FRIDAY www.thestatesman.com 06 MAY 2022 FIND US ONLINE Scan this with your smartphone twitter.com/TheStatesmanLtd facebook.com/thestatesman1875 Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR ADANI POWER Q4 NET PROFIT RISES LUKASHENKO ADMITS RUSSIA’S WAR ‘DRAGS ON’ P10 WEATHER PARTLY CLOUDY SKY. THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND 39 AND 24 DEGREES CELSIUS RESPECTIVELY. RAINFALL: Nil RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max: 81% P8 SILIGURI, 5 MAY Min: 22.4°C (-2) SUN SETS 18:59 hrs MOON SETS 24:00 hrs THUMBNAILS Maharashtra MLA Ravi Rana, who has been granted bail at Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital, where his wife and MP Navneet Rana had gone for a medANI ical checkup, on Thursday. SC clears Jhund release: The Supreme Court in u an order on Thursday vacated the stay of the Telangana High Court order which had stayed the release of Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Hindi movie Jhund on the Over the Top (OTT) platform. A bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice AS Bopanna passed the order on the appeal filed by the filmmaker, Nandi Chinni Kumar. T aking West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to task, Union Home Minister Amit Shah today said that the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) will be implemented in West Bengal soon after the Covid19 situation is "completely over." Addressing a mammoth rally at the Railway Institute Ground at NJP in Siliguri today, Mr Shah specifically pointed out that Bengal chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that the CAA would not be executed in Bengal. Mr Shah arrived in Siliguri today, while he is scheduled to fly to the Tin Bigha Corridor in Cooch Behar district tomorrow. Mr Shah challenged Miss Banerjee and said: "Didi, try as much as you can, but we will implement the CAA practically in the coming days, when the Covid-19 situation is completely over. The process was halted only due to Corona." While the Home Minister visited south Bengal after his arrival in Kolkata today, and met Matua lead- Union home minister Amit Shah in Siliguri on Thursday. SNS ers, he did not utter a word on the CAA then, while Miss Banerjee told reporters in Kolkata that she would not allow CAA to be implemented in Bengal. Mr Shah did not hesitate to criticise Miss Banerjee and said she allowed infiltration and infiltrators' settlement in Bengal. While referring to the recent incident at Rampurhat in Birbhum recently, Mr Shah also came down heavily on Miss Banerjee on various other issues, and said: "Will you loot the rights of the people? BJP will not allow you to do that, including post-poll political violence." Quoting the Human Rights Commission, Mr J & K delimitation panel finalises order for redrawing constituencies STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 5 MAY In what is expected to pave the way for Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, the delimitation commission, tasked with redrawing the electoral map of the Union Territory, finalised its report today, a day before its extended two-month term was to end. The commission, headed by retired Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai and Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and Jammu and Kashmir Election Commissioner KK Sharma as ex-officio members, signed the final order. The Gazette notification for the same has also been published. The order and the report detailing delimitation will come into effect from the date to be notified by the Centre. J&K was stripped of its ELECTORAL MAP  Out of 90 Assembly Constituencies in the Union Territory, 43 will be part of Jammu region and 47 of Kashmir region. Six new seats have been added in Jammu region, one in Kashmir.  The UT will have five Parliamentary Constituencies, include the one carved out by combining Anantnag in Kashmir and Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu region. statehood and divided into two Union Territories in August 2019 when the Centre also nullified the Constitution’s Article 370 to end the region’s semiautonomous status. According to the delimitation order, out of the 90 Assembly Constituencies (ACs) in the region, 43 will be part of Jammu region and 47 of Kashmir region. Twenty-four seats for Pakistan-occupied Kashmir will continue to remain vacant. After consultation with associate members, representatives of political parties, citizens and civil society groups, nine ACs have been reserved for STs, out of which, six are in the Jammu region and three in the valley. The region will have five Parliamentary Constituencies. They include the one carved out by combining Anantnag in Kashmir and Rajouri and Poonch in the Jammu region. By this reorganisation, each Parliamentary Constituency will have an equal number of 18 ACs each. The names of some Assembly Constituencies have also been changed keeping in view the demand of local representatives. (See page 4) P12 Mamata contradicts Shah, says no CAA CAA after Covid-19 situation ends: Shah MANAS R BANNERJEE Min:38% ‘CONCERNS ARE GROWING ABOUT KOHLI’ P5 Home minister claims CAA implementation halted only due to pandemic TEMPERATURE Max: 37.0°C (-2) SUN RISES 05:36 hrs MOON RISES 10:19 hrs ‘INDIAN AIR FORCE SHOULD BECOME AEROSPACE FORCE’ Shah further said: "There is no rule of law in Bengal... her will is law here." The BJP leader also explained why he was in Bengal after a year of the Trinamul Congress coming to power in the state in May last year. “We thought that since Mamata Didi came to power for the third consecutive term, she would rectify herself, but she has rectified nothing in the past one year. As a result, corruption, cut money, syndicate, political violence and other activities are going on (in Bengal),” Mr Shah said. “Electricity charges in Bengal are higher than other states, and Didi even did not reduce the prices of fuel like diesel and petrol,” the minister claimed. Though Mr Shah did not speak specifically on the demand for a separate state of North Bengal being raised by some BJP leaders, he claimed that Mamata Banerjee had deprived the people of North Bengal. Observers, meanwhile, said that the Union Home Minister is keeping in mind the vote bank in northern North Bengal ahead of the rural elections in the state in 2023 and the Lok Sabha elections due to held in 2024, and has sent across a message to the common people belonging to the Rajbanshi, Adivasi and Gorkha communities. “Mamata Di, the decision to conduct GTA (Gorkhaland Territorial Administration) elections is not at all a permanent political solution. The BJP is the only party that can think good of the Gorkhas, and the BJP will resolve their problems and bring a permanent political solution within the provisions of the Indian Constitution,” Mr Shah said, touching upon the issues related to the Darjeeling Hills, Terai and the Dooars. (See also pages 2,3) STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, 5 MAY Reacting to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks about implementing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that the BJP will not return to power in 2024 and no CAA will be implemented. Speaking to mediapersons after Mr Shah made the comments in Siliguri, Miss Banerjee said: “They are talking about CAA. Then those who elected the PM and CMs were not citizens of this country? The CAA Bill has lapsed. Why are they not bringing this bill to Parliament? I don't want the rights of citizens to be curbed. We all have to stay together, unity is our strength.” “I am saying they will not come to power in 2024. No National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR) and CAA will happen. He (Amit Shah) should hide. He came here after one year. He came here to infiltrate BSF into politics," she said. Earlier in the day, she slammed Mr Shah’s claim that one may be killed if he went to Bengal, saying such statements hurt her and asserted that this state West Bengal Chief minister Mamata Banerjee at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata on Thursday. BHASKAR MALLICK was much better than other states. “If anyone says don’t go to Bengal, you will be killed if you go to Bengal, I feel bad. Bengal is much better than other states,” Miss Banerjee said while addressing a programme at Netaji Indoor Stadium on the occasion of the first anniversary of her government’s third term in office. Mr Shah had alleged in the Rajya Sabha in April that the Bengal government had changed the interpretation of the word “fascist’ and come up with a new definition. He expressed concern that if he went to Bengal, he would be killed. Miss Banerjee said that whenever an incident happens in the state action is taken immediately. "The government has directed the police to act immediately without seeing any political colour. This is not Uttar Pradesh or Madhya Pradesh. This is West Bengal. Here, action is taken whenever there is any crime,” she said. Taking a swipe at the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh Miss Banerjee said that in that state if girls go to get justice, victims are made the accused. “In Uttar Pradesh, the police torture anyone who goes there to seek justice. No one will dare to do that in Bengal. If anyone does that, no one will be worse than me. Here, not even my own brothers/sisters (party workers) are spared if they are guilty”, she said adding that violence against women is not justifiable. PM back, holds meet on heatwave, monsoon STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 5 MAY Within hours of returning from a hectic three-nation tour of Europe, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today chaired a meeting to review the preparedness for the rising temperatures as well as the upcoming monsoon season. The meeting was attended by senior ministers and officials who briefed the PM on the situation in different states. Mr Modi is believed to have instructed the officials to see that all arrangements were in place to deal with the situation that might arise in different parts of the country in the coming weeks. Several parts of the country have been reeling under an intense heatwave for the past few weeks with temperatures soaring to an all-time time high at several places. Average maximum temperatures reached 35.9 and 37.78 degrees Celsius in the northwest and central India respectively with both the regions experiencing the hottest April in 122 years. A hailstorm and rainfall lashed parts of Delhi on Wednesday bringing respite from the sweltering heat. The heatwave is likely to return to the national capital after 7 May. Heatwaves are common in India in the spring and early summer, especially in May, which is typically the hottest month. This year, the heatwave began in late March in northern India and spread into the first weeks of April. Residents and meteorologists have noted that this heatwave was the earliest they could remember. The average temperature in India in March 2022 was about 33 degrees Celsius, the warmest March since record-keeping began in 1902. In major cities such as Delhi, temperatures went up to over 45 degrees Celsius, about10 degrees Celsius Modi, Macron call for Ukraine ceasefire NEW DELHI, 5 MAY Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a visit to France on Wednesday on his way back from the second India-Nordic Summit in Copenhagen. In Paris, Prime Minister Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron held meetings in one-on-one and delegation level formats where they discussed a wide range of issues including the situation in Ukraine and Afghanistan. The two leaders held discussions on the entire range of bilateral issues, including cooperation in defence, space, blue economy, civil nuclear and people-to-people ties. Mr Modi invited President Macron to visit India at the earliest opportunity. During the meeting, France reiterates its strong condemnation of the unlawful and unprovoked aggression against Ukraine by Russian forces. India and France expressed serious concern at the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. They unequivocally condemned civilian deaths in Ukraine and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities to bring parties together to promote dialogue and diplomacy to find an immediate end to the suffering of the people. Both countries underlined the need to respect the UN Charter, international law and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states. The two leaders discussed the regional and global implications of the conflict in Ukraine and agreed to intensify coordination on the issue. They also expressed deep concern about the current aggravation of global food security and nutrition, already impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, and especially in developing countries. ANI Detection of cross-border tunnel points to Nearly 15 million deaths terrorist plan to target Amarnath pilgrims associated with Covid: WHO Review plea in SC against ‘every sinner has a future’ verdict STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 5 MAY JAMMU, 5 MAY With the detection of a freshly dug oxygen fed cross-border tunnel along the international border in Samba district of Jammu, security forces claim to have foiled the designs of Pakistan-based terrorists to target the upcoming Amarnath pilgrimage that begins on 30 June. The BSF on Wednesday evening detected the professionally built tunnel originating from Pakistan. During further search of the tunnel on Thursday, a 265-ft long pipe for pumping oxygen during infiltration of terrorists was found, said a BSF officer. This is for the first time that an oxygen pipe has been found in a narrow cross-border tunnel built by Pakistani agencie sfor pushing in terrorists into India. The road route for the Amarnath pilgrimage (Pathankot-Jammu-Srinagar highway) passes through Samba near where the tunnel has been detected. The highway is few kilometres from the IB. DIG BSF SPS Sandhu in a statement on Thursday said this is the fifth cross-border tunnel for pushing in terrorists detected in past less than 18 months. The detection of the tunnel in the area of Border Observation Post (BOP) Chak Faquira opposite Samba area was the result of rigorous efforts of BSF troops during a fortnight long anti-tunneling exercise carried out in this area. The tunnel is freshly dug and is suspected to be about 150 metres long originating from Pakistan side. The tunnel opening is about 2 feet wide and so far 21 sand bags have been recovered which were used to strengthen the tunnel exit. Detailed search of the tunnel will be car- ried out during the day. The freshly dug cross-border tunnel had its opening just about 50 metres from the border fencing. The crossborder tunnel is believed to originate from a Pakistan Rangers border post at Chaman Khurd (Fiaz). The exercise to trace tunnels was launched by the BSF after two Pakistani suicide bombers of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror outfit were killed in an encounter in Jammu just two days before the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The case has already been handed over to National Investigation Agency. The BSF had initially denied any infiltration through the border but the search for fresh tunnels was launched when two arrested overground workers, who had transported the terrorists in a truck, during interrogation revealed that they had picked up two Pakistani terrorists, including one Pushto speaker, from Samba and dropped them here. ASSOCIATED PRESS LONDON, 5 MAY The World Health Organization is estimating that nearly 15 million people were killed either by the coronavirus or by its impact on overwhelmed health systems in the past two years, more than double the official death toll of 6 million. Most of the fatalities were in Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas. In a report released on Thursday, the UN agency’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the figure as “sobering,” saying it should prompt countries to invest more in their capacities to quell future health emergencies. Scientists tasked by WHO with calculating the actual number of Covid-19 deaths between January 2020 and the end of last year estimated there were between 13.3 million and 16.6 million deaths that were either caused directly by the coronavirus or were somehow attributed to the pandemic’s impact on health systems, like people with cancer unable to seek treatment when hospitals were full of Covid patients. The figures are based on country-reported data and statistical modelling. WHO did not immediately break down the figures to distinguish between direct deaths from Covid-19 and others caused by the pandemic. Accurate numbers on Covid-19 deaths have been problematic throughout the pandemic, as the figures are only a fraction of the devastation wrought by the virus, largely because of limited testing and differences in how countries count COVID19 deaths. According to government figures reported to WHO and to a separate count kept by Johns Hopkins University, there have been more than 6 million reported coronavirus deaths to date. Some countries, including India, have disputed WHO’s methodology for calculating FACT FILE TOTAL CASES 4,30,91,393 ACTIVE CASES 19,719 NEW CASES 3,275 3,010 NEW RECOVERIES TOTAL DEATHS 5,23,975 UNION HEALTH MINISTRY FIGURES AS OF 8.00 A.M. THURSDAY 05 MAY 2022 Delhi recorded 1,365 cases and zero death Covid deaths, resisting the idea that there were many more deaths than officially counted. Earlier this week, the Indian government released new figures showing there were 474,806 more deaths in 2020 compared to the previous year, but did not say how many were tied to the pandemic. A review petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against its April 19 judgment commuting the death penalty of a man convicted for rape and murder of of a 4-year-old girl. The top court had commuted the death sentence, saying it is essential to give an opportunity to the offender to repair the damage caused, and to become a socially useful individual, when he is released from jail. It also said it was not a ‘rarest of the rare’ case. The review petition has been filed by the mother of the victim through advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava. The plea said that the petitioner's 3-years and 8-months old innocent daughter also had a future, however, she was deceitfully kidnapped, brutally raped and viciously murdered by the accused, identified as Mohammed Firoz in the most brutal, diabolic, cruel, depraved and gruesome manIANS ner.”