First India-Mumbai Edition-23rd September 2022

Five PFI members in 5-day ATS custody after nationwide raids

First India Bureau

Mumbai: A court here on Thursday re manded five activists of the Popular Front of India (PFI) in the custody of the Maha rashtra Anti-Terror ism Squad (ATS) till September 26.

They are accused of indulging in “unlawful activities promoting enmity among commu nities” and “waging a war against the coun try”, an official said.

The ATS on Thurs day arrested 20 activ ists of the Popular Front of India (PFI) from the state during a multi-agency operation led by the National In vestigation Agency, an official said.

Five of them were produced before a court here with the

‘Who resigned prior to allying with Cong, NCP?’

First India Bureau

CASES LODGED

Nagpur: Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thurs day countered Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s sugges tion that the Bharati ya Janata Party and the Eknath Shinde faction of the Sena re sign and face civic and Assembly polls “within a month”.

ATS seeking their cus tody for 14 days. The court, however, re manded them to five days in the probe agen cy’sIncustody.Maharashtra,

raids were conducted by ATS teams in Mum bai, Navi Mumbai, Thane, Aurangabad, Pune, Kolhapur, Beed, Parbhani, Nanded, Malegaon (in Nashik

Tata institute to analyse devt of Muslim community

district) and Jalgaon, an official Accordingsaid.to the of ficials, the arrests were made during the raids which have been termed as the “largest-

ever investigation pro cess till date”.

The ATS teams ar rested at least 20 peo ple from various places and seized important documents, he said.

Speaking to reporters, Fadnavis asked if Thack eray’s legislators had resigned and faced the electorate afresh after he broke the alliance with the BJP post the 2019 As sembly polls and joined hands with the National ist Congress Party and theAddressingCongress. workers of his faction in subur ban Goregaon on Wednesday, Thackeray had attacked the BJP and said, “I challenge Amit Shah that if you have guts, hold the BMC

We got elected legitimately. Why did he and his party, which won in alli ance with us, not tender their resigna tions before joining hands with the Congress, NCP? You should have had the cour age to get re-elected and then go with the Con gress-NCP. —Devendra Fadnavis, Dy CM, Maha

(Brihanmumbai Munic ipal Corporation) polls in a month and also state Assembly elections.”

Hitting back, Fad navis said Thackeray’s speech “reflected his disappointment”.

Fadnavis also said the Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena, the Con gress and NCP have tried to finish him po litically for the past sev eral years but would not be able to do so.

“almost finalized” due to the efforts of then state industries minis ter Subhash Desai and tourism minister Aadi tya Thackeray, and it getting shifted to Guja rat had affected the em ployment opportunities of one lakh youth.

CRUCIALREAD OF LATE MLA KANTI KOLI

A statement from the Uddhav Thackeray fac tion of the Shiv Sena said the ‘Jan Aakrosh

HANDLING DIFICULTIES

“The dreams of one lakh youth have been crushed. What is the state government doing to provide employ ment?” it asked.

Mumbai: The Ma harashtra govern ment has roped in Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) to study the development of Muslim community in the state.

The premier insti tute will study whether the Muslim community has ben efited from the gov ernment’s schemes in the last few years.

The state govern ment has approved a budget of Rs33.9 lakh for the research.

The TISS has been asked to submit a re port on the efforts made by the govern ment for the develop ment of Muslims and other minority com munities.Thestudy will cov er a total of 56 areas that have a majority

Muslim population. The aim of the study is to bring the Mus lim community into the mainstream by studying their educa tion, economic, and social conditions.

The study will also suggest measures to increase the partici pation of ment.ouscommunitiesMusliminvariareasofdevelopInthepast,theMehmoodurRehmanCommitteehadsubmittedareporttothen-CMPrithvirajChavanafterasimilarstudyin2013. PHOTO

October 05. Ajay Choudhary, lead er of the Thackeray-led faction in the Maharash tra Assembly, asserted

The rally has been taking place at the Shivaji Park for 56 years. It could not happen for the last two years due to the COVID-19 pan demic. They want to corner Uddhav ji and the Shiv Sena. They have got more strength due to some traitors who betrayed us.

that the party’s annual congregation will be held at the iconic ground in Mumbai irrespective of permission from the

civic body. He claimed the party will resort to “guerrilla warfare tac tics” to hold its rally.

The Brihanmumbai

Municipal Corporation (BMC) has denied per mission to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena and rival party faction led by Maharashtra Chief Min ister Eknath Shinde for the Dussehra rally at the Shivaji Park.

Both the factions claim to be the “real Shiv Sena” and had applied for permission to hold their annual rally at the Shivaji Park.

Last week, the Shinde faction got permission to hold a rally at the MMR

DA ground at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mum bai.Pednekar said the BMC’s move to deny per mission to the Thacker ay-led faction was ex pected. It is a “very bad script of the BJP” of put ting everyone in trouble to do its politics, she claimed.AtaShiv Sena event on Wednesday, Thacker ay had asserted that the annual Dussehra rally will take place at the Shivaji Park.

ATS had sought custody for 14 days but the court remanded them to 5 days in custody

Security personnel keep vigil outside the PFI party office in Navi Mumbai on Thursday, after 20 people were detained in Maharashtra, following the NIA-led multi-agency operation that saw 106 persons arrested in 11 states. —PHOTO BY PTI

Devendra Fadnavis.

—FILE PHOTO

First India Bureau

Mumbai: The Shiv Sena grouping led by Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said the Mumbai civic body’s decision to deny per mission to it for Dussehra rally at the Shivaji Park here was expected and claimed it was a “very bad script of the BJP”.

Former Mumbai may or Kishori Pednekar, the spokesperson of the

Thackeray-led Sena, also accused the BJP of try ing to corner her party with the denial of per mission for the rally on

Both Sena factions had applied for permission for Shivaji Park. to lead protest (PTI): Shiv Sena

Andolan’ is being or ganized as the project, which entails an invest ment of Rs1.54 lakh crore, was lost after the

Maha Vikas Aghadi government had laid the groundwork for it to be located in Talegaon. It said the project was

Mumbai: BJP leader Kirit Somaiya has sought action against Mumbai suburban district collector for not taking action against 49 illegal studios con structed by ex-Congress minister Aslam Sheikh. “Mumbai collector Nidhi Chaudhari SomaiyadiosShaikh’snonameErangal,SamajMachchimaardemolishedKolishamshanatMadhintheofCRZbuttookactionagainstAslam49illegalstuinthesamearea,”tweeted.

Ram Bahadur, an auto-rickshaw driver from Uttar Pradesh, received a prosthetic hand from Dr S Natarajan of Aditya Jyot eye hospital, in association with Inali Foundation, at Wadala, in Mumbai on Thursday. —PHOTO BY BHUSHAN KOYANDE

—Kishori Pednekar, Former mayor, BMC

First India Bureau

Aaditya Thackeray.

Six killed in 24 hrs on highway where Cyrus Mistry died

First India Bureau

Palghar: The dentsdayslivesportedlyaCyrusSonsafterunderhighway,bai-AhmedabadMumwhichwasthespotlightformerTatachairmanMistrydiedincaraccident,reclaimedsixinthepasttwoinseparateinciinthedistrict.

A car, on its way to Gujarat from Mumbai, hit a road divider be fore ramming into a tempo on Monday night. Three occupants of the car and the tem po driver were killed in the crash. On Tuesday afternoon, at the same spot and in an almost similar fashion, a car hit a tempo killing two others.Following the deaths, Palghar Police registered a case against the company responsible for the road’s repair work. Ap parently, the Monday

night accident hap pened because the car was trying to dodge a pothole.The road mainte nance company was neglectful in patching potholes on the road, which led to accidents that killed locals, ac cording to police.

Mistry died in a car accident on the same stretch, while on his way back to Mumbai from Gujarat’s Udwa da to TheMumbai.stretchof Mum bai-Ahmedabad high way is considered among India’s worstbuilt and busiest routes. The truck driv ers insist on using the right lane, hence com pelling the cars to over take from the left.

BMC should spend money for public good, says HC

ANTI-CORRUPTION BUREAU ARRESTS POLICEMAN FOR ACCEPTING BRIBE

Thane: Bharat Jagdale (40), a constable of the Thane rural police, was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau for demanding and accepting a bribe. He demanded Rs20,000 per month from a driver of a transport firm to allow his vehicles to pass smoothly between Nashik, Malegaon, Thane and Pune.

“Jagdale was held in a trap from Talavali Naka police chowki while accepting money from the complain ant. A case has been registered,” Thane unit ACB inspector Santosh Amibike said.

MAN BURNSUICIDE;ATTEMPTSSUFFERSINJURIES

First India Bureau

Mumbai: The Bom bay High Court on Thursday said the cash-rich Brihan mumbai acrosshole-riddledtheandforshouldCorporationMunicipal(BMC)spendmoneythepublicgooddosomethingforcitizensaboutpotroadsthecity.

A division bench of Chief Justice Di pankar Datta and Justice Madhav Jamdar directed BMC Commis sioner Iqbal Chahal to meet them any day nextTheweek.court was hear ing a bunch of petitions on the condition of roads in Mumbai and other places of the state and the increasing number of deaths due to pothole-riddled roads.“We want Chahal to come meet us on any day convenient to him next week. Till then, he has to, through his officers, get a survey done of the 20 worst roads in Mumbai,” the courtChahalsaid. has to then

give the court a road map specifying by when tenders would be called for repair work and by when the repair work would be completed.

CJ Datta said that in 2020, when he came to Mumbai after his ap pointment as the Chief Justice here, he had re fused to hear a petition on similar issues.

“At that time, I re fused to hear it saying the condition of Mum

bai roads was much bet ter. But now after two years the situation has changed,” he said.

“I don’t travel much in Mumbai like others, but you (BMC) see the condition of the road right outside my resi dence (in south Mum bai) and that is where many VIPs stay. I can not say come repair the road outside my house,” the Chief Justice said.

The court added that

the judges, too, are citi zens and the BMC should do something for all the citizens.

“We are saying, re pair all the roads at one go. You (BMC) might not be able to do it. Do it in a phase-wise manner but with some responsi bility,” it added.

“BMC is one the rich est corporations. When you have money, spend it on public good,” CJ Datta said.

Thane: A 38-year-old man, hailing from the Kharigaon area, was admitted to Sion Hospital after he tried to immolate himself in a suicide attempt, said the officials. The Chief of the Regional Disaster Man agement Cell (RDMC) of the TMC Avinash Sawant said the incident occurred at around 8.10 pm, in which Yogesh Pawar a resident of Naresh Society doused himself in petrol and set on fire. Soon, a team of local firemen and RDMC reached the spot and found himself severely burnt.

SCHOOL FORHEADMASTERCLERK,HELDTAKINGBRIBE The headmaster a clerk of a primary school were arrested

21-YEAR-OLD MAN SWEPT AWAY IN SWOLLEN NULLAH IN GONDIA; SEARCH ON

Gondia: A 21-year-old man, identified as Ranjisin gh Pritamsingh Gill, was swept away in a swollen nullah near Bharatiya Vidyapeeth School, while he was going on his motorcycle in Gondia on Wednesday, informed District Disaster Manage ment Officer Rajan Choubey. Soon, the disaster management team reached the spot and initiated a search operation, but the man remained untrace able. The search for the man will resume on Thursday, he added.

Signal snag disrupts CR’s local trains services in Mumbai

First India Bureau train Central Railway disrupted Thursday

public relations officer Shivaji Sutar said. However, the techni cal snag was resolved at around 8.30 am, he in formed.According to com

muters, while some of the local trains were cancelled, a few were running late. They claimed the suburban services on the CR’s main line, which con

nects Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Termi nus (CSMT) in south Mumbai to Thane, Kasara and Khopoli, were running late by at least 30 minutes.

According to commuters, while some of the local trains were cancelled, a few runningwerelate

Nearly 40 lakh com muters travel daily in the local trains operated by the Central Railway.

The CR operates 1,810 suburban services on its various routes, includ ing the Main Line (CSMT to Kasara/ Khopoli), Harbour Line (CSMT to Goregoan/ Panvel), Trans-Harbour Line (Vashi-Thane/Pan vel) and Belapur/SeawoodBamandongri-line.

ARMY ASPIRANT RUN OVER BY TRAIN

Thane: A 22-year-old army aspirant who had come to Thane district for an interview under the government’s ‘Agnipath’ scheme was killed after being run over by a train, police said on Thurs day. The incident took place around 11 am on Wednesday at Mumbra railway station. Rameshwar Deore, hailing from Dhule district in Maharashtra, had come to Mumbra where interviews are underway for the recruitment of ‘Agniveers’ under the scheme, an official from Thane railway police station said. Deore was run over by a speeding train, the official said without giving more details. He was rushed to the Thane Civil Hospital where doctors declared him brought dead, the police said, adding that they have registered a case of accidental death.

25 SHOPS DEVELOP CRACKS AFTER NEARBY ROAD CAVES IN

Thane: At least 25 shops in Waghoba Nagar in Thane district’s Kalwa area developed cracks on Thursday after a nearby road caved in. However, no one was injured in the incident, civic officials said. The cracks developed due to digging work being undertaken near the tracks by the railways to construct a protection wall, Thane Municipal Corporation’s Regional Disaster Management Cell chief Avinash Sawant said. “During this digging work, a part of the adja cent road caved in, which in turn led to cracks in the walls of 25 shops. Civic and fire brigade officials are at the spot to assess the situation,” he added.

Aditi Khanna

London: A village school in Maharash tra that has created a cultural dynamic cen tred on close ties within the communi ty was on Thursday unveiled as one of three finalists for the inaugural $250,000 World’s Best School Prizes, launched in the UK to celebrate

schools worldwide for their contribution to society’s progress.

PCMC English Medi um School, Bopkhel, in Pune district, will now progress to the public advisory vote round of the prize in the Commu nity Collaboration cat egory, with the winner to be awarded during World Education Week next

Themonth.school is run as a public private partner ship between NGO Akanksha Foundation and local government,

with most of its stu dents from low-income families.“PCMC English Me

create programmes that help parents in fi nancial need,” said T4 Education, the UKhead-quartered digital media platform which founded the prize earli er this year.

The prizes are aimed at sharing the best prac tices of schools that are transforming the lives of their students and making a real difference to their

Pota, Founder of T4 Education and the World’s Best School

Prizes.IfPCMC English Me dium School, Bopkhel were to win the World’s Best School Prize for Community Collabora tion, it has plans to do nate some of the prize money to the Akanksha Foundation due to their contribution towards the management of the school. The funds would also be distributed to wards other schools that work with the foun dation. PTI of the students at the PCMC English Medium School,

dium School, Bopkhel, also works with local doctors, grocers and re ligious leaders to help

UNDER FIRE

BMC officials repair a water supply pipeline after it burst and left a crater, in Thane. —PHOTO BY PTI

High Court urges cash-rich civic body to ‘do riddledaboutsomethingpothole-roads’

Police personnel inspect the vehicle of Cyrus Mistry after the fatal crash on September 04. —FILE PHOTO

Police have booked the road contractorrepairs’forshoddywork

The snag occurred in the signalling system at Dadar railway station around 6 am. —FILE PHOTO

You choose to focus on me but the idea is to involve all Cong workers: Rahul Gandhi

Ernakulam (Agen cies): Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that the idea of the Bharat Jodo Yatra is to involve hun dreds of Congress workers.While speaking at a press conference in Ker ala, Rahul Gandhi said, “You choose to focus on me but the idea of the yatra is to involve hun dreds of Congress workers.”Explaining the need for the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul Gandhi said, “We are fighting a machine that has cap tured the PradeshincludingcrucialmonthsKashmir.concludeonkumaridhiYatrawithanated,thatpleyatrationatewasbackunited.thattellsaid,notaheadBharatideayou’veoutcomethreatenbuy,moneytry,frameworkinstitutionalofthiscounthathasunlimitedandabilitytopressuriseandpeople.TheofthatiswhatseeninGoa.”HealsosaidthatthethatispushingtheJodoYatraisanIndiathatisatwarwithitself.TheWayanadMP“TheyatraistothepeopleofIndiatheyneedtobeTheyneedtogotoanIndiawhichlovingandaffectowardsitself.”“Thesuccessofthisisbasedonacouofideas.AnideaIndiawhichisunitanIndiawhichisnotwarwithitself,andIndiathatisnotfilledhate,”headded.TheBharatJodoledbyRahulGanbeganfromKanyainTamilNaduSeptember7andwillinJammuandThiscomesjustafewaheadofseveralassemblypolls,HimachalandGujarat.

DIGVIJAY SINGH TO CONTEST FOR CONGRESS’ PRESIDENT POST: SOURCES

New Delhi: Congress leader Digvijay Singh is likely to contest for the position of party’s national president, sources said on Thursday. Sources said Singh will to meet party interim chief Sonia Gandhi. The process of filing nominations for the post of party chief will begin on September 24 and will continue till September 30. The election is scheduled for October 17 and the counting of votes will take place on October 19. Earlier, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot met Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday amid growing buzz about a contest in the presidential election in the party, while party leader Shashi Tharoor also signalled his desire to contest the election to elect a new party chief.

—ANI

TEWARI CONSIDERING TO THROW HAT IN THE RING FOR PARTY PRESIDENT POLLS

New Delhi: With Congress preparing to elect the successor of party chief Sonia Gandhi, former Union minister Manish Tewari is the latest among the list of contenders speculated to be in the fray. The party on Thursday issued an official notification announcing the schedule for the election to the post of party president. The elections are slated to be held on October 17 at all Pradesh Congress Com mittees. Sources close to the Sri Anandpur Sahib MP said on Thursday that he is considering throwing his hat in the ring after Sonia Gandhi made it clear that anybody can run in the poll.

—ANI

No BMC... (zone-2) in separate letters sent to the two factions on Wednesday denied permission to use the ground in cen tral Mumbai’s Dadar area.The Shinde faction had last week obtained the nod for holding the rally at the MMRDA ground in Bandra Kur la Complex (BKC) on the same day, Octo ber 05, as an alterna tive.In its letters reject ing the applications, the BMC cited remarks by the Shivaji Park po lice station that “if any one of the appli cants is granted per

mission to hold the rally, this may create a serious problem of law and order in the sensi tive area of Shivaji Park”.Following the BMC’s decision, the Bombay High Court on Thurs day allowed the Thack eray-led Sena to amend its earlier petition so as to challenge the de nial of permission. In the original petition, the Sena had sought a direction for the BMC to decide its applica tion.Adivision bench of Justices RD Dhanuka and Kamal Khata said it would hear the peti tion on Friday.

Bihar turnedhasinto a sleeper cell for Girirajterrorists:Singh

RaGa TO FLY TO DELHI, TO RESUME

YATRA FROM SEP 24

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to return to the national capital on Thurs day, ahead of the com mencement of nominations for the post of national president of the party, ac cording to sources. Rahul Gandhi and the party’s General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will then re sume the Bharat Jodo Yatra on September 24. As per an official statement, the nominations for filing the candidature for the party’s topmost post will continue from September 24 (Satur day) to September 30 and the final list of candidates will be released at 5 pm on October 8. The Congress President election will be conducted on October 17 at all PCC and the results shall be announced on October 19, immediately after the counting of votes.

—ANI

RAHUL RESUMES

YATRA FROM ALUVA UC COLLEGE IN KERALA

Kochi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday resumed the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ by planting a sapling brought from Lakshadweep at the premises of the Union Christian College Aluva here. He also paid floral tribute to a mango tree planted by Mahatma Gandhi at the col lege on March 18, 1925. “Day 15 began at 6:20 am from UC College, Aluva with @Rahul Gandhi paying floral tribute at a mango tree planted by the Mahatma there on 18.03.1925.

@RahulGandhi planted a sap ling brought from Lakshadweep by a delegation of Athithi Yatris. This is the spirit of

Ramesh Thousandstweeted.joined

SHARAD PAWAR LIKELY CONSULTED MAMATA BEFORE MAKING REMARK ABOUT BURYING DIFFERENCES WITH CONG: TMC LEADER

Kolkata: A TMC leader on Thursday said NCP chief Sharad Pawar likely consulted Mamata Banerjee before making a statement about her being ready to bury differences with Con gress, to form an alliance of opposition parties ahead of the 2024 elections. Speaking to media in Mumbai, Pawar had said Banerjee is ready to bury her differences with the Congress in the national interest and come together to form an anti-BJP front before the Lok Sabha polls. “It is a good statement. Pawar is a very senior leader of the country, and I don’t think he has made the remarks without consult ing our party chief,” TMC leader Sougata Roy said. The party’s chief spokesperson, Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, however, declined to comment on Pawar’s re mark. “How can I comment on what Pawar has spoken about?” said Ray. Relations between the Congress and TMC hit an all-time low last year, after the latter had slammed the grand old party as “incapable and incompetent”, which had gone into a “deep freezer.”

GOURAV VALLABH SLAMS SHASHI THAROOR, BACKS ASHOK GEHLOT FOR AICC CHIEF

New Delhi: Congress leader Gourav Vallabh on Thursday hit out at Shashi Tharoor over his probable AICC president poll bid, saying his “only major contribution” to the party was to send letters to Sonia Gandhi when she was hospitalised. In a first indicator of leaders taking sides in the upcoming contest for the top post, Vallabh also voiced support for another likely contender, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, who many believe has the backing of the current leadership. However, Sonia Gandhi is learnt to have told both Gehlot and Tharoor that she would remain “neutral” in the polls. “The choice is very simple and clear,” said Vallabh on Twitter. Vallabh is also a party spokesperson but he asserted his comments were as a Congress worker and not spokesperson.

2 persons linked with LeT apprehended in Sopore

Sopore (ANI): Two per sons allegedly a part of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were apprehended by Sopore Police on Wednesday, after a cor don and search opera tion in Botingoo village.

The two apprehended persons have been iden tified as Imtiyaz Ahmad Ganai and Waseem Ah mad Lone, informed lo cal police. During the interrogation, they re vealed that they both were working for LeT and at the behest of LeT terrorist Bilal Hamza Mir, were planning to

attack the security forc es and civilians in and around the Sopore area.

While Imtiyaz was working as a hybrid ter rorist, Waseem was working as an Over Ground Worker (OGW).

The Sopore Police in formed that it had some reliable information about the presence of

terrorists belonging to the proscribed terrorist organisation LeT. Based on it, a cordon and search operation was launched in Botingoo village, along with 22 Rashtriya Rifles, 179 BN CRPF and Det Marcos.

During the opera tion, one pistol, one pis tol magazine, and eight pistol rounds were re covered from the pos session of Imtiyaz while one Chinese hand grenade was re covered from the pos session of Waseem, the police said.

—PTI

Former Tripura CM Biplab Deb elected to RS

Agartala: Former Tripura CM Biplab Ku mar Deb won the Rajya Sabha by poll held

BJP and IPFT MLAs of Tripura for electing me as a Rajya Sabha MP.

Gratitude to PM Sri @ narendramodi Ji, @ BJP4India President Sri @JPNadda Ji & HM Sri @AmitShah for giving me this opportunity to represent Tripura in Ra jya Sabha,” Deb tweeted after his victory.

Kejriwal using Assembly to present his political agendas!

Sharat K Verma

New Delhi: Aam Aad mi Party can do any thing. Party supremo and self proclaimed champion of ‘honesty’ Arvind Kejriwal is de veloping his own politi cal modalities. One of his methods from day one has been to accuse anyone and later apolo gize if he gets into a le gal trouble. He is still doing that kind of poli

tics. Similarly, he has no hesitation in using any institution to promote the party or to say any thing for votes. He is now using the assembly to promote his party, to present his agenda and for political gains. He is using the proceedings of the Assembly for electoral gains.

The Legislative As sembly has a process of securing a vote of confi dence, which is usually

—PTI

CANDIDATES’ LIST FOR PREZCONGRESSLENGTHENS

New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday launched the process of electing a new chief with 2 names almost certain — Ashok Gehlot and Shashi Tharoor. More names have emerged.

Former Union Minister Manish Tewari and former Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath have joined the list. Kamal Nath is “being con sidered and may contest”, sources said. —Agencies

Purnia (ANI): Union Minister Giriraj Singh on Thursday alleged that Bihar has turned into a “sleeper cell for terrorists”.Hisremarks came while reacting to the largest joint operation conducted by the Na tional Investigation Agency, ofesalsovisitMinisterasMuslimtendedSharif,caughtThemakelawcy,theerharturalpatronizingLalu(PFI),ularstarted“Simiworkers,ofKumarcusingandRajasthan,rashtra,MadhyaKarnataka,Pradesh,cludingstatespoliceDirectorate,Enforcementandstateforcesacross11ofthecountryinAndhraAssam,Delhi,Kerala,Pradesh,MahaPuducherry,TamilNadu,UttarPradesh.AcBiharCMNitishandLaluYadavencouragingthePFISinghsaid,organizationworkingasPopFrontofIndiaNitishKumarandYadavhavebeenthemasculorganizations.Bihasbecomeasleepcellforterrorists.”OnthesaidraidsbyinvestigativeagenSinghsaidthatthewilltakeitscourse.“They(PFI)wanttoPurniaitscentre.waytheywereinPhulwaritheyalwaysintomakeIndiaanation,in1947well,”Singhsaid.AdaybeforeHomeAmitShah’stoBihar,theNIAconductedsearchattheregionalofficePFIinPurnia.

done at the time of the formation of a new gov ernment or in exception

al circumstances. But Kejriwal is calling the assembly session by pre

tending that there exists an extraordinary situa tion and is making politi cal speeches in the name of winning the trust vote. In Delhi, he had called a special one-day session, which lasted for five days, and during that time not a single legisla tive business was held or any meaningful discus sion. Only Kejriwal ac cused the BJP that it wants to break the Aam Aadmi Party. A one-day

session of the Punjab As sembly has now been called to make similar allegations. Bhagwant Mann will seek the trust vote in a special session on Thursday. AAP has 92 MLAs in the 117-member assembly and no one has challenged the majority, but AAP is still calling the session and claiming that BJP was breaking AAP MLAs but could not break them. This is a missuse of the process.

BOBBY KATARIA GETS ANTICIPATORY BAIL IN SMOKING ON SPICEJET PLANE ROW

New Delhi: Social media influencer Bobby Kataria was on Thursday granted anticipatory bail in connection with a video showing him smoking on a SpiceJet flight which had triggered a massive row last month. Kataria had moved an anticipatory bail plea in a Delhi Court in relation to an FIR registered against him for allegedly smoking on board during his journey from Dubai to Delhi on January 21, 2022. Delhi Police had taken cognizance of the incident and invoked section 3(1)(c) of the Suppression of Unlawful Act against the safety of the Civil Aviation Act,1982. The anticipatory bail plea was filed before the district and sessions judge of Patiala House Court.

HC RESERVES ORDER ON L-G’S DEFAMATION AGAINST AAP LEADERS

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday reserved its order on a defamation suit moved by L-G Vinai Kumar Saxena against the AAP leaders for levelling allegations against the L-G of corrupt practic es during demonetisation. After hearing the submis sions of the parties, Justice Amit Bansal reserved the order. —Agencies

—ANI

NO COERCIVE ACTION AGAINST SCHOOLS: HC TO C’GARH GOVT

Raipur: The Chhattisgarh high court has directed the state government that no coercive steps shall be tak en against private schools as far as the distribution of study materials, uniforms and books among students getting admission under the Rights of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009.

—Agencies

SC APPOINTS EX-JUDGE L NAGESWARA RAO FOR AMENDING CONSTITUTION OF IOA

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Thursday appointed former SC judge Justice L Nageswara Rao for amending constitu tion of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and preparing elec toral college. A bench said the ex-top court judge would ensure a fair and developmentoriented approach for the future of Olympics in tIndia. The court asked Justice Rao to prepare a road map for amending the constitution and holding elections by Dec 15, 2022. It also gave its permission to Rajeev Mehta, who is currently the secretary general of IOA, and Adille Sumariwalla, vice president of IOA, to participate in the Sep 27 meeting with the International Olympic Committee. THE COURTYARD

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi walks holding hands with supporters during his party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, in Ernakulam on Thursday.

—PHOTO BY ANI

Indian Navy evaluating trial reports of two fighter jets

Aircraft is planned to be acquired under a govt-to-govt deal by Navy for operations

New Delhi (ANI): In the USD 5 billion ten ders to buy 26 combat aircraft, the report of the extensive trials of the French Rafale and American F-18 planes is being evaluated by the Indian Navy head quarters.The aircraft is planned to be acquired under a not,navalcalcrafttosaid.governmentforandwithandfighterteamwas“TheendrabycommissionedcarrierfromNavygovernmentgovernment-to-dealbytheforoperationsitslatestaircraftINSVikrantrecentlyPrimeMinisterNarModiinKochi.extensivetrialheldbyanavalinGoaforboththeaircraftRafaleF-18.Thereportistheheadquartersisbeingeventuatedfinalshortlisting,”sourcesTheevaluationisseewhethertheairhasmetthetechnispecificationsoftherequirementsortheysaid.TheAmericanaircraftarebuiltforcarriersweighingaround

31 PPS officers to be promoted as IPS officers

Ahtesham Siddiqui

Lucknow: In UP, 31 po lice officers of the Pro vincial Police Service (PPS) cadre will soon be come IPS officers. A DPC to make 31 officers of the PPS cadre of the state IPS has been called in Lucknow on October 7.

The PPS officers who will get promoted in clude Amit Mishra, Shravan Kumar Singh, Sarbanand Singh Ya dav, Hafeezur Rahman, Ramesh Prasad Gupta, Keshavchand Goswami, Omvir Singh, Rajesh Kumar Yadav, Babita Sahu, Lal Saheb Yadav, Rajdhari Chaurasia, Vi nod Kumar, Om Prakash Yadav, Mahat ma Prasad, Prabal Pratap Singh, Rajesh Kumar, Dayaram, Girjesh Kumar, Prem Chandra, Bhim Priya Ashok, Sanjay Kumar, Dinesh Kumar Singh, Chandra Prakash Shuk la, Brijesh Kumar Mishra, Ashutosh Shukla and others.

UNEP SIGNS MOU WITH NCC TO CURB PLASTIC POLLUTION

New Delhi: The UN En vironment Programme (UNEP) has signed a Memorandum of Under standing (MoU) with the National Cadet Corps (NCC) to tackle the issue of plastic pollution. The aim is to achieve the universal goal of clean

one lakh tonnes while the French Rafale is made for 60,000 tonnesize carriers. The Navy

water bodies through ‘Puneet Sagar Abhiyan’ and ‘Tide Turners Plastic Challenge programme’, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

The MoU was signed between DG NCC Lt Gen Gurbirpal Singh and Resident Representative,

has MiG-29Ks which op erate from the INS Vikramaditya and also don’t have a strong ser

UN World Food Pro gramme Bishow Parajuli in the presence of De fence Minister Rajnath Singh, MoS Defence Ajay Bhatt, Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar; other senior officials of Ministry of Defence and representatives of UNEP.

viceability record and their numbers are con sidered to be sufficient only for one carrier.

INDIA ON CUSP OF INFRA REVOLUTION, SAYS LT GEN SINGH

Panaji (ANI): Pointing out that now the Army was also using technologyhigh-energytoconstruct its buildings for operational usage, wastheArmytheofficerengineeringtopmosttheofIndiansaidcountryonthecusp

of an infrastructure revolution in view of the developments in the sector. Speaking at a conclave in Goa, Indian Army’s Engineer in chief Lt Gen Harpal Singh said, “The Military Engineering Services, an infrastructure arm of the Corps of En gineers of Indian Army is taking up nische technolo gies to bring in faster and quality construction all around.” “India’s first 3D Concrete Printed per manent married accom modation for soldiers was constructed by co-opting a start-up by the Military Engineering Service in a matter of weeks,” he said.

Now, Punjab Assembly session on September 27

Chandigarh (ANI): Punjab Chief Minis ter Bhagwant Mann on Thursday said that it was decided in the cabinet meeting that the Assembly Session will now convene on Tuesday, September 27. In the session, is sues like electricity and stubble burning will be discussed, CM Bhagwant Mann said.

“In the cabinet meeting today, it has been decided to con vene an Assembly ses sion on September 27. Issues like electricity and stubble burning will be discussed,” CM Mann said after chairing a cabinet meeting at the Punjab

Comedian Raju Srivastava cremated in Delhi

New Delhi (PTI) : Pop ular comedian and actor Raju Srivastava was on Thursday cremated in the presence of family and close friends here.

The 58-year-old come dian, one of the most well-known names in the comedy and film cir cles, died on Wednesday morning at the All India Institute of Medical Sci ences after spending 41 days in hospital. He was admitted to AIIMS fol lowing a heart attack while working out at a Delhi hotel gym on Au gust 10. Srivastava’s mortal remains were

taken to his house in the south-west Delhi locali ty Dwarka, after they

were handed over to the family on Wednesday. An ambulance decked up with white flowers left for the Nigambodh Ghat crematorium at Kashmere Gate at around 9am for the fu neral, which also had veteran poet-humour ists Surendra Sharma and Ashok Chakradhar in Srivastava’sattendance.

son Ayushmaan performed the last rites as per Hin du rituals at around 11am, the comedian’s

Tata group airlines AI, Vistara, AirAsia ink MoU for sustainable aviation fuels

New Delhi: Tata group airlines – Air India, Ai rAsia India and Vistara (Tata SIA Airlines), on Thursday signed a MoU with the Council of Sci entific and Industrial Research, Indian Insti tute of Petroleum to col laborate and work to gether on the research, development, and de ployment of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs),

CRUCIAL READ

10 KILLED, 11 INJURED IN UP IN INCIDENTSRAIN-RELATED

Lucknow (PTI): At least 10 people were killed, seven of them in Etawah, and 11 injured in incidents of light ning, and wall and house collapses as heavy rains in parts of UP affected normal life in Firozabad and forced the closure of schools in Aligarh. Apart from Etawah -- where the seven deceased included four children of a family -- deaths have also been reported from Firoz abad and Balrampur districts since Wednesday, officials said. According to the IMD, rainfall or thundershowers have been observed at most places over UP since Wednesday morning.

HP TO CREATE 2,000 DIGITAL CLASSROOMS IN GOVT SCHOOLS

Bengaluru (Agencies): HP India on Thursday said it would enable up to 2,000 digital classrooms under HP Accessible Learning for All (ALFA) initiative in India. These digital classrooms would be set up in govt or government-aided schools across 17 States for Class 9 and 12 students. The initiative was in line with the government’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, said the company in a statement.HP would rope in NGO partners, corporate foundations, and non-gov ernmental organisations (NGOs) to implement this project.

officials said.

“The MOU outlines the intent of the signato ries to work together in

a variety of other areas related to sustainable aviation,” an Air India spokesperson said add

ing the focus of the MoU is to explore Single Reac tor HEFA (fuels) Tech nology for Drop-in liquid Sustainable Aviation and Automotive Fuel (DILSAAF). This comes two days after civil avia tion minister Jyotiradi tya Scindia stressed on carbon neutrality. The minister also said India will have over 90 carbonneutral airports by 2024.

younger brother Dipoo told PTI. “We left from the house in Dwarka at about 9am for the fu neral. Our family mem bers from Kanpur and Lucknow are here,” he added.Industry colleagues Sunil Pal and Ahsaan Qureshi, director Madhur Bhandarkar and singer Ram Shankar along with hundreds of fans also reached the venue to pay last respects to the comedian.

IPL to return to formathome-awayin2023

New Delhi (PTI): IPL will return to its origi nal, SharjahvenuescloseleagueID-19theonlyTheBCCIfromhome-and-awaypre-COVID-19,formatthe2023season,PrezGangulysaid.IPLhasbeenheldatafewvenuessinceoutbreakofCOVasthelucrativeunfoldedbehinddoorsacrossthreeinUAE—Dubai,andAbuDhabi.

PLANNING FOR FUTURE

11 CONG MLAs SUSPENDED ON

LAST DAY OF GUJARAT ASSEMBLY Gandhinagar (Agencies): As many as 11 Con gress MLAs were on Thursday suspended for the day from the Gujarat Assembly after they created a ruckus demanding a debate on caste-based cen sus and OBC reserva tion in local bodies. When the house was discussing the amend ment bill on Gujarat National Law Univer sity, a senior Congress

leader demanded for a debate on OBC reser vation in local bodies.

Speaker Neemaben Acharya turned down the request saying that the party should have moved a request for it earlier.

Secretariat in Chandi garh, day after the previous assembly session (that was scheduled to be held) was cancelled by state governor Banwarilal Purohit.

Mohan Bhagwat is ‘Rashtra

Pita’: Top Muslim cleric

New Delhi: Reaching out to the Muslim com munity, RSS chief Mo han Bhagwat, along with senior Sangh func tionaries, on Thursday met Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, the chief of All India Imam Organisa tion. The closed-door meeting lasted for over anRSShour.chief has been holding discussions with Muslim intellectu als for ofpeopleprocess,continuousmeetingSunilRSScommunalstrengtheningharmony.spokespersonAmbekarsaidwaspartofthediscussionBhagwatmeetsfromallwalkslife.

Mohan Bhagwat ji visited on my invitation today. He’s ‘rashtra-pita’ and ‘rashtra-rishi’, a good message will go out from his visit. Our ways of wor shipping god are different, but the biggest religion is humanity. We believe the country comes first.

—Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, All India Imam Org Chief

Is BJP hoping to win one more LS seat in Punjab?

Mahesh Sharma

New Delhi: What is the loss to the Congress or the gain to the BJP if Captain Amarinder Singh, the former Chief Minister of Punjab, joins the saffron party?

According to informed sources, the BJP does not expect much from the Captain. Therefore, he is less likely to be given any important re sponsibility in the par ty. BJP has already giv en a big message to the Sikh voters of the state by including former IPS officer Iqbal Singh Lal

pura as a Sikh face in the Parliamentary Board. Therefore, there is no need to send any message to the Sikhs through the 80-year-old

captain. A BJP leader says that the captain’s case is only about one Lok Sabha seat and even the BJP is working on one Lok Sabha seat for the next election and even Captain will also work on the same.

It is worth mention ing that the BJP had fought the last election in coordination with the Akali Dal and got two seats. This time the party is trying to win one or two new seats while somehow retain

ing these two seats. That is, the party is fighting with a target of winning three to four seats in

PreneethandySinghCaptainPunjab.Amarindercancomeininthis.HiswifeKaurisaCongressMPfromPatialaseat.InthenextLokSabhaelections,shecancontestonaBJPticketandthepartycanwinthisseat.Apartfromthis,CaptainhasnomoreuseforBJP.

Representative image of a Rafale Marine aircraft.

—FILE PHOTO

Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann announces a special session of the assembly that has now been called on September 27 with a revised list of agendas. —FILE PHOTO

Former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh at BJP headquarters after joining the Bharatiya Janata Party, in New Delhi.

FILE PHOTO

Mortal remains of Raju Srivastava being carried for cremation at Nigambodh Ghat in New Delhi on Thursday. —PHOTO BY PTI

RAFALE

RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat leaves after meeting All India Imam Organisation Chief Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, at a mosque in New Delhi on Thursday. (Bottom) RSS Chief during his visit at a mosque.

(From Left) Siddharth Sharma, Niyant Maru, Campbell Wilson, Sunil Bhaskaran and Dr Anjan Ray signing MoU on Thursday.

New Delhi:

` tanks 83 paise to close at all-time low of 80.79/$

Mumbai: The rupee plunged by 83 paise — its biggest single-day loss in nearly seven months — to close at an all-time low of 80.79 against the US dollar on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike and its hawkish stance weighed on investor sentiments.Forextraders said the US Fed’s rate hike and es calation of geopolitical risk in Ukraine sapped risk

Moreover,appetite. the strength of the American currency in the overseas market, a muted trend in domestic equities, risk-off mood and firm crude oil prices weighed on the rupee.

At the interbank for eign exchange market, the local currency opened at 80.27, then fell further to an all-time intra-day low of 80.95 against the Amer ican currency.

GOLD JUMPS `442; SILVER CLIMBS `558

New Delhi (PTI): Gold price in the national capital rose by `442 to `50,399 per 10 grams on Thursday amid a rise in international pre cious metal prices and sharp rupee depreciation, according to HDFC Securities. In the previous trade, the yellow metal had closed at `49,957 per 10 grams. Silver also climbed by `558 to `58,580 per kilogram from `58,022 per kg in the previous trade. In the interna tional market, gold was trading higher at $1,677 per ounce, while silver was flat at $19.69 per ounce.

SENSEX FALLS FOR 2ND DAY; ENDS 337 POINTS DOWN

Mumbai (PTI): Equity indices fell on Thursday, mirroring weak global market trends following the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate hike and hawkish stance.The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 337.06 points or 0.57% to settle at 59,119.72. During the day, it tanked 624 points or 1.04% to 58,832.78.The NSE Nifty went lower by 88.55 points or 0.50% to end at 17,629.80.Among the 30-share Sensex pack, Power Grid, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, ICICI Bank and UltraTech Cement were the major laggards.

At WTO meeting, India defends ban on rice, wheat exports

New Delhi (Agencies): India has defended its deci sion to ban export of wheat and rice at a WTO meeting even as some member countries have flagged con cerns over the country’s stand, an official said.

QUESTIONS RAISED

z Senegal, the US & the EU raised questions over this decision, stating it could have adverse implications on global markets

New Delhi: Amid the funding winter, 128 Indian startups have raised over $995 million venture capi tal funding in August, GlobalData said. The funds raised in August are 9.7% more than that in July, the data and analyt ics company said. Aurojy oti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, said: “Al though the total VC fund ing amount still remains below $1 billion akin to July, August managed to reverse the decline in fun draising, despite a 2.3% fall in deal volume.” —PTI

It finally ended at 80.79, down 83 paise over its pre vious close of 79.96. The rupee suffered its biggest single-day fall since Febru ary 24 when it had declined by 99

Thepaise.USFed hiked inter est rates by 75 basis points to 3-3.25%. It was the third

OTHER STORIES

straight 75 basis points hike. Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated the cen tral bank’s commitment to taming

Focusinflation.willbeon Bank of Japan (BoJ) and Bank of England (BoE) monetary policies next, forex traders said.Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the

greenback’s strength against a basket of six cur rencies, advanced 0.38 per cent to Besides110.06.the hawkish US Fed stance, the US Dollar extended gains against its major crosses after Rus sian President Vladimir Putin announced partial military mobilisation.

“An aggressive Fed

Another hefty cheque to BSNL to cut debt load

Chair Jerome Powell and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s escala tion of geopolitical risk in Ukraine turned on the green light for King Dollar against most currencies,” said Dilip Parmar, Re search Analyst, HDFC Se curities. Rupee along with other Asian peers tumbled to a record low.

At a meeting last week in Geneva, Senegal, the US and the European Union raised questions over this decision, stating it could have adverse implications on global tatedsecurityonmonthsgrain’sfeed,whichonIndiaDefendingmarkets.itsdecision,clarifiedthatthebanexportofbrokenrice,isusedinpoultryfollowsariseintheexportsinrecentwhichputpressurethedomesticmarket.Inthecaseofwheat,foodconcernsnecessiexportcurbs.“Indiahasalsostated

RBI cancels licence of Laxmi Co-operative Bank

New York: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a very ambitious desire to get the India-UK Free Trade Agreement signed by Diwali and his new British counterpart Liz Truss wants her administration to “match the pace and ambition” of the Indian leader, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has said. Cleverly also said that the bilateral relationship between India and UK is longstanding and wide-ranging, which is both a “huge plus” but it also means that “quite understandably there is a desire to have a very, very wide-ranging, meaningful free trade agreement.”

—PTI

Guwahati: The Indrad hanush Gas Grid Limited (IGGL), joint venture of five oil and gas public sec tor undertakings, has achieved a physical pro gress of 42.94% and a capital expenditure of `1556.46 crore for the 2021-22 financial year, ac cording to a company re lease on Thursday. IGGL

Chairman Atindra Roy choudhury said this while addressing the fourth an nual general meeting. “The company achieved a capi tal expenditure of `1556.46 crore and physi cal progress of 42.94 per cent in the financial year 2021-22”, he said.

Kolkata: Loan disbursals by microfinance institu tions during the first quar ter of 2022-23 increased to `45,830 crore as com pared to `25,503 crore in the same period last fis cal, a report by MFIN said. MFIN, a DISBURSALS MFIs RISE IN 1st QUARTER OF 2022-23

SPICEJET HIKES PILOTS

SALARY BY 20% AFTER GETTING ECLGS FUNDS

Mumbai: SpiceJet has hiked salary of its captains and senior first officers by around 20% from October as it gets the first tranche of funds under the govern ment’s credit guarantee scheme. The carrier is also expected to deposit TDS of all employees in next two to three weeks, as per the communication sent to the airline pilots. The communica tion to the airline pilots came on the day it sent 80 of its cockpit crew on Leave Without Pay for three months.

—PTI

FUTURE ENTERPRISES

GETS 3 MONTHS EXTN FOR HOLDING AGM

New Delhi: Future Enterprises has received a three-month extension for holding its AGM, a Thefirmdebt-riddenfilingregulatorybythesaid.Registrar

of Companies, Mumbai has accorded its approval to the company granting an extension for three months for holding the AGM of the company before December 31, 2022. “Accord ingly, the aforesaid AGM of the Company would be held within the extended timeline,” said FEL in late night filing.

—PTI

New Delhi (Agencies): The government has given a ` 19,000-crore sovereign guarantee to Bharat San char Nigam Ltd (BSNL), which will allow the ailing state-run telco to restruc ture its debt and that of state-run Mahanagar Tele phone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), officials said.

Both firms have a com bined debt of around `60K crore, of which ` 33,000 crore is on the books of BSNL. As per the officials, another similar amount of bank guarantee will be given to the firm in the next financial year start ing, so that the debt burden can be reduced further.

Swiggy, Zomato in e-comm

New Delhi: A report pub lished a Canada-based firms has Indian food aggregator and Zo mato in the top ten e-com merce food delivery compa nies. The report has put China’s publicly listed food platform Meituan at the top of the list, followed by the UK’s Deliveroo, and the US’ Uber Eats.

The report by ETC Group said, “The food delivery sector is rapidly consoli compa nies regional gemony, Indian uni corns. According to the re search firm, the food deliv the

Mumbai (PTI): The Re serve Bank of India on Thursday said it has can celled the licence of Solapur (Maharashtra) based The Laxmi Co-opera tive Bank Limited as the lender does not have ade quate capital and earning prospects.“Thebank does not have adequate capital and earn ing prospects,” the RBI said while announcing that The Laxmi Co-opera tive Bank ceases to carry on banking business, with effect from the close of business on Thursday (September 22, 2022).

As per the statement, the co-operative bank has failed to comply with the requirements the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and its continuance is prejudi cial to the interests of its depositors.“Thebank with its pre

DEPOSITORS TO GET ` 5 LAKH

z On liquidation, every depositor would be entitled to receive deposit insurance claim amount of his/her deposits up to Rs 5 lakh from DICGC. 99 per cent of depositors are entitled to receive full amount of their deposits from the DICGC, the RBI said in a statement

sent financial position would be unable to pay its present depositors in full,” the RBI said.

The bank is now prohib ited from conducting the ‘business of banking’.

z India clarified that the ban on export of broken rice follows a rise in the grain’s exports in recent months which put pressure on the domestic market

that the measures are tem porary in nature and under continuous monitoring,” the official said.

Senegal, a major import er of India’s broken rice and other rice products, urged India to keep trade open in these difficult times to ensure food suffi ciency, the official added.

Adani pactno-poachingmakeswithRIL

Mumbai (Agencies): The Adani Group, led by the world’s third richest man Gautam Adani, has entered into a no-poaching agree ment with Mukesh Amba ni-led Reliance Industries, such that both groups will be restricted from hiring talent from each other. The agreement has come into effect from May this year and will be applicable to all their

Whatbusinesses.makesthis pact in teresting is that it is be tween two of India’s larg est conglomerates and of late both have entered sec tors where the other has a big play. Last year, Adani Group announced its entry into the petrochemical space with Adani Petro chemicals Limited, which is where Reliance has a large presence. The other area where their paths cross is the high-speed data services.

Over ` 58,000 crore lost due to illicit trade

GLOBAL LEADERS

z China’s publicly listed food platform Meituan at the top of the list, followed by the UK’s Deliveroo, and the US’ Uber Eats

z Ele.me, DoorDash, Just Eat Takeaway/Grubhub found themselves in 4th to 6th spot

them to customers within a prescribed timeframe.

Further, Ele.me, Door Dash, Just Eat Takeaway/ Grubhub, Delivery Hero, and iFood found them selves in the 4th to 8th spot.

New Delhi (PTI): The ex chequer is estimated to have lost ` 58,521 crore in taxes in 2019-20 due to il licit trade in goods in 5 key industries, including FMCG, mobile phone, to bacco products and alco hol, a Ficci report said.

The size of illicit mar kets in these industries at a little over `2.60 lakh crore for the year 2019-20, with the FMCG industry ac counting for 75% of the to tal illicit value of goods in five key industries.

The two highly regulated and taxed industries, to

bacco products and alco holic beverages, account for nearly 49% of the over all tax loss to the govern ment due to illicit markets in these five key industries. The max number of jobs (7.94 lakh) were lost due to illicit trade in the FMCG packaged foods industry.

‘WANT TO MAKE SURE INDIA-UK FTA IS FIRST STEP IN CONTINUALLY EVOLVING TRADE, ECO P’SHIP’

Success of digital payments proved sceptics wrong: FM

which starts with “trust our people, trust our in dustry, trust our women and trust our families,” that made the differ ence, Sitharaman said.

‘Fintech will make Maha a trillion-dollar economy’

First India Bureau

Pune: All doubts and criticism about the ef ficiency of digital payment systems have been cleared as its successful imple mentation in the country has cemented people’s trust in Prime Minister Nar endra Modi’s govern ance, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Si tharaman said.

Speaking to BJP workers on “20 Years of Modi Governance” here on Wednesday, she credited Modi’s ap proach to governance and his trust in people for this

ton,justtheirreceivedID-19inducedDuringsuccess.thelockdownbytheCOVpandemic,peoplemoneyinbankaccountsbypressingabutshesaid.

“If they could not go to the bank or did not know how to take it, the bank ‘Mitra’ went to the village and delivered their money,” she said.

She noted that, in comparison, during the same period some of

the “advanced econo mies” were writing (aid) cheques and send ing them to people throughSeveralpost.doubts were raised about how elec tronic payments would work, especially in ru

ral areas where inter net connectivity was patchy, but now “in spite of COVID-19, India leads the world in UPI payments,” said theItminister.wasModi’s ap proach to governance

Four people killed as part of 5-storey building collapses in Thane district

First India Bureau

Thane: Four people died after a portion of a five-storey build ing collapsed in Ul hasnagar town of Thane district on Thursday, an official said.

A few more people were feared trapped in the debris, Ulhasnagar tehsildar (revenue of ficer) Komal Thakur said, adding that relief and rescue operations wereThisunderway.comesa day af ter a portion of a rail way protection col lapsed in Dombivli on Wednesday, killing two labourers.Aslabof the third storey of the building located in Ulhasnagar camp 5 collapsed around 11.30 am, Thakur said, adding the structure having 30 flats was illegal and had already been served a notice.

The structure was illegal and had already been served a notice. Five families were still staying in it

Five families were still staying in the building, she said.

After getting infor mation about the inci

dent, local firemen, dis aster management team, police, revenue and civic officials rushed to the site and started rescue and re lief operations, the of ficial

Thesaid.four deceased in cluded two women.

They were identified as Sagar Occhani (19), Priya Dhanvani (24), Renu Dholandas Dhan vani (54) and Dholan das Dhanvani (58), the official said.

A few years ago, a minister in the Con gress-led United Pro gressive Alliance had said it was impossible to popularize electronic payments as “how would one pay Rs7 to a vegetable vendor elec tronically,” she said.

This doubt has been dispelled now, she added.Sitharaman also spoke about how the profile of Padma awards recipients had changed under the Modi“Wegovernment.donotknow any of them. They are picked from the hinter lands, from the corners of the country. They are great achievers themselves, but we did not have time to recog nize them. We did not know how to locate them. But Modiji’s team locates every one of them,” she said.

First India Bureau Mumbai: Deputy Chief Minister Dev endra Fadnavis has called Maharashtra the start-up and fin tech capital of the country.

Speaking at the at the Global Fintech Fes tival (GFF), being or ganized in Mumbai, Fadnavis said that fin tech will drive the state’s economy and contribute to its growth even more in the days to Commentingcome. on the fintech innovation that has taken place in the financial capital of the country, Fadnavis stat ed, “Maharashtra was

Fadnavis said that Maharashtra is open to amend its fintech policy to attract more fintech start-ups

the first state to launch a fintech policy. Under this policy, we devel oped the entire ecosys tem with smart cent ers, a fintech registry, a fintech API sandbox, 100 crore fund which has resulted in over 500 companies accessing this set-up, and this fund has attracted in vestments of nearly Rs1000 crores and indi rect investments of over Rs9000 crores.”

He further added that the state is open to amending the fintech policy to attract more fintech start-ups which in turn will help the state become a trilliondollar economy.

The third edition of GFF is a four-day event organized and present ed by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, along with the Reserve Bank of India, and oth er government bodies.

According to the lat est edition of the IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List 2022, Mumbai is also home to 283 rich est Indians within the list, headed by Mukesh Ambani and his family.

Will face off with Mumbai Ultras in second match of the season at Neville D’souza Ground in Bandra

Mumbai (ANI): After winning 3-0 in their opening match, the Mumbai Marines FC are all set to face Mum bai Ultras in their sec ond match of the sea son which is touted to

be a derby here at Nev ille D’souza Ground in Bandra.

Mumbai Marines FC will look to make it two wins out of two, six points out of six on Fri day, when they face Mumbai Ultras.

The in-form Abbubak er Khan opened their ac count for the season by scoring the opening goal.

Super substitute Yash Kambli added finishing touches to the match scoring a quick-fire brace after coming on in the 89th

Here’sminute.whatteam cap tain Jacob Jacques had

CIVIL

COLLAPSEBOOKEDCONTRACTORFORWALLDEATHS

Thane (FIB): A case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder was registered on Thursday in connection with a wall collapse in Dombivli in Thane district in which two labourers died on Wednes day, a police official said. The case under section 304 of the Indian Penal Code was registered against the civil contractor responsible for building a wall between Dombivli and Kopar railway stations, Senior Inspector PM Bhalerao of Vishnu nagar police station said.

Actor Mahesh Thakur duped of `5.45 cr by his lawyer

First India Bureau

Mumbai: Actor Ma hesh Thakur was duped of nearly Rs5.45 crore by a Chandi garh-based man, who pretended to legally represent Thakur in a case, the police said on Wednesday.

CITY FOOTBALL

According to sources at Oshiwara police sta tion, the actor was in

“Two labourers had died and three were injured in the incident which took place on Wednesday in Siddharth Nagar area along the tracks. The civil contractor did not follow laid-down safety norms, which endangered the workers involved in the construction work,” he said. No arrest has been made so far. FOR PLAY

volved in a property dis pute and had hired the accused, Mayank Goyal, a few months ago for the latter’s legal services.

Goyal then charged Thakur a total of Rs5.43 crore, allegedly for court fees, counselling, and other legal formalities.

When Thakur got sus picious and began ask ing Goyal to present re ceipts, petition copies and other related paper work, Goyal allegedly disappeared. On Mon day, the actor registered anTheFIR.police, since then, had registered a case against the man.

Mumbai Marines FC look to continue winning momentum

to say on the first match performance as well as looking forward to the

next match, “With seven new players playing in our first match our

chemistry was not on point but still we won the match 3-0. Now that we know each other’s strengths, we’ve adapted very well in practice ses sions and are ready for another day on the field with 100% effort for each match.”Aakash Malvankar, Co-owner and Co-found er of Mumbai Marines Football Club also had some encouraging words for the team, “This is our first season in Super Di vision we will go one

game at a time. Things we did in the past which worked for us, we will continue doing that!”

The mood in the camp remains positive after winning the first match. Also, key additions to the team of Ex-Elite Divi sion players Nikhil Thervittel (Defender) and Stephen Crasto (Striker) give the side some much-needed expe rience. Everyone have asked for a collective ef fort taking it one match at a time.

With seven new playingplayersinour first match our chemis try was not on point but still we won the match 3-0. Now that we know each other’s strengths, we’ve adapt ed very well in practice sessions and are ready for another day on the field with 100% effort for each match.

Jacob Jacques, Captain, Mumbai Marines

Several doubts were raised about how electronic payments would work, especially in rural areas where internet connectivity was patchy, but now, India leads the world in UPI payments. It was PM Modi’s ap proach to governance which starts with ‘trust our people, trust our industry, trust our women and trust our families’, that made the difference.

—Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Finance Minister

Nirmala Sitharaman said that the successful implementation of electronic payments was mainly due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s approach to governance

Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis speaks at the Global Fintech Festival, being organized in Mumbai.

Rescue and relief operation underway after a portion of a five-storey building collapsed in Ulhasnagar on Thursday. —PHOTO BY PTI

Groundsmen dry the playing field after rains at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, ahead of the second T20 cricket match between India and Australia, in Nagpur on Thursday.

—PHOTO BY PTI

The

—Dr

riches, has cool properties like grey but is more fun, lively, and playful.

MThe metallic silver is as sociated with meanings industrial, sleek, hightech, and modern, as well as ornate, glamorous, graceful, sophisticated, and elegant. A colour that resembles polished metal is said to be metallic. Its metallic shine is the char acteristic visual quality of metals. Since the glossy look is caused by the mate rial’s brightness shifting with the material’s sur face angle to the light source, this cannot be rep licated by a straightfor ward solid colour. Addi tionally, there is no way to display bright or metallic colours on a computer other than by using ren dering software that mim ics the reflection of light off of a shiny surface. As a result, metallic paint that glitters like genuine metal is typically used in art and heraldry. With the spring/sum

mer collection, metallics experienced a comeback, continuing through the fall/winter collection. Peo ple opted for metallic col ours to appear brilliant and exceptional. The new trend was embraced by well-known fashion de signers like Tom Ford, Giorgio Armani, Marc Jacobs, Balmain, Versace, Gucci, Lanvin, and others. Early in 2014, many Holly wood celebrities opted for metallic-colored gowns to wear on the red carpet as silver and gold became the newMetallicblack. hues can be used in a variety of ways beyond those that closely resemble real metals.

You may confidently trust this stylish style, which suits people of all ages and skin tones at the finest. Accessorizing with metallic is a great method to always look stylish and rock-ready. With this look, you may match up any way you like and never go overboard.

When worn with your everyday attire, the Shiny Metallic looks incredibly spectacular. A piece of metallic will instantly improve your appearance, regardless of whether you are wearing a boring shirt or faded trousers, so, let’s explore the magic of the metallic world with City First

THE CREST

Exquisite & Luxury Living

City First

The Crest is an ultra-luxu ry project of FS Realty located at a premium lo cation of Airport En clave. The project offers a great choice of 3, 4 and 5 BH luxury residences.

The Crest is a 14-storeyed devel opment with 152 stunning apart ments designed by experienced industry professionals. The Crest is one such project in Jaipur lux ury real estate that sets a new standard of class and modern lifestyle. Whether it is about space, comfort or unmatched con struction, the Crest has a wonder ful confluence of everything.

The Crest has special care of the amenities, hence every facil ity is available here which not only makes life easy but also gives the residents the flavour of a premium living. The project includes a well-maintained li brary, and 25-meter lap pool. Rooftop infinity swimming pool, indoor-outdoor play area, ban quet hall, F&B outlets & cafe, wellness centre, yoga deck, squash court, table tennis, bad minton court, paramount.lifeThestate-of-the-artaremove-inquality.jectdentfortofferswellJaipurdise,TradecialHCC,Clarks;Blu,Hotelsthealsohappiestawhichtheningsigningwholewhicharetheatresteam/jacuzzi/sauna,gymnasium,goldclassandseniorcitizensTheremanyamenitieslikealoungetakeittoitsclass.Offersanewlevelofprojectdeinlandscapingandplanaswell.TheCrest’slocationisoneofprimeaddressesinJaipurnotonlygivesitsresidentsgreatopportunitytoliveinthespaceofthecitybutgiveseasyconnectivitytoallimportantplacesinthecity.likeTheCrestRadissonJaipurMarriott,TheLalit,HospitalslikeFortis,EJaipuria,Cocoon;CommerdestinationslikeWorldPark,EntertainmentParaGenpactandfacilitieslikeInternationalAirportareconnectedtotheproject.EveryapartmentatTheCrestafinebalanceofart,comandclass.AuniqueprececanalsobeseenintheproindesignandconstructionTheCrestisaready-to-projectwherefamiliesalreadylivingandenjoyingalifestyle.Inshort,Crestisthebeginningofathatisbestinitselfbutalso

FELICITATING THE IMPECCABLE WORK!

City First brings to you some more glimpses from Shikhar Samman - Pride of Gujarat”, an award ceremony organised by First India and Bharat 24 on Monday at GIFT City Club, Gandhinagar, Gujarat to honour Gujarati and Marwari entrepreneurs with “Shikar Samman” for doing excellent work.

Dr Jagdeesh Chandra with (L-R) Ajay Kumar and Shaan with others

Dr Jagdeesh Chandra greets Gujarat CM Bhupendra Bhai Patel. Also seen are Harsh Bhai Sanghavi, Ajay Kumar, Manoj Jagyasi and RS Sodhi

Dr Jagdeesh Chandra greets Harsh Bhai Sanghavi. Also seen are CM Bhupendra Bhai Patel, Ajay Kumar and Manoj Jagyasi

CM Bhupendra Bhai Patel and Dr Jagdeesh Chandra felicitate Meet J Desai. Also seen are Harsh Bhai Sanghavi and Ajay Kumar

CM Bhupendra Bhai Patel and Dr Jagdeesh Chandra felicitate Dr Ajay Hardiya. Also seen are Harsh Bhai Sanghavi and Ajay Kumar

CM Bhupendra Bhai Patel greeted by Vishaal Mathur. Also seen are Dr Jagdeesh Chandra and Manoj Jagyasi

CM Bhupendra Bhai Patel, Harsh Bhai Sanghavi and Dr Jagdeesh Chandra felicitate Dr Kaushal Patel. Also seen is Ajay Kumar

CM Bhupendra Bhai Patel, Harsh Bhai Sanghavi and Dr Jagdeesh Chandra felicitate Yogesh Poojara. Also seen are Ajay Kumar and Manoj Jagyasi

CM Bhupendra Bhai Patel, Harsh Bhai Sanghavi and Dr Jagdeesh Chandra felicitate Sapan Shah. Also seen are Ajay Kumar, Manoj Jagyasi and RS Sodhi

CM Bhupendra Bhai Patel, Harsh Bhai Sanghavi and Dr Jagdeesh Chandra felicitate Sajid Malek. Also seen are Ajay Kumar and Kameshwar Singh

CM Bhupendra Bhai Patel, Harsh Bhai Sanghavi and Dr Jagdeesh Chandra felicitate Nehha Kandhari. Also seen is Ajay Kumar

CM Bhupendra Bhai Patel, Harsh Bhai Sanghavi and Dr Jagdeesh Chandra felicitate Manish Desai, Harikrishna Pillai, Alex Lukcose. Also seen are Jayan C Nair, Benny Varghese and Ajay Kumar

CM Bhupendra Bhai Patel, Harsh Bhai Sanghavi and Dr Jagdeesh Chandra felicitate Manish Shah and Ajay Kumar

Dr Jagdeesh Chandra with (L-R) Ajay Kumar, Ashok Raj Singh and Manoj Jagyasi

Dr Jagdeesh Chandra in conversation Ajay Kumar. As Marilyn Gore looks on

CM Bhupendra Bhai Patel and Dr Jagdeesh Chandra felicitate N K Patel. Also seen is Harsh Bhai Sanghavi

Jignesh Gandhi greeted by Dr Jagdeesh Chandra at Ahmedabad Airport

CM Bhupendra Bhai Patel, Harsh Bhai Sanghavi and Dr Jagdeesh Chandra, Ajay Kumar, Mahesh Sharma, Vyomesh Parekh, Shishir Awasthi, Shweta Mishra Awasthi, Manish Desai, Shikha Thakur, Jinendra S Shekhawat, Sandeep Mishra and Dilip Solanki with others

ASHISH

Dhokha Round D Corner Review: A NAIL BITTING CRIME THRILLER

DHOKHARATING:

CASTKookieDIRECTORGulati&CREW

effortless as it leaves you jaw-dropped when the ‘dhokha’ unfolds.

Until the very end, one doesn’t know who is the

FELICITATION!BIRTHDAY!

one actually giving ‘Dhokha’.RMadhavan is un doubtedly an actor par excellence and yet

again has managed to keep the story inter esting at all times with his character. While debutant Khushalii Kumar is the true sur prise package in the film, the actress has proven her acting skills and sustains in front of a talented cast. It just didn’t seem like her first movie. The way she managed to seduce the need of the hour without expos ing skin was highly commendable. Apar shakti hits it out of the park as a grue some terrorist in this one. By the end of the film, you wouldn't know if you hate him or sympathize with him. Darshan Kumar never disappoints he

always stands out on the expectations his fans and audience have from him. The actor as an ACP adds good layers to the film. The only loophole in the film remains the media trail and Jour nalist scenes that kind of look out of the place and the film loses the plot for the time being.

But while rest of the movie remains nail bit ting till the very end.

Since the film is ex tremely suspenseful, without giving away any spoilers, all we can say is that Dhokha: Round D Corner is the kind of thriller that the audi ence was looking for ward to watching.

Does comedy means being insensitive?

Raju Srivastava was truly a leg end who paved the way for the comedians who thrive in the industry that was created by him and the comedians during those times. But there are many who remain un grateful and inconsider ate, even in the most sensitive times. After the death of Raju Sriv astava on September 21, several comedians gave tribute to him on social media and sent condo lences to his grieving family. However, Rohan Joshi, fellow comedian and the founding mem ber of the now disband ed sketch comedy group, AIB, commented that "we did not lose a thing." Joshi has written down his thoughts and projected his anger in the comment at a time when everyone was still reeling from his passing away. He wrote, "We haven't lost a thing. Whether it was Kamra whether it was the roast or any comic in the news, Raju Srivas tav took every opportu nity he ever got to talk

bad on newer comics, especially after the new wave of stand-up started. He went on every news channel every time he was in vited to go abuse an up coming art form and call it offensive just because he couldn't under stand it and new stars were rising. He might have told a few good jokes but he un derstood nothing about the spirit of comedy or defending someone's right to say something even if you don't agree.

Good

Thisriddance."invitedan out

Gauri on Aryan's arrest

rage on social media where people thrashed the comedian for his in appropriate comment. Realising the amount of backlash that he got, Joshi deleted the com ment and replied to one of the com ments which told him how inappro priate his words were. Rohan wrote a rather insincere apolo gy where he wrote, "Yehi soch kar delete kiya ky uki after a minute of anger I realised today is not about my personal feelings. Sorry if it hurt and thanks for the per spective."

Khwaish stood third in the 50-metre Air Rifle shooting category in the 7-day 6th East Zone Shooting Championship 2022, organised by The Asansol Rifle Club under the auspices of The West Bengal Rifle Association, which started on September 18 in West Bengal. She has been selected for upcoming national competitions for winning four medals i.e. Gold, Silver and Bronze respectively. She is also a part of the Indian team’s National Youth Squad in 10-metre to Air Rifle category. She even attended the Indian Youth Camp in Delhi recently.

auri Khan came on Kof fee with Karan after a long gap of 17 years, with her first time be ing with her husband, Shah Rukh Khan. While she shared her experi ence with being Shah Rukh Khan's wife and more, she also talked about the dif ficult times her family went through during the Aryan Khan drug Gauricase.revealed, "As a family, we have been

through a lot. I mean, nothing can be worse than what we have been through – as a mother, as a parent. But today where we all stand as a family – I can say that we are in a great space where we feel loved by everyone. All our friends, and so many people whom we didn’t know –so many messages and so much of love. And I just feel blessed, I think today we feel blessed. And I would say I’m grateful to all the people who have helped us through this."

Netizens slammed Jhanvi

Janhvi Kapoor made an ap pearance in a smoking hot & sultry orange bod ycon dress at an event in Mumbai and styled a look with a back ponytail. This made her fans drool but few weren't impressed by her gutsy look and trolled herInbrutally.oneof the pa parazzi's

Nikitaa, a Mumbaibased singer released four singles in col laboration with Nikhil D'Souza Universe, Goddess, Clutch, and Tum Aur Main and sang for the Netflix film "Masaba Masa ba." In 2021, she released four singles: Wolf and Boo merang, featuring Ameri can rap-duo Flyana Boss and Farewell, and last but not the least, DITK, recently

she released Bad Trip LoFi in collab with Amaal Mallik.

Give some insights for Bad Trip LoFi.

Bad Trip LoFi is an ethereal and airier take on the origi nal and honestly, they are both so good it becomes hard to pick. I’m just thrilled be cause initially, it was hard for me to imagine this song as LoFi but of course with Amaal involved it turned out as stunning as it did!

How was your experience with Amaal Mallik?

The process of working with him was very easeful and

synergistic. His ear for the smallest detail is next level.

And he carries himself with humility and absolute dedi cation to the work. He’s also actually hilarious, which is something I discovered throughout the first couple of phone calls we exchanged for this release - a master of impressions. He’s one of those people that has main tained a deep sense of integ rity and honesty throughout his many successes, which is deeply commendable.

Describe your creative process for your songs.

My creative process chang

es with each song! Some times I come up with a vocal melody, sometimes I write down a short clever lyric I thought of or a concept and come back to it in a session.

Other times we start with an instrument or produc tion. I try not to put limita tions on my process. The magic happens when you least expect it to!

How did you think of the LoFi version for Bad Trip as even the original audio was loved by fans? The LoFi version was en tirely Amaal’s idea! He had a vision for this song, and

wanted to get in volved after it had come out, which in itself is such a statement: for a big

final ver sion, to be honest. This was all Amaal’s doing, and I’m so thankful for him.

R

The birthday of BCCI secretary Jay Shah was on Thursday, September 22. Wishes poured in from renowned cricketers, friends and family from across the spectrum throughout the day.

Khwaish with her father Dinesh (L) and coach Monojit Karmakar

Shatrughan Sinha and Khwaish

Gauri Khan

Poster of the film...

Rohan Joshi

Janhvi Kapoor