DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SATURDAY, MAY 17, 2025, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 24 PAGES ENVIRONMENTAL NOD FOR PROJECTS SHILLONG ROAD TO JOIN MYANMAR PROJECT Green conservation key to development: SC ends retrospective approval New North-East link to Kolkata will be via sea, giving Bangladesh a miss BANGLADESH Silchar INDIA Aizawl Dhaka KaladanMulti ModalTransit TransportProject Connecting road Lawngtlai Zorinpui Kaletwa Paletwa BAY OF BENGAL DHEERAJ MISHRA NEW DELHI, MAY 16 THE PROPOSED highway from Shillong in Meghalaya to Silchar in Assam will become an extension of a key multi-modal transport project in Myanmar, leading to an alternative link via sea between the North-East states and Kolkata, a senior official from National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) told The Indian Express. Theofficialdescribedtheproject as a response to Bangladesh interimgovernmentchiefadviser Muhammad Yunus’s remark in Beijing this March that NorthEast India is “landlocked” and Dhakaisthe“onlyguardianofthe Sittwe MYANMAR oceanforallthisregion”—hesaid this while seeking “extension of the Chinese economy”. Days later, on April 4, Yunus met Prime Minister Narendra Modionthesidelinesof theBIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok. The Ministry of External Affairs said Modi told Yunus that “rhetoric that vitiates the environment is best avoided”. The 166.8-km four-lane highway along NH-6 from Mawlyngkhung near Shillong to Panchgram near Silchar is the first high-speed corridor project in the North-East. It is being implemented by NHIDCL for the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), and is expected to be completed by 2030. At the other end, the Kaladan CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BACK TO THE LAST VILLAGE AT LOC MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL NEERAJ CHOPRA BREACHES 90-M MARK PAGE 24 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY NEW DELHI, MAY 16 TAHAWWUR RANA, extradited from the US nearly 16 years after his arrest for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks,islodged in a ward meant for very highriskprisonersinDelhi’sTiharJail. His neighbours are six other high-risk prisoners including dreaded gangsters. But each is in a separate cell, so there’s no interaction. Last week, Special NIA Judge NEW DELHI, MAY 16 Residents of Salotri, the last village near the LoC in Poonch, return to their homes Friday. They had left during shelling by Pakistan last week. ANI To corner Pak globally, Govt to send all-party teams across the world EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, MAY 16 TO TAKE India’s message after Operation Sindoor to the world, the government is planning to sendall-partyparliamentarydelegations to several countries in thecomingdays.Sourcessaidthe government has reached out to several opposition MPs, inviting themtobepartof teamsthatwill be dispatched to world capitals. The Ministry of External Affairs is working with the Lok SabhaandRajyaSabhasecretariats to prepare lists of MPs who will be part of the exercise. Many opposition MPs have receivedcallsfromParliamentary GOVT & POLITICS PAK REBUILDING TERRORINFRA HIT BY INDIA: RAJNATH PAGE 9 AffairsMinisterKirenRijiju,invitingthemtobepartof thedelegations in “national interest.” AmongtheMPsthegovernment CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘Doesn’t eat much, speaks only in English’: Rana, Tihar inmate 1784 SPORT ANANTHAKRISHNAN G & NIKHIL GHANEKAR Tahawwur Rana was extradited to India on April 10 Chander Jit Singh of the Patiala House Courts sent Rana to judicialcustodyuntilJune6—hewas producedincourtadaybeforehis NIA custody was to end. The NIA collected Rana’s voice and handwritingsamplesbeforethejudge. Rana is inmate number 1784. The block where he isbeingkeptislesscrowdedthan theotherswithinthejailcomplex. Thewardwhereheisbeingkeptis aseparateward.Noprisonerfrom the other wards is allowed to enter, a source in Tihar Jail said. “Rana speaks only in English. He has made two requests: books and a western toilet,” the source said. Six blankets have been allotted to Rana — three for placing on the cot — and a fan. “At around 7 am, he is served tea, biscuits,breadanddalia(cracked wheat) for breakfast; there’s dal, Pak goods in transit via third country being banned RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, MAY 16 THE DIRECTORATE of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), the antismuggling body under the Finance Ministry, has begun blocking in-transit goods originatingfromPakistanthatarebeing routed through third countries such as the UAE, a government official told The Indian Express. Theincreasedscrutinybythe Customs authorities follows an immediate government ban on the import and transit of all goodsoriginatingin,orexported from, Pakistan, according to a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 UNDERLINING THAT environment conservation is key to development, the Supreme Court Friday struck down and held as “illegal” a 2017 Ministry of Environmentnotificationthatallowed grant of environmental clearance(EC)toprojectsex-post facto i.e., after commencement of work. It also struck down a 2021OfficeMemorandum(OM) issued by the Ministry in pursuance of the 2017 notification. A bench of Justices A S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan also restrained Justice A S Oka (left) and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan the Centre from issuing circulars/ orders/ OMs/ notifications providing for grant of ex-post facto EC or for regularising acts done in contravention of the 2006 Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification. TheSupremeCourt,however, clarified that environmental clearances already granted till date under the 2017 notification and the 2021 office memorandum“shall…remainunaffected”. The 2017 notification had offered a one-time amnesty window of sorts, and allowed approvals for projects where work hadcommencedwithoutobtaining prior environment clearance under the 2006 EIA notification. The2017amnestywasapplicable for six months between March2017andSeptember2017. In 2021, citing compliance of a National Green Tribunal order, the Ministry issued an OM spellingoutaStandardOperating CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Before doors closed, 55 projects benefited from 2017-2021 amnesty JAY MAZOOMDAAR NEW DELHI, MAY 16 LAST JANUARY, when the SupremeCourtstayeda2021office memorandum (OM) to expand a window of amnesty opened by the Ministry of Environment in 2017, it did not question the validity of the 2017 notification. OnFriday,theSupremeCourt struck down the original 2017 notification and the 2021 OM — along with all circulars, orders, and notifications issued to give effect to these two — as “illegal”. It thus closed the doors on the “ex-post facto” route for granting Environmental Clearances (EC) “in any form or manner” to projects that started work without obtaining a mandatory prior en- vironmental clearance or exceeded the limits set under the clearance conditions. While sources in the EnvironmentMinistrydid not rule out the possibil● ity of a review petition, Friday’s order follows two earlier Supreme Court judgments — Common Cause versus Union of India (2017) and AlembicPharmaceuticalsversus E EXPLAINED Shillong Kolkata Bench says 2017 notification illegal, also sets aside 2021 memorandum; approvals granted ‘remain unaffected’ PROPOSED HIGHSPEED CORRIDOR Siliguri `7.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `15 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MIT Art, Design & Technology University, Pune APPLY NOW Admissions 2025 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Director of Gujarat Samachar firm arrested by ED, granted interim bail BIG PICTURE PAGE 14 Lives on the Line The Indian Express travels along the LoC to count the losses LEENA MISRA & DEEPTIMAN TIWARY AHMEDABAD, NEW DELHI, MAY 16 BAHUBALISHAH,adirectorinthe firm that runs Gujarat Samachar, one of the oldest newspapers in Gujarat, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) Thursdayevening.Helatergotinterimbailongroundsofill-health, sources said. Shreyansbhai Shah, Bahubali’s elder brother who is the Publisher and Managing Editor of Gujarat Samachar, told The Indian Express Friday that ED officialscamewithanarrestwarrant for Bahubali on Thursday evening,aftertwodaysof continuoussearchesbytheIncomeTax Department. Sources in the ED said Bahubali had been arrested in connectionwithacaseof money laundering the agency had been probing since 2023. I-T sources said,“Originally searchwarrants were issued for 24 premises, then subsequently increased. The company was being tracked by both the ED and I-T Department for tax evasion.” Bahubali is a director in Lok Prakashan Limited, which runs GujaratSamacharaswellasGSTV. NAAC ACCREDITED A 20 YEARS IN TOP 11 TO 50 RANK BAND IN INNOVATION Band #151-200 by Subject 2025:Art & Design GOLD RATING Studying at MIT-ADT University, A Lifetime Journey of Learning, Growth & Excellence...! CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PROGRAMS OFFERED One half of the George Fernandes story, Leila Kabir loses battle with cancer PAGE 1 ANCHOR NEERJA CHOWDHURY NEW DELHI, MAY 16 HERS WAS a life lived in the fringes — in the shadows of the spotlight that never left Leila Kabir. On Thursday evening, the 88-year-old, wife of the late firebrand socialist leader George Fernandes and daughter of Humayun Kabir who served in the Cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru, passed away at her New Delhi residence. She had been battling cancer for two years, and decided towards the end that she did not want to be hospitalised. Returning for the first time after the Emergency, George Fernandes meets wife Leila Kabir and son Sean at the Delhi airport on April 6, 1977. Express archive Sean, the only son of Leila and Fernandes, is an investment banker who is settled in the US. He had flown in hours earlier, andwaswithherwhenshedied. With that ended the story of a couple whose heady courtship evolved into a strained relationship that defied easy definitions. WhenFernandesdiedinJanuary 2019 after a long illness, Leila was by his side, caring for him. It was a life with elements of Greektragedy.Andyet,tilltheend, shedidnotlosethequintessential Leila—bornintoprivilege,butalways taking up public causes. I used to meet her in the SeventiesinDelhi,whenshehad come back from Oxford and joinedtheRedCrosssometimein 1970-71.Myearlymemoryofher is of a highly articulate, passionate woman with thick framed spectacles, short hair, sari-clad, speaking persuasively of the causes she was committed to. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 B.Tech. | M.Tech. B.Arch. | M.Arch. BCA | MCA BPA | MPA B.Sc. | M.Sc. BA | MA B.Des. | M.Des. B.Ed. 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