HYDERABAD  THURSDAY  SEPTEMBER 05, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 16  LATE CITY EDITION HARVINDER CREATES HISTORY, 1ST INDIAN TO WIN ARCHERY GOLD India won their fourth gold of the Paralympics thanks to Harvinder Singh’s brilliance in the men’s recurve archery on Wednesday Harvinder Singh Mariyappan Thangavelu HAT-TRICK OF RECORD-BREAKING DAYS MEDAL RUSH CONTINUES ON WEDNESDAY If Monday (most medals in a single day) and Tuesday (going past 19 for most medals in a single Paralympics) witnessed records, Wednesday also continued that trend, thanks to Harvinder’s exploits. He had won bronze in Tokyo in 2021. Late on Tuesday, Tamil Nadu’s Mariyappan Thangavelu and Bihar’s Sharad Kumar won bronze and silver in the men’s T63 high jump ■ If Harvinder added a golden touch late on Wednesday, the first medal of the day came courtesy of Sachin Khilari, who won silver in the F46 shot-put category. Thus far, India have won 22 medals | P11 ■ Bhavinaben Patel, a silver-medallist in table tennis (C4) in Tokyo, bowed out at the hands of China’s Ying Zhou in the last eight stage FIRST MARIYAPPAN IS THE 1ST INDIAN TO WIN MEDALS IN 3 STRAIGHT PARALYMPICS 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 SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT GAIS: Hyd’s bid for AI capital tag A J AY T O M A R @ Hyderabad 1,00,000 The thousands of trees uprooted in the Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary in Mulugu district due to a rare weather system on August 31 TREES UPROOTED BY WINDS, RAINS Rare weather phenomenon leaves trail of destruction in Eturnagaram sanctuary U M A H E S H & A A R T I K A S H YA P @ Mulugu/Hyderabad A rare weather phenomenon left waste thousands of trees — some estimates put the figure at over one lakh — across 200 hectares in the Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary between the Medaram-Pasara and Medaram-Tadvai roads. While there was no loss to fauna, the ecological damage, described by some environmentalists as a squall, is incalculable. Alerted to the devastation, Panchayat Raj Minister Dansari Anasuya alias Seethakka said on Wednesday they never expected that around one lakh trees would be uprooted. According to forest officials, trees like neem, banyan, peepal and others bore the brunt of nature’s fury Leopards have been . spotted in the sanctuary spread over 81,200 hectares though they seldom venture to this area. Experts too said that they had never witnessed such an occurrence before. Elusing Meru (IFS), the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Protection and Vigilance) (FAC), told TNIE: “This is a very rare incident and very unlikely in a state like Telangana. This is probably the result of high winds and cloudburst. Special parties of the forest department are assessing the extent of damage caused by this weather activity .” IMD officials too said that the activity on August 31 appeared to be a localised tornado effect. Senior IMD officials told TNIE, “This is a highly localised convective activity We are . examining the exact nature and cause of the event. However, our preliminary observations are that it was an effect of thunderstorm activity and strong pressure deficiency giving it a , tornado effect.” Environmental experts concurred with the observations that it could be a result of thunderstorms and heavy rains. Environmentalist Donthi Narasimha Reddy said: “What happened in Mulugu seems to be a squall, a localised storm or sudden gusty winds, a very unusual weather condition, due to heavy rains and thunderstorms. Such occurrences are common in West Bengal and the northeastern parts of the country but very rare in a geography like TeCONTINUED ON P5 langana.” Water levels at Bhadrachalam rise due to rain in catchment areas, leaving residents of the temple town worried FUTURE TENSE IMD issues orange alert for heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places in Jayashankar Bhupalpally and Mulugu districts on Thursday due to cyclonic circulation over coastal AP Northern TG is likely to experience heavier rains Other parts of TG may see moderate to heavy rains over the next five days FOR THE NEXT 48 HOURS, HYDERABAD IS LIKELY TO RECEIVE LIGHT TO MODERATE RAIN OR THUNDERSHOWERS Khammam district administration issues first flood warning as Godavari level crosses 43 ft mark | P2 At 10 pm, the water level was 44.2 ft STAKING claim to the tag of “AI capital of the world”, Hyderabad will host a two-day Global Artificial Intelligence Summit (GAIS) at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC) from Thursday . With the theme “Making AI work for everyone”, the global conference will deliberate on important issues on the use of Artificial Intelligence in technical advancements. The summit is said to be the first-ever Purpose of GAIS is to understand such event to be hosted by a state the work happegovernment in India and is clear- ning elsewhere, ly meant to attract the world’s at- see if it is worth tention towards Hyderabad as a replicating in TG, leader in the fields of Informa- showcase our tion Technology and AI. It also own plans and seeks to bridge the gap between roadmap, and theoretical research and real- take guidance world application in an attempt to from the experts attending it make AI accessible to everyone. Chief Minister A Revanth Red- Jayesh Ranjan, dy will inaugurate the GAIS along Special CS, with IT and Industries Minister ITE&C, to TNIE D Sridhar Babu in the presence of delegates from across the world. The chief minister will also release a roadmap for the promotion of AI in Telangana on the occasion. The state government is gung-ho about the summit, especially with more than 2,000 prominent representatives in the field of AI confirming their parCONTINUED ON P5 ticipation. EXPRESS READ Man held for bid to extort in name of HYDRAA Hyderabad: The Sangareddy police have arrested a selfproclaimed social activist who tried to extort money from a builder in Ameenpur while claiming to be associated with the HYDRAA. The accused was identified as B Viplav Sinha who demanded money from a builder in Ameenpur, police said | P5 Top Maoist from TG among nine shot dead One of the nine Maoists killed in an encounter with security forces in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh on Tuesday was identified as Macherla Esobu alias Jagan alias Dada Randev alias Randhir, a native of Tekulagudem in Hanamkonda district who carried a cash reward of `25 lakh on his head | P5 In Brunei, Modi takes swipe at China E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday took a swipe at China saying India supports a “policy of development, and not expansionism” as he concluded his two-day visit to Brunei Darussalam. Modi’s comment, which did not name any country at a banquet , hosted by Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah came at a time when an aggressive China is engaged in territorial disputes with the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, and Taiwan. “A code of conduct should be finalised in this region,” Modi said, adding: “We support freedom of navigation and overflight under international laws like UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea)”. This was the first bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Brunei. According to a joint statement issued after the visit, India and Brunei have elevated their relationship to an ‘enhanced partnership’. After concluding his Brunei visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Singapore on Wednesday for a two-day official visit. This is PM Modi’s fifth visit to Singapore. His last trip to Singapore was in 2018. Modi kicked off his Singapore visit by meeting members of the Indian diaspora and then having dinner with Singapore PM Lawrence Wong. “Happy to have met my friend, PM Lawrence Wong. Had an excellent discussion on a wide range of issues. India cherishes the friendship with Singapore,” Modi wrote on X. PM Modi and PM Wong will have an official bilateral meeting on Thursday . PM Modi is also scheduled to meet Sing apore President T har man Shanamurgaratnam. Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, in Singapore, on Wednesday | PTI Jainoor tense as groups clash over ‘rape attempt’ Rahul more intellectual, Rajiv more doer: Pitroda S R A J A R E D D Y @ Adilabad E X P R ESS N E WS S E RV I C E @ New Delhi TENSION prevailed in Jainoor town of Kumurambheem-Asifabad district on Wednesday as two groups clashed and set fire to shops following allegations that an auto-rickshaw driver attempted to sexually assault a 45-year-old woman. Taking serious note of the violence, Rapid Action Forces were deployed in the town and Section 144 imposed. Additional police forces from other mandals too were rushed to Jainoor. Superintendent of Police (SP) DV Srinivas Rao has been monitoring the situation. The alleged assault took place on August 31 but came to light on Wednesday when violence broke. The accused has been arrested. Outsiders were not allowed into the town, but sources said that around 40 shops belonging to both groups were completely gutted. A large number of twowheelers, cars and other vehicles were also burnt before fire tenders managed to control the flames. According to locals and police, the victim, a resident of Devuniguda village, went to her mother’s residence in Soyamguda on August 31. While returning, the auto-rickshaw driver forced her into the vehicle. As they crossed the forest area near Raghavapur vil- Internet ban is in force in the areas as a precautionary measure to avoid spread of rumours and fake news lage, he allegedly attempted to molest her. When the victim screamed for help, the driver beat her. When she fell unconscious, he thought she had died and left her on the road to create the impression that it was a road accident, locals said. Villagers found her injured and informed her family, who shifted her to a hospital in Jainoor for treatment, then to Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in Adilabad and finally to Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad. The victim’s family lodged a complaint with Sirpur (U) police on September 1. Initially the police registered a case , stating that an unknown vehicle had hit her. The victim was unable to speak for two days. Later, on September 3, the family informed the police that the driver had attempted to rape her. The police registered cases of attempted rape, attempted murder and violations under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against the acCONTINUED ON P5 cused. LET THERE BE LIGHT People gather at Shyambazar Five Point Crossing during a protest against the rape-murder of a trainee woman doctor at the RG Kar hospital, in Kolkata, on Wednesday | PTI SAM Pitroda, a close confidant of the Nehru-Gandhi family and a Rajiv Gandhi aide, on Wednesday claimed that Rahul Gandhi is more intellectual and more of a strategist than his father Rajiv. Pitroda, who heads the Indian Overseas Congress, described both as “custodians of the idea of India”. He made the remarks in an interview with a news agency ahead of Rahul’s visit to the US next week. Pitroda, who had worked with former prime ministers Rajiv Gandhi, P V Narasimha Rao, Manmohan Singh, V P Singh, Chandra Sekhar and H D Deve Gowda, said Rajiv was a little more doer. “I had an opportunity to see many PMs from very close quarters but the difference between Rahul and Rajiv maybe is that Rahul is much more intellectual, and thinker, Rajiv was a little more doer. They have the same DNA, concerns and feelings for the people, genuinely believe in building a better India for everybody, and are genuinely simple people,” he said. “Rahul is a strategist, more so than Rajiv was. They are products of different times... Poor Rahul has gone through two big shocks in life, the death of his grandmother and his father. So they have had different paths to travel,” he said. Phogat and Punia meet Rahul, trigger speculation of tickets EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chandigarh / New Delhi Vinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia WRESTLERS Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia on Thursday met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Delhi amid speculation that the duo might be given party tickets to fight in the upcoming assembly polls in Haryana. According to sources, Phogat might fight from either Julana in Jind or Charkhi Dadri, while Punia might be fielded from the Badli constituency in Jhajjar district. Deepak Babaria, AICC general secretary in-charge for Haryana, said clarity will emerge in one or two days whether both sportspersons will be given Congress tickets. “I don’t know what discussions they had with K C Venugopal. But whatever a solu- tion comes out, it will be acceptable to everyone. The ultimate goal is to defeat the BJP If pos. sible, they would contest elections,” he said. Sources in Delhi said Phogat is likely to get ticket, while Punia may be rewarded in some other way . An announcement is likely on Thursday . It is learnt that by roping in high-profile sports personalities, the Congress wants to strengthen its position among voters in the Jat land state. Phogat has been supporting the farmers’ cause. She recently met the protesting farmers at the Shambhu border, describing herself as “your daughter”. Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in Haryana on October 5.