AHMEDABAD | THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2014 | PAGES 30 | PRICE .` 3.

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GAUTAM ADANI-LED ADANI

GROUP, POSCO TIE UP FOR NEW
TERMINAL IN OZ TO EXPORT COAL 17

OBAMAS ON RACISM:
2ND TEST: MURALI VIJAY
OFTEN MISTAKEN FOR A (144), RAHANE (75) POWER
VALET, SHOP STAFF 15 INDIA TO 311/4 ON DAY 1 19
NEWS DIGEST

Day After, Tragic Stories Emerge As Peshawar Picks Up The Pieces

GST Bill gets

Cabinet nod

15-yr-old overslept, missed school.

Is now only survivor from Class IX

The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Constitution

Amendment Bill on Goods and
Services Tax (GST), clearing the
way for its introduction in ongoing session of Parliament to
bring about long-pending indirect tax reforms. P 13

Rajkot farmer immolates

self: Amid statewide protests
by cotton farmers demanding
higher minimum support price
for their produce, a young
farmer immolated himself in
Vichhiya of Rajkot district on
Wednesday. P 5

Sarita gets a years ban:

Asian Games bronze medalist L
Sarita Devi heaved a sigh
of relief on Wednesday as the
world boxing body let her
off with only a years suspension. P 20

Political dissent on cyberspace no offence: The Centre on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that mere political
dissent or criticism through social networking sites could not
be a ground for arrest of the
author. P 8

RS paralyzed for third day:

Proceedings in Rajya Sabha
were washed out for the third
consecutive day on Wednesday
as opposition continued to
press for PM Narendra Modi's
response to concerns over conversions. P 9

MARKET WATCH
SENSEX
71.31
37.8

BSE : 26,710.13
NSE: 8,029.80

WEATHER
Ahmedabad

25.4/12.5

.............................

Vadodara

27.2/10.5

Rajkot

27.2/12.3

Times Classifieds | P 6

TNN

& AGENCIES

Peshawar: Dawood Ibrahim is

the only one left in his class. Literally. Tuesdays attack on the
Peshawar Army Public School
wiped out the entire Class IX,
leaving Dawood an under-16
national judoka the sole survivor because he missed school
after oversleeping in the morning.
The 15-year-old boy could
have been in the pile of corpses
in his classroom but for the fact
that his alarm clock did not
work after he had attended a
wedding and went to bed late on
Monday, according to a Pakistani daily. On Wednesday, Dawood
laid to rest six of his best
friends.
Silenced by grief, he is, disturbingly, displaying no emo-

SpiceJet sends
holiday plans
crashing
New Delhi: The last-minute
cancellation of nearly 400
flights since Tuesday by cashstrapped SpiceJet has sent spot
fares soaring and upset the vacation plan of hundreds of
travellers who had flocked to
the troubled airline on its
promise of cheap fares. Instead
of reaching their holiday destinations passengers are now
chasing the airline for a refund
and making alternate travel
plans. Delhi-based Shalini Dhawan had bought tickets for Delhi-Mumbai-Goa-Delhi sector
for her family in the first week
of January but now she has to
cancel her trip. TNN P 2, 12 & 17

Pak discovers there 5-yr-old girl killed

is no good Taliban
on 1st day at school

Two Delhi hotels

on terror radar

Dawood Ibrahim is in shock after

burying six of his closest friends

n a rare show of unity,

Pakistans political parties
on Wednesday pledged to
continue the war against
terrorism till the last terrorist
is eliminated and to no
longer draw any distinction
between good Taliban and
bad Taliban. The government
also decided to lift the
moratorium on death
sentence which was in force
since 2010 to facilitate talks
with the Pak Taliban. P 15

ntelligence agencies have

sounded an alert regarding
Pakistan-based terror
mastermind and 26/11 planner
Hafiz Saeeds designs to
unleash attacks in India. The
warning, generated by the multi
agency centre (MAC) on
Tuesday, flags the possibility of
Saeeds outfits, LeT or JuD,
targeting two hotel lobbies in
the national capital as well as
an unspecified location on the
Delhi-Agra highway.

tions. He isnt talking to anyone.

He isnt talking at all, said his
elder brother Sufyan Ibrahim.
He is a judoka and is tough but
he is showing no emotion at all

right now. He just attended funerals the entire day. No one

from his class survived; every
single one of them was killed,
Sufyan said.

he Pakistani Taliban
claimed it had asked the
gunmen not to target small
children but the killers
spared none. Among those
killed was a five-year-old girl
who had gone to school for
the first time on Tuesday and a
14-year-old who was shot nine
times. Most of the students
were shot in the head from
point blank range and some of
the bodies were reportedly
mutilated.

At least 142 people, including 132 children and the school

principal, were killed in the attack by the Pakistani Taliban,
the same murderous group

Power cos inflate coal import

prices, `29k-cr scam unearthed
C.Unnikrishnan
@timesgroup.com

Mumbai: The Directorate of

Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has
unearthed a scam involving
companies inflating value of
coal imports from Indonesia
for their power plants thus siphoning money abroad. Initial
estimates by the agency pegged
the overvaluation at Rs 29,000
crore between 2011 and 2014.
DRI has raided more than
80 shipping companies, intermediaries and laboratories in
Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat,
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh,
Odisha, West Bengal and Kera-

MONEY TRAIL

Companies shipped
coal from Indonesia but
routed invoices through an
intermediary in Hong Kong,
Singapore or Dubai
The inated amount
would be sent to the
intermediary who would
pass on the actual reduced
value to the Indonesian
coal supplier
The excess amount
would be diverted to
tax havens

la, among other states, in

search of documents that show
the real value of the imports.

The agency has searched almost all laboratories testing

coal in India to obtain reports
for verification of the calorific
value of the imported coal.
The overvaluation also has
an impact on tariff paid by consumers here as power companies could have a higher tariff
fixation based on inflated rates.
In other words, the power tariff
would be less possibly by Re 1
per unit if the value of imported coal value was not inflated. DRI is also probing some
public sector companies that
indulged in overvaluation.
Continued on P 8

which have attacked dozens of

schools in the region and made
an attempt on Malala Yousafzai.
Continued on P 15

US and Cuba
resume ties
after 53 years

he US on Wednesday announced a historic

thaw in ties with Cuba,
saying it would re-establish full
diplomatic ties with Havana after 53 years and ease long-standing trade and travel sanctions.
Pope Francis and the Vatican
played a key role in the talks between Washington and Havana,
the US said.
Washington will re-establish
an embassy in Havana in the
coming months, an official said
in Washington after a prisoner
exchange between the two countries. President Obama and Cuban counterpart Raul Castro
spoke on Tuesday. AGENCIES P 15

Vibrant effect: 10
extra Mum, Delhi
flights from city
CURRENT
SCHEDULE

Daily flights to
Mumbai and Delhi
from Ahmedabad

Airline

Abad-Mum
No. of
Seats
flights per flight

Abad-Del
Seats
No. of
flights per flight

Jet Airways

168

Air India

208*

150

Indigo

180

180

Go Air

180

NA

NA

168

*Air India operates a jumbo and two regular Boeing aircraft for
Mumbai hence average seats

Kapil Dave &

Piyush Mishra TNN

Ahmedabad:As many as 10 extra Ahmedabad-Mumbai and

Ahmedabad-Delhi flights are
expected to be introduced by
three airlines to handle the likely spike in VVIP traffic expected ahead of the Vibrant Gujarat
Summit and Pravasi Bharitya
Divas events. These additional
flights, which are expected to
begin operations by the last
week of December, will make
scheduled round trips between
the city and the two metros.
Sources close to the development said the additional flights
were being introduced at the
state governments initiative to
keep air fares down during the
two events scheduled in January 2015.
During a recent meeting
with Pr ime Minister Narendra
Modi, the states finance minister Saurabh Patel and chief secretary D J Pandian expressed
concern about the travel preparations for the events. At least
5,000 to 7,000 guests are expected to fly into Ahmedabad daily
during the two events scheduled next month.
The sources said that Patel
and Pandian had told the PMO
that airlines currently running
scheduled flights must not be allowed to take advantage of the
heavy rush of visitors and start
charging high fares. Following

Bill Gates to
attend VGGIS
Gandhinagar: Bill Gates,
founder of Microsoft,
philanthropist and
investor will be
one of the top
world business
leaders to attend
the upcoming
Vibrant Gujarat
Global Investor Summit (VGGIS)
2015. Highly placed sources in
the state government said,
We have received confirmation
from Bill Gates office about
his participation in VGGIS. A
detailed itinerary will be
decided shortly. He is likely to
speak on the scope of
innovation in developing
countries at the Global CEO
conclave. Officials said that
while there was no
communication from
Microsoft about any major
investment plan in Gujarat,
some token announcements
are possible. P 2

this, principal secretary to the

PM, Nripendra Mishra, reportedly held a meeting with top officials of the Union ministry of
civil aviation and DGCA, and
instructed them to ensure air
services at regular ticket rates
by introducing special flights.
Continued on P 4