chennai l thursday l september 05, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 22 l 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 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 FIRST medal rush continues on wednesday ■ 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 | P17 ■ 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 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 Cong tickets for Phogat, Punia? E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Chandigarh / New Delhi 1,00,000 Thousands of uprooted trees in the Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary in Mulugu district after a gale last Saturday. (Left) Volunteers rescue an woman from a flooded area on Wednesday | Prasant Madugula trees uprooted in t’gana forest Freak weather at Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary produced tornado-like effect 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 Medaram-Pasara and Medaram-Tadavi in Telangana. While there was no loss to fauna due to what was described by some environmentalists as a squall, the ecological damage was incalculable. Panchayat Raj Minister Danasari Anasuya alias Seethakka said they never expected around one lakh trees getting uprooted due to a heavy gale. According to forest officials, trees like neem, banyan, peepal and others bore the brunt of nature’s fury. Leopards were spotted in the sanctuary spread over 81,200 hectares though wild animals seldom venture to this area. Elusing Meru, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Protection and Vigilance) told this newspaper: “This is a very rare incident and very unlikely in a state like Telangana. This is probably the result of high winds and cloudburst.” Senior officials of the India Meteorological Department said, “This is a highly localised convective activity We are ex. amining the exact nature and cause. Our preliminary observations are that it was an effect of thunderstorm activity and strong pressure deficiency giv, ing it a tornado effect.” Experts concurred. Environmentalist and public policy expert Donthi Narasimha Reddy said: “What has 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 Northeast but very rare in a geography like Telangana.” Mulugu District Forest Officer (DFO) Rahul Jadhav told reporters that the devastation occurred on August 31, possibly due to localised strong wind pressure and a cloudburst. He said the incessant rains appeared to have led to soil erosion, contributing to the uprooting of the trees. New role for fire engines Fire engines from across Andhra parked at BRTS road to clean the accumulated silt in flooded Singh Nagar since the water is receding, in Vijayawada on Wednesday. It was among the worst affected areas due to the rains | Prasant Madugula diagonal wind flattened them? “From the extent of damage, the squall appears to be over 90 kmph. Besides, the winds must have been diagonal, unlike the regular horizontal winds. Horizontal winds do not have the potential to cause such massive destruction,” said environmentalist Donthi Narasimha Reddy drone survey confirms tree loss A drone survey confirmed massive devastation, with thousands of trees of various types being uprooted. Additionally, a field survey is being conducted by forest staff to obtain a more accurate assessment, District Forest Officer Rahul Jadhav said India for development, not expansionism: PM in Brunei Express News Service @ 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 at a banquet hosted by Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah came at a time when China is engaged in territorial disputes with the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, and Taiwan. “A code of conduct should be finalised in intimidated by accused Pocso victim’s mom struggles to file FIR this region,” Modi said, adding: “We support freedom of navigation and overflight under international laws like UNCLOS. 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, PM Modi arrived in Singapore for a two-day visit. He was hosted by Singapore PM Lawrence Wong for a private dinner. Modi and Wong will have an official bilateral meeting on Thursday . M s a r a v a n a n @ Coimbatore The mother of a Pocso case victim, who was facing pressure from the family members of the accused to retract her statement in the court during the trial of the case, had to struggle for more than three days to get a police complaint registered against the family members for threatening her in the case. An FIR was finally filed late on Wednesday after the intervention of Coimbatore City Police Commissioner V Balakrishnan. The girl’s family had approached the police seeking protection on Monday after threats from the accused’s family who are from the same neigh, bourhood, became unbearable. The Kattoor All Women Police arrested the 48-year-old man on July 22 for sexual assault. P9 Ringside view Rahul an intellectual, Rajiv a doer: Pitroda Express News Service @ New Delhi 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 sim, ple people,” he said. “Rahul is a strategist, more so than Rajiv was. They are products of different times... Rahul has gone through two big shocks, death of his grandmother and his father. So they have had different paths.” I give a lot of credit to Rahul Gandhi for standing up and fighting it for a long time and surviving —Sam Pitroda 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 incharge 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 solution comes out, it will be acVinesh Phogat, Bajrang Punia ceptable to everyone. The ultimate goal is to defeat the BJP If possible, . 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. Punia is a Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist, while Phogat became the first woman wrestler to reach the Olympics final, though she was disqualified for being overweight by 100 gm. Four Kovai youth killed in car crash in Chennai E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Chennai FOUR youngsters died in a road accident after the car they were travelling in crashed into the rear of a stationary mini-truck at Semmancheri Kuppam near Kovalam on the East Coast Road (ECR), roughly 30 km from Chennai, around 5.30 am on Wednesday . The deceased were identified as Sultan (23), Ashraf Mohammed (22), Akhil Muhammed (19) and Muhammed Ashik (19). A police officer said all the four were relatives hailing from Coimbatore and were residents of Royapettah in Chennai. The mini-truck was left on the middle of the road after it broke down. Pallikaranai Traffic Investigation Wing (TIW) arrested the truck driver, Ranganathan (55), as he had allegedly not turned on the parking lights of the vehicle to alert other motorists. P9