India’s MAIDEN TRIALS FOR DEEP SEA EXPLORATION successful tuesdAY 18 India’s fourth generation deep-ocean capsule Matsya-6000 has successfully completed its wet testing at the L&T harbour near Chennai february, 2025 First step towards manned deep sea mission epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard The first manned harbour trial of Matsya-6000 was conducted by the National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai, between Jan 27 and Feb 12. It is the first step towards manned deep ocean exploration. In the next stage, the submersible will undergo shallow-water demonstrations at depths of up to 500 metres by 2025 X.com/TheMornStandard U S , R uss i a n meet in Saudi to normalise ties American and Russian officials will hold talks on improving their ties and negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine, officials said on Monday. Page 9 foot-in-mouth bjp, Congress lock horns over Sam Pitroda’s ‘China’ view Matsya-6000 Three A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS l New Delhi l J8.00 l Immediate measures to regulate passenger flow at 60 busy rly stations across India Holding areas, new SOPs to ease crowding at stns P r e e tha Nair & R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi AMID sharp criticism from the BJP, the Congress on Monday distanced itself from its leader Sam Pitroda’s remarks on China, and said his views do not belong to the party China remains . India’s foremost external security and economic challenge, Congress said. Pitroda, chairman of Indian Overseas Congress, in an interview to IANS news agency, said the perception of China as a threat to India is being blown out of proportion and that New Delhi should stop considering Beijing as an enemy . Clarifying the party’s stand, Jairam Ramesh, AICC general secretary (communications) said on X, “The views expressed by Sam Pitroda on China are most definitely NOT the views of the INC ... China remains our foremost foreign policy exter, nal security, as well as economic challenge. The INC has repeatedly raised questions on the I don’t know what Modi Govt’s apis the threat from proach to China, inChina. China is cluding the PM’s around... China is public clean chit to growing .. you got it on June 19, 2020.” to respect that At a press conference, BJP national Sam Pitroda in an spokesperson and interview to IANS MP Sudhanshu Trivedi said Pitroda’s remarks symbolise the mindset of the Congress and are in line with its leaders’ statements in support of China. “The ‘mohabbat ki dukan’ of the Congress is for anti-national forces, be it George Soros or China,” Trivedi said. In the past, too, Pitroda’s controversial comments have put Congress in a spot. In May last year, he resigned from his post for allegedly making racist comments during a podcast. However, he was reinstated after the 2024 elections. Congress had to scramble for cover after Pitroda endorsed a US model inheritance tax law in India last year. On the eve of Ram temple inauguration, Pitroda had said that unemployment and inflation are more real issues than Ram temple. The Congress party had distanced itself from his statement. b’desh 41 former cops arrested They are among 1,059 former police officers accused of committing atrocities during the 2024 student-led movement that led to the ouster of PM Sheikh Hasina, officials and media reports said on Monday. | P9 PAGES 12 devotees struggle at patna station Patna: Prayagrajbound passengers at Patna railway station on Monday faced a tall order while boarding trains. Eye-witnesses told local newspapers that passengers forced open bolted doors of Vikramshila Express and Magadh Express and occupied toilets, while many were seen hanging by the doors Vaishnaw rules out conspiracy Passengers try to board an overcrowded train amid a huge rush owing to Mahakumbh Mela, at Patna railway station on Monday | PTI RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR @ New Delhi IN the wake of the stampede at the New Delhi railway station on Saturday, the Ministry of Railways on Monday announced a slew of measures to prevent untoward incidents and identified 60 railway stations across the country that experience high footfalls. The railways will develop ‘permanent holding areas’ in these busy stations to manage crowds especially during peak times and strictly regulate their flow to the platforms. Passengers will have to wait in the holding areas and will be allowed to enter the platforms only as per the departure timing of their respective trains. This is to avoid overcrowding of station areas. In response to a query from this newspaper, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said railway experts will design access routes from holding areas to platforms in such a way that there is no scope for overcrowding. One such holding area was set up at the New Delhi railway station on Monday itself. The same will be extended to key stations in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and other states that regularly witness large crowds. The 60 stampede-prone stations have been identified based on the number of departing and originating passengers. They include Patna, Ara and Buxar in Bihar; Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh; and Surat in Gujarat, besides New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Coimbatore. The rail ministry is in the process of developing a comprehensive manual on crowd management by consolidating existing provisions and a standard operating procedure would be developed to manage passenger surges during festivals and special events. Also on the cards is a nationwide campaign to educate passengers on the dangers of sitting on stairs, which often leads to stampede-like situations during crowded times. “Feedback from all stakeholders, including vendors, would be taken into account, and related problems would be resolved within six months,” Vaishnaw added. p3 & 7 Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw Monday ruled out any conspiracy behind the New Delhi stampede and claimed there was also no extraordinary rush at the platforms at the time of the incident. “No conspiracy looks at the moment,” he said while interacting with mediapersons Curbs on platform tickets The Northern Railway on Monday announced that platform tickets would not be sold between 4 pm and 11 pm for the next one week at the station to ensure proper crowd management. Over 10 trains were diverted from Delhi owing to the restrictions on the New Delhi Railway Station ‘Broken lunch boxes and half-eaten food’ A S H I S H S R I V A S TA V A @ New Delhi On the night of February 15, the scene at the New Delhi railway station was regular: hundreds of trains arriving and departing, passengers waiting, and vendors selling their goods. However, within moments, tragedy struck in the form of a stampede, transfor ming the bustling and cheerful atmosphere into an unimaginable horror. When ‘Ambulance Man’ Himanshu Kalia and his wife Kalia, who were returning from AIIMS learned about the disaster, they rushed to the station to provide medical aid. However, what met them was a trail of destruction, cries for help, and haunting images of suffering. “We reached the station at around 10:30 pm, but the chaos was so overwhelming that it took us more than half an hour just to reach the site of the incident. A sea of people, pan- places of worship act case posted to april S u c hitra K a lya n M o ha n t y @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Monday deferred hearing to the first week of April on a batch of petitions in connection with the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991. The CJI-led bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice P V Sanjay Kumar expressed its displeasure that far too many intervention applications had been filed in the case. “We will not take up the Places of Worship Act matter today Too many petitions filed. List sometime in ... April. There is a limit to interventions being filed. Enough is enough,” the bench said, making it clear that the top court would not entertain any new petitions on the matter. The case will now be heard by a three-judge bench. Introduced during the Ayodhya movement, the Act seeks to protect status quo of all religious structures as they stood on August 15, 1947, and prohibits courts from entertaining cases which dispute the character of places of worship. The Congress, the RJD, CPI (M), and IUML sought intervention pleas. BJP’s Ashwini Upadhyay had challenged the law in 2021. icked and desperate, flooded the exits. We had to push through, struggling to reach those in need,” Kalia recalled. For the couple, the site of the incident was a heartwrenching spectacle. “Families were separated, belongings were scattered across the platform, and the air was filled with echoes of despair. People lay unconscious on the hard concrete, their bodies bearing the marks of the disaster. A mother was desperately shaking her unconscious child, trying to wake him up.” e x p r e ss r e a d Relief for Indian on UAE death row UAE authorities have notified the Indian embassy that there is no immediate execution scheduled for Shehzadi, from Uttar Pradesh, in connection with the death of an infant under her care. Shahzadi reached Abu Dhabi in 2021. P5 Cyber security module for exams With cyber commandos helping National Testing Agency, the MHA has asked Indian Cyber Security Coordination Centre (I4C) to work out an online module for all upcoming exams to oversee cyber security related aspects. “A man waded through the wreckage, calling out his daughter’s name. A young man clutched on to his injured head with one hand while shouting for his parents. Elderly passengers, their glasses shattered and their le gs wounded, struggled to stand. In front of us, someone got pushed from the footover bridge and landed on the hard concrete of the platform,” Kalia said, his voice trembling. For him, the most haunting sight was of broken lunch boxes and half-eaten food strewn across. “A half eaten apple in a cor ner forced me to think about the fate of the person who had it. Did he survive? Did he get a chance to fight for his life?” However, he said, “After witnessing the trauma, life will never be the same. Not for the survivors, me, or for those who lost their loved ones in the tragedy. A few lakhs of compensation can’t fill the void.” victims visited city to meet loved ones persons can be accommodated inside matsya-6000 to reach 6,000 metres below ocean by 2026 ■ The fortnight-long harbour trials, at a depth of two metres, assessed Matsya-6000’s performance Matsya-6000 is expected to reach a depth of 6,000 metres in the Indian Ocean by 2026. It is a part of the Centre’s Samudrayan project to study underwater resources and biodiversity | P7 ■ Gyanesh Kumar picked as CEC, Vivek Joshi is EC P r e e tha Nair @ New Delhi The selection committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday picked Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar as the new Chief Election Commissioner. A 1988-batch IAS officer from Kerala cadre, Gyanesh Kumar will replace Rajiv Kumar, who demits office on Tuesday . Haryana Cadre IAS officer Vivek Joshi has been appointed Election Commissioner. The announcement came shortly after a meeting of the selection committee also comprising Union home minister Amit Shah and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi. During the meeting, Rahul asked the government to defer the decision on the new CEC till February 19 when the Supreme Court will take up a petition challenging the constitution of the selection committee. He questioned the composition of the committee and the numerical advantage enjoyed by the ruling party . According to sources, Rahul left the meeting after submitting his dissent note and was not present when the shortlisted names were discussed. The meeting lasted 30 minutes and was held at the South Block office of the prime minister. The appointment of the new CEC has become a political flashpoint between the ruling party and the Opposition. sgpc chief resigns on ‘moral grounds’ Gyanesh Kumar Congress slams govt Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi said by removing the Chief Justice of India from the selection committee, the government has made it clear it wants to control, and not preserve the credibility of the EC. AICC treasurer Ajay Maken, said, “When the SC has indicated that they will hear the case on the constitution of the committee on the February 19, this meeting should have been postponed.” As per Section 7 of the Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023 to the law, the President will appoint the Chief Election Commission and other Election Commissioners on the recommendation of a selection committee headed by the prime minister and consisting of the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and a member of the Union Council of Ministers to be nominated by the prime minister. Kumar is the first CEC to be appointed under the new law. His term will run till January 26, 2029. Harjinder Singh Dhami quit with immediate effect on Monday, a day after Akal Takht Jathedar slammed dismissal of the Damdama Sahib jathedar. | P8 Poonam Devi had come to Delhi to meet her daughter. A kin of Devi said she and her husband from Bihar first travelled to the Maha Kumbh before coming to Delhi. She was returning to her village, but became a victim of stampede. tight security at station amid heavy rush Tight security was put in place at the railway station, with additional personnel from Delhi Police, RPF and GRP being deployed to manage heavy rush, which remained overcrowded on Monday. Shaken and Uprooted An uprooted tree at Jheel Park in Delhi’s Dhaula Kuan, the epicentre of the 4.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Delhi-NRC on Monday morning | Express | p4 Nepali student dies by suicide, KIIT on boil A sish M e hta @ Bhubaneswar A 20-year-old Nepali student’s suicide after allegedly being harassed by a fellow student on Sunday sparked tension at KIIT University and drew intervention from Kathmandu. While students held protests in the campus, which threatened to spill out of control, the university on Monday morning asked the Nepali students to vacate the campus. However, it revoked the decision later in the day as it invited diplomatic intervention by Nepal. Expressing concern, Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli took to social media to inform that two officers from the country’s embassy in New Delhi were dis- patched to Odisha. The victim, a third-year BTech student, ended her life by hanging at around 4.30 pm on Sunday when her roommates were away to attend the university’s annual fest. The students alleged that the victim had reached out to the international relations office in the university and reported the abuse but no action was initiated. They alleged the authorities asked them to vacate the hostels and dropped them off at Cuttack railway station without any support to travel back home. There are about 500 Nepali students studying in KIIT University. A post on Nepal PM’s official Facebook page said his gover nment was working through diplomatic channels. With the issue ballooning into a huge controversy, the KIIT issued a fresh notice in the evening, saying, “Students from Nepal who wish to continue to stay in the hostels are allowed to do so. The university authorities are encouraging the students to stay in the campus.” In the notice, the univer- sity said alternative arrangements for classes will be made once Nepali students, who have left, return to the campus. On Sunday the girl’s cousin, , a third-year BTech student, lodged a police complaint mentioning the accused was blackmailing his sister, which forced her to take the extreme step. The accused was later nabbed from Bhubaneswar airport. The accused had reportedly captured the victim’s objectionable photos and videos without her knowledge and was harassing her since the last few months, police said. Bhubaneswar DCP Pinak Mishra said that a mobile phone and laptop were seized from the accused possession.