NEW DELHI 28 APRIL 2024 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 26 facebook/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in Waste Case Scenario PLUS: 12 PAGES DUNE BY THE YURT MAGAZINE ‘I Wanted to Define My Father’s Dreams’ EXCLUSIVE VOICES AHEAD OF THE GAME GOT THIS COVERED? Anand Neelakantan Sheila Kumar Utkarsh Amitabh Anu Aggarwal Western Disturbances Sathya Saran Prabhu Chawla Shankkar Aiyar Anuradha Goyal The Company of Women SWAMI SUKHABODHANANDA SPEAKS Embracing the Winner Pattern Houthis attack oil ship bound for India Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi 1 U’KHAND BURNS, IAF STEPS IN 13 Mi-17 helicopter sorties try to extinguish the raging forest fires; state requests Army help N A R E N D R A S E T H I @ Dehradun 1. A view of the forest fire in Uttarakhand. 2. An IAF helicopter fills water from the Bhimtal lake in Nainital district to douse the fire | EXPRESS Uttarakhand witnessed 544 incidents of forest fire from November 1, 2023 to April 25,this year, of which more than 656.55 hectares of forest land was destroyed ests to the Lariyakanta forests. Efforts are on with the assistance of an IAF helicopter to extinguish it.” An ITI building was partially burnt in the massive fire in the pine forest near Nainital. The fire also reached dangerously close to the High Court Colony in Nainital but hasn’t caused any damage so far. The forest of Ladiyakanta in Nainital was also in flames. The fire brigade barely managed to control it. CRIME CAPITAL Scrap don held with his TV actor goes missing, girlfriend at IGI Airport abduction case lodged U J W A L J A L A L I @ New Delhi E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi SCRAP mafia don Ravi Nagar alias Ravi Kana was arrested by Noida police along with his girlfriend Kajal Jha as soon as the two landed at Indira Gandhi International Airport after they were deported from Thailand, officials said on Saturday The Gautam Budh Nagar police had . issued a lookout and red corner notice against the two. They were arrested in Thailand and deported to India. Kana was booked three months ago under charges of gangrape by the Noida police following which charges under the Gangster Act were also invoked against him and 15 others. The police have already attached his assets worth `200 crore. Sources said Kana leads a 16-member gang involved in the illicit procurement and sale of scrap. The gang, allegedly involved in extortion, has amassed wealth, with Kana reportedly transforming from a scrap dealer into a millionaire. Kana inherited leadership of the gang after the death of his brother Harendra Pradhan, a gangster killed in 2014. He has been operating under police protection due to persistent death threats. A case of abduction was lodged by Delhi Police after an actor of a TV serial, ‘Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah’ went missing before catching a flight from IGI Airport, police said on Saturday . Gurucharan Singh, 50, is a resident of Delhi, and was reported missing five days back. “The actor who plays the role of ‘Roshan Singh Sodhi’ in the TV serial went missing on April 22 evening,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (southwest) Rohit Meena told this newspaper. “We have formed multiple teams. He was last seen near the Delhi airport with a backpack,” the DCP said. Singh’s father lodged a missing complaint on April 22. “The actor left his home in Delhi to take a flight for Mumbai. But he did not reach Mumbai, neither did he return to his home. His phone was also unreachable,” the complaint read. The police officer said they are scanning CCTV footage to trace the route used by the actor. “We have even found some clues through technical investigation”, the DCP said. Dense smoke enveloped the road from Nainital to Bhawali, disrupting movement of vehicles for hours. Forest department sources said wildfires are spreading due to limited rainfall. Nishant Verma, nodal officer of Uttarakhand’s forest department for forest fires, said, “As of April 25, the forest department has recorded 146 cases of man-made fires. Of these, 17 individuals have been identified. As for 129 other cases, the perpetrators are unknown.” Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said all efforts are being made to control the fires. He did an aerial survey of the affected region and reviewed efforts to douse the fires with officials of the Kumaon division at the Forest Training Academy in Haldwani. EXPRESS READ Kharge to decide on Amethi, Rae Bareli The suspense over Rae Bareli and Amethi seats continued as a final decision was left to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on the candidatures of Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. According to sources, the party is likely to explore the possibility of fielding Rahul from Rae Bareli while Priyanka may not make her electoral debut this time. No bail to Soren to attend uncle’s funeral The Special PMLA Court in Ranchi on Saturday refused to grant interim bail to former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, accused of money laundering linked to land scam. Soren filed an application seeking 13-day interim bail to attend his uncle’s funeral. Elder brother of JMM patriarch Shibu Soren, Rajaram Soren, died following illness on Saturday. P9 PRESSINTAKE Iran will release 16 Indian sailors as goodwill gesture | P9 Amid veteran vs fresher fight, all eyes on seer swing bowling PRAMODKUMAR VAIDYA @ Hubballi THOUGH a prominent pontiff bowed out of the contest after promising a scintillating match, the Lok Sabha election scene in Dharwad continues to be as intense and exciting. Influential Lingayat pontiff Dingaleshwar Swamiji had spiced up the polls by announcing his candidature but later opted out. While making his pitch, the Swamiji had sharply attacked sitting MP and Union minister Pralhad Joshi (61), accusing him of dishonouring the Lingayats and victimising its leaders. With the BJP repeating Joshi from Dharwad, the Congress hopes the Swamiji could be a force multiplier against him. At stake in Dharwad is the BJP’s prestige as it has held this Ling ayat m a j o r i t y constituency for seven consecutive terms. The Congress is trying its best to knock out Joshi. Their straight fight is being closely watched because of Joshi’s perceived proximity to the BJP brass. Instead of fielding a Lingayat against Joshi, the Congress gave the ticket to an AHINDA (a Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and Dalits coined by Karnataka’s first backward class leader Devraj Urs), which has stood firmly behind Chief Minister Siddara- ILLUSTRATION: MANDAR PARDIKAR 2 WITH forest fires engulfing the Nanda range in Nainital district of Uttarakhand, the Centre deployed a Air Force helicopter on Saturday to control the blaze. Parallelly, the state government requested the assistance of the Army . The IAF’s Mi-17 helicopter did 13 sorties, drawing water from the Naini and Bhimtal lakes in a Bambi bucket and emptying it over the flames in the Pines, Bhumiadhar, Jyolikot, Narayan Nagar, Bhawali, Ramgarh and Mukteshwar areas. Fire-fighting operations are expected to continue on Sunday as well. Nainital Sub-Divisional Magistrate Pramod Kumar said, “The wildfire is spreading uncontrollably from the pine for- 544 cases of forest fires in five months YEMEN-based Houthi rebels on early Saturday fired ballistic missiles on an oil tanker travelling through the Red Sea heading towards India from Russia. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said the Panama-flagged, Seychelles-re gistered Andromeda Star was attacked twice. The crew is safe and the vessel is en route to its destination Vadinar port in Gujarat. The attack happened about 14 nautical miles off Al Mukha in Yemen. Houthi spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree in a prerecorded statement claimed responsibility for the attack. The oil tanker originated from Primorsk, Russia. “The first was an explosion close to the vessel and the sec- ond consisted of two missile attacks, which damaged the vessel,” according to UKMTO. The agency issued an advisory for ships to sail with caution. The US military’s Central Command said there was a ‘minor damage’ to the oil tanker. Another vessel was also nearby at the time of the assault, it added. Last year, Houthis said they will continue to target Israel-bound vessels till it stops its assault on Gaza. Since November, they have launched more than 50 attacks on the ships passing through Red Sea, seized one vessel and sank another one. In recent times there was a lull in the Houthis attacks on ships. But from Wednesday the attacks restarted. Houthis’ successful attacks have been on vessels heading to of other nations than Israel. maiah. The party’s nominee, Vinod Asuti (34), who belongs to the Kuruba community and is a debutant in the LS poll. The Congress is playing the youth card against veteran Joshi. Also, district minister Santosh Lad has been campaigning vigorously for Asuti. For his part, Joshi is emphasising on the track record of the NDA government in ushering in development and his performance as a parliamentarian in the last two decades. As the constituency has eluded the Congress since 1996, its campaign is focused on the wider reach of the five guarantees implemented by the Siddaramaiah government and the other guarantees in the party’s manifesto. That apart, the party has been stitching alliances with various social and caste groups to further strengthen its AHINDA plank. The Congress is missing the services of its strong L i n g ayat l e a d e r Vi n ay Kulkarni, who was pitted against Joshi in the last two polls. But the Supreme Court barred his entry into the district while granting him bail, since he is an accused in the murder of BJP member Yogishgouda Goudar. Performance wise, Joshi has done well. But the Congress is aggressively playing the Lingayat card to change the narrative. The BJP enjoys enough support among the Lingayats, but its victory would depend on how things pan out on the polling day . The shocking murder of Neha Hiremath, the daughter of a Congress corporator is a red hot poll issue. By politicising it as ‘love jihad’, the BJP is trying to consolidate the Hindu votes. Dharwad goes to polls on May 7 when voters will have to choose between a veteran and a fresher. MORE REPORTS ON PAGE 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 VANUATU DARE TO DREAM Fantasy cricket: From picking fruits & berries to beating full-member team K A LYA N I M A N G A L E @ Chennai HAMAS REVIEWS TRUCE OFFER FROM ISRAEL Hamas said on Saturday it was examining a new Israeli proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, as Egypt intensified efforts to broker a deal to end the war and stave off Israeli offensive in Rafah | P11 THE moment Maiyllise Carlot hit the winning runs against Zimbabwe at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, Tim Cutler, the CEO of Cricket Vanuatu, a self-declared bad watcher of the game, felt like he was living in a world of fantasy Af. ter all, the lowest-ranked team amongst those gathered for the Global Qualifiers for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, had just beaten the full-member nation, on their debut, a week after they successfully conducted a crowd-funding exercise for their playing kits. What makes their story even more fascinating is that if they were not playing cricket, most of the players would have been picking fruits and berries away in Australia, Vanuatu’s neighbouring nation. The players live there nine out of 12 months to earn money, practice after their daily chores and kept the love for the sport burning. On Thursday along with Cut, ler, Vanuatu had one of their biggest supporters in the stands too. Rodney Prestia, CEO of I Comply Horticultural Compliance And Labour Management — the company that has hired eight players from the squad to work in Australia. The players are currently on leave from their seasonal jobs. Some of them flew directly from Aus- tralia and many will go back to their jobs. “Basically everyone who shone yesterday works for us,” , Prestia, who surprised the squad by flying to Abu Dhabi, told this daily Nasimana Nav. aika, who took the four wickets, captain Selina Solman, Rachel Andrew, who took two wickets, Vicky Mansale, opening batter, Valenta Langiatu and others, eight of the playing 11 all work for the company. “Australia have a partnership with Vanuatu called a Seasonal Work Program, where workers can go to Australia for seasonal work. They are working in a town called Stanthorpe, three hours from Brisbane. The players have been picking tomatoes, capsicums and strawberries,” he said. After work at 4pm, players start their practice on a ground close to their accommodation. Prestia gave credit to the former Vanuatu Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau for the programme. “The then PM was a little bit critical for taking all the good sportspersons out of Vanuatu. The government said, we are trying hard to develop players but we lose them to Australia to fruit picking because we can’t compete with the salaries on offer. He said we have to try and find a way we can do both. So we started this program with beach volleyball P13 first and then cricket.”
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