AHMEDABAD l THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2020 l Pages 12 l 3.00
COVAXIN CORONA VACCINE PRODUCES ROBUST IMMUNE RESPONSE WITH NO SERIOUS ADVERSE EVENTS DURING PHASE 1 TRIAL RESULTS OUR EDITIONS: JAIPUR, AHMEDABAD & LUCKNOW
RNI NO. GUJENG/2019/16208 l Vol 2 l Issue No. 23
NOT HERE TO CHANGE NAMES, SAYS AIMIM’S ASADUDDIN OWAISI DURING HIS LUCKNOW VISIT SPARKING POLITICAL BUZZ
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8 KILLED, 21 INJURED AS TANKER CUTS BUS INTO HALF Sambhal (UP): Eight people died, while 21 more sustained injuries on Wednesday morning when an Uttar Pradesh Roadways bus collided with a gas tanker head-on amid reduced visibility due to fog, police said. The impact was so severe that the tanker cut the bus into half leading to several people being killed on the stop. The crash took place
The mangled remains of the vehicles after the collision in Sambhal on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY ANI
in the Dhanari police station area, they added. “Eight people have died in the accident involving a bus of UP Roadways and a gas tanker. All the injured have been hospitalised. The number of injured persons is 21. The bodies of the deceased have been sent for post-mortem examination. Traffic has been diverted since there is still some gas in the tanker,” Mo-
‘YOUR TALKS HAVE FAILED’ SC says govt talks have not worked, proposes formation of committee to resolve deadlock The Apex Court said the proposed committee would comprise of several representatives from government and farmer unions across the country
Sikh Cleric shoots self to death at protest site
Mohd Fahad New Delhi: Noting that the Centre’s negotiations with farmers protesting against the agricultural reform laws have not yielded any results, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said it could form a committee to work out a solution between the two sides. The ongoing protests, which is now in its third week, have seen thousands of farmers, primarily from Punjab and Haryana, gathering at the capital’s doorstep. Hearing a batch of petitions seeking removal of farmers protesting near Delhi borders, a bench of Chief Justice of India S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian issued a notice to the Centre and posted the matter for hearing on Thursday. Turn to P6
Baba Ram Singh
Dressed in their tradition attire and arms, Nihang Sikhs on horsebacks taking part in the farmers protest, in New Delhi on Wednesday. —PHOTO BY PTI
CENTRE’S PLEA Hearing a batch of petitions seeking removal of farmers protesting near Delhi borders as they pose hindrance to medical services, a bench of Chief Justice of India S A Bobde and Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian issued a notice to the Centre and posted the matter for hearing on Thursday.
FARMERS REJECT GOVT’S DECEMBER 9 OFFER On Wednesday, the farmer unions sent a written reply to the government, rejecting its December 9 proposal in which it offered significant concessions. An Agriculture Ministry official said that the government received a written response from the farmer unions.
Your negotiations with protesting farmers have not worked apparently till now. The protesting farmer unions should be made a party to the case —Supreme Court Bench
New Delhi: A priest from Haryana, Baba Ram Singh, who had joined the farmers’ protest, committed suicide by shooting self on Wednesday at the Delhi border, where he had been staying. In a note, he said he was sacrificing his life “to express anger and pain against the government’s injustice”. “Have seen pain of farmers fighting to ensure their rights and struggling on roads... feeling a lot of pain as the government is not doing justice... to do injustice is a sin and to tolerate it is also a sin,” the note left by the 65-year-old read.
radabad IG Ramit Sharma said. Earlier, SP Chakresh Mishra said that the head-on collision took place on the Agra-Moradabad road. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed the district officials to supervise the rescue and relief operations. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the incident. —PTI
TMC’s Adhikari resigns as MLA; may join BJP during Shah’s visit Kolkata: Disgruntled Trinamool Congress leader Suvendu Adhikari resigned from the membership of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly on Wednesday amid indications that he would join the BJP during Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to the state on December 19-20. Adhikari, who was MLA from Nandigram, submitted his handwritten resignation to Speaker of the Assembly Biman Banerjee. Adhikari has already resigned as West Ben-
People coming from other states can’t be treated as outsiders —Suvendu Adhikari, TMC leader
Waste of time: Rahul walks out of Defence panel meet New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other members of his party on Wednesday walked out of a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Defence, alleging that the panel’s time was being wasted in discussing armed forces’ uniform instead of the crucial issue of national security, sources said. Gandhi was not allowed to speak at the meeting by the panel chairman Jual Oram (BJP) when he sought to raise the issues of Chinese aggression and better equipping the soldiers at the border in Ladakh, they said. The sources said the issue of uniforms of the
Army, Navy and the Air Force was being discussed in the presence of the Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat when Gandhi intervened to say that instead of discussing this, the political leadership should discuss the issues of national security and how to strengthen the forces who are fighting the Chinese in Ladakh. Turn to P6
gal transport minister and from other posts and has been distancing himself from the party for several months now. The party had then rushed poll strategist Prashant Kishor and senior leader Sougata Roy to placate him but the negotiation failed. “As of now it is expected that Adhikari will join the BJP at the (East Midnapore) rally,” said a BJP source. However, sources also said that Adhikari had earlier gone back on two dates of Turn to P6
Cabinet nod to tel spectrum, sugar export subsidy New Delhi: The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the next round of the telecom spectrum auction, I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar informed in a press briefing adding that the cabinet has approved relief for sugarcane farmers and improvement in electricity infrastructure in the northeastern states. Spectrum in 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz and 2500 MHz frequency bands would be auctioned for a validity period of 20 years. Turn to P6
Guj Land Grabbing Prohibition Act has been enforced: CM Rupani State govt & district magistrates empowered to take up suo motu, those guilty may be jailed for a term of 10 to 14 years First India Bureau Gandhinagar: Chief Minister Vijay Rupani announced the enforcement of the Gujarat Land Grabbing Prohibition Act, 2020 on Wednesday. Now, anyone found guilty under the Act will be liable for punishment of upto 14 years imprisonment. Talking about the Act,
the CM said that it was aimed at safeguarding land owned by citizens and initiating suitable legal action against land grabbers. “The Gujarat government is determined to implement strict laws against antisocial elements and work to bring an end to land grabbing,” he stated. Under the new provisions of the Act, land
(L to R) Revenue Minister Kaushik Patel, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Minister of State for Home Pradipsinh Jadeja at a press conference on Wednesday.
grabbers will face a minimum of 10 years and maximum of 14 years’ imprisonment. In order to prevent false complaints that result in damage to title records, committees un-
der the chairmanship of respective district magistrates have been formed. They will scrutinize all applications made under the Land Grabbing Prohibition Act. The committees will
include district development officer, district police superintendent, police commissioner, municipal commissioner, CEO of urban development authorities as members, while addi-
tional resident collector will be member secretary. District magistrates and the state government have also been empowered to take up suo moto in case of high profile land grabbers targeting land owned by the government. This will help authorities in taking unrestricted action against land grabbers. The committees will meet compulsorily every 15 days and all complaints received through them will be forwarded to zonal officers for investigation. To avoid delays, a timeline
for all stages of investigation has also been ascertained. Every investigating officer will have to obtain all information from concerned departments within five days of the complaint. Police will have to file a chargesheet within 30 days of the complaint, in the special courts created to hear cases pertaining to the Act. Investigations will be conducted as per the law at the level of deputy superintendent of police (DySP). The investigating officer will have to verify any false claims, title
records, breach of law, among others, and compile an investigation report, to be submitted to the respective committee. The committee, under the leadership of the district magistrate, will then take a decision within 21 days from the day of report submission. If the committee agrees that a crime has been committed under the Gujarat Land Grabbing Prohibition Act, then it can approach police for a complaint. The police will then have a week’s time to register a complaint.