CMYK SATURDAY www.thestatesman.com 21 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 TRIPURA TRENDS PK PREDICTS POLL LOSS FOR CONGRESS IN GUJARAT, HP P4 WEATHER Rain/thundershower likely to occur towards evening/night. Temperature likely to be in the range of 36-29 degrees Celsius. Max.89% TEMPERATURE Max: 35.7 °C (0) SUN RISES 04:55 hrs MOON RISES 22:52 hrs New moon on 30 Min. 57% Min: 27.5 °C (+1) SUN SETS 18:12 hrs MOON SETS 08:46 hrs May THUMBNAILS Trains seen partially submerged in mud triggered by flood and mudslide, at New Haflong railway station, in Dima Hasao on Friday.  ANI Grounded airline Jet Airways to fly soon: Civil aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation granted the air operator certificate to Jet Airways, bringing the grounded airline yet another step closer towards relaunching of its services.The Naresh Goyal-founded airline operated its first commercial flight in May 1993 but had ceased operations in early 2019 Pg8 due to some financial difficulties. India gets highest annual FDI inflow of $ 83.57 2 bn in FY 21-22: India has recorded the highest ever annual Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow of $ 83.57 billion in the Financial Year 2021-22. In 2014-2015, FDI inflow in India stood at mere $ 45.15 billion as compared to the highest ever annual FDI inflow of $ 83.57 billion reported during the financial year 2021-22 overtaking last year's FDI by $ 1.60 billion despite military operation in Ukraine and Covid, the Pg8 Ministry of Commerce & Industry said. Terrorist killed in J&K: The Indian Army foiled an infiltration bid on the LoC in J&K's Kupwara district in which one intru-ding terrorist was killed. Defence sources said an unidentified terrorist was killed by the Army's 3/9 Gorkha Rifles during an infiltration bid in Tangdhar sector. ‘China building bridges in areas under its illegal occupation’ STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 20 MAY India today reacted sharply to reports about China constructing a bridge on Pangong Tso Lake alongside its earlier bridge, saying both these bridges were In areas that have continued to be under the illegal occupation of China since the 1960s. "We have never accepted such illegal occupation of our territory, nor have we accepted the unjustified Chinese claim or such construction activities. We have made it clear on several occasions that the UnionTerritories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh are an integral part of India and we expect other countries to respect India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said. He pointed out that in order to ensure the nation’s security, the government has stepped up the development of border infrastructure, especially since 2014, including the construction of roads, bridges, etc. “(The) government remains committed to the objective of creating infrastructure along the border areas to not only meet India’s strategic and security requirements but also facilitate the economic development of these areas.” “And of course, the government keeps a constant watch on all developments that have a bearing on India's security and takes all necessary measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity,”he added. P6 P7 SC transfers Gyanvapi case to Varanasi judge STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE JAIPUR/NEW DELHI, 20 MAY  SC has asked the Varanasi he Supreme Court today in its order transferred the case related to a plea by Hindu parties for worship at Varanasi’s Gyanvapi mosque for consideration by the district judge, Varanasi, saying in view of the complexity of matters, a senior and experienced judicial officer of Uttar Pradesh Higher Judicial Service should examine it. A bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Dr Dhananjaya Yashwant Chandrachud passed the interim order today. “The case be transferred from civil judge senior division Varanasi to district judge Varanasi. The application filed by plaintiff (Masjid Committe) shall be decided on priority by the district judge on transfer of suit. Our interim order dated May 17 shall continue,” the Supreme Court said, in its order. The court in its interim order of May 17, had directed protection of the 'Shivling', which was T District Magistrate to make arrangements in the mosque for practice of Wuzu (purification ritual before namaaz)  The mosque management committee has restricted the number of people who can offer namaz at the Gyanvapi mosque so those coming in late or beyond the quota being asked to go to other smaller mosques for namaz by the manage- Police personnel stand guard as devotees arrive to offer Namaz at Gyanvapi Mosque on Friday.  ANI ment committee. purportedly discovered during the survey in Gyanvapi mosque, without impeding the right of Muslims to offer namaz there, The court also said that unless due arrangements have been made for wuzu (ritual abolutions), the district magistrate is to consult with parties and make appropriate arrangements for the same. The Supreme Court pronounced the interim order, after hearing from the Masjid committee lawyer, Huzefa Ahmadi, and other parties. The Supreme Court said that the District Judge should examine the main- tainability of suit on priority as sought by the Committee of Management Anjuman Intezamia Masjid, Varanasi, the petitioner.The Supreme Court said that its interim order passed on 17 May shall continue in operation till maintainability of the suit is decided and thereafter for eight weeks to enable parties to pursue legal remedies. The matter was mentioned by the Committee of Management, Anjuman Intezamia Masjid’s senior lawyer, Huzefa Ahmadi, in the morning last Friday for an early hearing, to which, the Supreme Court refused to pass any interim order P12 Fight dynastic politics to make democracy meaningful: Modi Interim order for protection of purported shivling to continue STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE PRAYER PREPARATIONS NEW DELHI, 20 MAY RAINFALL: 0.3mm RELATIVE HUMIDITY DHONI CONFIRMS HE WILL PLAY IPL NEXT YEAR ‘TURKEY SEEKS STRONGER TIES WITH INDIA’ on that day. But, it had said that it will go through the papers and documents and will list it for hearing. The Supreme Court had on 13 May, Friday, refused to pass any order in the appeal mentioned by the petitioner against the Allahabad HC's order which allowed an advocate commissioner to survey the Gyanvapi mosque. The mosque management committee has restricted the number of people who can offer namaz at the Gyanvapi mosque so those coming in late or beyond the quota being asked to go to other smaller mosques for namaz by the management committee. In an indirect attack on the Congress party, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said ‘Pariwarvad aur Vanshvaad’ (family and dynastic politics) have caused terrible harm to the nation and Indian democracy since Independence, but it was the BJP alone that brought the lost faith of the country's youth in last eight years after 2014. “These Parivarvadi and Vanshvadi parties have facilitated corruption, scams, nepotism and mismanagement in government. They made it their basis and have wasted the nation’s valuable time,” Mr Modi said, virtually addressing the inaugural session of the National Executive Meeting of the BJP being held in Jaipur. While urging the BJP's rank and file to continue their fight against dynastic politics to make democracy meaningful, Mr Modi said there were no shortcuts to the BJP's success. ''We have to focus on core issues. We have to relentlessly work for the welfare of the poor and empower them.” The BJP must set its goals for the next 25 years and work continuously for achieving them. He claimed that the eco- Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses BJP national office bearers meeting in Jaipur, via video conferencing, in New Delhi on Friday.  ANI system of some political parties today was working to divert the attention of the people from main issues. “We should never fall into the trap of such parties,” he added. He said the BJP has brought the politics of development to the front-burner in the country. “Today everybody has to talk about politics of development whenever there is an election,” he added. The PM said the BJP cadre should devote their full energy to playing politics of growth and development. “Our objective should be to compel every party to play the politics of development,'' he added. In an indirect attack on the previous UPA regime, Mr Modi said the people had lost faith in the government and its delivery mechanisms. After 2014, the BJP restored the people's faith in the government systems. “These last eight years (of the BJP-led government) have fulfilled the aspirations of small farmers, labourers and the middle class. These eight years have seen balanced development, social justice and social security. These eight years have been devoted to empowering mothers, sisters and daughters and enhancing their status,” he added. Noting that the NDA government was going to complete eight years in office this month, he said these years were dedicated to good governance and the welfare of the poor. Mr Modi said the nation has seen such a long period of despondency that the people had lost faith in government. They neither expected anything from the government nor was the government answerable to them. The BJP has brought the people out of this thinking after 2014. SC extends time for Pegasus panel to submit report J&K tunnel collapse kills STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 20 MAY The Supreme Court on Friday granted more time to the technical committee it had set up to look into the Pegasus spyware issue to submit its final report, The Supreme Court also said the supervising Judge, former Supreme Court judge Justice RV Raveendran, would study the technical committee’s report and give his opinion on it within four weeks. A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana and also comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, noted that the technical committee in the case has examined 29 mobile phones which were suspected to be infected with Pegasus malware. The SC-appointed technical committee told the court that it would submit the probe report by May-end The Supreme Court also said that the technical committee has examined some phones and issued notices to others to depose before it. The SC-appointed tech- nical committee also told the court today that it would submit the Pegasus probe report by the end of May. The SC said that preferably the process by technical committee should be over in four weeks and supervisory judge should be informed. The SC-appointed committee informed that 29 mobile devices have been examined; experts, journalists etc consulted. Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, appearing for many petitioners, sought a direction from the bench of the Supreme Court that the report be made public. To this, the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, senior law officer appearing for the Union of India, opposed the plea of Sibal and told the SC that please consider not doing to make the reports public, since it is an interim report only. ‘Over 60% of 15-18 year CEC/EC decide to curtail perks olds fully vaccinated’ & privileges available to them STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 20 MAY Over 60 percent of youngsters aged between 15 to 18 years have been fully vaccinated against Covid, said Mansukh Mandaviya, Union health minister today. Mandaviya tweeted, “Over 60per cent of the youngsters between the 15-18 age group are now fully vaccinated against Covid.Well doneYoung India!", He further tweeted, “we will win the battle against the pandemic together”.According to the data shared by the health ministry, a total of 5,91,09,660 first vaccine doses have been administered in this age group, while 4,45,34,980 second doses STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE FACT FILE NEW DELHI, 20 MAY TOTAL CASES 4,31,31,822 ACTIVE CASES 15,044 NEW CASES 2,259 2,614 NEW RECOVERIES TOTAL DEATHS 5,24,323 UNION HEALTH MINISTRY FIGUR ES AS OF 8.00 A.M. FRIDAY 20 MAY 2022 Bengal recorded 42cases and zero deaths in last 24 hours have been given among this group since beginning of the drive. In a surprise move, the election commission has decided to limit its perks and privileges to them. This comes days after Rajiv Kumar took charge as chief election commissioner of India. The Election Commission has now felt the need of observing austerity in personal entitlements. The Commission unanimously decided that CEC and ECs will not take any income tax benefits presently given to them. It has been decided to send the proposal to the Central Government for appropriate action. Further, CEC and ECs will avail The EC has now felt the need of observing austerity in personal entitlements only one Leave Travel Concessions (LTC) in a year in place of three LTCs presently available to them. This was decided in the meeting chaired by CEC. After assuming the charge as the Chief Election Commissioner of India on 15th May 2022, Rajiv Kumar today held the first meeting of the Election Commission, along with his fellow Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey. Among other things, the Commission reviewed the perks and privileges available to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners (ECs) including the income tax exemptions given to them on sumptuary allowance. CEC and ECs draw salary perks and perquisites as per Section 3 of the Election Commission (Conditions of Service of Election Commissioners and Transaction of Business) Act, 1991. The CEC and ECs are currently entitled to a monthly sumptuary allowance of Rs.34000/There is no income tax payable by the CEC and ECs on this allowance, three Leave Travel Concessions in a year for self, spouse, and dependent members of the family. Bengal worker, 9 trapped STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE JAMMU, 20 MAY A labourer from Bengal was killed and nine others, including four from Bengal and one from Assam, feared trapped on Friday more than 22 hours after collapse of a portion of an under-construction tunnel on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway in Ramban district. The mishap was reported late on Thursday night. The killed labourer has been identified as 31 years old Sudhir Roy. Three seriously injured persons have so far been rescued from the debris. Teams of Army, NDRF, SDRF, Police and locals were engaged in the rescue operations. Deputy Commissioner, Ramban, said efforts were being made to reach the trapped labourers, five of whom were from West Bengal, one from Assam, two from Nepal and one from J&K.A portion of the front side of the tunnel at Khooni Nullah suddenly collapsed taking the labourers unawares. Multiple tunnels are being built to four-lane the highway so as to reduce travel time between Jammu and Srinagar. The adit tunnel of T3 caved in late night on Thursday trapping about a dozen labourers of Sarla Construction Company who were working at the A rescue operation is going on on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway in Ramban district on Friday.SNS site.Massive rescue operations have been launched. One of the rescued labourer has been sent to the medical college hospital at Jammu for treatment. The missing labourers from West Bengal have been identified as; Jadav Roy (23), Gautam Roy (22), Dipak Roy (33) and Parimal Roy (38). Shiva Chowhn (26) from Assam, Nawaraj Chowdhury (26) Nepal, Kushi Ram (25) Nepal, Muzaffar (38) and Israt (30) both from J&K. The tunnel collapsed at about 10.15 pm but rescue operations could be launched at 12 midnight as shooting stones and landslides hampered rescue parties from reaching the spot. Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh, under whose parliamentary constituency the area falls, was in constant touch with the concerned authorities on the issue of rescue operations. BRO conducts final blast of Nechiphu tunnel Hyd cops shot 4 accused deliberately: Panel STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 20 MAY The Border Road Organisation (BRO) conducted the final “breakthrough blast” to mark the successful completion of excavation work of the Nechiphu Tunnel, in Arunachal Pradesh today as part of the government objective to strengthen the infrastructure in border areas. The foundation stone of the project was laid by defence minister Rajnath Singh on 12 October 2020. The Nechiphu Tunnel, at an altitude of 5,700 feet, is a unique 500-metre-long “D-shaped, Single Tube Double Lane Tunnel” on the Balipara-Charduar-Tawang (BCT) Road inWest Kameng District. The tunnel will The tunnel will accommodate two-way traffic and will be equipped with modern lighting and safety facilities accommodate two-way traffic and will be equipped with modern lighting and safety facilities. The tunnel has been conceived to bypass extreme foggy conditions prevailing around Nechiphu Pass which have caused hindrance to general traffic and military convoys for many decades. The tunnel will be provided with a stateof-the-art electro-mechanical system including firefighting devices, an auto illumination system and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) controlled monitoring systems. It will also accommodate raised footpaths on both sides for safer pedestrian movement which will have ducts for Power cables, optical fibre cables and utility lines to strengthen the civic amenities infrastructure. In tandem with the NechiphuTunnel project, the ProjectVartak of BRO has also completed the excavation work on another strategic tunnel, the Twin Tube (1,555 meter and 980 meter) “Sela Tunnel Project” on the same road, on January 22, 2022. Today’s blast thus marks the cumulative excavation of more than 4,500 meters, achieved by BRO Karmyogis in less than two years. Once in service, the Nechiphu Tunnel along with the Sela Tunnel will provide safe, all-weather strategic connectivity on the BCT Road while reducing the carbon footprint in this eco-sensitive area. The ongoing tunnel construction is being accomplished by cutting through fragile and highly fractured rock strata. The attendant challenges are being tackled on daily basis through strict 3D monitoring and through the proactive application of desired tunnel support systems in accordance with the New Austrian Tunneling Method. CMYK STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 20 MAY A commission of inquiry appointed by the Supreme Court said four gang-rape and murder accused, including three minors, who were killed in a police encounter in Hyderabad in December 2019, were deliberately fired upon with an intent to cause their death. The commission, in its report submitted to the Supreme Court, recommended that all 10 police officers involved in the incident should be tried for murder. The police version that accused snatched a pistol and tried to escape is unbelievable, and not backed by evidence, the committee said in its report. "In our considered opinion, the accused were deliberately fired upon with an intent to cause their death and with the knowledge that the firing would invariably result in the death of the deceased suspect,"the commission said. It recommended that all the 10 police officers involved ~ V. Surender, K. Narasimha Reddy, Shaik Lal Madhar, Mohammed Sirajuddin, Kocherla Ravi, K Venkateshwarulu, S. Arvind Goud, D Janakiram, R. Balu Rathod and D. Srikanth ~ should be tried for the offences of murder and destruction of evidence under the IPC. It said these officers cannot take shelter under Section 76 of the IPC and Exception 3 to Section 300 of the IPC because their contention that they fired in good faith at the deceased was suspect. "Good faith, which is an essential pre-requisite of Sec 76 IPC and Exception 3 to Sec 300 IPC, is found to be clearly absent," the commission said. The two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of India N V Ramana and also comprising Justices Hima Kohli rejected the request by senior lawyer Shyam Divan representing the Telangana government, to keep the report in a sealed cover and ordered that copies of the report be furnished to all parties to the case. The SC also directed that all records be sent to Telangana High Court which will take a call on further course of action based on the report and submissions by parties. The commission also found that three among the killed persons~ Jollu Shiva, Jollu Naveen and Chintakunta Chennakeshavulu ~ were minors at that time of the offence. They, along with Mohammed Arif, were arrested in connection with the gang-rape and murder of a 27-year-old veterinary female doctor in November 2019. They were shot dead on the night of 6 December 2019 near the spot where the charred body of the woman was found.