BHUBANESWAR  SUNDAY  NOVEMBER 17, 2024  `12.00  PAGES 24  LATE CITY EDITION INDIA’S HOCKEY HUB, ODISHA, FINALLY WINS NATIONAL TITLE DOMINATING FIVE-GOAL FEST FOR WINNERS In the final on Saturday, Odisha defeated Haryana 5-1 to win the title at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium in Chennai. For Odisha, Rajat Akash Tirkey scored the first goal in the first quarter before Pratap Lakra doubled the lead in the 39th minute. In the fourth quarter, Shilanand Lakra scored three goals to seal the title After investing in infrastructure, promotion, including sponsoring both men & women’s national teams, the state has emerged on top MOST PLAYERS FROM SUNDARGARH NURSERY ■ ■ ■ At least 12 players were from the cradle of Indian hockey in the team. Coach Bijay Lakra said some of them grew up playing together. This was Haryana’s 3rd consecutive final appearance (2022 winners) Earlier in the day, Lalit Upadhyay and Rajkumar Pal helped Uttar Pradesh beat Manipur to finish third in the competition I P11 1st THIS IS THE FIRST-EVER SENIOR NATIONAL TITLE FOR ODISHA CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Imphal valley on boil, mob storms houses of ministers Speculation rife on some BJP MLAs submitting resignation today LIFT AFSPA FROM SIX AREAS, SAYS GOVT P R A S A N TA M A Z U M D A R @ Guwahati Five Maoists shot dead in Chhattisgarh E J A Z K A I S E R @ Raipur FIVE cadres of the outlawed CPI (Maoist), including two women fighters in uniform, were gunned down by security forces in an encounter on Saturday in the north Abujhmad area located along the edgy inter-district borders of NarayanpurKanker in Chhattisgarh. Two jawans — Heerman Yadav and Khileshwar Gawde — sustained bullet injuries in the gunfight and were shifted to a hospital where they were said to be stable and out of danger. “Based on an intelligence input about the presence of Maoists in the north Abujhmad (meaning unfamiliar land) region, a joint team of District Reserve Guard (DRG), Special Task Force (STF) and Border Security Force (BSF) left on the planned operation during the intervening night of 1516 November. As the search campaign moved ahead, an encounter began around 8 am after the Maoists opened fire on the forces that came close to their hideout location. So far, five bodies of Maoists have been recovered from the encounter site,” said a police officer. WITH THIS ISSUE FEELING AT HOME PLUS 12 PAGES MASSIVE protests broke out in Manipur’s Imphal valley on Saturday after the bodies of six persons, believed to be of those reported missing from Jiribam district on Monday were recov, ered from a river close to the border of Assam’s Cachar and Manipur’s Jiribam districts. Miscreants also vandalised and burned down five churches and six houses in Jiribam on Saturday evening, the Indigenous Tribal Advocacy Committee claimed. In the wake of widespread protests, the state government temporarily suspended internet and mobile data services in the affected districts. The protesters attacked the houses of several MLAs and damaged properties at some places. They also stormed the houses of two BJP ministers. Vehicles were also set on fire. One of the MLAs, whose house was targeted, was R K Imo, who is the son-in-law of Chief Minister N Biren Singh. As the protesters are going for the jugular of the elected members for failing to control Massive protests were held on Saturday in Imphal after six bodies were found The Manipur government has written to the Centre requesting it to review its Nov 14 notification imposing the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in six jurisdictions in the Imphal valley. The state cabinet discussed it at a meeting late Friday night and decided to request the Centre to review and withdraw the said declaration No reason was cited the escalating violence, speculations are rife that some of the BJP’s legislators could resign on Sunday . The influential Meitei organisation ‘Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity’ announced a civil disobedience movement from Saturday . The bodies of all six persons were taken to the nearby Silchar Medical College and Hospital (SMCH) in Assam’s Cachar district for post-mortem. Three of the bodies were recovered on Friday and the others on Saturday The state govern. ment in a statement issued earlier in the day confirmed that three of the bodies were of the missing persons. Three women and three children went missing from Jiribam following Monday’s gunfight in which CRPF and police personnel had gunned down 10 “militants”. Kuki-Zo organisations claimed they were “village volunteers”. Tension had been building across the Imphal valley since Friday night following reports about the recovery of three bodies. The protests intensified later in the day on Saturday when reports emerged about the recovery of three more bodies. CURBING MIGRATION State’s workers to be given priority in dept’s works: Min mostly takes place from western Odisha districts after harvest of kharif crops as IN what could be a big step towards ad- there is no work for small and marginal dressing the problem of distress migra- farmers, and landless labourers. “Had tion, the Works department has there been a second crop, they decided to provide the first opwould not prefer to go to far portunity to workers of the away places. Single cropping state in all government projects practice is forcing farmers and being undertaken by it. farm labourers search for wage Works minister Prithiviraj employment outside the state as Harichandan on Saturday said they do not find any employnecessary instructions have ment opportunity in their localbeen issued to department auity he said. ,” thorities to ensure that workers The other reason for migraof the state are given first preftion to states like Tamil Nadu, I have initiated erence in all works that require Kerala and Maharashtra is the process in unskilled and semi-skilled la- my department higher wages. Many of them to ensure that bour force. fall prey to false promises of lacontractors do The minister said while lack bour contractors and are subnot bring of livelihood opportunities is at jected to exploitation at their workers from the root of distress migration, workplace, he said. outside the contractors executing different Harichandan said the labour state projects here are engaging contractors are also required to Prithiviraj workers mostly from Bihar and provide all details on the miHarichandan, West Bengal. “I have initiated grant workers they have enWorks minister the process in my department gaged outside the state, payto ensure that contractors do ment and other benefits not bring workers from outside the state provided to them and their health conwhen abundant manpower is available dition so that Labour department can here. Such a step will reduce migration initiate action in case of harassment from the state,” he said at a function and exploitation by the principal emhere on Saturday . ployers. But the rules lie in pen and CONTINUED ON P5 The minister said that migration paper. E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Bhubaneswar Youth rapes 4-yr-old, kills her over money EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bargarh/Bhubanswar IN a shocking incident, a youth raped a four-year-old girl and crushed her head with a stone after committing the heinous crime in a village under Paikmal police station of Bargarh district. The bone-chilling crime occurred on Friday . Body of the deceased minor was found in a naked state from Soda forest near Mahulpali village. The 20-year-old accused, identified as Prashant Bariha, was later arrested by police. He was produced before a special POCSO court in on Saturday evening. Bargarh SP Prahllad Meena informed that Prashant worked as a farm labourer with the victim’s family in Mahulpali. Around 12 pm, he took three kids of the village on the pretext of fishing. Later, he asked two of them to go home and when he got an opportunity he raped the mi, nor girl in a secluded place in the forest. The 20-year-old then smashed the head of the child with a rock and killed her. While the accused committed the heinous crime and fled, parents of the victim, unaware of the gruesome crime, kept searching for the child. Meanwhile, after the incident, Prashant returned home. When the victim’s family reached his place and confronted him about the girl’s whereabouts, he confessed to the crime. By that time, police was also informed and basing on evidence, the accused was arrested. A dog squad and scientific team were also pressed at the crime scene. SP Meena said, Prashant said he committed the crime over a past monetary dispute. “We will interrogate him for more information after seeking his custody later,” he added. Police said the scientific team matched the blood sample of the deceased with blood stain found on the face and clothes of the accused. They also collected the rock used in the crime. The evidence confirmed the detained man was behind the crime, police said. Padampur SDPO, BB Bhoi said, primary investigation revealed the accused first raped the child and then murdered her. “Body of the deceased was handed over to the family on Saturday after post mortem. The accused has confessed to the crime and the weapon of offence has also been recovered by the scientific team,” he added. SAD PRESIDENTSHIP CONSTRAINED BY TAKHT, BADAL CALLS IT QUITS H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh EMBATTLED Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Saturday submitted his resignation, drawing the curtain over two decades of dynastic rule in the second oldest political party in the country . His position in the party had become untenable after the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of Sikhs, declared him a tankhayia (guilty of religious misconduct) two-and-a-half months ago but did not announce his sentence and barred him from any political activity . Ever since his father Parkash Singh Badal became party president in 1995, it became a Badal family pocket borough, with the baton of presidentship being passed to Sukhbir in 2008. On August 29, Sukhbir had appointed senior party leader Balwinder Singh Bhundar as the SAD working president. SAD leader Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said Bhunder has convened an emergency meeting of the SAD Working Committee on Monday at the party’s headquarters here to consider Sukhbir’s resignation and chart out the next course of action, including initiating the process to elect his successor. The last organisational elections within the party was held on December 14, 2019. Sukhbir had recently suffered a fracture on his right foot and underwent a corrective surgery at the PGI in Chandigarh. His resignation comes three days after he approached the Akal Takht with a fresh appeal to Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh (High Priest) to convene a meeting of the clergy soon to pronounce his religious punishment. On August 30, Sukbir was declared tankhaiya for the mistakes committed by his party’s government from 2007 to 2017 when he was deputy chief minister and SAD president. Friday speech to be vetted: Waqf Board E J A Z K A I S E R @ Raipur IN what is decidedly the first such directive anywhere in the country the Chhattisgarh State , Waqf Board in the BJP-ruled state issued a circular to the Mutawallis (caretakers) of all mosques asking them to get the sermons they deliver every Friday afternoon before the prayer vetted by it. “There should not be any political colour in the speeches given ahead of the Jumma namaz every Friday At times, . fatwas are issued from the mosques or support is extended to some political party Mosques . should confine themselves to religious preaching or practices and not become a siyasi adda (political nest). So, I have instructed all Mutawallis to apprise the Waqf Board regarding the contents of their sermons and get our consent,” Chhattisgarh Waqf Board chairman Salim Raj told this newspaper on Saturday . He contended that he has not overste pped his brief, as mosques and dargahs fall within the ambit of the Waqf Board. Raj said imams have also been asked to create awareness regarding the government’s welfare schemes, especially those meant for the minorities.