02082024-TTC-01.qxd 8/2/2024 12:31 AM Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 8 NO. 213 | 18 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881 HAMAS MILITARY CHIEF KILLED IN JULY, SAYS ISRAEL WORLD /thetribunechd TERRORIST HIDEOUT BUSTED IN RAJOURI, ARMS SEIZED J&K GST COLLECTION SOARS INDIA EXTENDS $300 MN 10.3% TO ~1.82 TRILLION CREDIT LINE TO IN JULY BUSINESS VIETNAM BACK PAGE friday | 2 august 2024 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com MONSOON MAYHEM49IN NORTH Cloudbursts claim four lives in Himachal; missing Nationaldisaster: RahulonSouth’s Wayanadtragedy Tribune News Service 3 DISTRICTS HIT Shimla, August 1 Four persons were killed while 49 are reported missing in three separate incidents of cloudburst in the Rampur area of Shimla, Nirmand in Kullu and Chauhar Valley of Mandi late last night. A total of 36 persons still remained untraceable from the Samej Khud near the Jhakri area of Rampur in Shimla district, where 22 houses were washed away by the gushing waters following a cloudburst at 12.15 am. “A rescue operation is being undertaken in an 85-km area, which has been divided into six parts,” said Shimla DC Anupam Kashyap, while monitoring the operation. The number of people swept away is higher as the cloudburst took place when people were fast asleep. One person died while nine are missing in the Nirmand area of Kullu, and of the 10 missing in Chauhar Valley, three bodies have been recovered. Rescue operations have been launched to trace those missing with the help of the NDRF SDRF police, local , , administration and villagers. Massive damage has been continued on page 10 MAP NOT TO SCALE Rescue officials make an assessment following a cloudburst in the Rampur area of Shimla district on Thursday. PTI 14 die in U’khand;1.5K on Kedarnath route rescued Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 1 Torrential rain across parts of Uttarakhand claimed 14 lives, including three from a single family, and left several injured, stranded and missing. Three members of a family — Bhanu Prasad (50), his wife Neelam Devi (45) and son Vipin (28) — were killed in a landslide that buried their roadside cafe after a cloudburst at Jakhanyali village of continued on page 10 11 PERISH IN NCR Heavy rain in Delhi on Wednesday evening claimed the lives of 11 persons in the National Capital Region. The rainfall led to severe waterlogging in various areas. NDRF personnel during a rescue operation in Kedarnath on Thursday. PTI States can sub-classify SCs, STs for quota: Apex court Mann game for Paris trip, only if Modi allows Jyoti Malhotra Tribune News Service Chandigarh, August 1 Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is hoping he can fly to Paris in a day or so to encourage and root for the Indian hockey team — a large part of which are players from Punjab — that will play its first quarterfinal match in the ongoing Olympics on August 4. The catch is that the Chief Minister is still waiting for political clearance from the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi, an essential prerequisite for travel by toplevel political leaders. In an exclusive conversation with The Tribune today, Mann said he wanted to fly to Paris on the night of August 3, so that he could reach in time to watch the Indian hockey team play the following day. “I want to encourage and cheer for the team. As many as 10 out of the 19 hockey players are from Punjab. I am so proud of continued on page 10 Satya Prakash NOT ON GOVT’S WHIMS EXCLUDE CREAMY LAYER By a 6:1 majority, a Constitution Bench, however, said such sub-classification could not be based on the whims of governments. A state must evolve a policy for identifying the creamy layer even among the SCs and STs so as to exclude it from the benefit of quota, the SC said. At present, the creamy layer criterion is applicable only to OBCs in order to exclude them from quota benefits, in terms of the 1992 nine-judge Constitution Bench verdict in the Indira Sawhney case. BACK PAGE similarly situated for the purpose of the law. The court, while testing the validity of sub-classification, must determine whether the class is a homogenous integrated continued on page 11 edit: quota within quota 3 NHAI projects axed in Punjab: Gadkari in Parl UGC: Varsities can conductexamtofill leftoverCUET seats acquisition hurdles, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari confirmed that the projects had been terminated in Punjab due to non-availability of the requisite land. On Sahney’s further query whether the ministry had sent any proposal to the Punjab Government to take steps to continue the projects, Gadkari informed the Upper continued on page 10 New Delhi, August 1 Central universities can conduct their own entrance exams or admit students on the basis of marks in the qualifying exam if seats remain vacant in undergraduate and postgraduate courses after admissions through CUET, the UGC announced on Thursday. Keeping the seats vacant for an entire academic year was a waste of resources, it said. — TNS Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 1 Holding that the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the Scheduled Tribes (STs) were not homogenous groups, the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that states could subclassify the SCs and the STs to ensure greater reservation for some SC/ST groups over others in public employment and admission to government-run educational institutions. “Article 14 of the Constitution permits sub-classification of a class, which is not Nitin Jain Tribune News Service Ludhiana, August 1 The termination of three national highway projects in Punjab echoed in Parliament, with Rajya Sabha MP Vikramjit Singh Sahney raising the issue on Wednesday. Responding to his unstarred question whether the NHAI had, indeed, scrapped the projects costing Rs 3,303 crore over land Rao Inderjit stings own govt over Gurugram landfill Sumedha Sharma Tribune News Service Rao Inderjit Singh during a visit to the Bandhwari landfill on Thursday. Gurugram, August 1 Continuing with his rebellious stance against the state government on civic issues in Gurugram, BJP MP and MoS Rao Inderjit Singh has threatened to lead a protest in case a landfill in the city is not cleared by December. Rao, who visited the Bandhwari landfill along with MCG officials today and New Delhi, August 1 Former Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi today termed Tuesday’s landslides in the Kerala district a “national disaster” and sought a comprehensive action plan even as the administration said 190 persons had been confirmed dead and more than 200 missing. The deceased included 27 children and 76 women, and 107 bodies have been identified. “In all, 234 persons were admitted to hospitals,” said an official. Rahul and his sister Priyanka Vadra reached Wayanad today. Union Minister George Kurien continued to oversee rehabilitation efforts, having landed two days ago. Meanwhile, the Kerala Government today passed an order restraining scientists from sharing opinions or study reports with the media on Wayanad.— TNS reviewed the ongoing waste treatment work there, was approached by local villagers. They called out officials, saying that they were lying about the progress of work. The villagers threatened to launch a dharna over the issue. Rao asked them to wait till December, saying that if the needful wasn’t done by then, he would himself lead the protest. continued on page 10 Today’s issue is of 18 pages, including four-page Jalandhar Tribune. c m y b Bronze Bullet Swapnil Kusale bags India’s first Oly medal in 50m rifle 3 positions event ROHIT MAHAJAN IN PARIS S WAPNIL Kusale, India’s newest Olympic hero, speaks like a Zen master — the biggest day of his life, yet his mien is that of a man who’s had a banal day, as if picking up an Olympic medal is part of his weekly routine. It’s not routine, of course, because Kusale today became the first Indian to win a medal, a bronze, in a 3 Positions category (50 metres) at the Olympic Games. Soon after winning the bronze, Kusale said his eyes were unseeing his competitors, his ears unhearing PARIS 2024 MEDAL TALLY INDIA 00 00 03 03 SINDHU BOWS OUT the cheers for them. “I did not see the scoreboard. I did not see how the others were scoring, how I was doing,” he said. “I could hear the sounds, the scores and cheers for the others, but I was ignoring that… Maine socha, sunna hi nahin hai… I was not going to listen to continued on page 10