DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 2024, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES Manu Bhaker reaches final, targets her third Olympic medal today 4 OF 8 HIGHWAYS UNDER BUILD-OPERATE-TRANSFER MODE Govt’s big infra push: Nod to road projects worth Rs 50,655 crore E HARIKISHAN SHARMA NEW DELHI, AUGUST 2 MIHIR VASAVDA 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 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- BADMINTON 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 Lakshya Sen enters semi-finals PAGES 18, 19, 20 ALERT AFTER KILLING OF HAMAS LEADER Centre flags security of Israeli facilities, AI puts off flights to Tel Aviv 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 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 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DIVYA A India beat Australia — first time at Olympics in 52 yrs NEW DELHI, AUGUST 2 ● PPP back on track Be bridge between Centre & state, PM tells Governors; President says prioritise poor HOCKEY MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL 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 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 `6.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 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 NEW DELHI, AUGUST 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BIG PICTURE PAGE 14 WHAT NEXT FOR WAYANAD? 5 CLASS I OFFICIALS RETIRED Govt reviewing officials’ efficiency and retiring them prematurely to ‘set house in order’, HC told Drive undertaken by Gujarat govt to ‘cleanse’ system of ‘deadwood’ PARIMAL DABHI GANDHINAGAR, AUGUST 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 AFTER THE Gujarat government prematurely retired five Class 1 officials with immediate effect since June citing “public interest”, Advocate General Kamal TrivedionFridaytoldtheGujarat High Court that this was done to "set the house in order". The five officials who were prematurely retired are Pankaj Barot, chief officer of Petlad Municipality in Anand; S J Pandya,deputydirectorof Sardar Patel Institute of Public Administration; Sanjaykumar Gandhi,deputycommissionerof state tax department in Surat; DolatbhaiNeta,deputycommissionerof statetaxdepartmentin Ahmedabad and J J Pandya, a superintending engineer of Sardar SarovarNarmadaNigamLimited. The Indian Express has learnt that these premature exits are part of a drive by the Bhupendra Patel government to “cleanse” the system of “deadwood”. While hearing a suo motu plea regarding the Rajkot TRP Game Zone fireon Friday, theHC pulled up the state government saying that it acted only on court orders. During the hearing, CONTINUEDONPAGE2 EXPRESS NETWORK TENURE CUT SHORT, BSF DG, SPECIAL DG SENT BACK TO STATE CADRES PAGE 10 TWO GAGANYAAN ASTRONAUTS PICKED FOR ISS MISSION PAGE 11 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY 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 D Y Chandrachud, also said the petitioners had not taken recourse to other available remediesunderthelawbeforeknocking on its door, and the court’s intervention at this stage would be both “premature and inappropriate”. “At the present stage, absent a recourse to the remedies which are available under the law to pursue such grievances, it CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad