DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA 4 OF 8 HIGHWAYS UNDER BUILD-OPERATE-TRANSFER MODE Govt’s big infra push: Nod to road projects worth Rs 50,655 crore E NEW DELHI, AUGUST 2 CHATEAUROUX, AUGUST 2 Manu Bhaker during the qualifying round in Chateauroux Friday. Reuters landing on the doorstep of a feat previouslyunthinkableinIndian sport: a hat-trick of Olympic medals. At one Games. With another sublime qualifying round on Friday, Manu qualified for her third final of the Paris Olympics. She will turn up at the Chateauroux shooting range for one last time on CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INDIA AT OLYMPICS HOCKEY India beat Australia — first time at Olympics in 52 yrs BADMINTON Lakshya Sen enters semi-finals PAGES 20, 21, 22 ALERT AFTER KILLING OF HAMAS LEADER Centre flags security of Israeli facilities, AI puts off flights to Tel Aviv NEW DELHI, AUGUST 2 THE BACK-TO-BACK assassinations of a Hamas leader and a senior Hezbollah commander have prompted security agencies in India to take a relook at the safety of Israeli establishments in the country. HamasleaderIsmailHaniyeh was killed in Tehran, where he 03/08/2024 84 112 137 66 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY BIG PICTURE PAGE 11 WHAT NEXT FOR WAYANAD? NATURE’S LUXURY A RED initiative appears in today’s edition of The Indian Express. These pages are an initiative of the marketing solutions team of The Indian Express Group and contain content paid for by advertisers. These pages should be read as an advertisement. had gone to attend the inauguration of the newly elected Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian,onJuly31.Adayearlier, Hezbollah’s Fuad Shukr was killedinanairstrikeinLebanon’s capital, Beirut. Central security agencies in India have since alerted Director Generals of Police of all states and Union Territories to provide adequatesecurityarrangements to “Israeli/Jewish facilities, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IN A big push to infrastructure spending, the Union government Friday approved eight national high-speed corridor projectsunderwhich936-kmlength highways will be constructed at a cost Rs 50,655 crore. After a meeting of the Prime Minister-chaired Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), a statement by the government said the implementation of these projects will gener- ate 4.42 crore mandays of direct and indirect employment. Four of these eight highways will be executed under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model, indicating the government’skeennesstoreturntoPPP (PublicPrivatePartnership)projects. In the last financial year, only one of the total 176 projects was tendered under the BOT model. Under the BOT model, the private player owns up the investmentrisk,buildstheprojects fully on its own and maintains it for a specified period. It recovers EXPLAINED HARIKISHAN SHARMA MIHIR VASAVDA MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 After easing model concession pacts, Govt hopes to bring back private sector EXPRESSAT OLYMPICS THE WALK from the shooting rangetoAthletesVillagelastsexactly15minutes.JaspalRana,the former world champion who is Manu Bhaker’s coach, calls it a therapeutic walk. During this magical week for her, that's all it has taken Manu to declutter her mind, refocus on the next task, poreoverthe imperfections,and strategise for the next match. OnceRanadropsher“home”, there is no shooting talk. This zero-fuss approach, Rana said, is one of the factors that has contributed to Manu REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 2024, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 22 PAGES Manu Bhaker reaches final, targets her third Olympic medal today ● ● PPP back on track HAVING LIBERALISED the model concession agreement, the government hopes the eight projects will make the private sector assume some financial risk and return to build highways under PPP mode. Such projects also create both direct and indirect employment. the costs by collecting toll during this period, also called the concession period. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had on March 15, 2024, amended the Model Concession Agreement for Capacity Augmentation on BOT or toll projects, and made it more attractive to private players by introducing more liberal compensation,extensionof concession period, and termination payments. It also brought in a new concept called ‘construction SCHEMES TO SLOGANS Women at heart of election campaign Be bridge between Centre & state, PM tells of ruling Mahayuti Governors; President says prioritise poor CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ALOK DESHPANDE MUMBAI, AUGUST 2 DIVYA A NEW DELHI, AUGUST 2 PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi Friday urged Governors to play the role of “an effective bridge” between the Centre and the state. He asked them to interact with people and social organisations in a manner that coopts the underprivileged. The Prime Minister made these remarks at the two-day Conference of Governors that began Friday morning at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In her opening remarks, President Droupadi Murmu too said that for the smooth CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi with State Governors and Union Ministers at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday. PTI SC says no to SIT probe into poll bonds: ‘premature, inappropriate’ ANANTHAKRISHNAN G NEW DELHI, AUGUST 2 OVERFIVEmonthsafteritstruck down the electoral bonds scheme, the Supreme Court on Fridaydismissedpleasforsetting up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the alleged quid pro quo in the purchase of poll bonds,sayingthe complaintsare based on assumptions that would require it to “embark on a roving inquiry”. A three-judge Bench, presided by Chief Justice of India CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 FROM SCHEMES and slogans to colour and politics, 4.44-crore women voters in the state are at the centre of ruling Mahayuti’s campaign in its bid to retain power in the upcoming Assembly polls in Maharashtra. As Maharashtra government recently announced a Rs 270crore special package to undertake publicity campaigns of different schemes and projects announced by the state government,thepriorityhasbeengiven toCMMajhiLadkiBahinscheme under which Rs 1,500 will be transferred to bank accounts of beneficiary women every month. Whilethegovernment,especially Chief Minister Eknath Eknath Shinde Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar-led NationalistCongressParty(NCP) have gone aggressive in a bid to popularise the scheme, the rulingallianceisbankingonseveral other schemes and initiatives aimed at extending benefits to women to give them electoral benefits. Among them areinclusion of mother’s name in government documents, increasing subsidy forpublicweddingprogrammes, CM Annapurna scheme on CONTINUED ON PAGE 2