02012023-TTC-01.qxd 1/2/2023 12:33 AM Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 7 NO. 2 | 12 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2021-2023 ESTABLISHED IN 1881 BCCI SHORTLISTS 20 FOR WC, ROHIT RETAINED AS CAPTAIN SPORT /thetribunechd PRIORITISE WELFARE OF SMALL, MARGINAL FARMERS INFOCUS CRPF VEHICLE ATTACKED IN SRINAGAR, CIVILIAN INJURED J&K JAISHANKAR, AUSTRIAN MINISTER DISCUSS BILATERAL TIES BACK PAGE monday | 2 january 2023 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com Case lodged, Haryana minister sheds sports portfolio Chandigarh Police set up SIT to probe complaint filed by woman coach | Bid to malign me, claims Sandeep Tribune News Service FIR FILED UNDER SEC 354, 354A An ambulance carrying victims at GMC, Rajouri. TRIBUNE PHOTO Terror attack in Rajouri, 4 dead Chandigarh, January 1 Haryana minister Sandeep Singh, who has been booked in a sexual harassment case, on Sunday gave up his sports portfolio, saying he has taken the step on moral grounds. The development came a day after the Chandigarh Police registered an FIR against the 36-year-old BJP leader and former captain of the Indian hockey team The FIR against Sandeep Singh has been registered in Chandigarh under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force against woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A (sexual harassment), 354B (assault or criminal force with intent to disrobe), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC. on charges of sexual harassment and wrongful confinement on a complaint of a woman junior athletics coach from Haryana. A former Olympian and first-time MLA from Pehowa, RETAINS PRINTING & STATIONERY MINISTRY Haryana minister Sandeep Singh, who also holds the charge of printing and stationery department, hasn’t resigned from the Cabinet. He continues to be in-charge of the stationery department. Sandeep, however, has dismissed the accusations as baseless. He said, “An atmosphere is being created to tar- COACH MEETS VIJ The complainant (woman coach) met Home Minister Vij in Ambala on Sunday. “I am hopeful of getting justice in the case,” she told the media after the meeting. Vij later said: “Justice will be done. Will meet the CM and Sandeep.” nish my image. A junior coach of the sports department has levelled allegations that are baseless. I want them to be properly investigated. The investigation is anyway going on.” He added, “Till the report (of investigation) comes out, I hand over the charge of the sports department to the CM (Manohar Lal Khattar) on moral grounds. When the truth comes out, the CM may take further decision.” Meanwhile, the woman coach met Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij, who said continued on page 9 Arjun Sharma Jammu/Srinagar, January 1 Four persons were killed and at least five injured in a suspected terror attack in Dhangri village of Rajouri district late Sunday evening. Doctors and other medical staff were alerted and Army and police teams rushed to the site. There was panic at Government Medical College, Rajouri, where the victims were brought in ambulances. Doctors said some of the injured had sustained multiple bullet injuries. Two men in a car reportedly opened fire on three houses in the village. Eyewitnesses claimed they were carrying Three houses in Dhangri village targeted; search operation launched Gross GST collection in Dec up 15% to ~1.49L cr Tribune News Service THE DECEASED:Deepak Kumar (23) | Satish Kumar (45) | Pritam Lal (57) | Shiv Pal (32), son of Pritam Lal THOSE INJURED: Pawan Kumar (38) | Rohit Pandit (27) | Saroj Bala (35), wife of Satish Kumar | Ridham Sharma (17), son of Satish Kumar | Sushil Kumar (32) rifles. Additional DirectorGeneral of Police (Jammu) Mukesh Singh said: “An incident of firing allegedly by two armed men was reported in Dhangri village, 8 km from continued on page 9 BOOSTING MORALE: Chief of the Army Staff General Manoj Pande celebrates New Year with soldiers at a high-altitude snow-bound area along the Line of Control in J&K’s Kupwara sector. ANI Just 0.94% int’l arrivals test positive for Covid-19 New Delhi, January 1 The results of 2 per cent random testing of international arrivals which began in late December reveal that the Covid-19 positivity rate is currently at a low of 0.94 per cent. So far, 1,716 international flights have been screened and 5,666 samples taken. “Only 54 samples have come back positive, which is 0.94 per 500 SAMPLES SENT FOR GENOME SEQUENCING ■ To detect potential mutation in 1,716 FLIGHTS SCREENED 5,666 SAMPLES TAKEN 54 TURN POSITIVE cent positivity rate,” a Health Ministry source said. The data was shared on Saturday at a subvariant BF.7, 500 samples sent for genome sequencing ■ 4 cases of BF.7, which is behind Chinese surge, detected in India ■ Genome sequencing to reveal if circulating virus more virulent than Delta variant WHO SEEKS MORE INFO FROM CHINA BACK PAGE high-level review meeting of Covid status taken by PK Mishra, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister. Travellers arriving from China, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Passport authorities cannot act as mouthpiece of CID, says High Court Raps them for denying passport to Mehbooba’s mother Samaan Lateef CM Sukhvinder Sukhu with Prabodh Saxena on Sunday. Saxena Himachal’s new Chief Secretary Shimla, January 1 Prabodh Saxena, a 1990-batch IAS officer, has been appointed as the Chief Secretary of Himachal Pradesh. He replaces RD Dhiman, who retired on Saturday and has been appointed as the State Chief Information Commissioner. Born in 1965 in Uttar Pradesh, Saxena is a graduate in economics and law. He was holding the charge of Additional Chief Secretary (Finance, Planning, Economics and Statistics). Saxena has been elevated ahead of five officers senior to him — Ram Subhag Singh (a 1987-batch officer), Nisha continued on page 9 Srinagar, January 1 The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court came down heavily on the passport authorities for denying passport to former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s mother, saying the passport office cannot act as “mouthpiece of the Crime Investigation Department (CID)”. Justice MA Chowdhary, NOTHING ADVERSE RECORDED ❝ There is not an iota of allegation against the petitioner that may point out to any security concerns. Justice MA Chowdhary while hearing the petition of Mehbooba’s mother Gulshan Nazir, said it appeared there was no ground to refuse her request for the reissuing of passport. He directed the Passport Officer to start the entire process of issuance of passport afresh and “pass orders thereon within six weeks.” The High Court set aside the orders of refusal of passport to Nazir, insisting that the police verification report (PVR) could not override the statutory provisions of Section 6 of the Passport Act, continued on page 9 Japan and Hong Kong started uploading their RT-PCR negative reports on Air Suvidha portal from today. Revised travel guidelines issued on December 29 mandate these travellers to undergo mandatory pre-departure RT-PCR testing (to be conducted not longer than 72 hours prior to undertaking the journey). continued on page 9 SC verdict on pleas against DeMo today New Delhi, January 1 The Supreme Court will on Monday pronounce its verdict on 58 petitions challenging the Centre’s November 8, 2016, decision to demonetise currency notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denomination. The verdict will be pronounced by a five-judge Constitution Bench led by Justice S Abdul Nazeer, which had on December 7 directed the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to furnish records relating to demonetisation in a sealed cover. Justice Nazeer is scheduled to retire on January 4. The Bench, which also included Justice BR Gavai, Justice AS Bopanna, Justice V Ramasubramanian and Justice BV Nagarathna, had heard detailed arguments from the Attorney General for the Centre, senior counsel Jaideep Gupta for the RBI and senior advocates P Chidambaram, Shyam Divan and others for the petitioners. According to the case list continued on page 9 New Delhi, January 1 The gross GST revenue collected during December was Rs 1,49,507 crore, which was 15 per cent higher than the collections in the same month last year. The monthly GST revenues were more than Rs 1.4 lakh crore for 10 straight months in a row, noted an official news release. It was about Rs 3,000 crore more than the gross GST revenue of Rs 1.46 lakh crore collected in November but was unable to touch the festivalseason high of Rs 1.52 lakh crore in October. The revenue from the import of goods was 8 per cent higher and that from domestic transaction (including import of services) was 18 per cent higher than the revenues from these sources during the same month last year. In November, 7.9 crore e-way bills were generated, which was significantly higher than 7.6 crore e-way bills generated IN BRIEF CID seizes burnt remains of Russian nationals BHUBANESWAR: The CID seized burnt remnants of two Russian nationals from Rayagada cremation ground for a forensic examination as part of its probe into the mystery over the twin deaths. BACK PAGE ISRO ready to launch Gaganyaan by 2024 NEW DELHI: The government on Sunday announced that the Indi- an Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was ready to launch India’s first Atmanirbhar human flight ‘Gaganyaan’ by 2024. IANS Plea in HC, R’sthan MLAs withdraw resignations NEW DELHI: With the Rajasthan HC set to hear a plea over ‘inaction’ on resignations filed by 92 Congress MLAs, all loyalists of CM Gehlot, the latter have started withdrawing the resignations. BACK PAGE Prachanda opens airport built with China’s help KATHMANDU: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ on Sunday inaugurated a regional international airport built with Chinese assistance in western Nepal's tourist hub of Pokhara. INSIDE Punjab’s Govt Ayurvedic College denied nod for admissions Ravneet Singh Tribune News Service Patiala, January 1 The failure of successive governments in Punjab to recruit regular teachers at the Government Ayurvedic College, Patiala, has resulted in the institute not being able to admit students for the Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) course this year. The Union Health Ministry and the Department of Ayush have denied the required permissions even as the first round of counselling for the admissions for the course had already taken place. The students, thus, are left to choose from among private colleges that charge four times the fee for the same course. Among NO REGULAR FACULTY ■ Permission denied by Union Health Ministry, Dept of Ayush ■ First round of counselling for BAMS course had been held ■ Course fee ~50,000 against ~2 lakh in private colleges the 16 such colleges in Punjab, the Patiala institute was the only one in the govern- ment sector. It’s the fourth time in the past decade that the college has been denied permission to admit students. Previously, the admissions were barred in 2011, 2012 and 2013 due to lack of faculty and other lapses. In the last few years, the college was allowed permission to run the course on the condition that the anomalies would be removed. The students at the institute would have to pay Rs 50,000 for the BAMS course compared to Rs 2 lakh charged by private colleges. “This is the fourth time the college has been denied the permission to run the course. It’s among the premier institutes of Punjab and nothing but the apathy of the successive continued on page 9 PUNJAB INTAKE UP ■ GST collection from Punjab rose to ~1,732 cr in Dec against ~1,669 cr in Nov and ~1,573 cr in Dec 2021 ■ In Haryana, it fell to ~6,678 cr from ~6,769 cr in Nov and an impressive ~7,662 cr in Oct ■ Chandigarh collections rose to ~218 cr from ~175 cr in Nov and ~203 cr in Oct ■ Himachal intake rose to ~708 cr in Dec after falling to ~672 cr in Nov in October. Compared to last month, the intake rose in Himachal, Punjab and Chandigarh but fell in Haryana, Delhi and J&K. Compared to December 2021, the collections in December 2022 rose in all north Indian states barring J&K. continued on page 9 Low winter rainfall may affect yield of rabi crops Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 1 With the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) predicting comparatively low rainfall in Northwest this winter, the yield of rabi crops, especially wheat grown mainly in Punjab and Haryana, is likely to be affected. According to the weather department, the rainfall from January to March is most likely to be below normal of the long period average (LPA). The January-March LPA over the Northwest, based on data from 1971 to 2020, is about 184.3 mm. “If rainfall is indicated to be low, then it means that western disturbance activity is likely to be low. When there are fewer western disturbances, north-westerly winds may continue to blow over certain parts of northwest India,” IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said. The forecast has left farmers, particularly wheat growers, worried. Devinder Sharma, an agriculture expert, DENSE FOG OVER NEXT THREE DAYS ■ Cold wave returns, dense fog over U’khand, Punjab, Haryana & UP over next three days ■ Min temperatures likely to fall by 2-4 degrees Celsius over Northwest in next two days ■ 86% below normal rainfall (long period average) over Northwest during January-March said winter rain was crucial for all rabi crops. The lack of rain, he said, would affect the growth of wheat plant, especially its stem.