chennai l monday l september 16, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l vellore EDITION Barest of Margins: Neeraj falls agonisingly short in Dl final Two-time Olympics medallist Neeraj Chopra came second in Brussels Diamond League with 87.86 m throw, 0.01 m behind Anderson Peters (87.87) Chopra ends season with 2nd place finish after groin, Hand injury add to woes In his last event of the season, the 26-year-old Indian came close to winning the Diamond League crown before missing it by just one centimetre to finish as runner-up for the second consecutive year in the season finale. Peters took the top prize while Germany’s Julian Weber finished third with a 85.97 m throw ■ ■ On Sunday, Chopra revealed that he took part in the Diamond League final with a fracture in his left hand which happened during an injury at practice earlier in the week Having already been struggling with a groin injury, the Paris Olympics silver medallist will use the off season to recuperate | P11 89.49 m was Chopra’s season best. he achieved it in Lausanne DL 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 Slew of projects in Modi 3.0 In infra sector, projects worth 3 lakh crore approved, most of them on roads, railways, ports and airways Approved Wadhavan Mega Port in Maharashtra at a cost of 76,200 crore Approval of construction/ upgradation of 62,500 km of roads and bridges to connect 25,000 villages 8 new railway line  projects approved generating 4.42 crore man-days of employment M inimum support price for kharif crops increased A pproved Polavaram project in Andhra Pradesh with an allocation of 12,100 crore Tax relief to the salaried class 1 3 crore houses approved under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana MUDRA loan limit increased from 10 lakh to 20 lakh 2 lakh crore PM package announced to promote employment and skill development among the youth Projects worth 15 lakh crore launched within the first 100 days of Modi’s 3rd innings as PM 0 1 crore youth will receive internships at top companies, along with allowances and one-time assistance DAYS Employees earning up to 1 lakh will benefit from the government’s contribution to EPFO  E mployers to get reimbursement of 3,000 per month for 2 years for every new employee with an income up to 1 lakh F ree insurance of up to 5 lakh to all senior citizens aged 70 years and above Waqf (Amendment) Bill aimed at reducing conflicts | More on p7 B’desh, Rohingya infiltrations major threat to J’khand: Modi M u k e s h R a n j a n @ Ranchi Ahead of the Assembly elections in Jharkhand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday accused the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) of playing vote bank politics by supporting Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltrators. Addressing the ‘Parivartan Maharally’ of the BJP in Jamshedpur, Modi charged that ‘the infiltrators’ have managed to gain influence over the JMM and are “usurping tribal land and forests”. “Bangladeshi and Rohingya infiltrators have become a major threat to Santhal Parganas and Kolhan regions. The demography of these regions is changing fast. The tribal population is on the decline. The infiltrators are establishing control of the panchayat system, grabbing land, and committing atrocities against the daughters of the state. Every Jharkhand resident feels unsafe,” Modi said. Training his guns on the Congress, Modi called it one of the state’s three enemies, the JMM and the Rashtriya Janata Dal being the other two. He said the JMM is possessed by the ghost of the Congress. “When the ghost of Congress enters any party appeasement , becomes the only agenda of that party Modi said. ,” Continuing his attacks on the Congress, he said the JMM leaders were taking lessons on corruption from the ‘Congress school of corruption’. He called the Congress family as the most dishonest in the country . “All the streams of corruption originate from there,” he said. The prime minister accused the JMM of not fulfilling the promises it made to the people ahead of the 2019 Assembly elections. “JMM had promised to pay unemployment allowance, but none of them got any allowance,” Modi said. Kejri plays resignation card 30 from TN stranded Will step down in a couple of days, name successor; wants snap polls in Nov Junior doctors take part in a protest march to Swasthya Bhavan in Kolkata on Sunday | PTI CBI gets custody of RG Kar’s former principal ghosh S u l a g n a S e n g u p ta @ Kolkata A court on Sunday remanded former principal of Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital Sandip Ghosh and Station House Master (SHO) of Tala Police Station Abhijit Mondal in CBI custody till Tuesday in connection with the rape-murder case of a trainee doctor at the hospital. The two were arrested by the CBI on Saturday night. They have been charged with tampering evidence. Mondal is also accused of delaying the registration of FIR in the case. “We have got their custody for three days till September 17. Now, both will be questioned together. The duo played vital roles in the RG Kar case,” the CBI said. Both Ghosh and Mondal tried to “downplay the incident” as well as “shield” the heinous crime, the CBI told the Sealdah court. The arrests are the first by the CBI in connection with the rape-murder case. Ghosh had already been arrested by the CBI in connection with financial irregularities at the RG Kar Hospital and is currently in judicial custody . Meanwhile, junior doctors on Sunday took out a mega protest march in the Salt Lake area demanding justice for the victim. Early poll jumla? 1 Advancing polls to November may not be possible as the EC will have only two months for preparations 2 In any case, the EC will come into play only after the Delhi CM dissolves the assembly and formally requests it to advance polls 3 Only a new CM can call a meeting of the Cabinet to take a decision on dissolving the assembly in U’khand rescued A n u p V e r m a @ New Delhi E x p r e s s n e w s s e r v i c e @ Chennai Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday sought to take the high moral ground by saying he will not occupy the chief minister’s chair until he gets a fresh mandate of honesty from the voters in the national capital. Seeking to wash the taint of corruption as two Central law enforcement agencies alleged he was the prime beneficiary of the Delhi excise scam, Kejriwal said he will resign as CM in a couple of days and name a successor. He also demanded snap polls along with the Maharashtra assembly elections in November. But the election process can begin only after the chief minister dissolves the assembly and writes to the Election Commission of India. Expecting it to be held in November might be way too optimistic. In the normal course, Delhi will be due for polls in February . Just a couple of days ago, he had walked out of Tihar Jail after getting bail from a Supreme Court bench in connection with the excise policy scam. But stringent bail condi- AS many as 30 Tamil pilgrims on the Adhikailash Yatra, who were stranded due to landslides in Uttarakhand, were rescued by helicopters and brought to Darchula, in Pithorogarh district in the state on Sunday, through the efforts of Tamil Nadu government. The group, hailing from Chidambaram taluk in Cuddalore, will soon reach New Delhi and board a flight to TN from there. The Uttarakhand government said the pilgrims had been resc u e d w i t h o u t a ny injuries, and were provided shelter at a relief camp where they were given food and water. An official release here stated that Chief Minister M K Stalin had telephoned the stranded Tamils and assured they would be rescued safely Senior . TN government officials were in touch with the Uttarakhand government regarding the rescue. The Cuddalore district administration had also contacted the Pithorogarh district administration to monitor the rescue operations. Arvind Kejriwal waves during a party meeting in New Delhi on Sunday | Parveen Negi I want to appeal to the public, if you think Kejriwal is honest, vote for me. If you think Kejriwal is guilty, do not vote for me. Every vote of yours will be a certificate of my honesty Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi chief minister tions set by a coordinate bench disallow him from visiting the Chief Minister’s Office and the Delhi Secretariat. His signing of files in his capacity as CM was also restricted. Kejriwal made the surprise announcement while addressing party workers. “I will go to every street, I will go to every house. Until the public gives its verdict that Kejriwal is honest, I will not sit on the CM’s chair,” he claimed. As for his successor, the AAP said a meeting of the legislative party in the next two-three days will take the call. However, Kejriwal ruled out his former deputy as his suc- cessor. “The same things were said about him as were said for me. Sisodia also says that he will take over the post of Deputy CM and education minister only when the people say he is honest. It’s up to the people to take the call about me and him,” the AAP chief said. The buzz is on Kejriwal’s wife Sunita getting the baton, as she has been active on ground since the Lok Sabha elections. She is also one of the star campaigners for the Haryana elections. Other names that are being tossed around as successors are ministers Gopal Rai, Atishi and Saurabh Bhardwaj. Simultaneous polls on govt agenda RAJESH KU M AR THAKUR @ New Delhi three TIRUNELVELI STUDENTS DROWN Three Class 12 students drowned in a 30-feet-deep surplus water canal while they were bathing near Melathediyur of Tirunelveli district | P2 With the Modi 3.0 completing its first 100 days, highly-placed sources said the government will implement the ‘one nation, one election’ initiative during its current tenure. The buzz in political circles of the national capital is that the BJP has struck an agreement with its coalition partners on this matter. “Definitely, it will be implemented in this tenure itself. It will be a reality a source said. ,” Modi mentioned the initiative during this year’s Independence Day address. “What more is there to say when the prime minister has already shown his commitment? Wait for it as it is becoming a reality remarked a ,” source within the government. Modi, in his August 15 address from Red Fort, called for national unity in support of the one nation, one election concept. He urged all parties to collaborate in this initiative. “The nation has to come forward for one nation, one election,” Modi had said. A high-level panel, chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind, had recommended conducting simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, followed by synchronised local body elections within 100 days. The Kovind panel’s report is currently with the relevant government authorities, and groundwork is underway to present it in Parliament. The Law Commission, too, is reportedly working on recommendations for holding simultaneous elections for all three tiers of government — Lok Sabha, state assemblies, and local bodies — tentatively starting in 2029. Students of the University of Madras Institute of Distance Education (IDE) programme said that they have not received hard copies of their study materials for over a year. Varsity officials said that they couldn’t float tenders to select publishing firms as the vice-chancellor post remains vacant. Students who took admis- second semester books. There is a WhatsApp group for our course in which we get regular updates about classes and examinations. In that group, we only received soft copies of study materials for the second and third semesters. It’s not at all feasible to take printouts of over 2,000 pages when I have paid a course fee of `15,000,” said a student of Masters in Journalism course at IDE. “As I found it difficult to study with material in PDF format, I did not attempt the last The 30 pilgrims had originally planned to reach Uttarakhand by train. However, after trains were cancelled due to heavy rains in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, they opted to fly to Delhi on September 1 and continue their journey to Uttarakhand by road. “While returning after the darshan, they got stranded around 18km from Adi Kailash, due to the landslide. They were unable to move from the spot as they had also run out of fuel. They were able to stay in an ashram for two days before being rescued by helicopters on Sunday,” said Dr Thillai Nayagam, a Chidambaram resident whose wife Umarani was among the stranded. B A n b u s e lv a n @ Chennai immersed in faith Idols of Lord Ganesha in a procession to be immersed in the sea near Foreshore Estate in Chennai on Sunday | Ashwin prasath No V-C, Madras Univ students grapple without printed study materials sions in IDE courses last year are yet to receive hard copies of the books, but this did not deter IDE from conducting the semester examinations. As the IDE was unable to publish books and give hard copies to students, it handed out soft copies of the study materials due to which many students chose not to write the examination. “I am in the fourth semester now but I’m yet to receive my The group, hailing from Chidambaram taluk in Cuddalore, will soon reach New Delhi and board a flight to TN from there. The Uttarakhand government said the pilgrims had been rescued without any injuries, and given shelter at a relief camp. CPRR: Bikes to be restricted to service lanes testing times B INITA JAISWAL @ Chennai Group will soon board flight to TN from Delhi two semester examinations. It’s high time that the IDE provides us proper books,” she added. “For the past year, we have been requesting hard copies but all our appeals have fallen on deaf ears. IDE is a major source of income for the varsity. Despite collecting course fees and examination fees from us, they are not giving us books, which is unfair,” said S Dhamodaran, another student. Even though the admission season of IDE for the academic year 2024-25 began in July, students are yet to receive their books. “Usually, students are given books for the first year at the time of admission. However, I am yet to receive my books. Every time I check with the officials, they say that I will receive the books within a week,” said K Shantipriya, a student who enrolled this year.  P5 Drawing from the experiences of the Chennai Bypass and Outer Ring Road, the State Highways has designed the 133km Chennai Peripheral Ring Road (CPRR), which is under construction, with 7.5-metrewide service lanes on both sides along its entire length. The twowheelers will be restricted to the service lanes, which will connect to all major roads between Ennore and Poonjeri. The six-lane CPRR will be controlled-access (regulated traffic flow) with entry only at limited locations. Official sources attributed the decision to the high number of accidents involving two-wheelers, reckless driving, local protests over toll fees, discipline issues with truck drivers, slow-moving traffic, and congestion. The Tamil Nadu Road Development Company (TNRDC) and Tamil Nadu Road Infrastructure Development Corporation — the agencies responsible for building the CPRR — said the Puzhal-Perungalathur Chennai Bypass and Vandalur-Minjur Outer Ring Road were designed to meet expressway standards, allowing vehicles to travel at speeds up to 100 km/h.  P5