First India-Mumbai Edition-3rd November 2022

U-TURN AFTER TAKING CHARGE

Cong-Sena cry foul as Maha govt mocks Oppn, says facts correct

Kartikey Dev Singh

Mumbai: Days after a Right to Information (RTI) application was filed regarding delay in Vedanta Foxconn pro ject and the response to the said application was given on the same day, politics around the issue reached its crescendo as

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BHARAT JODO YATRA: POOJA BHATT WALKS WITH RAHUL GANDHI

the opposition tried to corner the Shinde-Fad navis government and questioned as to how can an application be responded to within a matter of hours.

MIDC’s response to this application within a day has raised many eyebrows. One Santosh Gawade had filed an ap plication under RTI seeking information about the Vedanta-Fox conn project. Santosh Gawade had given this

application to the Ma harashtra Industrial Development Corpora tion (MIDC) on 31 Octo ber and MIDC had re plied to this application on October 31 itself.

Since the reply to an ap plication filed under RTI is received within a few hours, its ‘timing’ has been discussed time and again. State Con gress chief spokesman Atul Londhe’s remark about Maharashtra’s loss of industrial in

vestment comes a day after Industry Minister Uday Samant blamed the Uddhav Thackerayled Maha Vikas Aghadi government for the

TEAM INDIA INCH CLOSER TO SEMIS!

USD20 billion semicon ductor project moving out of the state.

“The Vedanta Fox conn project has gone to Gujarat only because of

the failure of the Shin de-Fadnavis govern ment; but a desperate attempt is being made to blame it on the Maha Vikas Aghadi govern

ment. Foxconn (for manufacturing of mo bile phones which did not take off) and Vedan ta-Foxconn are two separate projects, but the Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is deliber ately trying to create confusion about it,” Londhe alleged.

Londhe claimed that Fadnavis gave false in formation regarding Foxconn’s investment in the press conference

held on Monday. Fox conn had promised to invest USD5 billion in Maharashtra for the manufacturing of mo bile phones, when Fad navis was chief minis ter. However, the project moved to another state during his tenure.

“Fadnavis has been… lying again and again and he has done the same through RTI. This is a desperate attempt to hide the mistakes the Turn to P6

HOUSING FOR ALL!

Hyderabad: Actor-filmmaker Pooja Bhatt joined the Bharat Jodo Yatra on Wednesday and walked with Rahul Gandhi. Bhatt, first noted Bollywood celebrity to have joined Yatra, was seen walking with Gandhi while having a discussion with him. People cheered as she walked for some distance.

1ST TIME EVER: NORTH KOREAN MISSILE LANDS

CLOSE TO SK WATERS

Seoul: South Korea’s military on Wednesday said that North Korean missiles have, for the first time, landed close to South Korean waters, since the division of the peninsula more than seven decades ago, South Korea’s military called it an “intolerable” act, said officials.

HIGH STAKE BYPOLLS

ON 7 SEATS ACROSS SIX STATES TODAY

New Delhi: The stage is all set for battle in 6 states, Maharashtra, Telangana, Bihar, Haryana, Odisha, & UP for high-stakes bypolls in 7 Assembly constituencies today. These polls were necessitated after either the sitting legislators passed away, left party, or convicted by a court in criminal cases.

ndia defeated Bangladesh by 5 runs in a rain-curtailed T20 World Cup match here on Wednesday. Invited to bat, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul scored sparkling fifties to power India to 184 for 6. The under-fire Rahul returned to form with a 32-ball 50 before Kohli took charge of the innings with an unbeaten 64 off 44 deliveries.

New Delhi: Highlight ing the welfare policies of the central govern ment for the poor, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said today marked a historic day as several citizens staying in Jhuggi-Jhop di clusters in Delhi will now have their own houses.

PM on Wednesday in augurated 3,024 newly constructed EWS flats at Kalkaji, Delhi built for rehabilitating slum dwellers under the 'InSitu Slum Rehabilita tion' Project. PM Modi also handed over keys to eligible beneficiaries from Bhoomiheen Camp at Vigyan Bha wan in Delhi.

Virat Kohli on Wednesday became the leading run-getter in history of ICC T20 World Cup, when he reached a personal score of 16 against Bangladesh in India’s Group 2 encounter in Adelaide. Kohli went past the record of former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene, who had scored 1016 runs in 31 innings. Kohli was playing his 25th innings in the history of the tournament.

He said the cam paign was started to provide pucca houses to the poor families of Delhi. In the first phase of Kalkaji Extension alone, he said more than 3,000 houses have been built.

Wish to live like common citizen, says Amruta Fadnavis, declines traffic clearance vehicle

Dy CM’s wife declined to avail services of a traffic clearance pilot vehicle provided to her

Mumbai: MahaDeputy

CM Devendra Fad navis’s wife Amruta on Wednesday declined to avail services of a traffic clearance pilot vehicle provided to her as part of a security upgrade, saying she wishes to live like a common citizen.

Amruta Fadnavis, a

banker by profession, said though the traffic condition in Mumbai is frustrating, things are

likely to change for bet ter once ongoing infra structure development projects are completed

by the Eknath ShindeBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. She tweeted, “I wish to live like common citi zen of #Mumbai I hum bly request @Mum baiPolice not to provide me traffic clearance pi lot vehicle. Traffic condi tion in Mumbai is frus trating but I’m sure,with Infra & development projects by @mieknath shinde & @Dev_Fad navis we will soon get relief.” Amruta Fad

navis tagged a media report which said the state govt recently allot ted a ‘traffic clearance vehicle’ along with a se curity upgrade from X to Y+ with escort to her.

The upgrade to Y+ with escort category comes with security of an escort vehicle and five policemen round the clock. Such a vehicle performs duties similar to a pilot vehicle, clear ing road traffic for the assignee during travel.

Other families residing here will also get a chance to housewarming very soon. I have faith that

Shah takes ‘many CM faces’ jibe at Cong in HP

Nadaun: Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday took a swipe at the Congress saying it is a party of ‘rajas and ranis’ and even though many chief ministerial aspir ants might be in the fray in Himachal Pradesh no one will get a chance in reality.

Dehra: Union Minister Anurag Thakur made a big attack on Rahul Gandhi. He said that Rahul has not been able to connect his sister Priyanka till date in the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Thakur addressed public meetings in favor of BJP can didate Ramesh Dhawala here.

Act of God: Oreva company manager tells Morbi court

First India Bureau

Morbi: The Additional Public Prosecutor in the Morbi bridge col lapse case, on Wednesday, made a shocking revelation, say ing one of the accused managers of the Oreva firm termed “Act of God” as justification for the tragic incident.

MORBI INCIDENT

Advocate HS Panchal said one of the two managers of the firm, who have been arrest ed, made this statement in a court. Ac cording to him, another signifi cant revelation was that the bridge’s cable wires were “rust ing away” and were not in best shape to be opened to public. Con

tractors said bridge were not qualified to carry out such jobs, the prosecution told a court in Morbi.

Devendra Fadnavis’s wife Amruta

Eknath Shinde Devendra Fadnavis Atul Londhe Ambadas Danve

Britain’s

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday

Indian

celebrate after

against Bangladesh during the

Men’s

VIRAT KOHLI BECOMES TOP RUNSCORER IN T20 WC HISTORY

Narendra Modi hands over keys to the beneficiaries at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi

PM Modi inaugurates 3,024 EWS flats in Delhi to rehabilitate slum dwellers First India Bureau

PM Narendra Modi hands over the symbolic key to slum-dwellers of Bhoomiheen Camp as Union Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs Hardeep S Puri looks on at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Thakur’s scathing attack at Rahul Gandhi

PM MODI ADDRESSES INVEST KARNATAKA 2022 VIRTUALLY MISSION REPEAT: AMIT SHAH, JP NADDA & ANURAG THAKUR CAMPAIGN IN HIMACHAL

Morbi SP Rahul Tripathi speaks to media on Wednesday.

L THE CABLE WIRES OF THE BRIDGE WERE ‘RUSTING AWAY’, SAYS ADVOCATE

ANDHERI BYPOLL MERE FORMALITY?

Mumbai: The by-elec tion to the Andheri East Assembly constit uency in Mumbai scheduled on Thurs day is a mere formali ty following the with drawal of the Bharati ya Janata Party’s (BJP) candidate from the fray last month.

Rutuja Latke, the nominee of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction, is expected to register a comfortable win. She is pitted against six candidates- four of them Independents.

The Nationalist Con gress Party (NCP) and Congress have support ed her candidature.

The bypoll was neces sitated due to death of Rutuja’s husband and Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke in May this year.

It is the first election after the revolt in the Shiv Sena by Eknath Shinde and 39 other leg islators led to the col

lapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

Political observers claimed the BJP’s move to withdraw its candi date was aimed at deny

Replicate Morbi hosp ‘overnight makeover’ in all govt hosps: NCP

ing Uddhav Thackeray a morale booster or an upper hand should Ru tuja Latke emerge victo rious in the poll.

The main aim of the BJP and the Shinde fac tion is to unseat Thack

Mumbai cops attach properties worth `19.58 cr in drugs case

eray’s Sena from the cash-rich Brihanmum bai Municipal Corpora tion (BMC) where the elections are due in next few months, they fur ther claimed. NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Ma

harashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Raj Thackeray had pitched for an unopposed con test and withdrawal of the saffron party’s can didate as per “political traditions” in the state.

Before the BJP pulled out its candidate Murji Patel from the bypoll race last month, it was being seen as a litmus test for former chief minister Thackeray and an opportunity to assess the general mood of the electorate.

Conventionally in Maharashtra politics, the electoral contest is generally avoided if by polls necessitated by the death of sitting MLAs or MPs are contested by their kin, though there are exceptions. Andheri East is a cosmopolitan area comprising largely Maharashtrian voters, north Indians, south In dians, Christians and Muslims. There are 2,71,502 voters and 256 polling booths in the constituency.

Ramesh Latke, the Shiv Sena MLA who died in May this year, bagged 62,680 votes in the 2019 Assembly poll while Murji Patel got 45,680 votes.

Dr Nitin Raut gets injured by cops in Bharat Jodo Yatra

First India Bureau

Mumbai: Senior Congress leader from Maharashtra Dr Nitin Raut was allegedly pushed by an officer of the Telangana Police during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, party leaders said here on Wednesday.

According to his aide Pankaj Borkar, Dr Raut has sus tained a hairline frac ture on his forehead above the right eye and medicos will ad vise how long he will remain in hospital.

The incident oc curred around 7 pm on Tuesday when Dr Raut was marching along with Congress MP Rahul Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Hy derabad. As massive crowds thronged

there, a local Assis tant Commissioner of Police pushed Dr Raut and he fell to the ground, suffering in juries on his head and bruises on his hands and legs. Dr Raut was admitted to the Vasav Hospital in Hy derabad and his con dition was as stable.

Later, Gandhi called up Dr Raut to enquire about his health and wished him speedy recovery, as Bharat Jodo Yatra continued ahead, to wards Maharashtra.

Court to decide on Raut’s bail plea on Nov 09

First India Bureau

First India Bureau

Mumbai: The Nation alist Congress Party (NCP) on Wednesday took a swipe at the Centre and said it must replicate the Morbi Civil Hospital’s “overnight makeover plan” across all gov ernment hospitals in the country and call it the ‘Gujarat Hospital Model’.

The comments came after the hospital in Gu jarat’s Morbi city was spruced up ahead of Prime Minister Naren dra Modi’s visit there on Tuesday to meet those injured in the suspen sion bridge collapse which claimed 135 lives.

Workers were seen cleaning and painting a portion of the hospital ahead of the PM’s visit.

NCP National Spokes person Clyde Crasto in a statement said that a day

before the PM’s visit, there were visuals of the Morbi Civil Hospital get ting a “complete makeo ver” and being made to look neat, clean and modern to welcome him.

They worked so dili gently that the hospital now looks as good as new, Crasto said.

“This makeover will surely help the people who visit the hospital in future. Therefore, the questions that arise are, if the government of Gu jarat and civic authori ties can spruce up a hos pital overnight, why can’t they do the same to all the hospitals across the state?” said the NCP leader.

“They must replicate the Morbi Civil Hospital overnight makeover plan across all govern ment hospitals in the country and call it the ‘Gujarat Hospital Mod el’,” he suggested.

First India Bureau Mumbai: City Crime branch’s Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) on Wednesday at tached properties worth Rs19.58 crore of the prime accused in the 2,400kg MD drug haul case in which eight per sons were arrest ed earlier this year.

The seized prop erties include two flats and nine com mercial units lo cated in a high-rise in suburban Da hisar. Six bank ac counts, containing Rs1.14 crore, oper ated in the name of family members of the prime accused were also attached, said an official.

“We have at tached his proper ty and will submit the report to the state government,” the ANC official added.

Mumbai: A special court reserved its or der here on Wednes day regarding the bail plea filed by Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, arrested in a money laundering case, and said it would pro nounce the order on November 09.

Raut was produced before the court, which extended his judicial custody till November 09. Special Judge MG Deshpande, designated to hear cases pertaining to the Prevention of

Money Laundering Act (PMLA), said it would also pass an order on November 09 on the bail plea filed by Pravin Raut, a co-accused in

the case.

The Enforcement Di rectorate (ED) had ar rested Raut in July this year for his alleged role in financial irregulari

Maha will have Congress-led govt in 2024: Naseem Khan

First India Bureau Mumbai: Maharash tra Congress Working President, Naseem Khan, on Wednesday said the state will have a Congress-led government in 2024.

Khan said he wel comed party chief Mal likarjun Kharge’s re marks that Congress will form a non-Bharati ya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Cen tre under the leader ship of Rahul Gandhi in 2024.

Khan, a former state

ENVIRON

minister, is the in charge of the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ in Nanded district.

The yatra will reach Deglur town from Tel angana on November 07

at 7 pm. It will pass through five districts covering 382 km in 14 days before proceeding to Madhya Pradesh.

The Congress is part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) also comprising Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

The Congress shared power with Shiv Sena and NCP from Novem ber 2019 to June this year before the MVA government collapsed due to the rebellion of Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde.

India moving towards new ‘license-permit raj’: Chavan

Former Maha CM’s comments come amid controversy around state losing key investment projects to Gujarat

First India Bureau

Pune: Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan said on Wednesday that the country is heading to wards a new “licencepermit raj”.

The former Maha rashtra chief minister’s comment gains signifi cance as Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, in an at

tempt to cull the wide spread criticism over losing two high-profile industrial projects to Gu jarat, had on Monday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Un ion Home Minister Amit Shah had “given assur ance that big projects will come to Maharash tra”.

Before economic re forms took place in India

in 1991, there was a con voluted system of licens es, regulations and re lated red tape for busi

nesses to operate in the country. Chavan com pared this to the presentday situation in Maha

“The current Maharashtra government is not even able to form a full cabinet…. The reasons (for instability) are change in the government, interference by Delhi and hijacking of the projects which should have come to Maharashtra.”

—Prithviraj Chavan, Congress leader

rashtra where, for all intents and purposes, the Union government was telling investors

where they must invest. Amid the controversy of Maharashtra losing the Vedanta-Foxconn, and then more recently TataAirbus projects, to Guja rat, Chavan’s comments have severe political ramifications.

“The alliance govern ment of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena fac tion and the BJP in Ma harashtra is under fire after Gujarat bagged some mega-investment projects, allegedly at Ma harashtra’s expense,” he said.

A special court reserved its order regarding the bail plea filed by the Shiv Sena MP, arrested in a money laundering case

ties in connection with the redevelopment of the Patra Chawl (row tenement) in suburban Goregaon area. At present, Raut is in

judicial custody and lodged at the Arthur Road Jail in central Mumbai. He had last month sought bail in the case, which the ED opposed.

The ED probe per tains to alleged finan cial irregularities in the redevelopment of the Patra Chawl and re lated financial transac tions involving his wife and associates.

Siddharth Nagar, popularly known as the Patra Chawl, in Gore gaon is spread over 47 acres and houses 672 tenant families.

REVENUE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL HELD FOR TAKING `7K BRIBE FROM RECOVERY AGENT

Thane: A revenue department official was arrested on Wednesday at Karjat in Raigad district of Maharashtra for allegedly accepting Rs7,000 bribe from a bank loan recovery agent, said the An ti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). The accused official, who was posted at Kasheli in Karjat, was caught red-handed at his office. As per court’s directions, he wanted to seal a property in Karjat for which he sought the help of the accused. When the agent approached the circle officer for assistance, the latter made a demand of Rs15,000.

OMAN AIR FLIGHT LANDS IN NAGPUR

AS MAN TAKES ILL

Nagpur: A Muscat-Bangkok flight of Oman Air made an unscheduled landing at the Nagpur airport on Wednesday afternoon after a passenger takes ill, said airport sources. An Omani national who was on board complained of chest pain and uneasiness following which flight WY 0815 made an unscheduled landing here at around 1.45 pm, said a senior airport official. The passenger was admitted to KIMS Kingsway Hospital in the city.

FRENCH NAVY CONDUCTS DRILL WITH INDIAN WARSHIP

Mumbai: French Navy ship Aconit, a La Fayette Class frigate, was on a goodwill visit to Mumbai from October 28 to November 02, and it participated in a military drill with an Indian warship, said the Defence Ministry on Wednesday. The ship is under the command of Cdr Jean-Bertrand Guyon and is one of the five La Fayette Class frigates of the French Navy. The frigate had ear lier visited Visakhapatnam in 2015.

THANE POLICE CLOCKS BEST RESPONSE TIME OF 4.20 MINS TO DISTRESS CALLS IN OCT

Thane: The city police ranked first in Maharashtra by clocking the response time of 4.20 minutes to distress calls in October, said the city police commissionerate on Wednesday. It also said the Thane police modernized the Maharashtra Emergency Response System (MERC) with 45 four-wheelers and 60 two-wheelers fitted with GPS.

“The response time to calls from citizens in distress in October stood at 4.20 min utes,” said an official release. The police control room on average receives 250 to 300 calls per day.

After withdrawal of BJP candidate, Uddhav camp’s Rutuja Latke may get elected easily, feel political observers

First India Bureau

Prithviraj Chavan —FILE PHOTO

Rutuja Latke with Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and party leader Anil Parab in Mumbai. —PHOTO BY ANI

POLL BROUHAHA

Workers retiling a floor at Morbi Civil Hospital. —FILE PHOTO

Naseem Khan —FILE PHOTO

BMC junks tenders to concretize 400km roads; cites poor response

First India Bureau

Mumbai: The Brihan mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has scrapped tenders floated for the concre tization of 400km of Mumbai city roads, citing poor response from bidders.

The civic body had first invited tender bids for the project in the first week of August

and even extended the deadline twice. However, it received only one or two bidders each for the five separate tenders floated for the work.

After intervention by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, the BMC had in July announced a twophase plan to convert all asphalt roads in Mumbai into cement concrete in a period of

2 fire incidents in Maha in 24 hrs; three injured

School kitchen in Mumbai gutted; MSRTC luxury bus catches fire but 45 passengers escape unhurt

First India Bureau

Mumbai: Despite cooling weather, sev eral fire incidents have been reported across the state in the last two days.

On Wednesday, three persons were injured after a fire broke out in the kitchen of a groundplus-two-floor school building in Dadar area of Mumbai on Wednes day morning. In Na shik, a state transport bus caught fire on Na shik-Pune highway on the day.

The ‘Level 1’ (minor) blaze erupted at 5.21 am and was confined to the electric wiring, installa tions, main valve of the LPG gas cylinder, eata bles and clothes in the kitchen of a programme hall on the second floor, said an official.

Some portion of the second floor roof col lapsed, he added.

BY BHUSHAN KOYANDE

“Three persons were injured and taken to the Sion Hospital by the public in a private vehi cle before the arrival of the fire brigade,” said a civic official.

Members of the pub lic doused the blaze by using two fire extin guishers and one small hose line of two motor pumps after cutting off the electric supply.

Two fire engines, a jumbo tanker and an ambulance were rushed to the spot, the official said, adding that the cause of the blaze was yet to be ascertained.

The Sion Hospital’s chief medical officer

ELDERLY WOMAN DIES AFTER GETTING STUCK IN ELEVATOR WHICH COLLAPSED IN MUMBAI CITY

Mumbai: A 62-year-old woman died after being stuck in an elevator which collapsed in a residential building in Mumbai, a police official said on Wednesday. The incident took place in the multi-storey building in Charkop area on October 21 when the woman was going down from the fourth floor. After she entered the elevator, it got stuck between the fourth and third floors, the official said. The woman shouted for help and when her son tried to open the elevator door, he got an electric shock and switched off the power supply.

38-YEAR-OLD MAN FOUND MURDERED AT HOME IN NASHIK

Nashik: A 38-year-old government employee has been found murdered at home in Nashik. Sanjay Vasantrao Waykande, the deceased, worked with the state Water Resources Department and lived with his wife and two children in a government colony on Dindori Road. Autopsy revealed that Waykande had been strangulated. A case has been registered with Panchavati police.

THREE-YEAR-OLD GIRL DIES IN SHOPPING MALL IN MUMBAI

Mumbai: A three-year-old girl fell unconscious while playing in the kids zone of a shopping mall on Wednes day afternoon in suburban Ghatkopar and later died. The cause of her death was not known. According to the Pant Nagar police station official, the girl had come to Neelyog Mall with her family members. She was playing along with oth er kids when she suddenly fell unconscious.

TWO BUSINESSMEN BOOKED FOR ABETTING SUICIDE OF DAHISAR RESIDENT; NONE ARRESTED

Navi Mumbai: A 40-year-old construction material supplier from Dahisar allegedly died by suicide in a hotel along the Mumbai-Goa highway under the Panvel city police station. The Panvel city police registered a case against two construction businessmen Abdul Mukeem Abdul Rehman Ansari (Bablu) and Wasim for abetting suicide and have started searching for them. The police had initially registered a case of accidental death until a video surfaced where he admitted that he was taking this drastic step because of the accused.

said three persons, aged 26, 38 and 50 years, were injured and undergoing treatment.

In the second such in cident in two days, a Shivshahi bus of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corpo ration (MSRTC) caught fire on the Nashik-Pune highway on Wednesday morning, said police.

Nobody was injured in the incident which took place around 8 am near Malwadi Shivar in Sinnar tehsil of Nashik district, said an official.

Shivshahi is a luxury AC bus service of the state-run MSRTC.

The bus was on its

FIRE MISHAPS

On Tuesday, 42 passen gers of Shivshahi bus had a narrow escape af ter it caught fire in Pune city. The incident took place at around 11.30 am at Shastri Chowk in Yerawada when the bus was on its way to Pune from Yavatmal. Another blaze was reported at a steel rod manufacturing plant in Jalna district on that day too. Six workers sustained injuries after a boiler exploded at the site. Three were reported to be in critical condition.

way to Pune from Na shik when the drivers of passing buses no ticed smoke coming out from its underbelly and alerted the driver.

The driver pulled over and asked the 45 passengers on board to get down, said the po lice official.

Within minutes, flames engulfed the bus, he added. A firetender each from Sinnar Na gar Parishad and Sin nar MIDC were called in to douse the flames but the bus was com pletely gutted.

Police have begun an investigation into the incident.

two years. In accord ance with its plan, the civic body invited five tenders worth Rs5,806 crore on August 02, for the project.

Of the five tenders, one was for 50km of roads in the island city, one for 75km in the eastern suburbs and three tenders covering a total of 275km in the western suburbs.

As per information

given by the BMC, the tender for island city roads got only one bid der while the eastern suburbs tender got two bidders. Of the three tenders invited for western suburbs, one got responses from two bidders and the two oth ers got one bidder each.

According to offi cials, poor response to the bidding process was due to the stringent

MEMORIAM

conditions put in by the BMC to ensure qual ity of work. A civic official said, “The BMC does not want to compromise on the quality of roads. The tenders will be floated again after reassessing conditions and neces sary changes.”

We plan to include precast ducts, precast water mains and pre cast manholes to speed

up the work and ensure quality of roads in the new tenders, said officials.

26-year-old man arrested for fraudulently claiming tax refund of more than `27 crore

First India Bureau

Mumbai: The Maha rashtra Goods and Services Tax (GST) de partment nabbed a 26-year-old man for fraudulently claiming a refund of more than Rs27 crore through a fake input tax credit involving at least two ‘non-genuine’ firms.

The GST department carried out a special op

LEGAL PUNISHMENT

eration against the er rant companies availing fake input tax credit and claiming fraudulent GST refunds.

According to a GST of ficial, during the investi

HC rejects plea, imposes `50K cost on NCP candidate of 2017 BMC election

This method adopted by the petitioner’s fa ther clearly evinces mens rea. There is no other doc ument evincing that the father of the petitioner, or her grandfather, are ordi nary residents of the state of Maharashtra. Conse quently, in our view, the petitioner would not be entitled to issuance of a Caste Certificate.

The GST dept carried out a special operation against the errant companies claiming fraudulent refunds

gation, it was found that the accused is one of the conspirators who facili tated the creation and operation of these nongenuine companies. He

facilitated opening and operation of bank ac counts of these compa nies which had issued bogus bills of more than Rs238 crore.

“These companies availed of a fake input tax credit worth more than Rs34 crore and claimed fraudulent GST refund of Rs27.20 crore. The probe is underway to find other conspira tors,” the official said.

FIR filed against four clerics for hurting religious sentiments

First India Bureau

Mumbai: The Mum bai police have filed an FIR against four Muslim clerics for al legedly hurting the sentiments of the Shia community, a po lice official said on Wednesday.

It was alleged that one of the accused had backed a cleric with roots in Pakistan and offended members of the Shia community in September

First India Bureau

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Wednes day dismissed a peti tion by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate Naziya Banu Abdul Hafiz An sari against invalida tion of her caste cer tificate following her election to the Brihan mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in the 2017 polls.

The court said that en tertaining a petitioner

who has knowingly pro duced fabricated and fraudulent documents to substantiate a false claim cannot be tolerat ed at any stage.

The bench, compris ing of Justices RD Dha nuka and Kamal Khata, imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 and said, “We have no hesitation to say that a person, whose case is based on falsehood, has no right to approach the court. The petitioner is guilty of playing fraud on the court as well as on

the opposite party.”

The court further add ed, “In our view, we find no infirmity to set aside the order dated 27th Au gust 2019 passed by Dis trict Caste Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Thane. The Petition is dismissed with costs of Rs50,000 to be paid to the State of Maharashtra.”

Ansari, alias Jabbar Sofi, had won from ward 78 in Mumbai’s Jogesh wari on a seat reserved for other backward class women, on an NCP tick

—Bombay High Court

et. In August 2019, the District Caste Certifi cate Scrutiny Commit tee invalidated her caste certificate.

The BMC, based on the invalidation, unseat ed her in September 2019, following which she approached the HC to quash the orders and to direct the District Caste Certificate Scruti ny Committee, to vali date a caste certificate.

The four suspects, who are from Lucknow, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Kashmir, were charged on Tuesday by the JJ Marg police in response to a complaint made by a man from the city.

“We have registered the FIR after receiving multiple applications. We have asked the com plainant to submit the audio/video evidence. No arrest has been made so far. We are conducting a probe into the case,” the official from the JJ Marg police station said.

According to the offi cial, the complaint al leged that one of the ac cused had backed a

cleric with roots in Paki stan and offended mem bers of the Shia commu nity in September. The other three accused hurt religious senti ments and spoke nega tively about the country.

The FIR has been filed against the accused un der Indian Penal Code Sections 153-A (promot ing enmity between dif ferent groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, lan guage, etc), 153-B (impu tations, assertions preju dicial to national inte gration) and 295 (injur ing or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), the official said.

NO HIKE YET

The civic body has failed to muster multiple bids despite extending the deadline twice

Repair or patch work on roads is a common sight in Mumbai city, especially after monsoons. —FILE PHOTO

Officials inspect portion of the building that collapsed and fell in the fire at a Dadar school in Mumbai on Wednesday. —PHOTO

Catholics pay their respects and offer prayers at the graves of family members on All Souls’ Day at Sewri Cemetery in Mumbai on Wednesday. It is traditionally observed as a day of remembrance and prayer for the departed.

—PHOTOS BY BHUSHAN KOYANDE

The court said that entertaining a petitioner who has knowingly produced false documents and caste certificates cannot be tolerated

INTERPOL

IT’S TIME TO BREAK THE GEO-POLITICAL SHIELD OF CRIMINALS, INITIATE ACTION ON THE GROUND

KERALA JUDGE’S OBSERVATIONS ON WOMAN’S DRESS A MISTAKE, RULES HC

The case of Principal District and Sessions Judge of Kozhikode S Krishnakumar, who granted anticipatory bails to writer activist Civic Chandra accused of sexual har assment on the ground that the complainant was wearing pro vocative dresses, is getting curi ouser. After his observation that “the offence under sexual harass ment is not prima facie attracted in one case as the woman “wears a sexually provocative dress” raised a big controversy, Judge Krishnakumar was transferred to the labour court in Kollam.

All the member countries of the organization should take concrete steps towards making arrest of wanted and make it mandatory on priority basis, ignoring the geopolitical equations towards terroristsseparatists-extremists. As well as the institution should also work on consensus among member countries to extradition the criminals in accordance of the type/colour of notices, so that the relevance and universal acceptance of this global organization is maintained, otherwise in the rapidly changing global environment the concept of the Interpol’s — “A SAFER WORLD” will prove far cry

The four-day grand event (18-21 October) of 90th meeting of the INTERPOL General As sembly was successfully held at Pragati Maidan, New Del hi. On the occasion of Amrit Mahotsav of India’s Inde pendence, Interpol had ac cepted the special request of the GOI to organize meeting in India. Earlier in 1997 India also got the opportunity to host. Delegates from 164 out of 195 member countries, In terpol’s President Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi and SecretaryGeneral Jürgen Stock partici pated in this annual meeting.

In the 90th session of the INTERPOLGA total 14 differ ent resolutions were passed, including strengthening co operative response to combat financial crime & corruption, prevention of online child sexual exploitation and abuse; implementation of concrete strategies to identify offenders and resolutions also were passed to identify miss ing persons using Interpol’s ‘I-Familia’ database. Annual crime statistics and other re ports also presented in the meeting. Interpol’s SecretaryGeneral Jürgen Stöck launched ‘Metaverse’- the first ever specially designed for global police organization. This is joint venture of the WEF, META and Microsoft. In ‘Metaverse’ member country around the globe can interact with each other. This will help

LEARN TO LIVE WITH GLOBAL WARMING

Addressing the inaugural session, PM Narendra Modi said- “A safe and secure world is our shared responsibility; when the forces of good cooperate, the forces of crime cannot operate. It is high time that the world comes together to defeat Terrorism, corruption, drug trafficking, poaching and organised crime. When threats are global, response can’t be local.” He called upon Interpol to work out a new strategy with technology of new level

to control the top trending cyber-crime.

Addressing the inaugural session the PM Shri Naren dra Modi said- “A safe and secure world is our shares responsibility; when the forc es of good cooperate, the forc es of crime cannot operate. It is high time that the world comes together to defeat Ter rorism, corruption, drug traf ficking, poaching and organ ised crime. When threats are global, response can’t be lo cal.” He called upon Interpol to work out a new strategy with technology of new level. Undoubted it has been 99 years since the establish ment of Interpol, but the

achievements so far have been insufficient. The rela tions between nations are weighing heavily on crimes and effective action against criminals; as a result, the un friendly nations have become the safe havens of the fugi tives and criminals of hu manity. In Indian context 750 notices issued by Interpol, out of which 200 notices are of fugitive criminals, have been un-served till date. In which fugitive terrorists like Dawood Ibrahim, Chhota Shakeel and Hafiz Saeed are taking shelter in safe places. Such controversial deci sions have not only caused a deep blow to the image of In

terpol at the global level, but created a sense of lack of ac ceptance among the general public about the commenda ble work being done by this global organization. Whereas India’s contribution in all the activities of this institution remarkable. Recently, the largest consignment of hero in was seized at Mundra port under Operation Lionfish, which is being run by Inter pol targeting drug smuggling. Similarly, under Operation Garuda the CBI, NCB sharing intelligence with Interpol have carried out the biggest ever action against an inter nationally spread drug cartel. India conveyed its policy of zero tolerance towards ter ror and criminals and its firm intentions. Addressing the concluding session of IN TERPOLGA on 21st October, the Union Minister for Home, Shri Amit Shah said- “Ter rorism is the biggest human rights violator. We should en sure that the fight against terrorism sustained, compre hensive and continuous, for which India is committed to working with the Interpol.” Narratives of “good”& “bad”, “small” & “big” terrorism would weaken fight against the threat which was high on Interpol’s priority list.

However, Interpol’s Presi dent Al-Raisi has urged mem ber states to strengthen unity with neutrality and transpar ency, while avoiding politici zation of the organization. But this would not have been possible without a change in the organizational structure of Interpol & radical change in traditional methodology.

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

As emissions con tinue to rise, the annual global emissions are close to an equiva lent of 50 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide but the growth in this decade (201019) has been a lot slower at 1 percent than the 2.6 percent in the previous decade. That, however, is no consolation as it will take decades for the ef fect of carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere to wane. Global warming, therefore, is here to be contended with.

As Sharm el-Shaikh gets ready to host the annual UN Climate Change Conference in Egypt on Sunday, energy security in the light of global tension over the Ukraine con flict may get pushed to the

As emissions continue to rise, the annual global emissions are close to an equivalent of 50 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide but the growth in this decade (2010-19) has been a lot slower at 1 percent than the 2.6 percent in the previous decade

background as countries may focus away from climate change to more pressing eco nomic and energy issues. The main concern is about restricting global tempera tures within 1.5 degree Cel sius. According to Adair Turner, Chairman of Energy Transitions Commission, “…we must keep focused on

the global crises presented by climate change. Each 0.1 degree Celsius rise above 1.5 degrees Celsius will have a hugely significant impact… Both full implementation of COP26 commitments and further progress at COP27 are therefore essential if the world is to have a 50-50 chance of limiting global warming”. For that to look plausible, annual emissions have to be brought down to 33 billion tonnes by 2030.

The question is will COP27 give climate action a push to achieve the ambitious goal? With the war in Ukraine still on and supply lines getting disrupted, countries will find it to do anything beyond what they pledged in COP26. Yet, the goal must be pursued.

The judge challenged his transfer in the Kerala High Court which allowed his petition and set aside the order. The Bench found that the judge’s ob servations “were indeed deroga tory to women and, in our view, wholly uncalled for”. The Bench was of the view that the observa tions “could not be construed as misconduct, but rather, amounts to a mistake committed by Krishnakumar while discharg ing his judicial function”.

The “mistake” committed by the Kozhikode judge is indeed symp tomatic of a patriarchal mindset.

also

Remember this: Whoever sows

and whoever sows generously

@KirenRijiju

SPIRITUAL SPEAK

Bible

Dharmendra Pradhan @dpradhanbjp

There will be a roof on every head, every homeless will get his own pucca house. Prime Minister today adding a new chapter in the direction of #HousingForAll @narendramodi Ji will hand over the keys of flats with all basic amenities to 3024 people living in landless camps of Kalkaji, Delhi.

Kiren Rijiju

I’m deeply shocked by the sad demise of young & very devoted Lumla MLA, Jambey Tashi. He has been like my younger brother since young age. He was always committed to serve the society. My deepest condolences to family members. I pray for the eternal peace of his departed soul.

TOP TWEETS

DR SURESH YADAV

The writer is Freelancer and Commentator on International Affairs

‘CONGRESS IS PARTY OF RAJA-RANIS’ PM Modi: New India focusing on bold reforms

Nadaun: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday took a swipe at the Congress saying it is a party of ‘rajas and ranis’ and even though many chief ministerial as pirants might be in the fray in Himachal Pradesh, no one will actually get a chance.

Addressing a poll rally in Nadaun, he launched an all-out at tack on the Congress for practising nepo tism and for not doing anything in the name of development. The home minister also highlighted surgical air strikes against Pa kistan, construction of Ram temple at Ayod hya, implementation of ‘one rank, one pen sion’ and abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir to woo the electorate.

Shah urged voters to break the tradition by electing the BJP once again to ensure that it becomes the number one state in the coun try. He also assured to make the state drugsfree in the next five years.

Earlier PMs used to come to Himachal Pradesh for political tourism: JP Nadda

Bilaspur (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party chief JP Nadda Wednes day urged voters to form a BJP government in the Himachal Pradesh again. “Mitti Ka Haq Ada Karna Hoga,” (Peo ple of the state have to pay back to their land) said Nadda.

The BJP chief was ad dressing a public rally at Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh ahead of the state polls. Hitting out at former Prime Minis

JP Nadda adressing a rally at Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh.

ters, Nadda said, “It has been 75 yrs of independ ence. Who used to care about us? At that time, Prime Minister used to come here for political

TAKES SELFIE WITH LOCALS

Sujanpur: Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Anurag Thakur took a selfie with villagers of Sujanpur in the state after his car was stopped by villagers on Wednesday. As he stepped down from his car, women hurriedly surrounded him and asked him to take selfies with them.

—PHOTO BY ANI

Rahul-Priyanka’s close circle to get good ‘positioning’ in grand-old party?

Sharat K Verma

New Delhi: There is a whole system in the Con gress party, which works behind the scenes. There are social media activ ists who work as a per sonal assistant to Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. There is a group of leaders who work in the Congress war room.

There is talk of many of these leaders would now come into main stream politics. It is be ing told that many lead ers who work with Ra hul and Priyanka can get a big position in these affiliated organiza tions. Among such peo

ple, the names of Sand eep Singh who worked with PGV, Kanishk Sin gh who worked with Ra hul Gandhi, Sachin Rao and Kaushal Vidyarthi are discussed. There is talk of Alankar Sawai also joining active poli tics who is currently co ordinating the Bharat Jodo Yatra with Rahul.

Recently, in view of the elections of two

states, media in-charge Pawan Khera was called back to Delhi from the Yatra along with Sand eep Singh. He will be permanently placed in the media team. Gur deep Sappal, who is working to give intellec tual input, is being dis cussed to get a bigger responsibility. He has been the CEO of RS-TV and he gives the most logical answers to the propagandas of BJP. He can be included in Mal likarjun Kharge’s team.

A few more people who are active for the Congress in social me dia can be included as television speakers or spokespersons.

tourism in summer sea son- never caring about or worrying about the state.” “Today, PM Modi stands with you when ever called,” he added.

Mentioning the issue of misconceptions spread ahead of elec tions, JP Nadda at the rally said, “A web of misconceptions is spread as elections ap proach. Quite often we get tangled in this web and due to this we divert from the main issues”.

HIMACHAL PRADESH’S MCLEOD GANJ GOES TO POLLS AMID TOURISM CONCERNS

Dharamshala: Elections are only 10 days away but many in the twin tourist towns of Dharamshala and McLeod Ganj say they have more pressing concerns — how to end traffic jams, bad roads and poor con nectivity that are hindrance to locals and also visitors. The buzz is missing with travel and hospitality industry players more interested in attending to visitors during the last leg of the tourist season rather than giving an ear to claims of development or promises offered by po

litical leaders. Bipin Rana, a travel and tour operator, says more tourist attrac tions like theme parks and luxury hotels should be set up in and around the city to give a rich experience to visitors.

CONG, BJP BRACE FOR REBEL IMPACT IN HIMACHAL PRADESH POLLS

Shimla: With only a few days to go for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls, the rebel factor is wearing down both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress, with top leaders of both camps working overtime to blunt the impact of dis sent. Though both the parties have managed to quell the rebellion in some of the State’s

68 seats, they had to crack the whip against certain unhappy former lawmakers and min isters who refused to toe party line on official candidature. Even after the efforts to edge out the in-house challeng ers, the Congress still has about a dozen rebels left in the fray and the BJP has around 20 after the last date of withdrawal on Oct 29.

Bengaluru (PTI): New India is focusing on bold reforms, big infrastruc ture and best talent, Prime Minister Naren dra Modi said on Wednesday. Delivering the inaugural address at the three-day Global In vestors’ Meet, ‘Invest Karnataka 2022’, via video-conferencing, he said at this time of glob al economic uncertainty, the whole world is confi dent that the Indian economy’s fundamen tals are strong.

“Despite global uncer tainties, India is grow ing rapidly,” he said.

The Prime Minister said Karnataka has the power of “double en gine”, with the same party in the government at both the state and Centre. “When we speak about talent and technol ogy, the first name that comes to mind is “Brand Bengaluru”, Modi said.

Besides Governor Tha waarchand Gehlot and Chief Minister Basa varaj Bommai, those

who were present at the inaugural function here included Union Minis ters Nirmala Sithara man, Piyush Goyal, Pralhad Joshi and Ra jeev Chandrasekhar.

This edition of the GIM is being held under the theme ‘Build for the World’ reflecting on the role Karnataka aims to play in the global supply chain, officials said.

The key topics to be addressed during the event will revolve around the sub-themes of innovation, sustaina bility, equity, and resil ience, they said.

‘Bharat Jodo Yatra is bringing about silent revolution, will change political landscape’

Hyderabad (ANI): The Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra is bringing about a silent revolution that will change the political landscape, party chief Mallikarjun Kharge said on Wednesday.

Ahead of the start of Wednesday’s Yatra, Kharge interacted with Bharat Yatris, who are walking entire distance from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, at Bowenpally, in Hyderabad.

“Interacted with the Bharat Yatris at Bowen pally, in Hyderabad.

They too are walking 3500 kms withRahul Gandhi and are a source of great inspiration to our party cadres,” he tweeted. “Bharat Jodo Yatra is bringing about a silent revolution that will change the political landscape,” he said.

Later, the Yatra re sumed from MGB Bajaj showroom, Balanagar Main Road, with Rahul Gandhi along with other Bharat Yatris continu ing their walk on the 56th day of the Yatra.

The Bharat Jodo Yatra commenced on Sept 7 from Kanyakumari.

Hyderabad (ANI): Ra hul Gandhi does not like backseat driving or as serting his authority and his greatest value going forward will be to play the role of an “ideo logical compass” for the Congress, senior leader Jairam Ramesh said on Wednesday. A week af ter Mallikarjun Kharge, the first non-Gandhi president in over 24 years, took charge of the party, Ramesh said some people are calling

Gandhi the elephant in the room but the former party chief is actually a “tiger on the road”. The Bharat Jodo Yatra has been a “real booster dose” for public relation of the party.

KHARGE’s CREDIT TO BHARAT YATRIS FOR TRANSFORMING CHANGE

W hile Congress ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ was in Hy derabad , the party president, Mallikarjun Kharge, inter acted with Bharat Yatris at Bowenpally and said that the Bharat Yatris are also walking 3500 km with Rahul Gandhi. They bring positive energy to our Bharat Jodo Yatra. While tweeting from its Twitter han dle Congress said that every day a new chapter of history is being added. Every day the count of people is taking a jump who wants love and peace in their country.

KCR DOES DRAMA BEFORE POLLS, ALLEGES RAGA

Having known Mr Rahul Gandhi for over 18 years, and I know him fairly well, he does not like backseat driving, he is a very democratic person, his value will be to play the role of an ideologi cal compass.

—Jairam Ramesh, Congress senior leader

Hyderabad: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacked the TRS govt in Telangana saying that it supports the BJP on leg islations in Parliament and that CM K Chandrashekar Rao “does drama” before the polls but is “in direct line” with PM Modi. Addressing a rally during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Gandhi said that “BJP and TRS work together” and the Prime Minister “gives orders to your CM on phone”. “Whenever there’s any bill in Parlia ment, TRS supports BJP and diverts attention from Opposition issues. BJP and TRS work together. Your CM (KCR) does drama before polls but he’s in direct line with PM Modi. PM Modi gives orders to your CM on phone,” Rahul Gandhi said. Telangana will face assembly polls next year. A bypoll to the Munu gode assembly seat will be held on November 3. TRS has been renamed as Bharat Rashtra Samithi reflecting the party’s desire to have a national footprint.

A mix bag for Kharge with experienced promoters & energetic youth?

Mahesh Sharma

New Delhi: Now that the time to forge a new team is before Con gress Party National President Mallikarjun Kharge, word is that priority will be given to the tried and tested old faces. However, under Kharge’s command, the party will give chance to new second line leaders as well. But it is said that instead of leaders working in re gions, priority will be

given to leaders work ing in Delhi. Such youth or new leaders, who are working in some cell with some subsidiary organiza tion of the party and are associated with the war room, can get a big responsibility in the central committee. Some youth MPs of the party will get place in the central commit tee. Apart from Man ickam Tagore, leaders like Dipendra Hooda, JB Mather, Hiby Eden,

Gaurav Gogoi or Ravneet Singh Bittu may get a chance to work in the Central Committee. Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka Nasir Hus sain may get a big re sponsibility. Along with the top leaders of the Congress, Kharge too has complete trust in him. These MPs of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha can be made joint in-charges in the states. There will also be some changes in the

team of Congress spokespersons and new spokespersons may be created and the list of

televised speakers may be expanded.

Apart from these leaders, who are not

MPs but are working for Congress, many leaders are likely to get a big responsibility. Kanhaiya Kumar, who is across India with Ra hul Gandhi; Nikhil Alva, who is handling Rahul’s social media; Srinivasa BV, National President of Youth Congress and Krishna Alavru, who is in charge of Youth Con gress, etc. are told to be those second line lead er who can get a big po sition in Kharge’s team.

Nikhil Alva handles Rahul Gandhi’s social media. Earlier it was being said that he could be in charge of the me dia of the Congress and that the responsibility of social media could be given to him. But it didn’t happen. Now he can have a place in the central team. He hails from Karnataka and is the son of Margaret Alva, who was nomi nated by the Congress for the post of Vice President. Krishna Ala

vuru holds an LLM from Georgetown Uni versity and has worked extensively as an incharge of the Youth Congress. He played a major role in promot ing leaders in Youth Congress in many states. Similarly, be cause of Srinivasa BV, Youth Congress is yet again being discussed in the country. The way he worked to help peo ple during the Corona epidemic is also praised by his opponents.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah takes ‘many CM faces’ jibe at Congress in Himachal’s Nadaun

Cong President Kharge interacting with Bharat Yatris at Bowenpally.

Rahul does not like backseat driving, he will be Cong’s ‘ideological compass’: J Ramesh

Mallikarjun Kharge —FILE PHOTO

PM during VC on Wendesday.

BJP’S

Union Home Min Amit Shah being felicitated with a mace during the public meeting for the upcoming Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections, at Nadaun, in Hamirpur on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY PTI

RaGa and PGV —FILE PHOTO

Lawyers in Morbi stage protest, refuse to fight case for accused

Morbi (ANI): Lawyers in Gujarat's Morbi on Wednesday held a pro test march, voicing their refusal to fight the case for all the nine accused who have been arrested so far in con nection to the Morbi bridge collapse case where 135 people were killed on October 30.

Of the nine accused, two belong to the Oreva group (a Gujrat-based electrical appliances manufacturer) which is under scanner after allegedly opening the suspension bridge in Morbi without inform ing the local municipal ity on Gujarati New Year day. Oreva group was given the contract for the maintenance of the century-old suspen

sion bridge. Morbi court has sent four ac cused in the case to po lice custody till Satur day and the other five have been sent to judi cial custody. Out of four persons in Police custody, two are Oreva company Managers and two others are peo ple working for the fab

IN THE COURTYARD

SC REFUSES TO ENTERTAIN PIL FOR INDIA’S POOR GLOBAL RANKING IN CPI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea seeking a direction to the Centre, States and Union Territories to set up expert com mittees to suggest steps for improv ing India’s “pathet ic” ranking on the global Corruption Perception Index.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India UU Lalit declined the plea and said that the petitioner can file a representation to the concerned functionary in this regard. “Considering the scope of Article 32 petition, we find it extremely difficult to entertain this. It is thus dismissed,” said the apex court.

RTI replied to...

Shinde-Fadnavis gov ernment has made…. During the Fadnavis era, contracts worth Rs 16 lakh crore were signed but the state did not receive even an in vestment of Rs 16,” Londhe alleged.

Londhe also said that the opposition was ready to help the gov ernment to bring maxi mum investment and generation of more jobs in Maharashtra with out getting into party politics.

Even Shiv Sena (Thackeray) also claimed that the cur rent government was fooling people. “On Jan uary 5, 2022, Vedanta gave a proposal for this project to Maharashtra government and on

January 11, a principal approval was given. Aaditya Thackeray too said the same in his presser. Therefore, in formation given by Shinde government in RTI is wrong,” said Am badas Danve, leader of opposition in Maha rashtra Legislative Council.

Meanwhile, Indus tries Minister Uday Sa mant has said that there is no point in criticiz ing. Samant said, “I am laughing at those peo ple who are criticizing RTI for getting informa tion in a day. If the in formation is correct then what is the prob lem in giving it immedi ately? Those who want to be sure once again that they file applica tions under RTI.”

rication work contrac tor. The lawyers in Morbi are refusing to fight the case for all these nine accused in the case.

The lawyers have re portedly taken this stand to show their support for the Next of kin of those who died in the Morbi mishap.

MALLIKARJUN SEEKS TIME-BOUND PROBE INTO MORBI COLLAPSE CASE

Hyderabad: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge sought a time-bound judicial enquiry into the Morbi bridge collapse case that claimed 135 lives on Sun day evening. "A time-bound judicial enquiry led by a sitting SC/HC Judge is the only recourse," Kharge tweeted. He said that accountability must be set for the loss of lives in Morbi after the suspension bridge col lapsed. "Accountability must be set for the loss of 135 lives in the Morbi bridge col lapse," read Kharge's tweet.

AIMIM CHIEF OWAISI RUES MORBI BRIDGE COLLAPSE INCIDENT

Hyderabad (ANI): All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Mus limeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday condemned the Morbi bridge collapse that claimed 135 lives and called it a "painful accident". The AIMIM chief Owaisi urged the government to take charge of those responsible for the death of so many people in Morbi. "This is a painful accident, we hope that PM Modi and Gujarat govt will give justice to the families of those who lost their lives," he said.

Women empowerment will uplift society: Prez Murmu

Kohima: President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday said that women empowerment will lead to uplift of the society. She virtually launched 75 projects at a public reception pro gramme organised by the Nagaland govern ment to mark her maid en two-day visit.

Addressing a mam moth gathering, she said, “I am told that the literacy rate among women in Nagaland is the highest in the coun try and the state is the safest place in the coun try for women. This demonstrates the high respect accorded to women in the Naga soci ety.” Congratulating Phangnon Konyak on becoming the first wom an Rajya Sabha MP from Nagaland, she urged women of the state to come forward

Cabinet approves mechanism for ethanol procurement by Public Sector OMCs

New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by PM Narendra Modi, on Wednesday, approved a mechanism for pro curement of ethanol by public sector OMCs un der Ethanol Blended Pet rol (EBP) programme.

The CCEA has approved higher ethanol price de rived from different sug arcane based raw mate rials under the EBP pro gramme for the forth coming sugar season 2022-23 during ESY 202223 from 1 December, 2022 to 31 October, 2023.

“The price of ethanol from C heavy molasses route be increased from Rs 46.66 per litre to Rs

49.41 per litre, the price of ethanol from B heavy molasses route be in creased from Rs 59.08 per litre to Rs 60.73 per litre, the price of etha nol from sugarcane juice/sugar/sugar syr up route be increased from Rs 63.45 per litre to Rs 65.61 per litre and ad ditionally, GST and transportation charges

will also be payable,” an official statement said.

Union Cabinet approves naming Hollongi Airport as Donyi Polo Airport

The Union Cabinet, chaired by PM Modi approved naming of greenfield airport at Hollongi, Itanagar, as ‘Donyi Polo Airport.

“The resolution was passed by the state gov ernment of Arunachal Pradesh to name the airport as ‘Donyi Polo Airport, Itanagar’, which reflect the peo ple’s reverence of the Sun (Donyi) and the Moon (Polo) to symbol ize the traditions,” the Ministry of Civil Avia tion said.

Politicians usually discuss politics: Banerjee on meeting MK Stalin

New Delhi: The Edi tors Guild of India to day said it was extreme ly disturbed by the manner in which the Delhi Police carried out searches and seizures at the homes of the edi tors of The Wire as well as their office and the newsroom. "The haste with which the police searches were carried out at multiple loca tions, is excessive and disproportionate, and in the manner of a fish ing and roving enquiry," the Guild said in a state ment here.

Kolkata (PTI): West Bengal Cheif Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday hinted that she may discuss politi cal issues and collabora tion with other regional parties at her “courtesy call” on her Tamil Nadu counterpart MK Stalin, slated for this evening. She said, “ I trust all the regional parties… they are going to play an important role in the 2024 elections.” She had, in the past, met several opposition lead ers to try to forge unity among them.

UTTAR PRADESH BUREAUCRACY

ED GRILLS MONDAL’S DAUGHTER

New Delhi: TMC leader and party's Birbhum district president, Anubrata Mondal's daughter Sukanya Mon dal on Wednesday appeared before ED in connection with the multi-crore cattle smuggling scam in West Bengal. Ms Mondal reached the Enforcement Direc torate headquarters in New Delhi following a summon from the federal agency to face questioning.

Team of 24 IAS & IFS Trainee Officers meet UP Guv

lll

Governor Anandiben Patel said that they will be heading to their respective posting areas after getting vocational training

Lucknow: 24 proba tionary officers of Indi an Administrative Ser vice 2021 batch and In dian Forest Service 2018-19 batch met Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel at Raj Bhavan on Wednesday.

“The government and common man have a lot of expectations from you. It is your responsi bility to understand and carry out your work with the spirit of ser

vice. It should be your endeavor that by going out of the purview of

your department and coordinating with other departments, you make

an important contribu tion in the works of pub lic interest, as well as take special care that no complainant should go from your office disap pointed.”

Additional Chief Secretary Appoint ment and Personnel IAS Dr. Devesh Chatur vedi, ACS Governor IAS Kalpana Awasthi, Director General of Uttar Pradesh Acade my of Administration and Management, Luc know IAS L. Ven

kateswara, Additional Director IAS Mahen dra Verma and other officers were present during this meeting.

Jagriti Awasthi, An kita Jain, Sarthak Agar wal, Shashwat Tripu rari, Krishan Kumar Singh, Divya Mishra, Prakhar Kumar Singh, Jagat Sai Rallapalli, Mrinal Avinash Joshi, Dr. Pooja Gupta, Dhrav Khadia, Kriti Raj are among the 16 trainee IAS officers who met the Governor.

and get more involved in public life.

“If women are em powered, there is more development in the soci ety. Women lead with empathy and care, and they would give a new dimension to the devel opment journey of Na galand,” Murmu said.

Most of the 75 projects

launched virtually are schools, while some are hostels, roads and bridges, and also a new treasury building. She also launched smart classrooms in 190 government schools across the state. Murmu will leave for Mizoram on Thursday afternoon.

Totally misconceived: SC dismisses plea against Justice Chandrachud

New Delhi: The Su preme Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea seeking to restrain its seniormost judge, Justice DY Chandra chud, from taking oath as the Chief Justice of India on November 9 by terming the entire peti tion “misconceived”.

“Having heard the counsel, we see no rea son to hear.... We find

the entire petition to be misconceived,” a bench of the apex court said.

CRUCIAL READ

New Delhi: Assets worth more than Rs 10 crore of Uttar Pradesh gangster Vikas Dubey, his family and associates have been attached under the anti-money laundering law, the Enforcement Directorate said today. A provisional order has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for attaching a total of 28 immovable properties that are located in Kanpur and Luc know, the agency said in a statement. These assets worth a total of Rs 10.12 crore are in the name of Vikas Dubey, his family members, aide Jaikant Bajpai and his family members", the ED said.

NO PLANS TO SHUT DOWN GOA AIRPORT: MOS

Goa: Minister of State for Civil Aviation Gen eral (Retd) VK Singh on Wednesday clarified that the Central govern ment has no plans to shut the existing airport of Goa. “The Central government has no intention to shut the Goa airport, I am here to clarify that the new airport will not lead to the closure of the previ ous airport,” MoS Civil Aviation General (Retd) VK Singh told ANI.

HP: Illicit liquor, cash, and jewelry worth more than 21 Crores have been seized in a joint operation conducted by the state police, excise, and mining dept. Since the model conduct came into force for the ensuing assembly elec tion in the State. The spokesman said that during the Nakas by the IT Dept, cash worth Rs 2,15,90,000 and gold worth Rs. 44,11,232 was also seized.

EIGHT EXPLOSIVES PLANTED BY MAOISTS SEIZED IN JHARKHAND: POLICE

Chaibasa: Security forces seized eight Improvised Explosive Device (IED) planted by CPI(Maoists) from a forest in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district, a senior police officer said today. SP, Ashutosh Shekhar on Tuesday directed security forces to launch a search operation in the forest foothill in Rengdra after receiving information that Maoists have planted IEDs in the area to target security person nel engaged in anti-Maoist operation. The security personnel recovered the eight IEDs planted in the Rengdra forest foothill, about 140 km from Ranchi.

Ahtesham Siddiqui

Both Morbi Bar Association and Rajkot Bar Associations have passed resolution to not representing the nine accused.

24 probationary officers met Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel at Raj Bhavan on Wednesday.

The lawyers have taken this stand to show support for the next of kin of those who died

Droupadi Murmu at the civic reception hosted in her honour by the Government of Nagaland and virtually inaugurated the foundation stone for various projects at Kohima on Wednesday.

‘Raids on ‘The Wire’ editors are excessive’

Mamata Banerjee and MK Stalin. —FILE PHOTO

HP: ILLICIT LIQUOR, & JEWELRY WORTH 21 CRORES SEIZED

ED ATTACHES ASSETS WORTH `10.12 CR OF SLAIN GANGSTER VIKAS DUBEY

Narendra Modi @narendramodi

Today’s Cabinet decision reflects our commit ment towards celebrating the vibrant cultural traditions of the Northeast. The airport will improve connectivity and boost commerce as well as tourism in Arunachal Pradesh. An important Cabinet decision which will benefit those associated with the sugar industry and our hardworking sugarcane farmers.

Hardeep Singh Puri

Justice DY Chandrachud

50,964.00 51.00 0.10 (Per 10g)

59,265.00 502.00 0.84 (Per 1kg)

‘

BRIEFS

Bengaluru: The Adani Group has plans to invest almost `1 lakh crore over the next seven years in Karnataka as it seeks to expand its footprint in multiple sectors, Adani Ports and SEZ Limited CEO Karan Gautam Adani said on Wednesday. He said having already in vested over `20,000 crore in Karnataka till now, the busineess group is active in multiple sec tors in the state, ranging from cement, power, city piped gas and edible oil to transport, logistics and digital.

AKASA AIR TO START B’LURU-PUNE FLIGHTS FROM NOVEMBER 23

Mumbai: Akasa Air will start flights from Bengal uru to Pune from Novem ber 23, making the city the ninth destination in the new airline’s network.

The carrier expects to cross some 58 daily flights and 400 weekly flights by the end of No vember, a release said on Wednesday. Owing to ris ing demand, the airline said the connectivity be tween Bengaluru and Mumbai will be increased with a sixth and seventh frequency from Novem ber 23, taking the total number of daily services in the route to 7.

—PTI

TECHNICAL TEXTILES MISSION: TWENTY PROJECTS CLEARED

New Delhi: The govern ment has cleared 20 stra tegic research projects worth around `74 crore in the areas of specialty fi bre, agro-textiles, smart textiles, protective gear, sports textiles and geo textiles segment under its flagship programme Na tional Technical Textiles Mission. The projects were cleared under the chairmanship of Piyush Goyal, Minister of Textiles, Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, on November 1.

GOLD GAINS ` 51 BUT SILVER PRICE DROPS ` 502

—PTI

New Delhi: Gold price in the national capital gained `51 to `50,964 per 10 grams on Wednesday amid weak rupee, according to HDFC Securities. In the previ ous trade, the gold had touched `50,913 per 10 grams. Silver, however, dropped `502 to `59,265 per kilogram. In the inter national market, gold was quoting lower at `1,653 per ounce while silver was down at $19.70 per ounce.

CURRENCIES

82.78 0.19

95.12 0.26 0.27

Look at ` depreciation sans emotions’

Mumbai (PTI): RBI gover Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday appealed to all to look at currency depre ciation sans emotions, as serting that the rupee has behaved orderly since the current geopolitical crisis.

In remarks that came amid a heated debate on the steady depreciation of the rupee which results in imported inflation, Das said the rupee has de preciated less when compared with other major cur rencies, and in fact appreciated against other currencies be yond the US dollar.

Crossed 1 million users on 5G network: Airtel

New Delhi (PTI): Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Wednesday said it has sur passed 1 million customers on 5G network within 30 days of its commercial launch even while the net work is being built.

Earlier, Airtel had an nounced phase wise rollout of its 5G services in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur and Vara nasi. The services in these cities are getting rolled out in a phased manner as the company continues to con struct its network and com plete the roll-out, accord ing to Airtel.

“Bharti Airtel...Today announced that it has crossed the 1 million unique 5G user mark on its network. The company achieved this milestone in less than 30 days of its com mercial launch even as the

ROLL OUT IN EIGHT CITIES

z Airtel on October had announced phase wise rollout of its 5G services in eight major cities on the country which are Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur and Varanasi

network is being built,” the company said.

Randeep Sekhon, CTO of Bharti Airtel, said these are early days but the response from customers have been “very encouraging”.

“Talk of unidirectional downward descent and the RBI’s defence are dominat ing the narrative in the public space. It is, there fore, important to address the issue free of emotions and fully loaded with noth ing but facts,” Das said speaking at the annual FI BAC conference of bankers here. “The rupee has seen a very orderly movement since the onset of the cur rent geopolitical crisis. We must deal with the global hurricane with confidence, endurance and the courage of our conviction that we will weather this turmoil,” he added.

On a financial year ba sis, almost all major cur

Govt hikes ethanol price to ` 65.61/ litre

New Delhi (PTI): The gov ernment on Wednesday hiked the price of ethanol used for blending in petrol as it looked to raise the dop ing quantity to cut India’s reliance on imported oil.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), headed by PM Narendra Modi, raised the price of ethanol from all three varieties, Oil Minis ter Hardeep Puri said.

The price of ethanol ex tracted from sugarcane juice was increased to ` 65.61/litre, from the cur rent `63.45/litre for the sup ply year beginning Decem ber 2022.

The rate for ethanol from the C-heavy molasses route has been increased to ` 49.41/litre, from ` 46.66/ litre currently, and that of ethanol from the B-heavy route to ` 60.73/litre, from `59.08/litre, he said.

rencies -- barring a few like the Swiss franc, the Singapore dollar, the Rus sian rouble and the Indo nesian rupiah -- have de

preciated against the US dollar by more than the rupee, he said.

The rupee appreciated against all other major cur

RBI avoided premature tightening to prevent complete downward turn of economy: Das

Mumbai (PTI): Amid flak faced by the RBI for missing inflation target, Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday defended its policies saying the economy would have taken a “com plete downward turn” if it had started to tighten rates earlier. Das said the Indian economy is being looked at as a story of resilience and optimism by the world and the inflation is now expected to moderate.Acknowledging that the central bank has missed its primary target as inflation has consistently overshot, Das said there is a need for appreciating the counter factual aspect as well, and think about the impact of premature tightening which would have hurt recovery. “It (tightening earlier) would have been very costly for the economy. It would have been very costly for the citizens of this country. We would have paid a high cost,” he said. “We prevented a complete downward turn of our economy,” Das said.

rencies barring of course the US dollar, and a few other currencies, he added.

The rupee has appreci ated by 12.4% against the Japanese Yen, 5.9% against the Chinese Yuan, 4.6% against the pound sterling and 2.5% against the Euro, he said.

“The story of currency movements following the war in Ukraine is more about India’s resilience and stability in the face of the unrelenting strength ening of the US dollar rath er than a story of weak ness,” Das said.

He said rupee’s share in global trade is linked to the overall economic growth and especially exports.

Markets halt four-day rally amid mixed global cues

Mumbai (PTI): Bench mark indices ended lower on Wednesday after a fourday rally amid a mixed trend in global equity mar kets. After a positive begin ning, the 30-share BSE Sensex failed to hold on to the gains and ended 215.26 points or 0.35% lower at 60,906.09. During the day, it slipped 326.96 points or 0.53% to 60,794.39.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty fell 62.55 points or 0.34% to settle at 18,082.85.

From the Sensex pack, Bharti Airtel, Maruti, Hin dustan Unilever, Infosys, HCL Technologies, In dusInd Bank and Titan were the major laggards.

On the other hand, Sun Pharma, ITC, Tech Mahin dra, Dr Reddy’s and Reli ance Industries were among the gainers.

APR-SEPT

New Delhi (PTI): The country’s wheat exports more than doubled to $1.48 billion during April-Sep tember 2022-23 as com pared to the year-ago pe riod, the commerce minis try said on Wednesday.

“Wheat export rose to $1,487 million in AprilSeptember 2022 from $630 million in April-Septem ber 2021,” the ministry said.

RELEASED

z According to the ministry, wheat export rose to $1,487 million in AprilSeptember 2022 from $630 million in AprilSeptember 2021

The exports stood at $630 million in the yearago period.

Though the government banned wheat exports in May, some shipments are allowed to meet food secu rity needs of the countries that request for it.

The global wheat supply has been seriously dis rupted because of the Russia-Ukraine war. Both nations are major wheat producers.

The ministry also said exports of agricultural and processed food prod ucts rose 25% during the six- month period of this

fiscal year.

The overall export of Agricultural and Pro cessed Food Export Devel opment Authority (APE DA) products increased to $13.77 billion in April-Sep tember 2022 from $11.05 billion in the same period a year ago.

For 2022-23, an export target of $23.56 billion has been fixed by APEDA and export of $13.77 billion has already been achieved in the six-month period, it added.

CV sales to reach 1-million units by FY24

First India Bureau

New Delhi: India’s com mercial-vehicle (CV) sales volume will witness sig nificant growth over the next few years and the overall CV volume is likely to reach close to 1-million units by FY24, a report said on Wednesday.

Fitch Ratings also ex pects growing demand and the resultant rise in operat ing leverage to boost the profitability of the domes tic CV-focused original equipment manufacturers after FY22, despite elevated production costs. A recov

ery in medium and heavy CVs from multi-year lows, along with sustained growth in light CV catego ries, will help overall CV volume to reach close to 1-million units by FY24 –

the level of the last cyclical peak recorded in FY19.

Domestic CV sales vol ume are expected to grow in the mid-to high-teens over the next few years.

Factors like rapid recov

TOP TALKING POINTS

z India’s commercial-vehicle (CV) sales volume will witness significant growth over the next few years

z Domestic CV sales volume are expected to grow in the mid-to high-teens over the next few years

ery in India’s economic ac tivity after the pandemic shock and the govern ment’s planned increase in infrastructure spending will help sustain an im provement.

New Delhi: Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Wednesday said it has crossed 2.5 crore cumulative production mark. MSI started pro duction in December 1983 and crossed the 10-lakh production mark in March 1994. It crossed 1- crore mark in March 2011 and 2-crore milestone in July 2018. Its first production facility came up in Gurugram, Haryana. The company now has two manufacturing plants in Gurugram and Manesar in Haryana, with an installed production capacity of 15 lakh units per annum. —PTI

IN 2 YRS MAAZA TO BE ANOTHER BN-$ BRAND FOR COCA-COLA

New Delhi : Coca-Cola expects its juice brand Maaza to be another billion-dollar brand in next two years and is not worried about entry of new players such as Reliance Retail in the carbonated beverages market.

The cola major is also enhanc ing its play in the premium hy dration space by brands such as Schweppes and Smartwater and driving penetration in premium channels. Last week, global soft drinks major CocaCola Company said Sprite has become a billion-dollar brand in the Indian market.

CABINET APPROVES `51,875 CR SUBSIDY FOR P&K FERTILISERS

New Delhi: The government on Wednesday approved a subsidy of `51,875 crore for phosphatic and potassic (P&K) fertilis ers for second half of 202223 as part of efforts to provide affordable soil nutrients to farmers. The CCEA, chaired by PM Modi approved NBS rates for P&K fertilisers for 202223 rabi season, an official statement said. The CCEA has approved a subsidy of `98.02/ kg for nitrogen (N), `66.93/kg for phosphorus (P), `23.65/ kg for potash (K) and `6.12/kg for sulphur (S), it said. —PTI

—PTI

MARKETS REGULATOR SEBI PEGS DUES WORTH `67,228 CRORE AS ‘DIFFICULT TO RECOVER’

New Delhi: Capital markets regulator Sebi has segregated dues to the tune of `67,228 crore under “difficult to recover” category at the end of March 2022. Overall, the regulator has dues worth `96,609 crore that needs to be recov ered from entities, including those that failed to pay the fine imposed on them, failed to pay fees due to markets watch dog and did not comply with its direction to refund investors’ money, according to Sebi’s annual report for 2021-22.

MARUTI SUZUKI INDIA CROSSES 2.5 CRORE CUMULATIVE PRODUCTION MARK

OTHER STORIES

` FALLS 19 PAISE TO CLOSE AT 82.78 AGAINST US $ Mumbai (PTI): The rupee depreciated 19 paise to close at 82.78 (provisional) against the US dollar on Wednesday, tracking a muted trend in domestic equities ahead of the release of the US Fed’s policy statement. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 82.64 and witnessed a high of 82.62 and a low of 82.81.It finally settled at 82.78 against the American cur rency, registering a fall of 19 paise over its last close of 82.59. “Rupee consolidated in a narrow range ahead of the important events that are lined up today and tomor row,” said Gaurang Somaiya, Forex & Bullion Analyst, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

ACCORDING

BJP begins prep for 2024 LS polls

Ruling party aims to win maximum seats of the 45 constituencies in the fray

First India Bureau

New Delhi: With a lit tle over one and a half years left for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)—which has successfully formed a coalition government in Maha rashtra—has already begun preparing a base to secure maxi mum number of win ning seats from the state in the 2024 gen eral elections.

BJP state chief Chan

drashekhar Bavankule was in New Delhi on Wednesday and attend ed meetings with par ty’s senior functionar ies and leaders like Rao saheb Danve, Kapil Pa til, Narayan Rane and Bharti Pawar.

During the meeting, Central ministers were given responsibilities as Lok Sabha constituency incharges and it was de cided that they would spent one to two days per month in the con stituencies they have been entrusted with.

2 women fail to sell 1-year-old, arrested

First India Bureau

Solapur: The Mumbai crime branch and Solapur RPF on Wednesday arrested two women and res cued a one-year-old girl kidnapped from Mumbai. The girl was only freed 48 hours after her kidnapping.

In this case, two resi dents of Parle in Mum bai named Sudeta Devi Upendra Paswan (42) and Sharifa Salim Sheikh (50) were arrest ed and handed over to Mumbai Police.

RPF claims that Mus kan Shaikh, a 24-yearold scrap dealer was collecting plastic when

she left her one-and-ahalf-year-old child on the sidewalk outside SNDT College in San tacruz.

On October 30, at around 10 pm, the ac cused women escaped with Muskaan’s child.

The Mumbai police’s crime section launched an investigation follwo ing a complaint and nabbed the women from the Hussain Sagar Ex press train.

Addressing media persons, Bawankule stressed that the state government in Maharashtra

he said. Interestingly, the Maharashtra BJP chief also hinted at a patch-up between BJP and Shiv

means that the BJP has not ruled out the possi bility of returning to its 2019 coalition and may be planning to con test 45 Lok Sabha seats of Maharashtra togeth er with Shiv Sena. Moreover, this also means that perhaps BJP also knows about the reliability of the Uddhav Thackeray fac tion, even though it has formed a government with Shiv Sena rebels.

However, as of now, there is no clear indication as to if and when the two par ties could come togeth er for future polls.

STATUS QUO

After the MVA government collapsed, rebel faction leader Eknath Shinde was sworn in as the chief minis ter with the BJP’s support on June 30.

The Thackeray and Shinde factions of the Shiv Sena have been embroiled in a legal battle to claim the party’s name and the “bow and arrow” symbol, which have been frozen by the Election Commission of India (ECI). This has forced them to choose alternative symbols of mashaal & sword and shield.

Shinde govt ‘gifts’ ` 500 cr irrigation project to Kadu for ending Rana spat

First India Bureau

Mumbai: The inter vention by Chief Min ister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has some what decelerated the dispute between MLAs Bachchu Kadu and Ravi Rana. The former has reportedly ‘won’ a Rs500 crore project from the state government for agree ing to end the public spat with Rana.

The falling out be tween the former minis ter and the founder of Yuva Swabhiman Party (YSP) has been a topic of discussion in the state

for the last fortnight. Ac cording to sources close to Shinde and Fadnavis, the two warring MLAs reconciled and offered the proverbial olive branch to each other, be cause the chief minister and his deputy had sepa rate talks with them.

Nitesh Rane claims ‘Love Jihad’ angle in abduction case ; leads protest in Kolhapur

First India Bureau

Kolhapur: MLA Nitesh Rane led a major protest and sit-in against Kol hapur police and warned the local au thorities that if a 15-year-old kid napped girl does not come home in two days, there will be a major ruckus in Kol hapur.

Hindutva organiza tions agitated against love jihad in front of Juna Rajwada police

station after a minor girl went missing 15 days ago.

The girl’s parents and Hindutva organizations have alleged that even after registering a com plaint at Juna Rajwada

police station, the po lice is not conducting a proper investigation.

Regarding this, a sitin was held in front of Juna Rajwada police station in the presence of MLA Nitesh Rane

and the MLA also met senior police officers on the occasion.

Speaking to the media after his meeting with cops, Rane on Wednes day tried to corner the current government and said, “Now the govern ment has changed and there is a BJP govern ment in the state. Even after registering a miss ing person on October 17, probe is not being conducted. The girl hasn’t come home yet. If you can not find the girl, then shed the uniform.”

Kadu and Rana were both received by Shinde separately, reportedly to discuss the ongoing spat. According to sources, the two also called on Fadnavis. Rana had allegedly accused Kadu—who was one of the first to

defect to Shinde camp— of taking “pannas khokhe” (50 boxes) to go to Guwahati with Shin de, who was instrumen tal in the split in Shiv Sena. Kadu had then challenged Rana to jus tify his allegations by November 01 or “face the consequences”.

However, to keep the aggrieved Kadu in good spirits, the Shinde-Fad navis government re portedly gave a “huge gift” worth nearly Rs500 crore. Sources in the gov ernment said that an amount of Rs495.29 crore had been approved for Kadu’s dream project in Achalpur Assembly constituency.

Thackerays to lay faction’s future plan on Nov 05

First India Bureau

Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and Aaditya Thackeray will hold a joint press conference to clarify their stand on the political situ ation in the state.

According to the sources, Aditya Thackeray and Ud dhav Thackeray will talk about important issues during the press conference that will be organized on November 05.

Political pandits believe it would also lay path of Thackeray faction’s future in the state. The focus will be on what Uddhav Thackeray and Aadi tya Thackeray say un der the garb of politi cal developments in the state.

It is believed that a major announcement is likely to be made in the press conference regarding the memo rial day of Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray, which is on November 17.Inter

PRECAUTIONARY MEASURE

As per sources, they may make a major announcement regarding the memorial day of Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray

estingly, it will be for the first time in the history of Shiv Sena, that a father-son duo will address a press conference. Apart from the revolt of Shiv Sena MLAs and MPs after the fall of MVA government, there is news that fa ther and son will hint at the future course taken by Sena.

Notably, Aaditya Thackeray has ag gressively targeted the Shinde govern ment after VedantaFoxconn, Tata-Air bus, Bulk Drugs Park projects, which came to the state after Ud dhav Thackeray re signed as chief minis ter, went to Gujarat.

BACK TOGETHER?

‘Controversial’ Bhide calls BJP-Sena ‘Ram-Laxman’

MNS TO JOIN MAHA YUTI COALITION?

First India Bureau

Mumbai: Sambhaji Bhide, who is a pow erful and controver sial figure in Maha rashtra politics, called on Chief Min ister Eknath Shinde at the CMO on Wednesday.

However, according to sources, it is not so

much the meeting, as his comments after that have generated in terest in the political sphere about possible developments in state politics.

Speaking to media persons, Bhide termed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena as ‘Ram-Lax man’ of Indian politics.

“They should not com ment on each other for personal gain. God will

ing, a time will come in the future when the par ties (BJP and Sena) will

come together, yet again. By God’s grace, we have a good chief

minister who makes good decisions without any fear. Bal Thackeray

took forward the princi ples of Shivaji and Ud dhav Thackeray has the image of his father. He is a good person. I be lieve things will fall back into place,” he told reporters.

Interestingly, when a female reporter tried to speak to Bhide, he ag gressively declined and demanded that she be clad in proper attire.

“We believe every wom an is an avatar of Bharat Mata, who isn’t a widow. Come dressed in proper attire and I will speak with you,”

he said. Bhide, who was accompanied by state Industries Minis ter Uday Samant, told media persons that since he had not met the chief minister since he assumed of fice, he chose to call on him on the day. A for mer Rashtriya Sway amsevak Sangh (RSS) functionary, Bhide founded the Shiv Prat ishthan HIndustan or ganization, which works on the princi ples of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Sambhaji Maharaj.

BJP Maha chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule —FILE PHOTO

Sambhaji Bhide

—FILE PHOTO

Activist expresses hope both parties will join forces again after meeting with CM Shinde

Bachchu Kadu

—FILE PHOTO

A Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) worker fumigates an area of the E ward to curb the spread of malaria in Mumbai. Cases of dengue and malaria are on the rise in the area lately.

—PHOTO BY ANI

us

going through unknown personal struggles,

compassionate.

Jagdeesh Chandra,

EXQUISITE ARTISTRY

The term Banarasi refers to a saree made in the an cient city of Varana si, also known as Banaras. The sa rees are among

the best in India and they are renowned for their luxurious needle work, exquisite silk as well as gold and silver brocade, or zari. The sarees are relatively heavy due to the de tailed engravings and highly woven silk used in their construction. These sarees are dis tinguished by their in tricate interwoven flo ral and foliate motifs, kalga and bel and a string of erect leaves known as jhallar at the outer edge of the bor der. A saree can take anything between fif teen days and a month,

silks, shimmering highlights and elabo rate tapestry-like mo tifs that are anchored in history and drenched in regality. The “Khandaani” Indian heirlooms that have been passed down through the centuries and are reported to have been mentioned in the mythical Mahab harata writings are known as Banarasi. They are a revered part of our heritage that has evolved over time. They have been a mainstay of the Indian hand looms sector be cause they were origi

BANARASI SAREES ARE QUITE POPULAR FOR THEIR ALL-WEATHER APPEAL AND ELEGANT LOOK. IT IS AN ETHNIC SYMBOL THAT HAS ACTUALLY MADE ITS WAY AROUND THE GLOBE. LET’S TALK ABOUT ‘THE GLORIOUS VINTAGE SILK OF INDIA’ WITH CITY FIRST

MRIDULA SHARMA cityfirst@firstindia.co.in

JAL SHAKTI ABHIYAN!

Some more glimpses from the Jal Shakti Abhiyan Programme organised by First India on October 20 at Hotel Marriott to create awareness and hold dialogue on the importance of saving water. Dr Jagdeesh Chandra along with Education Minister Dr BD Kalla graced the occasion with their presence on the occasion.

Dr Jagdeesh Chandra and Dr BD Kalla felicitating RK Meena

Jain addressing the audience

Meena briefing the water scenario

Praroop, Surbhi, Suhas, Dr Naresh, Dinesh and Rohan

(L-R) PR Saini, Dharmendra Kumawat, SC Verma, Rajeev Gortu, Jyantkant Kedia and Dhanajay Verma

(L-R) Pradeep Gupta, Vipin Gupta and Urvashi

RK Meena and Satish Jain

Rajesh Poonia, Amitabh Sharma, Arun Srivastava and Sudhir Verma

(L-R) Seema Gupta, Arun Srivastava, HS Devendra, Sanjay Mathur and AB Gupta with Guest

Shaan and Ayushi Vijayvargiya

Vinay Bharadwaj and Suraj Bhansingh with others

Dinesh Mathur giving a vote of thanks. Also seen are Pradeep Singh, AB Gupta, Satish Jain, Sanjay Mathur, Vinay Bharadwaj and Jagbeer Singh Laporiya during the event

Lohit Tanwar, Suneet Sethi and Rituraj Rathore

Sunnet Sethi, Dharmendra Kumawat, Anurag Sharma and AB Gupta during the event

Satish Jain

Shishir Awasthi, Jinendra Singh Shekhawat, Mukesh Bagra and Dimple Sharma

(L-R) Surendra Sharma, Pradeep Gupta, Suparshva Jain, Vipin Gupta, Urvashi and Rajeev Jain (L-R) Suneet Sethi, Dinesh Mathur and Arun Srivastava

Surendra Kumar, Piyush Sharma, Surendra Mathur, Ritu Chittora and Priya Singh

—PHOTOS BY MUKESH

FIRST INDIA QUEEN 2022

SECRET TO ELEGANCE

OCITY FIRST n October 21, the historic grand finale of First India Queen, in which stun ning women from all across India competed for prestig ious titles and crowns, was held at the Hotel Sahara Star in Mumbai.

First India Queen, a national-level beauty contest, promotes the value of cooperation and camaraderie in a superior and organised setting. The company promotes spontaneous, self-assured, unrestrict ed, and free living in women.

Numerous training and grooming sessions led by fashion and mod elling industry profes sionals were organised as part of the three-day grand exhibition and held at Hotel T24 in Mumbai.

The first day began with a ceremony in which each finalist was given a sash and a gift basket. As twilight fell, the talent competition

and First India Queen’s question-and-answer round also got under way. Dr Nida Khateeb led an interactive ses sion with Dentokraftt followed by a grooming session led by Dr Priti Shenai with Skinworks. While Pooja Misra, the multi-talented stunning model, a VJ, and Big Boss star, educated the girls on various fashion and modelling themes on the second day, her session was followed by an enjoyable talent round. Another fantas tic day began with a re

vitalising health and fitness session led by Kinesiis Fitness Coach Karan Hebbar, fol lowed by a session with Parimal Mehhta. Indi an supermodels Sun ny Kamble and Kavita Kharayat, both mem bers of the Manish Malhotra group, held sessions that evening.

All the mentoring sessions captivated the young beauty. The con clusion of First India Queen was choreo graphed by Parimal Me hhta, and it is curated by Blanckanvas Media.

Pooja Misra with the top 30 finalists of First India queen during a training and grooming session

A momentous evening full of glitz and glamour was witnessed in the grand finale of First India Queen, at Hotel Sahara Star in Mumbai on Friday. City First brings to you glimpses of the training and grooming sessions conducted at Hotel T24!

Parimal Mehhta addressing the audience during a grooming session. Also seen is Dr Chandra Ambati, one of the finalists of First India Queen

—PHOTOS BY SANTOSH SHARMA

Fitness Coach Karan Hebbar from Kinesiis with the top 30 finalists during a session on Health & Fitness

Finalists keenly listening to the training and grooming session

Clockwise: Kavita Kharayat, Neha Varma and Avani Kakekochhi

Pooja Misra during the grooming session

Supermodel Sunny Kamble with the finalists of First India Queen during the ramp walk rehearsals

PHOTOGRAPHY: AN AFFAIR WITH LIFE

An extravagant exhibi tion preview, 'Photog raphy: An Affair With Life' by artist Aekam was organised at Bi kaner House on Wednesday. Sachin Pi lot, MLA Tonk, Former Minister of IT, Telecom & Corporate Affairs, GoI, Commissioned of ficer graced the occa sion as the chief guest and appreci ated the art works of artists.

While interact ing with the me dia, artist Aekam de scribed her art works including The Banarasi Ef fect, Indian Jun gles: A Teenage Lens and The people of Kash mir.

During the ex hibition, Dhiraj Srivastava, Com

Janhvi REFUSES To Star In Late Mom’s Biopic

missioner Rajasthan Founda tion, Shubhra Singh and ACS cum CRC were present as the special guests.

On the occasion, while de scribing the Banarasi effect Aekam said, "Most of the pho tographs exhibited in the exhi bition are inspired by my reallife experience, during my trip to Banaras, I tried to capture the essence and the beauty of the coexist ence of life and death in re ligion. They also celebrate the coexistence of Varanasi's deep past and its present". While my Indian Jungles photographs are woven into India's deep his tory as a myth and legend. My aim with this exhibition is to encourage my generation to explore Indian jungles as a worthwhile addition to their intellectual and emotional re sume and to recall for them the thrill of early naturalists who did not have the benefit of pho tography. This is my small en deavour to convince people that waking up at 4 am to go on a jungle safari is to willingly and gainfully intersect our

paths with those of our fellow creatures and that jungle de lights are more rewarding than likes and followers", the artist added.

The talented artist also de scribed her experience in Kashmir and her photographs based on the People of Kash mir and said, "There is no complete concept of India without Kashmir. On the map, it sits as the proud crown of the subcontinent, its mighty peaks capped with abodes of gods and rivers run ning along its deep, primordial valleys. Although the pictureperfect landscape is the domi nant reason for her honorific 'Heaven on earth'.

The portraits on exhibition aim to bring more attention to this rather unexplored part of Kashmir, her soul and her peo ple. Piyali Dasgupta, Smriti Malhotra, Sumeet Kumar, Za hir Khan, Vahid Mirza, Iftikar Ahmed, Pratibha Praladh, Dr Leslie D Joynes, Atul Rajani, Dr Amandeep Singh and Muk ta Sharma among others were present in the exhibition.

NORA FATEHI Mercilessly trolled

Babil 's debut Qala gets a release date!

Babil Khan's entry into movies now has a release date. The talented newcomer is set to captivate the world with his much-awaited screen debut in Anvitaa Dutt's Qala. Babil announced the release date by sharing a set of intriguing stills from Qala.

Sharing his experience Babil said , “I have never been fond of the word ‘debut’ or its implications as the story is and will always be greater than the individual; let’s say the first time I worked in a film as an actor was a period of rigorous personal evolution through a very difficult time.

For this, I am exceptionally grateful to the makers of this film and of this universe.”

Nble fashion sense. Be it any outfit, she pulls off it like a pro and never fails to impress the fash ion police. However, she sometimes gets trolled on social me dia for her bold sense of style and for showing off her assets in revealing outfits. Recently, Fatehi shared a pip ing hot video of her where she looked super hot in a red bodycon dress that showed her ample cleavage and curves. But her look failed to impress several neti zens who brutally troll Nora.

while posing sensu ously for the camera. She wore her hair in a ponytail and her makeup game looked on point. Sharing this reel, she wrote, "The only thing im serving is a 10." Soon after she dropped her video, netizens started troll ing her.

Sung and composed by Rochak Kohli featuring Ar maan Malik and Shilpa Rao, ‘Chupke Chupke’ penned by Kumaar, is a melancholic song that captures the rollercoaster of emotions and chal lenges faced by Riteish and Genelia in the film. ‘Chupke Chupke’ showcases the endearing chemistry between this much-loved duo.

nahi

‘Chupke Chupke’ releases

A s the Riteish Desh mukh and Genelia Deshmukh starrer ‘Mister Mummy’ di rected by Shaad Ali is all to set to release on November 11, the makers of the comedydrama are now out with their first song from the film titled ‘Chupke Chupke’.

Babil Khan

Poster of the song...

CITY FIRST

—PHOTOS BY SHAZID CHAUHAN

Sachin Pilot and Dhiraj Srivastava sharing a moment of joy. Also seen are Aekam and Mukta Sharma

(L-R) Aekam, Shubhra Singh and Dhiraj Srivastava

Atul Rajani and Aekam

Dr Leslie D Joynes Pratibha Prahlad

Artist Aekam

Sachin Pilot and Aekam during the exhibition

Shabari Prasad and Jayesh Bakshi

Yashna Shetty

Dr Amandeep Singh and Mukta Sharma

(L-R) Piyali Dasgupta, Smriti Malhotra, Sumeet Kumar, Zahir Khan, Vahid Mirza and Iftikar Ahmed