FOLLOW US: @TheStatesmanLtd @thestatesmanltd thestatesman1875 www.thestatesman.com People’s Parliament, Always in Session India’s National Newspaper since 1818 | Pages 12 | ` 5.00 | KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | MUMBAI | BHUBANESWAR | LUCKNOW | SILIGURI Sensex, Nifty decline 0.5 per cent Page 10 BRIEFLY 13 pilgrims killed as pickup truck overturns in Baghpat: Baghpat: At least 13 pilgrims were killed and 19 others injured when a pickup truck carrying around 32 pilgrims overturned on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway in Baghpat late Sunday night. The accident occurred between Basi and Bada villages in the Khekra police station area, about 15 km from the district headquarters. Police said the pilgrims were returning to Badaun from Bagad Dham (Gogamedi) in Rajasthan when the accident occurred. According to police, at around 1 a.m. on Sunday night, the pickup truck was hit by a speeding canter. Following the collision, the pickup driver lost control of the vehicle, which then hit a divider. The vehicle skidded for about 10 feet before overturning in the middle of the road. Doctors at the hospital declared six people dead on arrival. (See Page 5) German far-right AfD wins Saxony-Anhalt election New Delhi, 7 September Air India’s next phase under incoming CEO and Managing Director Tewolde Gebremariam will focus heavily on safety, rebuilding passenger confidence and tighter cost management, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran said on Monday. Speaking at an employee town hall at Air India, Chandrasekaran said the airline should aim for a safety record that is not merely on par with leading global carriers but better than the world’s best airlines. The town hall was attended by outgoing Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson and Gebremariam, who is set to assume charge after receiving the required regulatory approvals. Gebremariam, the former chief executive of Ethiopian SC sets deadline for Aravalli panel to submit report Page 5 Page 9 New Delhi, 7 September The Supreme Court on Monday voiced strong concern over repeated assaults on doctors in Maharashtra, observing that a set of people sharing the “same ideology” were allegedly involved in such incidents. A bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta made the remarks while hearing a plea by Shiv Sena corporator Ramesh Sukrya Mhatre challenging the stringent conditions imposed by the Bombay High Court while granting him relief in the Dombivli assault case. The top court also took note of the fresh assault on doctors and hospital staff in Palghar. “There is another incident Page 12 PM to launch projects worth Delhi building collapse: `35,000 cr in Gujarat, Maha 7 dead, five MCD officials STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 7 September P rime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Gujarat and Maharashtra on September 8, where he will inaugurate, dedicate to the nation and lay the foundation stones for a series of infrastructure and development projects worth more than Rs 35,000 crore, the Prime Minister’s Office said on Monday. The Prime Minister will begin his visit in Vadodara, where at around noon he will lay the foundation stones, inaugurate and dedicate to the nation several projects covering railways, highways, urban development, housing, water supply and renewable energy. He will also address a public gathering on the occasion. A major highlight of the Vadodara programme will be the completion of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC), with the Prime Minister dedicating three key sections of the corridor to the nation. The three sections — Sanand (North)-Makarpura, New Umbergaon-New Saphale and New Saphale-Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) — together cover 326 route kilometres and have been developed at a cost of more than Rs 20,700 crore. With the commissioning of these sections, the Dedicated Freight Corridor network will become fully operational across its entire length, marking a significant milestone in India's efforts to modernise its freight transportation infrastructure. The dedicated freight network is designed to enable faster and more efficient movement of goods, reduce transit times and strengthen links between industrial centres, logistics hubs and ports. After his Gujarat engagements, Prime Minister Modi will Airlines, said safety would remain his top priority as he takes over the Tata Group-owned airline. Calling his appointment a “special honour”, the 61-year-old executive described Air India as one of the world’s most recognised aviation brands and said he wanted to help restore its position among the industry’s leading carriers. “I am coming from the US, so allow me to borrow a phrase: MAGA. We will Make Air India Great Again,” Gebremariam told employees. Gebremariam is widely credited with transforming Ethiopian Airlines into Africa’s largest and most profitable airline during his tenure. Recalling his association with Mumbai during the 1990s, he said Air India was regarded as one of the major names in global aviation at the time. He said his objective would be to once again build Air India into a strong and respected brand. Chandrasekaran said restoring passenger trust should be Air India’s foremost objective, given the unusually high public interest surrounding the airline. He noted that Air India is one of the few businesses that attracts widespread attention from people across the country, with passengers and the wider public frequently expressing strong opinions about its performance. “The most important thing Air India should aspire to have is trust in the minds of people,” Chandrasekaran said. He added that safety must become the airline’s strongest organisational value and should influence routine operational decisions rather than remain limited to formal policies or procedures. Alongside safety and customer confidence, financial discipline will be a major challenge for the new leadership. Air India and Air India Express together reported a net loss of Rs 22,238 crore in FY26, more than twice the combined loss of Rs 10,859 crore recorded in FY25. Chandrasekaran therefore stressed the importance of controlling costs as the airline works through its transformation under the Tata Group. The change in leadership comes as Air India continues its broader restructuring and fleet transformation, with the incoming CEO expected to balance expansion ambitions with operational reliability, financial performance and customer experience. For Gebremariam, the immediate priority will be to strengthen safety standards and rebuild confidence in a carrier that remains one of India's most closely watched brands. Perpetrators of attacks on doctors ‘don’t deserve to roam on streets’: SC PARMOD KUMAR Padikkal eyes consistency to cement India Test spot NATION Air India gets new chief in Tewolde Gebremariam STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Tuesday, 08 September 2026 SPORTS WORLD BUSINESS | THE TOP COURT TOOK STRONG NOTE OF ATTACKS ON DOCTORS IN MAHARASHTRA. THE CASE WILL BE HEARD NEXT ON 28 SEPTEMBER yesterday. Same group of people. Again assaulting doctors,” the bench observed. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appearing for Mhatre said he had checked and the attackers were not the same people. To this the bench clarified that it was referring to the people advocating the “same ideology” and questioned how assaults on doctors inside their chambers could be justified. “Things are going from bad to worse... It’s an issue of law and public order both. So they should actually be detained. These people don’t deserve to roam on streets,” Justice Nath said. Mhatre was arrested in July for allegedly assaulting doctors and hospital staff at the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation's (KMDC) Shastri Nagar Hospital in Dombivli on 6 July. A sessions court granted him bail on 14 July, however, the Bombay High Court took suo motu cognisance and stayed the bail order on 18 July. Mhatre challenged the High Court order before the Supreme Court over the stringent conditions imposed on him. The Maharashtra government also separately filed appeals challenging the bail. Rohatgi argued that the High Court’s directions for expediting the investigation and trial amounted to prejudging the case. Unimpressed by Rohatgi’s argument the top court said there was nothing wrong with an expedited trial and observed, “Let the trial be expedited, what is wrong?” it asked, adding, “A message needs to go.” The bench indicated that it was inclined to cancel Mhatre’s bail over the alleged assault. The corporator subsequently withdrew his appeal. The bench then took up the Maharashtra government’s challenge to the Bombay High Court order granting him bail and issued notice to Mhatre and other accused granting three weeks to respond. The case will be heard next on 28 September. travel to Mumbai, where at around 5:45 pm he will inaugurate the Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2026 and address the gathering. The seventh edition of the Global Fintech Fest will be held in Mumbai from September 8 to 11 and is expected to bring together policymakers, regulators, central banks, financial institutions, fintech companies, technology firms, investors, academics and other stakeholders from across the world. Prime Minister Modi's Gujarat and Maharashtra visit therefore combines two major strands of the government's development agenda — large-scale physical infrastructure and the expansion of India's technology-driven financial ecosystem. While the projects in Gujarat are focused on improving rail, road, logistics, urban and basic infrastructure, the Mumbai event will turn attention to the next phase of digital finance and emerging technologies. suspended; owner held PARWINDER SANDHU New Delhi, 7 September The death toll in the southwest Delhi’s Satya Niketan’s building collapse incident rose to seven while five others injured, even as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) suspended five officials, including the South Zone Deputy Commissioner, over the incident. The rescue operation, which continued for more than 24 hours, has now been called off after Delhi Police confirmed that no one remained trapped under the rubble. The MCD officials suspended include South Zone Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Kumar, Executive Engineer (Building) Lalit Kumar Goel, Assistant Engineer (Building) Sunil Chauhan and Junior Engineer (Building) Ashish Kumar. The name of the fifth suspended official was not immediately available. The MCD’s Vigilance Department issued the suspension orders on the directions of Municipal Commissioner Sanjeev Khirwar under the Delhi Municipal Corporation Services (Control and Appeal) Regulations, 1959. Deputy Law Officer (Vigilance) Nand Kishore signed the orders. The suspended officials have been placed under suspension with immediate effect and disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against them. They will be entitled to subsistence allowance as per applicable rules. In a parallel development, Delhi Police apprehended the building’s owner, Hariram Gupta, his wife and son, from Bhiwadi in Rajasthan. Police had issued a Look Out Circular against him after he allegedly went untraceable following the collapse. According to the details released by the authorities, 12 people were rescued from the debris and taken to hospitals. Seven of them, including an unidentified man, succumbed to their injuries, while five remain under medical treatment. Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta visited the site and reviewed the rescue, relief and rehabilitation measures. She also ordered authorities to identify vulnerable buildings across the capital and undertake structural inspections of properties suspected of violating construction norms.