TUESDAY 06 JUNE 2023 www.thestatesman.com Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR P5 WEATHER Heat Wave conditions very likely in isolated places. Temperature will be in the range of 39-29 degrees Celsius. RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 77% TEMPERATURE P8 P9 Not the time to suppress the truth: CM over train tragedy SNS & AGENCIES Max: 39°C Min: 29°C SUN RISES SUN SETS 04:51 hrs 18:19 hrs MOON RISES MOON SETS 20:54 hrs 06:36 hrs Full moon on 18 June THUMBNAILS BSF personnel took part in a bicycle rally organized to honour World Environment Day from the BSF regional office at Khasa to the Attari border, in Amritsar on Monday.  ANI Two killed in firing along Assam-Arunachal A border: At least two people were killed and as many injured after miscreants opened fire in Assam's Dhemaji district along the AssamArunachal border on Monday. The incident happened in the Panbari area of the district, which falls near the Arunachal state border. Locals claimed that miscreants from Arunachal Pradesh launched the attack, however, police have yet to confirm this claim. HOWRAH, 5 JUNE tepping up her attack on the Central government, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday slammed the Railway Board's decision to hand over the inquiry into the Odisha train accident to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) saying that "It is not the time to suppress the truth". The West Bengal CM said, "We want people to know the truth. It is not the time to suppress the truth". "I also gave the Gyaneshwari Express case to CBI but no result came. 12 years over but we see no result. CBI handles criminal and accident cases. The Railway Safety Commission is there," she further remarked. The CM announced state government jobs for the next of kin of those who lost their lives in the triple train crash in Odisha’s Balasore. She said that relatives of those who lost their limbs in the horrific crash will also be given government jobs. Banerjee added that her government will also give cash aid to those who were on board the Coromandel Express and are currently going through mental and physical trauma. S West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee seen paying tribute to train crash victims.  BISWAJIT GHOSHAL She will visit Bhubaneswar and Cuttack on Tuesday to meet the injured passengers recuperating in different hospitals. She said that currently there are 206 injured passengers from West Bengal admitted to different hospitals in Odisha. “There are 33 critical passengers in Cuttack hospitals,” she said, adding that a few Bengal ministers and senior officers will accompany her. She will distribute the ex gratia cheques and appointment Opposition parties to meet in June end letters to the next of kin of the victims on Wednesday. The Bengal chief minister added that she did not want to resort to politics on the accident and would do everything to help the injured passengers and their families. Earlier in the day, Banerjee cancelled her four-day trip to Darjeeling at the last minute to supervise the treatment and rehabilitation of passengers of the state who were injured in the train accident, sources said. The Trinamul Congress chief was supposed to visit Darjeeling where she was scheduled to meet members of all political parties in the Hills before the panchayat elections slated this year, secretariat sources said. “She wants to be in Kolkata and oversee how the rehabilitation and treatment of injured passengers from West Bengal who were on board the Coromandel Express that met with an accident. She will visit the Hills later," a senior official at Nabanna said. P12 BBSR hospitals grapple with disposal of unclaimed bodies STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE BHUBANESWAR, 5 JUNE Three days after the horrific triple train crash in Balasore that accounted for 275 lives , the focus has shifted to hospitals in Bhubaneswar with disposal of unidentified bodies emerging a daunting task. A total of 170 bodies have been identified and handed over to respective families or relatives, informed Chief Secretary P K Jena. We are also collecting applications for issuance of death certificates to expedite the process, he added. Help desks have been set up at each hospital and mortuary. The problem is with the mutilated and dismembered bodies for which DNA tests needs to be done . The state government, railways and central government are jointly working to resolve this problem said Development Commissioner Anu Garg. Of the 1207 patients admitted to hospitals , 1009 have been discharged after treatment and 198 are under treatment. Except one, the condition of all other patients is stable, said the officials here on Monday. Fifty nine buses have left for Kolkata from Bhubaneswar, Puri and Cuttack providing free service. The AIIMS-Bhubaneswar, which housed 147 unidentified bodies, has become the Railway police registers case STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE BHUBANESWAR, 5 JUNE Around three days after the deadliest rail crash in the State that claimed 275 lives, the Odisha Government Railway Police on Monday has registered a case under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code and Railway Act on the alleged act of negligence on part of the authorities concerned. nerve-centre of activities with scenes of traumatized relatives breaking down during the course of identifying their loved ones. There are others who continue to search for their ‘missing’ family members with photographs in hand. Man rescued after 48 hours: A man was rescued on Sunday, almost after 48 hours of the horrific Coromandel train accident . The lucky survivor hails from Assam and has been identified as Dulal Majumdar. The victim was trapped below a bogie. He was rescued and rushed to Soro Hospital. Later he was shifted to Balasore Headquarters Hospital. KOLKATA, 5 JUNE Wrestlers Sakshi & Bajrang refute reports of withdrawing from protest At least four dead in continued Manipur violence STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 5 JUNE was the main speaker. In 1977, Mrs Gandhi lost the election, and she was defeated by Raj Narayan, who became the health minister in the Janata Party government. Political experts said the opposition leaders are united against the highhandedness of the agencies and the BJP’s government policy to scare them by letting loose the security agencies. Also, the deliberate attitude of the BJP to ignore the opposition parties will go against them. The BJP has failed to answer the questions raised by Rahul Gandhi on various topics. Before the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Mamata Banerjee held a meeting of the opposition parties at the Brigade Parade ground, but unity could not be achieved for various reasons. This time, the opposition parties have understood that if one-onone candidates are fielded, it will be difficult for the BJP to win the 2024 Lok Sabha election. Denying reports that wrestlers have withdrawn their ongoing protest in the National Capital against the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who is facing accusations of sexually harassing some women grapplers, Olympic medallists Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia on Monday clarified that this news was completely wrong and none of the wrestlers have stepped back. In a tweet in Hindi, wrestler Bajrang Punia said, "The news of withdrawing the movement is just a rumour. These news are being spread to harm us. We have neither retreated nor have we withdrawn the movement. The news of women wrestlers taking back the FIR is also false. The fight will continue till justice is served." Sakshi was earlier seen at the office of the Northern Railways in Delhi, triggering speculations that she has rejoined her office. After getting evicted from Jantar Mantar on May 28, top wrestlers Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat have resumed their duties in the Railways, sources said. As per reports, records from the Northern Railways headquarters show Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik joined her Baroda House office here on May 31, a day after the trio stopped short of immersing their international medals in the Ganga. On Monday, Sakshi, too, US not trying to establish NATO in Indo-Pacific: Defence Secretary Austin STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 5 JUNE The United States today dismissed China's claim that it was trying to establish a NATOlike alliance in the Indo-Pacific. ''We are absolutely not trying to establish a NATO in the Indo-Pacific. We continue to work with like-minded countries to ensure that the region remains free and open so that commerce can prosper and ideas can continue to be exchanged,'' visiting US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin said after talks with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. he said India and US shared the same vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific. His statement came days after Beijing expressed apprehension that the US was planning a NATO-like bloc with its allies in the Quad to encircle China. Regarding the situation at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Austin said: ''I don't want to get into specula- INDIA HAVE THEIR TASK CUT OUT IN WTC FINAL Around 206 injured passengers from Bengal admitted to different hospitals in Odisha Min. 57% The meeting of the opposition parties scheduled to be held in Bihar on June 12 has been deferred and is likely to be held in the last week of June. A meeting of the opposition leaders was scheduled for 12 June after Mamata Banerjee, the chairwoman of the Trinamul Congress, asked Nitish Kumar to convene one. On 11 June, Miss Banerjee was due to arrive in Patna. However, due to Rahul Gandhi and MK Stalin's declared inability to attend and want to send a delegate, the meeting was postponed and will now take place in the third week of June. The meeting date has been postponed because the opposition leaders want them there. It may be recalled that Jayprakash Narayan called a meeting of the opposition leaders in Patna in 1976 to oust Indira Gandhi. A rally was held in Patna, followed by a mammoth meeting at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata, where JP IRAN HOPES TO PROMOTE TIES WITH BELGIUM, EUROPE ‘APT TIME TO ADDRESS GOVERNANCE GAPS IN BANKS’ CBI IS MEANT TO PROBE CRIMES, NOT RAILWAY ACCIDENTS tion...a number of things can always happen. I want to make sure we do everything we can to ensure things don't happen. And part of that is to communicate with each other and prevent any incidents from escalating out of control." Earlier at their meeting this morning, Rajnath and Austin chalked out a roadmap for defence-industrial cooperation which shall guide the policy direction for the two countries over the next few years. Austin's visit to India comes a fortnight before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's trip to the US during which defence accords are expected to be signed between the two countries. The two ministers explored ways of building resilient supply chains. Both sides will identify opportunities for the co- development of new technologies and co-production of existing and new systems and facilitate increased collaboration between defence start-up ecosystems of the two countries. Both sides reviewed the robust and multifaceted bilateral defence cooperation activities and agreed to maintain the momentum of engagement. They welcomed the inaugural dialogues held recently focusing on defence artificial intelligence and defence space. They also discussed the regional security issues given their shared interest in maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. ''Great to meet again with my friend @rajnathsingh and thank him for his unwavering commitment to U.S.-India defence relations. His leadership has helped paved the way for deeper collaboration, joint exercises, and technology sharing between our two countries,'' Secretary Austin tweeted after the meeting. ''Delighted to meet my friend, @SecDef Austin in New Delhi. Our talks revolved around enhancing defence cooperation in several areas including convergence of strategic interests and enhanced security cooperation,'' Rajnath tweeted. In another tweet, he said: ''India-US partnership is critical for ensuring a free, open and rules-bound Indo-Pacific region. We look forward to closely working with the US across the domains for capacity building and further consolidating our strategic partnership.'' Austin also met National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. The two leaders discussed cooperation in specific niche technologies in maritime, military and aerospace domains to boost capabilities. They also spoke on the greater transfer of technology, co-production and building indigenous capacities in line with India’s Make in India and Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiatives. confirmed the news. She, meanwhile, denied rumours that she withdrew from the agitation. "The news is completely wrong. None of us has backed down. We will continue our fight for justice and meanwhile I am fulfilling my responsibility in Railways," she said. "No this is all rumours we did not call off the protest. I came to the office to finish some pending work for a day or two and we are making our strategy on what to do next, how to continue the protest in a non-violent way" Sakshi Malik told a news agency. When asked about claims that she has rejoined work, the grappler who is an Officer on Special Duty (Sports) in the Railways and needed to finish pending work. "I have a lot of responsibilities. Till the time we are not sitting on a protest, I have resumed my duties as I am an OSD I and came to finish some pending work. We are looking at our future strategy," Sakshi clarified. When asked about the claims that the minor who was among the grapplers who had accusing WFI chief Bhushan of sexual harassment had taken back her complaint, she said, "This is all fake news to discredit our protest in the eyes of the public and to make us lose public support." "This is all wrong, we never backed down in this fight and never will. Until we get justice this protest will continue," she added. Earlier, Bajrang, Sakshi and Vinesh had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence to discuss the matter related to their protest against the WFI chief. Talking about her meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday, Sakshi said that it was a normal conversation and no final solution was achieved. "Our demand will be the same, to get the accused arrested," she said. "We have not withdrawn our names, Vinesh, I and Bajrang are together in this protest and we have not withdrawn our names," she added. IMPHAL, 5 JUNE In continued violence in Manipur more than a month after trouble broke out in Churanchapur district on 3 May, at least three villagers were killed in an attack by over 150 Kukis militants based at Kotlein and Kangchup Chiru on the nearby Meitei Phayeng village, in ImphalWest district, according to the police. In Serou area of Kakching district, heavy exchange of fire between Kuki militants and the security forces continued for the fourth day running during which seven Meitei were injured, two of them seriously, who have been removed to Imphal for treatment. Security forces yesterday over ran the Nazareth camp which had been functioning as the headquarters of the Kuki militants operating in the area from Serou to Sugnu Town. Also, heavy firing was reported in Leimakhong area by well entrenched Kukis firing from a protected bunker. Airlines operators asked to monitor rise in air fares: Jyotiraditya Scindia SNS & AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 5 JUNE Union civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in a meeting on Monday with Airlines Advisory Group discussed the issue of rise in air fares. During the meeting, he shared his concerns regarding recent reports of abnormal surge pricing on certain routes and asked airlines to self-monitor fares on certain select routes that have seen considerable surge pricing recently, including after Go First filed for voluntary insolvency and its services remain cancelled. The government has been receiving numerous complaints regarding skyrocketing air fares after GoFirst shut down, a member who attended the meeting said. The social media is flooded with complaints over the high airfares. During the peak summer season, the tourist hotspot sector like Delhi - Leh and Srinagar have witnessed a Delhi return airfares touching around Rs 50,000. The airlines airfare is unregulated and it usually is determined by the market forces (the demand and supply). The meeting was also called amid reports of a "huge increase" in fares for flights to and from violence-hit Manipur, even as some airlines temporarily waived off some charges, including rescheduling of flights. The air prices will be mon- itored by the regulator DGCA. Scindia, referring to the unfortunate Odisha train accident, specially stressed that airlines need to keep a check on the pricing tickets in view of the humanitarian situation and monitor and control any surge in ticket prices to/from that region. On Monday, the airlines have also been advised to provide free cargo services to the families of the deceased. The train accident in Balasore on Friday evening left 275 dead and over 1,000 injured.