NEW DELHI 02 MARCH 2025 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 24  facebook/TheMorningStandard  X.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in PLUS: 12 PAGES Not Just Vindaloo by the Bay MAGAZINE EXCLUSIVE VOICES Getting Under Your Skin PARENTING A BEAUTIFUL MIND POLLUTION No fuel for vehicles over 15 years after March 31 I F R A H M U F T I @ New Delhi TO contain pollution levels, the Delhi government has decided that vehicles older than 15 years will not be provided fuel after March 31. Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa made the announcements following marathon meetings with officials to discuss measures for combating air pollution in the capital. The officials deliberated on diseases possibly caused by pollution. Sirsa slammed the previous government for failing to effectively address water and air pollution, stating, “The funds were unutilised.” He underlined that there is currently no comprehensive strategy for addressing vehicles that enter the city from outside. He said, “We have decided to stop providing fuel to vehicles older than 15 years after March 31, 2025.” A team will be formed to identify these vehicles. Additionally the govern, ment plans to rope in students from Delhi University in a plantation drive. Authorities are also working to identify organisations contributing to pollution and directing them to monitor their emissions using technology. The installation of smog guns will be made mandatory for high-rises, hotels, commercial complexes, and Delhi airport. This initiative follows a report from the CAG, which indicated that of the 47.51 lakh ‘End of life’ vehicles that needed to be deregistered during 2018-21, only 2.98 lakh were actually deregistered. This represents a small fraction (6.27%) of the ELVs, leaving a staggering 93.73% (44.53 lakh) still registered as of March 2021. GST COLLECTIONS AT `1.84 LAKH CRORE Gross GST revenue rose 9.1% in February. Central GST stood at `35,204 cr, State GST `43,704 cr, Integrated GST `90,870 cr & compensation cess `13,868 cr | P10 From Ashes to Ashes by the River Anand Neelakantan Ravi Shankar Devdutt Pattanaik Preeti Shenoy Dinesh Singh Prabhu Chawla Shankkar Aiyar Namrata Joshi Through a Prism of Prejudice Tracing the Music in His Memories AMMA SPEAKS From Law to Limelight Free movement `60 cr land procured 12 yrs ago in Manipur from for old age homes unused: CAG March 8: Shah A S H I S H S R I V A S TA V A @ New Delhi Union home minister directs authorities to take action against those obstructing roads PAST TENS E April 20, 2023: Manipur HC asks state govt to consider Meitei’s demand for ST status April 28: Total shutdown against govt, internet services clamped May 3-4, 2023: Ethnic violence erupts between Meitei and Kuki-Zo tribal communities, curfew imposed in 8 districts; hundreds of houses, churches, temples torched May 5-6: Centre invokes Art 355; Death toll rises to 54 June 19: Video on social media shows two Kuki women paraded naked, sparks outrage, leads to further violence July 20: PM calls for peace Aug 7: Kuki People’s Alliance withdraws support to Biren Singh govt April 27, 2024: Two CRPF personnel killed May 3: Govt says 221 killed, 60,000 displaced in ethnic violence Feb 9, 2025: After 20 months of violence, N Biren Singh resigns as CM Feb 13: President’s rule February 27: Governor gives ultimatum to everyone holding illegal and looted arms to surrender them; the date has now been extended to March 6 300 Weapons surrendered by the public 250 people who were killed in 21 months of ethnic violence 2027 When tenure of the state assembly, which has been put under suspended animation, ends M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi MHA, Ar my and Manipur administration. UNION home minister Amit Officials were also asked to Shah on Saturday directed the take appropriate measures to security forces in Manipur to make Manipur drug-free by remove all road blocks by dismantling narcotic trade netMarch 8 to ensure free move- works in the state, a Ministry ment of people. of Home Affairs release said. While chairing a review Shah also directed that the meeting on the violence-hit Ma- fencing work on both sides of nipur, which is under Presi- the designated entry points dent’s rule, Shah also directed along Manipur’s international the state authorities to take border be completed fast. strict action against anyone atThe meeting was held in the tempting to obstruct free move- wake of an ultimatum issued ment on the roads. by Governor Bhalla on The high-level reFebruary 20, urging view meeting—the those in possession of ilfirst since the imposilegal and looted weaption of President’s ons to surrender them rule—was convened to within seven days. By discuss the strategy to February 27, more than restore peace and nor300 weapons were surmalcy in the northrendered, mostly in the eastern state mired in Valley districts. As All cases of ethnic violence since many as 246 firearms extortion to be May 2023. were turned in by the dealt with The meeting was atMeitei group Arambai harshness... tended by Manipur Tenggol. Drug cartels to Governor Ajay Kumar Later, in response to be uprooted to Bhalla and Union build drug-free requests from several Home Secretary groups, the governor exManipur Govind Mohan. The tended the deadline unAmit Shah other top officials who til 4 pm on March 6. attended include DiLarge numbers of rector of the Intelligence Bu- weapons had been looted from reau; Deputy Chief of the police stations across Manipur Army Staff; Army Commander during the initial phase of ethof the Eastern Command; and nic violence. Since then, the Directors General of Border Centre has been working to reSecurity Force, Central Reserve trieve these arms as part of its Police Force, and Assam Rifles, broader strategy to stabilise besides senior officers of the the region. EXPRESS READ Goldy Brar gang member injured in ‘encounter’ Kashmir highway closed for 2nd day as road sinks For expenses above 1 cr seek permission: Govt A gangster of the Goldy Brar gang was injured following an exchange of fire with Punjab police after he attempted to escape from police custody on the Zirakpur-Ambala highway in Mohali on Saturday A portion of a road was damaged outside Peerah tunnel following landslides, in J&K’s Ramban on Saturday. The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway remained closed for the second consecutive day. The Delhi government has directed its departments and agencies to seek the permission of the finance department for any expenditure of more than `1 crore, officials said on Saturday. DESPITE spending nearly `60 crore, no actual progress has been made on the construction of hospitals, clinics, and retirement homes in the national capital, a recent report from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has revealed. The health and social welfare departments acquired multiple plots of land for these projects, but after more than a decade, the land remains vacant, depriving underprivileged populations of essential healthcare and social support. The CAG’s audit highlighted at least 15 instances of mismanagement in the health department, which resulted in `57 crore projects lying idle even after 12 years. In nine cases, the department paid `51.5 crore to land-owning agencies for land between January 2012 and March 2015. In another six cases, the health department allocated `4.85 crore to the PWD between 2012 and 2015 for the construc- tion of polyclinics. The department never followed up on payment status, leading to a halt in the process. Only in 2022 did the PWD receive a single payment, and the government has promised to make regular follow-ups to resolve the situation. Due to the lack of coordination between the health department and PWD, none of the allotted plots have been used for health facilities, even though the department has had them for up to 15 years. This negligence has left Del- hi’s residents without muchneeded medical services. “The government was unable to utilise any of the lands for establishing hospitals and dispensaries, despite having them in its possession for periods ranging between six to 15 years.… lackadaisical approach of the department led to idling of plots meant for augmentation of health care facilities at various locations of Delhi, thereby depriving people of Delhi with the much needed medical facilities,” it observed. The Social Welfare Department (DSW) faced similar delays in constructing Old Age Homes (OAHs). Despite acquiring plots of land at Sarita Vihar, Chhattarpur, and Geeta Colony in 2013, construction never began. The DSW failed to pursue the project effectively, submitting incomplete or rejected plans and drawings, leading to a loss of `2.92 crore. The delay has denied Delhi’s elderly and infirm residents the social support they desperately need. FIROOZA Amiri remembers January 30, 2025 vividly Among . the 19 women cricketers who left Afghanistan after the Taliban took over in 2021, Amiri was watching her teammates take the field at the Junction Oval, Melbourne in Australia. It was an exhibition match between Afghanistan Women’s XI and Cricket Without Borders XI organised by Cricket Australia. Their fight is far from Afghanistan cricketers at the Junction Oval in Melbourne | SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT time. We step on to the ground as an Afghanistan women’s The report said the delay in building homes for elderly people denied the needy and poor senior citizens of Delhi the much-needed social support despite incurring expenditures of 2.92 crore. Army personnel transport workers who were safely evacuated on Saturday in Mana, Chamoli; rescue operations for the 8 workers continue in Srisailam | EXPRESS N A R E N D R A S E T H I @ Dehradun FIFTY workers were pulled out safely from the snow-covered debris of an avalanche that smashed a Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp in Mana village in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, but the desperate search for survivors turned grim as four workers succumbed to injuries on Saturday even as rescuers raced against time to find five workers still unaccounted for. The avalanche hit the camp between Mana and Badrinath between 5.30 am and 6 am on Friday burying 55 workers in, side eight containers and a shed. Thirty-three of them were rescued by Friday night and 17 on Saturday Rain and . snowfall thwarted rescue efforts. As the weather cleared up on Saturday morning, the Army and ITBP personnel resumed operations, District Disaster Management Officer N K Joshi said. Six helicopters, including three of the Army aviation, two of air force and one civil copter hired by the Ar my were pressed into rescue efforts, Army PRO Lt Col Manish Shrivastava said. Located 3 km from Badrinath, Mana is the last village on the India-Tibet border at a height of 3,200 metres. Lt Gen Anindya Sengupta, GOC-in C Central Command and Lt Gen D G Mishra, GOC Uttar Bharat, reached the avalanche site to monitor rescue operations. Lt Gen Sengupta said movement by road is impossible as roads are clogged by snow. The Badrinath-Joshimath highway is blocked at 15-20 places, he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Chief Minister Pushkar Dhami to take stock of the rescue operations. The deceased were identified as Mahendra Pal and Jitendra Singh from Himachal Pradesh, Manjeet Yadav from Uttar Pradesh, and Alok Yadav from Uttarakhand. (With agency inputs) WORKERS IN T’GANA TUNNEL LOCATED M A N DA RAV I N D E R R E D DY @ Hyderabad RESCUE operations to pull out the eight workers trapped inside the partially collapsed Srisailam Left Bank Canal (SLBC) tunnel in Nagarkurnool for a week saw a breakthrough on Saturday with the whereabouts of four of them being located. State tourism minister Jupally Krishna Rao, who attended a meeting with officials involved in the rescue operation along with irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy, said there was lot of progress during the last couple of days and that the workers will be most likely brought out by Sunday evening. Asked about the condition of the trapped Afghanistan cricket team’s new battle: Restoring identity over though as they seek International Cricket Council attention. “It was lots of emotions and feeling proud as well, because it’s been one of the matches that we’ve been always dreaming of,” Amiri recalls. “We saw so many people from Afghanistan who had come down to watch us. We were not allowed to have the flag, but we saw all of them with flags. I think that was the true win for us, because we made history for the first ‘POOR SENIOR CITIZENS DENIED SUPPORT’ 50 rescued, 4 dead in U’khand TALES OF GRIT G O M E S H S @ Chennai Free Yourself from the Past team,” she adds. Amiri, like her teamates, and her family had risked their lives to leave the Taliban-ruled country They had burnt their . scorecards, bats, equipment the moment the Taliban took over in August 2021. For the safety of their family, the moment they heard there was a chance to leave Afghanistan and move to Australia, they took it. In the months that followed they travelled multiple cities under disguise, shifting hotels every few days before flying to Australia from Pakistan via Dubai. With the help of former Australia cricketer Mel Jones, a few others and Cricket Australia, they joined cricket clubs, started coaching part-time while continuing to fight for their right to play cricket. Now they are fighting a new battle. To find their cricketing identity In the past three years, . Afghanistan women have written multiple times to the ICC, who continue to have Afghani- stan as a full member without having a women’s team. “The hardest part of the journey is we left everything behind that we were hoping for, okay there , is an ICC behind us. I’m not expecting anything from the Afghanistan Cricket Board as they are under the Taliban. We are expecting that ICC will support us and raise their voice for equality The simple things that . ICC can do, like IOC, they can make a refugee team,” Amiri remains hopeful. workers, Krishna Rao said: “From the first day itself I have said that their chances are bleak. The remaining 1% — let’s hope.” Scientists from the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) used Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and detected some “anomalies” inside the tunnel, providing a crucial lead in the operation. Rao said the radar helped rescuers zero in on the location of four of the eight workers trapped in the tunnel. The other four appear to have been stuck beneath the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), the minister said. It may take some time to get a breakthrough about them, he said. Meanwhile, rescue operations continued on Saturday, with sludge and debris being removed from the tunnel. SPAT BETWEEN TRUMP AND ZELENSKYY Ukraine’s European partners and other global leaders rallied behind President Volodymyr Zelenskyy while the White House touted support for Donald Trump’s ‘American First strength’ after a remarkable showdown in the Oval Office | P9