FREE PRESS The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms VOL. 13 NO. 236 | BHOPAL | THURSDAY | FEBRUARY 8, 2024 | PAGES 16 VIRENDER SEHWAG TO CAPTAIN MUMBAI CHAMPIONS SPORTS CM REMOVES JAORA SDM FOR INSULTING FARMERS OUR STAFF REPORTER Bhopal Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Wednesday removed sub-divisional magistrate of Jaora Anil Dhama for insulting farmers. At a meeting with farmers at Jaora in Ratlam district, Dhama used offensive language against them. A video of the incident went viral. Yadav said the way the SDM behaved with the farmers was unfortunate and it should be condemned. The SDM was attached to the district headquarters, Yadav said, adding that good governance is the purpose of the state, so indecent behaviour with citizens will not be tolerated. SEE DISTRICT PAGE `3 - r Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2021-2023; r RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 NATION WILL CHALLENGE EC RULING IN APEX COURT: PAWAR FACTION COLLECTOR, SP SHUNTED OUT 29.40c. 15.20c Sunrise : 07.05 Sunset : 06.16 DEBUT SENSATION Industry inspector who found discrepancies but skipped court hearing suspended A day after blast in a firecracker factory that claimed 11 lives, state government on Wednesday shunted out Harda collector Rishi Garg and SP Sanjeev Kumar Kanchan. Chief executive officer, district panchayat, Rohit Sisoniya has been given the charge of collector. The government also suspended the then inspector and assistant director of A industry Harda Naveen Kumar Barwa with immediate affect While SP Kanchan has been appointed as AIG in PHQ, Garg has been posted as deputy secretary CONTD. ON P8 . 3 still missing; 1 more factory found OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in A man, a woman and an eight-year-old boy are missing ever since Tuesday’s blast in firecracker factory, said officials on Wednesday. Harda administration has set up a control room to provide information about the injured and the dead. CONTD. ON P8 nother firecracker factory was unearthed by the administration, merely a kilometre from the blast site. Caretaker was missing when a team of administration reached the site. However, a large number of ready-to-use crackers were found in the premises. The said factory at Harda Phatak was said to be operating sans government permission. A large number of crackers were lying in open for drying without proper security and safety measures. Govt set to take action that will scare pants off guilty: Yadav It will set a precedent for those who run illegal firecracker factories, says CM FP NEWS SERVICE Harda Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has said the government will take such an action as will scare the pants off those responsible for the Harda tragedy . It will set a precedent for those who run illegal firecracker factories posing a hazard to public health, Yadav said. He made the statement during his visit to the district hospital on Wednesday when he inquired after the health of those injured in an explosion in a firecracker factory at Bairagarh in Harda on Tuesday . CONTD. ON P8 ‘I pray you save 40 seats’ SERIOUSLY INJURED TO GET RS 1L: Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said five seriously injured people Govind Moolchand Chandel, Hemant Dinesh, Asgar Sajjad Hussain, Yusuf Akhtar and Ghanshyam Narmada Prasad will be given a financial aid of Rs 1lakh each. He also interacted with the family members of those who were killed in the incident and assured them of all possible help by the government. YADAV VISITS BLAST SITE: Chief Minister Mohan Yadav also inspected the site where the explosion occurred. He took feedback on the incident from commissioner of Narmadapuram division Pawan Kumar Sharma. Yadav also directed the officials, who were inquiring into the case to submit reports soon, so that the government might act against the guilty. CONTD. ON P8 Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on Congress using West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's remarks on differences in the INDIA bloc over seatsharing and said he prays that the opposition party is able to secure 40 seats in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. Replying to the debate on the motion of thanks in the Rajya Sabha, the Prime Minister said the Congress whose leader and policy have "no guarantee" is raising questions on his policies. "A challenge has been posed before you from West Bengal that Congress will not be able to cross 40 (in Lok Sabha elections 2024). I pray that you are able to secure 40," the Prime Minis- ABOUT MAMATA’S JAB the temple there) M ONLINE REPORT Lucknow ter said. Both Congress and Trinamool Congress are part of the INDIA bloc. Lok Sabha elections are ex- listening to him with great attention and enjoyment that day. 'Lok Sabha mai jo manoranjan ki kami thi voh aapne poori kardi' n PM NARENDRA MODI PM referred to Rahul Gandhi as 'yuvraj' (prince) and said, "Yuvraj was presented as a start-up, but he turned out to be a non-starter, he neither lifts nor launches." Earlier on Monday, PM Modi said that the compulsion of relaunching the product (Rahul Gandhi) repeatedly has led to the closure of the shop of the grand old party. address spoke about India's potential, strength, and bright future and thanked her for address to the joint sitting of two Houses of Parliament. The Prime Minister had given reply to the debate on the motion of thanks in Lok Sabha on Monday. n Many others follow suit n Congress leaders are queuing up to join BJP: CM NEWS BRIEF Chopper crash kills ex- Chilean Prez VINA DEL MAR: Sebastián Piñera, the two-time former president of Chile who faced social upheaval followed by a pandemic in his second term, died on Tuesday in a helicopter crash. He was 74. Chile Interior Minister Carolina Tohá confirmed the death of the former president. Sharad Pawar group gets new name NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Wednesday allotted 'Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar' as the party name for the group led by Sharad Pawar. The order by the poll authority came a day after it gave the Nationalist Congress Party name and the "clock" election symbol to the group led by Ajit Pawar. Many leaders of the Congress took the BJP membership in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and BJP's state unit president VD Sharma on Wednesday. This defection is considered a big jolt to the party before the Lok Sabha election in Jabalpur and Dindori. Mayor of Jabalpur Jagat Bahadur Annu is considered close to Congress's Rajya Sabha member Vivek Tankha. Chairman of Dindori district Panchayat Rudresh Paraste, deputy chairper- Jabalpur Mayor Jagat Bahadur Singh and others taking membership of BJP at BJP office on Wednesday son Anju Byohar, former president of the party's district unit Virendra Bihar Shukla, deputy chairperson of Singrauli district Panchayat Archana Singh and many other party members have defected to the BJP. Annu won the mayoral election in 2022 on the Congress ticket. A few days ago, Annu alleged that the state government was not giving funds to the Jabalpur Nagar Nigam. Annu's defection to the BP has become a major problem for the Congress n YOGI ADITYANATH, UTTAR PRADESH CHIEF MINISTER "When Nandi Baba saw the celebrations in Ayodhya, he was adamant and threw the barricades open at night. Now our Krishna Kanhaiya is adamant," Adityanath told the Assembly . "Nandi Baba" here refers to Nandi the celestial bull, believed to be Lord Shiva's vehicle. The reference is clear - the case involving the Gyanvapi Masjid in Varanasi. Last week, Hindu prayers Uttarakhand becomes first state to pass UCC Bill Another found dead JOLT TO CONG: Jabalpur Mayor, Dindori Dist Panchayat head join BJP OUR STAFF REPORTER / BHOPAL A Delhi court on Wednesday asked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to appear before it on February 17 on a complaint filed by the ED for skipping summons in an excise policy-linked case and noted that prima facie the AAP chief was "legally bound" to comply . Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra said that Kejriwal "purportedly failed" to appear before the investigating agency Enforcement Directorate and summoned him for the offence under Section 174 of IPC (non-attendance in obedience to an order from public servant). CONTD. ON P8 String of attacks on Indian students in US continues could not say it day special Ibut I express mythatI was gratitude to Khargeji. pected to be held in AprilMay this year. The Prime Minister said that President Droupadi Murmu in her AGENCIES New Delhi In a speech replete with fiery poetry, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday welcomed the consecration of Ram Temple in Ayodhya and made it clear that the Krishna Janmabhoomi land dispute comes next on the BJP's priority list. FROM ‘NEHRU KI CHITTHI’ TO ‘KHARGE’S MANORANJAN’, PM RAINS FIRE ON CONG Cong’s ‘Yuvraj’ is a non-starter REASON? Skipping summons was that our Lord taken his place in the temple. I was happy that the consecration But I Ihappyhappywe fulfilled ourhashas been done. wahinwas also (built that promise, 'mandir' banaya' amata Banerjee had last week slammed Congress and also took a dig at the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, saying she had proposed that it take BJP in the Hindi heartland states and contest 300 seats across the county but they did not heed and she has doubts "if they will secure even 40 seats if they contested 300" NEHRU’S LETTER: Citing a letter written by Jawaharlal Nehru to chief ministers, Modi said it clearly states that the first prime minister was against reservation of any kind, especially in jobs, as it adversely affected the functioning of the government. "The Congress which never gave complete reservation to OBCs, which never gave reservation to the poor of the general category, which did not consider Baba Saheb worthy of Bharat Ratna, kept giving Bharat Ratna only to its family. They are now preaching to us," he said. DOUBLE TROUBLE: Court summons Kejri on ED's plea ‘KRISHNA IS ADAMANT’ PM uses Didi’s remarks to mock Congress AGENCIES New Delhi CINEMA HARDA HORROR OUR STAFF REPORTER city.bhopal@fpj.co.in QUALITY AT VALUE www.freepressjournal.in EDITIONS: INDORE, BHOPAL, UJJAIN, MUMBAI, PUNE WEATHER FP in Jabalpur. Annu said that the day the Congress leaders refused to take part in the consecration ceremony of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, he was hurt, so he left the party. Yadav said many Congress leaders queued up to join the BJP and that some of them were told to wait for some time. A worker of the BP can become chief minister, Sharma said, adding that Dindori has become Congress-free. Another close aide of Tankha was about the join the BJP, but his entry in the party was stopped. NEW YORK: In a series of disturbing incidents, an Indian doctoral candidate was found dead at Purdue University in Indiana while another Indian IT student was brutally attacked near his house in Chicago. The back-to-back incidents since Sunday were the sixth in the US in 2024 alone. According to The Purdue Exponent, a news agency independent of the university, Sameer Kamath, 23, a doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering, was found dead in Warren County on Monday the me, chanical engineering head Eckhard Groll announced on Tuesday . Kamath's body was found at a nature preserve at Crow's Grove, the agency said, quoting a press release from Justin Brummett, the Warren County Coroner. After his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Kamath had come to Purdue in the summer of 2021, Groll said in his email. CONTD. ON P8 resumed in one of the mosque's cellars after a gap of 30 years following a district court order. The prayers were held at 3 am, hours after the court order. The cellar where the prayers were held faces the Nandi idol in the adjoining Kashi Vishwanath temple. The Varanasi mosque is at the centre of a drawn out legal battle after Hindu petitioners approached courts for permission to pray in different parts of the temple. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami being greeted by BJP leaders after the state Assembly passed the Uniform Civil Code Bill, at party office in Dehradun AGENCIES / Dehradun The Uttarakhand Assembly on Wednesday passed the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) by a voice vote, the first such move by any state after Independence that could be replicated by similar legislations in other BJP-ruled states. After the Bill was passed, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said, "The UCC will give the right to equality to everyone without any discrimination on matters like marriage, maintenance, inheritance, divorce etc. There will be no discrimination against women now. This will eradicate the injustice against them." he law will ensure and Tuniformitylaw isequality in the state. This not against anyone. It is for women who have to face difficulty because of social norms. This will boost their self-confidence. This law is for the holistic development of women. The bill is passed. We will send it to the president. We will implement it in the state as a law as soon as the President signs it n PUSHKAR SINGH DHAMI, UTTARAKHAND CM With this, he said, the BJP has fulfilled a key manifesto promise it made before the 2022 Assembly elections. CONTD. ON P8 A day before polls, twin blasts kill over 30 in Pak After being dipped in Mecca’s Zam-Zam water, Paramedics pull a stretcher with a bomb blast victim upon arriving at a hospital in Quetta KARACHI: At least 30 people were killed and more than 40 others injured on Wednesday in twin blasts targeting election offices in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province, a day before the general elections in the coup-prone country In the first incident, a power. ful blast outside the office of independent candidate Asfandyar Khan Kakar in Pishin district killed 20 people and wounded 30 others. Less than an hour later, another blast took place outside the election office of a Jamiat-Ulema Islam-Pakistan in the Killa Abdullah area claiming the lives of 10 people and injuring 22 others, officials said. 1st brick for Ayodhya Mosque reaches Mumbai MUMBAI: Symbolising reconciliation and religious harmony the , first brick for the foundation of the proposed grand mosque in Ayodhya arrived here on Wednesday after a consecration pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The brick, baked in a Mumbai kiln, was sent for a ‘gusl’ (wash) with the holy Zam-Zam water in Mecca This brick is scheduled to reach the new upcoming Masjid Mohammed Bin Abdullah mosque at Dhannipur Village in Ayodhya around mid-April, most likely after Ramadan and Eid-Ul-Fitr celebrations WHEN WILL IT REACH AYODHYA? and in perfumes in Medina before it was brought back here. The brick’s auspicious journey will commence from the home of Haji Arfat Shaikh, Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation member and Chairman of the Masjid Mohammed Bin Abdullah’ Development Committee, who is overseeing the preparations. “The new masjid and the institution around it would be an important centre of prayer and healing in India… Its construction and renovation, by the grace of Allah will be magnificent, majestic and would prove to be as aesthetically important a monument as the Taj Mahal globally remarked ,” Shaikh.