BHUBANESWAR l monday l july 08, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late CITY EDITION Left coalition projected to finish on top in french polls A coalition of left parties was on course to win the highest number of seats in French Parliament, early projections based on vote samples showed no party may win outright majority No party or bloc is on course for an absolute majority in the 576-member House. Projections showed the left-wing New Popular Front winning between 172 and 215 seats, short of the 289 needed for an outright majority. President Macron’s alliance is predicted to win between 150 and 180 seats and the far-right National Rally in third position with between 115 and 155 seats | P9 50 Left leader calls on PM Attal to resign ■ National Rally had come on top in the first round of voting on June 30 and was expected to lead in the second round as well ■ Hard-left ‘France Unbowed’ leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, giving his first reaction, called on French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to resign and said the left-wing coalition was ready to govern the country Candidates reported being physically attacked while campaigning 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 CJI-led bench to take up NEET pleas today S U C HI T RA KALYAN MOHAN T Y @ New Delhi A sea of devotees descend on the Grand Road in Puri to pull the chariots of the Holy Trinity during Rath Yatra, on Sunday | DEBADATTA MALLICK one dead, 5 injured in stampede-like situation during Rath Yatra in Puri President Droupadi Murmu takes part in festival; `4L ex gratia for kin of deceased R a j k u m a r M o h a n t y @ Puri The first Rath Yatra under the newly-elected BJP government in Odisha started on a tragic note as a male devotee died and several others sustained injuries when a stampede-like situation arose during pulling of the chariots of the Holy Trinity on Sunday evening. While deceased has been identified as Lalit Bagarti of Saintala in Balangir district, the condition of one of the injured is said to be critical. The incident took place near the Hindi school, about 200 metres from Simhadwar of the Jagannath temple, when there was a mad rush to pull the Taladhwaja chariot of Lord Balabhadra - the first to roll. Eyewitnesses said, the tussle among the devotees to lay hands on the ropes and pull the chariot led to the situation. The deceased devotee fell down in the push and was trampled by others. At least, five others also fell down and sustained injuries. Volunteers shifted all of them to the district headquarters hospital where the doctors declared one dead. This apart, over 300 devotees were hospitalized due to various reasons including dehydration, suffocation express read Devotee crushed under chariot wheels Jharsuguda: A 45-year-old man from Mahulpali in Sambalpur was crushed to death under the wheels of the chariot during Rath Yatra at Kukujhanga in Jharsuguda district. The victim, identified as Shyam Sundar Kisan was pulling the chariot when it tipped to one side as a result of which he fell and was crushed under the wheels. He was rushed to the district headquarters hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. Volunteers carry a devotee who fainted while waiting to pull the chariots at Grand Road and injuries during chariot pulling as the city was gripped by extreme heat and humidity through the day . The Grand Road teemed with a sea of devotees as lakhs converged to take part in the festival with President Droupadi Murmu in attendance this year. This is the first time ever that President of India participated in the festival. Murmu also pulled the Taladhwaja chariot. In a stellar display of unity by keeping aside political rivalry, the grand event saw the leader of the Opposition and former chief minister Naveen Patnaik alongside President Murmu, Governor Raghubar Das, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and his deputies KV Singh Deo and Pravati Parida, besides Union minis- ter Dharmendra Pradhan share stage and pay obeisance to the deities. In fact, when Naveen arrived at the venue and went to the special stage where Murmu was seated and offered his greetings to her from the ground, Pradhan came down and invited him to the dias. Naveen was offered a seat beside the Governor. He later went down to the three chariots and offered his prayers. This Rath Yatra is considered unique as all three rituals of Netra Utsav, Nabajaubana Darshan and Rath Yatra are being held on the same day A similar celestial arrange. ment had occurred 53 years ago, in 1971. As per schedule, the temple servitors began the daily chores and rituals of the deities at 4 am. The deities were then escorted in the ceremonial pahandi by the daita servitors to their respective chariots. Lord Balabhadra was the first to be taken to his Taladhwaja chariot followed by Devi Subhadra to Darpadalana and Lord Jagannath to Nandighosha. As soon as the idol of Lord Jagannath was brought out of Simhadwar, cries of Hari Bol, Jai Jagannath and hulhuli filled the air. The pahandi was completed by 2.20 pm.  Continued on P5 Sena leader held over son’s hit-and-run S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i @ Mumbai A Shiv Sena leader was arrested on Sunday after a speeding luxury car, allegedly driven by his son, rammed a motorcycle killing a couple in the early hours of Sunday in Mumbai. A BMW sedan, allegedly driven by Mihir Shah, son of Rajesh Shah, rammed the two-wheeler on which Kaveri Nakhawa and her husband Pradeep Nakhawa, both fisher folk, were travelling in Worli. Pradeep, who was riding the motorcycle, said when the car dashed them, he lost balance and they fell on its bonnet. The driver continued to drive, dragging his wife along, while Pradeep fell onto the road. “He continued to drive his car and dragged my wife. I tried to run after the vehicle ... then I took the help of a taxi. We chased the car for more than a kilometer, but could not find Kaveri. So, I decided to go to Worli police station. Then we traced my wife and took her to hospital where she succumbed to her injuries,” Pradeep said, adding if Mihir Shah had stopped his car at his request, his wife would have not died. Continued on P5 Paris Games village menu Indian cuisine: Madras prawn to lamb korma k a lya n i m a n g a l e @ Chennai From Chicken Tikka Masala to Lamb Korma and Madras prawn to Butter Chicken, Indian athletes will enjoy these delicacies at the Asian district lunch and dinner menu at the Games Village during the Paris Olympics. It is not just Indian dishes that are available for the athletes but there are vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free food options as well. In a novel initiative, the Indian Olympic Association has prepared a chart for Olympic-bound athletes to help them with their nutritional needs. The chart lists out cuisines available at the Olympic Games Village under different heads. The menu will be served on an eight-day rotational basis. The Indian contingent will be reaching the venue around July 18-20 for the July 26-August 11 event. “Most of the athletes are already working with their respective nutritionists,” Aradhana Sharma, IOA-appointed chief nutritionist for the Paris Olympics, told this daily “I have . been in touch with those nutritionists and we have shared the menu with them and asked them to prepare the diet plan according to this menu because athletes will be eating in the village. For the other athletes whose personal nutritionists are not travelling, we will be supervising what the athletes are eating if they are sticking to the diet plan or not, or if there is any last-minute information they need about food or if anything needs to be replaced in their diet plans. We have shared this menu with most of the athletes and their nutritionists,” she informed. For this purpose, IOA has created “A Comprehensive Food & Nutrition Guide for Olympic Bound Athletes”, which will help the 120-strong contingent. The IOA, for the first time, has assembled a 13-member medical team headed by orthopaedic surgeon Dhinshaw Pardiwala, including two nutritionists, Dr Sharma and Ms Mihira Khopkar. IOA believes if you bring professionals, you will get better services for the athletes. A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, will on Monday hear a batch of pleas on the controversy-ridden medical entrance exam NEET-UG 2024, including those alleging irregularities and malpractices in the May 5 test and seeking a direction to conduct it afresh. According to the cause list for July 8 uploaded on the SC website, the bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, is scheduled to hear a total of 38 petitions related to the exam. T hese petitions have been filed separately by students and various educational institutions. Among the pleas is one filed by a group of 20 students seeking the court’s direction to scrap the NEETUG exam and a Supreme Courtmonitored probe by the CBI or any other independent agency into the alleged irregularities in the test. The SC had earlier stayed proceedings on similar pleas filed by students and others in various high courts. The National Eligibilitycum-Entrance Test-Undergraduate is conducted by the National Testing Agency for admissions to MBBS, BDS, AYUSH, and other related courses in government and private institutions across the country . The Centre and the NTA had filed separate affidavits in the SC, opposing the pleas seeking drastic steps. In its affidavit, the Union education ministry said the exam held on May 5 should not be cancelled as it would seriously jeopardise lakhs of honest candidates who attempted it. It added that it would not be rational to scrap the entire NEET-UG exam in the absence of any proof of largescale breach of confidentiality . The NTA’s affidavit said, “The cancellation of the entire examination... would be hugely counterproductive and significantly harmful to the larger public interest.” Meanwhile, a group of students on Sunday staged a protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar against NEET irregularities. ‘Poison cans’ were opened in Hathras, claims Baba’s lawyer NAMI TA B A J PAI @ Lucknow IN a new twist to the July 2 Hathras satsang stampede, the lawyer of ‘Bhole Baba’ Narayan Sakar Hari alias Suraj Pal on Sunday claimed that witnesses told him some people opened cans containing a poisonous substance in the crowd. This, he said, caused panic among the crowd and triggered the stampede that killed 121 people, mostly women. Talking to media persons in Delhi, lawyer A P Singh also alleged conspiracy and criminal acts by some anti-social elements, who were upset about the baba’s ‘rising popularity’. “I have been told by the witnesses that there were 15-16 people carrying cans of a poisonous substance which they opened in the crowd. I have seen post-mortem reports of the deceased showing asphyxiation as the main cause of death and not the injuries,” said Singh. In his first reaction to the tragedy, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had said the conspiracy angle could not be ruled out. Singh said, “There were vehicles parked at the site to help the men, who had released poisonous substance, flee. We have proof and we will submit it.” The lawyer also said that he would demand security for the witnesses who reached out to him with the revelation. So far, nine persons, including key accused Devprakash Madhukar, have been arrested in connection with the Hathras stampede. On Saturday, Hathras police said it was also probing into the suspected funding of the congregation by a political party and warned of the “strictest possible” action against it. Bhole Baba was not mentioned as an accused in the FIR lodged at the local Sikandra Rao police station.