PIC: vijith hegde renjala bhubaneswar l friday l february 12, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION 9.15-second dash breaks bolt’s record, again Usain Bolt’s 9.58-second 100-metre dash record stood bettered this year, too, with a 23 year-old clocking 9.15 secs in a buffalo race Nishant shetty, srinivas gowda bettered elite club of four kambala jockeys Kambala jockey Vishwanath Devadiga (23) sprinted through a slushy track in Udupi, taking 0.36 seconds lesser than last year’s champion Nishant Shetty, whose dash had clocked 9.51 seconds. Earlier, Srinivas Gowda’s 9.55 seconds sprint had brought him social media fame, resulting in the Union sports minister offering him a nationals trial, which he declined ■ While kambala and a 100-m sprint are markedly different, the former draws national attention owing to the endurance of the buffalo racers, who sprint 140-odd metres through multiple laps ■ Vishwanath joins the elite club of four racers who have bettered the much-vaunted Jamaican sprinter’s 100-m record set in 2009 3rd try Vishwanath managed to set the record after falling twice CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Govt talks tough, says Twitter can’t overstep Indian law E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi Making a new beginning Clockwise from left: Indian and Chinese officers interact on Thursday; and armoured vehicles start moving as part of disengagement in the Pangong Tsu | PTI Full Pangong pullback expected in two weeks Rajnath says vacated space on the banks of the lake will be a no-go zone for both sides; disengagement elsewhere later M AYA N K SI N G H @ New Delhi A day after the Sino-Indian disengagement began from standoff positions in Eastern Ladakh, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday confirmed the pullback in a “phased, coordinated and verified manner” in Parliament, and gave a sense of how the whole process is expected to unspool. While the Chinese Army will move back to the east of Finger 8, the Indian Army will fall back to Dhan Singh Thapa post, short of Finger 3 in the North bank area of the Pangong Lake. A similar disengagement began on the South Bank of the lake on Wednesday Full disen. gagement on both sides of the lake is expected in 10-15 days, a senior officer said. After the drawdown from Finger 4, Rajnath said, unless a decision is taken otherwise, the area in between will be a no-go express read ‘Jealous lover’ murdered, decapitated woman Bhubaneswar: Police on Thursday claimed to have solved the cold-blooded murder of a woman, whose decapitated body was found on the outskirts of the city a week back, arresting two persons including her purported lover in the connection | P2 No bylaws for Lingaraj yet but admin seeks rollback Bhubaneswar: Khurda Collector has urged National Monument Authority (NMA) to immediately withdraw the proposed heritage bylaws for Lingaraj Temple. Interestingly though, the Central authority says is yet to come up with draft bylaws for the shrine | P2 CMC outsourcing manpower without tender for 5 yrs! Cuttack: The CMC is being questioned for allegedly showing undue favour to two outsourcing agencies for availing manpower without following norms like floating of tender | P2 zone for both sides. “It has also been agreed to have a temporary moratorium on military activities by both sides in the North Bank, including patrolling to the traditional areas. Patrolling will be resumed only when both sides reach an agreement in diplomatic and military talks that would be held subsequently .” A similar action would be taken in the South Bank area by both sides, he said. Given the sensitivities involved, local commanders of both sides are meeting twice a day to iron out the wrinkles. India is wary as a similar disen, gagement in the past was dishonoured by the Chinese side earlier in the hot spring area, although they had withdrawn from the Galwan Valley Within . 48 hours after this phase is over, Corps Commanders of both sides will meet to work on other positions of the stand-off. Structures built after April 2020 to be removed On the heights India occupied in Rechen La and Razang La on the Kailash Ranges and fortified its positions, Rajnath said structures raised by both sides will be removed. “These are mutual and reciprocal steps and any structures that had been built by both sides since April 2020 in both North and South Bank area will be removed and the landforms will be restored.” He said nothing has been conceded as part of the agreements A day after attacking microblogging platform Twitter for noncompliance, the Centre on Thursd ay w a r n e d s o c i a l m e d i a platforms of strict action if they fail to crackdown on inflammatory content. Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Centre is committed to freedom of media, but it was equally concerned about the security and law @ Tapovan (Uttarakhand) With a change in strategy failing to deliver, attempts to save 37 workers trapped in the Tapovan hydropower plant tunnel since Sunday following flash floods appeared to be a long shot, as no official or agency could say how much longer it would take to reach them. Ravinath Raman, commissioner of Garhwal division of Utta- rakhand said, “At this point of time, no one can tell how much time the operation will take. This is a developing situation and unstable landscape. The response strategy keeps changing according to the developing situation.” Also, a meeting in Delhi discussed reports of a lake formation in Rishiganga in the higher reaches. “We will act as per instructions,” he said. The changed strategy to Domestic flights just became costlier Be ready to pay more for air travel as the cap on lower and upper limits of domestic airfares have been raised by 10% to 30% BAND 1 Up to 40 mins flight | Up from `2K-6K`2.2K-7.8K BAND 2 40-60 mins flight | Up from `2.5K-7.5K`2.8K-9.8K BAND 3 60-90 mins flight | Up from `3K-9K`3.3K-11.7K BAND 4 90-120 mins flight | Up from `3.5K-10K`3.9K-13K BAND 5 120-150 mins flight | Up from `4.5K-13K`5K-16.9K BAND 6 150-180 mins flight | Up from `5.5K-15.7K`6.1K-20.4K BAND 7 180-210 mins flight | Up from `6.5K-18.6K`7.2K-24.2K drill into the floor of the tunnel to reach a silt filtration tunnel underneath in the hope that the men were perhaps stuck there, had to be suspended as sludge and water gushed in when they reached a depth of six metres. Earlier in the day, there was high drama as water levels of the Rishiganga and the Dhauliganga suddenly rose, forcing rescuers to suspend operations for P7 two hours.  New Rahul Gandhi take on family planning slogan to bait BJP M A N ISH A N A N D @ New Delhi Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday sought to spin a famous family planning slogan into a sharp one-liner to attack the gover nment, calling it a Hum Do Hamare Do Sarkar (we two, ours two government), saying the country was run by just four persons. Without n a m i n g a n yo n e, h e claimed the contentious farm laws are meant to benefit big corporate enti- ties alone. The BJP hit back, saying he was possibly referring to his dynasty’s Didi-Jija and two (sister, brother-in-law and family). Rahul had sought to link his charge of crony capitalism against the current dispensation with the ongoing far m agitation while participating in the debate on the Budget in the Lok Sabha. Rebutting the prime minister’s charge that the Opposition was not specifying what was wrong had come down heavily on Twitter, saying social media platforms should not have different yardsticks to confront developments at, say, Capitol Hill and the Red Fort. After the Republic Day violence, the Centre had asked Twit- We respect social media, it has empowered the common people. Social media has a big role in Digital India programme. However, if social media is misused, action will be taken Ravi Shankar Prasad, Information Technology Minister ter to block over 1,100 handles and posts that allegedly spread misinformation about the farmer protest. These included accounts of journalists, activists, and politicians. Twitter partially complied, saying the demands were inconsistent with the Indian law. Meanwhile, Twitter’s desi competitor Koo came under attack from a French expert who claimed it was exposing user data. The app developer quickly rebutted the charge and said user data was P10 very much safe.  Odisha man convicted for sharing defence secrets with Pakistan’s ISI Gushing sludge, water stop tunnel floor boring V i nee t U pa d h yay and order in the country Naming . Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn, Prasad said: “We respect your good work. You bring FDI, but you have to respect the laws of the country .” On Wednesday, the ministry with the farm laws, he claimed the first one would destroy the mandis as anyone could purchase any amount of foodgrains; the second would result in hoarding; and the third would deprive the farmers of judicial remedy. “The farm laws will destroy the rural economy,” he said amid protests from NDA, who asked him to speak on the Budget. Though Rahul said he was laying the foundation for Budget debate, he abruptly wound up, calling for a “two-minute silence for farmers who died since the start of the P7 agitation”.  E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Balasore The Additional District and Sessions Court of Balasore on Thursday awarded life term to a former contractual videographer engaged with the Integrated Test Range (ITR) of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on charges of spying for Pakistan’s ISI. Judge Girija Prasad Mohapatra found Iswar Chandra Behera guilty of waging or attempting to wage war against the Government of India and for violations of Official Secrets Act. He was convicted under section 121, section 121A, 120B of the Indian Penal Code and section 3 and 5 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923 for espionage and sharing defence secrets with Pakistani agents in exchange for money . Behera was arrested on January 23, 2015 by a special team of police following a joint investigation by Central Intelligence Bureau (IB) and State Intelligence Wing for over ten months. Crime Branch of Odisha Police which was investigating the case had seized cell phones, computer, hard disc, pen drives, bank passbooks, bank account statements and a UPS. Behera was charged with receiving money from Abu Dhabi, Farmer unions vow to remain firm Chandigarh/Jaipur: Farmer leaders on Thursday held their first mahapanchayat in Punjab’s Jagraon town and hit out at PM Modi for equating them with ‘andolanjeevi,’ saying such protests have become a mass movement, not only in India but also abroad | P8 Meerut, Mumbai, Bihar and And- The conversation was loud and hra Pradesh for allegedly shar- clear. Thus, there is no iota of ing defence secrects and infor- doubt that the sensitive informamation on testing of missiles and tion regarding proposed activivital installations located in ties of ITR and Wheeler Island Chandipur and Kalam Island. were being transmitted to the Police had retrieved bearer of the suspectan audio clipping of ed nine-digit mobile his conversation with number at regular insuspected Pakistani tervals,” the court agents including one observed. Asif Ali, facing trial in The court said it UP and lodged at a was clearly estabMeerut jail. lished that Behera In its verdict, the was spying inside ITR court observed that Ali and taking advantage was in regular contact of his engagement to with an ISI agent who approach, inspect, was also collecting inpass over the vicinity for mation from ITR Ishwar Chandra Behera of the prohibited area and Kalam Island teleand took photographs phonically from Behera in re- and videos of launching of misturn for money. Some transac- siles and various military activitions were executed directly by ties which were transmitted to Ali in favour of Behera and some the same number. were done by other agents bearIn his verdict, Judge Mohapating a nine-digit number. ra cited eight terror attacks car“There was frequent demand ried out by Pakistan-based miliof money by accused Behera tants and said terrorist groups from the said suspect and there collect information from the peowas repeated assurance of pay- ple like Behera in exchange of CONTINUED ON: P5 ment… which is duly proved. money . it was clearly established that Behera was spying inside ITR and taking advantage of his engagement to videograph launching of missiles and various military activities Girija Prasad Mohapatra, Additional District and Sessions Judge CAA after completion of vaccination: Shah Amit Shah has made the announcement. The government will implement the CAA once the Covid-19 vaccination process is over | P8