22102024-TTB-01.qxd 22-10-2024 00:27 Page 1 13 CHANDIGARH | GURUGRAM | JALANDHAR | BATHINDA | VOL. 144 NO. 293 | 14 PAGES | ~5.00 | REGD. NO. CHD/0006/2024-2026 ESTABLISHED IN 1881  HARYANA WANGCHUK ENDS FAST AS CENTRE AGREES TO RESUME TALKS J&K /thetribunechd PAKISTAN LIMITS TERM OF CHIEF JUSTICE TO THREE YEARS WORLD GOLD, SILVER AT ALL-TIME USE OF DRONES, AI BY HIGH ON FESTIVE TERRORISTS REMAINS A DEMAND BUSINESS CHALLENGE: SHAH NATION tuesday | 22 october 2024 /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com India, China break ice over patrolling at LAC, agree to restore 2020 status Disengagement in eastern Ladakh complete: EAM | Agreement ahead of BRICS meet Ajay Banerjee Tribune News Service New Delhi, October 21 India on Monday announced that the issue of patrolling along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh had been resolved with China. A “patrolling arrangement” has been worked out and the “situation has gone back to the one in 2020” in terms of disengagement of the troops along the LAC. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri announced the development Docs call off strike after meeting Didi KOLKATA: Agitating junior doc- tors on Monday evening withdrew their weeks-long hunger strike over the RG Kar incident, hours after a meeting with West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. They also called off their proposed strike across hospitals in the state on Tuesday. “We are withdrawing our fast-unto-death and also Tuesday's shutdown in the health sector,” said a junior medic. BACK PAGE Blast: Khalistan link being probed NEW DELHI: The police are probing a potential Khalistan link to the bomb blast near a CRPF school in Rohini on Sunday. A Telegram channel post circulated on social media has pointed to the possible involvement of pro-Khalistani separatists, police sources said on Monday. In the wake of the incident, security measures across Delhi have been intensified. BACK PAGE HOPE PEACE WILL PREVAIL Hopefully, we’ll be able to come back to peace & tranquillity with this development. We have always said if you (China) disturb peace & tranquillity, how do you expect the rest of the relationship to go forward. S Jaishankar, EAM ❝ at separate events on Monday. Speaking in New Delhi, Jaishankar said, “We have reached an agreement with China on patrolling. With this disengagement, we have gone back to the 2020 situation. We can say that the disengagement process with China has been completed.” On patrolling, the minister said, “There are areas, which for various reasons after 2020, (China) had blocked... We had also blocked (some areas). We have reached an understanding that would allow patrolling.” Jaishankar said, “Obviously, we had to opt for counterdeployments, but along with it, we had been negotiating since September 2020.” He said, “Hopefully, we will be able to come back to peace and tranquillity with this development. We have always said that if you (China) disturb peace and tranquillity, how do you expect the rest of the relationship to go forward.” Earlier in the day, addressing the media ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Russia for the BRICS summit, Misri said, “An agreement has been reached on patrolling arrangements along the LAC in the IndiaChina border leading to disengagement and a resolution of the issues that had risen in the areas in 2020.” Misri said Indian and Chinese diplomatic and military negotiators had remained in close contact. Answering a question, Misri said, “We have reached an agreement... and this will eventually lead to resolution of issues.” The armies of the two sides are locked in a standoff continued on page 10 2 ultras came, sprayed bullets on workers GANDERBAL Employees of infra project attacked in Valley for first time Gurdaspur man among victims Adil Akhzer Gagangeer (Ganderbal), Oct21 On a quite Sunday evening, residents of Gagangeer village, located close to the famous tourist destination Sonamarg in central Kashmir, heard the sounds of gunshots that most took for bursting of crackers inside the base camp of Apco Infratech, a company that recently completed the construction of the Z-Morh tunnel. The shocking truth soon dawned on them as several labourers ran in panic towards the main road — the camp was under attack by militants and seven persons, including a doctor, had been gunned down. Sources said two militants appeared to be involved in the attack and both were heavily armed. “The attackers had covered their faces with shawls. They went on spraying bullets at the workers at Lt Governor Manoj Sinha meets kin of Shashi Bhushan Abrol, who was killed in the terrorist attack in J&K’s Ganderbal. PTI five different places inside the camp,” said an official. Recalling the distressing moment, Ali Mohammed, a local resident, said, “At first, we thought it was just crackers going off. But when we saw people running out from the camp, we realised something terrible had happened. The firing continued for some time, following which the security forces arrived and took charge of the area.” continued on page 10 edit: Ganderbal shocker Gurdaspur, October 21 Gurmeet Singh (47), hailing from Sakhowal village in Gurdaspur district, was among the seven persons gunned down by militants in Ganderbal district of J&K on Sunday night. A doctor and six workers were killed when the terrorists opened fire at a camp housing workers of a private company. Gurmeet had been working in the company for the past two decades. His father Dharam Singh had retired from the Army about 15 years ago. The deceased’s family is on the way to the site to bring Gurmeet’s body. — TNS A mandi in Jalandhar bursting at the seams with paddy stock due to tardy lifting. PHOTO: SARABJIT SINGH Punjab woos millers with sops to combat paddy glut Ruchika M Khanna Tribune News Service Chandigarh, October 21 Even as farmer unions continued to hold dharnas at 51 places — 25 toll plazas and outside residences of 26 politicians — over tardy paddy procurement, the Punjab Government has started wooing rice millers with sops to bring them on board for milling paddy. The Bhagwant Mann government has given them a slew of relaxations, which has led to a total of 2,000 millers signing agreements to mill paddy. However, a majority of them (remaining 3,500) are still averse to milling, mainly the PR-126 and hybrid paddy varieties. With 2,000 millers on board, the lifting of paddy has picked up a little speed. Today alone, 1.15 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of paddy was lifted from mandis, though 22.40 LMT still remains unlifted. Till date, 30.88 LMT of paddy has arrived in the mandis. Of this, 27.68 LMT has been purchased and a total of 5.28 LMT lifted till date, which is 2,000 sign agreements to mill paddy RELAXATIONS OFFERED ■ Reopening of portal for registra- tion of rice mills ■ New rice mills to get maximum free paddy allocation equivalent to that of existing mills ■ Non-refundable fee for milling under the Release Order Scheme reduced from ~75 per tonne to ~15 per tonne ■ Rice mills, which start lifting from October 22, to get a refund of release order fee ■ 20% increase in free/linked paddy to be allocated to mills in six border districts ■ Sister concerns of rice mills, whose stacks were rejected by the FCI in 2022-23, allowed to mill paddy now if they had delivered the entire stock in 2023-24 just 17 per cent of the arrival. The problem is dominant in the mandis where the PR-126 and hybrid varieties are being brought by farmers. Harbans Rosha, a commission agent in Khanna, said 45 shellers in the vicinity of the grain market had started lift- Punjab nod to trial of dera chief in 3 sacrilege cases Jupinderjit Singh Tribune News Service Chandigarh, October 21 The Punjab Government has given sanction to prosecute Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the three main sacrilege incidents of 2015 that had caused outrage among the Sikhs, leading to protests, clashes and the death of two Demolition work underway at the Sanjauli mosque in Shimla. LALIT KUMAR Work on to raze illegal parts of Shimla masjid Tribune News Service Shimla, October 21 The demolition of an illegal portion of a mosque at Sanjauli in Shimla has started. Following the orders of the Shimla Municipal Commissioner’s court to demolish the top three floors of the mosque, which were found illegal, the Sanjauli Masjid Committee started the demolition today. “We have received the goahead from the Waqf Board. Accordingly, we have hired labourers for the demolition,” said Latif Mohammed, president of the committee, WAQF GIVES GO-AHEAD We have received the goahead from the Waqf Board. Accordingly, we have hired labourers for the demolition. ❝ Latif Mohammed, MASJID COMMITTEE CHIEF while overseeing the demolition process. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said it was probably the first example where the minority community was demolishing the illegal structure itself to maintain communal harmony and brotherhood in the continued on page 10 Govt mulls bomb hoax law, callers to be put on no-fly list NEW DELHI: The government is planning legislative action to deal with bomb threats to airlines, including placing the perpetrators in the no-fly list, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said on Monday and asserted that efforts were being made to tackle the situation without compromising passengers’ safety and security. Amendments are being proposed to the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act (SUASCA), 1982, whereby the perpetrators could be arrested and a probe initiated without a court order for offences when an aircraft is on the ground. Nearly 100 flights have received bomb threats in a week. INSIDE protesters in police firing. The sanction comes three days after the Supreme Court vacated a stay on the prosecution of the controversial dera head. The Punjab Government had moved the Supreme Court seeking vacation of the stay, allowed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in March. The dera head is already convicted in a rape and murder case in Haryana. Three days before the October 5 Assembly election in Haryana, he was released on a 20-day parole by the BJP government. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, who holds the Home portfolio, approved the sanction on Monday evening. The prosecution sanction was caught in legal hurdles as a four-member special investigation team (SIT), led by ADGP SPS Parmar, indicted him in July 2022 as one of the main conspirators in the sacrilege cases. He was among the 12 persons, mainly dera followers, indicted for the three sacrilege incidents by the SIT. These cases were registered under Section 295 of the IPC, which warrants sanction for prosecution by continued on page 10 Transport Minister Vij refuses to be ‘taken for ride’suspends staffer on Day1for unclean loo , Nitish Sharma Tribune News Service Ambala, October 21 Known for surprise checks and impromptu stopovers to gather first-hand information on his departments’ working, Haryana Energy, Labour and Transport Minister Anil Vij got on with his job on the first day after being allocated the portfolios. He suspended an official, directed the Transport Commissioner to constitute a committee to fix responsibility for ill-maintained bus stands and travelled till Samalkha in a bus while his official vehicle followed. In Karnal, he ordered registration of an FIR for irregularities at the bus stand. Beginning his day in Ambala Cantonment, he inaugurated a foot overbridge and later inspected the bus stand where he pulled up officials for mismanagement and encroachment by shopkeepers. Finding several shortcomings, including ill-maintained toilets and lack of sanitation around the drinking water area, he issued instructions to suspend station supervisor Ajit Singh, asking him to either stay in the ill-maintained toilet for five hours or face suspension. He reprimanded Roadways, Ambala, GM Ashwani Dogra for mismanagement. Even during continued on page 10 c m y b ing paddy. “Fifty per cent of the total paddy that has come here has been lifted,” he said. The BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) has been holding dharnas at toll plazas and outside residences of three BJP leaders, including Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu, besides 23 AAP leaders. Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Prahlad Joshi has convened a meeting of the rice millers on Wednesday. “We have received a call to meet the minister and resolve the pending issues of the rice millers,” said Bharat Bhushan Binta, president, Punjab Rice Industry Association. He said their two most important demands were creation of space to store the paddy of this kharif season and reduce the out turn ratio for milling the PR-126 and hybrid varieties. It is learnt that the Centre has asked the IIT, Kharagpur, to conduct trials on the out turn ratio of the varieties, if it is less than the requisite 67 per cent. As road blockades by farm unions continued, continued on page 10 Month on, Centre yet to clear Justice Sandhawalia’s name as HP CJ PratibhaChauhan Tribune News Service Shimla, October 21 Over a month has passed since the Supreme Court Collegium recommended Justice GS Sandhawalia’s elevation as the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court, but uncertainty prevails as the Centre is yet to notify his appointment. In fact, the communication to seek the Himachal CM’s mandatory concurrence for Justice Sandhawalia’s elevation has not been received by RECOMMENDATION MADE BY APEX COURT COLLEGIUM Transport Minister Anil Vij travels on a Haryana Roadways bus on Monday. the state government, indicating the Centre has not yet complied with this binding requirement. Meanwhile, the Centre has appointed the senior-most judge of the HC, Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan, as the Acting CJ, further signalling a delay in Justice Sandhawalia’s elevation. The post fell vacant after CJ Rajiv Shakdher retired on October 18 upon reaching the age of superannuation. CJ Shakdher’s tenure, too, was brief following a prolonged delay in notifying his appointment. continued on page 10