DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 PMLA CASE BailforSoren, HCsaysreasons tobelieveJMM leadernotguilty Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren after his release, in Ranchi on Friday. PTI (Left) Vehicles damaged after a canopy collapsed at Delhi airport’s Terminal-1. AP; (Above) Water-logged street at the ITO area in the Capital on Friday. Praveen Khanna TAXI DRIVER KILLED, 8 INJURED; HIGHEST SINGLE-DAY RAINFALL IN 88 YEARS Canopy crash at airport kills one, derails air services as Capital sinks under record rain Key stretches clogged, L-G asks why desilting of drains was delayed EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, JUNE 28 A TAXI driver was killed and eight people injured as the canopy at Terminal 1 of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airportcollapsed,promptingthe Civil Aviation Minister to order a “thorough investigation of the structure”. The incident came on a day the national capital received the highest single-day rainfall in 88 years. The impact of the heavy spell — 148 mm between 2 am and 5 am — could be felt hours later, as key stretches in Delhi saw traffic jams lasting hours, waterenteredhomesandshops, and several neighbourhoods witnessed power outages. A spokesperson for Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) said that “due to heavy rains and winds through the night, a canopy at the old depar- ture forecourt of T1 partially collapsed around 5 am”. “While the cause for the collapse is being assessed, the primary cause seems to be the continued heavy rainfall over the past few hours,” the spokesperson said, citing the Met department’s rainfall figures. “Eight individuals received minor injuries and were provided immediate medical assistance.Unfortunately,onefatality wasreported,”thespokesperson said. The victim has been identified as Ramesh Kumar, a taxi-driver and a resident of BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Probe ordered, structural checks at other airports too SUKALP SHARMA NEW DELHI, JUNE 28 THE MINISTRY of Civil Aviation (MoCA) ordered a probe into the roof collapse incident early Friday at Terminal 1 of Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), and directed the airport operator — GMR groupled Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) — to carry out a thor- CONTINUEDONPAGE2 ough inspection. The inspection will be supervised by aviation safety regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu said after visiting the site. Additionally,theMinistrydecided that all airports will undergo a detailed structural inspection. On Thursday, a portion of the canopy at the new CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ABHISHEK ANGAD RANCHI, JUNE 28 FIVE MONTHS after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged money laundering case linked to a probe into a land scam, JMM leader and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren stepped out of the Birsa Munda Jail in Ranchi Friday following grant of bail by the Jharkhand High Court. The single-judge bench of Justice Rongon Mukhopadhyay, while granting bail, said the court’s findings satisfy the condition that “there exist reasons to believe” that Soren is “not guilty” of the PMLA offence he has been accused of. The bench also said the ED claim “that its timely action had prevented the illegal acquisition of the land by forging and manipulating the records seems to be an ambiguous statement”. It heard Soren’s bail plea in a case of alleged illegal ownership and possession of 8.86 acres of land in the Bargain area of Ranchi.This,accordingtotheED, was linked to proceeds of crime in a PMLA investigation into a syndicate involved in acquiring land illegally. The genesis of the case was the alleged illegal sale and purchase of 4.55 acres of Army land in Ranchi. The investigation led the ED to Bhanu Pratap Prasad, a revenue sub-inspector of the Bargain Circle Office, who was allegedly part of a syndicate falsifyinglandrecords.Severaloriginal registers were found in Prasad’s possession following which he was arrested. The ED said Prasad’s phone data was extracted and several chats related to cash transactions, illegal benefits to others in acquiringlandwereidentified. It pointed to “one image” of handwritten notes containing a list of land parcels which were “illegally acquired and in possession of Soren”. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Uproar over NEET Gujarat proposes to make DM or top cop’s nod CNN DEBATE WITH TRUMP must for schools that take students on boat ride Democrats press panic in Lok Sabha as button as Biden falters, Govt, Opp face off his age in harsh glare PARIMAL DABHI GANDHINAGAR, JUNE 28 Opp demands NEET discussion first, Speaker says after Motion of Thanks NEW DELHI, JUNE 28 AMID ACRIMONIOUS scenes, proceedings in the Lok Sabha werestalledFridayafterSpeaker Om Birla refused permission to the Opposition’s demand for a discussion on the NEET paper leak issue before that on the Motion of Thanks to Thursday’s address by President Droupadi Murmu to Parliament. Theface-offbetweenthegovernment and the Opposition led to the adjournment of the Lok SabhauntilMonday.IntheRajya Sabha, a lacklustre debate followed after a couple of adjournments and staging of a walkout by Opposition members. In the Lok Sabha, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, along with other Opposition MPs, proposed that the NEET matter be discussed first. “We wanted to give a joint message to the students of India, on behalf of the Oppositionandthegovernment, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PAGE 1 ANCHOR E E X P L A I NE D VIKAS PATHAK & ASAD REHMAN ● Hardening of stance FROM THE FIGHT over LS Speaker to the President’s address with references to the Emergency, and the Opposition’s demand for a discussion on NEET first, the battlelines between the Treasury and the Opposition are only getting more entrenched. INSIDE IF PROBESHOWS NTA MISMANAGED, ITWILL BE RESTRUCTURED: MINISTER PASWAN PAGE 12 UGC -NET EXAMS FROM AUG 21-SEPT 4 PAGE 12 THE GUJARAT government has proposed to make it mandatory for schools to take permission from the concerned district magistrate or police commissioner if it wishes to take its students, who are below 12 years of age, on a boat ride during a school picnic. On January 19, 12 schoolchildren, in the age group of 10- 13 years, and two teachers, had died after a boat overturned in Harni Lake of Vadodara, during a school picnic. The rules, published on June 25 through a notification issued bytheportsandtransportdepartment,havebeenframedtoregulatewatersportsandrecreational activities.Thenotificationalsoincludesstandardoperatingprocedure (SOP) for operation of boating and recreational activities. The provisions arepart of the draftrulesframedbythegovern- ment under Gujarat lnland Vessel (Registration, Survey and Operation of Category 'C' lnland Vessels),Rules,2024.Thedepartment has invited suggestions and objections from the public within 30 days, following which final rules will be notified. According to the draft rules, details on registration, survey, certification and operational complianceforallpleasurecrafts and boats that are less than 10 m in length -- plying in inland waters -- have to be provided. The rules also cover the procedure to grant registration certificate to a vessel as well as give permission foroperationof watersportsand recreational activities. It further lays down the responsibilities of the operator of a water sport activity or recreational facility. The draft rules stated, “...as part of a recreational activity or picnic... a school or any educational institution is desirous of providing boating or experience of water sports to its students, CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Months after PM inaugurated Sudarshan Setu, work in Okha, Dwarka has come to a standstill GOPAL KATESHIYA RAJKOT, JUNE 28 FOR NEARLY four months now, peoplearmedwithapplications, seeking permission to build homes, restaurants and shops in OkhaandDwarkamunicipalities, have been turned away by civic officials.Thereason–theauthority responsible for clearing the applications, the Dwarka-Okha Urban Development Authority (DOUDA), is yet to begin operations. InMarch,theGujaratgovern- menthadstripped the Okhaand Dwarka municipalities of their status as area development authorities (ADA) and appointed DOUDA to push tourism-related infrastructure.ButasDOUDAremains on paper, applications for commercialandresidentialprojects are not being entertained, cripplinginfrastructuredevelopment in the burgeoning towns. “I want to construct a house on Nageshwar Road. For the last three months, I have been doing the rounds of the Dwarka municipality office, hoping my plan will be approved... But munici- Sudarshan Setu, the sea link connecting Beyt Dwarka island with Okha on mainland Gujarat. File pality officialssaytheyno longer havepowersafterthecreationof Buzz in Democrats about replacing him; hard to debate a liar, says Biden DOUDA. I don’t know where the DOUDA office is,” said a 42-yearold man, employed at a guesthouse in Dwarka. The movetoappointDOUDA came 10 days after Prime MinisterNarendraModiinaugurated Sudarshan Setu, the country's longest cable-stayed sea link connecting Beyt Dwarka island with mainland Gujarat through Okha town in Devbhumi Dwarka district on February 25. The sea link provided all-weather road connectivity to the island on which the CONTINUEDONPAGE2 US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump during the debate. Reuters PETER BAKER WASHINGTON, NEW YORK, JUNE 28 US PRESIDENT Joe Biden hoped tobuildfreshmomentumforhis re-electionbidbyagreeingtodebate nearly two months before he is to be formally nominated. Instead, his halting and disjointed performance Friday prompted a wave of panic among Democrats and reopened discussion of whether he should be the nominee at all. Over 90 minutes, a raspyvoicedMr.Bidenstruggledtodeliverhislinesandcounterformer President Donald J. Trump, raising doubts about the incumbent president’s ability to wage a vigorousandcompetitivecampaign four months before the election. Rather than dispel concerns about his age, Biden, 81, made it the central issue. Democrats traded frenzied phone calls and text messages CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Champion or Choker? World will judge tonight — that’s not fair SANDEEP DWIVEDI NEW DELHI, JUNE 28 TEAM INDIA hasn't won an ICC World Cup since 2011. South Africa's record is worse – they are yet to play a World Cup final. The teams historically disinclined towards winning big games, packed with players carrying painful so-near-yet-so-far memories,willmeetatBarbados on Saturday. The unimaginative and the insensitive are calling the 2024 ICC T20 World final a ChokersDerbywithredemption as the reward. Fans in two continents, trau- matised by previous World Cup heartbreaks,willhavebutterflies inside them charging like buffaloes. They have waited for the Cup to come home for far too long. But with hope, comes a rider. Success and failure at the storied Kensington Oval at Bridgetown, Barbados, will have overarching consequences. A win in the final, for either team, will wipe out the insulting tags and see an image makeover. A loss, meanwhile, would further chasten the team for being soft, underline old flaws and disillusion the fans more. At around midnight this weekend, the world would have passed its brutal judgement -one team will be hailed as a Champion outfit, the other dismissed as chronic chokers. This name-callingisunfairandironic. Sofarinthetournament,neither India nor South Africa have cracked under pressure. They have been undefeated, closed out tight games, even if dramatically.Intheir respective semi-finals, both seem to have found ways to slay past demons. “We've been very calm as a team,” India skipper Rohit Sharma would say after the team's 68-run win over England in thesemis. “We dounderstand the occasion (of a final), but for Captain Rohit Sharma will hope to end India’s ICC men’s trophy drought. PTI file us, it's important to keep calm and composed.” South Africa captain Aiden Markram too takes pride in his team holding their nerves in tense games. “Chuffed to have got it over the line. A lot of our games have been really close,” he said after their last-four stage win, where South Africa pricked theAfghanistanbubble,dismissing them for 56 runs. It'ssomethingthatpastSouth African squads with legendary nameshadfailedtodo.Therainbow nation's cricket history has been an Odyssey that has stayed truetotheclassictragicnarrative. Primitive rain rule tasking them withthefarcicaltargetof 22runs in 1 ball in their first World Cup after return from isolation in 1992, the epic miscalculation of Duckworth & Lewis target in 2003,andtheweather-curtailed last-over loss to New Zealand in 2015 are chapters of despair and missedchances.Thoughnoneas soul-shattering as the Lance Klusener-Allan Donald mix-up on the final ballagainst Australia in the 1999 semi-finals. It remains the frame that best captures the near misses of world cricket's cursed team. Unlike many others, South Africa as a nation acknowledges its seemingly incurable ailment of freezing at the finish. The country has produced a well-received book by writer Luke Alfred, who stares the problem right in the eye with its title, Art of Losing – Why the Proteas choke at the cricket World Cup. It talks about the “macho culture” that is prevalent in South Africa sports and its “strong and silent” players. Klusener, aka Zulu, epitomises South Africa's tough guy image. Alfred mentions Zulu's petphrase.“You’vegottostayon your lily,” the all-rounder would often say. The writer explains: “By which he meant that you CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad