Lakshya Sen BHUBANESWAR l thursday l august 01, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l JEYPORE EDITION Lakshya and Kusale victories headline India’s day at the Games Shuttler Lakshya Sen overpowered Indonesia’s world number 3 Jonatan Christie while Swapnil Kusale entered 50 m rifle 3 positions final Chance for another medal in shooting Laskhya, Sindhu enter Round of 16 India’s third medal at Paris Olympics could also come in shooting with Swapnil Kusale qualifying for the finals of 50m rifle 3 positions. While Aishwary Pratap Tomar missed out, Kusale has a chance to add to India’s tally in the final on Thursday. Meanwhile, boxer Lovlina Borgohain (75 kg) advanced to the quarterfinals and is one win away from securing a medal ■ ■ Despite being in a must-win position, Lakshya Sen was not flustered. That he was up against World No 3 Jonatan Christie didn’t matter. In a contest that lasted less than an hour, Sen cruised past the reigning All England and Asian champion 21-18, 21-12 to enter the pre-quarters P V Sindhu, beat Kristin Kuuba 21-5 21-10 to reach last 16 | P11 2nd Consecutive gold for New Zealand women in Rugby sevens event 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 Mohanta quits RS and BJD; Samal buzz gets louder fore, I have taken this hard decision in public interest. I In a sudden development, request you to accept my BJD Rajya Sabha member resignation.” Mamata Mohanta on Wednes“As a leader of the people, day resigned from the upper my first and foremost duty is house of the Parliament – to serve them. Therefore, and primary membership of there is no need to continue the re gional party – 21 as member of the party This . months ahead of her tenure. is precisely why I quit Rajya A tribal leader from Kudu- Sabha and the BJD,” she said mi community of in her X post. Mayurbhanj disThough Mohanta trict, Mohanta was cited reasons for elected to the Rajya her decision to quit Sabha on April 3, Rajya Sabha and 2020 and her tenure BJD as well, politiwas to end on April cal circles were 2, 2026. abuzz with speculaMohanta took to tions that it was a her X handle to anstrategic move by nounce her resignathe BJP as part of a tion, leaving the bigger plan to send BJD shocked as the party’s state presiparty had no inkling dent Manmohan SaI resigned from about the MP’s move. mal to the Rajya SabRajya Sabha “I resigned from Ra- today. I have also ha so that he could jya Sabha today. I be accommodated in sent my have also sent my resignation letter the union council of resignation letter to to BJD president ministers. It was SaB J D p r e s i d e n t Naveen Patnaik. I mal who led the parNaveen Patnaik. I feel the BJD does ty to a stunning vicnot require my feel the BJD does not tory in the state in service anymore require my service the recent General anymore,” she said. Elections though he Mamata Mohanta Explaining the himself lost from reason behind her decision the Chandbali Assembly to quit from Rajya Sabha and seat. “After the resounding victhe BJD, she said, the party had given her opportunity to tory of the BJP in the state serve the people of Mayurb- that contributed in a massive hanj district and the state as way to the Narendra Modi a member of zilla parishad, government at Centre by sending a record 20 MPs, it had beand the Rajya Sabha. In her resignation letter to come a moral obligation of the BJD president, Mohanta the central leadership to suitsaid, “I feel that there is no ably accommodate Samal who requirement of my service helped the party come to powas well as my community in er under his leadership,” said Continued on P5 the Biju Janata Dal. There- sources.  B i j o y P r a d h a n @ Bhubaneswar An aerial view of Chooralmala, part of which was wiped off in Tuesday’s landslides; rescue workers could be seen looking for signs of life beneath the slush | S Senbagapandiyan 249 and counting 1,500 rescued so far; 240 people still missing Almost 90% of houses in Mundakkai destroyed toll could go up as time runs out for rescue M a n o j V i s w a n at h a n @ Chooralmala FLATTENED houses, mangled vehicles, huge boulders, uprooted trees, and mud and slush everywhere. The twin Wayanad villages of Chooralmala and Mundakkai resemble graveyards after two landslides ripped through them in the early hours of Tuesday . According to sources, the toll has touched 249. And around 240 are missing. Their relatives wait in anguish as scores of rescue workers continue wading through knee-deep slush searching for signs of life. In Mundakkai, around 90% of the houses have been destroyed; they are filled with heaps of mud. The villagers were asleep when the mountains came crashing down, bringing torrents of mud, water and boulders. They didn’t have a chance to escape. The debris crashed into houses and buried them. The village, which was known for its scenic beauty and the green canopy is now , filled with mud. There is no trace of any greenery . The feet sink as one steps into the courtyards of houses. There are many open wells in the area that have been filled with mud, caution rescue workers. Death lurks around every corner and one reckless step can be costly . The Army, Navy, National Disaster Response Force, Coast Guard, Fire Force, Police, Civil Defence Force, and volunteers of NGOs are risking their own lives as they search for survivors in the slush. On Wednesday, the rescue workers brought 19 people who were stranded at a resort in Mundakkai to the relief centre and retrieved five bodies. In all, 1,500 people were saved from landslide-hit areas. However, their job is not over as many are missing and the task gets tougher as they reach remote areas. The rescue workers, most of them volunteers, are fighting inclement weather and hostile terrain. “My wife and eight other family members are missing,” said Soman of Mandapathil house in Mundakkai. “The house lies buried,” he said. “We are removing the debris of collapsed houses to search for missing persons. Trained dogs of the K9 squad have helped identify four spots,” said ADGP M R Ajithkumar. Wayanad received 7% of its seasonal rainfall on July 30 JIT E NDRA CHO U B E y @ New Delhi Kerala govt ignored our alerts: Shah The Centre had sent multiple warnings about floods and landslides, starting as early as July 23, but the Kerala government ignored them, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday in Parliament There was no warning: Pinarayi Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said only an orange alert was issued and the actual rainfall was much higher than forecast. He said a red alert was issued after the landslides | P7 Wayanad received extreme rainfall in the few days prior to Tuesday’s landslide, according to data released by India Meteorological Department. An analysis of the data shows that the district received as much as 7% of its entire seasonal rainfall in 24 hours (from Monday morning to Tuesday morning) and 21% of the total seasonal rainfall in the past two weeks. The district, which had been facing deficient rainfall since the arrival of the Southwest monsoon, dramatically jumped to the ‘normal rainfall’ category due to the extreme rainfall in the 24 hours between July 29 (Monday) and July 30 (Tuesday). For example, on July 28 (Sunday), the district received only 9 mm rainfall, which was 73% lesser than that day’s normal (32.9 mm) rainfall. In contrast, the next day on , July 29 (Monday), it received a whopping 141.9 mm of rainfall, which was 493% above the daily normal rainfall. Wayanad’s annual average rainfall is 2,800 mm while the Southwest monsoon’s seasonal average rainfall (June-September) in the district is 2,464.7 mm. It means, the total precipitation from July 29 morning to July 30 morning was 6% of the annual precipitation and around 7% of the seasonal precipitation. The unusually high rainfall in such a short span of time could have contributed to the landslide. express read 14 security personnel killed in J&K in July Top: A mother and daughter at a relief camp; Above: People searching for their belongings | A Sanesh / S Senbagapandiyan Doctor’s body found, Odisha team in Kerala Srinagar: After the peaceful first few months of this year, there has been a sudden surge in militant violence in Jammu and Kashmir. In the month of July, eight encounters, three attacks including an attack by notorious BAT team on security forces and three infiltration attempts took place in J&K. Around 14 security men and 13 militants were killed in action. July saw fierce gunfights between militants and security forces both in Kashmir and Jammu | P8 Bhubaneswar: THE body of Bishnu Prasad Chinara, one of the two doctors from Odisha missing in the Wayanad landslides, was reportedly recovered on Wednesday even as the government moved a team to Kerala. Chinara, his wife Priyadarshini Pal along with another doctor couple Swadheen Panda and Swikruti Mohapatra were vacationing in Wayanad when the calamity struck. Whereabouts of Panda is yet to be ascertained | P3 Infy gets `32K cr BJD has no courage for truth: Majhi Hamas’ political chief GST notice shock Haniyeh assassinated E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar U m a K a n n a n @ Bengaluru Infosys, the second largest IT services company in the country , has been slapped with `32,403 crore GST evasion notice by the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI). The pre-show cause notice is for non-payment of GST from July 2017 to March 2022 towards expenses incurred by its overseas branch offices. The company in a BSE filing said Karnataka State GST authorities first issued a notice. Subsequently, Infy received a notice from DGGI. According to the notice viewed by this paper, “Infosys Ltd, Bengaluru is liable to pay IGST (Integrated Goods and Services Tax) under reverse charge mechanism on supplies received from branches located outside India to the tune of `32,403.46 crores for the period 2017-18 (July 2017 onwards) to 2021-22.” In its filing, Infosys said, “The Company believes that as per regulations, GST is not applicable on these expenses. Additionally, as per a recent Circular issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs on the recommendations of the GST Council, services provided by the overseas branches to Indian entity are not subject to GST.” Infosys paid all its GST dues, the company added. It cited a June 26, 2024 CBDT circular, which said that in cases where full input tax credit is available to the recipient, if the invoice is not issued by the related domestic entity with respect to any service provided by the foreign affiliate, the value of such services may be deemed as nil. Former Infosys chief financial officer Mohandas Pai, in a post on X said, “If this notice is correct this is Outrageous, a case of TaxTerrorism at its worst. Service exports from India are not subject to GST. Can officials interpret anything they want?” Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Wednesday said the motive behind BJD’s demand for special category status to Odisha is more political in nature than to serve the interests of the people of the state. The regional party has been raising the issue in different national forums like Finance Commission, Niti Aayog and the central government for the last 24 years despite knowing the fact that the state does not meet the criteria set out by the Finance Commission, he told the State Assembly during his reply to the debate on the Appropriation (vote-on-account) Bill, 2024,. “Special category status to state was first recommended by the Fifth Finance Commission in 1969. There are special criteria for this such as hilly areas, low population density, border states of the country states that , are economically and infra- structurally backward and states that have no source of resource mobilisation,” the CM said. Since Odisha does not fulfil any of these criteria, the state demand has been rejected time and again. “The demand was more political as the issue was raked up before every election by BJD for political gain. The objective of the previous government was never to protect the interest of the people of the state,” he said. Deploring the opposition allegation that Union Budget has nothing special for Odisha despite sending 20 MPs, Majhi said the walkout by BJD members before his reply proved that they have no courage to listen to the truth. “It is a pity that the Opposition party ran away without listening. It is pre-planned. The Biju Janata Dal has never been in the Opposition before, so now they are probably practis- ing it.” Responding to opposition allegation that Bihar and Andhra Pradesh got lion’s share in the central budget despite sending 12 and 16 MPs respectively, Majhi said he doubted if the BJD members have gone through the Union Budget. The state has 12.5 times more in railway budget than what it was receiving before 2014. “Is not it a special package to the state?” he asked. The Centre allocated 9.57 lakh houses under PMAY (Gramin) in 202324 which was three times more than the allotment made to the state in previous years. The BJD government could not disburse a single house as they wanted to serve the party interest first, he remarked. The Centre also sanctioned coastal highway and Bhubaneswar ring road projects which were considerably delayed by the BJD government for political reasons, he said. Agencies Ismail Haniyeh Twin strikes 27 July: A rocket strike in Israelannexed Golan kills 12 children 30 July: Israeli strike on Beirut targets Hezbollah leader blamed for Golan attack 31 July: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh killed in Israeli attack on Tehran, says Iran In the most significant blow to Hamas since the start of the ongoing war in Gaza, its political chief Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran on Wednesday . Iran said Israel was behind the predawn airstrike that killed him. Israel is yet to comment. Just a day earlier, Haniyeh had attended Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s inauguration in Tehran. The assassination follows an Israeli attack on Beirut targeting a Hezbollah commander, who is said to have ordered a rocket attack that killed 12 children in Golan Heights. The attacks on two regional capitals have heightened fears of a wider conflict. “We consider it our duty to seek revenge for his blood,” Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said. There are also concerns that the attack may derail Gaza ceasefire talks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a meeting of his security cabinet on Wednesday to discuss potential blowbacks, The Times of Israel reported. As political head, Haniyeh played a key role in shaping Hamas’ foreign policy, but was less involved in its military affairs, Michael Milshtein, a Hamas expert, told AFP.  Full coverage: P9