TUESDAY 28 MAY 2024 www.thestatesman.com Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC X.com/thestatesmanltd. Fb/thestatesman1875 INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR ‘UNFORGIVABLE BETRAYAL OF THE PEOPLE’ P4 SENSEX 75,390.50 Generally cloudy sky. Light to moderate rain likely to occur. Maximum and Minimum Temperature most likely be around 32°C and 24°C respectively. RAINFALL: 189.5 mm RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max. 98% Min. 91% Max: 26.6°C (-8.5) SUN RISES 04:53 hrs MOON RISES 22:03 hrs Min: 25.0°C (-2.2) SUN SETS 18:15 hrs MOON SETS 07:54 hrs TEMPERATURE Full Moon on 6 June People buy umbrellas from a temporary roadside shop on a scorching hot afternoon in Amritsar on Monday.  ANI Record-high dividend transfer by RBI to h govt equivalent to 0.6pc of GDP: The ratings agency Fitch on Monday said the record-high dividend transfer by the RBI to the government is equivalent to 0.6% of GDP. It further said that such a high level of dividends as a percentage of GDP is unlikely to be maintained. Notably, the board of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), last week decided to transfer a record Rs 2.1 trillion dividend to the government out of the profits earned in fiscal 2023-24. (P8) The chances of Narendra Modi's return to power are slim and the saffron party will get around 200 seats in the ongoing general election,Trinamul Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee said today. She was addressing a rally in Burrabazar in support of the party's nominee, threetime MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay. BJP has fieldedTapas Roy, who left Trinamul and joined the saffron brigade while Congress has fielded veteran leader Pradip Bhattacharya. Miss Banerjee urged the people not to vote for the BJP as it has failed to give employment to the youth and control spiralling price rise.“Modi will come and tell so many lies but he never speaks on unemployment. IIT graduates have failed to get jobs. Unemployment is at an all time high. Modi is not concerned at all he will come and speak volumes of lies. I have never seen a Prime Minister telling such lies. He has failed to keep promises and now is talking about guarantees. Rest assured these are all lies. He comes to disturb peace in Bengal. Here people from different communities and faith live peacefully and happily. This is our culture and tradition. We respect all religions and go to attend the religious festivals of every religion. I personally go to temples, mosques and churches. We believe that religion is personal but festivals are universal. BJP does not believe this and lets loose one community against ` vs $ 83.13 GOLD 74,370.00 P12 SILVER 93,000 BRENT CRUDE (IN $) 82.41 Remal fury leaves six dead in Bengal CM Mamata announces `2L compensation to the next of kin of those killed STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE KOLKATA, 26 MAY yclone Remal claimed six lives, including one unconfirmed so far, ravaging several districts in south Bengal, mainly South 24-Parganas, North 24-Parganas, East Midnapore, Howrah, Hooghly and East Bardhaman since Sunday night. Many mud-thatched-houses in Hingalganj, Jharkhali, Bakkhali Frazerganj and Gosaba in the coastal belts of Gangetic West Bengal were also damaged. With a wind speed of around 130 kmph the severe cyclone had a landfall at Mongla (Bangladesh) between the coastal belt Sagar island in West Bengal and Khepupara in Bangladesh around 11pm on Sunday. The six victims of the cyclone include four men and a 80-yearold woman. The first victim was reported in Kolkata when a man died of his injuries after a wall collapsed due to the heavy shower on Sunday night at the Bibir Bagan area of Entally in the central part of the city. Roofs of thatched huts were blown away, uprooted trees blocked roads in Calcutta as well as in the coastal districts, and electricity Religion is personal, festivals are universal: Mamata at Burrabazar KOLKATA, 27 MAY ‘ONE FORMAT MIGHT DROP OFF’ P10 C THUMBNAILS STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE P5 NIFTY 22,932.45 WEATHER ‘RELIGION-BASED QUOTA THREATENS INTEGRITY OF THE COUNTRY’ ‘SPIRITUAL EMPOWERMENT IS REAL EMPOWERMENT’ the other." Miss Banerjee assured the cyclone-hit people that the state government would take care and those whose houses have been either fully or partly damaged will be built or repaired. Crops have been damaged. “From yesterday evening I have been monitoring the relief work and kept constant touch with the disaster management department.” She said the ECI "has deliberately made seven phase election so that Modi could go to different places to do campaign. His election is scheduled on the last day,” she said adding, “in Bengal seven phase election has been deliberately done just to keep pressure on the government. If in Tamil Nadu which has 40 Lok Sabha seats, an election could be held in a day then why not in Bengal?”she asked. She said BJP has conspired with Congress and CPM to defeat Sudip Banerjee. "A media close to the BJP has distorted my speech and circulated it. In many areas fake videos against Sudip Banerjee have been shown to woo the voters. Please do not misunderstand me. If you do not like me, it’s fine, but do not form any opinion against me on the basis of fake news." She urged people to vote for Banerjee to form a strong, sensible and secular government at the Centre. “Vote for Trinamul as it would be a powerful component in the INDIA bloc." Miss Banerjee later took part in a roadshow in favour of Sudip Banerjee. poles were knocked down causing significant power disruption in various parts of the state, including in the city’s outskirts, according to officials of the state disaster management department. Around 1,200 electric poles, including 300 in South 24-Parganas were uprooted by Remal. More than 300 huts in Sundarbans were also badly damaged since Sunday, according to the officials. The state government evacuated more than one lakh people from vulnerable areas mainly in the Sundarbans ahead of the cyclone's landfall. The chief minister Mamata Banerjee has asked the state chief secretary B P Gopalika to prepare a detailed report on casualties and damages of properties caused by the severe cyclone. In her X handle Miss Banerjee has assured to give monetary compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the family members of the deceased. Several pockets in Ballygunge, Park Circus, Dhakuria and Alipore in South Calcutta, Behala in the West and College Street, Thanthania Kali Bari, CR Avenue and Sinthi in the northern part of the city and Shibpur, Salkia, Kadamtala, Tikiapara, Ramra- jatala, in the Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC) area remained waterlogged since Sunday night because of heavy downpour. Suburban train services from the Sealdah terminal station were also partially suspended for at least three hours, adding to commuters’ woes, before operations limped back to normal. Flight services at the Calcutta airport resumed on Monday morning after remaining suspended for 21 hours in view of Cyclone Remal. Airport sources, however, said it will take some more time for the situation to become normal. In a later update today, the Alipore Met office said ‘Remal’ weakened into a cyclonic storm at 5.30 a.m. on Monday, about 70 km northeast of Canning and 30km west-southwest of Mongla. The system is likely to gradually weaken further. Calcutta recorded a rainfall of 146mm in the period between 8.30 a.m. on Sunday and 5.30 a.m. on Monday, the weatherman said. The city recorded a maximum wind speed of 74 kmph, while Dum Dum in the northern outskirts of the city recorded maximum wind speed of 91 kmph, the Alipore weather office said. Revanna conveys his willingness to appear before SIT on 31 May in a video message STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 27 MAY JD-S MP Prajwal Revanna, who is facing charges of sexually abusing many women, announced in a video message that he would appear before the SIT on May 31 and fully cooperate in the investigation. The grandson of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, who is seeking a fresh term in the Lok Sabha from Hassan as an NDA candidate, is at the centre of a brazen sexual scandal involv- ing him in the exploitation of hundreds of women in his constituency. He left the country on April 27, a day after voting for the Lok Sabha elections in his constituency. In the self-made video, Revanna said, "I will appear before SIT on 31 May." He further said, "...When elections were held on 26th April, there was no case against me and no SIT was formed, my foreign trip was pre-planned. I came to know about the allegations while I was on my trip... '' Prajwal Revanna alleged that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other senior leaders spoke about his sex abuse videos which made him go into depression and isolation, adding that it was a political conspiracy. “Rahul Gandhi and many other Congress leaders started CMYK talking about it and against me and a political conspiracy was formed against me... On Friday 31st May at 10 am I will appear before SIT and provide all information related to the investigation. I will support the investigation. I have faith in the judiciary..." he said. Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is undertaking the process of canceling Prajwal's diplomatic passport under the provisions of the Passports Act of 1967 as well as related regulations. INDIA bloc to meet on 1 June, Mamata likely to skip STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, KOLKATA, 27 MAY A meeting of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc is scheduled to be held on June 1 ahead of the Lok Sabha election results. Congress president and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge is likely to chair the meeting at his residence here. The meeting will be attended by top leaders of the INDIA bloc. “INDIA bloc meeting will be held on 1st June at 3 pm at the residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in the national capital,” sources said here on Monday. It is likely that during the meeting, the leaders of the opposition parties will deliberate on a wide range of issues, including building a strategy for the post-election results. Notably, the date of the meeting coincides with the seventh phase of the Lok Sabha election, which is the last phase of the general election. The meeting will also be held a day before Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, who is out on bail in the alleged liquor scam, is scheduled to surrender and return to Tihar jail. AAP is one of the constituents of the INDIA bloc. The principal opposition party Congress, as part of the INDIA alliance, has teamed up with the Samajwadi Party (SP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in the ongoing Lok Sabha election to oust the ruling BJP . Top Opposition leaders including Congress president Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi exuded confidence that they would oust the ruling BJP in this general elections. However, Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee said that she can't join the meeting as voting is scheduled for nine seats inWest Bengal on the same day. Banerjee said, "The INDIA team is holding a meeting on June 1. I have told them I can't join as we have an election on 9 seats in West Bengal on the same day. Punjab, Bihar & UP also have elections on June 1. On one side is the cyclone, and on the other side, it is elections - I have to do everything. Cyclone relief is my priority right now."