FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms Vol. 14 No. 267 | BHOPAL | TUESDAY | MARCH 11, 2025 | Pages 14 ` 3 | Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 | RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 FREE www.freepressjournal.in Sports CALM| SILENT HERO SHREYAS SEALS GLORY P.12 ESTD-1983 iii QUALITY @ VALUE EDITIONS: BHOPAL UJJAIN MONEY PRESS PUNE INDORE NASHIK MUMBAI E-paper Edit CPM aiming for hat trick P.6 Prices of veg, non-veg thali decline 5% in Feb Cinema What makes them couple goals P.14 Dias collapses at Cong stir, several leaders hurt Protest before a planned march to assembly to highlight alleged failure of state govt Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL In what the Congress is calling a conspiracy of the state government, over a dozen party leaders were injured when a stage collapsed at a protest event organised by the Kisan Congress on the first day of the ED raids Bhupesh Baghel's son, others PTI RAIPUR The Enforcement Directorate on Monday raided the premises of former Chhattisgarh chief minister and Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel as part of a money laundering investigation against his son in the alleged liquor scam case, official sources said. The premises of Bhupesh Baghel's son-- Chaitanya Baghel-- in Bhilai (Durg district), an alleged close associate of Chaitanya Baghel, Laxmi Narayan Bansal alias Pappu Bansal, and some others are also being searched under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said. Chaitanya Baghel shares the Bhilai accommodation with his father and hence the premises are being covered. He (Chaitanya Baghel) is suspected to be the "recipient" of the proceeds of crime of the liquor scam, they said. 4Continued on | P8 state assembly’s Budget Session here on Monday. The incident took place when Congress leaders addressed protesters near the Rangmahal Square before a planned march to the assembly complex to highlight the BJP government's alleged failure and anti-farmer policies in the state. Former leader of opposition Dr Govind Singh has called it a BJP conspiracy. State Congress General Secretary (Organisation) Sanjay Kamle said among those injured was former organisation in-charge Rajiv Singh who was admitted in a BJP conspiracy? Alleging a conspiracy on the part of the BJP, exLoP Dr Govind Singh said the police stopped those working on the tents from getting items that would bolster the stage, which is what led to its collapse Cong gherao Vidhan Sabha between Roshanpura Square and Rang Mahal Talkies. (Inset) Former corporator Santosh Kansana sustains fracture serious condition to the nearby Siddhanta Hospital by state party president Jeetu Patwari. He said that the list of injured also included state incharge Harish Chaudhary, Ravi Joshi, Mahendra Singh LANGUAGE ROW ESCALATES | Union Minister accuses Tamil Nadu govt of U-turn on National Education Policy Dishonest, says Pradhan; insult to Tamilians: Stalin PTI NEW DELHI Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday accused the Tamil Nadu government of being "dishonest" and doing a U-turn on the implementation of the new National Education Policy (NEP), drawing a sharp retort from DMK and other opposition parties which alleged that he had hurt the state's pride. After protests and brief adjournment in the Lok Sabha, Pradhan withdrew certain words he had used for Tamil Nadu MPs and urged the DMKled Tamil Nadu government to rise above political interests for the benefit of students. The BJP stepped up its attack on the DMK, accusing it of opposing the NEP and delimitation out of fear of losing assembly elections due next year. The Centre and the DMK government have been engaged in a heated exchange over these issue, with the DMK alleging that the BJP was imposing Hindi on the southern state through the NEP. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin lashed out at Pradhan, saying his remarks reflected arrogance. "You are insulting the people of Tamil Nadu. Does PM Narendra Modi accept this?" he said. The DMK said it had clearly told the minister "we cannot accept" the NEP "in full" and the three-language formula "is not acceptable to Tamil Nadu". Earlier, replying to a question on the PM SHRI scheme in the Lok Sabha, Pradhan said the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government has changed its stand on implementing the centrallysponsored scheme which envisaged strengthening the schools managed by central, state or local bodies. The state concerned has to sign an MoU with the central government that it would implement the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and in return, the central government provides the funds. "The Tamil Nadu government had initially agreed to CM, SCINDIA INAUGURATE MADHAV TIGER RESERVE Our Staff Reporter BHOPAL Chauhan, Roshni Yadav, Yogesh Yadav, Mahendra Joshi, Manak Agarwal, Yadavendra Singh, Jayshree Harikaran, Shailendra Patel, MLA Bhairon Singh Bapu, and Rinki Raghuvanshi. Some of them are admitted to Siddhanta, Smart City Hospital, 1250 Hospital, and Bansal Hospital. Meanwhile, Congress state unit chief Patwari said protests against the Mohan Yadav government would continue till farmers get adequate prices for their produce. 4Continued on | P8 Elon Musk's X suffers massive global outage IANS NEW DELHI sign the MoU. But now they have changed the stand. Many non-BJP-ruled states, including Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh, have signed the agreement," he said. Pradhan said: "They are dishonest and they are ruining the future of the students of Tamil Nadu. They are doing politics". The minister said at one point of time, the government of Tamil Nadu had agreed to the PM SHRI scheme and several (DMK) MPs, who came to see him, conveyed this to him. "But when they went back, they made a U-Turn. They are doing mischief with the lives of the students. They are misleading the people and doing injustice to the students of Tamil Nadu. They are undemocratic...," he alleged. Elon Musk-run X went down on Monday in a massive global outage, including in India, as users were unable to access the micro-blogging platform. X, formerly Twitter, was non-operational for millions of users and the company was yet to respond to the reason behind the mega outage. It, however, started to work for some users after facing at least a 30-40 minute outage during the day. According to platform outage tracking platform DownDetector, the X outage peaked at around 15:00 hours. A user commented: "Is Twitter down? Anyone getting the same issue? Can't open the comments section". DownDetector reported a huge spike, with users rushing to lodge their complaints about the social media site on other platforms like Facebook and Instagram. 4Continued on | P8 4Continued on | P8 Notify posts of teachers for children with special needs: SC to states 2 cleaning staff attempt suicide at SAI academy after sacking Trophy in hand, legacy in heart Skipper Rohit Sharma poses for a picture with the Champions Trophy Agencies With this, Madhya Pradesh has strengthened its position as a leading state in wildlife conservation, adding to its reputation as the Tiger State of India. 4Continued on | P8 The Supreme Court has directed states and union territories to notify by March 28 the number of sanctioned posts of teachers to educate children with special needs. A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K Vinod Chandran observed despite its 2021 judgment, none of the states or UTs made appointments on such sanctioned posts. In fact, a large majority of the states didn't even identify the sanctioned posts required in the state, despite there being figures relating to children with special needs, the court said. "Each state and UT shall come out with notifications with the number of posts that they have sanctioned for teachers who have to impart education to children with special needs," it added. A woman is in critical condition after she and a male colleague attempted suicide by consuming phenyl at the SAI Sports Academy in Bhopal on Monday. The incident took place after the two, along with three others, were abruptly fired from their outsourced cleaning jobs, Ratibad police said. The victims, Neetu Loht and Suresh Fakira, were rushed to JP Hospital after they drank phenyl in a washroom at the academy. Their actions were reportedly driven by distress over their sudden termination, which they claim was linked to 4See also | P9 The Health Ministry has instructed the Indian Premier League to ban all forms of tobacco and alcohol promotions, including surrogate advertisements, during the tournament beginning March 22. In a letter to IPL chairman Arun Dhumal, Director General of Health Services Atul Goel said cricket players, who are role models to the youth of India, should not be directly or indirectly connected to any form of tobacco or alcohol advertising. "IPL should strictly implement the regulations banning all forms of tobacco/alcohol advertising, including surrogate advertisements, within the stadium promises where the games and related IPL games/events are held as well as during telecast sessions on national television," Goel wrote. "The sale of tobacco/alcohol products in all affiliated events and sports facilities. "Discourage promotion of sportspersons (including commentators) who directly or indirectly endorse products directly or indirectly linked to alcohol or tobacco," the letter stated. Majority of the Indian population is glued to television sets when the IPL is on, making the tournament a darling of the advertisers. a bribery demand. Neetu’s husband, Raju Loht, alleged that he and his wife had worked at the academy for 18 years. Three months ago, a representative from the newly contracted outsourcing company allegedly demanded ?25,000 from each of the 22 outsourced employees and later a total of ?5 lakh. Despite 14 held for violence, arson in Mhow Town peaceful but markets closed in protest against vandalism "India is experiencing a significant burden of Non Communicable disease Cardiovascular diseases, Cancer, Chronic Lung Disease, Diabetes, Hypertension etc. which accounts for more than 70% deaths annually. "Tobacco and alcohol use are key risk factors for NCDs. We rank second in tobaccorelated deaths worldwide; with nearly 14 lakh annual deaths while alcohol is the most common psychoactive substance used by Indians," Goel said further. He added that cricketers have a moral obligation to promote public health. "Cricket players are role models for the youngsters for promoting a healthy, active lifestyle, IPL being the largest sports platform in the country, has a social and moral obligation to promote public health and support health initiatives of the government," added Goel. 4Continued on | P8 Look forward to rebuilding Canada-India ties: Carney PTI stone pelting and arson.” The SP said 14 people were injured in stone pelting in all five incidents in Raj Mohalla, Taal Mohalla, Sewa Marg, Jama Masjid and Patti Bazar areas. “Police teams are checking all videos and more cases are being registered. Four cases have been registered so far, in which 28 people have been named while unidentified people have also been accused. Due to multiple incidents, more cases will be registered by Monday late night,” the official said. Former central banker Mark Carney, who is set to become Canada's next prime minister, recently said he would rebuild his country's relationship with India if he takes charge. "What Canada will be looking to do is to diversify our trade relationship with likeminded countries," Carney said last Tuesday in Calgary before being elected as the leader of the governing Liberal Party. "And there are opportunities to rebuild the relationship with India. There needs to be a shared sense of values around that commercial relationship. 4Continued on | P8 4Continued on | P8 MHOW Fourteen people were arrested on Monday after largescale communal clashes, stone pelting and arson in this town on Sunday night, during India’s Champions Trophy victory celebration. However, the town remained peaceful on Monday, with heavy police force, including Quick Response Force (QRF) personnel, deployed at all sensitive locations. Indore SP (rural) Hitika Wasal told the media, “Fourteen people have been detained in connection with the complaints to academy officials, no action was taken. Loht claimed the dismissals were a direct consequence of their refusal to pay the bribe. On Monday, he, along with his wife, Suresh Fakira, Pradeep and Ganesh Ram, were informed of their termination. OTTAWA FP News Service Govt asks IPL to ban tobacco/alcohol ads PTI Nine people were killed and 13 injured in a road accident on the Sidhi-Bahari road in Sidhi district at 2:30am on Monday when a sports utility vehicle collided head-on with a truck. In the vehicle, there were 22 people who were going to Sharda Temple to perform a tonsure ceremony of a member of their family.  When the accident occurred, the SUV was going towards Maihar, and the BHOPAL offgrid NEW DELHI FP News Service SATNA truck was coming from Sidhi. Nine of the injured, whose conditions were deteriorating, were sent to the Rewa hospital. The rest are being treated at the Sidhi district hospital. The police took the truck driver into custody and began an inquiry into the case. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav mourned the deaths and said that an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh would be given to the next of kin of those who were killed in the accident. Similarly, the seriously injured will get Rs 1 lakh, and those with minor injuries will get Rs 50,000 each, Yadav said. Our Staff Reporter NEW DELHI Chief Minister Mohan Yadav release tiger in Madhav Tiger Reserve in Shivpuri on Monday. CM mourns deaths, announces ex gratia Woman in ICU PTI Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Assembly Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar inaugurated the Madhav Tiger Reserve in Shivpuri on Monday. The occasion was marked by the release of a tigress into the wild, brought from Panna Tiger Reserve. The inauguration coincided with the 80th birth anniversary of late Madhav Rao Scindia, former Union Minister and father of Jyotiraditya Scindia. A 13 km protective wall was also dedicated as part of the event. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav called it a "historic day for wildlife", emphasising that the Chambal belt is now home to significant conservation projects, including India’s first cheetah reintroduction project at Kuno National Park. "Madhav Tiger Reserve will attract tourists and boost employment. MP already has the highest number of tigers, leopards and other wildlife species," CM Yadav said. 9 die, 13 injured in SUV-truck collision