FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms Vol. 14 No. 52 | BHOPAL | MONDAY | AUGUST 5, 2024 | Pages 12 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 FREE www.freepressjournal.com Nation ‘INDIA bloc should prepare to sit in Oppn in 2029 too’ fp ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: INDORE UJJAIN PRESS PUNE BHOPAL SPORTS NASHIK TEL AVIV US, allies prepare to defend Israel Israel is already in a "multifront war" with Iran and its proxies, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a Cabinet meeting Sunday, as the United States and allies prepared to defend Israel from an expected counterstrike and prevent an even more destructive regional conflict. Jordan's foreign minister was making a rare trip to Iran as part of diplomatic efforts, while the Pentagon has moved significant assets to the region. KORBA 3 die of snakebite in Chhattisgarh A woman and her oneand-a-half-year-old son were among three persons who died of snake bite in separate incidents in Chhattisgarh's Korba district, police said on Sunday.The victims were asleep in their home in Shivpur village under the Pali police station limits when they suffered a snakebite on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday, an official said. Their family members rushed the duo to a community health centre, where they died during treatment, he said. A 50-year-old man died in a similar incident in Karaanavapara village in the Pali area on Friday, the official said. Brandsutra AI PLAYS I SPY P.12 ISLAMABAD ‘Army should apologise’ Pakistan's jailed former prime minister Imran Khan has refused to apologise for the May 9 riots that erupted after his arrest last year and claimed that it was the Army that owed him an apology since he was "abducted" by the paramilitary rangers on the day of the violence. Khan, 71, was on May 9, 2023, arrested by the Pakistan Rangers from the Islamabad High Court premises during his appearance in a corruption case. GAURELA Man dies in bear attack A 28-year-old man was killed and two others were seriously injured after they were attacked by a wild sloth bear in Chhattisgarh's Gaurela-PendraMarwahi district on Sunday, police said. The incident took place this morning near Badraudi village when deceased Chhablal along with Ghasiram (45) and Santlal (42) went to collect wood to celebrate a local festival, said Marwahi division forest officer (DFO) Raunak Goyal. 9 kids killed, 2 hurt as wall collapses in Sagar BHOPAL 2 die, 10 trapped due to rains Nine children were killed and two others injured after a wall of a dilapidated house collapsed in Sagar district on Sunday, a senior official said. The incident comes a day after a wall of a dilapidated building collapsed in Rewa, killing four school children. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav expressed grief over the incident and announced a financial assistance of Rs 4 lakh to kin of each of the deceased. The incident took place between 8.30 am and 9 am near the campus of a temple during a religious programme in Shahpur village under Rehli assembly seat, officials said. Collector Deepak Arya said that nine children, aged 10 to 15 years, have been killed and two injured in the wall collapse incident at the religious programme in Shahpur of the Sagar district. Two children died on the spot while seven others succumbed on way to hospital or In past 24 hours more than 37 people have been rescued from different places of the state. While two persons jumped into rivers, two unidentified bodies were found in the flooded rivers in the state, said the officials here on Sunday. In Vidisha, eight people are trapped due to sudden rise in water level in river Sarkula at Kedareshwar temple. Police, revenue team and SDRF teams have reached the spot. All people are at height and are safe. In Raisen, two people were swept away and a search has been launched. Police also came to know that one person had jumped in Narmada river and one child drown in the drain. In Chhatarpur, SDERF team was trying to bring back body being stuck in the Dhasan river. In Khargone, one person had gone to take bath in Narmada river and allegedly drowned. Our Staff Reporter The rubble from the wall that collapsed in Sagar PM announces Rs 2 lakh ex gratia PM Narendra Modi on Sunday expressed condolences to the kin of nine children who lost their lives after a wall collapsed. In a post on X from the Prime Minister's Office, it said, "The accident is heartbreaking. My condolences to the bereaved families. May God give them strength to bear this pain.” PM Modi has also announced Rs 2 lakh from PM’s Relief Fund and Rs 50K for the injured. on reaching the medical facility, he said. Arya said two other children were injured in the incident and undergoing treatment at the district hospital. They were out of danger, he added. 4Continued on | P6 72 killed in B’desh as protesters & ruling party supporters clash Life term in ‘love jihad’ cases in Assam PTI GUWAHATI At least 72 people, including 14 policemen, were killed and hundreds injured on Sunday in fierce clashes between protesters demanding Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation and the ruling party supporters in different parts of Bangladesh on the first day of the non-cooperation movement over a government jobs quota system. The clashes broke out this morning when protesters attending the non-cooperation programme under the banner of the Students Against Discrimination with the one- point demand of the government's resignation faced opposition from the supporters of the Awami League, Chhatra League, and Jubo League activists. So far, 72 people have been killed in day-long clashes across the country, the leading Bengali-language daily Prothom Alo reported. According to the police TMC asks WB jails minister to resign PTI KOLKATA The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Sunday asked West Bengal Jails Minister Akhil Giri to resign and apologise to a woman officer of the state forest department following a controversy over video clips showing him threatening and verbally abusing her. Speaking to reporters at Kanthi in Purba Medinipur district, Giri said he would resign but not apologise. Giri, who is the MLA of Ramnagar within which the area is situated, was flanked by locals when he was seen in videos threatening forest ranger Manisha Sahu, warning her of reducing her tenure after she and her team removed encroachments on forest department land near Tajpur beach. "Following party instructions, state president Subrata Bakshi called Akhil Giri on Sunday afternoon, instructing him to apologise to the woman officer and submit his resignation immediately," TMC spokesperson Shantanu Sen said. 4Continued on | P6 PTI 7 killed, 25 hurt in bus-car collision PTI Super Sreejesh takes India to semifinals ETAWAH Seven people were killed and 25 injured early Sunday when the bus they were on fell into a ditch after a collision on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway in the Usrahar area here, police said. Superintendent of Police Sanjay Kumar told reporters that a bus with Nagaland number plate was on its way to Delhi from Rae Bareli, when at around 12.45 am it collided with a car coming from the wrong lane. The collision sent the bus careening into about a 20-foot roadside ditch and flip over. Police have identified at least three dead. Om Prakash Tiwari, 50, a native of Lakhimpur, was one of the victims from the bus. Monu, 25, his mother Chanda Devi, and Pradyumn, 24, who all were in the car, died on the spot. Three others are yet to be identified. According to the SP, the driver of the car, who had been coming from Lucknow and going to Agra, must have fallen asleep and entered the wrong lane. 4Continued on | P6 India’s goalkeeper Sreejesh Parattu Raveendran saves a shot in the men’s quarter-final field hockey match between India and Britain at the Yves-du-Manoir Stadium in Colombes on Sunday PTI PARIS A battle-hardened PR Sreejesh gave a big fillip to the Indian hockey team's aspirations of winning a second consecutive Olympic medal with his splendid shootout saves in a 42 victory over Great Britain that earned his side a place in the semifinals of the Paris Games here Sunday. Playing most of the match Dark fibers to take 5G services to underserved regions of MP "All Indian nationals including students living in the jurisdiction of the Assistant High Commission of India, Sylhet are requested to be in touch with this office and are advised to remain alert. In case of emergencies, please contact +8801313076402," the Assistant High Commission said in a post on X. Atul Gautam Advantage MP The state’s strategic position makes it ideal for data transfer across India and several companies are expressing interest in capitalising on these fiber optic connections. Notably, a Canadian firm is contemplating a data centre in Indore, expected to cost around Rs 500 crore and create employment for 1k to 1,200 professionals. 4Continued on | P6 Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday said his government will soon introduce a law for life imprisonment in cases of 'love jihad'. He also said several measures have been initiated to "protect" the land rights and government jobs for indigenous people. Speaking at the state BJP's extended executive meet here, Sarma said, "We spoke about 'love jihad' during the elections. Soon, we will bring a law, which will award life imprisonment in such cases." BJP delegation meets rape survivor's kin Four of family returning from Haridwar die in road accident PTI Six injured headquarters, 14 policemen have been killed across the country. AYODHYA In a significant development for telecommunications in the country, broadband and mobile networks are set to expand into remote and mountainous regions of Madhya Pradesh, leveraging infrastructure of MP Power Transmission Company. Eight dark fiber pairs of Optical Ground Wire (OPGW) installed on transmission towers in these areas have been leased to major telecom operators, promising to enhance internet connectivity and data transfer speeds. Big telecom companies FP News Service A three-member BJP delegation on Sunday met the 12year-old girl who was raped here and her family members, and urged the state government to raise the compensation to the survivor's kin from Rs 5 lakh to 25 lakh. The team held a "detailed discussion" with the girl's family members at her house and gathered information about the incident. A report on the matter will be submitted to K Laxman, the national president of the BJP's OBC Morcha. ALOT Four members of a family from Alot, including a 65-yearold woman, were killed and six others injured in a road accident in Rajasthan. The family was returning from Haridwar after performing the last rites of a family member when their car collided with a parked truck on the DelhiMumbai Expressway in Sawai Madhopur on Sunday morning. The front of the car was completely shattered in the ac- cident, which was removed from the road with the help of a crane. The truck driver fled from the spot after the accident. The victims were identified as Rajendra Prajapat (22), Monika Prajapat (24), Rekha Prajapat (42) and Dhapu Devi Prajapat (65). The injured are Payal, Krishna Bai, Bulbul, such as Jio, Airtel, CC and World Communication have each secured two pairs of these dark fibers through an open tender process. The initiative follows MP Transco’s successful petition to the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (MPERC), which granted conditional approval for leasing the fibers. This Jyoti, Anita and Shakeel Khan. According to police, a woman of the family had gone to a Bhagwat Katha programme in Rishikesh, where she died. Instead of bringing the body home, the family cremated it in Haridwar. After performing the last rites, all the family members were returning home by car when the accident happened. Meanwhile, the family members of the deceased have left for Sawai Madhopur to bring the bodies of the deceased home. The last rites of all will be performed on Monday at Vikramgarh Muktidham. offgrid Phanigiri key to tracing region’s Buddhist past Online Report P hanigiri, a 2,100-yearold Buddhist heritage site in Telangana, was once just a piece of land atop a hillock covered in wild vegetation. Today, the snakehood-shaped hillock is on the cusp of emerging as an important Buddhist site in South Asia. The Buddhist site contains a Mahastupa, viharas, apsidal Chaityagrihas, stone-pillared congregation halls, inscriptions, and more. These elements help reconstruct the cultural history of the previously undivided Andhra Pradesh. Experts believe that the site, which dates back to the 1st Century BCE—4th century CE, has the potential to receive the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage tag if it is well conserved. “In our childhood, we used to play here. There was no protection wall or any re- without key defender Amit Rohidas, who was shown a red card for hitting a rival player with his stick, the team did extremely well to hold Great Britain to 1-1 in regulation time. Great Britain dominated possession and played with man-to-man marking, not allowing India to attack much. In the absence of Rohidas, Manpreet Singh, who plays in mid-field, was asked to man the defence. (Details on P12) INDORE ‘Be in touch’ DHAKA E-paper World Multiple Israeli strikes in Gaza claim 19 lives P.9 ‘Won’t retire until I get Oly medal’ MONSOON TRAGEDY: Second such incident in two days in state Briefs MUMBAI UNESCO tag ? A potential UNESCO heritage site, recent excavations unearthed a horde of 3,750 led coins dating back to the Ikshvaku period (300 CE-400 CE) strictions,” says Uppala Somasekhar, 41, a farmer from the Phanigiri village in the Suryapet district. “We children,” he recalls, “would stumble upon marble-like One of the many excavated pieces on display small pieces of rocks and use them as chalk pieces without releasing they were green limestone remnants of a 2,100-year-old landscape.” In Sanskrit, ‘Phana’ means a serpent’s hood and ‘Giri’ means hillock. The site is closely related to Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda in Andhra Pradesh. It is located at a height of about 150 feet and about 35 km from the district headquarters, Suryapet. The village is located about 140 km from the Telangana capital, Hyderabad. 4Continued on | P6 move is expected to facilitate the rollout of 5G internet services in previously underserved regions. 4Continued on | P6 Car in CM’s cavalcade hits auto, 4 injured Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL A car in Chief Minister Mohan Yadav’s cavalcade met with an accident in Sarangpur with an auto rickshaw. Three persons were injured in the mishap, said police on Sunday. Just after the incident, CM, who was travelling to Shajapur, stepped down and sent all the three injured to Sarangpur hospital. The SP and collector took an injured boy with them. SDOP Arvind Singh told Free Press that a family of four on an auto rickshaw was stopped as the cavalcade was crossing the highway. After the cavalcade passed, the auto driver came on to the road. However, one car in the cavalcade was slightly behind and it hit the autorickshaw as a result of which it turned upside down. In the incident all the members had got minor injuries and they were discharged after primary treatment. The minister of state Gautan Tetwal reached the hospital and took the stock of the injured. The district administration had given the cheque of Rs 50,000 to the injured and has also promised to repair the rickshaw.