12102018-TTC-01.qxd 12-10-2018 01:17 Page 1 13 chandigarh | gurugram | jalandhar | bathinda | jammu | srinagar | vol.2 no.282 | 20 pages | ~4.50 | regd.no.chd/0006/2018-2020 established in 1881 | friday, october 12,2018 CONTEMPT NOTICE AGAINST THREE AMRAPALI DIRECTORS PAGE 12 TRUMP PRAISES NIKKI HALEY, SAYS SHE WILL MAKE MONEY PAGE 13 /thetribunechd IN BRIEF Punjab honours 23 sports stars with ~15.55 crore Chandigarh:The Punjab Government on Thursday distributed ~15.55 crore among 23 sportspersons from the state who had won medals at this year's Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. CM Capt Amarinder Singh honoured the sportspersons, along with legendary athlete Milkha Singh. The athletes were also presented a smartphone each. PAGE 15 Don’t mock women speaking out against harassment: Irani Mumbai: Amid the #MeToo storm, Union Minister Smriti Irani said it was for her cabinet colleague MJ Akbar to speak on charges against him. She urged people not to mock the women speaking out. She said women do not go to work to be harassed but to work to live their dreams and earn a respectable living and it must be very difficult for them to come out and talk about whatever happened in their professional lives. PAGE 16 BJYM march against SC order over Sabarimala turns violent Thiruvananthapuram: With protests over the Sabarimala issue mounting, police on Thursday used water cannons and tear gas shells to disperse BJYM activists, who tried to barge into Kerala Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran’s residence. The agitators held a protest meet against the government. PTI Today’s issue is of 20 pages, including four-page Bathinda Tribune. ! late city KARMAPA OGYEN MEETS RIVAL, NEW DELHI ‘SURPRISED’ PAGE 16 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com Ganga campaigner dies, for the river Lucky escape for American, Russian crew On a fast for 112 days to draw attention to river’s plight, GD Agarwal passes away at 86 Vibha Sharma IIT PROFESSOR ON A MISSION TILL THE END Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 11 Leading environmentalist Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand (Prof GD Agarwal) has passed away. The IIT professor, seer and Ganga campaigner had been on an indefinite fast in his Matri Sadan ashram in Haridwar since June 22 to draw the attention of “fellow Gangaputra” Prime Minister Narendra Modi towards the plight of the Ganga. He had been demanding a law to protect the holy river, maintain its uninterrupted ■ IIT professor GD Agarwal first made headlines when he sat on an indefinite fast, seeking uninterrupted flow between Gangotri and Uttarkashi ■ It resulted in suspension of Loharinag-Pala Hydropower Project in 2009 ■ PhD in environmental engg from Berkeley, Agarwal served as member-secretary of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), where he helped shape India’s pollution control regulatory structure ■ He also remained a member of several government committees on environmental issues OPED: FUSING THE SACRED AND SCIENCE OF THE GANGA PAGE 9 flow in natural form between Gangotri and Uttarkashi and to keep it clean — ‘aviral’ and ‘nirmal’. He had written to PM Modi saying that like him, he too was a “Gangaputra” and was determined to carry his fast till the end. Reports said the 86-year-old suffered a heart attack. How- ever, one of his closest associates — Magsaysay Award winner and “waterman” Rajendra Singh — said Agarwal died of “heartbreak, of anguish over the Ganga deteriorating from bad to worse, his pleas being ignored and hurt over the eflow notification by the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation on Wednesday”. “It hurt him when Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said 80 per cent of his (Agarwal’s) demands had been met. On Thursday morning, he asked me to go to Delhi and expose Gadkari’s lies by holding a press conference. Unfortunately, he passed away before I could do that,” Rajendra Singh said over the phone. continued on page 7 The two-man US-Russian crew of a Soyuz spacecraft en route to the International Space Station (taking off, above) made a dramatic emergency landing on Thursday when their rocket failed mid-air. Moscow suspended all manned launches. AFP PAGE 13 Rampal convicted of killing six at ashram 2014 VIOLENCE 28 others guilty too MLA Phoolka to quit today Chandigarh, October 11 accused of firing on protesters. Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Phoolka said the court did not Dakha HS Phoolka will resign stay proceedings against Saini on as a member of the Thursday. “I’m resignAssembly on Friday in ing in protest against protest against the the government’s state government’s deliberate inaction.” “failure” to book forSince a case pertainmer DGP Sumedh ing to the 1984 riots is Singh Saini and exlisted in the Delhi HC CM Parkash Singh on Friday, Phoolka HS Phoolka Badal in sacrilege and said he would send it police firing incidents. via post and email to the Phoolka said he had deferred Speaker and inform the EC his resignation earlier as the and his party. With his exit, Punjab and Haryana High AAP’s strength will drop to Court had stayed action 19, of whom eight have against four police officers formed a rebel group. — TNS PhD-turned-ultra killed in J&K AMU scholar joined Hizb in January, second to die this year Majid Jahangir Tribune News Service Srinagar, October 11 A PhD scholar-turned-militant, Mannan Wani (26), along with an associate, was today killed in a gunfight with security forces in Handwara area of north Kashmir’s frontier Kupwara district, police said. The award-winning scholar of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) had joined the Hizbul Mujahideen in January. Wani’s killing is being seen as a “major achievement” for Mannan Wani the security forces as his joining militancy had spurred the recruitment of youths in north Kashmir. Soon after the killings, separatists called for a shutdown tomorrow. J&K Police chief Dilbag Singh termed the operation as “just another encounter”. “Both militants belonged to Hizb,” he told The Tribune. Around 4 am, a cordon and search operation was launched by J&K Police, Army’s 30 Rashtriya Rifles and 92 Battalion of CRPF at Shartgund Bala Qalamabad at Handwara, 100 km from Srinagar, after a “technical input” about the presence of two militants. continued on page 7 edit: militancy spillover Six of those convicted, one a woman, are common accused Hisar, October 11 in both cases registered on A district court today held November 19, 2014, at the controversial sect head Ram- Barwala police station. pal, 67, guilty of murdering The quantum of punishment six of his followers in both cases will be during a violent pronounced on Octostandoff with the ber 16 and 17. Rampal Haryana Police at was produced before Satlok Ashram in the judge in a Barwala town in 2014. makeshift court set up Additional District in Central Jail No. 1. and Sessions Judge The public prosecuRampal DR Chalia convicted tors, including district Rampal and 28 others, includ- attorney Mahinder Pal, ing four women, in two crimi- Narinder Kumar and Rajiv nal cases registered under Sardana, said the accused had Sections 302 (murder), 343 been held guilty on the basis (wrongful confinement) and of circumstantial evidence. continued on page 7 120-B (criminal conspiracy). Deepender Deswal Tribune News Service