SAMBALPUR l tuesday l june 30, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l CITY EDITION India’s Index of Industrial Production expands 5.1% in May Industrial output, measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), accelerated to 5.1% in May, official data released on Monday showed strong Push from power, manufacturing Easing w asia tensions to support growth The numbers were boosted by strong performance in manufacturing and electricity & gas supply sectors, which recorded 5.5 per cent and 9.9 per cent growth, respectively. Within the manufacturing, 16 out of 23 industry groups recorded a positive growth in May. The overall IIP stood at 122.7, up from 116.7 in the corresponding month last year ■ ■ The latest figures are based on the newly-introduced Output Producer Price Index, which the National Statistics Office said provides a more granular price structure than the earlier used Wholesale Price Index Analysts are cautious given the below-normal monsoon on forecast. However, a fall in crude prices could help generate growth, they said 4.9 per cent was the Index of Industrial Production figure for april 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 WB okays law on Ayodhya Police question Rai for 2 hrs arrest without trial for a year Youth beaten to death; father & sister critical in late night attack N a mita B a i pa i @ Lucknow E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar Draconian bill aims to curb anti-socials; passed in House amid TMC walkout A 20-year-old youth was allegedly beaten to death by two unidentified miscreants in Kolathia area within Khandagiri police limits late on Sunday night. The deceased Krushna Prasad Padhi was a Plus III student. His father 65-year-old Himansu Padhi and sister Tapasi (25) also sustained serious head injuries after allegedly being assaulted by the miscreants when they were trying to rescue Krushna. They are currently under treatment at AIIMSBhubaneswar. Two suspects have been detained by police. Preliminary investigation suggests the incident may have stemmed from a love triangle. As per sources, Krushna was staying with his father and sister in an asbestos The victim, house on the Krushna premises of Prasad Padhi his uncle Laxmidhar Panda’s property. His father Himansu is a priest and the family had been living there for the last 20 years. Police received information about the incident at around 2.20 am on the day Initial inves. tigation revealed two masked miscreants allegedly entered the property of Laxmidhar by scaling the boundary wall. However, it is not yet clear whether they barged into the house of Himansu, threatened the family to open the door or lured them to come Continued on P5 outside.  Canada march on Co-hosts beat South Africa thanks to a solitary goal in injury-time and enter Rd of 16. France face Sweden in the first of three all-European ties in the first knockout round... s u b h e n d u m a iti @ Kolkata IN a significant move to crack down on organised crime and public disorder, the newly formed BJP government in West Bengal led by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday introduced the West Bengal Public Safety and Control of Anti-Social Activities Bill, 2026, in the Assembly . The legislation empowers authorities to detain individuals suspected of anti-social activities for up to 12 months without trial. Under the bill, a DM, Police Commissioner, or an officer not below the DIG rank can restrict a “goonda” from entering specified areas, districts for a maximum of one year if they suspect involvement in criminal acts. Tabled by Minister of State for Home Bishal Lama, the bill was passed by a vote of 176 in favour and 41 against, with 20 MLAs from the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress abstaining. The House witnessed noisy protests by opposition members during the introduction of the bill. Defending the bill, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari launched a sharp attack on the previous TMC regime, accusing it of patronising violence. Adhikari recounted specific cases, including the burning of the Beldanga and Rejinagar railway stations, looting of shops, and torching of public buses near Nabanna. “Criminals will be jailed and their assets seized under this new law,” he said, adding that the existing laws were inadequate to tackle organised anti-social elements involved in extortion, land grabbing, illegal mining, and smuggling. The new bill grants police extensive powers of search, seizure and arrest, with offences made cognisable and non-bailable. A second bill, West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which holds individuals financially accountable for damage to public and private property during riots, unlawful assemblies, and violent protests, was passed by a voice vote. It amends the West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order Act, 1972. Eustaquio’s moment of glory In a match dominated by Canada, they did everything apart from scoring. Just when it seemed like Bafana-Bafana’s strategy of playing for extratime and, possibly, penalties, Stephan Eustaquio popped up with the winner with a goal from just outside the box in the second minute of injury time. Today’s matches: Norway vs Ivory Coast 10.30 PM, France vs Sweden 2.30 AM*, Mexico vs Ecuador 6.30 AM* (* IST Wednesday) The former CM had provoked the fire of violence. Since then, WB is burning... existing laws were inadequate Suvendu Adhikari, West Bengal CM ‘Goonda’ in WB The bill defines ‘goondas’ to include habitual offenders and those involved in criminal activities like extortion, land grabbing, illegal mining, smuggling, and offences under arms, narcotics, and explosives laws Focus on Les Blues France face Sweden knowing that all their forwards are purring. Both Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele are on four goals and look primed to score more against a fragile Sweden back-four who already shipped five against Netherlands. As part of the probe being carried out by the three-member Special Investigation Team into the embezzlement of donations at the Ram Temple, the Ayodhya Police have recorded the statement of former general secretary of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, Champat Rai, sources said on Monday . A police team, led by a Deputy Superintendent of Policerank officer, questioned Rai for more than two hours, sources said. Investigators reportedly sought detailed information on the entire donation management process—from the receipt of cash and valuables offered by devotees, the counting process, their safekeeping, to their eventual deposit in designated bank accounts. Sources said the interrogation was aimed at understand- ‘Heavens won’t fall’: SC on urgent plea A Supreme Court bench refused to hold an urgent hearing on a plea seeking a time-bound investigation by a CBI-led multi-disciplinary team into the allegations. It said the matter will be listed for hearing when the court reopens after summer break on July 13. “Heavens are not going to fall. What is the urgency?” the bench observed orally CHAMPAT RAI ing the institutional mechanism gover ning temple donations, identifying the responsibilities of various officials at different stages of the process, and examining if any procedural lapses might have created opportunities for the alleged embezzlement. Students test NTA with 10K challenges; results most likely by July 20 S L A L I T HA @ New Delhi AS the National Testing Agency gears up to declare NEET-UG 2026 retest results by July 20, it may have to race against time with students sending over 10,000 challenges to the answer keys released last week. “NTA is confident of releasing the results before July 20. But the immediate priority for us is to respond to the 10,000-odd challenges we have received from the aspirants to the Paper leak: provisional answer keys Judicial which we made public on custody June 25,” sources told extended this newspaper. A Delhi court Over 20 lakh candi- extended the judicial dates have appeared for custody of 10 accused the re-test held on June arrested in connection 21 across 5,440 centres in with the NEET-UG India and 14 abroad. The 2026 examination re-exam had to be held leak till July 11. due to the cancellation of Special Judge Vijeta the May 3 medical en- Singh Rawat allowed trance test. the CBI’s plea to Many students have extend their custody put out multiple chal- for further lenges to the answer keys. investigation. Three “It will be a humongous other accused have task. We need to scan all already been sent to the challenges one by judicial custody one, read them thorough- till July 8 ly, examine the supporting evidence and respond to each one of them,” said an official. The NTA had released the provisional answer keys on June 25 and candidates were given time till June 28 (11.50 pm) to challenge them. A fee of `200 is to be paid per question which would be refunded if the challenge by the student proves to be correct. When asked about the examiners who will be checking the answer sheets, an official said: “A confidential team has been set up to do the job. Nothing more can be revealed. The security apparatus during the process will be as stringent as the one we had put in place for the exam with CCTVs and a centralised monitoring system. The examiners will be working almost 24x7 to meet the deadline.” NTCA nod to resume Satkosia tiger re-introduction plan S u d a r s a n M a h a r a n a @ Bhubaneswar Odisha government’s proposal to resume tiger re-introduction in Satkosia Tiger Reserve has received in-principal approval of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). The approval came after the forest department complied with the apex body’s recommendations. The government will now assess the ground situation before proceeding on the matter, officials of the Wildlife Wing said. PCCF wildlife and chief wildlife warden (CWW) Prem Kumar Jha acknowledged that the department has received NTCA’s in-principle approval to re-implement the project which was stalled in 2018. “The state government will assess the situation and take appropriate decision in this regard,” he said. After failure of the state’s first tiger translocation project in Satkosia in 2018, the state wildlife wing approached NTCA again and submitted a proposal for resumption of the project in 2023-24. The NTCA then sent a five-member central committee in May 2024 to reassess the feasibility of re-initiating the project. Based on recommendations of the committee, the apex tiger conservation body agreed for reintroduction plan provided the state complied with the action points and recommendations of the panel. The recommendations included pre-requisites such as voluntary relocation of villages, prey augmentation, creation of inviolate space, capacity-building of staff and enhancement of protection measures. The tiger reserve, spread over 1,136 square km, has a core area of 523 sq km. In 2018, a pair of tigers was brought from Madhya Pradesh but the male was found dead in a poacher’s snare a few months later in Satkosia. The female, Sundari, was caught in man-animal conflict and captured before being sent back to its home state. In February, following allegations of illegal and forceful relocation, the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) ordered suspension of the exercise on grounds of procedural lapses and rights violation. The PCCF wildlife said following the in-principle approval, the forest department will assess the emerging situation before moving to the MoEFCC to seek its final approval for translocation of Continued on P5 tigers. Investigators are corroborating Rai’s statement with financial records, bank documents, CCTV footage, electronic evidence and other materials. Meanwhile, a special court in Ayodhya remanded all eight accused to 14 days of judicial custody after the police did not seek extension of their custody . The accused were produced before Special Judge Rajat Verma of Special Court No. 1 (Prevention of Corruption Act) through video conferencing. In another development, the Faizabad Bar Association, in its general body meeting held on Monday, resolved not to defend any of the accused in the case. A resolution was passed that any member who would try to plead on behalf of any of the accused would be slapped with a penalty of `5 lakh. Lawyers demanded that Rai, Anil Mishra, and Gopal Rao leave Ayodhya. They warned that if the trio did not leave within three days, the entire city would be brought to a standstill, a siege would be laid, and no one would be allowed to enter. The Association president Kalika Prasad said that it will also move the high court seeking a CBI probe. ‘One Nation, One Election’ bill JPC may miss monsoon session deadline p r eet h a n a i r @ New Delhi THE Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) examining bills seeking to introduce simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies is unlikely to submit its report during the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament, according to sources. Though the Lok Sabha had extended the tenure of the panel until the last day of the monsoon session, the committee is yet to complete its nationwide consultations and is expected to seek more time before finalising its recommendations, sources privy to the developments said. The delay is significant amid speculation that the Centre is keen to push crucial constitutional amendment bills such as delimitation exercise and the ‘One Nation, One Election’ bill during the monsoon session, expected to begin in the third week of July . The 39-member JPC led by BJP MP P P Chaudhary, is currently reviewing the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 to hold simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.The bill, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2024, was sent to the Joint Committee of both Houses for further examination. The Centre has maintained that holding simultaneous elections would reduce the financial burden of frequent polls, minimise disruptions caused by the Model Code of Conduct and enable governments to focus on governance. However, Opposition parties have raised concerns over its impact the on federal structure and the constitutional rights of states. According to sources, the government is actively exploring the possibility of coupling the delimitation bill with the simultaneous elections proposal to maximise political support and legislative momentum for its ambitious projects. In the previous Budget session, the constitutional amendment linking delimitation to the women’s reservation bill was defeated in the Lok Sabha by a united Opposition. The government, however, is keen to pass the delimitation bill to implement women’s reservation in the Lok Sabha ahead of the 2029 general election.The NDA will need 360 to get a two-thirds majority in a House of 540 members.