DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA SWEETY ADIMULAM MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 22 EXCLUSIVE Decongesting Mumbai by 2029 The coastal road in Mumbai on Sunday. Amit Chakravarty BY UNNY 23/09/2024 98 bridges and tunnels. At the centre of the mega plan are seven outer and inner ring roads that are currently in various stages of tendering and development. Various development authorities such as the PAGE 4 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation(BMC),Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will join the MMRDA in establishing the ring road network. Most of these new roads will be tolled, with the goal of alleviating the burden on existing infrastructure. They are designed to ensure seamless connectivity, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Marxist Dissanayake wins Lanka presidential election ARUN JANARDHANAN 126 CHENNAI, SEPTEMBER 22 155 74 Uncertain in Dhaka, Adani Godda plant seeks speedy link to Indian power grid THE POWER SHIFT AGGAM WALIA NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 22 AUG 5: Former PM WITH the new interim government in Dhaka indicating it will review its 2017 agreement with Adani Power, the company is exploring back-up plans to sell power in India. To this effect, its 1600 MW thermal plant in Godda, Jharkhand, which supplies its entire generated power to Bangladesh, has received approval for a connection to the Indian grid via a substation in Bihar’s Lakhisarai. This connection will only become operational once its subsidiary, Adani Power Jharkhand Ltd (APJL), constructs a 130-km transmission line and additional bays at the substation — a process APJL said could take “considerable time”. APJL’s request for an Sheikh Hasina resigns AUG 6: Adani Power Jharkhand Ltd requests Ministry of Power (MoP) nod to sell power in India AUG 8: Muhammad Yunus sworn in as Chief Adviser of Bangladesh AUG 10: MoP recommends Godda plant connectivity AUG 12: MoP amends rules to allow Godda plant to sell power in India, instructs regulators to draft SOP AUG 21: Transmission authority holds special meeting, grants connectivity CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘People used to think she sits and shoots... might be easier for her’ AVANI LEKHARA AIR RIFLE SHOOTER ‘What stings you the most is the sympathy... frustration grows’ SUMIT ANTIL JAVELIN THROWER PAGE 12 ANURA KUMARA Dissanayake, a firebrand Marxist with humble beginnings, was elected Sunday as the new Sri Lankan President — pushing out incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe — after an unprecedented second round of vote counting. Dissanayake, known for his pro-working class stance and sharp critique of the political elite,got 42.31% votes – the most by any candidate in the first round--afterwhichtheElection Commission began tallying the second preferential votes. The victory marks not only a personal triumph for the 55year-old leader, who will take oath as President Monday, but is alsoawatershedmomentforhis Leftist party, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). Once seen as a radical fringe group,theJVPlosthundredsofits armed rebels to the Sri Lankan Bangladesh clears export of 3,000 tonnes of Hilsa to India as Puja nears HARIKISHAN SHARMA NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 22 THE BANGLADESH government has approved the export of up to 3,000 tonnes of Hilsa to India, ending the uncertainty over the availability of the fish for Durga Puja which begins on October 9. Bangladesh’s Ministry of Commerce Saturday approved the exports, citing the festival and letters from the country’s Foreign Ministry. The order asked exporters who want permits to approach the Commerce Ministry by September 24. Hilsa exports are banned in Bangladesh. As a goodwill gesture,however,theSheikhHasinaled Awami League government CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Anura Kumara Dissanayake, leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, after his victory, in Colombo on Sunday. Reuters army during the brutal uprisings inthe1980s.Thevictorysignalsa dramatic transformation for the party,fromitsmilitantpasttoalegitimateforceinnationalpolitics. Born in Galewela, a small village in Central Province, on November24,1968,Dissanayake moved to Kekirawa at the age of four,wherehisupbringingwould CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INSIDE HOW HE BALANCED IDEOLOGY AND PRAGMATISM P 14 EXPLAINED: IN WIN FOR MARXIST, MOOD FOR CHANGE P 13 Bengal floods: Mamata writes to PM, withdraws state officials from DVC RAVIK BHATTACHARYA KOLKATA, SEPTEMBER 22 ACCUSING THE Damodar Valley Corporation(DVC)of unilaterally releasing water from its reservoirs in Jharkhand that caused floods in south Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has written to Prime Minister NarendraModiagain,sayingthat her state was withdrawing its representationfromthe76-yearold multi-purpose river valley project with immediate effect. Within hours of the Chief Minister’s letter on Saturday, West Bengal Power Secretary SantanuBasuandChief Engineer Uttam Roy resigned from the DVC board and the Damodar Valley Reservoir Regulation Committee (DVRRC), respectively, officials said Sunday. Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee In her letter to the Prime Minister, Banerjee said she disagreed with Union Jal Shakti Minister C R Paatil’s claims that waterwasreleasedafterconsensus in the DVRRC. Paatil had written to the Chief Minister Friday, hours after she shot off a letter to the Prime Minister blaming the DVC for unilateral discharge of water causing the floods that has affected 5 million people in the south Bengal districts. In his letter, Paatil had implied that the state government CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 U.S. SUMMIT SEEKS GAZA, UKRAINE SOLUTION InasignaltoChina,Modi saysQuad‘notagainst anyonebutheretostay’ Biden names China in hot mic remarks, says it is ‘testing us’ SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 22 UNDERLINING THAT leaders of the Quad grouping — India, US, Japan and Australia — were meeting amid global “tensions and conflicts”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Sunday that they “are not against anyone”, and all of them “support a rulesbased international order, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the peaceful resolution of all issues”. Modi's remarks during the sixth Quad leaders’ summit at PresidentJoeBiden’shometown of Delaware were a thinly veiled reference to China’s aggressive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific region. But Biden’s own hot mic comments at the same meeting, which was also attended by the prime ministers of Japan and Australia,removedthatveilashe named China and said it was “testing us all across the region”. The Quad declaration, adopted after the summit, focused on “militarisation” and “intimidating maneuvers in the South China Sea”. It also addressed other key global issues, including the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. The declaration highlighted the “negative impacts of the war in Ukraine with regard to global food and energy security”. It emphasised that a hostage deal would lead to ceasefire in Gaza, and underscored “the urgent need to significantly increase deliveries of life-saving humanitarian assistance” and “prevent regional escalation”. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E E X P L A I NE D Cleared: `58,000-crore plan to take you across Mumbai in an hour over next 5 yrs BUSINESS AS USUAL `5.00 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 MMRDA PROJECTS TO EASE TRAFFIC ment in recent years. The MMRDA has now unveiled its mega plan with an aim to reroute heavytrafficawayfromthecity's core,offering faster andmoreefficient travel options, through the new network of roads, REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2024, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES THE MUMBAI Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA)hasrolledoutanelaborate plan to encircle Mumbai withanetworkof ringroadsthat would decongest the city, ease traffic woes and cut travel time over the next five years. The `58,000-crore plan, which the MMRDA has approved, aims to build a series of roads, bridges and tunnels, measuring over 90 km. It entails covering the city from all sides, andprovideseamlessconnectivity to suburban habitations as well as give easy access to the Gujarat border in the North, Konkan Maharashtra in the South and to Western Maharashtra. The financial capital, which has been battling traffic snarls and rising congestion, has witnessed infrastructure develop- ● Glue is ● China THE QUAD grouping has expanded its landscape, from addressing wars in Europe and West Asia to combating cancer. But Beijing remains the strategic glue — with China’s aggression affecting each partner. (Clockwise) Prime Minister Narendra Modi with US President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida and Australian PM Anthony Albanese during the Quad summit in Delaware on Sunday. Reuters SEMICONDUCTOR PLANT FOR SECURITY Biden hosts Modi at home: ‘Ties more dynamic than ever’ SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 22 THE UNITED States' partnership withIndiais“stronger,closer,and more dynamic than any time in history”, US President Joe Biden said Sunday after an hour-long bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi — their eighthsuchin-personinteraction in four years. “Prime Minister Modi, each time we sit down, I am struck by our ability to find new areas of cooperation. Today was no different,” Biden said. The remarks summed up the broad sweep of what the two countries are currently working on — from the first semiconductor fabrication plant for national securitytojointresearchbyNASA and ISRO onboard the FULL COVERAGE PUSH FOR BILATERAL COOPERATION IN NEW DOMAINS INDIA PLEDGES $7.5 MN TO COMBAT CERVICAL CANCER P 8 International Space Station, progressinIndiaprocuring31remotelypilotedaircraft,andwork onapactforcriticalmineralssupply chains and emerging digital technologies in Asia and Africa. With Biden's presidential termsettoconclude,themeeting at his home in Delaware, on the sidelines of the Quad summit, was a farewell of sorts as well. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 US hands back 297 stolen or trafficked antiquities DIVYA A NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 22 AMID PRIME Minister Narendra Modi’s visit, the US formally handedover297antiquities that were stolen or trafficked from India. “These will shortly be repatriated to India,” the Indian government said in a statement. In a symbolic handover ceremony, select pieces were showcased to PM Modi and President Bidenonthesidelinesof theirbilateralmeetinginDelaware.Modi thanked Biden for his support, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Schoolgirl resisting sexual assault killed in Gujarat, principal held ADITI RAJA VADODARA, SEPTEMBER 22 THREE DAYS after a six-year-old girl student’s body was found in the backyard of a government primary schoolin Dahod district of Gujarat, police on Sunday arrestedtheschoolprincipalforallegedlykillingher.Hesmothered the Class 1 student when she resisted his attempt to sexually assault her in his car on way to school, police said. According to police, the mother of the child had entrusted her in his care Thursday morning as he was driving to school from the girl’s village. Police said the principal confessedafterbeingconfrontedwith questionsregardingthechild’sabsence from school Thursday as well as his own “time of leaving” the premises. The principal allegedly dumped the body in the school backyard after school hours,havingkeptithiddeninhis car the entire day as he went about his routine. Dahod Superintendent of CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 India’s golden generation dazzles Chess Olympiad: ‘Magical... 1983 moment’ PAGE 1 ANCHOR AMIT KAMATH MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 22 IT WAS one of the most dominantperformancesinthehistory of chess.AnditcamefromIndia's golden generation, which delivered two gold medals at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest. Beside the team medals, there were also four individual gold with D Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi, Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal claiming the honours. The Indian men’s team in the open section was so breathtakingly formidable that in 44 games, they lost just once, winning27anddrawingtheremaining. They capped the event by brushing aside Slovenia with three wins and a draw. The Indian women’s team also raced across the finish line by winning three games and drawing one against Azerbaijan. An indicator of Indian chess’ depth can be gauged by the fact thatIndia’stop-rankedwomen’s player Koneru Humpy chose to sit out the Olympiad and the team still won gold. For the individual honours, Gukesh andErigaisi,who played on board 1 and 3 respectively, walked away with the top honours. In the women’s category, Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal, who featured on board 3 and 4 respectively, were the best players. “It feels like a magical time forIndia,”five-timeworldchampion Viswanathan Anand told FIDE’s YouTube channel on Saturday, after the men’s team had more or less secured their gold medal with the Indian women’s team in with a chance to claim the top prize themselves. “This is unbelievable. The Indian men’s team is so domi- Gukesh D faces off against Slovenia’s Vladimir Fedoseev in the final round of the Chess Olympiad in Budapest, Sunday. AP nant! For the second successive Olympiad, both our teams are fighting for gold. This exceeds my expectations. It’s a very talented group of youngsters. With such players, you know you will have a certain amount of results but they consistently exceed it.” “Thisteamwillstayontopfor years to come, and India is now officially the best chess nation in the world!” declared the legendary Susan Polgar, a former women’s world champion, on X. This has been the greatest yearforIndianchessalready,and 18-year-old Gukesh could well cap it off by becoming the youngest world champion in history. He is already world no 5 while Arjun rose to world no 3 in the live rating, which is updated in real time. In 2024, the milestones for Indian chess include three Indians making the cut for the elite Candidates tournament for the first time, besides two women competing in the Women’s Candidates competition. From these five players, Gukesh (then 17) became the youngest-ever to win the event. The year also saw R Praggnanandhaa taking down world no 1 Magnus Carlsen for the first time in the classical format at the Norway Chess tour- nament. India are currently represented in the top 5 ranking spotsbyArjun,whodidnoteven secure a spot at the Candidates event, showcasing the depth in Indian chess at the moment. But while most of these feats were indicators of individual prowess,securingtwoteamgold medals at the Olympiad is a sign thatthenationisnowachesssuperpower. “I could see there was a lot of personal motivation for each player. I could feel that for all five players, the idea of playing for India and winning gold was somethingthatmotivatedthem. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2