MONDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2024 www.thestatesman.com INDIA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER SINCE 1818 Pages 14 |` 5.00|LC X.com/thestatesmanltd. Fb/thestatesman1875 KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR ‘FIR HAS UNMASKED BJP’S SINISTER PLAN’ KERALA GUV SEEKS REPORT ON PHONETAPPING ALLEGATIONS P4 WEATHER Cloudy intervals. Rain developing late. Maximum and minimum temperatures likely to be around 34°C and 28°C respectively. RUSSIA INVOKES ITS NUCLEAR CAPACITY IN UN SPEECH P5 P9 ‘Not a single paisa from Centre to combat floods’ Mamata holds meeting to review flood situation in north Bengal RAINFALL: NIL RELATIVE HUMIDITY STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Max. 87% 29 SEPTEMBER TEMPERATURE Max: 34.4˚C SUN RISES 05:27 hrs MOON RISES 03:16 hrs SILIGURI/KOLKATA, Min. 74% C Min: 28.8˚C SUN SETS 17:24 hrs MOON SETS 16:10 hrs New Moon on 3 October THUMBNAILS Members of a nomadic tribe move with their belongings on the Dabwali-Ellenabad road, in Sirsa, Haryana. n ANI Jamaican PM to embark on first-ever bilateral visit to India from 30 Sept to 3 Oct: Prime Minister of Jamaica Dr Andrew Holness will embark on a four-day official visit to India from Monday. "At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of Jamaica Dr Andrew Holness will pay an official visit to India from September 30 to October 3," the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Sunday. During the visit, he will hold delegation-level talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. hief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday expressed regret that the state government has not yet received a single paisa from the Centre to combat floods in the state. She addressed the media in Siliguri after holding an administrative review meeting at Uttar Kanya this afternoon. State Chief Secretary Manoj Pant and state Sports minister Aroop Biswas were present at the meeting. The district magistrates of six flood hit districts attended the meeting, some physically and others virtually. The meeting lasted for nearly one and half hours. Miss Banerjee will chair a Cabinet meeting at Nabanna tomorrow. She said: “It is most unfortunate that letters writen to the Prime Minister are answered by the minister of state. The story of Bengal is only deprivation. We have been deprived, deprived and deprived. We have not received a single paisa from the Centre for the flood-hit districts.” Two persons were washed away during flood at Bhutni in Malda and the Chief Minister handed over cheques of Rs 2 lakh each to the next of kin of the two families as ex gratia. She also handed over a cheque of Rs 8 lakh to the next of kin of four members of a family who had been electrocuted at Gajoldoba. Chief Secretary Manoj Pant will take up with the Army the matter of repairing of the stretches on National Highway 10 which conects Sikkim. Miss Banerjee said 6 lakh cusecs of water had been released from Nepal and this has caused mas- Stalin elevates Udhayanidhi as deputy CM, ignoring Oppn’s charge of dynastic succession MC RAJAN CHENNAI, 29 SEPTEMBER Disregarding the Opposition’s criticism of dynastic politics and nepotism, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin elevated his son and Sports Minister Udhayanidhi as the deputy chief minister of the state, making it clear that he is the heir apparent in the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). Since Udhayanidhi is already a minister, he is not required to take the oath of office but only re-designated by the Governor as deputy chief minister. Though not a constitutional office, this new role makes him the number two in the government. As expected, the Cabinet reshuffle on Sunday witnessed the return of V Senthil Balaji, who is on bail in a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act linked to the 2011 cash-for-job scam. Interestingly, he has been entrusted with the Electricity, Prohibition, and Excise portfolios, held by him earlier. Governor RN Ravi administered the oath of office and secrecy to Senthil Balaji and three others – R Rajendran, Govi Chezhiyan, and SM Nasar. While Nasar makes a re-entry, the other two are first-timers. At the group photo session after the swearing-in, Stalin and Udhayanidhi were seated next to the governor on the left and right, indicating his primacy in the party and government. On his new role, Udhayanidhi said it is a responsibility. “It is not just an office, but a great responsibility. I welcome any criti- cism but my performance will be my response to that,” he told the media after paying the ritual floral tributes at the memorials of Anna (DMK founder CN Annadurai) and his grandfather and late patriarch M Karunanidhi. He also paid tributes to the Dravidian icon and rationalist reformer ‘Periyar’ EV Ramasamy at his statue, at the headquarters of Dravidar Kazhagam, the ideological mentor of the DMK. A third generation leader pushed into politics from filmdom, 46-year-old Udhayanidhi’s rise has been meteoric. He was elected from the Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni constituency in Chennai in the 2021 assembly elections and inducted into the ministry in 2022 December. Now, he is the third deputy chief minister of the state. The previous ones were MK Stalin under Karunanidhi and expelled AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam, under Edappadi K Palaniswami. (Another report on Pg 4) sive inundation in Malda and Murshidabad. No dredging operaation took place at Farakka barrage for the past 20 years, she said, noting that had this been properly done, the barrage could have retained more water. “Water released from Bihar and Jharkhand has also inundated vast areas in north Bengal,” she said. She reiterated that the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) had released 5 lakh cusecs of water earlier this month without informing the state government. She urged people from Bhutni to remain at the makeshift camp for the next two days, observing that there may be rain and further water discharge from Nepal in the next two days. She said the police would be engaged to distribute relief. Miss Banerjee urged people to maintain peace during the Durga Puja. “Vast areas have been flood-hit and every body should be alert to ensure that peace is maintained and see that no body uses the situation to create trouble.” She asked Mr Gautam Deb, mayor of Siliguri Municipal Corporation to reconstruct 22 shops at Bidhan market that had been gutted. She announced Rs 1 lakh compensation for the shops that were completely destroyed and Rs 50,000 for the partly damaged shops. Earlier, speaking to mediapersons in Kolkata before leaving for north Bengal, Miss Banerjee said: “ The Central ministers come to Bengal before the election. But they never show up after the polls are over. The Centre has not released money after floods hit huge areas in south Bengal. We have been deprived every time a natural calamity takes place," she remarked. Road rage: Cop dead after being hit and dragged by speeding car in Outer Delhi STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 29 SEPTEMBER A 30-year-old Delhi Police constable died after being hit and dragged up to 10 metres by a speeding car in Outer Delhi’s Nangloi area, police said on Sunday. The incident occurred on early Sunday at 2:15 am when the constable, Sandeep, was going towards Railway road from Nangloi Police station on a motorcycle. He was on duty but dressed in civil clothes in the wake of the increasing theft cases in the area, the police said. Upon noticing a speeding car, the constable overtook the four wheeler and told the driver to slow down, but suddenly the vehicle speeded up and hit his motorcycle from behind and dragged him for about 10 metres before hurling it into another vehicle, police added. Sandeep received head injuries in the accident and was taken to Sonia Hospital and later shifted to Balaji Hospital in Paschim Vihar. He was declared dead by the doctors, said police officials. Police said that a case under Section 103 (murder) of BNS was registered and an investigation is underway. Police are looking for two people who are absconding after the incident along with the vehicle. CCTV footage of the accident had also surfaced in which the constable is seen taking a left turn in a lane and gesturing to the car driver to slow down and eventually being hit by the vehicle. These accusations are intended to malign my leadership: PT Usha AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 29 SEPTEMBER Indian Olympic Association (IOA) chief PT Usha has hit back at the allegations made by 12 IOA Executive Council (EC) members in a letter addressed to International Olympic Committee (IOC) Director of International Relations Jerome Poivey. The 12 EC members, which include Olympic medallists like Gagan Narang and Yogeshwar Dutt, Sehdev Yadav, etc., have written to senior IOC official Jerome Poivey accusing the legendary athlete of running the organisation in an "autocratic" manner. “These accusations are only intended to malign my leadership and the efforts of those working diligently towards the betterment of Indian sports,” PT Usha wrote in a letter. “In my 45-yearlong career as a sportsperson representing India at the highest levels of a competition, I have never encountered individuals so indifferent to the aspirations of our athletes and our nation’s sporting future. Instead of supporting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visionary goal of hosting the 2036 Olympic Games in India, these individuals seem more focused on self-serving power play and monetary gain through their prolonged presence and control in sports administration,” the letter said.During Thursday's emergency EC meeting, there was a bitter confrontation where the embattled Usha outrightly rejected their call for removing Raghuram Iyer from the CEO’s post. Addressing the claims made by the EC members in questioning Raghuram Iyer's appointment as IOA Chief Executive Officer. PT Usha clarified that “his appointment, made in January 2024, was carried out in strict accordance with the IOA constitution.” “...In order to uphold the provisions of the IOA Constitution, notwithstanding the undue resistance from a majority of the EC, the Nomination Com- mittee undertook the process of selection as envisaged in Article 15.3.1. For the purposes of accountability and transparency, the entire process undertaken by the Nomination Committee was minuted and duly shared with the entire Executive Committee during the January 2024 meeting,” she wrote. “To now question the process or the alleged ‘exorbitant’ salary payments made to him is entirely false,” the letter read. “His appointment was officially ratified in the January 2024 meeting. The said meeting has not only been video-graphed but also transcribed and minuted, all of which evidence the fact that a majority of the EC members accepted the appointment of Mr. Iyer and requested and nominated me, as part of the EC, to only renegotiate the salary component,” the letter added. Ms Usha also claimed that the CEO appointed by IOA has not been paid at all. “Despite his official appointment, Mr. Iyer has not been paid a single rupee till date. The delay in paying his salary is solely because certain EC members continue to defy the provisions of the IOA Constitution, obstructing necessary progress and decision-making,” it read. “It is essential to bring to light that some of these EC members have very questionable track records, including allegations of gender bias and even cases of sexual harassment filed against them. Recently, during the CAG audit, it has come to my attention that IOA Treasurer Sahdev Yadav, in connivance with the members of the IOA Finance Committee headed by Ajay Patel and comprising of Rajlaxmi Singh Deo, BS Bajwa, Amitabh Sharma, Rohit Rajpal, Lt. Gen. Harpal Singh and Monal Choksi, has surreptitiously written off large sums of monies owed to the IOA,” she claimed in her letter. SRI LANKA THRASH NZ BY 154 RUNS P14 Times have changed: PM slams previous govts for lack of vision, planning for development AGENCIES PUNE, 29 SEPTEMBER Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday slammed previous governments for lacking planning and vision for development of Pune and Maharashtra in general that heavily affected the pace of development. However, after the BJP-led government came to power in 2014 and later during the present Mahayuti government the development process has been expedited, he said. “Unfortunately, in the previous decades, our country lacked both planning and vision in urban development. Even when the policies were formulated, the projects used to stand stalled for years and years. Maharashtra, and our country, faced losses due to this very culture of carelessness and neglect. But now, the times have changed,” said the Prime Minister in his virtual address after he laid the foundation stone, inaugurated and dedicated to the nation various projects including Pune Metro in Maharashtra worth over Rs 11,200 crore. The PM claimed that during the non-BJP governments, several key infrastructure projects including metro, bullet train and irrigation projects were derailed. “However, the double-engine government removed all hurdles and it is working relentlessly to spur the state’s growth. Maharashtra is an inspiration for the country and Viksit Maharashtra will further help achieve Viksit Bharat,” he said. “For Maharashtra's progress, future-ready infrastructure is crucial, but equally important is ensuring that development benefits reach all sections of society. This will happen when every segment contributes to India's growth. This will happen when women lead the vision of a Viksit Bharat. “When women drive social change, nothing is impossible! And the land of Maharashtra has been a witness to this very reality,” said the PM. He said that the Pune Metro was discussed in 2008 but the previous governments could not construct a single pillar till 2016 when the Devendra Fadnavis-led government laid the foundation. “In eight years, the previous government failed to construct even a single Metro pillar, but our government has successfully built a state-of-the-art Metro network in Pune,” he added. “Our dream is to enhance the ease of living in Pune city, and I am glad to note that we are moving rapidly in that direction. This will happen when Pune's public transport becomes modern. This will happen when the city expands while maintaining seamless connectivity between areas. Today, the Mahayuti government is working day and night with this vision and approach,” he said. Ahead of NSA visit, France submits final price offer for Rafale Marine jet deal AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 29 SEPTEMBER France has submitted the final price offer to India for the proposed deal for purchase of 26 Rafale Marine Jet ahead of the scheduled visit of Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval to the country. Defence sources told ANI that the best and final price offer has been submitted to the Indian authorities by the French side for the project and a significant price reduction has been given after tough negotiations. India and France are nego- tiating the deal for buying 26 Rafale Marine jets which are going to be deployed on the INS Vikrant aircraft carrier and different bases. The two sides had also held negotiations last week when a French team was in Delhi for finalising the discussions with India. The deal is scheduled to be taken up for discussion during the IndiaFranceStrategicDialoguewhere the Indian NSA is scheduled to meet his French counterparts from tomorrow in Paris. The deal is important for the Indian Navy as it is looking at strengthening its maritime strike capability. India has also approved deviationsintheletterofrequest, which is the tender document equivalent in government to government deals, like the integration of the indigenous Uttam radar in the jets. Sources said that the integration would have taken a longer time of around eight years along with a high price to be paid to the French side for doing so. India had also asked France for integration of indigenous weapons on the jet, including the Astra Beyond Visual Range missiles and the Rudram antiradiation missiles.