening this type oftourism,” said Grewal.

With such a huge dailyinflux of tourists, hoteliersare naturally viewing Kar-tarpur as their El Dorado.

“Kartarpur is being viewedas a place where one canencounter, see and experiencethe divine. Like thousandspay obeisance at the GoldenTemple every day, the Kar-tarpur shrine too is expectedto draw a lot of devotees. Andhotels are the first thing thatare needed if we have to caterto them,” he added.

Religious tourism to boost hospitality industryCORRIDOR Amritsar to cater to air, rail travellers | Gurdaspur, Batala to facilitate pilgrims from J&K, HP


Dera Baba Nanak, October 6A day after Union MinisterHarsimrat Kaur Badalridiculed the Punjab Govern-ment for not taking care ofDera Baba Nanak, CabinetMinister and local MLASukhjinder Singh Randhawarubbished her claims and saidthe state had already spent Rs117 crore on initiating a slewof developmental worksahead of the opening of theKartarpur corridor.

The minister said instead ofindulging in a ‘photo op’ atthe corridor site on Saturday,Harsimrat should have takena round of the city to see howthe developmental works hadspruced up the entire area.

“During the 10-year rule ofthe SAD-BJP, the Badals hadconveniently forgotten thetown because it did not suittheir political interests. Now,when the corridor is beingestablished, Harsimrat sud-denly remembers Dera BabaNanak. I fail to understand inwhich capacity she presidedover a meeting of officials ofthe Land Ports Authority ofIndia (LPAI) and the NationalHighways Authority of India(NHAI) at the corridor site.The LPAI and the NHAI arecontrolled by the SurfaceTransport Ministry and notthe Food Processing Ministry,

which she heads. She hascommitted a serious breach ofprotocol. It is better for Har-simrat to set her own house inorder before pointing fingersat others,” Randhawa added.

He said Rs 117 crore givenby the Punjab Governmenthad been spent on bringing innew sewage treatment proj-ects based on the BabaSeecheweal model, upgradingthe Civil Hospital, strengthen-ing the roads leading from thecity to the ICP, installing LEDlights in parks and solar pow-ered lights in streets, develop-ing heritage and food streets,improving power generationand transmission network,and upgrading and shiftingthe bus stand to a new site.

Randhawa said he couldforesee more visits from Har-simrat Badal till the corridoropens on November 9. “Sheknows this is the time to takesome publicity and hence, shewill come more frequently inthe next few weeks,” said theminister. He, however, askedHarsimrat to refrain fromindulging in theatrics.

Spent ~117 cr inDera Baba Nanak,claims minister

Says SAD-BJPdidn’t shell out

even a single pennyin its 10-year rule

NAME AMRITSAR IIM AFTER GURU: HARSIMRAT■ Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Sunday urged HRD

Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal to name the upcoming IIM atAmritsar as Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji 550th Centenary IIM.

■ In a statement, Harsimrat said dedicating the IIM to the Guruwould be a befitting tribute to the institution coming up inPunjab on the occasion of the 550th Parkash Purb.

■ Congratulating Punjabis for the establishment of yet anotherworld-class institute after AIIMS-Bathinda, she said the IIMwas passed in the first Budget of the NDA-1. “After 10 years ofbeing neglected by the UPA government, Punjab finallybecame a priority state and got projects like IIM and AIIMS.”

Fazilka, October 6Akali Dal chief Sukhbir SinghBadal today said Jalalabadwas his constituency and hewould continue to nourish itand contest from there in the2022 Assembly elections.

The SAD chief addressed 12election meetings in the seg-ment. He claimed that theCongress had fielded an out-sider, who had done nothingfor the constituency, while onthe other hand SAD’s RajSingh Dibbipura was honestand hard working.

Sukhbir said when he hadfirst come to Jalalabad, theconstituency even lackedbasic facilities. “See the trans-formation that has taken placein the area since 2009 when Ifirst contested the polls fromhere.” He said Jalalabadcould now be compared withthe most forward constituen-cies in the state. — OC

Cong Jalalabadnominee outsider,says Sukhbir

Ludhiana, October 6Former minister BikramSingh Majithia today chargedthe ruling Congress with let-ting loose reign of terror infour constituencies wherebypolls are to be held.

“The situation prevailing inall four segments, includingDakha in the district, indi-cates that not only voters werebeing threatened but alsodemocracy is in peril,” he said.

Addressing a news confer-ence at SAD candidate Man-jit Singh Ayali’s residence atAyali village, he claimed thatif free and fair elections wereconducted by the govern-ment and election machin-ery, Congress nomineeswould lose their deposits atall four places.

He alleged that barringMukerian, the ruling Con-

gress could not find localcandidates for Phagwara,Jalalabad and Dakhabyelections and all rulingparty nominees were para-chute candidates.

Congress candidate CaptSandeep Sandhu, Adviser toChief Minister, came undercriticism by Majithia, whoalleged that even as an Advis-er, Sandhu had no contribu-tion to the state and he wouldgive similar treatment to vot-ers of Dakha, if elected.

Coming down heavily onthe Congress government,Majithia claimed that all sec-tions of people were feelingcheated by the betrayal ofCongress and its failure tofulfil any of the poll promiseson providing jobs, remissionof farm debts, unemploy-ment allowance. — OC

Cong failed to fulfilpromises: Majithia

Phagwara, October 6In view of the trouble causedfollowing the alleged removaland tearing up of flex boardsof a BSP Candidate by MCstaff on Sunday, the PhagwaraPolice headed by SP Man-winder Singh took out a flagmarch today ahead of the

October 21 Assembly poll. The aim was to give out the

message that the police werecommitted to ensuring a free,fair and peaceful poll.

The SP, DSP and SHOVijay Kanwar led the marchand covered various areasof the town. — OC

Our Correspondent

Phagwara, October 6Activists of the BahujanSamaj Party (BSP) today saton a dharna after MunicipalCorporation staff removedposters of party candidateBhagwan Dass here.

Superintendent of thePolice Manwinder Singhand SDM-cum-ReturningOfficer Latif Ahmed rushedto the spot to pacify theBSP protesters.

In a written complaint, BSPleaders Makhan Singh andParveen Banga said despite aformal sanction of putting up

billboard on 40 poles, the MCemployees tore the 25 flexposters of the BSP candidatein their presence.

The BSP leaders said theiractivists would intensify thestir if no action was taken

against the MC employeesinvolved in the incident.

Additional Deputy Com-missioner-cum-Commission-er Gurmit Singh said theywere investigating the matterand would act accordingly.

■ Special Principal Secretary toCM Gurkirat Kirpal Singh onSunday reviewed thearrangements for the digitallight and sound shows dedi-cated to the 550th Gurpurbof Guru Nanak, which will beheld at 26 places in Punjab.

■ A govt spokesman says adigital museum will be setup from October 7 to 9at the Sector 78 stadium inMohali. The shows will beheld for the next fourmonths and will exhibit thelife history of Guru Nanak.

■ Chief Minister CaptainAmarinder Singh will inau-gurate the show in Mohaliat 6 pm on Monday. Themain event of the lightand sound shows will beheld at Sultanpur Lodhifrom November 1 to 12.

■ Floating light and soundshows will be held at SukhnaLake in Chandigarh and 10districts of Punjab, includingRopar, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana,Jalandhar, Gurdaspur, Moga,Kapurthla, Amritsar, TarnTaran and Ferozepur.

Light and soundshow from today

Light and sound shows will be held at 26 places starting Monday. These will continue till February 10, 2020. TRIBUNE PHOTO

ASSEMBLYBYPOLL

BSP candidate’s postersremoved, protest erupts

The police take out a flag march in Phagwara on Sunday.

BSP activists show torn posters in Phagwara. TRIBUNE PHOTO

Flag march in Phagwara

If hoteliers do not establish actualbusinesses, they can open offices nearthe ICP, where transport, discounts,incentives and other freebies can beoffered... Like thousands pay obeisanceat the Golden Temple every day, theKartarpur shrine too is expected todraw a lot of devotees. And hotels arethe first thing that are needed if wehave to cater to them. Romesh Mahajan,PRESIDENT, GURDASPUR DISTRICT HOTEL ASSOCIATION

❝BIZ OFFICES NEAR ICP

THE TRIBUNECHANDIGARH | MONDAY | 7 OCTOBER 2019 03PUNJAB

Know moreGive a missed call at8080740440

Our Correspondent

Ferozepur, October 6The police have booked eightpersons, including six jailinmates and a woman visitor,following the recovery ofmobile phones and intoxicat-ing tablets from jail premises.

According to information,four persons, including twovisitors, were booked fol-lowing the recovery of 95intoxicating tablets. Theaccused have been identi-fied as Jaswant Singh,Krishna Rani and twoundertrials — SandeepSingh and Chhinder Singh.

Sources said 95 intoxicat-ing tablets were recoveredfrom Jaswant during frisk-ing when he had come tomeet his brother Chhinderon Saturday. A case underSection 42 of the Prison Actwas registered against theaccused at the City policestation. Krishna Rani,mother of Sandeep, was lat-er released on bail.

In another case, threeundertrials and one prisonerwere booked following therecovery of three mobilephones and three SIM cardsduring the checking of theirbarracks. The accused have

been identified as Thomas,Harpreet Singh, Ranjit Singhand Gurmit Singh. Theyhave been booked under Sec-tion 52A of the Prison Act.

On September 24, four jailinmates were booked fol-lowing the recovery of threemobile phones along with98 intoxicating tablets.

When contacted, jail offi-cials said due to the alertnessof the staff, several mobilephones had been seized dur-ing the past two months.

Phones, drugsseized from jailinmates, visitors

Another groundbreaking function for IIM-AmritsarPrevious event was held in May 2017 in ‘presence’ of BJP’s Anil Joshi GS PaulTribune News Service

Amritsar, October 6The Indian Institute ofManagement (IIM), Amrit-sar, has again scheduled agroundbreaking ceremonyfor its permanent campusat Manawala, on the out-skirts of the city.

The chief guest would beUnion Minister of HumanResource DevelopmentRamesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’in the ceremony to be held onOctober 7. The guest of hon-our would be Chief MinisterCapt Amarinder Singh.

Ironically, the same cere-mony was reportedly per-formed by former ministerAnil Joshi in May 2017.

MP Gurjeet Singh Aujlasaid, “It will not be the second,but rather the third ground-breaking ceremony to be per-formed at Manawala. First,during the SAD-BJP regime,former Union Finance Minis-ter Arun Jaitley had laid thefoundation stone of the per-manent campus in June 2016,

followed by another ground-breaking ceremony by formerminister Anil Joshi. Earlier,there were some technicalobstructions against the proj-ect. There was no point inholding the groundbreakingceremony then. Now is the apttime to perform the ceremo-ny,” he said.

Ironically, Punjab’s firstIIM still has a temporarycampus, which is located inthe building of GovernmentPolytechnic College nearthe GNDU. Even as thethird IIM batch has been

inducted, the absence of apermanent campus contin-ues to irk students.

With the students of thethird batch joining this aca-demic session, the strengthhas reached 145.

The tentative cost of the IIMpermanent campus is esti-mated to be Rs 671 crore. Aftermany hiccups, the 61-acreland on the Amritsar-Jaland-har road at Manawala(between Rakhcheeta and Nij-jarpura) was acquired duringthe SAD-BJP regime in 2015.The possession of the 60-acre

land was handed over to IIMSociety on June 18, 2016.

When the detailed projectreport was finalised by the Min-istry of Human ResourceDevelopment, it was found thatthe change of land use certifica-tion had not been obtainedfrom the state government.When it was procured, anotherhiccup arose that an acre ofland was still to be acquiredfrom a farmer for the proposedentry gate towards NH-15.

Former minister Joshicould not be contacteddespite repeated attempts.

<< The land earmarked forthe IIM campus in Amritsar.


Moga, October 6 The police have suspendedthree cops from service againstwhom non-bailable warrantswere issued by the District andSessions Court for not appear-ing as prosecution witnesses ina drug seizure case.

Additional District and Ses-sions Judge Sonia Kinra hadissued warrants against headconstable Kuldeep Singh andconstables Sarwan Singh and

Sukhdev Singh. They were“absconding” after the Pun-jab and Haryana High Courtordered to take them into pro-tective custody for notappearing as prosecution wit-

nesses in a drug seizure casetwo weeks ago. The HC hasalso refused to grant anticipa-tory bail to them.

The police tried to take theminto protective custody as

ordered by the HC, but theyneither reported on duty atthe Dharamkot police stationnor were they found at home.

The Sessions Court had fixedOctober 16 as the next date ofhearing in this case, said advo-cate Balwinder Singh Gill,defence counsel of KakaSingh, a resident of Moga. Hehad moved the HC after his bailwas cancelled for not appearingfor a hearing in the trial court.

Kaka was arrested forallegedly carrying 260 gram

intoxicant powder on April2, 2016, and a case was reg-istered against him underSection 22 of the NDPS Act.

As per the court record, thesaid cops had been skippingcourt proceedings for thepast over two years, thusdelaying the process of trial.

It was due to this reasonthat the HC ordered to takethese cops into protectivecustody so as to ensure thatthey deposed before thecourt for examination.

3 cops suspended for not appearing in drugs case


Chandigarh, October 6KS Pannu, Commissioner,Food and Drug Adminis-tration, said the food safe-ty team had seized 900litres of adulterated desighee from a food businessoperator in Mansa.

The manufacturer wasallegedly involved in mix-ing cooking medium/vanaspati into ghee andwas selling it as desi gheeof various brands. Theteam discovered 13 boxes ofMadhu Sagar Desi Ghee(222 litres), 35 boxes ofKeshav Ghee (550 litres)along with 12 boxes ofDairy King cooking medi-um (125 litres).

The cooking mediumused for blending was aHaryana-made product,said Pannu and added thatit was being looked into asto why the cooking mediumwas procured from theneighbouring state.

Meanwhile, the food safe-ty team took the samples ofghee and cooking mediumand sent it for analysis tothe state lab and sealed thepremises of the operator.

900 litres ofspurious desighee seized

Earlier, there weresome technicalobstructions against theproject. There was nopoint in holding thegroundbreaking ceremonythen. Now is the apt timeto perform the ceremony.Gurjeet Singh Aujla, MP

❝


Ludhiana, October 6Two factory workers diedafter allegedly inhalingsome hazardous chemicalat a factory on the Tajpurroad, Opposite the CentralJail, here on Sunday.

The condition of anotherworker, who too had fallenunconscious, is critical. Thedeceased have been identi-fied as Raju Kumar (30) andRajwinder Pathak (47) andthe injured NaginderKumar (25), Raju’s brother.

Assistant Commissionerof Police Davinder Chaud-hary said the unit of Balra-ma Textile Ltd was closedtoday, but the workers werethere to put some chemicalinto the tank of effluenttreatment plant (ETP). Themoment they poured thechemical into the tank, allthree fell unconscious andwere rushed to CMC Hospi-tal. Two of them weredeclared brought dead bythe doctors there, while thecondition of the third wasstated to be serious.

The ACP said it seemedthat the workers inadver-tently poured excessamount of chemical into thetank due to which theyinhaled the gas.

He said family membersof the deceased were on theway to Ludhiana from UttarPradesh. “If any one ofthem submits a complaintof negligence on part of fac-tory owners, we would initi-ate action,” he said.

Two factoryworkers dieafter inhalingchemical

The workers fellunconscious after theypoured a chemical into

the treatment plant.

OFFICIALS ACCUSED OFSMUGGLING PHONES■ Ropar: A jail inmate hasposted a video clip on socialmedia claiming that officialswere smuggling mobilephones. In the clip, the inmateshowed two mobile phones ina cell, claiming that jail offi-cials were forcing him to sellthese to other prisoners. ■ Jail Superintendent AmrikSingh and Deputy JailSuperintendent Mohan Laldenied the allegations. andclaimed the video was fake.■ Jail Minister SukhjinderSingh Randhawa said hehad already asked theADGP (Prisons) PK Sinha toget an inquiry conductedinto the case. .

NON-BAILABLE WARRANTS WERE ISSUED■ A court had issued non-bailable warrants against head

constable Kuldeep Singh and constables Sarwan Singhand Sukhdev Singh.

■ They were “absconding” after the High Court ordered totake them into protective custody for not appearing as pros-ecution witnesses in a drug seizure case two weeks ago.


Jalandhar, October 6Three Punjabi youth,including two boys and agirl, were killed in a fatalcar accident near Sarnia inOntario, Canada, on earlySaturday morning.

The deceased have beenidentified as Tanvir Singh(19) from Jalandhar,Gurvinder Singh (20) fromTanda and Harpreet Kaur(20) from Gurdaspur. Theywere students of St ClairCollege in Windsor.

As per information, theincident was reported

around 1.30 am on Saturday,when the driver of the carlost control over it. While thedriver escaped death withgrievous injuries, three oth-ers succumbed to theirinjuries on the spot. The

vehicle was on a high speedand it overturned multipletimes before landing on therural road south of Petrolia.The families of the victimsare in a state of shock.

Bhupinder Singh, father

of Tanvir, said his son wentto Canada on a study visa onBaisakhi this year. “Within amonth of reaching Canada,he also managed to find ajob for himself. We used talkon video calls daily,” saidBhupinder, who has a busi-ness of manufacturingleather shoes. Relatives saidhe had taken a loan of Rs 15lakh to send his son abroad.

Tanvir’s body is likely toarrive here on Tuesday,informed Bhupinder, whoalso told that Gurvinder andHarpreet were married andwere natives of Tanda andGurdaspur, respectively.

Wailing family members of Tanvir (inset) who died in a road accident in Canada, at their residence in Jalandhar on Sunday. TRIBUNE PHOTOS

My son went toCanada on a

study visa on Baisakhithis year. Within amonth of reachingCanada, he managedto find a job forhimself. We used talkon video calls daily.

Bhupinder Singh, TANVIR’S FATHER

Deceased studentsof Windsor collegeThe deceased have beenidentified as Tanvir Singh(19) from Jalandhar,Gurvinder Singh (20) fromTanda and Harpreet Kaur(20) from Gurdaspur. Theywere students of St ClairCollege in Windsor.

❝

THE TRIBUNE04 CHANDIGARH | MONDAY | 7 OCTOBER 2019PUNJAB

Parvesh SharmaTribune News Service

Sangrur, October 6Farmers of various villageswitnessed the attack of white-backed plant hoppers (WBPH)on their fully grown paddy andsought help from the Agricul-ture Department. However,the authorities said the situa-tion was not alarming.

“Agriculture Departmentofficials said it usually hap-pens, but it may damage thecrop if action is not takenimmediately to contain it’sspread,” said Gurmale Singh,a farmer from Majha village.

Some other farmers allegedthat they were already underhuge debt and the spread ofanother disease at a time whentheir paddy was fully grownwould multiply their losses.

Farmers of the Lehra areaalleged that they had sprayedpesticides recommended byAgriculture Departmentauthorities, but still theywere facing plant hoppers’attack. They claimed that itwas happening because the

authorities concerned hadfailed to contain the sale ofspurious pesticides.

“We have been receivingcomplaints from farmers ofvarious villages in our areaabout the attack of plant hop-pers on their standing paddycrop,” said DharminderPashore, Lehragaga blockpresident, BKU, Ugrahan.

He alleged that if the pesti-cides used by farmers hadbeen of high quality, the planthoppers would not have

attacked the crops after spray.Sangrur Chief Agriculture

Officer Jaswinderpal SinghGrewal confirmed that thematter was in his knowledge.

“The situation is undercontrol and there is no rea-son to worry. Our teams arevisiting villages and helpingfarmers to prevent thespread of the WBPH. Wehave also been taking actionagainst shopkeepersinvolved in the sale of spuri-ous pesticides,” he said.

Plant hoppers attack standingpaddy in Sangrur villages

Tribune News service

Chandigarh, October 6Local Government Minis-ter Brahm Mohindraaccorded its permission totransfer a 12-kanal plot ofthe Local Bodies Depart-ment at Dune Ke village inMoga district to the HealthDepartment for construc-tion of a 50-bed hospitaland trauma centre.

Keeping in view the prior-ity to provide health servic-es in backward areas, theminister has given a go-ahead to proposal to allotthe prime land free to theHealth Department.

Giving details, aspokesperson said afterreceiving a memorandumseeking a plot for the hospi-tal and trauma centre, theMunicipal Corporation,Moga, had constituted acommittee to select the land.

He said the committee

had selected a stretch of12-kanal land at Dune Kevillage. Of the 12-kanalland, 5 kanals would begiven for a 50 bed AayushHospital and 7 kanal forthe trauma centre.

Earlier, the Municipal Cor-poration abiding by theMunicipal Corporation Act,1976, had put up a proposalto sell the land on the collec-tor rate. Moga MLA Dr Har-jot Kanwal thenapproached Mohindra andapprised him of the need fora hospital and trauma cen-tre in the area. He hadurged the minister to allotthe land free of cost.

Land transferred,50-bed hospital tocome up in Moga

Man commits suicideMuktsar: A beldar in the Irriga-tion Department allegedly com-mitted suicide by hanging him-self from a tree near Gurusarvillage in Gidderbaha subdivi-sion on Sunday. The deceased,Hari Ram, had gone out of hishouse yesterday and when hedid not return, the family mem-bers started his search andfound him hanging this morn-ing. Reportedly, a suicide notehas also been found, blamingtwo persons. The police havestarted investigation. TNS

21-gm heroin seized, 1 held Sangrur: The CrimeInvestigations Agency (CIA),Sangrur, arrested a woman andconfiscated 21 gm of heroin fromher possession on Saturday."Last evening, we arrested Palofrom Cheema road near Sunamand seized 21 gm of heroin fromher possession. We haveregistered a case and startedfurther investigations," said ASIBasant Singh. TNS

5 drug peddlers nabbed Abohar: The police here claims tohave nabbed five drug peddlerson Sunday. The accused wereheld with contrabands - TejwantSingh Banwala with 5 kg of poppyhusk, Rajinder Singh Jandwalaand Gurmeet Singh of Lambi with10 kg of poppy husk, Truck driverPratap Singh with 1,050 habitforming sedative tablets andRam Kumar Dhauli of Bhagsarvillage with 500 banned tablets.In other raids, police seized 35bottles of Haryana made liquorfrom Chhinderpal Singh and 30bottles from Jagdish Kumar ofKhatwan village. OC

3 killed in highway accident Abohar: Three persons werekilled as a truck collided withanother truck on the Srigangana-gar-Bikaner highway on Sunday.The deceased were identified asOm Parkash Bishnoi of Bikaner,Mushtaq Ahmad Lone of Shopi-an and his assistant Ajaz AhmadButt of Kulgam in south Kashmir.The truck having a J&K registra-tion number was transportinginterlocking cement tiles fromHanumangarh to Bikaner.Whereas, the other truck drivenby Bishnoi was carrying booksand stationery from Jodhpur tobe delivered in Amritsar. OC

BRIEFLY

Three killed in Canadamishap, families in shock

Our Correspondent

Ferozepur, October 6The district administrationhas launched a project‘Green Tribute’ with thehelp of Hindustan Petrole-um Corporation Limited(HPCL). The objective is topay tribute to the gallantmartyrs, who sacrificedtheir lives for the sake of motherland.

As many as 3,000 saplingsof ornamental trees arebeing planted on the 11.2-km-long stretch along thenational highway leading tothe National Martyr’sMemorial, Hussaniwala.

DC Chander Gaind saidHPCL, as part of its CSR ini-tiative, had provided a grantof ~22 lakh for planting 3,000saplings of amaltas andjacaranda. He said specificstretches on the road hadbeen allotted to various non-government organisationsand educational institutions.

Principal-director ofDefence Estates SC Kaushikalong with Ferozepur MLA(urban) Parminder Singh

Pinki launched the drive in the presence of hundredsof school students, NGOsand officials of the Forest Department.

Kaushik said it was aunique way of paying trib-ute to the martyrs. It wouldgive a loud message for envi-ronmental protection andincreasing green cover inthe state. He said thousandsof saplings had already beenplanted in the Cantonmentarea and this initiative

would add to the glory ofthis historic place. “Sincelarge number of peoplecome to visit the Indo-Pak-istan joint check post to wit-ness the Retreat ceremonyand National MartyrsMemorial, it will be wise toadd more greenery on bothsides of the road to charmthe visitors, who come hereto pay obeisance in Hus-sainiwala,” said Pinki.

“It will add to the grandeurand legacy of this ‘Land ofMartyrs’ where people havebeen selflessly guarding thecountry since ages,” saidDaman Singh, CEO of theCantonment Board. “I thinksacred places like Hussaini-wala Memorial deserves abetter deal, and the least wecan do is to plant moresaplings here,” said PankajSharma, advocate.

Kanwardeep Singh, Dis-trict Forest Officer, said hisdepartment would provideall help to ensure thesaplings develop into largeshady trees for which“watch and ward” would becarried out regularly.

Green tribute to martyrs,3,000 saplings planted

Minister BrahmMohindra gave a

go-ahead to allot theprime land to Health Dept

The mangled remains of thevehicles that met with accident onSriganganagar-Bikaner highway.


Chandigarh, October 6The state government hasbeen delaying the appoint-ment of the new Vice-Chancellor of MaharajaRanjit Singh TechnicalUniversity in Bathinda. Ithas been over five monthssince the applicationsinvited by the Departmentof Technical Education toappoint the Vice-Chancel-lor have been lying pend-ing with the department.

As a result, the state gov-ernment has twice givenextension to the presentincumbent Dr MPS Ishar,with the last extensiongiven ahead of the parlia-mentary elections heldearlier this year.

After being appointed asVice-Chancellor in April2015, Dr Issar on complet-ing his three-year term,was given one-year exten-sion in April 2018. As appli-

cations were invited forappointing new VC, DrIssar was given anotherextension till the freshappointment was made.

Technical Education Min-ister Charanjit Channi saidthe governing body meet-ing of the university hadbeen called for givingapproval to the screeningcommittee to finalise bestsuitable candidates fromamong the applicants.

State govt ‘delaying’appointment oftechnical varsity VC

The governing bodymeeting ofthe techuniversityhas beencalled forgiving approval toscreening committee tofinalise best suitablecandidates from amongthe applicants.Charanjit Channi, MINISTER

❝


Sangrur, October 6To give a push to the Con-gress government cam-paign against stubble-burn-ing, Education and PWDMinister Vijay Inder Singlatoday invoked religion andasked farmers of the districtto pay tribute on the 550thParkash Purab by shunningthe practice of burningstubble this year.

The district AgricultureDepartment authorities onSunday organised a dis-trict-level training camp forfarmers to give them aknow-how on using latestmachines. Also, 14 farmerswere honoured for having

shunned the practice forthe last many years.

“I request all farmers to paytribute on the 550th Parkash

Purab by not burning stubblethis year. Our governmenthas launched various cam-paigns to help farmers man-age paddy stubble withoutburning,” said the ministerwhile addressing farmershere in the grain market.

Appeal of the ministerappears to have some influ-ence on the adamant farmers.“We don’t want to burn stub-ble, but we are compelled todo it as we have no otheralternative. However, I think,we should pay tribute toGuru Nanak by saying no tothe practice this year,” saidSatwant Singh of Mangwalvillage. Figures of the depart-ment show that during 2018-19 financial year (FY), the

Agriculture Departmentauthorities had provided asubsidy of ~14.10 crore to1,307 farmers to purchasemulcher, happy seeders, rota-vators, zero drill and othermachines to dispose of thestubble without burning.During the current financialyear, authorities havereceived a total of 701 applica-tions to avail subsidy.

“Our government is serious-ly working hard to launch therequired techniques to helpfarmers dispose of the stubblewithout burning. Our CM CaptAmarinder Singh has even vis-ited some countries to under-stand the techniques theyhave adopted to resolve theissue,” said minister Singla.

Use tools to manage straw, farmers told

PWD Minister Vijay Inder Singlaat a training camp in Sangrur.

We have been receiving complaints from farmersof various villages in our area about the attack of planthoppers on their standing paddy crop. It’s surprisingthat despite spray, pests have attacked crops.

Dharminder Pashore, LEHRAGAGA BLOCK PRESIDENT, BKU, UGRAHAN

❝

Fit citizens, fit nationAbohar: While celebrating Gandhi Jayanti, NCC cadets, stu-dents and teachers of SGJ DAV Senior Secondary PublicSchool organised a 2-km “Fit India” plog run through the his-toric Haripura village. The place was visited by Guru NanakDev along with Bala and Mardana during his first Udasi andlater by Guru Gobind Singh after the Battle of Muktsar. Princi-pal Sukhdev Singh said the campaign signified two aspects –“swasth” and “swachhata”. He said the run was a part of theFit India movement. “We have banned plastic material in theschool and expect parents to follow the suit,” he said. Thestudents collected plastic waste from streets in both villagesand motivated people to shun its use.

Go green, go plastic-freeFatehgarh Sahib: In pursuance with the campaignagainst the use of plastic, Dr Parshant Goyal, DeputyCommissioner, and Amneet Kondal, SSP, recently led amovement by involving officers and students for collect-ing plastic waste littered on the roadsides. The aim wasto motivate people to shun the use of plastic. They calledupon NGOs and residents to come forward to create gen-eral awareness to avoid the use of plastic to save envi-ronment. They said without the participation of people,

nothing concrete could be achieved. They also distrib-uted environment friendly bags among the residents.

Reaching out to poorAmritsar: Going a step ahead, management of GurdwaraSadh Sangat Kartar Nagar on Sunday organised a free med-ical camp for patients of neurology and spinal injuries. Nor-mally, free medical camps of general ailments are held. Peo-ple from economically weaker sections often struggle to getdiagnosis for such ailments. Gurdwara committee presidentBalwant Singh said the objective of the camp was to providefree of cost diagnostic tests and some medicines to thepatients. He stated that 175 people benefited from the camp.

NGO with a visionFazilka: An NGO, Social Welfare Society, has been able tomotivate 427 families to donate the eyes of their lovedones after their passing away. The society was recentlyhonoured by WHO-recognised Punarjot Eye Bank Societyof Ludhiana for its contribution towards helping the visual-ly challenged in this border belt. Society president ShashiKant said the society had got the consent from 427 fami-lies since 2007, to make 852 curable blind to see theworld. He said on call, the society arranged to take theeyes of the deceased within five hours after his demise,preserved it, send it to the eye bank free of cost.

Special chairs for Badal brothersMuktsar: During his tenure as Chief Minister, ParkashSingh Badal used to sit on a special chair during his tourof the Lambi Assembly constituency. There are two suchchairs made by a former SHO of Lambi police station.These chairs followed Badal wherever he went in the con-stituency. The then CM was often seen sitting on thatchair during his Sangat Darshan programmes. After theSAD was thrown out of power in 2017, the chairs lost rele-vance and were kept at Lambi police station. The USP ofthe chairs is these are broad and perfect to suit Badal’sheight. A bend has been made in the front portion of theseat to make it more comfortable. On Sunday during areligious ceremony at Lambi police station, not just Badalbut his younger brother Gurdas too got the same chair. Onthis, locals said, “Badal is back on the CM’s chair.”

Punjab Diary

Ex-CM Parkash Singh Badal and his younger brother Gurdas Badal siton specially designed chairs at the Lambi police station on Sunday.

NCC cadets, students and teachers of SGJ DAV Senior SecondaryPublic School take part in plogging at Abohar village. TRIBUNE PHOTO

Administration and police officials collect plastic waste fromthe roadsides in Fatehgarh Sahib. TRIBUNE PHOTO

CONTRIBUTED BY RAJ SADOSH, SURINDER BHARDWAJ, NEERAJ BAGGA, PRAFUL CHANDER NAGPAL & ARCHIT WATTS

Officials at the launch of project‘Green Tribute’ in Ferozepur.

THE TRIBUNE CHANDIGARH | MONDAY | 7 OCTOBER 2019 05

THE TRIBUNE06 GURUGRAM | MONDAY | 7 OCTOBER 2019DELHI

In remembrance of our beloved mother

Mrs. Urmil Kaushik W/o Late Mr. H.R.

Kaushik P.C.S. (Judicial), Who left us

two years ago on this day. Cherishing

her sweet and fond memories.

R.K. Kaushik IAS

Ashok Kaushik Sons

Chetan Kaushik

Mrs. Nandini Kaushik Daughter-in-Law

Dr. Aashita, Ishani, Vaibhav Grand Children

9814001762 DI-94661

2nd Death Anniversary

}

4-time Cong legislator Sawhneyjoins AAP, in ‘nation’s interest’Was MLA from Chandni Chowk constituency for 17 yearsNew Delhi, October 6 Four-time Congress MLAParlad Singh Sawhneyjoined the Aam Aadmi Par-ty on Sunday in presenceof Delhi Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal. Sawhney(68), said he was impressedby AAP's work and wherev-er he went, he heard of thedevelopment work done bythe party.

Sawhney, who was a closeaide of former Delhi ChiefMinister Sheila Dikshit,said he had not joined theparty for a ticket to contestthe Assembly polls nextyear but to work for thedevelopment of Delhi.

Welcoming him in theparty, Kejriwal said he wasextremely happy thatSawhney joined AAP withhis team.

"There are a lot of goodleaders in other parties whoare looking towards AamAadmi Party. I wholeheart-edly welcome Parlad Sawh-

ney ji and appeal to all thegood leaders of the country,irrespective of the partythey belong to, to join AAPin the interest of thenation," Kejriwal said,adding that, "AAP startedas a movement and therewere times when after com-ing to power parties losttheir vision but that is not

the case with AAP. We havedone revolutionary worksince assuming office."

AAP Rajya Sabha Mem-ber of Parliament and DelhiAssembly election in-charge Sanjay Singh wasalso present at the occa-sion. He said he hopedSawhney would be a pillarof strength to the AAP as he

had been to the Congress. Sawhney was MLA from

Chandni Chowk Assemblyfrom 1998 till 2015. In2015, he was defeated byAAP candidate Alka Lam-ba. Former Congresscouncillor, three Congressblock presidents alsojoined the party alongwith Sawhney. — PTI

There are a lot ofgood leaders in otherparties who are lookingtowards Aam AadmiParty. I wholeheartedlywelcome Parlad Sawhneyji and appeal to all thegood leaders of thecountry, irrespective ofthe party they belong to,to join AAP in the interestof the nation.

Arvind Kejriwal, DELHI CHIEF MINISTER

❝

Ex-Congress MLA Parlad Singh Sawhney joins AAP in presence ofCM Arvind Kejriwal and party leader Sanjay Singh. MUKESH AGGARWAL

AAP strategy revolves around lies: JavadekarNew Delhi, October 6 Attacking Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal for hisremarks on the NRC, seniorBJP leader PrakashJavadekar has said the peo-ple understand that theexercise is very importantas no country can allow ille-gal infiltrators to stay, andasserted that his partywould repeat the success ofLok Sabha polls in DelhiAssembly election.

Last month, Kejriwal hadsaid if the National Registerof Citizens (NRC) is imple-mented in Delhi, it is theBJP city unit presidentManoj Tiwari who will haveto leave the Capital first.This drew sharp reactionfrom the BJP. "Only Kejriw-al has confusion over NRC.This is the understandingof the Delhi Chief Minister.But it is not what peopleunderstand, they know thatno country allows illegalinfiltrators to stay. There-fore, the NRC is very much

important," said Javadekar. He said Home Minister

Amit Shah has alreadymade it clear that the Citi-zenship Amendment Billwill be passed. The Billseeks to amend a 1955 law togrant citizenship to Hindus,Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains,Parsis and Christians fromthe Muslim-majoritynations of Bangladesh,

Afghanistan and Pakistan ifthey have lived in India forsix years. It had been passedby the previous Lok Sabhabut was not tabled in RajyaSabha. The bill lapsed afterthe term of the previous LokSabha ended in May but wasnot introduced in the Bud-get Session in July.

Javadekar alleged theAam Aadmi Party's strategy

revolves around lies andtaking credit for otherswork, and said the BJPwould get a "huge mandate"in Delhi Assembly elec-tions, due early next year.After its resounding victoryin May 2014 in all seven LokSabha seats in Delhi, theBJP could not repeat it inthe Assembly poll and gotjust three seats out of 70.

"This time it (BJP repeat-ing its 2019 Lok Sabha pollsperformance in the Delhistate Assembly elections)will happen," the UnionMinister said replying to aquery. In the 2019 Lok Sab-ha polls, the BJP won allseven seats garnering near-ly 56 per cent of the totalvotes polled, while the AAPwas relegated to the thirdposition.

Asked whether the BJPwill name its Chief ministe-rial candidate in Delhi, hesaid the party has notdeclared any face yet andthat it is a matter related topoll strategy. "It's state spe-cific. We have announced inMaharashtra and Haryana.So, somewhere weannounce, somewhere wedo not announce. It is notbecause they (DevendraFadnavis and ML Khattar)are incumbent, but becauseit is strategy. Strategyshould not be confusedwith policy," he said. — PTI

■The Bill seeks to amend a 1955law to grant citizenship to Hin-dus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains,Parsis and Christians from theMuslim-majority nations ofBangladesh, Afghanistan andPakistan if they have lived inIndia for six years

■It had been passed by theprevious Lok Sabha but wasnot tabled in Rajya Sabha.The Bill lapsed after the termof the previous Lok Sabhaended in May but was notintroduced in the Budget Ses-sion in July

Man poses as ISRO scientistto marry Delhi PhD sudentNewDelhi, October 6 A PhD student in Delhi hasalleged her husband hadimpersonated an IndianSpace Research Organisa-tion scientist to marry herand she found about his liesafter tracing his location toGurugram through theirshared Netflix account, thepolice said on Sunday.

She also found that theman was already married toanother woman, they said.The man and his family havebeen absconding after his lieswere busted.

In her police complaint reg-istered on October 1, thewoman alleged Jitenderposed as an Indian SpaceResearch Organisation scien-tist before her family andmarried her. He claimed hehad an MTech degree fromIIT-Kharagpur and showedthem bogus documents toprove he had worked in theDefence Research and Devel-opment Organisation as a sci-

entist, before joining the Indi-an Space Research Organisa-

tion, a police official said. The woman's family had vis-

ited Jitender and his family inRewari before the marriage,he said. After the wedding inMay, Jitender claimed he wasgoing to join American spaceagency National Aeronauticsand Space Administration totrain as an astronaut.

The woman's fatherdropped him at the airportand after returning from theUS, he told the woman hewas going to Bangalore forwork. But his wife found thathe was using Netflix from alocation in Gurugram, theofficer said. When confront-ed, Jitender disclosed he wasunemployed and was alreadymarried. He did not visit theUS or Bangalore and was inGurugram the whole time,the officer added.

A dowry case has been reg-istered against him in Rewariand divorce proceedings withhis first wife are underway,the police said. — PTI

■ The accused, Jiten-der, posed as anIndian SpaceResearch Organisa-tion scientist before herfamily and married her

■ He claimed that he hadan MTech degree fromIIT-Kharagpur

■ Showed them bogus doc-uments to prove he hadworked in the DRDO as ascientist, before joiningthe Indian SpaceResearch Organisation

■ After the wedding, Jiten-der claimed he wasgoing to join NASA totrain as an astronaut

■ He told the woman hewas going to Bangalorefor work. But his wifefound that he was usingNetflix from a location inGurugram

FALSE PLAY

Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari and LOP Vijender Gupta at apress meet in New Delhi on Sunday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: MUKESH AGGARWAL

KNOW CITIZENSHIPAMENDMENT BILL

Man wantedin Arms Actcase arrested NewDelhi, October 6 The Delhi Police’s Special Cellhas arrested a 38-year-old manfrom Mangolpuri who waswanted in a case registeredagainst him under the ArmsAct, an official said on Sunday.

The accused, Ajay Gautam,is a resident of Mainpuri inUttar Pradesh. He was carry-ing a reward of ~50,000 on hisarrest, they said. His twoaccomplices, Ranjeet Singhand Nakshe Lal, were arrest-ed on April 29 and 30firearms including 29 pistolswith five magazines and onesmall rifle was seized fromthem, the police said, addingGautam was on the run sincethen. A non-bailable warrantwas also issued against Gau-tam in this case. But aftertwo months, Gautam startedsmuggling firearms in DelhiNCR and adjoining states ofUttar Pradesh and Haryanathrough his network, saidDeputy Commissioner ofPolice (Special Cell) PSKushwah. — PTI

17-year-old youth killed over monetarydispute in Rajouri Garden, owed ~3LNewDelhi, October 6 A man and his two sonswere arrested for allegedlybeating to death a 17-year-old boy and injuring hisfather in west Delhi'sRajouri Garden after anintense fight over a mone-tary dispute, the police saidon Sunday.

Shiv Charan and his sonsSushil and Amit beat Surajand his 52-year-old fatherDhruv Chand Pathak withbatons and a gas cylinder onSaturday evening after Pathak

asked them to pay the moneythey owed him, they said.

The police said they receivedtwo calls about the incident.On reaching the spot, theyfound the two sides had anintense fight, according toDeputy Commissioner of

Police (West) Deepak Purohit.The injured were first taken

to a nearby hospital but thenshifted to Deen Dayal Upad-hyay Hospital, he said, addingSuraj died during treatment.

Pathak said Charan owedhim ~3 lakh. He said he offered

Charan to pay him in install-ments, after which he paid him~1.7 lakh in September.

On Saturday, Charan camewith his two sons to Pathak'soffice in Raghubir Nagar,Rajouri Garden, at 6.30 pmand tried to negotiate the out-standing amount.

"I gave them a discountand told them to at least payhalf the remaining amount.But they got angry, hurledabuses and took batons andstarted thrashing me and myson," Pathak said. — PTI

Hit by DTC bus, 1 dies, 3 hurtNew Delhi, October 6 A DTC bus rammed intomultiple vehicles as it tookan abrupt turn after jumpinga red light and in West Del-hi's Sagarpur, killing oneperson and injuring three,police said on Sunday.

They said the incident tookplace on Saturday nightwhen the bus was on its wayto Uttam Nagar. It hit sixvehicles which included twotwo-wheelers and four cars.

The police said the driver,Anil Singh (42), was arrest-

ed from the spot. He toldthe police that the bus hitthe vehicles because of abrake failure.

Preliminary investigationsrevealed that the driverjumped the red light and hitthree motorbikes comingfrom the opposite side.

The two-wheelers — a scoot-er and a motorcycle — cameunder the bus, police said.

They said four peoplewere injured and rushed tothe DDU Hospital whereSumit (39) died during treat-

ment, the officer said. A case has been registered

and a mechanical inspec-tion of the bus will be car-ried out to verify the claimsof the driver, said DeputyCommissioner of Police(West) Deepak Purohit.

Two people — Munni Deviand her son Ajay Singh —were later discharged fromthe hospital, they said. Pra-soon Rawat suffered injurieson his back and limbs and isbeing treated at the hospital,the officer added.— PTI

Three snatchersheld in west Delhi New Delhi, October 6 Three persons have beenarrested from West Delhi'sMayapuri area for theirinvolvement in more than 100cases of snatching in the Cap-ital, officials said on Sunday.

Raja, Ashu and SheikhNasir, all residents ofJahangirpuri, used to sellsnatched mobile phones inWest Bengal, from wherethese items were being sent toBangladesh, the police said.

Two stolen motorcycles, asmany scooters and 17snatched mobile phones wererecovered from them, thepolice said, adding that effortswere being made to recovermore snatched mobile phones.

"Keeping in view of snatch-ing incidents in the area, aspecial anti-snatching picketwas installed near MayapuriDepot on Saturday to check

vehicles coming from Maya-puri Chowk towardsSagarpur to curb streetcrimes," Deputy Commis-sioner of Police (West) Deep-ak Purohit said.

During checking at about5 pm, the three accusedcame at the picket on ascooter. When the picketstaff asked them to stop,they tried to escape. But, allof them were apprehended,the officer said.— PTI

New Delhi, October 6 The Delhi Police have arrest-ed a 36-year-old Kenyanwoman from Mumbai whowas absconding for the last 10months in connection with acase of drug trafficking, offi-cials said on Sunday.

The woman, Mariam, aliasMweke, was carrying areward of ~50,000 on herarrest, the police said.

She was on the run in a caseof seizure of 7.5 kg heroinfrom three drug traffickers ofAfrican origin. After jumpingthe bail in the case about 10months ago, she had madeher hideout in Mumbai andagain indulged in drug traf-ficking with the help of herother associates, they said.

Mariam was arrested fromDelhi along with her associ-ates Ekene and Martin onJune 25 in connection withthe incident, they said. A teamwas sent to Mumbai after thepolice found that Mariam wasliving in a densely populatedarea of Naginpada in Palghardistrict, said Deputy Commis-

sioner of Police (Special Cell)PS Kushwah.

The accused disclosed thatafter jumping bail, she was hid-ing in an unknown place. Sheshifted to Mumbai about twomonths back where she wasinvolved in drug smuggling bytaking consignments from Del-hi-based African-origin drugtraffickers, the officer said.

She came to India in 2016on a tourist visa for a period ofthree months and overstayedher visa. She used to do oddjobs with the help of herfriends of African origin inDelhi, the officer added. Lat-er, she came into contact witha Kenyan national - ObumFavor, who was indulged inheroin smuggling. — PTI

A special anti-snatching picket is installednear Mayapuri Depot onSaturday to check vehiclescoming from MayapuriChowk towards Sagarpurto curb street crimes.

Deepak Purohit, DCP

❝

I gave them a discount and told them to at leastpay half the remaining amount. But they got angry,hurled abuses and took batons and startedthrashing me and my son.

Dhruv Chand Pathak, VICTIM’S FATHER

❝

Kenyan woman heldfor drug trafficking

After jumping the bailin the case about 10months ago, she madeher hideout inMumbai and indulgedin drug trafficking

Gold worth ~45Lseized at airportNewDelhi, October 6

An Afghan national hasbeen arrested at Delhi air-port for allegedly smugglinggold worth over ~45 lakh byhiding it in his footwear, anofficial said on Sunday.

The foreigner, who arrived atthe IGI Airport from Kabul onFriday, was intercepted by theCustoms officials. A detailedpersonal and baggage searchresulted in the recovery of twocut pieces of gold bars, saidthe police. — PTI

Man shot atby assailants New Delhi, October 6 A 38-year-old man wasrobbed allegedly after beingshot at by three bike-bornemen at a Mother Dairy boothrun by him in North EastDelhi's Karawal Nagar area,the police said on Sunday.

Nahar Singh sufferedinjuries to one of his ears.He is stated to be out of dan-ger, they said. — PTI

■ To lessen the impact of pollution this Diwali, greencrackers with 30 per cent less emissions will now beavailable in the Delhi-NCR market.

■ Buyers will have to lookout for a green logo as well

as a QR coding system, which have been developedfor differentiation of green crackers.

■ Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has also floated the idea of citydwellers meeting at one place. PTI

Idea of Green Diwali sees light of day

THE TRIBUNECHANDIGARH | MONDAY | 7 OCTOBER 2019 07NATION

Q. I am a retired pensioner whopurchased a plot for ~2.20 lakh on21.2.2015 with stamp duty of~13,200 and sold for ~10 lakh on26.10.2018. In November 2018, Istarted construction of the houseon another plot and got a loan for~10 lakh jointly with my son who isalso working. During the year Igot/used loan for ~8,43,829 fromour loan account in addition toprocessing charges etc. for~12,450. The amount (~10 lakh),which I got by selling the plot, wasput in a capital gains account and Ispent around ~4.5 lakh during theyear. Kindly let me know whetherI am entitled to tax relief on loanobtained from bank accountwith interest and money spentfrom capital gain account. Canmy son also get relief?

— RL ChaudharyA. You have not clarified inthe query whether theamount of entire sale con-sideration in respect of theplot which was purchasedon 21.2.2015 had beendeposited under the capitalgain scheme account beforethe due date of filing theincome-tax return for thefinancial year 2018-19. Pre-suming that the deposit wasmade before the said date,you are required to utilisethe amount depositedunder capital gain scheme

account towards the con-struction of a residentialhouse within three yearsafter the date of sale of theplot. It would, therefore, beadvisable for you to utilisethe balance amount of ~5.50lakh lying in the bankunder capital gain schemetowards construction of theresidential house withinthree years after the date ofsale. You would be entitledto claim an exemption inrespect of the amount ofcapital gain arising on thesale of the plot provided theabove condition is met. Theamount of interest paid onthe loan raised for the con-struction of the house shallbe deductible while com-puting the income fromhouse property to theextent of ~2 lakh. Theamount of interest paid dur-ing the construction periodshall be allowable in fiveequal instalments begin-ning from the year in whichthe income from houseproperty arises. Your sonwould not be entitled toclaim any deduction as theamount of capital gain is inrespect of the plot whichwas sold was in your name.The plot on which construc-tion has been undertaken is

also in your name as is evi-dent from the query.

Q. I am a super senior citizen andpensioner. I file my income taxreturn regularly. I want to help myson send his daughter to a foreigncountry for studies. My son is anemployee of LIC and is anassessee. The amount will be inlakhs. Kindly advise as to how thismonetary help will be shown in theaccounts of my son and myaccounts. Can it be treated as gift?

— Sant SinghA. The amount paid by you toyour son would be treated asa gift to your son. However,such a gift would not be exi-gible to income-tax in view ofthe exemption providedunder the provisions of Sec-tion 56(2)(x) of the Income-tax Act 1991 (The Act).

Q. It is often advised that an

assessee can claim rebateunder Section 80D sub-section2(c) of the whole amount paidon account of medical expendi-ture incurred on the health ofthe assessee or any member ofhis family not exceeding inaggregate ~30,000 (~50,000 incase of senior citizens). Section80D also provides that such pay-ment is made by any mode asspecified in sub-section 2(B).Sub-section 2(B) provides:(i) Any mode, including cash, in respect of any sum paid on account of preventive health check-up;(ii) Any mode other than cash,in all other cases not fallingunder clause (i).My query is:(a) Whether cash memosobtained from the chemists forpurchase of medicines as perdoctor’s prescriptions areadmissible for claim during the

previous year under abovesub-section 2(B)(ii)?

— Gurdev Singh A. Cash memos obtainedfrom the chemists for pur-chase of medicines will beconsidered for the purposesof deduction underSection 80D of the Act inrespect of preventive healthcheck-up only. In case thededuction is claimed to theextent of ~50,000 for medicalexpenditure, the paymentshould be made by a modeother than cash. It may benoted that deduction towardsmedical expenditure to theextent of ~50,000 is allowableto a senior citizen.

Q. Kindly advise on the following:a) I have FDs which give me inter-est of nearly ~1,20,000 annually.b) My agriculture land gives meannually ~1,40,000.c) I earn approximately ~1,10,000by giving tuitions to children.d) I have transferred my house tomy daughter legally.e) I am a senior citizen aged73 years. With the latestincome-tax rules i.e. up to aincome of ~5,00,000, noincome-tax is leviable.Kindly advise me whether I amrequired to file income-taxreturn or not for the FY 2019-20onwards. Till now I have been fil-

ing the income-tax return as Iwas getting rental income fromthe house. Now the house hasbeen transferred to my daughterlegally, I have no rental income. Itransferred the house in mydaugher’s name on 11.02.2019.

— Hardial Singh GillA. On the basis of the figuresgiven in the query, the totaltaxable income works out at~2,30,000 as the agriculturalincome of ~1,40,000 isexempt. In view thereof,your total taxable incomebeing much below ~3 lakh,you would be required to filethe tax return provided:

(a) You have depositedan amount or aggregate ofthe amount exceeding ~1crore in one or more cur-rent accounts maintainedwith a bank.

(b) You have incurred anexpenditure of an amountor aggregate of theamount exceeding ~2 lakhfor yourself or any otherperson for travel to theforeign country; or

(c) You have incurred anexpenditure of an amount oraggregate of the amountexceeding ~1 lakh towardsthe consumption of electrici-ty; or (d) fulfil such otherconditions as may be pre-scribed by the Government.

Rebate up to ~2 lakh allowed on home loanTAX ADVICE

SC VASUDEVA


NewDelhi, October 6Congress President SoniaGandhi today acceptedBangladesh Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina’s invitation toattend celebrations on theoccasion of the 50th anniver-sary of Bangladesh liberationon March 26, 2021.

The visiting BangladeshiPM extended the invitationto Sonia Gandhi, her sonRahul Gandhi and daughterPriyanka Gandhi during ameeting with a Congressdelegation today. The dele-gation comprised formerPM Manmohan Singh,Anand Sharma and Priyan-ka Gandhi Vadra. FormerCongress chief Rahul Gand-hi was not present. He isabroad. Sheikh Hasina was accompanied by

Bangladesh Foreign Minis-ter Dr Abdul Momen, a sen-ior minister and advisers.

In a statement, Sharmasaid, “Sheikh Hasina recalledwith gratitude India’s sup-port for the Bangladesh liber-ation and the special bond offriendship that Bangaband-hu Sheikh Mujibur Rahmanshared with PM Indira Gand-hi. She also revisited the peri-od after Sheikh Mujibur Rah-man’s assassination whenher family lived in exile inDelhi. The Congress presi-dent congratulated PrimeMinister Sheikh Hasina onwinning the third consecu-tive term as BangladeshPM... Dr Manmohan Singhcomplemented PM Hasinafor the impressive economicgrowth made by the countryand her initiatives that haveled to commendable

improvement of social indi-cators, particularly healthand education.”

The leaders exchangedviews on a wide range ofsubjects of mutual interestwhich included bilateral tiesand issues pertaining toregional and global econo-my, Sharma said.

He said Sheikh Hasinareferred to the forthcomingcentenary of BangabandhuSheikh Mujibur Rahman andthe 50th anniversary ofBangladesh Liberation,which will be marked byyearlong commemorations,and invited Congress presi-dent to visit Bangladeshalong with Rahul Gandhi andPriyanka Gandhi Vadra.

“Sonia Gandhi has accept-ed the invitation,” he said.Priyanka shared a picture ofthe meeting on Twitter.

Sonia to attend B’desh liberation event

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Bangladesh Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina during their meeting in New Delhi on Sunday. PTI

FIR against celebrities, Left sees red

Hasina recalls friendship between Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman & Indira Gandhi

Justice Mahanty sworn inas R’sthan High Court CJ Jaipur: Justice Indrajit Mahanty was on Sundaysworn in as Chief Justice of theRajasthan High Court by Gov-ernor Kalraj Mishra. JusticeMahanty was earlier in theBombay High Court. Amongothers who graced the oathceremony included Chief Min-ister Ashok Gehlot, AssemblySpeaker CP Joshi, Cabinetministers and Justice Mahan-ty’s family members. OC

Mystery shrouds RTI activist’sdeath in Barmer police custodyJaipur: Jagdish Golia Jat (47),an RTI activist booked in acase of family land dispute,died in police custody undermysterious circumstanceswhile being taken to a localcourt at Pachpadra in Barmerdistrict on Sunday. Jat ofMahveer Nagar in Barmer cityfainted at the Tehsildar’scourt. He was declared“brought dead” at the hospi-tal, said Barmer SP SharadChoudhary. Entire staff, includ-ing SHO of the police stationconcerned, was sent to PoliceLines, the SP said. A magis-trate probe would be conduct-ed in the case, he added. OC

IN BRIEF


Lucknow, October 6Samajwadi party nationalpresident Akhilesh Yadavtoday questioned the stanceof the Election Commissionof India (ECI), saying despitehis party’s complaints, thedistrict magistrate and SSPof Rampur were going aheadwith bypoll on October 21.

Speaking to reporters,Yadav said the two senior dis-trict officials in Rampur weremisusing the official machin-

ery but the ECI was not tak-ing any action.

Tazeen Fatima, wife ofRampur Samajwadi PartyLok Sabha MP MohammadAzam Khan, is the party’scandidate for the bypoll. Thedistrict administration haslodged 87 criminal casesagainst the family in the pastfour months. “Besides takingthe advantage of faultyEVMs, the BJP governmentis also misusing the officialmachinery to the hilt,”alleged Yadav.

Meanwhile, around twodozen senior leaders from theCongress and the BSP joinedthe SP today. This includedRamakant Yadav.

A four-time MLA and four-time Lok Sabha MP,Ramakant Yadav has been aregular party hopper. Startinghis political career with theSP, he switched over to theBSP in 2004 and to the BJP in2008. Rukmini Devi, sister offormer dacoit-turned-politi-cian Phoolan Devi, also joinedthe SP today.

EC deaf to Rampur bypoll complaints: Akhilesh


NewDelhi, October 6Amid speculation that theruling JD(U)-BJP alliance inBihar finds itself in choppywaters after parties’ leaders“locked horns” over “inept”handling of the floods, JD(U)general secretary KC Tyagitoday said, “All is well withthe alliance. It is stable.”

“The Centre is extendingsatisfactory help to the state,which is grappling with one ofthe worst floods in manyyears,” he said, even thoughhe slammed Union ministerGiriraj Singh for attacking theNitish government for its“inept” handling of the floods.

He said the JD(U) has urged

Prime Minister NarendraModi and BJP president AmitShah to prevail upon Singh todesist from making such nega-tive statements. “Giriraj Singhis habitual of making contro-versial statements which cre-ate confusion and suspicion inthe minds of public and thecadres of both parties, he said.

Earlier, Tyagi reportedly

said Singh had been repri-manded by Modi and Shahfor his controversial remarksin the past. During his visit tothe state on Friday, the BJPminister said a leader whogets accolades must also takethe blame, in a jibe at NitishKumar, who is also known as “Sushaasan babu” (able administrator).

JDU-BJP tie-up stable, happywith Centre’s flood help: Tyagi

NITISH ELECTED PARTY PREZ FOR ANOTHER TERM■ Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has been elected JD-U president unopposed for another term. Theparty’s returning officer Aneel Hedge saidKumar was the only candidate for the post andwas officially declared its president on Sunday■ For long an undisputed leader of the JD-U,Kumar will steer the party during the Assem-bly elections slated next year

NewDelhi, October 6 Amid disagreements overseat-sharing within the Bihargrand alliance constituentsfor the upcoming bypolls,RJD leader Tejashwi Yadavon Sunday said the electionsin the state would not haveany impact on the health ofthe secular coalition.

Yadav described Bihar ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar as a“chameleon-like” characterand ruled out any possibilityof him being accepted backinto the secular alliance. In aninterview, he attacked Nitish,saying he had helped the RSSand BJP grow, jeopardisingsecular and socialist politics.

The RJD leader hit out atthe BJP-JD(U) government’sresponse to the flood situa-

tion in Bihar, saying theentire state had helplesslywatched the “insensitivity” ofthe authorities.

Asked about the disagree-ments over seat-sharingamong grand alliance con-stituents, he replied: “Thesebypolls are for only fiveAssembly segments and theage of this Assembly is hard-ly 10 more months.” — PTI

Tejashwi: No alliance with‘chameleon-like’ Nitish

‘GOVT CORRUPT’Floods, waterlogging,

encephalitis deaths andshelter home case werenot natural calamities butgovernment-createddisasters due to corruption.Tejashwi Yadav, RJD LEADER

❝

Four-time MP from Azamgarh Ramakant Yadav joins SamajwadiPartyin the presence of party chief Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow. PTI

NewDelhi, October 6Registration of criminal caseinvolving charge of seditionagainst 49 celebrities hasoffended the Left parties, andopened a new battle frontbetween the Opposition par-ties and the Union Govern-ment, notwithstanding thelatter's clarification that ithad no role in the matter.

Celebrities were bookedrecently for having writtenan open letter to PMNarendra Modi drawinghis attention to the increas-

ing trend of mob lynching. The CPM's Polit Bureau on

Sunday flayed the decision toslap the sedition charge anddemanded its rescindingforthwith. It also demandedscrapping of the sedition pro-vision from the statute book.

“Writing a letter to thePrime Minister expressingopinions on important mat-ters cannot be constituted asa crime and be termed asanti-national. This is tanta-mount to punishing all thosewho have a dissenting opin-ion on the policies of the pres-ent government," the CPMsaid and added that it reflect-ed the growing authoritarian-ism in the country. “Ourcountry is moving fasttowards a fascist totalitarianregime,” the CPI said. — TNS

Says the movereflects the growingauthoritarianism in

the country

from page 1 start work on laying a renew-al coat on the road in Novem-ber last year. As the companyfailed to do so, the executiveengineer (XEN) of PWD (Cen-tral Works) has imposed Rs1.05 lakh per day as liquidat-ed damages on the company.

PWD XEN JaswinderSingh said the concession-aire is supposed to lay a freshcoat on the road every fiveyears. The first coat was to belaid in 2012 but it was alsodelayed and the contractorhad been penalised then also.

This time the renewalcoat was due from Novem-ber 19 last year. After

reminders were sent to thecontractor in this regard, heagreed to start the workfrom June 1 this year butnothing was done. Anotherreminder was issued fol-lowing which the work gotstarted on June 22. Thecompany, however, laid therenewal coat on a stretch ofmerely 500 metres asagainst its length of 38 km,the XEN said. The penaltyof Rs 1.05 lakh per day hasbeen imposed on the com-pany from June 1 this year.

Satish Chopra, project man-ager of the toll road, however,could not be contacteddespite several attempts.

Toll plaza fined ~1.05L

Justice Indrajit Mahanty takesoath as new Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court. PTI

Bajrangi killer moved to another cell in Tihar NewDelhi, October 6Gangster Sunil Rathi, thealleged killer of mafia donMunna Bajrangi, was shiftedto a separate high-securityward in Tihar Jail after healleged that the behaviour ofthe prison staff at his previ-ous cell was “biased, unsup-portive and dangerous”, aDelhi court was told.

The submission was madeby Tihar jail authorities in acompliance report before

Additional Sessions JudgeKamini Lau on whose direc-tion Rathi was shifted. In itsstatus report, the authoritiesinformed the court that Rathiwas moved to high-securityjail number 3.

They said Rathi had beenallowed necessary beddingarrangements for his med-ical ailment. He was beingprovided regular medicaltreatment by a neurologistfor slip disc. — PTI


New Delhi, October 6With full integration of Jam-mu and Kashmir with Indi-an mainland after scrappingof Article 370, the securityand Intelligence agencieshave now set their eyes onsecuring lasting peace in therestive state by working on anumber of possible meas-ures, including a better dealfor tribes. The state has beenreorganised into two UnionTerritories (UTs) — J&K andLadakh — which will comeinto being on October 31.Sources in the securityestablishment say besidesstructural and administra-tive changes, which will setin once the two UTs comeinto existence, work is inprogress to look for possibleways of “re-densification” ofthe population.

A senior IntelligenceBureau (IB) official said theidea was presently beingworked out at the securityagencies’ level and “oncethe plan is finalised, a reportwill be shared with the high-er-ups in the government”.Sources say the agenciesare presently weighing twomodels — Pakistani andChinese. Pakistani authori-ties undertook measureslike settling Punjabis inPoK with active supportfrom the country’s army,whereas Chinese did thesame in Tibet’s Xinjiang byincentivising new settlers,they say. They, however,contend despite J&K beingfully integrated with main-land India, directly copyingand implementing either ofthe two models will notwork in the prevailing situa-tion at least for a few initialyears. “Therefore, we areworking on evolving a mod-el of our own for re-densifi-

cation of population in thestate,” said a senior official.

The plan, as being workedout, is to first “instil confi-dence” among the localtribes, who are currently liv-ing on the margins, thesources say, adding the aimwill be to mainstream them.

“The nationalistic streaksin them are of high value andthey have always been goodsource of information in ourefforts in gathering intelli-gence and military opera-tions,” an IB official said.

Sources say after October31, there will be a free flow ofpeople in and out of the UT ofJ&K for business and employ-ment. A comprehensive poli-cy framework will be requiredfor safe, steady and sustain-able movement of people.

Plan in works for betterdeal for tribes in J&K

UNDER STUDY ■ Intel agencies are weigh-

ing two models — Pak-istani and Chinese

■ Pak authorities settledPunjabis in PoK with sup-port of country’s army

■ Chinese did same inTibet’s Xinjiang by incen-tivising new settlers

■ New model being plannedas these may not work inJ&K for initial years

■ The plan is to first ‘instilconfidence’ among thelocal tribes and bring theminto the mainstream

IAF officer killed by JKLFfinds place at memorialThe name of Squadron LeaderRavi Khanna, who was killedby JKLF militants in 1990, hasbeen added to the NationalWar Memorial after it wasapproved by the Indian AirForce, sources said on Sun-day. An IAF official said Khan-na’s name was missed out inthe memorial and the mistakehas now been rectified. PTI

THE TRIBUNE08 CHANDIGARH | MONDAY | 7 OCTOBER 2019OPINION

Three ways Pak can go

Free to express Refer to the editorial ‘Threaten-ing dissenters’ (October 5), it issurprising that a group of activistsand artistes who were onlyexpressing their concern over thegrowing incidents of mob lynch-ing and other hate crimes arecharged with sedition. The rightto express one’s ideas and opin-ion freely through speech, writingand other forms of communica-tion is guaranteed by the Consti-tution, as long it does not harmthe interest of others. It is hopedthat the SC will overrule the orderof the lower court.

GREGORY FERNANDES, MUMBAI

Selective agenda? The most crucial point is whetheronly dissenting voices are vital for avibrant democracy? Are incidentsof lynching selective, pre-plannedand state-sponsored? Are state gov-ernments responsible for suchheinous crimes? Is the mob swayedby a particular community? Is theModi government responsible forevery act of omission? These pro-tagonists never find fault with theWest Bengal Government, whichuses state machinery against polit-ical opponents. There is total fail-ure of law and order. Why do thesestalwarts of democracy turn a blind

eye towards it and only focus on aselective agenda?

DEEPAK MEHRA, BY MAIL

Credit warApropos the editorial ‘Positivemove’ (October 5), the SGPC isdominated by SAD politicians;even its president is a formerMLA. Politicians in both partiesrun after credit to show their com-mand over Sikh affairs. The pro-posal of Capt Amarinder Singh todivide the management of celebra-tions in gurdwaras and outsidegurdwaras among the SGPC andthe Congress government did notfind acceptance, though it is agood proposal. Let’s hope the cel-ebrations proceed smoothly andsucceed in sending out GuruNanak’s message of equality ofhumanity and world peace, with-out tossing turbans of one anotherin the credit war. SHARANJIT SINGH KALLAH, CHANDIGARH

Let it be joint effort Apropos ‘Positive move’ (October5), the overindulgence of Centralminister Harsimrat Kaur Badal inthe affairs of the SGPC and herself-assumed role as ‘super presi-dent’ of the SGPC is casting ashadow on the grace of the occa-sion. PM Modi must brief his min-

ister to devote attention to her min-istry. The SGPC and the PunjabGovernment must eschew con-frontation and evolve an attitude toimpart the message of universalbrotherhood, embedded with love,peace, tolerance, and above all,truthful living, enunciated by GuruNanak. We should avoid wastingtime and resources doing things incontrast to the fundamental teach-ings of the Guru.

BIR DEVINDER SINGH, PATIALA

What makes ideal teacher The writer beautifully eulogisesthe virtues of the teachers of yorein the middle ‘Once a teacher,always a teacher’ (October 5).Times have changed, and so havethe teachers. They seldom act as afriend, philosopher and guide,because teaching has become atough job. They are charged withacademic, intellectual and moraldegradation and deterioration.The charges may be true, but ateacher is the product of society. Adecadent society cannot aspire toproduce ideal teachers. Despite allthis, still there are hundreds ofdevoted teachers who work consci-entiously to contribute their mitein educating children in their cus-tody. Teachers may come and go,but the kind mentioned in the

middle will go on forever.TARSEM S BUMRAH, BATALA

Go for ‘dharam shiksha’ Our school used to have a ‘dharamshiksha’ period every day. Theattendance was compulsory.Though run by a Hindu NGO, theclasses were not confined exclu-sively to the teachings of Hindureligion, though majority of stu-dents were Hindus. There weredays when we were taught aboutIslam, Sikhism and Christianity.Pandits, maulvis, granthis, priests,and scholars were invited to speakon their respective religions. Theyexplained in simple Hindi. Thequestion-answer sessions wouldclear many doubts students hadabout any religion. To make it moreinteresting, singers were invited torender bhajan, sufiana kalam,shabad etc. Students were alsoasked to participate in the singingsessions. Diwali, Eid, GuruNanak’s birthday and Christmaswere jointly celebrated. I can saywith certainty that those classeswere rewarding, educative andenlightening. They left a lastingimpression and helped me becomebroad-minded. Such classes shouldbe introduced in public and govern-ment schools. It is worth a try.

RN SHARMA, GURUGRAM

PS Randhawa

THE removal of Article 370 hasbrought Kashmir into focus ina big way. While the official nar-

rative is focused around ending theproblems of Kashmiri people andintegrating them with mainstreamIndia, the other side is harping aboutthe end of the special status and secu-rity clampdown along with restric-tions on communication.

Having served in Kashmir on anumber of occasions, starting from1989, I can say that to date — sincethe beginning of insurgency — onlytwo kinds of people (besides Kash-miri Pandits who fled) have suf-fered in Kashmir. One is the com-mon man and the other is the

soldier — from all uniformed forces. There is abject poverty in remote

areas of the Valley. The only jobavailable there is of a porter, for tak-ing rations to Army posts located athigher altitudes. That job only lastsfor a limited period. The commonman has very small landholdings.Those in towns are mostly depend-ent on tourism-related jobs that lastfor about six months. Insurgencyhas severely affected the commonman. Frequent calls of shutdownhave hit the small businessman,shopkeeper and daily-wage earner.He has to join protests lest he is seenas a ‘traitor’ to the cause. Studies ofhis children have suffered. His chil-dren, brainwashed by wily politi-cians, turn militants and get killed

in the bargain. It is not so-called‘azadi’ that is his biggest problem,it is to earn his living, somehow.While politicians of all hues fromthe Valley have prospered, he is theone who has suffered the most. Hissuffering continues.

Next is the soldier. There were dayswhen posting to the Valley was muchsought-after. It is no more so. Soldiersare performing duties under severelystressful conditions. One is neversure from which direction a bullet ora stone is going to hit him. Travellingon foot or in a vehicle is equally dan-gerous. He doesn’t know whether hewill safely return to the barracks atthe end of the day. He, at times, has toskip meals, rest and sleep. He is out ofcommunication with his kin for days.

There are times he doesn’t get leavedue to many compelling reasons. Hisfolks at home live on the edge, withprayers on their lips till he returnsfrom Kashmir. They are apprehen-sive to pick up the phone lest they getsome bad news about him. Besidesgetting killed in the line of duty, anumber of soldiers have lost theirlimbs and fallen prey to post-traumat-ic stress disorder (PTSD). He has sac-rificed the most.

For the rest of the lot, nothing muchhas mattered. The business of politicshas prospered. Other business con-tinues as usual with interruptions.One can only hope and pray thatpeace returns to the Valley, and thecommon man and soldier, both enjoya peaceful life they deserve.

MEMBER, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISORY BOARD

THE 74th session of the UNGAis done and dusted. Playingto the domestic gallery,Imran Khan had his moment

of glory during his maiden address.However, in the realistic and practicalinternational arena, it is not the wordsspoken but the results produced thatmatter. By the standard of convincingthe international community of Pak-istan’s narrative on Kashmir, the tripdid not measure up to expectations.

In fact, midway through the six-daytrip, Imran Khan was forced to admitin New York ‘to be absolutely frank, Iam a bit disappointed by the interna-tional community. There is no pres-sure on Narendra Modi to lift thesiege’. At the Islamabad airport on hisreturn, he declared that Pakistanwould stand by the Kashmiris even ifthe world didn’t. This was clearly anadmission that his hard sell had notworked. No country talked aboutreversing the changes in Kashmir.

One immediate fallout of his UN/USperformance was that the point per-son who organised all the interac-tions, Maleeha Lodhi — the Pak Per-manent Representative — wasshunted out a day after Imran Khanreturned to Pakistan. This spoke vol-umes of the failure of the trip. Quitepossibly, she became the scapegoatfor his aggressive sabre-rattling at theUNGA that was frowned upon inter-nationally. The UNGA is not really abull-fighting arena that he made itout to be, thus violating its sanctity.

In Pakistan, the realisation is begin-ning to sink in that beyond the rheto-ric, the speech did not impact theground realities. There continues to bea wide gulf between Pakistan’s expec-tations and international realities. Noteven Pakistan’s close ‘allies’ were

ready to push the Kashmir issue at theinternational level. Most, including theummah, have asked Pakistan toresolve it bilaterally. The phrase nowbeing used is that this is going to be along-drawn struggle.

Imran Khan ascribed lack of supportfor Pakistan to the fact that India was a1.2 billion-strong market. Actually, hegot it only partially right. What hemissed out was that this market wasalso economically vibrant and the peo-ple had purchasing power. In contrast,Pakistan’s economy is in shambles.

To mask the lack of substantiveachievement, Pakistan spin-doctorshave launched a two-pronged offen-sive. One, this was the best speechever by a Pakistani leader in the UN,even better than the ones by ZABhutto and Benazir Bhutto in thepast. One commentator even called it‘the speech of the century…whichwill be a reference used in posterity’.The second is that the speech herald-ed his arrival on the world stage as astatesman and a charismatic leader.Some have even talked about ImranKhan emerging as the true leader ofthe Muslim ummah.

Going ahead, Pakistan has twooptions. One is the continuation ofthe diplomatic campaign by engag-ing with the international communi-ty to pressure India to reverse theAugust 5 changes and implementthe UN resolutions on Kashmir,focusing on alleged human rightsviolations and the restrictions. Apartfrom engaging with the five perma-nent members of the UNSC, otherimportant countries, the EU and theOIC, it will also zero in on organisa-tions like the UNHRC, AmnestyInternational, Human Rights Watchas well as sections of the internation-al media to raise a hue and cry aboutthe situation in Kashmir.

The other option is the more muscu-lar one that is being justified on thespurious grounds of preventing apotential genocide in Kashmir. Thisoption includes the use of terror assetsthat have been carefully nurturedover the decades. Statements havebeen made about shedding the lastdrop of blood for the sake of Kashmir.Even diplomats like the former HighCommissioner to India, AshrafJehangir Qazi, have argued that ‘Pak-

istan must use all legitimate means(and international law provides them)to ensure that the Kashmiri freedomstruggle, including armed struggle isnot snuffed out by the illegitimate useof overwhelming force, includingatrocities amounting to genocide’.

When diplomats start talking aboutarmed struggle, the level of failureand helplessness can well be imag-ined. Moreover, such bravado suffersfrom the infirmities of the Pakistanstate and the multiple domestic crisesthat it faces. The economic and mili-tary realities of Pakistan are such thatany misadventure would risk jeopar-dising its very survival.

In between these two options is athird option that is dependent on theground situation in Kashmir. WhatPakistan is hoping for is that when therestrictions are lifted, Kashmiris willtake to the streets in hundreds, if notthousands, and, in the words of ImranKhan, there will be a ‘bloodbath’leading to another Indo-Pak con-frontation forcing international inter-vention. In reality, by talking about abloodbath, Imran Khan is actuallyinciting the Kashmiris to become can-non fodder for the sake of Pakistan. Itis his incitement, rather than any-thing that India would do, that has thepotential to destabilise the situation.

However, some sane voices in Pak-istan have started cautioning that itwould be unwise to get too carried awaywith the current policy of antagonismtowards India. As Lt Gen Talat Masood(retd) put it: ‘Such a policy cannot befollowed forever and somewhere downthe line, Pakistan will need to see howit can strike a balance in order to havesome influence on India.’

The bottom line is that ImranKhan’s much-hyped efforts at theUNGA to get the international com-munity to pressure India havefailed. Going forward, the saneoption for Pakistan would be torealise the futility of trying to aggra-vate the situation, and instead,accept the new reality in Kashmir.However, Pakistan is not known tobe sane when it comes to India. Sowhile hoping for the best, Indianeeds to prepare for the worst.

Letters to the Editor, typed in double space, should not exceed the 200-word limit. These should be cogently written and can be sent by e-mail to: [email protected]

thought for the dayThe right decision is the wrong decision if it’s

made too late. — Lee Iacocca

OUT OF LINE: Imran Khan’s sabre-rattling at the UNGA against India did not go as per plan; it was frowned upon internationally.

THE TRIBUNEestablished in 1881

Arresting the slideRBI rate cuts to usher in seasonal cheer

THE revisions in corporate tax and interest rate would rank asthe deepest ever by any government as it goes all out to notcha higher growth rate than the middling 5-7 per cent range. The

RBI’s latest rate cut takes the cumulative reductions to 1.1 per cent,the most by any government in a short period. The cut in corporatetax rates by an average of 10 per cent is the largest ever as well. Nogovernment had earlier taken the risk of forgoing such a large chunkof revenue in one go. The cycle of fiscal and monetary stimulus tostrengthen private consumption and spur private investment will becomplete after personal income tax rates are aligned with thereduced corporate tax structure.

The government has laid down the path for a seven-plus growthrate, but as the RBI noted while reducing the interest rates, the pres-ent will remain sluggish. After a 5 per cent crawl in the first quarter(April-June), the numbers for the second quarter (July-September)will also not be salutary. The annual GDP growth rate will be 6.1 percent, half of the requirement to become a $5-trillion economy by 2024.As the booster measures sink in, the outlook may become sunnier bythe next fiscal, but the challenges do not end.

The entire success of the growth story is predicated on withstand-ing global headwinds, a stable social environment and that the prob-lem is cyclical, not structural. Global trade wars are hamperingexports, weakening a crucial pillar of any country’s growth story,with no remedy in sight. The disquiet and extra security expensesdue to J&K and the NRC will be negatively factored in by ratingagencies and prospective investors. And economists are suggestingthat along with fixing the plumbing, the government should attendto structural issues. The propeller of India’s growth story — theupper 10 per cent — is looking abroad for consumption and there isa need to tap the next 20 per cent on the economic ladder to acceler-ate the growth rate. For the present, though, the bold fiscal and mon-etary fixes should bring cheer in the festival season.

Death in sewersHC order a reminder that the issue must get priority

THE Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the twostates and the Chandigarh administration to consider the suf-ferings of the workers and their families who die while clean-

ing sewers and manholes. The court has directed that their depend-ents be given jobs and a monthly pension. Taking note that manualscavenging is going on in many parts of both states, the court hasdescribed it as a violation of human rights and a dehumanising prac-tice. The court’s observations are right, for the continuance of thepractice more than seven decades after Independence is an indict-ment of the functioning of our civic bodies and the lacuna in infra-structure that hinders efforts. The court has ordered that all insani-tary toilets be destroyed and workers be given the necessaryequipment and implements to carry out their task.

Of late, efforts have been made to improve sanitary conditions andthe lot of workers. The Sulabh movement led to the first prominentsetting up of public toilets, creating awareness about hygienic prac-tices, and also initiatives to better the condition of workers througheducation, and occupational and social mobility. With time, it was fol-lowed by modern public conveniences with pay-and-use facility tohelp in maintenance. The court’s observation is pertinent whenemphasis is being laid on ‘swachhta’ and making towns and villagesopen defecation-free (ODF). Making places ODF is linked to the set-ting up of proper facilities for disposing of human waste. Improve-ments made will lead to concomitant benefits. But the disposal sys-tem still calls for changes because of the hazards involved.

The authorities should ensure that standard operating proceduresare followed. Due to the menial nature of the job, it is accorded low pri-ority. Civic bodies should make efforts so that the practice gets mod-ernised for the sake of safety. Just as we grieve for our martyrs, the lossof life while working for providing civic amenities also begets concern.

It can continue to rant, adopt muscular approach or hope for ‘uprising’ in Kashmir

TILAK DEVASHER

on this day...50 years ago

GHAFFAR KHAN BREAKS FASTNEW DELHI, October 6 (UNI)—Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, the 80-year-oldPakhtoon leader and one of the closest associates of Mahatma Gandhi, broke histhree-day fast at 7 this morning with a glass of “musumbi” juice offered byanother eminent Gandhian and Sarvodya leader Jayaprakash Narayan.Badshah Khan had undertaken the fast as penance for the “atmosphere ofviolence, tyranny and hatred in the country.” Before the breaking of his fast, theFrontier Gandhi prayed silently, joined by the assembled crowd, “for God’s graceso that scenes of violent emotional outbursts”, may not be repeated in the land ofhis leader—Mahatma Gandhi. Immediately after breaking the fast the agedPakhtoon leader spoke briefly to the assembled crowd once more reiterating thatthe main considerations of “his visit to India was to meet people of all walks,faiths and beliefs so that they may sit together and find a solution for eradicatingtyranny, hatred and violence from India”.

Rift In Kashmir Congress Takes New TurnSRINAGAR, Oct. 6 (PTI)—The rift between the Ministerial and organisationalwings of the J&K Congress which has assumed the form of an open confrontationduring the past few days took a new turn today when the supporters of Syed MirQasim opened a second front against their adversaries in the legislative forum. Lastweek they had filed nominations for the seven vacant seats in their upper House forwhich nominations had already been filed by the Ministerial wing. When the StateAssembly took up an official Bill to liberalise the State anti-corruption laws today,the Congress members supporting Mr. Qasim combined with the Opposition andspearheaded a move to block the measure on procedural grounds.

ambala,tuesday, october 7, 1969

❝ ❞letters to the editor

Aam Kashmiri, soldier keep suffering

The sane option for Pakistan would be to realise thefutility of aggravating the situation and accept the new

reality in Kashmir. It, however, seems unlikely.

THE TRIBUNECHANDIGARH | MONDAY | 7 OCTOBER 2019 09OPED

Several countries around theglobe are facing an economicslowdown and have announcedstimulus packages to revive the

slackening growth of their economies.China has announced a stimuluspackage to go into infrastructurebuilding and for boosting consumerspending. By cutting the cash reserveratio (CRR) that banks are required tohold as reserves to 0.5 per cent, China’sCentral Bank hopes to release $126 bil-lion into the economy which will beavailable for loans. Thailand has alreadyannounced a stimulus package of $14billion to go into agricultural subsidies,cash benefits for low income earners andtourism. The European Central Bank(ECB) has gone for monetary easing andalso reduction of interest rates to a neg-ative 0.5 per cent in order to revive theEuro zone countries. Through its assetbuying programme of 20 billion eurosper month, the ECB hopes to enhanceliquidity for revival.

Each country has its unique problemsand reasons for slowdown. In India, it isthe rural economy which is at the core ofthe problems involving the economic

slowdown. The NDA government hascome up with many stimulus measuresaimed at reviving demand and stimulat-ing growth. These include a host ofmeasures to help the micro, small andmedium enterprises (MSMEs), housingsector, automobile industry and exports.A fund of Rs 20,000 crore has been set upto help finish apartments. The MSMEshave been promised that their areas willbe cleared expeditiously and theirGoods and Services Tax (GST) refundswould take place within 30 days. Nostressed MSME is to be declared a non-performing asset until March 31, 2020.

There is full electronic refund of GSTfor exports and annual mega shoppingfestivals are to be held in four cities. Thegovernment has simplified and easednorms for foreign direct investment(FDI) and granted 100 per cent inflowthrough the automatic route for con-tract manufacturing, coal mining andhas eased rules for sourcing of onlineretail for single-brand products.

The most important stimulusannouncement which pleased the stockmarket and industrialists alike has beenthe reduction of corporate tax rate to 22per cent and 17 per cent for new ven-tures. The move alone is supposed towork wonders and even though it meansRs 1.45 lakh crore in foregone revenue, itmay give a much-needed boost to themanufacturing sector.

These stimulus measures are boundto work over a period of time, especiallythose related to the banking sector. Rs70,000 crore will be provided for recapi-talisation of banks. Also, public sectorbanks (PSBs) and select non-banking

financial companies (NBFCs) are sup-posed to boost lending across 400 dis-tricts to farmers, MSMEs and the hous-ing sector. Much, however, depends onthe corporate sector and how it uses themoney saved from tax to increaseinvestment which will help create jobsthat will increase demand.

The government has not given equalattention to the rural sector, which isvery much under stress and grew at alow rate of two per cent in the last quar-ter. Low international commodityprices have led to low price realisationfrom the sale of farm products in Indiaand farmers have not been able torecover the costs of farming. Agricul-tural wages have been stagnantbecause of stagnant farm incomes. Onecannot expect a surge in demand for

goods like two-wheelers, tractors, bicy-cles and fast moving consumer goods(FMCGs) from such a dismal ruralscene. There are reports of people inthe rural areas cutting down on essen-tials like toothpaste and shampoo andsnacks like Parle biscuits from theirdaily lives in the absence of an alter-nate income from non-farm jobs.

Many rural job seekers are barely liter-ate and are school dropouts. This isbecause of the pathetic state of primaryeducation in the villages. Though thereare many government schemes for skilldevelopment, few students land up jobsin government or the private sector aftertraining. Lack of skill comes in the wayof their getting stable jobs in the townsand cities. They work mostly as migrantdaily wage workers who have nothingmore than their labour to sell. Theseworkers have been affected the most bythe slowdown and are returning homeafter being sacked. If the rural economyhad more jobs and better prospects forbusiness, the youth would have stayedin the villages. Shortage of food process-ing industries and viable handicraftsand handloom production in the villagesis another reason for the dismal job sce-nario in the rural sector.

The government has started manyschemes to help the poor, especially thewomen in rural areas, but the employ-ment situation remains dismal. Manywomen are not able to earn an extraincome because rural transportationand mobility remains inadequate. Thegovernment has given incentives forthe development of the handicraft andhandloom sector through cluster

development programme, but moreneeds to be done. Usually, there is asevere shortage of raw materials andappropriate technology in this sectorwhich hinders productivity, increasescosts and leads to limited incomes.

Hence, after giving a boost to the man-ufacturing sector through corporate taxcut, the task of revitalising the rural sec-tor remains and the government’s helpis needed in creating non-farm employ-ment by facilitating food processing andother allied industries. GuaranteeingRs 6,000 per year to each small and mar-ginal farmer through PM-Kisan mayhelp a little but more money is neededto revive farmers’ demand.

The government has to increase itscapital expenditure and invest in infra-structure which will help create manyrural jobs. The safe drinking water avail-ability scheme also has to be followed upand bringing piped water to each villagehousehold remains a major challenge.This venture, too, can create jobs.Improving the quality of primary educa-tion and primary healthcare will lead tobetter quality work force which can behired by the manufacturing industry.

Increasing employment and jobsecurity are most important for reviv-ing demand. It can be done throughconstruction activity initiated by thegovernment’s infrastructure build-ing programme. The employment sit-uation has to improve as a result.Unemployment has actually wors-ened in September this year, accord-ing to the Centre for Monitoring Indi-an Economy (CMIE), to 7.57 per cent,which is an ominous sign.

BOOSTER: No stressed MSME is to be declared a non-performing asset until March 2020.

The govt has not givenadequate attention to therural sector, which is very

much under stress and grewat a low rate of 2 per cent

in the last quarter. Lowinternational commodity

prices have led to low pricerealisation from sale of farm

products in India andfarmers have not been able

to recover the costs.

THE Indian Railway Cateringand Tourism Corporation(IRCTC), a public sectorundertaking under the Min-

istry of Railways but still an entity inits own right, will run two passengertrains, to begin with. Before Indepen-dence, the Indian rail network andoperations was managed by variousprivate entities. The freight trainshave already been operated by privateplayers in competition with the Rail-ways. So, strictly speaking, introduc-ing private passenger trains is not arevolutionary step per se. However,given the fact that the Railways hasbeen operated since Independence asa department, not even as a PSU of theGovernment of India with no scope forprivate players to pitch in, this is amuch-needed positive change.

Since the Railways enjoyed themonopoly of running the rail mode, itcared little for the introduction of state-of-the-art technologies in infrastruc-ture, integrated system and rollingstock on a par with the countries whichare advanced in rail transport. Whenprivate bus operators copy rail transportin terms of the smooth ride by introduc-ing the multi-axle Volvo and Scaniabuses, introduced sleeper coaches inbuses and even provided chemical toi-lets, the Railways remained predomi-nantly stagnant in terms of quality ofservice offered to the passengers onboard, except in premium trains suchas Rajdhani and Shatabdi.

The state road transport corporationsintroduced multi-axle Volvo and Sca-nia buses in their fleet to counter omnibus operators monopolising premium-segment passengers. The arrival ofprivate players in air travel in the2000s increased the competition,reduced the ticket price and thereby

increased the volume of domestic pas-senger traffic. Had the roads and skiesnot been opened for private players,our road and air services would haveremained lackadaisical even today.

There are many apprehensionsabout private trains in some quartersand let us explore how far they are cor-rect. The first one is that the privateplayers will fix the fare so high thatthe common people cannot travel any-more by rail. Before the opening of theskies for private players, the monopo-lised prices of Air India never allowedthe proliferation of air travel evenamong the upper middle class, letalone the middle class.

Only after the entry of low-cost pri-vate airlines did the metamorphosistake place. As a result, domestic airpassengers went up from 1.4 crore in2000 to 13.90 crore in 2018, which is aten-fold increase. It is left to privatetrain operators to strategise how they

will achieve profitability even in thepresence of price war and attract pas-sengers by giving value for money.

The next apprehension is over thesafety and security of passengerswhile travelling by private trains.Like the Railways, the private play-ers may also lease trains from the Indian Railway Finance Corpora-tion (IRFC). Else, they can bringtheir state-of-the-art trains whichconsume less energy and provide asmooth ride even at higher speedswith minimal noise and vibrations.

However, they can operate theirtrains only after the RDSO (ResearchDesigns and Standards Organisa-tion) certification. The private play-ers may hire drivers from anywherebut only after certification from theRailways for their fitness to be locopilots, should they be allowed tosteer the trains. The high standardsof the Railways and RDSO with

respect to safety issues is well knownand the Railways or organisationsunder its aegis never compromisedon safety standards.

The next apprehension is that theexisting railway employees will losetheir jobs if private trains are intro-duced. The Railways does not haveexcess running staff and hence thequestion of railwaymen losing theirjobs with the introduction of privatetrains has no basis.

On the contrary, the loco pilots andguards who opted either for voluntaryretirement or superannuated have nobar in becoming loco pilots in privatetrains, if they are fit enough to do thejob. This can be a starter for imple-menting the suggestion by the ChiefEconomic Advisor in the recent Eco-nomic Survey to increase the age ofretirement. Moreover, with betterservices provided on board and expan-sion of many value-added services bythe private trains, these trains wouldgenerate employment opportunitiesfor the youngsters.

Transport is essentially a service,where the operators should continueto innovate to introduce new value-added services to make the travel apleasant experience rather than achore for the passengers. This is nextto impossible, when there is monopolyin running rail passenger trains.

The Travelling Ticket Examiner(TTE) of the Railways is not answer-able for any of the inconvenience pas-sengers face during rail travel today.If passengers fall ill during a journeyor there is some serious setback inpassengers’ health, there is not evena nurse to administer first aid, letalone getting full medical care. Theprivate players can be very imagina-tive and offer services which have

never been thought through by theRailways such as assured pick-upand drop services to the stations,facilitating senior and super seniorcitizens in boarding and deboardingtrains, spick and span on-board envi-ronment and emergency medical aidthat clearly distinguish their servicesfrom that of others and that ultimate-ly improves the travelling experiencefor the train passengers.

Despite commonalities such asvagaries in climate, congestion in run-way and flying as per ATC instruc-tions, the punctuality of private air-lines is about 80 per cent, whereas it isabout 60 per cent for Air India. IRCTCalready announced that if the train isdelayed by an hour or two, the passen-gers would be given back Rs 100 andRs 250, respectively. Have we ever gotsuch an assurance on punctualityfrom the Railways ever?

After the announcement of privatetrains by the IRCTC, the initial publicofferings (IPO) announced by theIRCTC received tremendous responsefrom qualified institutional buyers(QIB), high net worth individuals(HNI), retail investors and employeesas well. The booking of tickets in these private trains has also been verygood. What more proof is required toshowcase the reception for privatetrains by the people of India?

When Narendra Modi was the ChiefMinister of Gujarat, he posed a ques-tion during a meeting: “When privatebuses can run on Indian roads, whenprivate airlines can fly in the Indianskies, what stops private trains fromrunning on our railway tracks?”

The Railways took an enormously longtime to realise what Modi had envis-aged. However, the Railways has comeof age and it is better late than never.

TS RAMAKRISHNANPUBLIC POLICY ANALYST

There are apprehensionsabout private trains in

some quarters. The mainone is that private playerswill fix the fare so high thatthe common man cannot

travel anymore by rail.Before the opening of theskies for private players,

the monopolised prices ofAir India never allowed the

proliferation of air traveleven among the upper

middle class, let alone themiddle class. The entry oflow-cost private airlines

changed that.

Private trains can put Railways on the right track

JAYSHREE SENGUPTASENIOR FELLOW, OBSERVER

RESEARCH FOUNDATION

Rural sector direly needs stimulus package

MAKING INROADS: Trains run by corporates will seek to break the Railways’ monopoly.

su do ku calendar forecast

SATURDAY’S SOLUTION

OCTOBER 7, 2019, MONDAY

■ Vikrami Samvat 2076

■ Shaka Samvat 1941

■ Ashwin Shaka 15

■ Ashwin Parvishte 21

■ Hijari 1441

■ Shukla Paksh Tithi 9, up to 12:38 pm

■ Suka Yoga up to 11:57 pm

■ Uttrashadha Nakshatra up to 5:25 pm

■ Moon in Capricorn sign

■ Mahanavmi

SATURDAY’S SOLUTIONAcross: 1 Compass, 5 Ditch, 8 Pipe dream, 9 Log, 10 Daft, 12 Keystone, 14 Driven, 15Pundit, 17 Atypical, 18 Drag, 21 Era, 22 Come off it, 24 There, 25 Halcyon.Down: 1 Cupid, 2 Map, 3 Aide, 4 Shekel, 5 Damascus, 6 Tall order, 7 Highest, 11 Fairy tale,13 Mediocre, 14 Dialect, 16 Warmth, 19 Get on, 20 Foul, 23 Fly.

ACROSS1 Very comfortable

situation (3,2,5)6 Coarse file (4)10 Of one substance throughout (5)11 Spying (9)12 To set free (8)13 Depleted of energy (5)15 Cupidity (7)17 By unspecified means (7)19 Fight in close combat (7)21 Cut short (7)22 Make different (5)24 Discourteous (8)27 Sociable outgoing person (9)28 Large webfooted birds (5)29 Pay attention to (4)30 Whatever it takes (2,3,5)DOWN1 Dishonourable (4)2 Tibetan spiritual leader (5,4)3 Inconclusive compromise (5)4 Daunt (7)5 Clearly stated (7)7 Old saying (5)8 Very nearly (6,4)9 Buyer and user of goods (8)14 South Asian country (10)16 Physically present (2,6)18 Callous (9)20 Distinguished (7)21 Seat of government (7)23 Championship (5)25 Sound reasoning (5)26 Minus (4)

quick crossword

EASY

7 3 9 4 6 8 1 2 5

8 1 4 3 2 5 9 6 7

6 2 5 1 9 7 8 3 4

3 4 7 5 1 2 6 8 9

5 9 8 6 3 4 2 7 1

2 6 1 7 8 9 5 4 3

4 5 6 2 7 1 3 9 8

1 8 2 9 4 3 7 5 6

9 7 3 8 5 6 4 1 2

3 1

7 4 9 2

8 4 5 9 3

4 2 3 6

3 2

5 9 8 4

9 8 2 7 5

3 5 6 9

4 2

Sunny Partly Cloudy Cloudy Rainy Foggy

CITY MAX MINChandigarh 30 19New Delhi 33 22PUNJAB

Amritsar 30 19Bathinda 33 21Jalandhar 29 18Ludhiana 31 19HARYANA

Bhiwani 33 22Hisar 33 20Sirsa 33 21HIMACHAL PRADESH

Dharamsala 22 15Manali 16 08Shimla 23 14JAMMU & KASHMIRJammu 30 20Leh 20 02Srinagar 18 10UTTARAKHAND Dehradun 31 20Mussoorie 22 14

SUNSET: MONDAY 18:01 HRSSUNRISE: TUESDAY 06:20 HRS

TEMPERATURE IN OC

THE TRIBUNE10 CHANDIGARH | MONDAY | 7 OCTOBER 2019J&K/HP

Pratibha ChauhanTribune News Service

Shimla, October 6Power generation inHimachal has declined byalmost 45 per cent with theearly onset of winters, forc-ing the state to stop supplyto other states under thebanking system.

Power generation inHimachal has this yeardeclined drastically in viewof sudden dip in tempera-tures, resulting in slowmelting of snow in thehigher reaches of the stateand less water discharge inrivers. The maximumdecline of almost 50 percent has been observed inthe case of projects in Bas-

pa and Sutlej basin. Thishas forced the state to stoppower supply to otherstates under banking sys-tem from October 1.

“Since under the bankingobligation, we do not needto supply power to Punjab,Haryana, Uttar Pradeshand Delhi, we will be leftwith surplus power to meetour own needs. No doubtgeneration has declinedbut with this additionalpower, consumers will notsuffer,” said Deepak Uppal,Chief Engineer, SystemOperation in the Direc-torate of Energy.

Moreover, shortlyHimachal will start receivingpower under banking sys-

tem from the states of Pun-jab, Haryana, UP and Delhifrom October 8 to March 31.

The maximum quantum ofpower will be received from

Delhi. A total of about 1900million units of power hasbeen supplied to Delhi,Haryana and UP while over2,000 million units will be

returned to HP under thebanking obligation.

It is learnt that generationin most of the projectsbeing run by the HP StateElectricity Board (HPSEB)too is down. As compared toa generation of about 95lakh units by HPSEB proj-ects, the generation is downto about 60 lakh units.

There has been a declinein Baspa project from 79lakh units to about 40 lakhunits in the last week.

Even though decline inpower generation is a nor-mal phenomenon in wintersthis year with the tempera-tures dipping in Octoberitself, the generation hascome down rather early.

Early winter hits power generation Production down 45% | Consumers not to suffer as supply to other states stopped

Shimla, October 6Justice Lingappa NarayanaSwamy was today sworn in asthe 25th Chief Justice of theHimachal Pradesh HighCourt here today.

He was administered theoath of office by GovernorBandaru Dattatreya at animpressive ceremony heldat Raj Bhawan. Chief Minis-ter Jai Ram Thakur was alsopresent on the occasion.The ceremony took place at

the Darbar Hall of the RajBhawan, where Chief Sec-retary Dr Shrikant Baldiconducted the proceedingsof oath ceremony and readout the Warrant of Appoint-ment issued by the Presi-dent of India.

Judges of the HimachalPradesh HC and Madras HC,senior officers of the stategovernment and other promi-nent persons were present onthe occasion. — TNS

CJ Swamy takes oath

Governor Bandaru Dattatreya administers oath to Justice LingappaNarayana Swamy in Shimla on Sunday. PHOTO: AMIT KANWAR

Lalit MohanTribune News Service

Dharamsala, October 6Following the orders of theHigh Court, the ForestDepartment has demolishedmost of the temporary shopson the trek leading to Triundand on the summit.

DFO, Dharamsala, SanjeevKumar, when contacted onthe phone, said about 19shops on the trek and four onthe summit had been demol-ished. He said after the courtorders, land on the Triundsummit was demarcated byrevenue officials. It wasfound after demarcation thatmost of the shops were locat-ed on forest lands. On itsbasis, the demolitions hadbeen carried out.

The HC had ordered theDeputy Commissioner, Kan-gra, to file a status reportregarding encroachments onthe Triund summit and trek.

Triund summit attracts alarge number of tourists toDharamsala throughout theyears. Located at a height of2,850 metres from the sealevel, Triund is a grasslandwhich is famous among thetrekkers the world over.However, it is fast gettingconverted into a wastedump and a virtual slum oftemporary structures raisedby certain influential peopleto accommodate tourists.

Earlier, there used to bejust one forest rest house atthe summit. Tourists had to

take permission fromdepartment officials to staythere. However, now hun-dreds of tourists stay at thesummit in illegal tempo-rary constructions. Sincethere were no toilets or oth-er facilities, the summitwas getting converted intoa waste dump.

Interestingly, some puccaguest houses have come upclose to the summit despitethe fact that most of it was onthe reserved forest area.Hackles were raised when alocal last year had got regis-tered land in his name at theTriund summit. Enquiriesrevealed that the revenuerecord had been tamperedwith to register forest land inthe name of the person.

Forest officials said theremight be more land aroundthe summit illegally trans-ferred in revenue papers inthe name of individuals.

Illegal structuresrazed at Triund

POPULAR AMONGTREKKERSTriund summit attracts alarge number of tourists toDharamsala. Located at aheight of 2,850 metres,Triund is a grasslandwhich is famous amongthe trekkers the worldover. However, it is fastgetting converted into awaste dump and a virtualslum of temporary struc-tures raised by certaininfluential people toaccommodate tourists.

GIVE-AND-TAKE POLICY■ Himachal will shortly start

receiving power under bankingsystem from Punjab, Haryana,Uttar Pradesh and Delhi fromOctober 8 to March 31.

■ The maximum quantum of pow-er will be received from Delhi

■ A total of 1,900 million unitsof power has been supplied toDelhi, Haryana and UP

■ Over 2,000 million units willbe returned to HP under thebanking obligation.


Solan,October 6A major part of the trans-Giri area in Sirmaur dis-trict was cut off as about200-metre portion of thePaonta Sahib-Shillai-Hatkoti National Highwaycaved in near Sataunbridge around 11 am today.

The road is used by com-muters travelling fromKupvi, Nerwa and Chopalof Shimla to Uttar Pradeshand Uttarakhand. Thecommuters were compelledto either travel through theGiri river from Sataun oruse a detour from Shillai,which was very far. It cre-ated hardships for the peo-ple as it was a busy roadused by hundreds of com-muters from the trans-Giriarea to reach the otherareas of the district.

Local residents said theroad had caved in earliertoo in 2002 and remainedclosed for several days.

Arterial roads like Sarra-Malgi road were being usedto commute to Sataun andPaonta Sahib which were at

least 15-km longer. PWD officials were taking

stock of the situation.Deputy Commissioner Dr

RK Pruthi said efforts wereafoot to open the road forsmaller vehicles initially.

The DC added that a teamof officials from the PWD,district administration andother departments wouldvisit the site tomorrow andas per initial estimates, itwould take a week torestore the road which hadsuffered immense damage.

Trans-Giri area cut off as road caves in

People cross the Giri on foot after the Paonta Sahib-Shillai-Hatkoti NH caved in near Sataun bridge.

❝Efforts are on to open the road for smaller vehiclesinitially. A team of officials from the PWD, districtadministration and other departments will visit the siteon Monday to take stock of the situation and it maytake up to a week to repair the damage❞ Dr RK Pruthi, DC

‘REPAIR MAY TAKE A WEEK’

Four killed in ChambaaccidentDharamsala, October 6Four persons were killedwhen a Balero fell into 600metre deep gorge in Tarelaarea of Bharmour sub divi-sion of Kangra.

SP Chamba Monika saidthat from preliminary inquiryit seems that the driver lostcontrol of the vehicle and itplunged into gorge. Therewere five occupants, includ-ing the driver, in the vehiclewhen it met with the accident.

The driver Bittu was res-cued and shifted to Chambamedical college. All otherfour occupants of the vehi-cle — Rajinder Kumar,Ramesh Kumar, Sanjeevand Surinder Kumar diedon the spot. — TNS

Nineteen shops along the trekking route and four on the summithave been demolished following HC orders. FILE PHOTO

Jammu, October 6Refugees from PoK willprotest against the Centre atJantar Mantar in New Delhion October 22, which theyobserve as ‘black day’.

They said the Centre hasfailed to fulfil the promises,which included delay in theimplementation of relief pack-age. Post the revocation of Arti-cle 370 from J&K, the Centrehas upped the ante by repeat-ed statements about retrievingPoK, which may have rattledPakistan, but the annoyedrefugees are still waiting fortheir issues to be addressed.

“We welcome the revoca-tion of Article 370, though itwasn’t harming us and wehave always been in favourof retrieving PoK, as it is anintegral part of J&K andIndia. But why do they onlytalk about the area to beretrieved, why not the peo-ple who chose to be withIndia in 1947 and migratedfrom that part of J&K to theIndian side?” asked RajivChunni, PoK refugees’leader. PoK refugees observeOctober 22 as ‘black day’, asKabailis attacked J&K on thesame date in 1947, after whicha big part of the princely stateof J&K was occupied by Pak-istan and thousands of Hin-dus and Sikhs had to migrateto the Indian side.— TNS

PoK refugeesto observeOctober 22 as ‘black day’

Involve Pandits for theirrehab, Union Govt toldSay self-styled leaders trying to represent community

MALEEHA Lodhi, an"accomplished"diplomat of Pak-

istan, was removed uncere-moniously from her positionas Pakistan's permanent rep-resentative at the UnitedNations on September 30within a couple of days afterPakistan Prime Ministerreturned from his visit to theUnited States of America.

There is a message in this.Pakistan is deploying all itshawks on all fronts againstIndia. Its politics and diploma-cy are run on anti-India rants.Maleeha always echoed hercountry's point of view at theUN, including Imran Khan'sstand on Kashmir, before andafter the August 5 scrapping ofthe special status of Jammuand Kashmir. Even though herline was reflective of subjectiveway of Pakistan's thinking, hereloquence was decent.

Why Munir Akram, who hadsince retired from active diplo-

macy, was chosen as a replace-ment of Maleeha Lodhi? Theofficial explanation is that shewas not "sacked". The Pakistanforeign office claimed that shehad completed her tenure, soshe had to go.

If that is the logic, whysomeone from the servingdiplomats was not chosen asher successor? There are noanswers, or probably Pakistanwent by the dictum that diplo-mats never retire.

Akram is filled with hate forIndia. It is clear from his writ-ings. His appointment as Pak-istan's permanent representa-tive to the UN is perhaps areward for his slavish syco-phancy of Imran Khan, andhis "Kashmir policy". He hadrated the discussion of theKashmir issue at a closed-door meeting of the UnitedNations Security Council on

August 16 as a major diplo-matic victory for Pakistan.

He went on to credit theKhan government with get-ting the human rightsorganisations speak for thesituation in the Valley. "Theround-the-clock curfew" inKashmir is the line thatPakistan has been pushingsince August 5. Munir is acheer-leader of this theory,though the round-the clockcurfew became history afterfirst few days after August5. He was also perhaps thebrain behind telling ImranKhan to throw a nuclearwar threat in the course ofhis speech at the UnitedNations General Assemblyon September 27.

That is what the worldshould be taking note of, andunfortunately, the world hasnot paid adequate attention

nor reprimanded Khan forbringing Armageddon at aninternational forum withsuch casualness. The greaterdanger is that Pakistan'snuclear weapons, the worldpolitical scientists and anti-terrorism experts have con-cluded it for long, could fallinto the hands of terrorists.

One paragraph of MunirAkram's column titled "Pak-istan's Kashmir Strategy" inDawn newspaper on Sep-tember 1, bares all thedesigns that he had in mind,legitimising violence andterrorism. This paragraphreads: "Ultimately, if Indiaconfronts a Kashmiri insur-gency, a resilient Pakistan,international pressure andan impaired economy, itmay agree to negotiate amutually acceptable settle-ment with Pakistan and theKashmiris. But the Hindufascists may choose not tocompromise. Bleeding inoccupied Kashmir, they arelikely provoking anotherwar with Pakistan, bringingArmageddon to South Asiaand much of the world."

It tells the whole story whatPakistan is up to, and whyMunir Akram is there wherehe was placed by Islamabadon September 30.

Pak uses hawkish anti-Indiavoice at United Nations

ON THE FRONTLINEARUN JOSHI

Creating situation of violence What should worry India, particularly in respect of Kashmir, isPakistan's attempts to stoke resentment and resistanceagainst India's decision to scrap Article 370, and that there isa harsh and brash voice at the UN on Kashmir. Pakistan isbent upon portraying that the constitutional changes weremade to effect a demographic change in Kashmir. Worse, it isseeking to create a situation of violence in the Valley that hasalready suffered immensely - more than 42,000 dead, thou-sands displaced with no hope of return to their homes everand economic channels choked now for almost 30 years.


Jammu, October 6The resettlement of 3.50 lakhKashmiri Hindus in the Val-ley is only possible when therehabilitation plan is notimposed on Pandits and theyare involved in the formationof the plan, believed promi-nent community activistsand human rights activists,who discussed the post-Arti-cle 370 political scenario inJammu and Kashmir andchallenges facing the mili-tancy displaced population.

After the Central govern-ment revoked the specialstatus of the state onAugust 5 and created twounion territories — Jammuand Kashmir and Ladakh— Pandits have supportedthe Centre’s decision.

They have asserted thatArticle 370 and 35-A havediscriminatory provisions,which had encouraged sep-aratists and denied rightsto West Pakistani refugees,Dalit Valmikis and tribalGujjars and Bakerwals.

“We are hopeful that theabrogation of Article 370will ensure justice to mili-tancy victims. Thousands offamilies, who were uprootedfrom their homes, would be

rehabilitated and resettledwhen they are involved informulating any new plan,”said Prof AN Sadhu, aneconomist. The activistscautioned the Central gov-ernment from encouragingself-styled leaders trying torepresent the community.

“The government shouldinvolve grassroots levelleadership of the communi-ty to prepare a blueprint forthe return policy ratherthan contacting self-styledleaders. These people havedone nothing for us,” siadRK Bhat, president YouthAll-India Kashmiri Samaj.

Recently, YAIKS organ-ised a day-long programmeon the abrogation of Article370 and the way ahead forKashmiri Pandits to dis-cuss the future course ofaction after the new UTswill emerge in the state.

“It’s time displaced com-munity stayed unitedbecause the Central gov-ernment has taken a deci-sion, which has totallytransformed the politicallandscape of the state.Pandit community, too,had faced discriminationfor years,” said Dr KNPandita, a historian.

Sanjay Pathak

Kathua, October 6Former minister ManoharLal Sharma and senior Con-gress leader Kulbeer Singhclashed with each otherduring a meeting convenedon Sunday to finalise thenames of party candidatesfor the Block Development

Council (BDC) elections.Senior leaders attending

the meeting had to inter-vene and pacify both lead-ers, but not before theyexchanged blows and hurledabuses in full public view.

Eye-witnesses said Shar-ma, who happens to be dis-trict president of KathuaCongress, finalised the

name of a party candidatefor Barnoti BDC. KulbeerSingh, who is secretary ofPradesh Congress Commit-tee, expressed his anguishover ignoring his candida-ture. Both leaders startedhurling abuses at each otherand exchanged blows. For-mer MLA and ex-MLC Gird-hari Lal Chalotra and Sub-

ash Gupta pacified them.Sources said serious differ-ences have cropped upwithin the Congress overthe distribution of ticketsfor BDC elections. Electionsfor the 19 blocks of Kathuadistrict will be held on Octo-ber 24. As many as 2,184 vot-ers will vote and elect 19BDC chairpersons.

Congress leaders come to blowsOur Correspondent

Jammu, October 6Lt Gen YK Joshi, General Offi-cer Commanding, Fire andFury Corps, inaugurated the“Heritage Abode” of one of thegreatest Ladakh warriors —late Col Chhewang Rinchen, atSumur village in Nubra Valley.

The project was aimed at

converting the old house ofthe Ladakh hero into a her-itage site and open it for vis-itors and tourists to famil-iarise them with the heroichistory of Col Rinchen.

Steering the project,“Tejasve Teen” battalion ofthe Ladakh Scouts Regi-ment under the aegis of theFire and Fury Corps put in

commendable efforts to con-vert the old house into animmaculate heritage site andthe same has already becomepopular among the localsduring the conversion phaseitself. The locals appreciatedthe efforts of the Army.

The event was attended bysenior Army officers and civ-il dignitaries in the presence

of family members and rela-tives of Col Rinchen. ColRinchen’s family and thelocal civil populationthanked the GOC for thetremendous efforts by theArmy and creating a remark-able landmark in Sumur vil-lage, which would make it apopular tourist destinationon the map of Ladakh.

Ladakh hero’s house now ‘heritage abode’

FILE

PH

OTO

❝The government should involve grassroots levelleadership of the community to prepare a blueprintfor the return policy rather than contacting self-styledleaders. These people have done nothing for us.❞

RK Bhat, PRESIDENT YOUTH ALL-INDIA KASHMIRI SAMAJ

THE TRIBUNECHANDIGARH | MONDAY | 7 OCTOBER 2019 11NATION

Wanted 3-2 kanal kothi for immediatebuying at Chandigarh. Confirmedseller. Contact: 96468-09090.(CL19092668)

PROPERTY WANTED

Independent house for sale in KhararDistt. Mohali (Pb.) 102 sq. yard, 3BHK, 3 washroom, 2 kitchen, AC pipefitting, POP false ceiling, modularkitchen @ 39 lakhs demand. Contact:Aman Goyal 84277-63842.(CL19090699)

MOHALI

Confirm Sale: 3 kanal, corner plot(two kanal Zoning, one kanal Green) B-Road Adjoining Madhya Marg, 3 kanalB-Road, Northern Sector 1, Kanalfacing park, Chandigarh. 96468-09090.(CL19092679)

CHANDIGARH

Flat 3 BHK Sarita Vihar, D-Block.Ashram -Faridabad Road, Delhi.Contact 96468-09090. (CL19092674)

228 sq. yards freehold, plot GK-1,Delhi. Quick sale, buyer may call:96468-09090. (CL19092671)

PROPERTY FOR SALE

Lifeline Superspeciality Hospital,Zirakpur offers world’s best heartbypass surgery @ 1,25,000/- allinclusive, Vascular Thoracic surgery,Angiography 7999/-, Angioplasty70000. For appointment Call 98141-04203. (CL19092549)

MEDICAL/SURGICAL

EDUCATIONAL

Required BAMS Doctor for clinic 3year experience Ghagga Punjab. 98764-04145, 98152-28564. (CL19091162)

DOCTORS/ENGINEERS

Walk-in-Interview requiredinstructors for trades of Welder,Plumber, Mechanical, Refrigeration &Air-condition, Mechanic MotorVehicle, Electrician and Fitter havingDegree/ Diploma with 5 yearsexperience. Preference will be given toCTI trained in particular trade. Applywithin ten days contact: New AngelITC, Defence Colony, Near LuckyDhaba, Patiala Road, Zirakpur. Mob:89683-22212, 83603-78971,[email protected] (CL19094520)

Requires Principal for Narain SmartSchool (CBSE affiliated) Samana Road Bhanra, Patiala. Well qualifiedPGT candidates with excellentcommunication skills having leadershipqualities and experience as a Principal/Vice Principal/ Co-ordinator, will bepreferred. Attractive salary fordeserving candidate. Walk in interviewon 9th October, 2019 between 4:00 pmand 6:00 pm at Hotel NarainContinental Chotti Baradari, Patiala.Contact: 98158-27003. (CL19094489)

Competent and experienced Teachersrequired for Akal Academy Balbehra,Distt. Patiala for PGT English, PGTCommerce, Computer, Art and Craftand Punjabi. Fluency in English ismust. Eligibility: Post Graduation inrequired stream. Transportation facilityavailable from Patiala. Salary: Rs15,000 to Rs 24,000 p.m. Walk- ininterview: Test: Akal AcademyBalbehra, VPO - Balbehra, Tehsil &Distt. Patiala on 09.10.2019 Wednesdayfrom 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Contact: (98759-87222) [email protected](CL19094415)

Dasmesh Public School Chak AllaBaksh, Mukerian Distt. Hoshiarpurrequires PRT (Hindi), qualificationM.A (Hindi), B.Ed. Eligibility as perCBSE by laws. Preference toexperienced candidates with goodcommunication skills. Salary Rs 15000/per month. Attend written test/interviewwith relevant documents on Friday 11thOct. 2019 at 9:00 am in schoolpremises. Contact no. 9478732778.(CL19094163)

Teachers required for Mata SahibKaur Modern Sen. Sec. School,Bharowal, Distt. Tarntaran. Requires thefollowing staff:- (1) English (capable ofEnglish teaching upto +2 Class (2)Computer (capable of Computerteaching upto +2 Class. Salary upto10,000/-. Contact within 3-4 days.Mobile No. 94654-90255 & 97795-99476, Email: [email protected](CL19094360)

Distt Defence Services Welfare OfficeJalandhar. Required experiencedminimum Graduate IELTS Teachers forcoaching classes. Salary 15000 to 20000per month. Biodata with photocopyeligibility certificate to reach this officeby 5 p.m. till 11 Oct. 2019. For inquiryContact: 0181-2455423, 87288-26454.(CL19094644)

Sri Guru Harkrishan Public Sen. Sec. School Sultanpur LodhiAffiliated to C.B.S.E. Requires PGTEnglish, PGT Maths, PGT PoliticalScience. Apply immediately. ContactNo. 98154-12435, 99886-00592.Email: [email protected](CL19094645)

Patiala based author requires twoGraduate/ Post Graduate femalescompetent to write English and Punjabi.Handsome salary. Contact no. 98159-54074 Dr. S.S. Nanda Political Science,House 7-A, Dhillon Marg, Patiala.(CL19092890)

Veer Haqiqat Rai Model Sr. Sec.School, Patiala. Applications areinvited for following: SST Teacher (1),Eng. Teacher (1), Hindi Teacher (1),Librarian (1), Accountant (1), Clerk (1),Mother Teacher (1). Email [email protected] with inthree days. (CL19092838)

MGN College of Education, AdarshNagar, Jalandhar. Invites applicationswithin seven days for the post of DPE on adhoc/ contract basis.Qualifications/ conditions-UGC/NCTE/ GNDU. (CL19094561)

Aryans Group of Colleges, Rajpura,Near Chandigarh requires Principal &UGC NET qualified Faculty in all thesubjects of LL.B, BA- LL.B andB.Com- LL.B course. Send resume at:[email protected] (CL19094400)

Required boys/ girls havingknowledge of Computer and EnglishTyping for office at Ludhiana, 98783-49000. (CL19094648)

SITUATION VACANT

(U/O 5 Rule 20 CPC)In the Court of

Sh Kushal SinglaCivil Judge,

Jr, Divn., ChandigarhCNR No.

CHCH02-000156-2018Next date: 04.11.2019

Central Bank of IndiaVersusAmita

Publication issued to:1. Amita w/o Sh Kamal

Kishore.2. Kamal Kishore, both r/o H.

No. 1157, Sec. 4,Panchkula, 2nd address: H.No. 442, Sector 12A, NearSaini Bhawan, Panchkula.

In above titled case, thedefendant(s)/respondent(s)could not be served. It isordered that defendant(s)/respondent(s) should appearin person or through counselon 04.11.2019 at 10.00 a.m.

For details logon tohttps://highcourtchd.gov.in/

?trs=district_notice&district=chandigarh

Dated, this day of09.09.2019.

Sd/-Civil Judge,

Jr. Divn.CL19093884 Chandigarh.

(U/o 5 Rule 20 CPC)In the Court of

Ms. Sudipa Kaur,Civil Judge

Junior Division-10,Patiala.

M/s Biogenetic Health Carethrough its partner SandeepKumar

VersusM/s Manglam Drug House

CNR No. PBPT02-000109-2019Next Date: 29.10.2019

Publication issued to:M/s Manglam Drug House646, Ram Nagar, Gali No. 14,

Roorkee, Distt. Haridwar(Uttarakhand) through itsproprietor Neena Saxena.

In above titled case, thedefendant(s)/respondent(s)could not be served. It isordered that defendant(s)/respondent(s) should appear inperson or through counsel on29.10.2019 at 10:00 a.m.

For details logon tohttps://highcourtchd.gov.in/?trs=district_notice&district=

patialaDated, this day of 25.09.2019

Sd/- Civil Judge,Junior Division-10,

CL19093128 Patiala.

COURT NOTICES

I, Madan Singh s/o Mohan Lal,Surinder Kaur w/o Madan Singh r/oVPO Saha (Ambala) disown our sonJagjeet Singh his wife Richa from ourmoveable - immoveable properties asthey both are out of control anybodydeals them at own risk. Concerned note.(CL19094604)

I, Ex-Havildar Kulwant Singh (No.4473898M) son of Amrik Singh ofDaleke Village (Tarntaran) havechanged name of my minor sonAmandip Singh to Amandeep Singh.(CL19094603)

I, Indu w/o Ram Karan Ghavri d/oSatpal Bhatti resident of Adarsh Nagar,Sirhind has changed my name as InduGhavri. Concerned please note.(CL19094593)

I, Ram Karan s/o Munshi Ramresident of Adarsh nagar, Sirhind havechanged my name as Ram KaranGhavri. Concerned please note.(CL19094522)

I, Manisha Ghavri d/o Ram Karanresident of Adarsh Nagar, Sirhind haschanged my name as Manisha Ghavrid/o Ram Karan Ghavri. Concrnedplease note. (CL19094521)

I, Om Pal s/o Ram Krishan r/o H.No.7, St. 8, Jhill Road, Saheed UdhamSingh Nagar, Patiala, have changed myname to Om Pal Sharma.(CL19094459)

I, Himmat Singh Rawat s/o GyanSingh Rawat resident of Ward No. 2,Village Alian (Fatehgarh Sahib) havechanged my name to Himmat Singh. Iwill be called by the name of HimmatSingh. (CL19094421)

It is notified for the information thatmy Original Qualifying ExaminationCertificate of main Secondary & SeniorSecondary Examination of Years 2017& 2019 and Roll No.s 2198390 &2688862 respectively issued by CBSEhas been actually lost. Shysha, VinodCycle Works, Railway road, MainBazar, Ding, Sirsa. 98722-41432.(CL19094357)

I, Harjot Kaur Kharod d/o KulwinderSingh village Nalini (Fatehgarh Sahib)have changed my name as Harjot Kaur.(CL19094332)

I, Manju Gupta d/o Sita Ram Guptaw/o Sandeep Bansal, r/o # 1415, BansalLodge, Jand Street, Patiala, havechanged my name to Manju Bansal.(CL19093082)

I, Santosh w/o Narinder Kumar r/oH. No. 467, St. No. 6, Tripuri Town,Patiala, have changed my name toSonu. (CL19092200)

PUBLIC NOTICES

(U/O 5 Rule 20 CPC)(Succession Case)

In the Court ofAmita SinghCivil Judge

(Senior Division)- NRI Court,Jalandhar.

Harjinder Kumar Doal s/oPritam Singh r/o 12 DaleClose Great Barr BirminghamB43 6 AS

Vs.General Public

CNR No. PBJL02-003639-2019

Next Date: 04.11.2019Notice to: General Public

In above titled case, thedefendant(s)/respondent(s)could not be served. It isordered that defendant(s)/respondent(s) should appearin person or through counselon 04.11.2019 at 10.00 a.m. For details logon tohttps://highcourtchd.gov.in/?trs=district_notice&district=

jalandharDated, this day of 30.09.2019.

Sd/- Civil Judge(Senior Division)-

NRI Court,CL19094435 Jalandhar.

(U/o 5 Rule 20 CPC)(Under Guardian and

Ward Act)In the Court ofAmita SinghCivil Judge

(Senior Division)-N.R.ICourt, Jalandhar.

Madan Lal s/o Hajara Ram4220, Archer Dr, Bellingham

Washington, 98226, USA.Versus

General PublicCNR No.

PBJL02-000680-2019Next Date:- 31.10.2019

Notice to:General Public

In above titled case, thedefendant(s)/respondent(s)could not be served. It isordered that defendant(s)/respondent(s) should appearin person or through counselon 31.10.2019 at 10:00 a.m.

For details logon to https://highcourtchd.gov.in/?trs=district_notice&district=jalandhar


Sd/- Civil Judge (Senior Division)-

N.R.I Court, CL19094431 Jalandhar.

(U/O 5 Rule 20 CPC)In the Court of

Harsimranjit KaurCivil Judge,

(Junior Division),Payal (Ludhiana)

CNR No.PBLDD0-0004632017

Next date: 6.11.2019Amarjit Singh

VersusThe Chairperson ReliancePublication issued to:JD 1 The Chairperson

Reliance Life Insurance Co.Ltd. 9th and 10th FloorBuilding No. 2, Rtech ParkNirlon Compound, next toHub Mall Behind FlexBuilding, Goregaon (East)Mumbai-400063.

In above titled case thedefendant(s)/respondent(s)could not be served. It isordered that defendant(s)/respondent(s) should appearin person or through counselon 6.11.2019 at 10.00 a.m.

For details logon tohttps://highcourtchd.gov.in/?

trs=district_notice&district=ludhiana


Sd/- Civil Judge,(Junior Division), Payal

CL19094252 (Ludhiana).

(U/o 5 Rule 20 CPC)In the Court of

Shri Harpreet SinghAdditional Civil Judge

(Senior Division), Abohar.Rati Bishnoi daughter of Sh. RudarKrishan Bishnoi s/o Sh. ManphoolSingh Bishnoi, resident of P.O. Box8494, Newwark, VJO 7108, USA atpresent Panniwala Mahla, Teh.Abohar, Distt. Fazilka.

VersusRudar Krishan Bishnoi s/o Sh.Manphool son of Sh. Jwana Ram r/oH.No. D-111/3249, Vasant Kunj NewDelhi etc.

CNR No.: PBFZE0-000249-2017Next Date: 30.10.2019

Suit for DeclarationPublication issued to:2. Lava Krishan Bishnoi s/o

Manphool r/o 32-1 House Enclavenear Rajiv Chowk Gurgaon Haryana,5. Mohini Bishnoi d/o Manphool Ramr/o A-4, Karni Nagar Bikaner (Raj), 6.Neha Lata Singh d/o Manphool Ramresident c/o Dr A.K. Singh, RajivMenidrial Eye Hospital 14/15Jocobpura near Samaj Marb Mandir,Gurgaon.

In above titled case, thedefendant(s)/respondent(s) could notbe served. It is ordered thatdefendant(s)/respondent(s) shouldappear in person or through counsel on30.10.2019 at 10.00 a.m.

For details logon tohttps://highcourtchd.gov.in/?trs=

district_notice&district=ferozepurDated, this day of 01.10.2019.

Sd/- Additional Civil Judge(Senior Division),

CL19094042 Abohar.

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Mumbai, October 6A sessions court in Mumbaitoday granted bail to 29 pro-testers arrested over the pasttwo days on charges of alleged-ly obstructing and assaultingpolice personnel on duty dur-ing protests against felling oftrees at Aarey Colony.

Additional SessionsJudge HC Shende of theholiday court ordered theirrelease on certain condi-tions, including productionof personal surety of Rs7,000 and assurance thatthey would not take part inprotests. However, the pro-testers are unlikely to walk outof the Thane jail, where mostof them are currently lodged,on Sunday pending the com-pletion of the legal procedureand other formalities.

The arrests were madeover Friday night and Sat-urday after clashes brokeout between the police andgreen activists opposingaxing of trees. — PTI

Conditionalbail for 29protesters

THE decision of threejudges of the SupremeCourt to opt out of the

hearing of activist GautamNavlakha’s petition, chal-lenging the Bombay HighCourt’s order rejecting hisplea for quashing of an FIRin connection with the Bhi-ma-Koregaon violence case,has brought the focus backon recusal by judges.

After Chief Justice of IndiaRanjan Gogoi and JusticeBR Gavai, last week JusticeS Ravindra Bhat recusedfrom hearing the petitionfiled by Navlakha who hasbeen booked under provi-sions of the Unlawful Activi-ties Prevention Act (UAPA)and the Indian Penal Code.The matter has since beenassigned by CJI Gogoi to aBench headed by JusticeArun Mishra, which on Fri-day extended his protectionfrom arrest.

This is not for the first timethat judges have opted out ofa case. In fact, they do it rou-tinely, often leaving litigants,advocates and people in gen-eral perplexed about the rea-sons behind their decision torecuse in a case.

Do consumers of justicehave a right to know the rea-sons behind recusal by ajudge? Should a judge dis-close why he/she opted out ofa case?

According to Bar andBench, data culled out fromthe Supreme Court’s web-site showed that as many as

28 judges recused from atleast 376 cases in 2017. Jus-tice Uday Umesh Lalit andJustice L Nageswara Rao —who were elevated from theBar to the Bench in 2014 andin 2016, respectively —recused from hearing 43 cas-es each during 2017.

Sometimes, a litigant seeksrecusal by a judge pointingout that he/she has repre-sented one of the parties tothe case and the judge inquestion agrees.

As reflected in the dataabove, often judges recuseowing to the fact that theyhad in the past representedone of the parties as an advo-cate and if they hear the mat-ter it would lead to a conflictof interest situation and alle-gations of bias. There is noth-ing wrong in such a decision,except when the reasonsaren’t made public.

“Being an institutionwhose hallmark is trans-parency, it is only proper thatthe judge discharging highand noble duties, at leastbroadly indicate the reasons

for recusing from the case…it is the constitutional duty,as reflected in one’s oath, tobe transparent and account-able, and hence, a judge isrequired to indicate reasonsfor his recusal from a partic-ular case,” Justice KurianJoseph said in his verdict onNational Judicial Appoint-ments Commission.

Generally, judges recusingfrom hearing a case treat it astheir personal decision andtend to ignore the obligationthey owe to the consumers ofjustice to disclose the rea-sons behind such decisions.

The only notable exceptionin recent past has been Jus-tice NV Ramana’s decisionto opt out of the in-houseinquiry committee of threejudges looking into the alle-gations of sexual harassmentlevelled by a formerSupreme Court employeeagainst CJI Gogoi after shewrote to the committee’schairman Justice SA Bobdeexpressing reservationsabout Justice Ramana’sinclusion in the panel.

According to ‘Guide toJudicial Conduct’ in the UK,“If there are circumstanceswhich may give rise to a sug-gestion of bias, or appear-ance of bias, if possible, theyshould be disclosed to theparties well before the hear-ing. Disclosure, followed byrecusal on the day of thehearing, will almost certainlyinvolve additional costs forthe parties and will frequent-ly cause listing difficulties.”

In a democratic system,those in positions of powerowe a public duty to disclosereasons behind their recusal.This principle particularlyapplies to judges as theSupreme Court has held thatright to information is a facetof fundamental right to free-dom of speech and expres-sion guaranteed under Arti-cle 19(1) (a) of theConstitution.

If recusal happens in a pri-vate case, one may not both-er about it. But an act ofrecusal in cases of publicimportance is bound to raiseeyebrows. It’s incumbentupon the judiciary to ensurethat a judge’s decision torecuse in a particular matterdoesn’t give any chance toan individual or organisationto question its independenceand impartiality.

If judges follow JusticeJoseph’s advice, it wouldclear the air and stop unnec-essary rumour-mongeringthat starts every time a judgerecuses without disclosingthe reasons behind his/herdecision. Such a practicewould introduce transparen-cy in the functioning of thejudiciary, enhancing its cred-ibility as an institution. It’shigh time the judiciarycomes out with a properrecusal policy that must befollowed by judges acrossIndia at every level.

OBITER DICTABY SATYA PRAKASH

Judiciary needs a recusal policyPeople have right to know reasons behind judges’ decision

28 JUDGES OPTED OUT OF 376 CASES IN 2017■ According to data culled out from the Supreme Court’s

website, as many as 28 judges recused from at least 376 cases in 2017

■ Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice L Nageswara Rao —who were elevated from the Bar to the Bench in 2014 andin 2016, respectively — recused from hearing 43 caseseach during 2017


New Delhi, October 6Converting a letter written bya law student on felling oftrees in Aarey colony inMumbai into a PIL, ChiefJustice of India Ranjan Gogoihas ordered a special sittingof the Supreme Court tomor-row to take up the issue.

“Take note that a SpecialBench has been constitutedto hear the matter tomorrowi.e. October 7, 2019, at 10 amon the basis of a letter datedOctober 6, 2019, addressed byRishav Ranjan with regard tofelling of trees in Aarey For-est, State of Maharashtra,which has been registered asa public interest litigation,”the top court announced onits website this evening.

The hearing will take

place despite the fact thatthe SC is closed forDussehra vacation fromOctober 7 to 12.

After the Bombay HighCourt on Friday rejected a

petition against the fellingof trees, the BMC startedcutting down trees at night,inviting protests fromactivists, many of whomwere arrested by the police.

The trees are being felled topave way for the construc-tion of a Mumbai Metro carshed on 33 hectares.

Highlighting that theauthorities had alreadyfelled 1,500 trees, the lawstudent (Rishav Ranjan)had sought to meet the CJI,demanding his urgentintervention to stop it.

“This is on the banks ofthe ‘Mitthi river’ which hastributaries and channelsflowing to it and emptyingin the river. Its absence canflood Mumbai and it hasmore than 3500 trees in itout of which 2,238 are pro-posed to be cut down. Thequestion is why should aforest which has 3,500 treesin it on the banks of a riverbe removed?” Rishav saidin his letter to the CJI.

Apex court to hear PIL onfelling of Aarey trees todayCJI converts letter by law students into PIL, orders special sitting

Protesters hold placards against cutting of trees in Aarey Colonyfor proposed Mumbai Metro 3 car shed in Mumbai. PTI

Hooda onstrong wicketFROM PAGE 1“He is definitely on a strongwicket, but you can’t underes-timate the BJP candidate,Satish Nandal. Like Hooda,he too is a local Jat leader,from Bohar village of the con-stituency. If non-Jat vote goesto Nandal, Garhi-Sampla-Kiloi can throw up a surprise,”says Brij Mohan, a shopkeep-er at Bahmanwala village.

Nandal, who was INLD’sRohtak district presidentbefore he switched over tothe BJP recently, was the run-ner-up on the seat in the 2009and 2014 elections.

The BJP has made an elabo-rate plan of social engineeringin Garhi Sampla-Kiloi seg-ment to corner Hooda. “Jatquota violence has inflicted ahuge political damage to Hoo-da. He was otherwise sure tocome back to power this time.The recent Lok Sabha pollsshowed how the saffron partywas able to polarise votes oncaste lines. People here arenot ruling out the same divi-sion this time,” says a group ofyouths on village outskirts.

The former CM is still goingstrong in his constituency ashe has given job to youthsand ensured development,says one of them.

He is cut in by another: “Ear-lier, jobs went to those close tothe Hoodas. Now, in every vil-lage of the segment, you willfind eight to 10 youths who gotjobs purely on merit duringthe present regime.”

NC: Leadersin detention, won’t contestBDC electionsFROM PAGE 1

released, Rana replied: “Letthem first release the lead-ers.The party working com-mittee will then meet and for-mulate a strategy”.

Hasnain Masoodi, MP, whowas part of the delegation,claimed his objective was tomeet the detained leaders toenquire about their well-being and “seek instruc-tions.” Farooq, bookedunder the PSA, and Omarare in preventive detention.They have not yet chal-lenged their detention incourt. The MP ruled out par-ticipation in any politicalactivity “at a time when theleadership is behind bars.”

Develop anti-drone...FROM PAGE 1

Border Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police,Sashastra Seema Bal andAssam Rifles have been givena time limit to come out with aplan with required technolog-ical inputs to prevent Punjabarms drop like incidents.

As intended the plan willalso include for the forces toidentify weak areas both geo-graphically and in terms ofcapabilities and have beenasked to build on them phase

wise to make the borders fullproof. A senior official said,the chiefs of the forces, whoattended the review meeting,were told that the ministerwould again review theprogress made on the direc-tions given.

Shah had on Fridaydirected the border guard-ing forces to identify issuesaffecting the security of theforward locations and sub-mit detailed action plans toresolve them.

Capt to aid of ailingKashmiri studentFROM PAGE 1patient was called back tothe hospital on Chief Minis-ter’s intervention. TheChief Minister’s Office,through the office of theChief Secretary, coordinatedwith the PGI authorities tosecure treatment for the ail-ing student. Kheuhami saidafter he rang up CM’s mediaadviser Raveen Thukral, stategovernment officials swunginto action and ensured thestudent got treatment.Thukral said financial aidwould be given to the student,as and when required.

Talking to The Tribune,Malla said after completingBBA, he returned to theJalandhar college to pursue

MBA but was diagnosed withcolon cancer. Khuehami, aKashmiri social activist,played a key role in gettinghim the desired treatment atthe PGI, he added.

“I express sincere thanks toPunjab CM Capt AmarinderSingh for his timely interven-tion and support to the Kash-miri student,” tweeted Khue-hami. Khuehami said due tocurbs in Jammu and Kash-mir following revocation ofArticle 370, Kashmiris study-ing in other states had beenfacing emotional stress andhardship in contacting fami-lies. In August, the ChiefMinister had on Eid hosted125 Kashmiris studying inuniversities across Punjab.

from page 1Born on October 14,1961,Chief Justice Jha wasenrolled as advocate onSeptember 20, 1986. Hepractised on civil, revenueconstitutional sides in the

High Court of MadhyaPradesh at Jabalpur beforehis elevation.

He was appointed as per-manent Judge of the HighCourt of Madhya Pradesh onFebruary 2, 2007. — TNS

Justice Jha takes oath

N the 40 years since the Alma-Ata decla-ration of ‘Health for all by 2000’ anddespite notable advancements, less thanhalf of the world’s population todayreceives all the health services it needs;about 100 million people are pushed intoextreme poverty because they have topay out of pocket for health services.

With the aim of addressing these chal-lenges, the heads and representatives of193 Member States assembled at the74th United Nations General Assembly(UNGA) in New York on September 23 todiscuss, for the first time, universalhealth coverage (UHC) under the themeof ‘Universal Health Coverage: MovingTogether to Build a Healthier World’.

In his opening remarks, UNGA presi-dent Tijjani Muhammad-Bando said,“Access to critical health services mustbe a fundamental right and not a privi-lege.” He underscored that “the objec-tive of UHC is to strengthen health sys-tems by ensuring that people haveaccess to affordable preventive, curativeand rehabilitative health services.”

The high-level UN meeting reaffirmed,through a political declaration, its strongcommitment to achieving UHC by 2030with a view to scaling up global efforts tobuild a healthier world for all.

UN chief Antonio Guterres calledUHC “the most comprehensive agree-ment ever reached on global health.”He stated that this ‘significant achieve-ment’ would drive progress over thenext decade on tackling communicablediseases, including HIV/AIDS, tubercu-losis and malaria, while addressing non-communicable diseases and the grow-ing threat of antimicrobial resistancethrough robust and resilient primaryhealthcare systems.

The key priorities are: increasinghealth financing, strengthening healthworkforce, building sustainable andresilient people-centric health systems,and investing in and strengthening pri-mary healthcare.

In adopting the declaration, UN Mem-ber States have committed to “leavingno one behind, reaching the furthestbehind first” and ensuring that no onesuffers from financial hardship by hav-ing to pay out of pocket for healthcare.In addition, countries must strengthentheir health workforce and infrastruc-ture that are essential for a robusthealthcare system.

The UN meeting was also attended byPrime Minister Narendra Modi.Addressing the plenary, the PM said,“Health does not simply mean freedomfrom diseases. A healthy life is everyperson's right. The onus is on our gov-ernment to make every possible effort toensure this.” Underlining various stepstaken by India, he mentioned Ayush-man Bharat, the largest health protec-tion scheme in the world, under whichpoor people are to be given up to Rs 5lakh a year for tertiary and secondarycare. In addition, 1.25 lakh health andwellness centres are being establishedto provide preventive care for chronicand communicable diseases at theperipheral level.

Despite the growing evidence thatenhanced investment in health canbring health and economic benefits,India continues to under-invest in thissector. The government’s health spendas a part of the GDP (Gross DomesticProduct) remains around 1.3 per cent,one of the lowest in the world. The out-of-pocket expenditure, on the otherhand, is among the highest at 65 per

cent. As a result, 60 million people everyyear are pushed into the poverty trap

from which they cannot escape. Against this background, the

emphasis on universal health cover-age is both relevant and timely for

India. Going forward, there is a need fora clear implementation strategy and anaction plan for operationalising the idea.

HERE ARE WAYS TO ACHIEVE UHCAND REDUCE ACCESS-QUALITY GAP:

1. Invest in primary healthcare andstrengthen local health systemsThe government must increase its allo-cation for public health and clinical care,

with focus on primary healthcare.The UN meeting has recommendedthat countries must increase expen-diture on primary healthcare by atleast 1 per cent of their GDP so as tobridge the coverage gaps.

We need to recognise that UHC cannotbe achieved without strengthening pri-mary healthcare. The latter brings peo-ple into first contact with the health sys-tem and is the most inclusive, effectiveand efficient approach to enhance peo-ple’s physical and mental health as wellas social well-being.

In practical terms, each district mustformulate a multi-sectoral districtplan with the involvement of all stake-holders, with a unified budget, and anaccountability framework. Theprogress can be reviewed at the end ofeach year and course correction doneon the basis of the findings of theannual review.

2.Focus on access and qualityHealth infrastructure in India is fragileand overstretched. The most criticalissue is human resources at various lev-els of health services — with up to 40per cent of health workers’ posts lyingvacant in some states-and poor manage-ment capacity. Most health facilitiessuffer from perennial shortage of doc-tors and even some district hospitalslike in the remote tribal district ofLahaul & Spiti (Himachal Pradesh)have no specialist doctor.

It is imperative to improve the qualityof public sector hospitals and healthcentres, ensure adequate supply of med-icines and products and engage thecommunity. Each district requires phys-ical and human infrastructure needed todeliver benefits. There should be provi-sion for training and retraining of healthworkers and the availability of cleanwater and power, medical equipment,laboratories, and management andinformation systems.

The Central government’s plan toestablish health and wellness centres(HWCs) across the country offers aunique opportunity to strengthen pri-mary healthcare, thereby enhancingaccess to services close to home andaddressing the quality aspects.

3. Prioritise the most vulnerable firstIn a democratic society, the govern-ment's primary responsibility is to carefor those who cannot fend for them-selves. Therefore, it is critical to definea cost-effective package of essentialhealth services — promotive, preven-

tive, curative, rehabilitative and pallia-tive — and make it available to all, butwith special emphasis and priorityaccorded to the poor, vulnerable, andmarginalised segments of the popula-tion. Governments at the Centre and inthe states must politically commit them-selves to “leaving no one behind, reach-ing the furthest behind first.”

As the UHC rollout gets underway, theexercise has to be accompanied by a solidmanagement information system andmonitoring and evaluation frameworkright from the start. New technologies canenable these steps.

Simply put, UHC means everyone,everywhere having access to a compre-hensive and sustainable healthcare serv-ice of quality, without having to sufferfinancial hardship.

After the rhetoric at New York, it istime for action at the ground level asthe goal of UHC cannot be achievedwithout political will and compassionfor citizens who have long been suffer-ing from lack of quality health servic-es. When the political class in thestates wakes up from its self-inducedslumber and forces officials concernedto shed their bureaucratic and admin-istrative inertia, the light at the end ofthe proverbial tunnel may hopefullyemerge. It is now time to take neces-sary steps for turning a global aspira-tion into local action.

The author is former RegionalAdviser and Director, World Health

Organisation, Regional Office for South-East Asia

Please email your feedback at [email protected]

UNIVERSAL COVERAGE

12|INF CUS HEALTHCARE THE TRIBUNE CHANDIGARH | MONDAY | 7 OCTOBER 2019

Attending to everyone, everywhere

Patient safety and the cost of medical errorsSoham D Bhaduri

The World Health Organisation (WHO)recently came out with a dismaying fig-ure of 138 million — estimated to be thenumber of patients witnessing harmcaused by medical errors every year inmedium and low-economic status coun-tries (including India).

A Harvard study of 2013 estimated thatIndia witnessed about 52 lakh medicalinjury cases annually, amounting toaround 3 million years of healthy life losteach year. Medical errors are the thirdleading cause of death in the US, and thefigure was reckoned to be 4 lakh in 2013.Clearly, it is a formidable public healthproblem projecting considerable (waste-ful) costs for the healthcare system. Ananalysis of this problem reveals a range ofappalling gaps in our public health system.

A medical error implies an avoidableadverse effect of medical treatment accru-ing harm to a patient. This is largely due toprocedures deviant from their appropriatecourse: from administering a wrong drugor wrong dosage; the use of unsterileequipment leading to iatrogenic infection;inadequate care of the bed-ridden causingbed sores; omissions as gross as operatingupon the wrong limb. Medical error isn’tsynonymous with doctor’s neglect, whichdenotes breach of the duty of care on hispart. It includes the whole array of mis-takes and errors of judgment often engen-

dered by factors beyond the healthcareproviders' control and notwithstandingenough care and competence.

Those medical errors stemming fromnegligence are liable for civil litigation. InIndia, these are often dealt with in con-sumer courts, unless the negligence is ofcriminal proportions. Malpractice litiga-tion, therefore, offers a mode of redress tothe victims. The same, however, has madefor an inept tool for deterring medicalerrors and omissions. The consumercourts, initially conceived to ease and fast-

track the disposal of consumer complaints(including medical services), have suf-fered from the same problems as the restof the judiciary, including delay in pro-cessing of cases, pendency, staff shortage,and non-uniformity in compensation pay-outs. Proving medical negligence, whichrequires mobilising expert testimonyagainst the accused to the court's satisfac-tion, is a weary task on the part of theinjured party. But even otherwise,addressing the larger problem of medicalerrors through malpractice litigation is aflawed tactic. Apart from multiple delete-rious effects such as wasteful costs;unnecessary hassles for doctors; and jeop-

ardising the doctor-patient relationship —it is highly limited in its scope, even underideal conditions, to spur downstreamimprovements in care quality.

Herein comes the role of overarchingregulation of all medical establishments,public and private, to ensure minimumstandards of care — an area where we havea deplorable track record. While 50-oddlaws exercise jurisdiction of some or theother form on medical practice in India, itwas only in 2010 that a dedicated Centrallegislation to actively ‘regulate’ standards

and quality of care, the Clinical Establish-ments Act (CEA), was brought. Even then,its implementation has been dismal andfraught with compromises. The nationalregister under the CEA currently has only23,183 clinical establishments; even as ear-ly as 2010, there were some 10.4 lakh pri-vate establishments in the country as perNSS 2010 estimates. Multiple parallelstate-level laws with varying powers, andoften doddering machinery and archaicprovisions, continue to exist at varyingdegrees of under-enforcement.

Lack of standard protocols, overbur-dened staff, and inadequate infrastructureare some of the foremost factors contribut-

ing to medical mistakes. Little wonder, giv-en our weak regulatory system, that theseremain the blots on our healthcare. Some227 standard treatment guidelines for dis-eases have been issued under the CEA, buta practical roadmap for ensuring theirobservance seems as farfetched as ever.Undue heterogeneity of practices andinfrastructure among small and mediumenterprises, and criminally unregulatedwork hours of residents in governmenthospitals, are frontline drivers of the men-ace of medical errors.

Weaving quality of care outcomes intothe provider payment system can helpimprove the quality of care, as is prac-tised in many advanced nations. Theglaring absence of a true national healthsystem, which could embrace the major-ity of care providers in its ambit, makessuch provisions impossible to implementin India. Similarly, the publication of per-formance results of individual hospitalsand practices, as has been conceived inthe US, provides an incentive for institu-tions to monitor and improve their prac-tices — though it has negative effects too.Institutional arrangements to learn andrelearn from mistakes and modify prac-tices remain vastly deficient in India.

The problem also boils down to medicaleducation. Practical approach amongemerging doctors remains largely defi-cient in most medical schools. Vital skillslike basic and advanced life support

receive little emphasis in medical school-ing, and are largely learnt through cours-es offered and taken privately. Measuressuch as a competency-based medical cur-riculum and a national exit test have beenproposed to overcome such shortcom-ings, although their current scope seemslimited. Training programmes for ruralmedical officers in vital areas like emer-gency medicine are often a farce - con-ducted mainly for achieving targets onpaper, with little attention to stringency,periodicity, and practical rigour and toensuring attendance of participants. Ithas been widely proposed that courses incritical care for doctors, especially in ruralareas and tier 2 and 3 cities, can greatlyhelp improve care in the critical hour.

Medical errors as a public health prob-lem are thus a manifestation of wider anddeeper problems in the Indian healthcaresystem. While immediate measures alongsome of the problem lines can be con-ceived, anything short of a comprehensiveupgrade of the healthcare system will failto yield sustained and considerable divi-dends. The obtrusive picture of medicalerrors depicted by the WHO can provide usanother opportunity to look afresh andreflect closely on a number of basic andlong-standing questions facing us, likeregulation and funding of healthcare.

The author is a physician and a healthcare commentator

Enhancing access to quality healthcare is vital for personal & national security, says Dr Jai Prakash Narain

Gaps in healthservices (global)

■ More than 1 billion people live withuncontrolled hypertension

■ Over 200 million women lack adequateaccess to family planning services

■ Around 20 million infants do notreceive 3 essential immunisations

Drain on resources■ Health expense is a key reason why

families are pushed into poverty■ 100 million people fall into extreme

poverty due to out-of-pockethealth expenses

■ More than 800 million (almost12% of world’s population)spend at least 10% of householdbudget on healthcare

■ Almost 180 million spend at least 25%of their household income for treatment

■ All UN Member States have agreed totry achieve universal health coverageby 2030, as part of sustainable development goals (SDGs)

How India spends■ Health expenditure is largely

out-of-pocket (65%)■ Only 17% of the population covered by

some form of health insurance,prior to the launch of AyushmanBharat scheme

■ Health situation not uniform in thecountry; Wide disparities existbetween rich & poor, between private medical sector and governmenthealth facilities, between urban andrural areas, and between those livingwhere quality health services are available and those in geographicallyremote districts of the country.

I

Lack of standard protocols, overburdened staff and inadequateinfrastructure are the key factors contributing to medical mistakes.Given our weak regulatory system, these are blots on our healthcare.

THE TRIBUNECHANDIGARH | MONDAY | 7 OCTOBER 2019 13WORLD

GLOBE TROT

Vets trying to save elephants rescued from Thai cliffBANGKOK: A team of veterinarians was on Sunday trying tosave two elephants, rescued from a cliff near a Thainational park where six tuskers fell to their deaths afterslipping off a waterfall. The Department of NaturalParks said in a Facebook post that the veterinarians wereexamining the condition of elephants that had “symp-toms of fatigue” after hours of struggle on a cliff edge ofthe Haew Narok waterfall. The elephants got trapped onSaturday, the same day six wild elephants were founddead at the bottom of the gushing waterfall. IANS

BBC concert called off after man slashed backstageLONDON: The BBC Radio 1Xtra’s live event in Birminghamhas been called off after a man suffered a slash wound dur-ing an incident backstage, it was reported on Sunday. The1Xtra Live show at the Arena Birmingham was due toinclude performances from Aitch, French Montana, MsBanks and headliner Wizkid. The BBC said, “We are upsetand saddened that something like this should happen to aguest at one of our events.” IANS

Ailing Musharraf to return to politicsISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former military ruler PervezMusharraf is set to return to the politics by reviving hisparty after remaining inactive for over an year due to hisdeteriorating health, according to media reports on Sun-day. General (retd) Musharraf, 76, who has been living inDubai since March 2016, is facing the treason case forsuspending the Constitution in 2007, a punishableoffence for which he was indicted in 2014. Musharraf, thefounder of the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), willaddress his supporters in Islamabad on Sunday via avideo link on the occasion of the party’s foundation day,Geo TV and The Express Tribune reported said SeniorZoo Keeper Jane Marshall. PTI

IN SEARCH OF A BETTER LIFE: Central American asylum-seekers who illegally crossed the Rio Grande, wait to beprocessed after turning themselves in to US Border Patrol inLos Ebanos, Texas, on Sunday. REUTERS

Washington, October 6 US Secretary of State MikePompeo has said theDepartment of State will fol-low the law in the impeach-ment inquiry against Presi-dent Donald Trump anddefended his boss’ attemptsto push Ukraine to investi-gate former vice-presidentJoe Biden.

Pompeo’s remarks cameafter the State Departmentmissed a Friday deadline tocomply with a subpoenaissued by House Democ-rats to hand over docu-ments related to thedepartment’s dealingswith Ukraine and Trumpattorney Rudy Giuliani.

Democrats in the USHouse of Representativesare examining whetherthere are grounds toimpeach Trump, a Republi-can, based on a whistleblow-er’s account that said heasked Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskiy in aJuly 25 phone call to helpinvestigate Democratic polit-ical rival Biden.

Pompeo, who is travellingto Greece, told reporters thatthe department had sent aletter to Congress, “which isour initial response to the

document request.” “We’llobviously do all the thingswe’re required to do by law,”said Pompeo.

“I was a member of Con-gress once; Article I has acertain set of powers, andArticle II has an obligation tomake sure that we protectofficials at the State Depart-

ment,” he added.“And sadly, there have

been congressionalinquiries that haveharassed and abused theState Department employ-ees by contacting themdirectly and seeking tohave them provide docu-ments that belong to the

State Department, thatare official US Govern-ment records and askthem to do so without say-ing, hey, don’t bother call-ing the State Departmentlawyers; just talk to usdirectly,” he said.

“That’s harassment, andI’ll never let that happen to

my team,” he asserted.Responding to a question

on appropriateness of theinvestigation against Trump,Pompeo alleged that“there’s clearly politicsinvolved” in it.

Pompeo supported theadministration’s demandthat Ukraine open inquiriesinto alleged corruption thatcould target Biden’s son andalleged interference in the2016 US presidential election.

In July 25 phone call withUkrainian President Zelen-sky, Trump urged him tolook into possible interfer-ence by Ukraine in the 2016election as well as formervice president Joe Biden’sand his son Hunter’s con-duct in the country.

Democrats claim that Trumpused USD 400 million in mili-tary aid as a quid pro quo forthe Ukrainians to investigate apolitical opponent and haveopened an impeachmentinquiry, firing off a raft of sub-poenas within a few days totop administration and WhiteHouse officials.

Democrats leading theinquiry suggested theywere in negotiations withPompeo’s team over thesubpoena. — PTI

Sent response to subpoena:PompeoUS Secy of State defends his boss’ attempts to push Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden

2ND WHISTLEBLOWERCOMES FORWARD

■ A second whistleblowerhas comes forward withfirst-hand information ofthe events that triggeredan impeachmentinvestigation ofPresident Donald Trumpfor alleged abuse ofpower, the informant’slawyer said Sunday

■ “I can confirm this report ofa second #whistleblowerbeing represented by ourlegal team,” Mark Zaidsaid on Twitter

■ Earlier Sunday, Zaid's co-counsel, Andrew Bakaj,said his firm and team“represent multiplewhistleblowers” in thecase accusing Trump ofmisusing his powers

Mike Pompeo and his wife Susan board a plane in Athens. AP

TRUMP WON’T DESTROY ME, SAYS JOE BIDEN■ Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has said that

US President Donald Trump “won’t destroy him” or hisfamily over the latter’s call for an investigation against theformer vice-president and his son

■ In the Washington Post opinion piece, Biden said, “Trump isabusing the power of the presidency and is wholly unfit tobe President.”

Islamabad, October 6 A high-level US Congression-al delegation on Sunday visit-ed Pakistan-occupied Kash-mir to assess the situation onthe ground and gauge thepublic sentiment after Indiarevoked the special status ofJammu and Kashmir.

The delegation compris-ing Senators Chris VanHollen and Maggie Hassanand US Charge d’AffairesAmbassador Paul Jones vis-ited Muzaffarabad, the cap-ital of PoK.

Pakistan Foreign Office(FO) said the purpose of thevisit was to see the ground sit-uation and gauge the publicsentiment following India’sAugust 5 decision.

Normal life in Kashmirremains paralysed followingthe government’s August 5move to abrogate Article 370,that provided special statusto Jammu and Kashmir, andbifurcate the State into twounion territories.

Ties between India andPakistan came under severe

strain after New Delhi’sdecision. Pakistan reactedangrily to the move andexpelled the Indian envoy.Since then, Pakistan hasbeen trying to rally interna-tional support against Indiaon the issue.

“The US Senators saidthat they shared the humanrights concerns and wouldcontinue to urge India to liftthe curfew and release all

prisoners as a first step.They also expressed theirresolve to remain engagedfor the resolution of the dis-pute,” according to the FO.

The delegation also metPoK’s leaders SardarMasood Khan and RajaFarooq Haider.

Khan and Haider said thatvisit would help the delega-tion to have first-hand infor-mation, understanding of the

prevailing “humanitarian cri-sis” in Kashmir.

They asked US Senatorsto press India to resolve theJammu and Kashmir issuein accordance with theUNSC resolutions.

India has been maintainingthat the Kashmir issue is abilateral matter betweenIndia and Pakistan and thereis no scope for third-partymediation. — PTI

3-member US delegation visits PoK

Policemen block a road with containers at a border village inPakistan-occupied Kashmir on Sunday. AFP

Kansas City(US), October 6 Four people were killed andfive wounded in Kansas earlyon Sunday when one or twosuspects opened fire inside aKansas City bar, and policewere hunting for the shoot-ers, local authorities said.

Authorities believe the sus-pects had been involved in adispute at Tequila KC Bar, aprivate club, earlier in thenight and left before return-ing around 1.30 am and open-ing fire with handguns, theKansas City Police Depart-ment said in a statement.

The four people killed wereall Hispanic men and rangedfrom their mid 20s to late 50s.The five people injured werehospitalized and are in stablecondition, police spokesmanThomas Tomasic said.

Police arrived at a scene ofchaos when they were alertedto the incident, as the fewdozen people who had been inthe bar were running out, thesuspects had fled and therewas blood on the street, he said.

Authorities have not iden-tified the victims, but localresident Juan Ramirez toldthe Kansas City Star on Sun-day that his 29-year-oldnephew was among thosekilled. — Reuters

Four killed inshooting atKansas bar

Kathmandu, October 6 Former Speaker of Nepal’sParliament Krishna BahadurMahara was arrested on Sun-day for allegedly attemptingto rape a woman staffer in thefederal parliament secretariat.

Following the KathmanduDistrict Court’s permissionbased on a First InformationReport lodged on Saturday, thepolice took Mahara into cus-tody from the official residenceof the Parliament speaker inBaluwatar in the outskirts ofKathmandu, officials said.

The police said a case hasbeen filed against the formerspeaker under attempt torape and acts of violence.

On Tuesday, Mahararesigned as the speaker ofNepal’s Parliament. In hisresignation letter, Mahara

said he resigned to allow afair investigation over theallegations. Earlier, Maharahad denied the allegations.

In a video released byonline news portal HamroKura, the ‘victim’ womanclaims that she has knownMahara for years and that hehas behaved indecently withher in the past as well.

The woman said Maharavisited her rented accomo-dation in an inebriated stateon September 23 while shewas alone.

This is the first time inDemocratic Nepal’s histo-ry that a high profile politi-cal personality has beenarrested in a rape case. Ifproven guilty, Mahara willface upto five years impris-onment. — PTI

Ex-Nepal Speakerfaces ‘attempt torape’ charge, held

Seoul, October 6 North Korea said Sunday ithas “no intention” to con-tinue nuclear talks unlessthe United States takessteps to end hostilities, aday after negotiations inSweden broke down.

The North walked awayfrom the Sweden talks say-ing it was disappointed atthe lack of “new and cre-ative” solutions offered byWashington, although theUS insisted it was willing tomeet again in two weeks.

But a spokesman at theNorth’s foreign ministrysaid Washington’s claimsabout another meeting was“ungrounded”.

“We have no intention tohold such sickening negoti-ations as what happenedthis time before the UStakes a substantial step tomake complete and irre-versible withdrawal of thehostile policy toward theDPRK,” he said using theacronyms of the North’sofficial name. — AFP

‘No talks’ unless USends hostile policies

Dubai, October 6 Saudi Arabia has lifted somerestrictions on women travel-ling in the ultra conservativeMuslim kingdom, its tourismauthority said Sunday, withnew guidelines allowingwomen to rent hotel roomswithout a male guardian’spresence, and foreign menand women to share a roomwithout proof of marriage.

The easing of stringent reg-ulations governing socialinteractions comes afterRiyadh launched its firsttourist visa scheme, as part ofefforts to open up the country

to foreign visitors and diver-sify its oil-reliant economy.

The Saudi Commission forTourism and National Her-itage posted the new require-ments on Twitter Sunday,confirming a Friday report bythe Saudi daily Okaz.

The commission saidwomen will be allowed torent hotel rooms with proofof identity an ID card forSaudi women, residencycard for foreign residents liv-ing in the kingdom or pass-port for tourists.

The same would berequired of foreign couples,

without the need for them topresent a marriage certificate.

The move comes amiddeep reforms over the pastyear by Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salmanwhich has lifted a ban onmovie theaters in the king-dom and the world’s onlyban on women driving.

Critics note there are limitsto the reforms, and point tolast year’s killing of Saudiwriter Jamal Khashoggi inthe Saudi consulate in Istan-bul and the reported tortureof several detained women’srights activists. — AP

Saudi Arabia eases restrictions on women taking hotel rooms

In a series of measures, Saudi Arabia has lifted the ban ontheaters and women driving. FILE PHOTO

WAY FORWARD ■ New guidelines allow

women to rent hotelrooms without a maleguardian’s presence, andforeign men and womencan share a room withoutproof of marriage

■ The move comes amiddeep reforms over the pastyear by Crown PrinceMohammed bin Salmanwhich has lifted a ban onmovie theaters in thekingdom and ban onwomen driving

London, October 6 UK Prime Minister BorisJohnson has claimed hisBrexit proposals have pickedup support in the Parliamentas he urged the EuropeanUnion (EU) to compromise.

Writing in the Sun on Sun-day and the SundayExpress, the Prime Ministersaid, “We are leaving in 25days. We can do it with adeal if the EU is willing,” theBBC reported.

Johnson said his untestedplan to use technology toeliminate customs border

checks would take the UKout of EU trade rules whilerespecting the Northern Ire-land peace process.

“I say to our Europeanfriends: grasp the opportunityour new proposal provides.Join us at the negotiatingtable in a spirit of compromiseand co-operation,” he said.

He claimed MPs from “everywing of the Conservative Par-ty”, Northern Ireland’s Demo-cratic Unionist Party and fromLabour have said our pro-posed deal looks like onethey can get behind”.

But he said “there will beno more dither and delay”and the UK will leave the EUon October 31 with or with-out a deal.

Johnson did not explainhow the government wouldcomply with a law passed byMPs which forces the PrimeMinister to seek an extensionto the Brexit deadline if noagreement has been made byOctober 19.

In court documents, thegovernment has said thePrime Minister will request adelay as the law requires,

despite his public and Parlia-mentary statements.

Meanwhile, Brexit Secre-tary Stephen Barclay, writ-ing in the Sunday Tele-graph, said there were“positive sounds” of supportfrom MPs but “we need thatnoise to grow louder” as theEU summit approaches,reports the BBC.But he said the UK’s nego-tiation had been “severelyhampered” by “hardcoreopposition MPs”, who vot-ed to prevent a no-dealBrexit. — IANS

Leaving EU in 25 days, says JohnsonClaims his Brexit proposals have picked up support in Parliament

Hong Kong, October 6 Hong Kong was rocked byfresh violence Sunday as tensof thousands hit the streets todefy a ban on face masks,sparking clashes with police,street fights and vandalismacross the strife-torn city.

Large crowds marchedthrough torrential rain inpeaceful but unsanctionedrallies on both sides of VictoriaHarbour, condemning thegovernment for deployingemergency powers to ban facemasks at public gatherings.

But violence erupted aspolice dispersed crowds withtear gas, and then battled hard-core protesters in multiplelocations plunging the financehub into chaos once more.

In one incident, a taxi driv-er was beaten bloody in thedistrict of Sham Shui Po afterhe drove into a crowd thathad surrounded his car.

“Two girls were hit by the carand one girl was trappedbetween the car and a shop,” awitness, who gave his surnameas Wong, told AFP, adding thecrowd managed to push thecar off the wounded woman.

Earlier, a crowd ransackednearby government offices,while multiple Chinese banksand subway stations were

vandalised across the city.Activists have staged three

straight days of flash mob ral-lies and sprees of vandalismafter Hong Kong’s leaderCarrie Lam outlawed facecoverings by protesters,invoking colonial-era emer-gency powers not used forhalf a century.

Pro-democracy lawmakerswent to the High Court Sun-day morning seeking aninjunction against the ban,arguing the emergency pow-ers bypassed the legislatureand contravened the city’smini-constitution. — AFP

HK protesters bringcity to grinding halt

Anti-govt protesters use umbrellas to shield themselves fromrubber bullets in Hong Kong on Sunday. REUTERS

PEOPLE’S LIBERATIONARMY WARNS PROTESTERS ■ In the first direct

interaction between thePeople’s Liberation Army(PLA) and protesters, thePLA raised a yellow flagwith the arrest warningwritten in large letters,said a Reuters witness

■ As a few hundredprotesters shone laserlights on the barrack walls,troops in fatigues on theroof of the building shonespotlights at theprotesters and usedbinoculars and camerasto monitor protesters

‘Taliban talks in Pakwere about hostages’

■ The Afghan government hassaid that talks in Islamabadbetween a Talibandelegation and Pakistaniauthorities were about therelease of two hostages andnot on the resumption of thepeace process

■ “The talks which are currentlyunderway in Islamabad, infact we can say they areabout the two Americanhostages between captors,”said Idrees Zaman, DeputyForeign Minister

THE TRIBUNE14 JALANDHAR | MONDAY | 7 OCTOBER 2019SPORT

VADODARASandeep takes 7/19 inPunjab's win over HaryanaPacer Sandeep Sharmawreaked havoc with career-best figures of 7/19 as Punjabbeat Haryana by three wick-ets in their Group B match ofthe Vijay Hazare Trophy. Shar-ma and Siddarth Kaul bun-dled out Haryana for 49 runsin 16 overs. The Haryana bat-ting was in shambles withonly two of their batsmenmanaging to reach double fig-ures and as many as fivebeing dismissed for a duck.Opener Nitin Saini top-scoredfor Haryana with 22 runswhile Sumit Kumar chipped inwith 13 runs. In reply, Punjablost wickets at regular inter-vals with pacer Ajit Chahalgetting early breakthroughs.Chahal (4/32) and HarshalPatel (2/12) claimed six wick-ets but the total turned out tobe too low in the end. Punjabopener Abhishek Sharma wasthe top-scorer and remainedunbeaten on 22. In theGroup C match, Rahul SinghGahlaut smashed an beaten124 to power Services to 7-wicket win over J&K. Brief Scores: Haryana: 49 in16 overs (Nitin Saini 22;Sandeep Sharma 7/19); Pun-jab: 50/7 in 15.1 overs(Abhishek Sharma 22*; AjitChahal 4/32); (Match-2):J&K: 189 all out in 48.3 overs(Paras Sharma 49, FazilRashid 39; Diwesh GurudevPathania 4/39, Varun Choud-hary 2/27); Services: 190/3 in34.2 overs (Rahul SinghGahlaut 124*, Rajat Paliwal49)

GREATER NOIDAPKL: Narwal stars in Patna’swin over Bengal UP Yoddha produced an all-round performance to beatPuneri Paltan 43-39 in theirPro Kabaddi League match.Captain and lead defenderNitesh Kumar, with a High 5(6 tackle points), was thestar for the UP team as theyfought it out despite a lateeffort from the Pune side tostage a comeback. Eventhough the home side hadsecured a place in the sea-son seven playoffs, theyplayed with more passionagainst a Puneri Paltansquad that evidently lackedmotivation. Pardeep Narwalwas at his best for Patna ashis 36-point performancehelped the three-time cham-pions thrash Bengal Warriors69-41 in their Pro KabaddiLeague match. — AGENCIES

BRIEFLY

PRO KABADDI LEAGUESTAR SPORTS 7:30PM

TODAY ON TV

Visakhapatnam, October 6 Mohammed Shami’s lethalspell of fast bowling wasbeautifully complementedby Ravindra Jadeja’s guileas India recorded a resound-ing 203-run victory overSouth Africa in the openingencounter of the three-Testseries. The victory consoli-dated India’s position in theongoing World Test Champi-onships with another valu-able 40 points added to theirkitty. India maintain theirlead with 160 points.

Chasing an improbable395-run target, South Africawere expected to put up afight like they did in the firstinnings, but Shami’s fifthfive-for and Jadeja’s four-wicket burst saw SouthAfrica dismissed for 191 in63.5 overs.

Debutant SenuranMuthusamy (49*) and DanePiedt (56) delayed theinevitable with a fighting 91-run stand for ninth wicketafter South Africa collapsedto 70/8 in the morning.

The pitch, which hadplayed fair for the first fourdays with the odd ball sur-prising the batsman, turnedtricky on Day 5. The spin-ners got the ball to turnsharply and the variablebounce also helped the pac-ers. The collapse began inthe second over of the day

when Ravichandran Ashwincastled Theunis de Bruyn(10) with one that turnedback sharply from outsidethe off-stump for his recordequalling 350th wicket.

After Ashwin provided theearly breakthrough, Shamicastled Temba Bavuma (0),Faf du Plessis (13) and Quin-ton de Kock (0) in two shortbursts to break the back-bone of South African bat-ting. Bavuma stayed back toa delivery that kept low andjagged back in, while duPlessis offered no shot toone that cut back in, shatter-ing the stumps. Shami gotrid of de Kock with a deliv-ery that held its line afterpitching.

3 wickets in 1 overIt became 70/6 in the 27thover when opener AidenMarkram (39) tried to play alofted shot but did not getthe required elevation, andJadeja took a brilliant one-handed reflex catch off hisown bowling. In the sameover, Jadeja trapped VernonPhilander and KeshavMaharaj in front of thestumps off successive ballsto make it 70/8.

It seemed the game wouldget over well before lunchbut Piedt and Muthusamytook South Africa to 117/8 atthe break. Piedt andMuthusamy frustratedIndia with their nothing-to-lose approach. Piedt’s slog-

sweep over deep mid-wick-et went the distance for the36th six of the game, break-ing the record for most six-ers in a Test. The off-spin-ner played well to completehis maiden half-century inhis eighth Test. The pairwent on to bat for one hourafter lunch, with Indiaunable to break their stand.

Shami, who provided

three quick wickets in themorning, was broughtback into the attack and hestruck on the very firstball, with Piedt playing onto his stumps. It was aloosener but potentenough to break the off-stump. The second Test ofthe three-match series willbe played in Pune fromOctober 10. — PTI

Visakhapatnam, October 6 Skipper Virat Kohli hailedIndia’s pace attack forshowing a lot of heart to gothrough the grind anddeliver even on slow, spin-friendly wickets.

Asked if the Indian pacersare now playing a more sig-nificant role in India’s Testvictories Kohli said: “It’s allabout the attitude. If fastbowlers are going to thinkthat spinners are going todo all the work, then it does-n’t justify their place.”

“They ask for shorter spellsso they can give 100 per-cent,” the captain added.“That’s when you see guyslike Shami, Ishant, Jaspritand Umesh doing well. It’sall about wanting to make aplay for the team even inconditions that are difficult.”

In the first innings, IshantSharma was the sole wicket-taker among the two pacers.However, Shami rattled theopposition in the secondinnings to earn praise fromhis captain. “Shami has beena strike bowler in the secondinnings. All the guys lived upto their strengths. While bat-ting heroes were obviousbowlers had it tougher inthis game,” Kohli said.

Pacers can relax if youhave bowlers like Ashwin,Jadeja: ShamiSpeedster Mohammed Sha-mi hailed the efforts ofRavichandran Ashwin andRavindra Jadeja after Indiadefeated South Africa.“Ashwin has a lot of Testcricket experience, andbowled very well in bothfirst and second innings,”Shami said after the match.“When you have greatbowlers like Ashwin andJadeja in the team, the fastbowlers can breathe easyand relax, knowing thatthey are there.”

Shami also hailed captainVirat Kohli for giving thebowlers freedom to decidethe length of their spells.“Virat Kohli as a captainalways hears us out andgives us the freedom to fol-low our strategy during thematch,” said the paceman.“He has given us the free-dom to take a call onwhether we want to bowlfive overs or seven overs ormore — he says ‘If youhave the power, go aheadand bowl’. That’s when wetake a call that we will bowlthree overs but with fullpower... That’s the under-

standing we have. He trustsus, and we trust him,” Sha-mi added. — Agencies

Shami, Jadeja take 7 in 1st session to hand India 203-run win over SA, take 1-0 lead

My job here is to play ina certain manner,

that’s what they expect...And I’m going to try to dothat. A couple of years ago itwas communicated to methat I might open some day.Even in nets, I used topractise with the new ball. Iwouldn’t say it was asurprise — Rohit Sharma

❝

There was an opportunity for us to go the other way andwe didn’t. We played really well, senior players put their

hands up in Quinny (Quinton de Kock) and Dean (Elgar)getting fantastic hundreds and to get 400 in the sub-continent is never anything easy to do— Faf du Plessis, SA CAPTAIN

❝

Kohli praises pacersfor ruling spin track

INDIA 1ST INN 502/7 DeclS AFRICA 1ST INN 431INDIA 2ND INN 323/4 DeclS AFRICA 2ND INN (Overnight 11/1)

A Markram c&b Jadeja 39D Elgar lbw b Jadeja 2T de Bruyn b Ashwin 10T Bavuma b Shami 0F du Plessis b Shami 13Q de Kock b Shami 0S Muthusamy not out 49V Philander lbw b Jadeja 0K Maharaj lbw b Jadeja 0D Piedt b Shami 56K Rabada c Saha b Shami 18Extras: (B-2 LB-2) 4Total: (All out; 63.5 overs) 191FoW: 1-4, 2-19, 3-20, 4-52, 5-60, 6-70, 7-70, 8-70, 9-161BowlingRavichandran Ashwin 20-5-44-1Ravindra Jadeja 25-6-87-4Mohammed Shami 10.5-2-35-5Ishant Sharma 7-2-18-0Rohit Sharma 1-0-3-0Result: India win by 203 runsMan of the Match: Rohit Sharma

SCOREBOARD

1996The last time anIndian fast bowler

took a five-wicket haul in thefourth innings of a home Test— Javagal Srinath vs SA inAhmedabad. MohammedShami did it on Day 5 inVisakhapatnam and joinedKarsan Ghavri, Kapil Devand Madan Lal to achievethe feat

3Five-wicket hauls for Sha-mi in the second innings

since 2018 — the most byany bowler. He has picked up40 wickets in 15 secondinnings, at an average of17.70 and strike rate of 32.1.He has taken only 23 wick-ets in 16 first innings at anaverage of 37.56 and strikerate of 70.50, with best fig-ures of 3/64Temba Bavuma is clean bowled by Mohammed Shami on Day 5. PTI

Mohammed Shami with the broken stump after scalping Dane Piedt to hand India a 203-run victory on Day 5 of the first Test against South Africa in Visakhapatnam. PTI

New Delhi, October 6 The Tamil Nadu Cricket Asso-ciation (TNCA) has takenstrong exception to Committeeof Administrators’ (CoA)showcause notice to it. In asharp reply, TNCA has said theSupreme Court-appointedCoA “does not have anyauthority” to check whether itis compliant with the LodhaCommittee recommendations.

With the BCCI AGMscheduled on October 23,CoA had issued notices toTamil Nadu, Haryana andMaharashtra, citing non-compliance in their amend-ed constitution, whichcould debar them from par-ticipation in the AGM. Inreply to CoA’s notice,TNCA took a counter-offen-sive stance. “CoA has noauthority to disqualify anyassociation from participat-ing and voting in the BCCIGeneral Body Meeting onthe alleged ground of suchassociation being non-com-pliant as per the under-standing of the CoA,” TNCAwrote back.

The state unit made itclear that the Vinod Rai-ledCoA had no authority sincethe matter is still sub-judicein the Supreme Court.“Since the said issue is sub-

judice, all the associationsshall be allowed to partici-pate and the issue of legali-ty of their participationshall be decided on thebasis of the final orderspassed by the SupremeCourt in the matter,”TNCA’s letter stated. TNCAalso reminded CoA thattheir job was to only “filestatus report”.

Azad releases manifesto forplayers’ association pollsPension, medical insurancecover and one-time ex-gratiapayment for the recently-retired First-Class players aresome of the issues that for-mer India player Kirti Azadpromises to address if hewins the players’ representa-tive elections at the IndianCricketers’ Association (ICA)polls on October 11.

Azad, who is locked in athree-way battle with formerIndia players AnshumanGaekwad and Dodda Ganeshto be elected the ICA play-ers’ representative to the all-important Apex Council ofthe BCCI, has released a 13-point election manifesto. Thefourth candidate for the postis former Saurashtra andIndia A left-arm spinnerRakesh Dhruv. — PTI

CoA has no authority to check any state unit’scompliance: TNCA

Sarita, Nandini bow out,winless day for IndiaUlan-Ude (Russia), October 6Former champion L SaritaDevi (60kg) was knockedout of the women’s boxingWorld Championships afterbeing upstaged by Russia’sNatalia Shadrina on a dis-appointing day for India.

The fourth seeded Indian,who got a first-round bye,frittered away a strong startto bow out with a 0-5 loss.Debutant Nandini (81kg)proved to be no match forGermany’s Irina-NicolettaSchonberger and was out-punched 0-5.

Sarita, a gold-medallist inthe 2006 New Delhi editionof the showpiece event, waschasing her first worldmedal in over a decade. TheManipuri was in control inthe opening three minutes,logging more punchesagainst a seemingly with-drawn opponent. However,Shadrina fought back in thenext two rounds and sur-prised Sarita to get thejudges’ nod.

Jittery debutChandigarh girl Nandini,on the other hand, was jit-tery from the word go andstruggled to keep pace witha technically superiorSchonberger. The nervesshowed all through and

Nandini also ended upbeing warned in the secondround for hitting her rivalon the back of the headdespite repeated cautions.She also sustained a cut onher face during the bout.

Saweety Boora (75kg) andJamuna Boro (54kg) are theonly two Indians to haveadvanced to the pre-quar-terfinal stage so far afterwinning their openingbouts. — PTI

L Sarita Devi (60kg) lost to Russia’s Natalia Shadrina 0-5 in thesecond round. BFI

203Runs, the margin ofdefeat for SA in this

Test, which is their heaviestafter scoring 400 or moreruns in their first innings. Thisis only the fifth time they’velost a Test after scoring 400-plus in the first innings

3Number of bigger wins, interms of runs, for India

after their oppositionscored 400-plus in theirfirst innings. They won inVisakhapatnam by 203runs. Two of the three big-ger wins came against Eng-land, both by an innings, inChennai and Mumbai in2016-17

350Wickets for R Ashwinin 66 Tests, making

him the joint-fastest to themark with MuttiahMuralitharan. Ashwin hastaken 18 innings more thanMuralitharan to reach thisfeat, but has bowled about3000 balls fewer to get tothe mark. Ashwin has gotthere in 7 years and 332

days from his debut, while ittook Muralitharan 9 yearsand 9 days

37Sixes hit in this match,the most in a Test. The

previous record was 35between Pak and NZ inSharjah in November 2014.The most sixes hit in a Testin India before this was 20,achieved twice: India vs SriLanka in Mumbai in 2009,and India vs WI in Rajkotlast year

3Players to bat more than100 balls, batting at No. 7

or lower, in both innings onTest debut — SenuranMuthusamy in this Test.Manjural Islam vs Zimbabwein 2004 and then MoisesHenriques vs India in 2013were the first and second,respectively. Muthusamyremained unbeaten in bothinnings of his debut Test andbecame only the fourth play-er ever to score unbeaten30-plus scores in bothinnings on debut

Stuttgart, October 6Indian women had a dismalouting at the World ArtisticGymnastic Championshipsas none of them could qual-ify for the finals of individ-ual events. In the women’sall-round qualification, Pra-nati Nayak and Pranati Dasfinished 127th and 132ndafter scoring 45.832 and45.248 points, respectively.

In the vault event, PranatiNayak scored 14.200 in herfirst attempt but got a neu-tral deduction in the secondattempt, which ruled herout of the finals. She fin-ished 27th in the vault qual-ification. In the unevenbars qualification, PranatiNayak, Pranati Das andAruna Reddy scored 10.566,9.916 and 8.925 to finish164th, 182nd and 193rd,respectively. In the balancebeam qualification, the sto-ry was no different as Pra-

nati Das (10.866), ArunaReddy (10.200) and PranatiNayak (9.933) signed off at138th, 164th and 174thspots. In the floor exercisequalification, Pranati Das(11.466) and Pranati Nayak(11.133) ended at 151st and179th positions, whileAruna Reddy did not finish.

Jaw-dropping movesAmerican gymnast SimoneBiles led her team with herbreathtaking moves insecuring the top spot with acomfortable margin at theWorld Championships. Onthe second day of women’squalification, Biles had amassive all-round qualify-ing score of 59.432, whichwas 2.266 points more thanthe second-best gymnast,her countrywoman SunisaLee. Biles topped in floorexercise and beam, was sec-ond in vault and stood sev-

enth in uneven bars.Melanie de Jesus dos San-tos of France was at thethird spot with 56.782points.

The two American starshelped the US (174.205)score 5.044 points morethan China at the secondspot and top qualify forTuesday’s team final.

Biles stunned the audi-ences when she performedtwo original jaw-droppingmoves. She first completeda triple-double move on thefloor which involves a dou-ble backflip with threetwists. And then she did adouble-double dismount onbeam, performing a doublebackflip with two twists. Themoves are set to be namedafter her in the gymnasticscode of points. However, ithas to be officiallyannounced by the sport’sgoverning body. — Agencies

WORLD BOXING C’SHIPS

WORLD ARTISTIC GYMNASTIC

Indian women falter

Simone Biles performs duringthe qualifying session at the

FIG Artistic Gymnastics WorldChampionships. AFP

REMAINS OF THE DAY

DOHA, October 6A United States quartet ledby Christian Coleman blazedto the 4x100m relay title atthe World Athletics Champi-onships on Saturday, clock-ing the second fastest timeever at 37.10 seconds to end a12-year gold medal drought.

Coleman, world 100m cham-pion, put the Americans aheadwith a stunning start and200m gold medallist NoahLyles completed the job, cross-ing the line with his armsraised triumphantly in the airas his teammates celebratedwrapped in American flags.

"We were all motivated to dosomething special and it justhappened, everybody wantedit," said Lyles, who will leave

his first world championshipswith double gold. "We allwanted to break the curse, a

generational curse and bringon a new era," he added.

Defending champions

Britain took the silver in37.36sec, a European record,as Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake

failed to catch Lyles on thefinal straight. Japan wonbronze with a time of 37.43seconds, an Asian record.

Ethiopia’s Desisa delightsLelisa Desisa ended an 18-year wait for Ethiopia whenhe triumphed in a sprintfinish against compatriotMosinet Geremew to win amidnight marathon in2:10:40 today.

Desisa, last year's New Yorkmarathon winner and worldsilver medallist in Moscowsix years ago, became thefirst Ethiopian to win the titlesince Gezahegne Abera in2001. Geremew took silverand Amos Kipruto of Kenyathe bronze. — Reuters

KUMAMOTO, October 6 France survived a franticTonga fightback to grind intothe quarterfinals of the Rug-by World Cup on Sunday witha nerve-jangling 23-21 winthat only just banished theghosts of their shock loss tothe Pacific islanders at the2011 tournament. The thrillersaw France join Pool C rivalsEngland in the knockoutstages, sending Tonga crash-ing out of the tournamentwith three successive defeatswhile also knocking outArgentina and the UnitedStates. — Reuters

Tokyo, October 6World No. 1 Novak Djokovicclinched the Japan Opentoday, dispelling concernsabout the shoulder injurythat forced him out of the USOpen. The Serbian starcrushed Australian qualifierJohn Millman 6-3 6-2 to markhis 10th win in a tournamentmain draw debut.

Djokovic, playing in hisfirst Japanese competition,dominated throughout theweek, never losing a singleset to claim the trophy at theAriake Colosseum, a venuefor the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Beaming Djokovic, thewinner of 16 Grand Slams,now goes to the ShanghaiMasters, where he is the topseed. "I didn't drop a set, soI played a fantastic tourna-ment. Everything is positivein my experience on and offthe court, the way I feel andmotivated for Shanghai,going there with great confi-dence," he said.

Osaka tops Barty Beijing: Naomi Osaka won asecond tournament on thespin as she fought back froma set down to defeat world No.1 Ashleigh Barty 3-6 6-3 6-2 inthe China Open final today.The Japanese, a two-timeGrand Slam championemerged victorious after 110minutes in chilly Beijing.

On Saturday, after defeat-ing holder Caroline Wozniac-ki in the semifinals, the 21-year-old called her own serve"confusing". And so it was inthe sixth game when Osakaconjured up a double fault,then an ace, then another

double fault against Aus-tralia's Barty.

The world No. 4, victoriousin her home Pan Pacific Openlast month, was broken whenshe planted a forehand intothe net. She appeared mildlyuncomfortable with hershoulder, touching it androtating it between points.

Barty, 23, who had strap-ping down her left calf,wrapped up the first set in 34

minutes. But much of thecrowd in Beijing was pro-Osaka and they were cheer-ing when she broke Barty tomove 4-2 up on the way towinning the second set. Thiswas a third title of 2019 forOsaka and fifth in her shortcareer.

Later, Austrian top seedDominic Thiem overcame asluggish start and clawed hisway back from a set and abreak down to beat Greece'sStefanos Tsitsipas 3-6 6-4 6-1in the men’s final.

The win secured Thiem'sfourth title of the year aftertriumphs at Indian Wells,Barcelona and Austria.Thiem, who was forced to digdeep and come back from aset down in the semi-finalagainst Karen Khachanov,broke Tsitsipas five timeswhile dropping serve threetimes to lift his first ever titlein Asia. "Honestly I think thiswas one of the best matchesI've played so far in my wholecareer," Thiem said. He nowleads Tsitsipas 4-2 in head-to-head meetings. — Agencies

THE TRIBUNEJALANDHAR | MONDAY | 7 OCTOBER 2019 15SPORT

BACK TO BASICS Coleman, Lyles help US end relay gold drought; Jamaica beat Britain to women’s title

USA’s Christian Coleman, Justin Gatlin, Michael Rodgers and Noah Lyles celebrate after winning the gold in the men’s 4x100mrelay final by clocking 37.10s Below: Ethiopia’s Lelisa Desisa won the men’s marathon in 2:10:40. AFP/REUTERS

JAMAICA BEAT BRITAIN TO WOMEN'S RELAY GOLDDoha: Jamaica stormed to World Championships gold in the women's 4x100mrelay on Saturday, beating Britain in a battle that featured 100 and 200m winnersShelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Dina Asher-Smith. Since 2005 the United States andJamaica have dominated the event at the Worlds, with the Americans topping thepodium four times, including two years ago in London, and the Jamaicans three.In Doha, though, the fight for gold came down to Jamaica and Britain, theCaribbean nation returning to the top of the podium with a time of 41.44sec.Britain took silver in 41.85 and the US the bronze in 42.10. In a surprise twistFraser-Pryce and Asher-Smith, the two sprint stars of the Championships, werenot given the responsibility of anchoring their teams but instead went head-to-head in the second leg down the back stretch. Shericka Jackson, bronze medal-list in the 400m, brought Jamaica home while Daryll Neita anchored Britain. Itwas the second gold of the Championships for the evergreen Fraser-Pryce, the32-year-old bringing her haul from six Worlds to nine gold medals and two silvers."I am really excited for Team Jamaica and our ladies," said Fraser-Pryce. REUTERS

Djoker beats Millman towin first Japan Open title

Novak Djokovic poses with the trophy. REUTERS

Naomi Osaka beat AshleighBarty 3-6 6-3 6-2 in the finalof China Open. REUTERS

Tvesa T-6 at Indian Open, Anika 5th

Marquezseals 6th title

Gurugram, October 6The country's top amateurgolfer Anika Varma finisheda creditable fifth in theWomen's Indian Open with a3-under par aggregate of 285and a final day card of 2-under 70 here today.

The 15-year-old Anika wasone shot ahead of best-placedhome professional TvesaMalik, who was tied-6th at 1-under 287. "I was pretty nerv-ous in the beginning but assoon as I hit my first tee shotI felt fine," Anika said.

Tvesa had finished as thebest home golfer at tied-13th and today’s result wassignificant progress for theLET rookie as well.

Christine Wolf of Austriaburied the ghosts of the pastwith a bogey-free finalround to clinch her maidenLadies European Tour title.

She finished three shotsahead of Marianne Skarp-nord (70 and 8-under) andfour ahead of MacLaren (72and 7-under). Whitney Hilli-er, the halfway co-leader,

shot 72 and was sole fourthat 6-under.

Na takes lead in Las VegasTamsui (Chinese Taipei):Kevin Na equalled his career-low round with a 10-underpar 61 to take a two-strokelead over fellow AmericanPatrick Cantlay in the PGATour Shriners Hospitals ForChildren Open.Na produced another strong

performance on the greens infollowing up his second-round 62. — Agencies

Buriram (Thailand), October 6Marc Marquez sealed hissixth MotoGP world title inThailand today afterstorming to victory in aheart-pounding final cor-ner duel with Fabio Quar-tararo at the Chang Inter-national Circuit, but said ithad not been an "easy" yearas the frontrunner.

The win in Buriram giveshim an insurmountable leadover closest rival AndreaDovizioso with four races leftin the season. Spain's Mar-quez finished in 39min 36.223seconds. — AFP

MANCHESTER, England, Oct 6 Adama Traore's late doublestunned Manchester City asthe champions suffered ashock 2-0 defeat at home toWolverhampton Wandererstoday that left them eightpoints behind PremierLeague leaders Liverpool.

Wolves forward Traorestruck twice in the final 10minutes to condemn City totheir first home league defeatsince they lost to CrystalPalace on Decmeber 22.

Yet it was City's seconddefeat in their last fourleague games following the 3-2 loss at Norwich City lastmonth and it will increaseLiverpool's belief that theycan win their first league titlein 30 years.

Meanwhile, Arsenal movedup to third in the standingsafter David Luiz scored hisfirst goal for the club in anervy 1-0 win at home toBournemouth on Sunday inwhich the visitors missed aflurry of chances to level in

the second half. The formerChelsea defender dartedacross the area undetected toglance a Nicolas Pepe cornerinto the far corner to giveArsenal the lead in the ninthminute.

At Southampton, Chelsea

closed in on the top-4 asstriker Tammy Abrahamscored his eighth league goalof the season to help themsecure a 4-1 win at strugglingSouthampton on the back ofan excellent first-half per-formance. Mason Mount,N'Golo Kante and MichyBatshuayi were also on tar-get as Chelsea moved intofifth place on 14 points fromeight games.

Newcastle United'sMatthew Longstaff enjoyed adream debut by scoring a latewinner as his side beat visi-tors Manchester United 1-0 tomove out of the bottom three.

Atletico draw ValladolidValladolid: Atletico Madridlost ground to La Liga lead-ers Real Madrid as theywere held to a 0-0 draw away

to Real Valladolid on Sun-day, their third goallessdraw in four games, afterthe hosts squandered apenalty kick in the first half.

Striker Sandro Ramirezsent the ball flying over thecrossbar from the spottowards the end of a tightfirst half and came close tobreaking the deadlock inthe second.

AC Milan beat GenoaMilan: Goalkeeper PepeReina saved an injury-timepenalty as AC Milan earneda 2-1 comeback win over fel-low strugglers Genoa inwhich both teams finishedwith 10 men. Reina hadmade a nightmare start as hedeputised for Gianluigi Don-narumma who had pulledout sick. — Agencies

Wolves bite City as Gunners, Chelsea win

Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Adama Traore (L) scores hissecond goal against Manchester City on Sunday. REUTERS

Qatar faces rockyroad to 2020 WC

France book place in quarters

Doha, OctOBER 6 Despite triumphs on thetrack, Qatar has comeunder fire for its hosting ofthe World Athletics Cham-pionships with questionsraised over Doha's abilityto deliver the footballWorld Cup successfully inthree years' time.

Perhaps the most stingingoff-track criticism of the 10-day event which concludesSunday was sparked by the

spectacle of a near-empty sta-dium during the openingdays, raising fears for atten-dances in 2022. "It's a classicmega-event failing, believingthat 'if you build it, fans willcome'," said Simon Chad-wick, professor of sportsenterprise at Britain's SalfordUniversity. Crowds at the1976 Montreal Olympics andthe 2004 Games in Athensalso failed to meet organisers'expectations. — AFP

GOVERNMENT OF PUNJAB

TNEDER NOTICE REFERENCE NO. 15

The Department of Public Works (Building & Roads) invites online bidsfor following:-

Closing Dated & Time :- 16.10.2019 up to 5.00 p.m.For Details logon to :- http://eproc.punjab.gov.in

Note:- Any corrigendum(s) to the Tender Notice shall be published on theabove website only.

Sd/- (Er. Harjot Singh),Executive Engineer,Provincial Division, PWD B&R Br.,[email protected]

Sr.No.

Item Quantity

1. Special Repair of various Govt. Buildings under Head2059 (M&R) Non Plan 1. Kothi No. 3 Gurdaspur 2. DeputyCommissioner Residence, Gurdaspur 3. PWD RestHouse, Gurdaspur 4. Kothi No. 2 Gurdaspur 5. PWDRest House Dera Baba Nanak 6. SuperintendingEngineer, Office Pathankot in Distt. Gurdaspur.

App Cost :- Rs. 21.82 LacsEarnest Money :- Rs. 44,000/-Time Limit :- 1 MonthTender Fees :- Rs. 5000/- each

1

DPR/Pb/D6819

■ Men’s 4x100m relay: United States 37.10■ Women’s 4x100m relay: Jamaica 41.44 ■ Women’s triple jump: Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela)

15.37m ■ Women’s 5,000m: Hellen Obiri (Kenya) 14:26.72■ Men's marathon: Lelisa Desisa (Ethiopia) 2:10:40 ■ Men’s shot put: Joe Kovacs (USA) 22.91m

KEY RESULTS (DAY 9)

TABLE-TOPPERSPos. Country Gold Silver Bronze Total1 USA 12 11 4 27 2 KEN 5 2 4 113 JAM 3 4 3 10

A mixed campaignfor India at WorldsDoha: In what has been atale of mixed fortunes for theIndian contingent at theWorld Athletics Champi-onships, Asian championGopi Thonakal capped India’scampaign to finish 21st in themen’s marathon by clocking2:15:57. Gopi's season besthas been 2:13:39, which isalso his personal bestclocked in Seoul in Marchand was targeting the 2020Tokyo Olympics qualificationmark of 2:11:30. The Indianmen's and women's 4x400mrelay teams both failed toreach the finals. The women'steam comprising Jisna Math-ew, MR Poovamma, VK Vis-maya and Venkatesan Subhaclocked 3:29.42 to finishsixth in their heat, while themen's team comprising ofAmoj Jacob, MuhammedAnas, K. Suresh Jeevan andNoah Nirmal Tom finishnedseventh in heat No. 2 and13th overall out of 16 coun-tries. While the 27-memberIndian contingent was notexpected to win any medals,it produced three finalists inthe mixed 4x400m relay,men's 3,000m steeple-chase and women’s javelinthrow. IANS

TENNIS ROUNDUP

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

FOOTBALL ROUNDUP

❝This is for 100 million of Ethiopians who were behind me. I am the second man frommy country to win this title and it is not just for me, it is for my country ❞Lelisa Desisa

France’s Alivereti Raka (R) celebrates after scoring a try against Tonga. AFP

RUGBY WORLD CUP

THE TRIBUNE16 GURUGRAM | MONDAY | 7 OCTOBER 2019BACK PAGE

Printed and published by Rajesh Ramachandran for The Tribune Trust Printed at The Tribune Press, Plot No. 123, Sector 37, Pace City-1, Gurugram.Published at The Tribune, Sector 29-C, Chandigarh.RNI No. CHAENG/2017/72605. Copyright © The Tribune Trust. All rights reserved.Telephones: 0124-2210033,2210044Circulation: 0172-2670419, Advertisement: 0172-2670256, 257Editor: Rajesh Ramachandran**Editor for purpose of PRB Act, 1867

Hyderabad, October 6 A battle royale appears oncards as 120 descendents ofthe last Nizam of Hyderabadare ready to challenge in courtany move to deny them theirdue share in £35 milliondeposited in a London bankseven decades ago.

With the UK High Court onOctober 2 ruling in favour ofIndia in the 70-year-old dis-pute, the focus is on the legalheirs of seventh Nizam MirOsman Ali Khan, the last rulerof Hyderabad State whichacceded to India in 1948.

With some reports followingthe court verdict suggestingthat the money will go toPrince Mukarram JahBahadur, the titular eighth

Nizam and his younger broth-er Muffakham Jah, otherdescendents of the last AsafJahi ruler are gearing up toclaim their share.

Nawab Najaf Ali Khan, oneof the grandsons of MirOsman Ali Khan, said it washe who took the initiative toget the money stuck in thebank by digging out oldrecords and holding negotia-tions. “If those two grandsonsare the only claimants as beingclaimed, why they were sittingquiet till 2013,” he asked.

He claims that he had asolicitor in London to fight thecase till 2016, but he was per-suaded to come under NizamEstate to jointly fight the case.Khan, who claims to be repre-

senting interests of 120descendants, said they wereparty to the agreementbetween Nizam Estate andthe Indian government to

jointly fight the case. Theywere assured that the moneywill be distributed among alllegal heirs of Nizam.

The UK High Court rejected

Pakistan’s claim over thefunds deposited in a NatWestBank Plc during Hyderabad’saccession to India in 1948.After Partition and before themerger of the then Hyderabadstate with India, Nizam’sFinance Minister Moin NawazJung had transferred10,07,940 pounds sterling andnine shillings in the name ofthen Pakistan High Commis-sioner in London, HI Rahim-toola in the NatWest Bank.

India raised an objection tothe transfer, saying the Nizamwas not an independent rulerand prevailed upon the bank tofreeze the account. Since then,the matter was hanging fire.

Pakistan has four weeks tochallenge the UK court’s rul-

ing. Nizam’s descendantsexpect some clarity in the casein next 10 days.

“If the two brothers deny usour share, we will go to court.We will not keep quiet,” saidNajaf Ali Khan, son of PrinceHasham Jah Bahadur. “Wewill decide after consultingour legal advisers,” he saidwhen asked if they wouldapproach London HC or acourt in India. He claimedthat his grandfather neverstated that only MukarramJah and Muffakham Jah arehis two legal heirs. “All hissons, grandsons and grand-daughters are his heirs,” saidKhan, who is also presidentof Nizam Family WelfareAssociation. — IANS

Nizam’s heirs ready forlegal battle over £35 m legacy

■ B’desh, China, UK tourists throng KolkataKolkata: Visitors from Bangladesh, China and the UK havetopped the list of people from abroad who are thronging thecity during Durga Puja, a travel e-commerce companyclaimed. Kolkata's Durga Puja is India's official nominationfor UNESCO's 2020 list of cultural institutions from aroundthe world that require protection and preservation. PTI

■ Man kills self after losing ~78 lakh in pokerRajkot: A man allegedly committed suicide after losing Rs 78lakh while playing an online poker game in Rajkot district,the police said. Krunal Mehta (39), an IT professional, endedhis life by jumping into a well in the Mota Mava area lateWednesday night. The body was found floating in the well thenext morning. “Our probe has revealed that he took theextreme step as he lost ~78 lakh while playing poker online.We have recovered a suicide note from his home in which hepurportedly stated that he borrowed Rs 78 lakh from hisfriends and relatives to play ‘PokerBaazi’,” the police said. PTI

■ Legendary drummer Ginger Baker diesLondon: British drummerGinger Baker, who foundedthe rock band Cream, hasdied at the age of 80. Thenews of his demise wasconfirmed on Sundaymorning on his Twitterpage. "We are very sad tosay that Ginger has passedaway peacefully in hospitalthis morning. Thank you to everyone for your kind words overthe past weeks," a statement read. The musician whose realname was Peter Edward Baker suffered from osteoarthritis,chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and a long battle withdrug addiction, and underwent heart surgery three yearsago. The exact cause of his death is not known yet. IANS

By the way...

The dispute revolvesaround 1,007,940pounds and nine

shillings transferredin 1948 from the

then Nizam ofHyderabad to the

high commissionerin Britain of the

newly formed state of Pakistan

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 6 Spy movies often featurecyanide as a perfect killerpoison but in Kerala, a coupleinvolved in serial killingsactually used the deadlychemical to wipe out anentire family of six over aperiod of 14 years.

Potassium cyanide, a high-ly toxic colourless salt likesubstance, was allegedlyused by Jolly Thomas andher two aides to eliminate thefamily in Kozhikode.

The planned killings, exe-cuted by Jolly (now 47), maynot be limited to the elimina-tion of only one family inKozhikode, suspects KeralaDGP Lok Nath Behera. “It istoo early to comment on theentire dynamics of the crimecarried out by Jolly and her

aides. Although it is a com-plex case, I do not rule outthe possibility of more suchkillings executed by them,”Behera said.

“We are still following cer-tain leads and gathering pre-vious linkages of Jolly toascertain her criminal pro-file. At this moment, the bigpicture emerging out ofthese gruesome murders isnot much clear. I can only saythat the police have done agreat job to unravel the

killings which could havegone unnoticed.” So far theKozhikode Police havearrested Jolly, her friend MMathew and a jewelleryworker who arranged thepotassium cyanide for theexecution of the murders.

Investigation revealed thatJolly served cyanide lacedwith food to the victims. Thefirst reported killing was exe-cuted in 2002 by Jolly where-in the victim was identifiedas her mother-in-law, Anam-

ma Thomas. Six years laterin 2008, Jolly allegedly killedher father-in-law TomThomas. In 2011, it was theturn of Jolly’s then husbandRoy Thomas. The killingspree continued at regularintervals in the residence ofthe Thomas family. The nextvictim in queue was RoyThomas’ maternal uncleMathew who died under sim-ilar circumstances in 2014.Two years later, another closerelative Sily, the wife of Sha-ju (Jolly’s paramour), andher one year old child diedunder similar circumstances.

Sources said that during herinterrogation, Jolly confessedto the police that potassiumcyanide, arranged by herfriend Mathew, was used tokill the victims. — IANS

Kerala family may not be sole target: DGP Investigation revealed that JollyThomas served cyanide laced withfood to the victims. The first report-ed killing was executed in 2002. Theprobe confirmed that all victimsdied soon after consuming food.

New Delhi, October 6 Ahead of a proposed move tofully privatise state-ownedfuel retailer Bharat Petrole-um Corp Ltd (BPCL), thegovernment had quietlyrepealed the legislation thathad nationalised the compa-ny, doing away with the needto seek Parliament nodbefore selling it off to privateand foreign firms.

The Repealing andAmending Act of 2016 hadannulled “187 obsolete andredundant laws lying unnec-essarily on the Statue-Book”, including the Act of1976 that had nationalisederstwhile Burmah Shell.“The Act has been repealedand there is no need for aParliament approval forstrategic sale of BPCL,” asenior official said.

Keen to get multi-nation-als in domestic fuel retailingto boost competition, thegovernment is mulling sell-ing most of its 53.3 per centstake in BPCL to a strategicpartner. Privatisation ofBPCL will not just shake upthe fuel retailing sector longdominated by state-ownedfirms, but also help meet atleast one-third of the gov-

ernment’s Rs 1.05 lakhcrore disinvestment target.

BPCL at the close of mar-ket on October 4 had a mar-ket capitalisation of aboutRs 1.11 lakh crore and a gov-ernment stake sale could getupwards of Rs 60,000 crore,

including a control-and-fuel-market-entry premi-um, officials said.The Supreme Court had

in September 2003 ruled thatBPCL, as well as HindustanPetroleum Corporation Ltd,can be privatised only afterParliament amends a law ithad previously passed tonationalise the two firms. Theruling had followed a plan ofthe then BJP-led NDA gov-ernment headed by PrimeMinister Atal Bihari Vajpayee

to privatise the two firms.The SC ruling had

stalled the plan to sell 34.1per cent of government’s

51.1 per cent stake in HPCLto a strategic partner alongwith management control.Reliance Industries Ltd, BPplc of UK, Kuwait Petrole-um, Petronas of Malaysia,the Shell-Saudi Aramcocombine and Essar Oil hadexpressed their interest inacquiring that stake beforethe SC stalled the process.

But the SC mandated con-dition is no longer applica-ble, they said citing the May9, 2016, Gazette notificationfollowing President’s assentto The Repealing andAmending Act, 2016. — PTI

Legal hurdles clearedfor BPCL privatisationNationalisation Act repealed, no House nod needed

‘POWERFUL PSU’■ BPCL was previously

Burmah Shell, whichwas nationalised by an Actof Parliament in 1976.Burmah Shell, set up inthe 1920s, was an alliancebetween Royal Dutch Shelland Burmah Oil Co andAsiatic Petroleum (India)

■ BPCL operates four refiner-ies in the country. It has15,078 petrol pumps and6,004 LPG distributors

WHY TO DIVEST■ Keen to get multi-

nationals in domesticfuel retailing to boostcompetition, the govern-ment is mulling selling mostof its 53.3 per cent stake inBPCL to a strategic partner

■ Privatisation of BPCL willnot just shake up the fuelretailing sector, but alsohelp meet one-third of thegovernment’s ~1.05 lakhcrore disinvestment target

New Delhi, October 6 As the government plans toembrace Cloud across min-istries and departments, thekey challenge is to ensurethat sensitive data and regu-lated workloads remain safefrom nation-state bad actorsand must be stored at datacentres or Cloud regionswithin the country.

At a conference last month,IT Minister Ravi ShankarPrasad said the governmentwill not let data sovereignty tobe compromised, stressingthat sensitive and super-sensi-tive data must reside withinthe boundaries of the country.

There are very few Cloud

players who offer extra-secure Cloud for governmentdata. One of them is AmazonWeb Services (AWS) whichhas AWS GovCloud (US-East)and (US-West) regions — onlyaccessible to US entities androot account holders whopass a stringent screeningprocess to manage Cloudservices got governmentclients with sensitive dataand regulated workloads.

In India, AWS is the firstGlobal Cloud Provider (GCP)that has achieved full empan-elment with the Ministry ofElectronics and InformationTechnology for deliveringCloud services to government

customers. The companylaunched AWS Asia Pacific(Mumbai) Region with two

availability zones in 2016 andhas seen growth in adding cus-tomers in the region via its

subsidiary Amazon InternetServices Private Limited (AIS-PL) which undertakes the

resale and marketing of AWSCloud services in the country.

According to Teresa Carlson,Vice President, WorldwidePublic Sector, AWS, adoptingthe secure Cloud-firstapproach is the top priority forgovernments the world over.“Data is like currency becausethat’s where all informationand the opportunities lie,which can make a real differ-ence in the lives of millions ofpeople,” Carlson said recently.

“It is high time for the Indiangovernment to deploy Artifi-cial Intelligence and MachineLearning-driven Cloud mod-els to make sense of humon-gous sets of data.” —IANS

A challenge for govt to store sensitive data locallyInformation Technology Ministry empanels Amazon Web Services to deliver public Cloud services

THE CLOUDY FUTUREThe industries currently making the largest investments in big data andbusiness analytics solutions are banking, discrete manufacturing, pro-

fessional services, process manufacturing, and federal/central govt

$7.1 billionthe Cloud market in India

expected to reach by 2022

$189.1 billionworldwide revenue expected fordata & analytics solutions this yr

‘FB CAN’T BE NET POLICE’Facebook is working towardssanitising its platform, but can-not be doing the job of policingthe Internet, Facebook V-P,Global Affairs, Nick Clegg said.Clegg said the company isworking organisations that

monitor whethersomething is trueor not. “But we can-not be an Internetpolice saying whatthings are accept-able, or those thatare absolutely true.”

SIX CYANIDE KILLINGS OVER 14 YEARS

COLOURS OF INDIA: Visitors take pictures of a puja pandaldecorated on the theme ‘We are one, Not alone’ in Kolkata. PTI

IAF INTREPID

Honour for Abhinandan’s,Mirage 2000 squadrons

IAF personnel perform a drill with rifles duringthe Air Force Day celebrations at the HindonAirbase, Ghaziabad, on Sunday. MUKESH AGGARWAL

■ The Hindon Airbase observed a fulldress rehearsal, which is being carriedout by the Air Force personnel ahead ofthe Indian Air Force’s 87th anniversaryon October 8

■ The Air Force will showcase its newestacquisitions — the Apache and theChinook helicopters — on the occasion.The IAF had inducted eight Apache attackhelicopters in September and Chinookhelicopters in March

New Delhi: The Mirage 2000squadron that carried out theBalakot airstrikes and thesquadron of Wing CommanderAbhinandan will be honouredby IAF Chief Air Chief MarshalRKS Bhadauria on Air Force Dayin Ghaziabad on October 8.

“Citations will be presentedto the 51 Squadron of the IAFas also the 9 Squadron. AirChief RKS Bhadauria willpresent the citations to thegroup commanding officersof the squadrons on Air ForceDay,” a senior IAF officialsaid. The 601 Signal Unit thatfoiled Pakistan’s aerial attackon February 27 will also bepresented with a citation.

The 51 Squadron is based atthe Srinagar Air Force Stationand comprises MiG 21 Bisonfighter aircraft. Wing Comman-der Abhinandan, who belongsto the 51 Squadron, had shotdown a Pakistani F-16 jet thathad intruded into the Indianborders on February 27.

The 9 Squadron of the IAF isbased at the Gwalior Air ForceStation and comprises Mirage2000 fighter jets. IANS

Agra, October 6 The administration onSunday sealed an orphan-age here and booked itsmanagement, citingirregularities, days afteran inmate alleged thatshe was raped by threemen inside the premises,officials said.

Chief Development Offi-cer (CDO) J Reebha saidthe sealing was initiatedat 7 pm and a case regis-tered against the manage-ment of the orphanage.She said 28 boys in theorphanage had beenmoved to a shelter homein Shahganj here whilethree of 10 girls were shift-ed to ‘Aasha JyotiKendra’. The younger girlshave been moved to theShahganj children's shel-ter home, the CDO said.

A 16-year-old inmate hadjumped off the terrace intothe Yamuna on October 3.She was rescued by locals.The girl alleged she wasgang-raped inside theorphanage. A case was reg-istered at the Itimad-ud-Daula police station and thethree accused were arrestedand sent to jail.

Vice-Chairperson of theState Women’s Commis-sion Sushma Singh inspect-ed the orphanage. Empty

beer bottles were found onthe premises. Used con-doms were found in theorphanage toilet. — PTI

Agra orphanage sealed,inmate alleges gangrape

776 KIDS WITH ADOPTIONAGENCIES DIED IN 3 YRS ■ Unsafe abandonment —

including instances ofinfants found left in theopen — diarrhoea andacute respiratory infectionsare among the leadingcauses of death of 776 chil-dren in specialised adop-tion agencies over the lastthree years, governmentagency CARA has said

■ Other reasons for thedeaths of the children in theage group of 0-6 in SAAs,run by state governmentsand NGOs, are pre-termbirth complications andcongenital anomalies, theCentral Adoption ResourceAuthority (CARA) said inresponse to an RTI query

■ In July this year, Womenand Child DevelopmentMinister Smriti Irani hadsaid in response to a ques-tion in the Lok Sabha that776 children had died overthe last three years in spe-cialised adoption agencies

MAX CASUALTIES UTTAR PRADESH 124BIHAR 107MAHARASHTRA 81

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