www.iNDiaNeXpreSS.CoM FIndInG AmrITsAr Tracing the city that’s home to one of the most notable places of pilgrimage, Amritsar unravels as a place that was built to be a refuge for all — before it became an epicentre for all of Punjab ahmedaBad, aUGUsT 2, 2026 SCreen Gurvinder Singh on reimagining Ajeet Cour’s short stories for his latest directorial Rehmat laTe CiTy 14+4 pageS ₹6.00 D a i l y f r o M : a h M e D a B a D , Happening today lKarnataKa Chief Minister D K Shivakumar has called an all-party meeting over the Cauvery water-sharing issue. The state has been ordered to release 3,500 cusecs of water daily to Tamil Nadu. Track This and more on www.indianexpress.com nation Pages 9, 8 C h a N D i g a r h , D e l h i , j a i p U r , K o l K a T a , Kulgam village cordoned off as search ops on; LG calls meeting with top security brass aT haBlIShI, a village two kilometres ahead of South Kashmir’s Kilam area, where two migrant workers were shot deadbyterroristsonFriday,the road is blocked by armoured vehicles of j&K Police and the army. No one is allowed to enter or exit. almost immediately after the attack on Friday evening, a joint team of police, army and paramilitary forces had cordoned off the village and launched massive search operations. Thetargetedkilling,thefirst New Delhi, August 1 CeNTralINDIa’Skeytigercorridor between the Satpura and Melghat tiger reserves stands to be fragmented because in-principle wildlife clearance for a third railway line between jujharpur and Chichonda in Madhya Pradesh has been recommended by the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife (SC-NBWl). The clearance is subject to the condition that mitigation structures — such as overpasses for safe passage of wildlife across the rail alignment — suggested by the Central rail- security personnel conduct a cordon-and-search operation a day after the terror attack in kulgam, saturday. ShUaiB MaSooDi attack on seasonal migrant workers since October 2024, has sent the security apparatus into overdrive. across the Valley, security forces have intensified surveillance, expanding their footprint and stepping up vigilance around the areas where migrants live and work. Theattackhaspromptedan urgentsecurityrethink,withlt GovernorManojSinhaconven- satpura tiger reserve (mp) eco-sensitive zone Melghat - pench Betul railway stations Tiger corridors & eco-sensitive zones pench-Satpura-Melghat corridor Betul-itarsi railway line protected area Map ShowiNg all STreTCheS aND CorriDorS iN laNDSCape level ing a high-level meeting of the security establishment to reviewthesituationandchartthe response. hablishi and Kilam, twin villagesinsouthKashmir’sKulgam, are dotted with nearly a dozen brick kilns tucked away in secluded pockets away from residential areas. hundreds of labourers from North India, »Continued on paGe 2 DrIVeN By the search for better-paying work outside Chhattisgarh, two young labourerstravelledover1,500km to a brick kiln in jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam district. On Friday evening, that journey ended in tragedy when terrorists shot them dead after allegedly verifying their identities. For the family of Deepak ratre, 24, the pain is compounded by the fact that he was cremated in Kashmir and his body was not brought home. according to his uncle, Dilharan Sande, Deepak’s father died by suicide when he was deepak ratre and Bhupinder Bhaina were from chhattisgarh four years old, following which Deepak, his mother and youngerbrothermovedinwith his uncles’ families in hardidh village in Chhattisgarh’s Sakti district. “his younger brother is disabled since birth. We looked after their education, work and »Continued on paGe 2 Gujarat way are reviewed and finalised based on proper scientific studyandengineeringdesigns, according to the minutes of the SC-NBWl’s july 9 meeting. The proposed railway line will pass through two notified tiger corridors, and an eco-sensitivezoneintheSatpura-Melghat landscape, according to official documents. The Satpura tiger reserve is in Madhya PradeshwhiletheMelghattigerreserve is in Maharashtra. Tiger corridors provide safe pathways for many wildlife species including tigers, leopards, herbivores, sloth bears, helpingtheanimalsdisperseto RainbatteRs southdistRicts: 20,400evacuated fRom4 distRicts P3 »Continued on paGe 2 death’ of 70-year-old Kamal Saiyed a ChIeF judicial Magistrate's (CjM) court in Daman convicted independent MP of the union Territory, umesh Patel, and former acting president of Daman District Panchayat Suresh alias Sukha Patel in a 14-year-old case of obstructing a public servant from doing their duty. The court of Chief judicial Magistrate P P BharsakhadeWagh sentenced the MP and aditiraja Vadodara, August 1 independent mP Umesh Patel the former panchayat president to two years' simple imprisonment and gave them a »Continued on paGe 2 The GujaraT Police has constitutedathree-memberspecial investigationteam(SIT)toinvestigatetheallegedcustodialdeath of 70-year-old Zahiruddin Shaikhatahmedabad’sVejalpur police station, days after the Supreme Court directed the registrationofaFirstInformationreport (FIr) and ordered an independent probe. TheSIThasbeenconstituted bystateDirectorGeneralofPolice (DGP) G S Malik in compliance withtheSupremeCourt’sjuly23 order.Theteamwillbeheadedby Superintendent of Police (CID Crime) rohan anand and comprise CID Crime Deputy SP P D ValaandCIDCrimePoliceInspectorNhSiddiqui. The officers have been »Continued on paGe 2 l also firsT To win medals in Two differenT Track and field evenTs aT commonwealTh Games With a strapped knee, Tejaswin becomes first Indian to win CWG decathlon medal paGe 1 sport anchor Page 16 pritish raj indian boxeRs scRiPt gloRy in scotland “I WON’T cry today,” Tejaswin Shankar said after becoming the first Indian decathlete to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games on Friday night. just four days ago, his CWG journey in Glasgow, Scotland, had almost ended in heartbreak before it even began when he pulled out of the individual high jump event due to patellar tendinitis, a painful injury commonly known as jumper’s knee. in track and field, and even registering two personal bests in discus throw and long jump. he is also the first Indian athlete to win medals in two different track and field events at the CWG. Four years ago in Birmingham, he won a bronze inhighjump—itwasalsoafirst for India at the CWG — before becoming a multi-event athlete. he later won a silver in New Delhi, August 1 Tejaswin shankar competes in the decathlon long jump event at the commonwealth Games in Glasgow, scotland. pTi yet,despiteperformingat‘80 percent’fitness,Tejaswinpersevered over two days, winning a infra proJeCt CoStS maY See riSe New Delhi, August 1 DamanMPUmeshPatel after Supreme Court order &formerpanchayatchief Gujarat DGP sets up convictedin14-yr-oldcase SIT to probe ‘custodial Surat, August 1 v a D o D a r a express special ravi dutta mishra & pratyush deep Sakti, Shimla, August 1 itarsi Melghat - Satpura melghat tiger reserve (maharashtra) p U N e , justified, China, others dumping resin cheap Jayprakash S naidu & Saurabh parashar ltheproposedrailwayline north p a T N a , small firms flag price hike in projects using In Valley for better pay, Pvc pipes as govt the two migrants who curbs input imports never made it back Big local producers of S-PVC say floor price Railway line through key tiger corridor gets in-principle approval, with a rider nikhil Ghanekar N a g p U r , Manhunt in Valley as terror attack claims 2; TRF link being probed Srinagar, August 1 ‘Rs 1,800-cR loss to ePfo’: cbi books Reliance caPital, anil ambani M U M B a i , Kin of one of the two dead ClaimS terroriStS enquired about nameS, reliGion bashaarat masood andhRa Poised to emeRge as majoR manufactuRing hub, says Pm l U C K N o w , bronze in decathlon, a grueling 10-event competition to determine the best all-round athlete »Continued on paGe 2 Ahmedabad MICrO, SMall and medium enterprises(MSMes)thatmake pipes have flagged an impending increase in irrigation and housing project costs after the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) imposed a sixmonthrestrictiononimportsof a key input used for manufacturingthese,SuspensionPolyvinyl Chloride (S-PVC) resin. TheDGFTmeasurecameon july 24, after the Finance Ministrylastyeardeclinedtoaccept the Commerce and Industry Ministry's recommendation to impose an anti-dumping duty (aDD) on the item. Such duty recommendations from the CommerceandIndustryMinistry are rejected by the Finance Ministrywhen“publicinterest” is involved. S-PVC resin is used across sectors, from irrigation pipes and conduits to electrical wires used in construction. MSMe operators say the re- E. explained how supply gap affects user industry A demand-supply gap of 70% for key input S-PVC resin means MSME players making pipes have to depend on imports. China and other countries sell this input at low prices, hurting the market of big S-PVC producers. The DGFT order gives some protection to the big local input producers, but hurts MSMEs which have to budget for an immediate input price hike. striction has already prompted majordomesticmanufacturers to raise the resin’s prices. “Prices before the notification were rs 78 per kg if you bought from a Chinese supplier. The domestic manufacturer was »Continued on paGe 2