DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA ● REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2024, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 ee Modi Sarkar ki Guarantee Government of India CBC 22201/13/0100/2324 ers PM Fasal Bima Yojana becomes safety net for farmers Scan for more information Hamara Sankalp Viksit Bharat Claims worth ₹1 lakh 50 thousand crore paid to 16 crore farmers AN EXPRESS INVESTIGATION 108 132 76 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Chhattisgarh: 3 CRPF men killed, at least 14 injured in Naxal attack JAYPRAKASH S NAIDU RAIPUR, JANUARY 30 THREEPERSONNELoftheCentral Reserve Police Force (CRPF), including two from the specialised Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), were killed and at least 14 others injuredinanencounterwithNaxals on the border of Sukma and BijapurdistrictsinChhattisgarh’s Bastar region on Tuesday. The encounter took place in Tekulagudemvillage,whichwas the site of another encounter in 2021 that left 23 security personnel dead. Officials said Tuesday’s incidenttookplacehoursafteranew securitycampwasestablishedin the village, which is 616 kilometres from state capital Raipur. Aftersettingupthecamp,ajoint team of the CoBRA, Special Task ForceandDistrictReserveGuard wasconductinganti-Naxaloperations in Jonaguda-Aliguda area when, at about 2 pm, Naxals opened fire at them, taking advantage of the forest cover. The security personnel fired CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Polls on hold, BMC gave Rs 500 crore for city upgrade — all to ruling MLAs Under civic body policy, up to Rs 35 cr can be given to every MLA. Of Mumbai’s 36 MLAs, 21 from ruling alliance got funds; 11 of 15 Opp MLAs ask and wait PRATIP ACHARYA WHO GOT HOW MUCH IN MUMBAI MUMBAI, JANUARY 30 IN MUMBAI, the country’s financialcapital,withthecivicelections on hold for two years now, the quality of infrastructure in your neighbourhood could very well dependonwhichpartyyourMLA isfrom.For,thepurse-stringshave been opened when the MLA is from the ruling party and closed when they are from the Opposition, an investigation by The Indian Express has revealed. Mumbai has 36 MLAs: 21 of the ruling BJP-Shinde Shiv Sena alliance; and 15 of the Opposition. Under a February 2023 policy that allows MLAs to seek funds from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for civic works, each of the 21 ruling alliance MLAs sought, and promptly got, funds till December 2023, show official recordsobtainedundertheRight Party No. of MLAs Funds sought Funds disbursed BJP 16 `462 cr `374.58 cr Sena (Shinde) 5 Congress `191.1 cr `126 cr 4 Sena (UBT) `26.51 cr Zero 9 `84.75 cr Zero NCP 1 NA* Zero SP 1 `25 cr Zero Source: RTI ; *NCP’s Nawab Malik was in jail from Feb 2022 to Aug 2023 to Information Act and investigated by The Indian Express. In stark contrast, not one of the 15 Opposition MLAs (of the Uddhav Bal Thackeray Shiv Sena and Congress) got any money even though as many as 11 of them had asked for funds. The Indian Express spoke to each of these Opposition MLAs to independently verify if they applied for funds, and if the Guardian Ministers approved it. Incidentally, the Opposition MLAs applied for funds around the same time as those from the ruling party, February to December 2023. The money, if sanctioned, would have been used for various development works in their areas—fromtherepairof adrain in Dharavi to the beautification of a park in Sewri to the installa- REMEMBERING THE MAHATMA President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and others pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi on his death anniversary at Rajghat on Tuesday. Renuka Puri BJP takes post of Mayor Soren back in Ranchi, in Chandigarh; AAP and meets MLAs with wife; Congress say fraud ED seizes cash, SUV HINA ROHTAKI CHANDIGARH, JANUARY 30 THE KEENLY contested election forthepostofMayorintheUnion Territory of Chandigarh descended into chaos Tuesday withtheAAP-Congresscombine questioningthemannerinwhich eight of its votes were declared invalid by the presiding officer, tippingthescalesinfavourof BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar who was declared the winner. AstheangryAAP-Congressalliance, the first tie-up among the INDIA bloc constituents, alleged fraudandboycottedtheelectoral process for the remaining posts, theBJPalsowalkedawaywiththe seatsofSeniorDeputyMayorand Deputy Mayor. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ABHISHEK ANGAD RANCHI, JANUARY 30 THE WHEREABOUTS of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was at the centre of a fierce war of words in the state,withtheoppositionBJPsaying he had gone “missing” and putting up posters to that effect, and the ruling JMM hitting back sharply. It was around 2 pm that Soren emerged and attended a meetingwithhisMLAsinRanchi. Also present at the meeting was his wife Kalpana Soren. The drama unfolded a day after a team of the Enforcement Directorate visited Soren’s South Delhi residence to question him in an alleged money laundering case,buthewasnotpresentthere. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Killing in US, village grieves in India: He was kind... So distressing we deleted video PAGE 1 ANCHOR Vivek Saini, 25, was killed by a homeless man whom he helped SAURABH PARASHAR BHAGWANPUR (PANCHKULA), JANUARY 30 VIVEKSAINIwassupposedtofly homefromtheUSonJanuary25 — his first visit since 2022. The 25-year-old had made elaborate planswithhiseldersister,whois ■ Ruling parties ■ Opp parties A road leading to Saini’s house in Bhagwanpur. Saurabh Parashar settled in New Zealand. The siblings were to meet at the Delhi airport before heading home to their native village in Haryana. Vivekdidcomehomeonthat CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 tion of paver blocks in Satyanarayan Chawl. Despite repeated attempts, BMC Commissioner IS Chahal was not available for comment. These are works that the 227 elected BMC corporators would have ordinarily undertaken. But with the country’s richest civic body functioning without an elected body for close to two CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E E X P L A I NE D 80 Funding process, ● itsflaws WHILE BMC elections have not been held due to a pending case in the Supreme Court on OBC reservation in local bodies, the civic body’s process to approve disbursal of funds to MLAs for development work raises two issues. One, if Guardian Ministers of ruling alliance do not clear proposals by Opposition, upgrade of civic infrastructure in key areas like Dharavi (Congress MLA Varsha Gaikwad) or Jogeshwari (Shiv Sena Uddhav B Thackeray MLA Ravindra Waikar) suffers. Two, at a time when political lines are blurred with Shiv Sena and NCP witnessing a split, and nearly 80 MLAs switching sides, there is the possibility of the ruling alliance dangling the carrot of funds to lure legislators towards it. Budget Session begins today, suspension of 14 Opposition MPs revoked EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, JANUARY 30 ON THE eve of Parliament’s Budget Session, the suspension of 14 Opposition MPs — 11 from Rajya Sabha and three from Lok Sabha—wasrevokedTuesdayto enable them to attend the customary President’s address to both Houses of Parliament on Wednesday. The decision came hours before senior ministers met Oppositionleadersandfloorleaders and sought their cooperation for conduct of a smooth session. Arecord146OppositionMPs, from both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, were suspended during the Winter Session for disrupting proceedings to press their demand for a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah CONTINUED ON PAGE 2