DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA AT THE MAHA KUMBH STAMPEDE SITE NEAR THE SANGAM Day after: VIP passes cancelled, no-vehicle zone, curbs on routes As bodies start returning home, grief echo at site of stampede Crowd control measures in place, vehicles stopped at city entry points PRAYAGRAJ, JANUARY 30 tion Commissioner Rajiv Kumar of “engaging in politics” for “a job NEW DELHI, JANUARY 30 post-retirement”—heisduetoretire on February 18. The AAP DAYS BEFOREDelhivotes leader said this at a press to elect a new Assembly, conference when he was a war of words erupted askedabouttheECletterto Thursday between AAP him over his statement. leader and former Chief DECISION Earlierintheday,theEC 2025 Minister Arvind Kejriwal had written to Kejriwal, DELHI and the Election saying his allegation that Commissionof Indiaover BJP-ruledHaryanahadpoihis remarkaboutwater for Delhi soned Delhi’s water supply from being “poisoned” in Haryana. theYamunariverwasprimafacie Kejriwal accused Chief ElecCONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE THE WORLD 31/01/2025 80 A DAY after 30 people died and 60 were injured in a pre-dawn stampede near the Sangam in Prayagraj, the administration issued a string of directives Thursday and cancelled all VVIP passes and declared the entire Maha Kumbh area as a no-vehicle zone. Routes for devotees have been made one-way to avoid overlapping given the huge rush of people heading to the ghats and returning after a dip. Entry of vehicles from all adjoiningdistrictshasbeenbanned and these will be stopped outside Prayagraj city. Instructions havealsogoneouttocompletely ban entry of four-wheelers in- 132 72 Shri Siddaramaiah OVER 60 FEARED DEAD AS U.S. PLANE COLLIDES WITH CHOPPER, CRASHES INTO RIVER PAGE 14 MAULSHREE SETH People search for their missing relatives following the Maha Kumbh stampede, in Prayagraj on Thursday. PTI side the city until February 4. An officer on security duty said, “It has been communicated that VVIP passes have been revoked, meaning special passes willnolongerallowvehicleentry. One-wayrouteshavebeenintroducedtofacilitatesmoothmovement of people. Additionally, vehicle entry has been restricted at the district borders. A strict ban on vehicle entry into the city will remaininplaceuntilFebruary4.” BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PRAYAGRAJ, JANUARY 30 MUDDY FOOTWEAR, some single, some in pairs, are strewn near the Sangam ghat. So are colourful clothes and backpacks – telltale signs of the stampede thatclaimedatleast30livesaday agoandleftanother60injuredat the Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj. As a dense fog envelops the ghat, families and friends move in single file, holding on to a security rope and looking behind nervouslytocheckontheirloved ones. A shawl or a dupatta tied to their waist binds them all together so that they don’t lose CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Cloud over MVA as Sanjay Raut says many in BJP want to align with Shiv Sena (UBT) VALLABH OZARKAR 108 `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 MANISH SAHU AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav at a roadshow in New Delhi on Thursday. Tashi Tobgyal REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 2025, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES Poison remark row: Kejriwal slams CEC, Shah says AAP chief making excuses ● MUMBAI, JANUARY 30 IN WHAT may widen cracks within the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said Thursday thatmanyintheBJPareinfavour of the two outfits coming to- Shri D. K. Shivakumar Hon'ble Chief Minister of Karnataka Hon’ble Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka gether. Adding that no official talks had taken place, he said that many in his party may also have similar sentiments. Raut’s statement followed a meeting between Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and BJP minister Chandrakant Patil at a wedding recently, where Patil said that such a union would be Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut “a golden moment” for him. Referring to this, Raut said: “Chandrakant Patil has been a supporter of the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance since the beginning… The alliance earlier had an older generation,includingleaderslike Chandrakant dada. Now, there are many newbies in the BJP. They do not understand the importance of this alliance of 25 years… But the feelings of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Shaping the future of growth, together India braces for AI challenge, Govt says own foundational model in 4-8 months SOUMYARENDRA BARIK NEW DELHI, JANUARY 30 DAYS AFTER an upstart Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) lab launched DeepSeek, a low-cost foundational model, India has decidedtobuildadomesticlarge languagemodel(LLM)of itsown as part of the Rs 10,370 crore IndiaAI Mission, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said Thursday. The government has also selected 10 companies to supply 18,693 graphics processing units or GPUs — high end chips needed to develop machine learning tools — that can go into developing a foundational model. This is more than the initial aim of the IndiaAI Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw Mission, under which the government was looking to procure 10,000 GPUs. The companies empaneled to provide the GPU services include Jio Platforms, the Hiranandani Group-backed Yotta,TataCommunications,E2E Networks, NxtGen Datacenter, CMS Computers, Ctrls Datacenters, Locuz Enterprise Solutions, Orient Technologies, and Vensysco Technologies. Jio Platforms, E2E Networks, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 IAF officer set to pilot mission to space station: ‘Journey of 1.4 bn people’ ANONNA DUTT NEW DELHI, JANUARY 30 JUST A few months away from becoming the second Indian to travel to space — the first in 40 years — Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla on Thursday said he was embarking on a journey on behalf of 1.4 billion people of India, and wanted each one of them to share his experience. Speaking at an online press conference of the Axiom 4 mission from the United States, Shukla (40), who is one of the Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla four astronauts travelling to the International Space Station, said hehopedthathisjourneywould CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Shri M. B. Patil Hon’ble Minister for Large & Medium Industries and Infrastructure Development interacting with Shri Siddaramaiah, Hon’ble Chief Minister. Join us at the Invest Karnataka 2025 Global Investors Meet, where global industry pioneers converge to reimagine a sustainable, inclusive, resilient and tech-driven future. Discover new opportunities, foster strategic partnerships, and be a part of Karnataka’s transformative growth story. Reimagining Growth As enshrined in our Constitution, “to strive towards excellence in all spheres of individual and collective activity so that the nation constantly rises to higher levels of endeavour and achievement” is the fundamental duty of every citizen of India. Invest Karnataka 2025 Global Investors Meet Bangalore Palace, Bengaluru Feb 12-14 Inauguration on February 11, 4 PM Gunjan Krishna, IAS Dr. S. SELVAKUMAR, IAS Commissioner for Industrial Development & Director, Department of Industries & Commerce, Government of Karnataka Principal Secretary to Government, Commerce and Industries Department, Government of Karnataka Register here