COIMBATORE l thursday l june 27, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l LATE city EDITION Jaishankar flags India’s concerns over violence to Myanmar Dy PM The external affairs minister on Wednesday conveyed India’s ‘deep concerns’ over the impact of violence in Myanmar on the Indian border First engagement with senior junta leader Security sought for Indian projects Jaishankar’s meeting with Myanmar’s Deputy Prime Minister U Than Shwe in New Delhi is the government’s first publicly acknowledged engagement with a senior leader of the Myanmar military junta in India. Jaishankar told Shwe that the continuing violence in Myanmar has led to a rise in illegal arms and narcotics arriving at the Indian border ■ Jaishankar sought cooperation for the early return of about 100 Indians trapped in Myanmar’s Myawaddy town. Most of them fell prey to an international racket promising jobs in Myanmar ■ The minister also said he had pressed for credible security protection for India’s various ongoing projects in the strife-torn country 1,640 km is the length of India’s border with Myanmar 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 ED sends dossier to DGP, says 23.6L units of sand mined illegally in TN Siddharth Prabhakar @ Chennai The Enforcement Directorate has sent a dossier to the Tamil Nadu DGP flagging collusion between government officials and excavator-owning private contractors in the alleged `4,730 crore sand mining scam. The agency has also indicated that the state gover nment failed to take adverse action against the illegal activity that allegedly caused a massive rev- enue loss to the government tors owning excavator maexchequer. chines illegally mined sand In the letter sent to DGP a across vast areas adjacent to few days ago under Section those leased out for mining by 66(2) of the Prevention of Mon- the Public Works Department ey Laundering (PWD). At four (PMLA) Act, the sand quar ries, press central agency, afclusive contractors mined ter their ninesand 10-30 times month investigamore than the action, pegged the excessive tual permitted quantity. In illegally mined sand at 23.64 these four quarries, though the lakh units (66.21 lakh cubic me- TN government had permitted tre) in the 2020-2023 period. mining only in an area of 4.9 ED has detailed how contrac- hectares, mining was found to have been carried out across 105 hectares, which included areas adjacent to the approved sites. Violations were found in terms of depth of excavation as well. The total lease area given to contractors was around 190 hectares across 28 sites in five districts, but the total area mined was estimated at 987 hectares, ED added in its letter. The agency arrived at this figure based on the technical report submitted by Terraqua Birla stays in LS Speaker’s saddle Second presiding officer to get two terms; elected by voice vote Video grab of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi in a rare handshake before escorting Om Birla to the Speaker’s chair, in New Delhi on Wednesday | PTI Sharp statement “The nation turned into a prison... Emergency brought with it anti-social and dictatorial policies that destroyed the lives of the poor, the Dalits and the deprived,” Speaker Om Birla said Massive Oppn protest after Chair’s Emergency rap P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi Soon after his election as Speaker, Om Birla on Wednesday sparked a row by reading out a resolution condemning the imposition of Emergency as an attack on the Constitution by former prime minister Indira Gandhi, triggering massive protests by the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. “This House strongly condemns the decision to impose Emergency in 1975. We appreciate the determination of all those who opposed Emergency , fought and fulfilled the responsibility of protecting democra- cy 25th June 1975 will always be . known as a black chapter in the history of India,” he said. The House was adjourned after chaotic scenes of protests and sloganeering by the Opposition. Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the Speaker’s reference to Emergency. “The happenings during the Emergency exemplified what a dictatorship looks like,” Modi said. For his part, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said, “What we saw was the Speaker unfortunately raising a matter that had not been discussed in the House and in a manner that came across as confrontational.” @ Kallakurichi Four more people undergoing treatment in government hospitals after consuming toxic hooch in Kallakurichi died on Wednesday, while the condition of 13 others is critical. With this, the toll in the hooch tragedy has risen to 63. The district administration said that 88 patients have been discharged, while 73 are still undergoing treatment at four government hospitals. Among the patients who are critical, seven are at JIPMER and six at the Kallakurichi government medical college hospital. JIPMER medical superintendent Dr L Dorairaja said the seven critical patients are on respiratory support. Meanwhile, National Commission for Scheduled Caste chair man Kishor Makwana visited Kallakurichi on Wednesday to inquire about the incident with the affected people. Later, he inspected the treatment and medicine provided at the Kallakurichi Government Medical College Hospital. He advised the victims to refrain from consuming such liquor, and assured that the commission will provide necessary assistance to victims. Makwana also met the collector and SP to inquire about the status of affected people, relief measures taken by the government, action taken to nab accused and the details of how illicit arrack is manufactured in the region. National Commission for Women member Khusbu Sundar also visited victims at the hospital and at Karunapuram village which saw the most deaths due to the hooch. CONTINUED ON P5 The Central government’s second 5G spectrum action on Wednesday saw subdued bidding by telecom companies, which collectively bid `11,340 crore for a total 141.4 MHz of airwaves. The bid value, amounts to just 12% of the reserve price of `96,238 crore. The auction concluded in two days with seven rounds of bidding. Bharti Airtel emerged the top bidder by acquiring airwaves worth `6,856.76 crore, followed by Vodafone Idea at `3,510 crore. India’s largest telecom operator Reliance Jio had deposited the highest earnest money of `3,000 crore but it bid only `973.62 crore to pick up additional spectrum. In the last 5G spectrum auc- @ New Delhi Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was on Wednesday sent to three-day CBI custody by a local court after his arrest by the central probe agency in the excise policy case. The CBI, which produced Kejriwal in Rouse Avenue Court, sought five-day remand to interrogate him in the case, but Judge Amitabh Rawat ordered three days of custody Kejriwal . is in Tihar Jail over his alleged involvement in a money laundering case linked to the nowscrapped liquor policy. The Enforcement Directorate had arrested him on March 21. After serving a production warrant late on Tuesday night, the CBI on Wednesday sought the court’s permission before formally arresting him in the case. There was high drama during the hearing in the court- The Rohit Sharma-led side will take on England, the defending champions against whom they lost in 2022 T20 World Cup semifinals, in Guyana. A win on Thursday will take India to their first T20 WC final since 2014 | P11 freedom hug WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange meets his wife Stella after landing at Canberra, Australia, on Wednesday. He was freed under a US plea bargain deal | AP | P9 CBI officials leave Rouse Avenue Court with Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal | PTI room, with Kejriwal himself addressing the court and saying he and other AAP leaders, including Manish Sisodia, were innocent. “I am innocent, my lord,” he told the judge. Rejecting the CBI’s plea that he had blamed Sisodia for the alleged scam, Kejriwal claimed that the central probe agency’s objective was to ensure that headlines in the media are manipulated. Senior advocate Vikram Chaudhari, appearing for Kejri- CONTINUED ON P5 Lukewarm response This year’s auction included spectrum across various bands — 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz, 3300 MHz, and 26 GHz. However, telcos showed interest only in 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, and 2500 MHz bands tion held in August 2022, the gover nment had fetched a record `1.5 lakh crore. The lukewarm response this time is attributed to the fact that most telecom service providers (TSPs), except Reliance Jio, participated in the auction mostly to renew their expired spectrums. Bharti Airtel, led by Sunil Mittal, acquired 97 MHz of spectrum to renew its expiring licences and also to bolster its mid-band spectrum holdings across select circles. Bharti Hexacom, a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, acquired 15 MHz of airwaves for `1,001 crore. Vodafone Idea picked up 50 MHz spectrum across low band and mid band series (900 MHz, 1800 MHz, and 2500 MHz) in as many as 11 circles. Reliance Jio acquired additional spectrum in the 1800 MHz band in Bihar and West Bengal. The radiowaves on offer carry voice and data signals for mobile phones. “Spectrum auction 2024 was part of a continuous allocation process... TSPs have taken spectrum not only for continuity of service but for expanding their services but the volume is limited because already a large part of the spectrum required was auctioned only last year,” said Union telecom minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. Protesting AIADMK bigBlue seek MLAs suspended for tie Men in T20 WC final berth rest of Assembly session Delhi court sends Arvind Kejriwal to three-day CBI custody S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y dug out sand from a site at the same time, while TN government rules stipulate that only two should work on a single quarry at a time. The machines’ work hours, idling hours and amount of fuel consumed have also been analysed by ED as additional evidence. In the letter, the agency has also given a list of four firms which have been awarded contracts for sand quarrying and its transportation to the depot. 5G spectrum auction fetches just 12% of targeted revenue Four more die in Kallakurichi tragedy K r i t h i ka S r i n i vasa n surveys, among other methods. ED has also substantiated excess mining by analysing GPS coordinates of 273 excavator machines sold by M/s Kobelco and JCB to 16 customers in the state, which were used for sand mining. The geolocation data from these machines showed that multiple machines had The total lease area given to contractors was around 190 hectares across 28 sites in five districts, but the total area mined was estimated at 987 hectares — Enforcement Directorate R a k e s h K u m a r @ New Delhi P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Om Birla was on Wednesday elected Lok Sabha Speaker for the second consecutive term after a motion moved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was adopted through voice vote. The Speaker election for the 18th Lok Sabha was keenly watched as it witnessed a rare contest between Birla and the Opposition INDIA bloc’s candidate Kodikunnil Suresh after both sides failed to arrive at a consensus. Birla became the only presiding officer to serve two terms after Balram Jakhar. Pro-tem Speaker Bhartruhari Mahtab made the announcement after the Opposition did not press for division of votes to the motion. While elections to the Speaker’s post were common before Independence, the position witnessed contests only thrice in Independent India — in 1952, 1967 and 1976. Three-term BJP MP Birla represents Kota in the Lok Sabha. NDA allies Rajiv Ranjan Singh, Jitan Ram Manjhi (HAM-S), Prataprao Jadhav (Shiv Sena) and Chirag Paswan (LJP-RV) also moved motions in Birla’s favour. Shiv Sena (UBT) member Arvind Sawant moved the motion to elect Congress’ Suresh to the post. After the voice vote, Mahtab announced that all other motions, barring the prime minister’s, became infructuous. Birla’s election was a foregone conclusion as the NDA has 293 members as against the INDIA bloc’s 237 in the Lok Sabha. Congratulating Birla on his re-election, Modi expressed confidence that he will guide parliamentarians and play a big role in the House in fulfilling people’s expectations. In his speech, Birla said that in the last decade, the expectations, hopes and aspirations of the people have increased. “Therefore, it becomes our responsibility to make collective efforts to fulfil their expectations and aspirations effectively The 18th . Lok Sabha is the world’s largest celebration of democracy More than 64 crore voters participated . with great enthusiasm. On behalf of the House, I express my gratitude to them,” he said. UAV Solutions, a firm incubated under IIT-Kanpur, which was roped in to conduct a technical study to ascertain the extent of excessive mining in the sites. The firm used high-resolution satellite images to analyse before and after mining periods of sites, high-resolution images from drones, LIDAR data and bathymetric wal, submitted that the CBI has been acting in a biased manner. Chaudhari alleged that the CBI didn’t give any notice to Kejriwal and said the timing of his arrest was illegal. CBI’s lawyer D P Singh said the liquor policy was revamped at the behest of the ‘South Group’ during the pandemic. “What was the need of this,” Singh wondered and sought the CM’s custody, saying he needed to be confronted with other accused. E X P RESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai The Kallakurichi hooch tragedy rocked the state Assembly again on Wednesday with AIADMK MLAs, including party general secretary and Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami, finally being suspended from attending the remainder of TN Assembly session, which concludes on June 29. Speaker M Appavu said the party’s MLAs had disrupted the proceedings of the House from the beginning of the session on June 20. The House adopted a resolution moved by Leader of the House Duraimurugan in this regard. Speaking to reporters, Palaniswami alleged that the speaker was not acting in an impartial manner and described the suspension as undemocratic. Later he announced that AIADMK MLAs would stage a hunger strike at Rajarathinam Stadium on Thursday to condemn the “refusal of permission to raise” the tragedy in the House and demand a CBI inquiry into the incident. AIADMK MLAs stage a walkout from Assembly on Wednesday | Express TN adopts rESOLUTION for caste census The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Wednesday unanimously adopted a resolution moved by Chief Minister M K Stalin urging the union government to conduct a nationwide caste census along with the decennial census pending since 2021. Moving the resolution, CM Stalin said that as per the Census Act, the Government of India (GoI) alone can conduct a caste census | P4 express read Document registrations: TN records a drop of 3.44% Chennai: There has been a 3.44% decline in the number of registration of documents during 2023-24, compared to the previous financial year of 2022-2023, according to the policy note tabled by Commercial Taxes and Registration department minister P Moorthy at the Assembly on Wednesday. The fall is significant since registration department showed a rise in registration since 2020 | P4 Pitroda reappointed as Indian Overseas Cong chief New Delhi: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday reappointed Sam Pitroda as chairman of the Indian Overseas Congress, weeks after he resigned over his remarks on the physical appearance of Indians. AICC general secretary K C Venugopal said in a statement that Pitroda has been reappointed with immediate effect
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