FP The publishers permit sharing of the e-paper's pdf on WhatsApp and other social media platforms FREE PRESS VOL. XLI NO. 10 | INDORE | TUESDAY | JUNE 18, 2024 | PAGES 14 www.freepressjournal.com EDITIONS: Sports Neeraj set to resume Olympic build-up at Paavo Nurmi Games INDORE UJJAIN PUNE r Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2024-2026 r RNI No. 38281/83 `3 BHOPAL MUMBAI Aritra Singha KOLKATA Nine passengers died and another 41 were injured after the rear coaches of a stationary Sealdah-bound Kanchanjunga Express derailed after a goods train rammed into it from behind. The mishap, which took place at around 8:30 am near Rashidiya station at New Jalpaiguri district, brought back memories of the Coromandel triple train tragedy exactly a year ago in Odisha’s Balasore district. Some local reports put the casualty count at 15. Among the deceased were the pilot of the goods train and the guard of the passenger train. The army rushed to the spot with cutters with which the derailed bogies were cut open to extricate the bodies and to look for survivors. The injured have been shifted to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital. "The collision happened because the goods train disregarded the signal and hit the Kanchanjunga Express, which was on its way to Sealdah from Agartala," Railway Board Chairperson Jaya Varma Sinha told reporters in Delhi soon after the accident. An internal document showed that the goods train was allowed to cross all red signals as the automatic signalling had "failed," reports PTI. The document, a written authority called TA 912, was issued to the driver of the goods train by the station master of Ranipatra, authorising him to cross all red signals, the PTI added quoting railway sources. According to the sources, the automatic signalling system between Ranipatra and CAT was defective since 5.50 am. As a result of the accident, the North Frontier railways cancelled or diverted the routes of several trains. Rail Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who too reached the spot, told media persons that the cause of the accident would be known once a probe is complete. Contd. on P6 Member: Audit bureau of circulation Jan to Dec 2023. INCLUDING TRANSPORTATION Cinema Dancing diva turns judge Govt mulls personal tax rate cuts Nation India to hold Project-75 trials in Spain soon NINE DIE AS GOODS RAMS INTO PASSENGER TRAIN Collision happened because goods train disregarded the railway signal E-paper MONEY KOLKATA | The accident comes a year after the Coromandel Express tragedy in which over 290 people were killed System Failure NASHIK Driver of goods train was authorised to cross all red signals as the automotive system was defective Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw reached the spot riding on a mobike Rescue work underway after a collision between the Kanchanjunga Express and a goods train near Rangapani railway station on Monday. Pic: PTI Prodded by RSS, Shah takes stock of Manipur FP News Service NEW DELHI A week after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat flagged his concerns over Manipur, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday chaired a high-level meeting to review the security situation in the North-Eastern state. The meeting comes a day after Manipur Governor Anusuiya Uike called on the Home Minister at his office and is learned to have briefed him on the situation in the state. It also came on a day when more than 100 trucks carrying essential items to Imphal were stopped on NH 53 near Tatbung in Manipur's Tamenglong district on Monday by people who have called for an indefinite blockade of the Imphal-Silchar highway to protest against violence in Jiribam district, police said. The trucks were carrying fuel, LPG and other essential items. India's top security managers attended the meeting, including Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, Intelligence Bureau Chief Tapan Deka, Army Chief General Manoj Pande, Army Chief (Designate) Lt General Upendra Dwivedi, GoC and others. No ‘Kavach’ track protection in West Bengal FP News Service KOLKATA The ‘Kavach’, an automatic train protection system, which prevents accidents and collisions when two trains are on the same track, was not oper- TDP feelers: Cong, Pawar caution UBT ational on the tracks in Darjeeling. The Railways plan to deploy the safety system on the DelhiGuwahati route under its much-vaunted goal to cover over 6,000 km of tracks by next year. Incidentally, Bengal falls within the ambit of 3,000 km of tracks set to be protected by ‘Kavach’ this year. The system will be applied to the Delhi-Howrah route," Jaya Varma Sinha, Chairman of Railway Board told a TV channel. Soon after the crash, a video of Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw explaining the ‘Kavach’ system went viral triggering a debate, with officials stating that the system is yet to be installed in much of the rail network. Cong double engine in Uttar & Dakshin Gandhi siblings say "both constituencies would now have two MPs each" Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar NEW DELHI Congress leader Priyanka Vadra Gandhi is set to fight her maiden electoral battle from Wayanad in Kerala after her brother and senior party leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday vacated the seat while retaining Rae Bareli seat in Uttar Pradesh. The announcement was made by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge late on Monday afternoon following a meeting with FP SPECIAL the Gandhi siblings, their mother Sonia Gandhi and party general secretary K.C. Venugopal at his residence. As per the Representation of People Act, a candidate can contest from two Lok Sabha constituencies, but can hold only one seat at a time. Since one seat is required to be vacated within 14 days of announcement of the result, Rahul Gandhi was supposed Goodbye, Rahul Hello, Priyanka Vinod Mathew Those four words encapsulate the essence, the emotions that grip the Wayanad voters, who it could be argued, have reasons to feel let down by their elected Parliamentarian’s firm decision to cut ties with them. Because, what they stand to lose on the swings, they are surely going to regain in the roundabouts. And, to be fair to the people of Wayanad, they would like to believe that at least The FP broke the story about Priyanka’s debut Priyanka Vadra would stop using their constituency as a fall-back option. It is not as if Priyanka is an unknown commodity for Rohit Chandavarkar OUR STAFF REPORTER MUMBAI BHOPAL The perceived discontent among the ruling NDA partners and those partners not getting plum portfolios in the Union cabinet, has prompted the Shiv Sena (UBT) to ask its Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners to open dialogue with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). The Shiv Sena feels that MVA allies Sharad Pawar and Rahul Gandhi should offer the Lok Sabha Speaker’s position to the TDP and ask the party to vote for the INDIA bloc during the trust vote in Lok Sabha. The Congress party seems none too eager and has reportedly asked the Sena to ‘slow down for now and wait for the right opportunity’. There was considerable talk in the national capital ahead of the portfolio allocation announcement – whether or not Nitish Kumar’s JDU and Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP would bag some plum portfolios. Union Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been handed one more important responsibility. Chouhan has been appointed party’s election incharge in Jharkhand where assembly polls will be held in November 2024. After Chouhan won the Lok Sabha election from Vidisha with a huge margin, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inducted him into the Union Cabinet and gave him important departments like Agriculture and Rural Development. Now, by appointing him incharge of an election-bound state, the party has given him organisational work. Assam Chief Minister Hemant Biswa BJP appoints in-charges for assembly polls Sarma has been made co-incharge of Jharkhand election along with Chouhan. Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav has been made in-charge of Maharashtra and Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw his deputy. Likewise, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has been made party’s election incharge in Haryana and MP Biplab Kumar Deb his deputy. Union minister G Kishan Reddy has been made election incharge in Jammu and Kashmir . NEW DELHI : BJP national president J P Nadda has appointed state election incharges and co-in-charges for the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir, the party said on Monday. In a letter dated June 17, Arun Singh, National General Secretary and Headquarters In-charge said that for Maharashtra, Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav has been appointed as state election incharge with Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav as state election co-incharge. Pannun plot: Czech deport accused to US CM Yadav to run govt from field, not from Mantralaya Lalit K Jha Chouhan gets impt job, made Jharkhand election in-charge WASHINGTON BHOPAL Indian national Nikhil Gupta, accused of being involved in a murder plot against a Sikh extremist on American soil, has been extradited to the US from the Czech Republic, media reports here. Gupta, 52, was arrested in the Czech Republic last year at the request of the US government on charges of being involved in a plot to assassinate Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun -- an American citizen -- in New York. The Czech Constitutional Court last month rejected a petition by Gupta against his extradition to the US to face the charges. US federal prosecutors allege that Gupta had been working at the behest of an unnamed Indian government official. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav is sketching out a plan to run the government. He has swung into action immediately after the conclusion of the Lok Sabha election. Yadav intends to run the government from the grounds instead of doing so from Mantralaya. Yadav wants to spend time touring the state as his predecessor and Union Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan used to do. Yadav’s purpose is to understand the ground realities and take decisions accordingly. He is planning to tour the state thrice a week. During these tours, he will inspect the government offices. Contd. on P6 OUR STAFF REPORTER UAD minister Kailash Vijayavargiya on Monday cancelled the Rs 2,300 cr re-densification plan of MP Housing Board which proposed construction of bungalows for MLAs/MPs in Tulsi Nagar and Shivaji Nagar, in middle of the state capital. UAD minister’s post on X says, "The redevelopment plan for New Bhopal, considering environmental conservation and the pres- ence of existing trees in the area, has been completely rejected after thorough deliberation. Directives have been issued to explore alternative locations for the proposed plan." Vijayvargiya rejected the proposal as it would have meant cutting 29,000 trees and there were several protests against it. Several state ministers and MLAs expressed had also expressed their reservations. Since June 12, continuous protests have been held against this project. On June 13, women them. Sure, she did turn up while Rahul filed his nomination and then turned up once to fill in for her brother during the 2024 election campaign. Perhaps what they remember more vividly goes back five years. The year was 2019. The place, Wayanad. And the occasion. The Lok Sabha elections. It was towards the fag end of the campaign period, either the second or the third week of April. Contd. on P6 NITENDRA SHARMA Bhopal’s re-densification plan scrapped CITY.BHOPAL@FPJ.CO.IN to take a decision in the matter by Tuesday. Early on Monday, he had stated that “it was a dilemma” for him which constituency he should retain and which one he should vacate. While he is a sitting MP from Wayanad, Rae Bareli, from where he lost to Smriti Irani of BJP in 2019, has traditionally been close to the Nehru-Gandhi family. Contd. on P6 launched Chipko-Andolan to save 29,000 trees. Just a couple of days later, many people tied Rakshasutra to trees with a pledged to save them. According to protesters, there are 71 bungalows of B-type for ministers and 630 houses of E and D types in Bhopal. They pointed out that all saplings planted to compensate for green cover destroyed due to Metro, Smart City and other private projects, have not survived. They said the 29,000 trees act as oxygen plant for the city. AI app solves UPSC prelim paper in 7 mins NEW DELHI CM: Plans for devpt afoot Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has said he is drafting plans for development. He made the statement in an interaction with media persons at the BJP office on Monday. “The government will work for the people. MP’s election record cannot be broken,” he said.”The BJP has got 60% of votes, but the Congress is confined to only 30%, he said, adding that he is working more to win people’s confidence. Estonia batter Sahil smashes quickest T20I NEW DELHI: Estonia batter Sahil Chauhan on Monday produced an outrageous knock against Cyprus, as he smashed the fastest-ever T20I century off just 27 balls. In the process, Chauhan broke the record previously held by Namibia's Jan-Nicol Loftie Eaton, who got to the threefigure mark off just 33 balls in February this year. Chauhan, 32, hit a blistering 144 not out off just 41 deliveries and propelled Estonia to chase down Cyprus' 191/7 in blazing fashion after the side quickly lost openers. The number four batter hit 24 boundaries in his innings, including 18 maximums, scoring at an astonishing strike-rate of 351.21 as he single-handedly decimated the Cyprus bowling attack. He brought up his century off just 27 balls, bettering the previous record held by Loftie Eaton. Chauhan's 18 sixes is also a new Men's T20I record for a single innings in the format, going past Afghanistan's Hazratullah Zazai and New Zealand's Finn Allen, who previously had the record with 16 maximums each. An Artificial Intelligence based app, PadhAI, scored over 170 marks out of 200 in the UPSC preliminary exams 2024 solving the entire paper within seven minutes and qualifying above the general score which usually remains under 100. The score places PadhAI's score in the top 10 nationally, if not rank 1, an official release said. The app developed by a team of IITians took the exam in a public setting on Sunday, right after the UPSC preliminary exam in presence of guests from the education sector, UPSC community, and media professionals at Delhi's The Lalit hotel. It took under seven minutes to solve the entire paper, the release said. The event was livestreamed at livestream.padhai.ai and YouTube, where the questions and answers are publicly available, it added. The AI's answers were also compared with broad AI models commercially available from big tech companies such as OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google by using answer keys released by top coaching institutes. "This is the highest score achieved in the last 10 years of UPSC exams. We believe that while our event is first of its kind, in a few years, such events will become commonplace as several educational institutions race to solve papers quickly and precisely with AIs," PadhAI's CEO Karttikeya Mangalam said.