cmyk
THE LARGEST CIRCULATED ENGLISH DAILY IN SOUTH INDIA
deccanchronicle.com, facebook.com/deccannews, twitter.com/deccanchronicle
WEATHER
Max: 34.8OC
Min: 24.5OC
RH: 46%
Rainfall: Nil
Forecast: Cloudy sky.
Thundershowers likely.
Max/Min temp. 35/24ºC
ASTROGUIDE
Shobhakrut: Uttarayana
Tithi: Vaishakha Bahula Tadiya
till 7.23 pm
Star: Jyeshta till 8.22 pm
Varjyam: 4 am to 5.32 am
(Tuesday)
Durmuhurtam: 12.21 pm to 1.12
pm; 2.53 pm to 3.44 pm
Rahukalam: 7.30 am to 9 am
HIJRI CALENDAR
Shawwal 17,1444 AH
PRAYERS
Fajar: 4.45 am
Zohar: 12.23 pm
Asar: 4.39 pm
Maghrib: 6.43 pm
Isha: 7.54 pm
SUNSET TODAY 6.34 PM
SUNRISE TOMORROW 5.46 AM
MOONRISE TODAY 9.29 PM
MOONSET TODAY 7.40 AM
COUNTER POINT
IN BRIEF
8 killed in US
mall shooting
Houston: A gunman opened
fire at a crowded mall in the
US state of Texas, killing at
least eight people before
being shot dead by a police
officer, officials have said,
in the latest in a relentless
series of gun violence
across the United States.
■ Full report on Page 10
Women officers
get LoC posting
New Delhi: Defence minister
Rajnath Singh approved
posting of Women Officers
of the Territorial Army
along the Line of Control
(LoC) with Pakistan. The
defence ministry approved
the posting of Women
Officers of the Territorial
Army (TA) with Engineer
Regiments of the Territorial
Army along the LoC.
■ Full report on Page 7
Manipur situation improves,
TS students to arrive today
MANOJ ANAND | DC
GUWAHATI, MAY 7
After the Imphal Valley, the
situation has started
improving in the hills as
well, with the state govern-
ment on Sunday relaxing
the curfew for two hours in
Churachandpur, allowing
people to buy essentials. The
decision was taken after
talks between the state gov-
ernment and stakeholders
in Churachandpur.
Amid the ongoing unrest
in Manipur, Union minister
for development of
Northeast region G. Kishan
Reddy asked the warring
groups in Manipur to main-
tain peace and announced
that the Centre was ready
for talks to settle the issue.
The Indian Army, mean-
while, said that around
KCR’s constituency first in state to get such facilities
Gajwel to get free function
halls for major communities
L. VENKAT RAM
REDDY | DC
HYDERABAD, MAY 7
Ahead of the Assembly
elections in the state, the
BRS government is con-
structing community
halls/function halls in
Chief Minister K.
Chandrashekar Rao’s
Assembly constituency of
Gajwel at a cost of any-
where between `3 crore
and `5 crore each for
Muslims, Christians, and
Hindus, primarily Dalits,
as well as Mudiraj and
Vyshya communities.
While the CM’s
Assembly constituency
Gajwel has become the
Face CBI probe on ORR
tender, Kishan tells govt
MOULI MAREEDU | DC
HYDERABAD, MAY 7
Union minister G. Kishan
Reddy on Sunday demand-
ed that the BRS govern-
ment, led by Chief
Minister K.
Chandrashekar Rao, face
a CBI investigation into
alleged irregularities in
awarding the Outer Ring
Road (ORR) to IRB
Infrastructure and
Development Limited at a
lower tender of `7, 380
crore for 30 years.
Kishan Reddy told the
media at the state BJP
Sectt name an eyewash: Mayawati
DC CORRESPONDENT
HYDERABAD, MAY 7
Bahujan Samaj Party
(BSP) president Mayawati
on Sunday claimed credit
for the installation of a 125-
feet statue of Dr B.R.
Ambedkar and naming of
the new Secretariat after
Ambedkar, citing the
party’s emergence as a
strong political force in
Telangana.
Addressing a public
meeting organised by the
state BSP unit at the
Saroornagar Stadium on
the day, Mayawati said:
“This credit goes to every
grassroot worker and
leader of BSP in
Telangana due to whom
the party is growing
● STATING THAT the
Centre was not
adamant when it came
to people's welfare,
Reddy said it even with-
drew the three farm
laws when agriculturists
demanded the repeal of
the controversial legis-
lation.
23,000 civilians from all com-
munities had been rescued
and were moved to military
garrisons in violence-hit
Manipur. Security sources
said about 250 students
belonging to Telangana,
studying in various educa-
tional institutions in Imphal
and surrounding areas,
were identified and the gov-
ernment of Telangana has
WOOING THE ELECTORATE
● COMMUNITY halls to be built at a
cost of `3 crore to `5 crore each for
Hindus, Muslims, Christians as well as
Dalits, Mudiraj and Vyshya
communities
● FUNCTION halls also being
built in every major village in
the constituency
● CHIEF MINISTER to inaugurate
function halls this month, is
free to use by all
first in the state to have
government-built commu-
nity halls/function halls
with all amenities for
major religions and castes,
G. Kishan Reddy
party office in Nampally
that the BRS government
appeared to have protest-
Mayawati
stronger by the day.
Telangana CM was forced
to install tallest Ambedkar
statue and also name new
Secretariat out of this fear
and to divert people's
attention from BSP.”
decided to immediately air-
lift the students from Imphal
to Hyderabad. For this pur-
pose, a special flight was
arranged to bring the
Telugu students back on
Sunday.
Stating that the Centre was
not adamant when it came
to people's welfare, Reddy
said it even withdrew the
three farm laws when agri-
culturists demanded the
repeal of the controversial
legislation.
Life has started limping
back to normal under the
watchful eyes of Army
drones and helicopters
deployed for aerial recon-
naissance as curfew was
relaxed on Sunday in parts
of Manipur.
■ Page 7: Govt willing to
have peace talks: Kishan
HYDERABAD I MONDAY I 8 MAY 2023
● Gajwel
also earns
the
distinction of
building
community/
function
halls in all
major gram
panchayats
function halls are also
being built in every major
village in the constituency
and are nearing comple-
tion. Rao will be inaugu-
ed the privatisation of the
Visakhapatnam steel
plant, but that Chief
Minister K.
Chandrashekar Rao
awarded the ORR toll col-
lection contract to a pri-
vate company, demon-
strating his apparent dou-
ble standards. “Why did
the Chief Minister award
the ORR toll collection
contract to private compa-
ny IRB Infrastructure and
Development Limited,”
Kishan Reddy questioned.
■ Page 3: ORR toll contract
to pvt player ‘illegal’: Kishan
BSP FORMED
government four
times in Uttar Pradesh.
The BSP government
distributed 3 acres to
the poor. KCR copied it
and promised to
distribute 3 acres to
Dalits in Telangana, but
he failed to fulfil it even
after nine years.
— MAYAWATI,
BSP supremo
As her statement drew
thunderous applause from
the audience, the BSP
supremo went on to attack
the BRS government and
Chief Minister K.
Chandrashekar Rao.
THE | DAY AFTER
Personal motive behind layout fiasco
N. VAMSI SRINIVAS I DC
HYDERABAD, MAY 7
In a midnight drama, the
Hyderabad Metropolitan
Development Authority
resumed the roadwork at
IAS/IPS officers’ layout at
Puppalaguda near Lanco
Hills on Sunday.
Though a few officers,
some of them retired, who
are members of the society
and accompanied by their
legal counsel, objected to
the roadwork showing the
status quo order, HMDA
officials asked the contrac-
tor to go ahead with the
work.
Police were also deployed
in large numbers. The mid-
night action comes in the
wake of the society knock-
ing the doors of the
Telangana High Court
through a lunch motion,
rating the function halls
this month that anyone
may use for free, as
opposed to previously hav-
ing to pay `50,000 to `1
lakh to perform functions
in private function halls.
Function halls costing `3
crore each were being
built for the Mudiraj and
Vyshya communities,
while Ambedkar Bhavan
and Ambedkar function
halls were being construct-
ed for the benefit of Dalits
in the constituency, and a
minorities complex cost-
ing `3 crore was being con-
structed for minorities.
■ Page 3: Gajwel gets halls
in major gram panchayats
FARMER UNIONS
JOIN WRESTLERS’
PROTEST IN DELHI
DC CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, MAY 7
Several farmers’ Union
members joined the wres-
tlers’ protest at Jantar
Mantar, seeking action
against BJP MP and WFI
chief Brij Bhushan
Sharan Singh over sexual
harassment allegations.
Four national women’s
organisations also called
for nationwide protests to
arrest BJP MP and
Haryana minister Sande-
ep Singh over allegations
of sexual harassment.
■ Full report on Page 7
Applauding the efforts
made by the Telangana
BSP chief R.S. Praveen
Kumar, she said that
Kumar sacrificed his IPS
post by taking voluntary
retirement to serve the
society, especially the eco-
nomically weaker sections
of Telangana.
She said that Praveen
Kumar would be made
Chief Minister on the
account of a BSP win in
this year’s elections, urg-
ing party leaders and
workers to work hard and
bring BSP to power in
Telangana for the uplift-
ment of SCs, STs, OBCs,
minorities and EBCs.
■ Page 3: KCR mimicked
BSP’s schemes: Mayawati
HMDA officials tell contractor to go ahead with work on 100-ft road
Trucks seen at the IAS/IPS officers’ layout as HMDA
resumed roadwork on Sunday.
which is likely to be taken
up on Monday.
Reiterating that the soci-
ety is not against the for-
mation of the road, the
board of directors of
Adarsh Nagar MAC
Housing Society have
reportedly decided to meet
Chief Secretary Santhi
Kumari to present the case,
besides re-initiating con-
tempt proceedings against
Vol. 86 No. 127 Established 1938 | 20
Modi: Cong. wants
to separate K’taka
Says Sonia Gandhi roped in over fear of loss
DC CORRESPONDENT
with agency inputs
NEW DELHI,
BENGALURU, MAY 7
In a blistering attack on
the Congress during his
last campaign rally in
Mysuru district ahead of
the May 10 Assembly polls,
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi on Sunday accused
the party of openly advo-
cating for “separating”
Karnataka from India. He
alleged that the “disease of
the tukde-tukde gang” had
reached the Congress’ top
level.
The Prime Minister, at
the Shivamogga rally said,
the ‘scared’ Congress
brought in its veteran
leader Sonia Gandhi for
campaigning in
Karnataka elections after
its “lies did not work".
the
Earlier in the day, Modi
held a massive roadshow
in Bengaluru and interact-
ed with members of the
Hakki Pikki tribe, who
were evacuated from Sud-
an, in Shivamogga.
Addressing a public
meeting in Mysuru dis-
trict, Modi said, “When it
comes to working against
India’s interests, Congre-
ss’ ‘royal family’ will be at
the forefront. I want to
speak about a serious issue
here. I want to say it
because there is a lot of
pain in my heart. This
country can never forgive
such a game. This family,
to influence the politics in
the country, is encourag-
ing foreign forces to inter-
fere.”
■ Page 5: Congress family
breaking all limits: Modi
PG 5 | SHAH MOCKS ‘FIVE GUARANTEES’ OF CONG.
China jumps in to defend
Pakistan on Kashmir row
DC CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, MAY 7
As India hardened its
stance on Pakistan-spon-
sored terrorism, following
the recent terror attacks at
Poonch and Rajouri in
Jammu region, China has
once against lent support
to Pakistan on the Kash-
mir issue. China’s backing
further complicates the
situation, at a time when
India is holding the presi-
dency of the G20 and SCO
Arvind Kumar in
Telangana High Court.
They urged Chief
Minister K.
Chandrashekar Rao and IT
and MA&UD minister K.T.
Rama Rao to resolve the
dispute “arising out of ego”
as the interests of at least
400 All India Services offi-
cers are involved. “As
such, we are not against
the formation of road,” one
Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves at supporters dur-
ing a roadshow ahead of Karnataka Assembly elections,
in Bengaluru on Sunday.
Kharge: Cong. all
set for K’taka win
ASHHAR KHAN | DC
NEW DELHI, MAY 7
Days before the crucial
polling in Karnataka,
Congress president
Mallikarjun Kharge said
that the surcharged
atmosphere before the
polling is a certain indica-
tion that the BJP leaders
are losing ground every
day and are fighting a los-
ing battle. He further
added that the BJP leaders
are trying to scare people
by stoking their fear with
baseless and untenable
arguments, but it is not
making any impact on vot-
ers. In an exclusive inter-
view with this newspaper,
the Congress president
iNSIDE
■ Pg 7: ‘Operation Kaveri’
ends, over 4,000 rescued
from Sudan: Jaishankar
groupings. After the SCO
foreign ministers’ meeting
in Goa, China’s foreign
minister Qin Gang visited
Pakistan on Friday and
Saturday, during which
the two ‘all-weather allies’
issued a joint statement.
“The Chinese side reiter-
ated that the Kashmir dis-
member said. Meanwhile,
the formation of a 100-feet
road across the IAS/IPS
officers’ layout near Lanco
Hills has taken a curious
turn, with members of the
housing society attributing
personal motives to
Municipal Administration
and Urban Development
special CS Arvind Kumar,
who is also HMDA com-
missioner, for pushing for
the roadwork without fol-
lowing the due procedure.
“We tried, six times, in
the last one year to meet
the Special CS, but he
always avoided us. Once,
he went out from the other
door while we were wait-
ing to meet him and some-
times after waiting for
nearly two hours, he
denied audience,” a second
member told Deccan
Chronicle. Referring to the
cmyk
PAGES | `6.00
— PTI
Mallikarjun Kharge
claimed that the party will
comfortably win the
Karnataka elections.
During the interview,
Kharge asserted that in
some constituencies, there
is a direct contest between
the Congress and the BJP.
■ Page 5: Congress is
anti-Hindu, claims BJP
pute was left over from the
history between India and
Pakistan and should be
properly and peacefully
resolved in accordance
with the UN Charter, rele-
vant Security Council res-
olutions and bilateral
agreements. Both sides
opposed any unilateral
actions that further com-
plicate the already volatile
situation.”
■ Page 7: Jaishankar slams
Bilawal Bhutto’s remarks
HMDA Act, the society
members urged the gov-
ernment to direct the
HMDA to negotiate as per
the provisions of the Act,
fix the compensation and
continue the work after
obtaining consent from the
society.
“We are asking HMDA to
follow its Act. Nothing
else,” a member pointed
out. Inquiries revealed
that Arvind Kumar was
not a member of the society
at the time of allotment of
membership due to techni-
cal reasons. However, a
few years later, he again
applied for membership.
The society board referred
his application to the state
government, which is yet
to react to his request.
■ Page 4: Questions to
Arvind go unanswered
 CITY
DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | MONDAY | 8 MAY 2023
pg 2

SHORT

13 HELD FOR
TAKE
GAMBLING IN
SANATHNAGAR
DC CORRESPONDENT
HYDERABAD, MAY 7
The Special Operations Team
of Cyberabad’s Balanagar zo-
ne caught 13 persons gambling
at Sanathnagar late on Sunday
night.
Acting on a tip-off, sleuths
raided a house at Shivajinagar
under Sanatnagar police sta-
tion limits and caught the acc-
used. An amount of `59,000,
cards and other material were
seized and handed over to
Sanathnagar PS for further
action. A case has also been
registered under the Gaming
Act for further investigation.
34-yr-old techie dies of heart
attack while playing cricket
SYED OMAR
FAROOQ | DC
HYDERABAD, MAY 7
A 34-year-old software em-
ployee died of a heart att-
ack while playing cricket
with his friends at KCR St-
adium in Gattupally subu-
rbs of Maheshwaram ma-
ndal in Rangareddy distr-
ict. The police identified
the techie as Marripudi
Manikantha, who felt pain
in his left arm and chest
while bowling.
His friends rushed him
to a private hospital in
Maheshwaram, but he col-
lapsed in the car and was
Photo of software emplo-
yee Marripudi Manikantha
who died due to heart att-
ack while playing cricket.
declared dead upon arriv-
al at the hospital. Manika-
ntha was a native of Mall-
avaram village of Maddi-
padu mandal in Prakasam
district of Andhra Prade-
sh, his brother M. Venka-
tesh said. “He was staying
in a hostel at KPHB in the
city and used to play cric-
ket with friends on week-
ends,” he said.
He said he was apprised
about his brother’s demis-
e by another friend, Yash-
want, who had accompan-
ied the techie to play cr-
icket. On a complaint lod-
ged by Venkatesh, the pol-
ice registered a case of su-
spicious death under Sect-
ion 174 of the CrPC and s-
hifted Manikantha’s body
to Osmania Hospital for p-
ost-mortem examination. NEET undergraduate aspirants stand in queue for a biometric scan at the gate of the Secunderabad Public School,
an examination centre on Sunday. — DEEPAK DESHPANDE

NEET UG entrance exam

goes off smoothly in city
Students find biology easy, physics and chemistry moderate
AARTI KASHYAP | DC
HYDERABAD, MAY 7
Aspiring doctors heaved a
sigh of relief after appear-
ing for NEET UG 2023, for
which they had toiled for
around two years, in
around 24 centres across
the state Sunday after-
noon.
The question paper
divided into biology
(botany plus zoology),
physics and chemistry
carried 720 marks overall.
Most of the students
found the biology section
to be easier but the
physics and chemistry
sections moderate.
Dania Hanif from
Santosh Nagar said it was
her first attempt and the
experience was over-
whelming, although hav-
ing written well, she
expects a good score.
Saurabh Soni from
Kagaznagar said, “The
Muskaan Lalwani said
that she was a bit scared
during the exam as she
saw a large number of stu-
dents competing along-
side. She managed to do
well.
Meanwhile, parents,
many of whom, like S.
Madhavi from Nacharam,
waited outside the exam
centres all tensed up, were
worrying how their chil-
dren would fare in their
first attempt.
Sayed Hanif, whose
Parents of the candidates wait outside the center as the daughter was appearing
NEET exam going on at Army Public School, Golconda, for the exam, said “I am
on Sunday. — DC tensed as the exam is one
of the toughest ones.
question paper was mod- Hana Fatima said she Moreover, even after scor-
erate. Botany and zoology was happy to have finally ing well, getting admis-
took a longer time as the appeared for the exam sion in a good c
section was lengthy. There after two years of prepara- ollege remains a chal-
were more questions on tions. She said, lenge.”
organic chemistry in the “Everything went off They will be on tenter-
chemistry section. Some smoothly. The invigilators hooks till the time results
students found the physics were very supportive and are out, opined many can-
part to be tough. I am helped us by clarifying didates and their
expecting a good score”. our doubts”. parents.

STONE SET FOR Cycling enthusiasts

RAJASHYAMALA
AMMAVARI TEMPLE
DC CORRESPONDENT
HYDERABAD, MAY 7

Visakha Sri Sarada Peet-

ham seer Swaroopana-
ndendra Saraswati on
Sunday laid foundation
for the construction of
the first Rajashyamala
Ammavari temple in
Telangana. The temple
is coming up in two ac-
res at Kokapet being bu-
ilt at a cost of ` 8 crore.
The seer stated that
Telangana state, under
the leadership of Chief
Minister K. Chandrash- British Deputy High Commissioner Gareth Wynn Owen interacts with participants at
ekar Rao, has achieved Palapitta Cycling Park in Kondapur on Sunday. — DC
rapid developments with
the blessings of Goddess
Rajasyhamla. On many
occasions, the hief
Minister also performed
the Rajashyamala
Yagam.
“At the time of forma-
tion of Telangana State,
it faced several problems
like power crisis and
water crisis. But Rao
overcame all the hurdles
with his devotion tow-
ards Goddess Rajashya-
mala and with the bless-
ings of the Goddess. He
sanctioned two acres in
Kokapet to build a tem-
ple for the Goddess,” the
seer said.
The Goddess Rajashya-
mala temple is present
only in Visakha Sri Sar-
ada Peetham. The seer
said that the temple will
be constructed with Cyclists take part in Palapitta Cycling Ride organised by the Hyderabad Bicycling
funds mobilised from Club in association with Telangana State Forest Development Corporation and World
devotees. Cycling Alliance in Hyderabad on Sunday. — R. PAVAN

GREEDY | DAUGHTERS Refuse to perform rituals over property row

Women skip mother’s final rites

MOULI MAREEDU | DC
HYDERABAD, MAY 7
A 70-year-old woman’s
body was abandoned by
her two daughters
because her mother
refused them property
before she died of illness
at a government hospital
in Kamareddy. Police
intervened, directing the
two daughters to take
away their mother’s body
and perform her funeral
rites.
Kistavva, 70, lived in BR
Nagar in Kamareddy with
her two daughters
● DOCTOR AT the She died last night.
A doctor at the govern-
government hospital ment hospital called the
called the two daughters two daughters to inform
to inform them of their them of their mother’s
mother’s death. death. However, both girls
declined to come to the
● BOTH GIRLS declined hospital to take the body
to come to the hospital following which it was
to take the body follow- shifted to the hospital’s
ing which it was shifted mortuary. According to
to the hospital’s the police, the two daugh-
ters demanded that
mortuary. Kistavva register a house
Pentavva and Yellavva. in their names as well as
Kistavva became ill as a the `1.50 lakh cash that
result of her old age, and was in the mother's sav-
was admitted at a govern- ings account. After receiv-
ment hospital on April 21. ing information from the
hospital authorities,
Kamareddy Town assis-
tant sub-inspector
Laxman visited the hospi-
tal. “I asked the two
women to come to the hos-
pital and take the body to
perform their mother's
final rites. We sent police
personnel to the house
where the two women are
living, but the door is
locked,” he said.
If they do not come to
the hospital to take the
body, the police will per-
form funeral rites with
the help of locals, the ASI
stated.
 CITY
DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | MONDAY | 8 MAY 2023
EVENTS
TODAY
TODAY
A1 Offline Super Intensive
Course
Time: 9 AM
Venue: Goethe-Zentrum
Learn the Art Of Soft
Pastels In Landscape –
Workshop
Time: 3:30 PM
Venue: Rainbow Vistas
Rock Garden
Open Mic Monday Night
Time: 8:15 PM
Venue: The Alley Drive In
COMING UP NEXT:
Water Colour Mandala
Workshop
Time: May 13, 2 PM
Venue: Aaromalé - Café &
Creative Community
Arjun Kanungo Live
Tiem: May 20, 6 PM
Venue: Cloud Dining
Jazbaa Ft JAved Ali Live In
Concert
Time: May 21, 7 PM
Venue: Shilpakala Vedika
REACH US AT
eventsatdc@gmail.com
SHORT TAKES
KTR INVITED
FOR ASIABERLIN
SUMMIT 2023
DC CORRESPONDENT
HYDERABAD, MAY 7
IT minister K.T. Rama Rao has
been invited for the
“AsiaBerlin Summit 2023”, to
be held in Berlin from June 12
to 15. Themed “Connecting the
startup ecosystems”, the sum-
mit will be inaugurated by the
Governing mayor of Berlin in
Berlin City Hall (“Rotes
Rathaus”).
The senate department for
economics, energy and public
enterprises, which has urged
Rao to speak at the summit,
said that this would strength-
en the partnership between
the countries and send a visi-
ble signal for intensifying
mutual cooperation.
The annual AsiaBerlin sum-
mit addresses economic con-
nections between Berlin and
Asia, with the goal of connect-
ing Berlin startups with mar-
kets and ecosystems across
Asia.
The focus of this year’s sum-
mit will be on mobility and
logistics, energy transition,
green tech, climate change and
artificial intelligence (AI). In
addition, a dedicated investor
programme, a startup pitch
competition and guided tours
through the Berlin ecosystem
will be organised on the occa-
sion.
GAJWEL GETS
HALLS IN GRAM
PANCHAYATS
FROM PAGE 1
Gajwel has also earned the dis-
tinction of building communi-
ty/functions in all major gram
panchayats.
Each function hall is being
built at a cost of nearly `95
lakh.
As many as 82 major villages
are being covered under this
scheme.
The works have reached final
stages and are ready for inau-
guration in the next three
months.
Rao, who won from Gajwel
for the first time in 2014
Assembly elections and
became the first Chief
Minister of Telangana state,
retained his seat for second
term in 2018 Assembly polls
with a big majority.
Rao constituted a special
authority for the overall devel-
opment of his constituency,
termed GADA (Gajwel Area
Development Authority),
shortly after assuming charge
as the Chief Minister in June
2014, and appointed an IAS
officer as special officer to lead
the authority. Nearly Rs 900
crore special funds have been
spent for the development of
Gajwel since 2014.
“Chief Minister
Chandrashekar Rao has
changed the face of Gajwel in
the last nine years. Today,
Gajwel is known as an educa-
tion as well as health hub.
Gajwel has government insti-
tutions offering quality educa-
tion for free from KG to PG
level. Gajwel outer ring road is
progressing fast. We have mod-
ern integrated markets selling
vegetables and meat.
A 50-bedded government hos-
pital on par with the facilities
of a corporate hospital was
built at a cost of `22 crore in
2018.
Recently, a 40-bed pediatric
ward was built in Gajwel hos-
pital for new born babies,said
Vanteru Prathap Reddy, senior
BRS leader and incharge for
Gajwel constituency.
ORR toll contract to pvt Political tourist Priyanka
player ‘illegal’: Kishan must learn from TS: KTR
Says govt will suffer significant loss of revenue for 30 years
FROM PAGE 1
Union minister G. Kishan
Reddy said stated that the
state government owes an
explanation to the people
because awarding toll col-
lecting, operation, and
maintenance of the ORR
to a private company for
30 years will result in a
significant loss of revenue
to the state. Further,
Kishan Reddy said that
the state government
would earn `30,000 crore
revenues by collecting toll
fees on the ORR as vehicle
movement increased and
that awarding the ORR toll
fee process to a private
entity for 30 years was an
illegal act.
“The state government
must face a CBI investiga-
tion into the irregularities
and must be answerable to
the people. The ORR
serves as a vital link for
motorists travelling to
Mumbai, Bengaluru,
Vijayawada, Karimnagar,
and Warangal. The gov-
ernment deliberately
awarded ORR mainte-
nance to a private firm at
the lowest price and with-
out announcing basic toll
tax price details,” the
Union minister remarked.
Further, Kishan Reddy
stated that the ORR falls
under the HMDA master
SITTING JUDGE
MUST PROBE
TSPSC SCAM,
DEMANDS BANDI
DC CORRESPONDENT
HYDERABAD, MAY 7
Stating that they would
take out a massive
march by the unem-
ployed in Sangareddy on
May 11, BJP state chief
and MP Bandi Sanjay
Kumar demanded the
state government to
order an inquiry into the
TSPSC question paper
leak by a sitting High
Court judge. He also
demanded the immedi-
ate suspension of IT
minister K.T. Rama from
the cabinet.
The BJP leader urged
the government to pro-
vide `one lakh compen-
sation to each candidate
of Group-I exams as the
process, and thereby
their job prospects, were
getting delayed because
of the murky episode.
“We will highlight the
government’s failures
and the manner in
which it has cheated
lakhs of unemployed
youth after promising
them jobs. It also went
back on its assurances of
providing unemploy-
ment doles. If the BJP
comes to power, we will
fill two lakh vacancies in
Telangana and release
an annual job calendar,”
he said.
● BANDI URGED the
government to provide
`one lakh compensa-
tion to each candidate
of Group-I exams.
Bandi Sanjay Kumar
REALTY | BYTES
TS hopes to raise `2.2K-cr through land auctions
MADDY DEEKSHITH | DC
HYDERABAD, MAY 7
The state government
hopes to garner `2,200
crore by selling off major
lands at ‘Neopolis Layout’
and Uppal Bhagath Phase
3 layout, which might fur-
ther bolster Hyderbad’s
position as the top real
estate hub in the country.
Large parcels of land,
including 40 acres at Uppal
Bhagath Phase-3, 30 acres
at Neopolis, 50 acres at
Medipally, and 50 acres at
Bachupally, would be auc-
tioned off soon.
The nodal agency for the
e-auction would be the
Union minister G. Kishan Reddy addresses a press conference on ORR bid issue
where he slammed the Telangana state, at the state BJP office in Hyderabad
on Sunday.
● THE MAHARASHTRA-
PUNE Highway is also
being maintained by IRB
for 15 years, Kishan
said, asking why then
the state government
awarded ORR to the pri-
vate entity for 30 years.
plan, which was designed
for 2020 to 2031.
“If the government
awarded the ORR to a pri-
vate entity for 30 years,
the private firm would col-
lect taxes on the ORR for
21 years more than the
Former IPS officer and state BSP president R.S. Praveen Kumar takes blessings of
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati during party’s Jana Bharosa Yatra at LB
Nagar Indoor Stadium on Sunday.
KCR mimicked BSP’s
schemes, says Mayawati
FROM PAGE 1
“I came to know that K.
Chandrashekar Rao made
a statement, twice or
thrice, that the Indian
Constitution drafted by
Dr Ambedkar needs to be
rewritten. When BSP lead-
ers and workers hit the
streets against Chandra-
shekar Rao’s statements,
he started playing dramas
to divert people’s atten-
tion. The (installation of
the) tallest Ambedkar
statue and naming of gov-
ernment buildings after
Ambedkar is part of this
drama,” she said.
Mayawati also accused
the Chief Minister of
mimicking the schemes
implemented by the BSP
in Uttar Pradesh during
her term at the helm.
“BSP formed govern-
ment four times in Uttar
Pradesh. The BSP govern-
ment distributed 3 acres
to the poor. KCR copied it
and promised to distrib-
ute 3 acres to Dalits in
Telangana, but he failed to
fulfil it even after nine
years,” Mayawati said.
She reminded Telangana
Large parcels of land at Uppal Bhagath Phase-3, Neopolis, Medipally, Bachupally, to be auctioned
Hyderabad Metropolitan
Development Authority
(HMDA).
The nodal agency for the
e-auction would be the
HMDA. During the previ-
ous auction, Kokapet lan-
ds proved to be a gold mine
for the cash-strapped gov-
ernment, with the highest
bid in the online auction
fetching `60 crore per acre
on Thursday, when the
HMDA held e-auctions for
eight plots. The total rev-
enue generated by the auc-
tion was `2,000 cr. Raja-
pushpa Realty successful-
ly bid for the single piece
of land measuring 1.65
acres for sale in Golden
existing master plan,
which is a blatant viola-
tion of government poli-
cy,” he remarked.
The Maharashtra-Pune
Highway is also being
maintained by IRB for 15
years, he said, asking why
then the state government
awarded ORR to the pri-
vate entity for 30 years.
“The state government
assigned a task to Crisil to
undertake a study on
ORR. Crisil conducted the
study and submitted a
comprehensive report on
ORR, toll tax, revenue gen-
Large number of activists turn up for BSP’s Telangana
Jana Bharosa Yatra at LB Nagar Indoor Stadium on
Sunday.
people that the BSP was at
the forefront of extending
complete support for the
bifurcation of Andhra
Pradesh and granting
statehood to Telangana.
“BSP raised its voice in
the Parliament for state-
hood to Telangana. We
voted in favour of state
bifurcation Bill in the
Parliament,” Mayawati
said. Mayawati also took a
dig at the BRS govern-
ment for failing to provide
jobs to youth and for fail-
ing to conduct recruit-
ment exams properly.
Referring to TSPSC ques-
LAND AUCTION
WHAT’S ON SALE?
● 30 acres of land in
Neopolis Layout at
Kokapet.
● 40 acres at Uppal
Bhagath Phase-3.
● 50 acres at
THE BIG PLOT
● Range from four acres to
Medipally.
six acres in Neopolis, each of
● 50 acres at the five plots going up for
Bachupally. auction is `30 crore.
Mile Layout, fetching a
total of `99.33 crore in the
auction. The winning bids
ranged from over `31 crore
— R. PAVAN
eration, among others.
Why did the state govern-
ment hide the report while
awarding the ORR con-
tract to the private firm,”
he asked.
Before leaking the news
to a section of the media
about awarding ORR to a
private firm, the state gov-
ernment modified the
lease rate and added `100
crore to the final price,
bringing the total to `7,380
crore. Why did the govern-
ment wait 16 days after
finalising the bidding
process,” he questioned.
— P. SURENDRA
— DECCAN CHRONICLE
tion paper leaks, she said:
“Huge irregularities took
place in recruitment
exams. BSP leaders and
workers waged a battle
against the government
on this issue. Telangana
government is trying to
suppress our voices.”
Stating that BSP has not
weakened in UP,
Mayawati said, “As long as
elections were held with
ballot papers, BSP was
strong. The BSP lost elec-
tions after EVMs were
introduced. This is due to
EVM tampering done by
rival parties.”
THE SMALLER ONES
● Plot sizes of Uppal
Bhagath Layout range
from 200 to 800 square
yards.
to `60 crore per acre, with
a weighted average bid
amount of `40 crore.
A senior municipal
How many jobs did Cong. govt provide: Min.
DC CORRESPONDENT
HYDERABAD, MAY 7
BRS working president
and minister K.T. Rama
Rao advised Congress gen-
eral secretary Priyanka
Gandhi to use her visit as
an “educational tour”
rather than a “political
tour” to learn about
Telangana’s achievements
over the last nine years
under the leadership of
Chief Minister K.
Chandrashekar Rao.
He stated that while
landing at Shamshabad
airport and entering the
city, Priyanka will see
beautiful roads, flyovers,
cable bridges, and offices
of world-renowned IT
companies, and that these
developments in the city
would serve as a learning
experience for her.
“Hyderabad has been
transformed into a cosmo-
politan city in the last
nine years. It welcomes
lakhs of tourists. It also
welcomes political
tourists like Priyanka
Gandhi from Delhi,”
Rama Rao remarked in a
statement on Sunday.
Referring to Priyanka
announcing ‘Congress
Youth declaration’ in the
public meeting on
Monday, Rama Rao asked
her to inform the people of
Telangana about the num-
ber of posts filled by the
Congress government in
the erstwhile Andhra
Pradesh. He said that the
BRS government created
2.2 lakh government jobs
and 22 lakh private jobs to
youth in the last nine
years.
He alleged that “political
tourists” from other states
were trying to provoke
youth in Telangana with
false claims. “How many
vacant posts were filled by
the Congress government
through APPSC in the
erstwhile AP,” he asked.
He told Priyanka not to
trust the “wrong script”
handed out by local
Congress leaders about
the functioning of the
BRS government and
instead check the facts
herself. “My advice to her
is Aao, Dekho, Seekho. Do
not blindly believe the
script written by your
party leaders,” he
remarked.
He suggested
Priyanka to ask the
Congress leaders about
to
the recent statements
from
Rajinikanth
actors
Hyderabad, which has
like
that
developed faster than
expected, was reminiscent
of New York. “They may
be a little shy to tell the
truth, but if asked a cou-
ple of times, they will tell
her about the develop-
ment made possible by the
BRS government without
hesitation,” he said.
He demanded that the
Congress tender an apolo-
gy for the sacrifices of
hundreds of young lives
during the Telangana
movement due to the
delay in granting state-
hood to Telangana by the
Congress-led UPA govern-
ment at the Centre.
● RAMA RAO asked
Priyanka to inform the
people of Telangana
about the number of
posts filled by the
Congress government in
the erstwhile AP.
● IT MINISTER alleged
that “political tourists”
from other states were
trying to provoke youth
in Telangana with false
claims.
administration and urban
development (MA&UD)
official under the condi-
tion of anonymity stated
Revanth: KTR must
bow before Priyanka
DC CORRESPONDENT
HYDERABAD, MAY 7
Following BRS working
president K.T. Rama Rao’s
remarks about Priyanka
Gandhi being a political
tourist the day before her
visit to Hyderabad, TPCC
president and MP A.
Revanth Reddy on Sunday
asked the BRS minister to
bow before Priyanka
Gandhi in recognition of
her mother Sonia
Gandhi’s efforts as UPA
chairperson to grant
Telangana separate state-
hood.
“If the Congress govern-
ment had not given
Telangana state, Chief
Minister K.
Chandrasekhar Rao and
his son Rama Rao might
have been begging outside
the Birla temple and
Nampally dargah. Rama
Rao must bow before
Priyanka Gandhi and
touch her feet,” Revanth
remarked.
Revanth also lashed out
at Rama Rao stating that
he was in no way associat-
ed with the Telangana
Congress state president A. Revanth Reddy along with
AICC in-charge for Telangana Manikrao Thakre during
the preparatory meeting ahead of Priyanka Gandhi’s
visit to the state at Gandhi Bhavan on Sunday. — DC
Priyanka will provide
jobs to youths: Thakre
DC CORRESPONDENT
HYDERABAD, MAY 7
Exuding confidence that
the Congress is going to
form the next government
after the Assembly elec-
tions, AICC in-charge for
Telangana Manikrao
Thakre asserted that the
party will fulfill its prom-
ises of providing employ-
ment opportunities to the
youth in the state.
Thakre stated that
Congress party national
secretary Priyanka
Gandhi will release the
“Youth Declaration for
Telangana” during her
visit to Hyderabad on May
8, when she will partici-
pate at the ‘Yuva
Sangharshana Sabha’
scheduled to be held at
Saroor Nagar Indoor
Stadium grounds. The
“Youth Declaration for
Telangana” is significant
because it intends to pro-
vide jobs to youths if the
Congress party gains
power in the state, he
asserted.
that the Neopolis Layout,
which consists of five
plots spread across 30 acr-
es, will present tremen-
dous opportunities for
developers, corporates,
and investors.
According to him, the
basic price for each of the
five plots going up for auc-
tion is `30 crore. The plots
range in size from four
acres to six acres, and each
plot is bounded by a road
that is 36 or 45 metres
wide. The official stated
that HMDA would shortly
issue a notification in this
regard. In contrast to
Neopolis Layout, the plot
sizes of Uppal Bhagath
pg 3
HYDERABAD HAS
been transformed
into a cosmopolitan city
in the last nine years. It
welcomes lakhs of
tourists. It also
welcomes political
tourists like Priyanka
Gandhi from Delhi.
K.T. RAMA RAO,
IT minister
movement, and that his
name was “borrowed from
Andhra” and he did his
education in Guntur.
“Rama Rao worked in
America. As per GO 610,
Rama Rao is not eligible to
hold any position in
Telangana,” he stated.
“The BRS ruling party
encourages miscreants
who hold Godse portraits
in Hyderabad. What
action has been taken
against those miscre-
ants,”? he asked.
Responding to his sug-
gestion that Priyanka use
her trip to Hyderabad to
learn about develop-
ments in Telangana,
Revanth questioned Rama
Rao rather sarcastically
about the issues that need
to be studied, whether to
learn from the struggles
faced by the farmers,
TSPSC and SSC paper
leaks, 3,000 liquor stores,
or 60,000 belt shops in
Telangana.
“As many as 25 students
died after the wrong evalu-
ation took place in
Intermediate exams,” he
remarked.
The BRS ruling govern-
ment had failed to issue
job notifications, while
officials had failed to con-
duct exams efficiently,
and the leaked TSPSC
papers jeopardised the
lives of thousands of job
hopefuls.
“Priyanka Gandhi
would extend support to
the youth and the unem-
ployed in providing jobs
in Telangana. We assure
you that we shall follow
through on any commit-
ments or promises made
by the Congress party.
After coming to power, the
Congress party delivered
on its promises in
Rajasthan and Chhattis-
garh,” Manikrao Thakre
stated. CLP leader Mallu
Bhatti Vikramarka stated
that while the Congress
party was in power at the
Centre, Sonia Gandhi ful-
filled the promise of sepa-
rate statehood to
Telangana, but the BRS
government misled and
deceived the youth of the
state by promising jobs.
Layout will range from 200
square yards to 800 square
yards, according to
MA&UD officials. Accord-
ing to the official, large
plots won’t be designated
based on prior experiences
because bidder interest in
them was low during the
last two auctions.
Based on previous expe-
riences, large plots would
not be earmarked because
they had a lukewarm res-
ponse from bidders in the
last two auctions. Sepa-
rate notifications will be
issued for the auction of 50
acres of land in Bachu-
pally and 50 acres of prop-
erty in Medipally.
 CITY/AP
DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | MONDAY | 8 MAY 2023
pg 4

SHORT

DELHI LIQUOR
TAKES
Bike taxi rider saves ADULTERATED
GARLIC PASTE

girl from rape bid

SCAM: TWO
GRANTED BAIL
N. VAMSI SRINIVAS I DC
HYDERABAD, MAY 7
The designated court trying
the Delhi liquor scam case
filed by the Enforcement
Directorate granted bail to two
accused, Rajesh Joshi and
Gautam Malhotra, on
Saturday on the grounds that
the evidence produced by the
investigating agency against
them was not incriminating
enough.
The two are key persons in
the case because the ED
accused them of channelling
monetary kickbacks of at least
`20 crore-`30 crore of a total
pay-off of `100 crore through
hawala from South Group
involving BRS MLC K. Kavitha
to AAP. The observations made
by the special judge M.K.
Nagpal while granting bail also
exposed chinks in the ED’s
investigation so far and the lack
of strength in the material evi-
dence gathered by it to prove
the money laundering allega-
tions. The judge also pointed
out discrepancies in statements
made by approver Dinesh Arora
in separate cases filed by the
CBI and ED. The court said the
bail was being granted in the
absence of any satisfactory cor-
roborative material, given the
material contradictions and
Kalyan rescues six-year-old at Errum Manzil
PINTO DEEPAK | DC
HYDERABAD, MAY 7
An alert bike taxi rider
rescued a six-year-old
girl from the clutches of
a 19-year-old man, who
was about to rape her,
from near the Errum
Manzil Metro station
late on Friday night.
The rider, Karamthot
Kalyan, a mechanical
engineering graduate,
was waiting near the
station for a client
when he saw the girl in
a dark corner and the
man behind her.
Upon closer inspec-
tion, he found the man
exposing himself and
the girl in a discomfited
position. The man
claimed to be the girl's
father, but the girl refut-
ed the claim. “My suspi-
cion grew stronger. I
asked him the girl's
name and then asked
the girl her name. Both
names were different
and the girl also said
her father was no more
UNIT RAIDED,
2 ARRESTED
DC CORRESPONDENT
HYDERABAD, MAY 7
Sleuths from Special
TIMELY HELP Jubilee Hills, under-
stood the situation and
Operation Team (SOT)
Rajendrangar zone raided
● The rider, Karamthot supported him. a manufacturing unit in
“Though he was getting S h a n t i n a g a r ,
Kalyan, a mechanical late, he accompanied Mailardevpally late on
engineering graduate, me to the police station Saturday night and arrest-
was waiting near the without complaining ed two persons for prepar-
station for a client when and stayed with me ing ginger garlic paste that
he saw the girl in a dark ● Growing suspicious,
while lodging the com- was blended with harmful
corner and the man Kalyan immediately
plaint,” said Kalyan. chemicals and preserva-
behind her. The police said that as tives. They seized 500 kg of
called the police, who per their investigation, adulterated garlic paste
● Upon closer inspection, detained the suspect Khan had removed the and other material from
he found the man and identified him as girl's undergarments the unit.
exposing himself and the Afroz Khan, 19, a fruit and abused her physi- The accused Feroz Ali
girl in a discomfited vendor. cally, as the girl com- and Ajit were involved in
position. plained of pain in her food adulteration in clear
● Police registered a private parts. violation of norms and
● The man claimed to be case against Khan and They registered a case that too in unhygienic con-
the girl’s father, but the remanded him to against Khan and ditions, police said. Police
girl refuted the claim. judicial custody. remanded him to judi- seized two packets of OBITUARY
cial custody. harmful xanthan gum food
Kalyan, who is a grade, each weighing 25
and she stays with her to buy her chocolates. native of Nandyal in kg, seven boxes of acetic
mother,” he said. Meanwhile, the girl's Andhra Pradesh, said acid, over 550 kg of dupli-
He immediately called family members, who he had moved to cate packets of 'Khana
the police, who were also searching for Hyderabad for undergo- Khazana' non-veg masala
detained the suspect her, rushed to the police ing coaching on user- and 20 packets of 'Kitchen
and identified him as station and heaved a interface designing Chat' packets, over one
Afroz Khan, 19, a fruit sigh of relief upon see- software. During the tonne of garlic packed in
vendor, who waylaid ing her safe. Kalyan day, he attends classes gunny bags, adulterated
the girl near her home said his client, who and after completing mango-flavoured soft Mr. I. CHACKO (Age: 86 Yrs)
DOD: 06.05.2023
in Punjagutta and took works for a corporate classes, he rides a bike drinks, grinders, mixing Funeral on 09 May 2023
her along by promising hospital chain in taxi. machines and drums. SOT (Timings as below)
Home: 8:00 AM
officials handed over the Ascension Mar Thoma Church, RTC
accused along with the Cross Road, 9:30 a.m.

Three-year-old loses 4
deficiencies in the evidence seized material to AMTC Cemetery at Chikkatimamidi
relating to the transactions of
advance kickback amount.
CHRISTIANS’ Rajendrangar police for
further investigation.
11:30 AM.
Deeply mourned by:
Wife: Mrs. Annamma Chacko
Children & Families.
“This court is of the prima facie
ATTACK: POOLA PLAINT AGAINST
Justin Jacob, Rini Varghese & Children

fingers in gaming zone

view that the same (evidence) is Johnson Jacob, Sirisha Johnson &
not sufficient to make this court Children
believe that the case against
(bail) applicants is genuine or
DEMANDS PROBE SOCIAL MEDIA
Contact : Justin Jacob - 9848168525
(CA-4090)

that they are going to be held

guilty of the offence of money
IN MANIPUR
laundering,” the judge said. DC CORRESPONDENT
Further, the judge observed that HYDERABAD, MAY 7
the ED was not clear if `20 crore
was channelled by the accused Archbishop of
or `30 crore. The slips on which Hyderabad Cardinal
the accused carried details of Poola Anthony, while
the hawala were not produced condemning the recent
by the ED, which, he said, attacks and persecution
depended on the statements of Christians in
given by the approvers. Earlier, Manipur, expressed soli-
senior counsel Dr Menaka darity with all the affect-
Guruswamy, appearing for the ed communities.
bail applicants “vehemently” “While condemning
argued that Joshi, though not these despicable acts, we
named by CBI and ED, was ask our faithful
falsely implicated and illegally Christians and defend-
arrested for political and mala ers of democracy not to
fide reasons. She submitted to react violently,” a state-
court that since the approver ment from the
had been an accomplice in com- Archbishop said.
missioning the alleged crime, Cardinal Anthony
the sole statement of approver called upon the authori-
cannot be made a ground to ties to conduct a thor-
deny bail to the applicant. ough probe into these
attacks and bring the
QUESTIONS TO perpetrators to justice.
Responding to reports
ARVIND GO that a number of
Churches were being set
UNANSWERED ablaze and vandalised,
he said places of wor-
ship hold immense sig-
From page 1 nificance for believers.
They serve as sacred
Meanwhile, when the road spaces where people
work was taken up, the society gather to seek solace,
filed a writ plea in HC and and nurture their spiri-
obtained status quo in all tual lives, he said.
respects, until further orders. “The attack on holy
Sources said the society moved sites not only violates
a contempt plea against their sanctity but also
MA&UD and HMDA, both head- inflicts pain, fear and
ed by Arvind Kumar, when the sorrow upon the faith-
status quo was violated. “To get ful,” he added. Cardinal
the contempt dropped, the Anthony said that it was
HMDA informed court that it disheartening to witness
stopped work after issuance of an in increase in dis-
the status quo order,” one of the crimination directed
members said, adding that HC towards Christians sole-
made it clear that parties could ly because of their reli-
work out their remedies. The gious beliefs. Such acts
members argued that the status not only violate the fun-
quo order has still been in damental principles of
vogue. Deccan Chronicle posed a religious freedom and
questionnaire to Arvind Kumar, human rights but also
asking whether due process was undermine the very
followed in laying the road and foundations of a just and
if HMDA’s action in past two tolerant society, he said.
days violated order. He urged the govern-
However, there was no reply. ment and the concerned
Another query, seeking to know parties to engage in
whether he applied for society diplomatic efforts and
membership, also went unan- peaceful negotiations in
swered. order to put an end to
such acts.
DC CORRESPONDENT ● MEHWISH POST ON BANDI
HYDERABAD, MAY 7 Lubna Begum
was seated in DC CORRESPONDENT
A three-year-old girl’s HYDERABAD, MAY 7
fun time at a kids' play a shuttle
zone in City Centre of machine for a Take immediate action
Banjara Hills turned ride when she against the persons who
into a nightmare, as an placed her were trying to malign the
accident with a right hand over image of BJP state chief
machine crushed four the chain Bandi Sanjay Kumar by
of her fingers, leaving attached to the posting derogatory posts
her permanently dis- motor, which on social media, demanded
abled. The incident the convenor of
took place on Saturday
crushed her Karimnagar Parliament
afternoon. fingers. The segment, B. Praveen Rao,
The girl, Mehwish incident took after lodging a complaint
Lubna Begum, was place at Smash at the Two Town police sta-
seated in a shuttle Play Zone at tion in Karimnagar.
machine for a ride City Centre in 2nd DEATH ANNIVERSARY
when she placed her Banjara Hills I will dwell in the house of the Lord
right hand over the on Saturday.
forever. Ps. 23:6
chain attached to the
motor, which crushed The rear door of the space shuttle was kept open
her fingers. in which Mehwish Lubna’ s four fingers got
Her parents, who crushed in the motor chain on Saturday.
rushed her to a private
hospital and got her
operated on, lodged a
for
Karunakar
questioning,”
Reddy
with great difficulty. I
was able to remove her
complaint with the
police against the
said.
Police sources said
hands from the run-
ning motor,” Mehatab
management of the
Smash Zone, following
that as per a prelimi-
nary investigation, the
Jahan said.
As she raised the
Mrs. Y.W. VIJAYA KUMARI
which the police are workers do not switch alarm, the attenders DOB: 11-02-1963 DOD: 08-05-2021
verifying the CCTV on air conditioners to switched off the Our heart still can’t accept that you are
footage of the incident save costs and leave machine, following not with us anymore. You were our
strength. In this years, there’s not a single
to initiate action. the rear door of the which she contacted day that we did not miss you. It’s not easy
The girl is stable and shuttle open to ensure the girl’s father and for us to move on from this pain.
Inserted by: Family Members.
was discharged from the motor does not her husband, who
rushed her to a hospi- (S/2324/D00121)
the hospital on overheat.
Sunday. “We have registered tal and got her operat-
“We received a com- a case under Section ed on.
plaint from Begum’s 337 of IPC and based Osman Ali said that
father Syed Maqsud on the doctor's report, the girl’s right hand
Ali and her uncle we will alter the case was stuck, due to
Osman Ali around 10 to Section 338 of IPC which her three fin-
am on Sunday. We vis- against the Smash gers were completely
ited the spot, checked Zone owner,” crushed and her left-
the rear part of the Karunakar Reddy hand index finger also
space shuttle machine said. was partially crushed.
that was left unlocked, Begum's aunt “There was not a sin-
posing a risk to the Mehatab Jahan said gle member from the
kids who come to play that she had taken her management at Smash
at the Smash Zone at niece along with her Zone to take care of
City Centre,” said S. three kids to the play children who were
Karunakar Reddy, zone, with one still an playing. It was sheer
Banjara Hills police infant and required to negligence of the man-
sub-inspector. be carried in her arms. agement due to which
The police ques- “I heard Lubna Begum lost her fin-
tioned the staff mem- Begum screaming for gers,” Osman Ali said
bers, who were unable help, bleeding from in the complaint.
to provide any infor- both hands that were Further, he alleged
mation, while the man- stuck in a chain on an that the management
ager was not available. uncovered machine. I deleted the CCTV
“We intimated the handed my son to footage and claimed
manager and owner to another woman and there was none when
visit the police station rushed to help her he asked for it.

FLOUTING | RULES Evading civic body controls, highway stalls charge high prices

Eateries on NH-44 ‘costly affair’

DC CORRESPONDENT
ANANTAPUR, MAY 7
The Hyderabad Circle
area here on NH 44 Road,
which acts as a mid-point
in the road journey
between Hyderabad and
Bengaluru, has turned
itself into a major food-
joint in recent times, but
complaints are many.
Restaurants including
top brands have set up
units that are competing
with local hotels. The
daily turnover of these
establishments is high.
However, the lack of con-
trols from the civic
authorities and the food
safety wing has created a
situation of open looting
of the customers, with the
items being charged
abnormally high prices,
customers say. These
hotels and eateries along
the NH-44 Hyderabad -
Bangalore road have also
been accused of serving
customers with substan-
dard food. Some regular
travellers taking food at
these eateries also cite
instances of rude treat-
ment from hoteliers and
workers.
As per government rule,
hoteliers should set up
boards displaying the
menu, price and the serv-
ices they offer. Many eater-
ies are flouting such rules
and the authorities are
silent. Rajkumar, travel-
ling to Coimbatore from
Hyderabad, says he
entered a hotel for a meal
and paid a "high price for
low-quality food." Another
passenger, Ganesh Iyyer,
also had a similar story to
share. "This is terrible," he
● AS PER government
rule, hoteliers should set
up boards displaying the
menu, price and the serv-
ices they offer. Many are
flouting such rules and the
authorities are silent.
said. The hoteliers admit
that the prices are a bit
high. This, they say, is so
all along the highways.
“We have to entertain the
drivers who stop their
vehicles in front of our
shops. We offer free meals
to the drivers and
helpers,” they reason.
From police to civic staff,
many palms need to be
greased on a regular basis.
While there is heavy crit-
icism against the rates
and quality on offer at the
hotels along the highway
in Anantapur and Kurnool
districts, the district
administration and the
food inspectors are not in
a mood to take remedial
action. Hotels and eateries
in Kurnool, Dhone, Gooty,
Anantapur and nearby
locations had not been
inspected by the authori-
ties for long.
"The municipal adminis-
tration and other depart-
ments should make it
mandatory for all hotels,
restaurants, fast food cen-
ters, and street vendors to
provide free purified
drinking water to cus-
tomers," a frequent trav-
eller said.
“The water provided
must be either purified by
the local authorities or
treated through reverse
osmosis. If packaged bot-
tled water is supplied, the
charge must not be more
than the maximum retail
price printed on the water
bottle,” he said.
Another customer said a
toll-free number should be
provided for recording the
complaints. In Hyderabad,
the GHMC has issued
orders to provide safe
drinking water to cus-
tomers of all eateries.
This followed a complaint
lodged by an NGO, M
Suresh Babu, against
many hotels and restau-
rants in the city selling
packaged drinking water
at exorbitant rates.
“The GHMC
Commissioner has been
instructed to take appro-
priate action. Similar
action must be taken in
the Anantapur highway to
curb such irregularities,”
Suresh said.
 NATION
DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | MONDAY | 8 MAY 2023
pg 5

IN

PM talks to Hakki
BRIEF
Pikki tribe people
Shivamogga: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on Sunday inter-
acted with members of the
Hakki Pikki tribe who were
evacuated from Sudan through
Operation Kaveri, in Shivam-
ogga. The evacuees profusely
thanked the Prime Minister for
the proactive steps taken by the
government in ensuring their
timely and safe evacuation, offi-
cials said, adding that they
recounted the tough circum-
stances that they faced in
Sudan and how the government
and the Indian Embassy had
ensured their safety. The evac-
uees expressed gratitude to
Modi, saying the government
ensured that they escaped
“without a scratch”, an official
said. Modi recalled to the tribal
people how their forefathers
had stood alongside 16th centu-
ry ruler Maharana Pratap, and
stressed that if any Indian any-
where in the whole world was in
any kind of difficulty, the gov-
ernment would not rest until the
problem was resolved.
Amit Shah
SHAH MOCKS ‘FIVE
High-voltage campaigning to end today
Top guns of all major political parties were on a campaign blitz across the state in the past few days
KARNATAKA
DECIDES
Bengaluru, May 7: The
high voltage campaign for
the May 10 Assembly elec-
tions in Karnataka will
come to an end on Monday
as all three major political
parties in the state — BJP,
Congress and JD(S) — are
busy making their last
pitch to woo the voters.
The top guns of all the
major political parties
were on a campaign blitz
across the state in the past
few days, even as the rul-
ing BJP has been striving
to break the 38-year-old
pattern of alternating gov-
ernments and retain its
southern citadel.
The Congress on its part
is working hard to wrest
power from the BJP to give Supporters attend a public meeting of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at Artistes perform in preparation for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s roadshow, in
itself much-needed elbow Kamalapur in Kalaburagi district on Sunday. — PTI Bengaluru on Sunday. — PTI
room and momentum to
position itself as the main
opposition player in the
2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The JD(S) led by former
prime minister H.D. Deve
Corruption, looting, price rise Kharge slams BJP’s
real ‘terrorism’, says Priyanka ‘anti-Hindu’ charge
Gowda was seen putting
all its might into campa-
igning, wanting to emerge
as “king” and not “king-
maker”, hoping to get the From page 1 (BJP) in the state.
required numbers to form Mangaluru, May 7: While talking about dharma, bank nationalisation by The party is targeting
a government on its own. Corruption, looting, price merging four public sector In others, it is between the the BJP over corruption
“Government with full rise and unemployment
national security and banks Syndicate Bank, Congress and the Janata issues.
majority” seemed to be the are the real “terrorism” in terrorism, the BJP leaders do not Vijaya Bank, Corporation Dal (Secular). However, Ahead of the May 10
see that thousands of farmers had
favourite slogan of the
leaders of all the political
Karnataka today and the
ruling BJP had failed to committed suicide in Karnataka
Bank and Canara Bank
which where the pride of
the Congress is the only
party that has a presence
Karnataka Assembly elec-
tion, the Congress

GUARANTEES’ parties during the cam-

paigning for the elections
address the actual issues
of people while the party
under their rule. More than 1,000
unemployed youth have taken
Mangaluru, she said.
Vadra said all the air-
across the state and in
every Assembly segment
released a set of posters
listing out the “corruption

OF CONGRESS their own lives. They are not talking

GURURAJ A. PANIYADI | DC
BAGALKOT, MAY 7
Addressing an election rally in
Hungund of Bagalkot district
on Sunday, Union home minis-
ter Amit Shah mocked the five
guarantees provided by the
Congress and questioned their
ability to deliver on them.
Shah also brought up Rahul
Gandhi’s failed attempts to
provide guarantees in states
such as Gujarat, UP,
Uttarakhand, Manipur, and
Tripura.
“Rahul Baba had given five
guarantees in Gujarat but the
party was defeated there. He
gave five guarantees in UP,
Uttarakhand, Manipur, and
Tripura also where the party
lost in the election. Rahul
Baba, there is no value for
your guarantee,” Shah said.
“The five guarantees men-
tioned need 70 per cent of the
budget. Congress can neither
provide security nor develop-
ment,” he said.
He asserted that the BJP did
not provide any guarantees
but delivered welfare projects,
citing the construction of four
lakh houses, providing water
to 43 lakh people, and con-
struction of 48 lakh toilets in
Karnataka.
He said that considering the
support of the people, he is
confident of winning this elec-
tion. “I was asked about
Bajrangbali being dragged
into the election campaign, I
told them that Bajrnagbali
was in Mandir. It was
Congress who brought him to
the election,” Shah added.
“The Congress party’s
appeasement policy has result-
ed in locking Prabhu Sri Ram
and now they are showing dis-
respect towards Bajrangbali,”
Shah said.
Shah alleged that Congress
has forgotten about the farm-
ers of North Karnataka. He
said that BJP had stopped the 4
percent Muslim reservation
and instead increased the
reservation of Lingayats,
Vokkaligas, and SC/ST com-
munities.
Shah questioned Congress’
promise to reinstate Muslim
reservation if voted to power
and make it 6 per cent.
to the 224-member
Assembly, as they stressed
on getting a clear mandate
to form a strong and stable
government in the state.
While BJP’s campaign
largely centralised with
the focus being on Prime
Minister Narendra Modi,
the ‘double-engine’ gov-
ernment, national issues
and programmes or
achievements of the union
government coupled with
a few from the state, the
Congress’ by and large
focused on local issues and
was also run by its local
leaders initially. However,
its central leaders like
AICC president
Mallikarjun Kharge,
Rahul Gandhi and
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra
joined in subsequently.
JD(S) too ran a highly
localised campaign,
anchored solely by its
leader H.D. Kumaras-
wamy, with party patri-
arch Deve Gowda too join-
ing in, despite advanced
age and related ailments.
Modi’s campaign jugger-
naut in the past one week
since April 29 moved
steadily ahead with as
many as 18 mega public
meetings and six road
shows so far. The PM can-
vassed votes for BJP can-
didates across the state
with the poll slogan ‘Ee
Baariya Nirdhara, Bahu-
matada BJP Sarkara’
(This time’s decision:
majority BJP govern-
ment).
Ahead of the March 29
announcement of polls,
Modi had visited the state
seven times since January,
to unveil several govern-
ment schemes and proj-
ects, and addressed num-
erous meetings of benefi-
ciaries of the govern-
ment’s various schemes.
According to BJP lead-
ers, Modi’s campaigning
across the state has boost-
ed the party’s morale and
confidence among the elec-
torate, which they hope
will convert into votes and
help the party script histo-
ry in the polls.
Union home minister
Amit Shah too has exten-
sively travelled the state,
campaigning and strate-
was in power, Congress ports and sea ports in the in the state. rates” in the state between
general secretary about your (people’s) real issues. country including the New Speaking on the 2019 and 2023 while
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Mangalore Port are being controversy over the per- terming the Bharatiya
said on Sunday. — PRIYANKA GANDHI VADRA sold to crorepatis who are sonal attacks against polit- Janata Party government
Addressing a huge public Congress general secretary the friends of the BJP ical leaders, Kharge said a “trouble engine”.
meeting at Moodbidri in regime at the Centre, that a figure of speech While the Congress is
Dakshina Kannada dis- she said. yed youth have taken their thereby denying employ- made during election ral- pinning down the BJP on
trict here, she said BJP She said the BJP is mak- own lives,” she charged. ment to thousands of local lies should not be twisted the issue of corruption,
leaders including Prime ing promises at the time of The BJP government people. to make it personal; once the BJP claims that the
Minister Narendra Modi elections, but the people had looted `6 lakh crore The BJP is now trying to we are in public life, we Congress is anti-Hindu.
are always talking about should cast their votes on during their rule, she destroy dairy cooperative should learn to take criti- For the impending polls,
extremism and national the basis of what they alleged. Medium and Karnataka Milk Feder- cism. the Congress has prom-
security when elections have delivered in the last small industries in the ation’s Nandini milk bra- He lamented that nowa- ised five guarantees —
are round the corner. three years in Karnataka. state have suffered big nd which has been serving days, cases are being filed Gruha Jyothi, Gruha
“They are not talking “While talking about losses after demonetisa- the people of Karnataka and political scores are Lakshmi, Anna Bhagya,
about your (people’s) real dharma, national security tion and wrong implemen- by merging it with Amul being settled through Yuva Nidhi and Shakti —
issues. I want to tell the and terrorism, the BJP tation of the Goods and that is based out of courts; everything is not to the voters of Karnataka
BJP leaders that price leaders do not see that Services Tax (GST) and Gujarat, she charged. personal. in the party’s manifesto.
rise, unemployment and thousands of farmers had thousands of youth were “It is the terrorism of The Congress has put up Campaigning in the state
the 40 per cent corruption committed suicide in Kar- rendered jobless. corruption ruling the a spirited campaign to comes to an end on May 8,
of the BJP government nataka under their rule. The Union government country, the Congress wrest power from the and polling is scheduled
are the real extremism,” More than 1,000 unemplo- had destroyed the idea of leader said. — PTI Bharatiya Janata Party for May 10.
LAST MINUTE PITCH
‘HANUMAN CHALISA’
RECITALS ON MAY 9
SIBAL TO EC: SEEK FROM
PROOF FROM MODI ALSO
Rahul chats with gig workers in B’luru
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad A day after the EC sought evi- Bengaluru, May 7: onto the pillion seat, and
and its youth wing Bajrang dence from the Congress over Keeping in view the hard- went on a ride with a deliv-
Dal decided to chant a graft claim against the BJP ship of delivery persons, ery partner.
‘Hanuman Chalisa’ on May 9 in an advertisement, Rajya Congress leader Rahul Meanwhile, questioning
throughout the country, Sabha MP Kapil Sibal called Gandhi on Sunday reiter- Prime Minister Narendra
ated his party’s promise to Modi’s silence on corrup-
which happens to be a day on the EC to seek proof from
set up a Gig Workers’ tion in Karnataka, Rahul
before the elections. The call PM Narendra Modi on his alle- Welfare Board in Gandhi sought to know
comes as a counter to the gation that the Congress is Karnataka with a corpus how much each engine of
Congress which in its taking part in back- fund of `3,000 crore and the “double-engine gov-
manifesto said it was door political negotia- minimum hourly wages ernment” got from the “40
committed to taking tions with those for them. per cent commission” in
firm and decisive action linked to terrorism. Gandhi spoke about the the state. He also accused
against individuals and The EC issued a notice promise once again during the Prime Minister of dis-
organisations spreading to Congress over its an interaction with gig qualifying him as MP for
workers and delivery per- raising the Adani issue in
hatred amongst “corruption sons of various companies Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at a restaurant in Parliament.
communities on rate card” here in poll-bound Bengaluru on Sunday. — PTI “For the last three years,
grounds of cas- advertise- Karnataka. there is a BJP government
te and religion. ments. Over a cup of coffee and why the youngsters had manifesto, mainly to set in Karnataka and the
masala dosa, Gandhi dis- taken up gig jobs, and up a Gig Workers’ Welfare Prime Minister is aware of
CHANNAPATNA’S FAMED TOY INDUSTRY SEEKS HELP cussed with them to get an what were their working Board with a corpus of corruption here. You only
The livelihoods of artisans who work in Channapatna’s toy understanding of the lives conditions like, the release `3,000 crore and to ensure call it a ‘double engine gov-
industry have been impacted as the Bengaluru-Mysuru of delivery workers, lack stated. minimum hourly wages ernment’.
expressway which opened two months ago does not connect of stable employment and “Bengaluru alone has for gig workers and other This time, the double
to the toy factory that mostly depends on tourists for their rising prices of basic com- over two lakh people doing workers in the unorgan- engine is stolen,” Gandhi
business. With polling for the Assembly elections set to take modities, Congress said in gig jobs. The Congress ised sector,” the party said at a public meeting in
a party release. party has made specific said. Anekal near here in poll-
place in just three days, artisans who work at the toy factory He also keenly listened to promises for them in the Gandhi later hopped bound state. — PTI
are demanding basic facilities from upcoming government.
gising for the polls. “PM Himanta Biswa Sarma, After having faced diffi- seats. Karnataka, it also wants to high-stakes campaigning
and Shah have put Madya Pradesh’s Shivraj culties in forming the gov- For Congress, wresting give a momentum of sorts this time. Though the cam-
Congress on the backfoot Singh Chouhan, Goa's ernment on its own power from the BJP will be to workers to take on the paign initially centered
in the run-up to the polls,” Pramod Sawant as well as strength in 2008 and 2018, a morale booster, and a key battle-ready election around state leaders
a senior BJP leader said. Union ministers Nirmala as it fell short of a majori- for reviving its electoral machinery of the BJP Siddaramaiah and D.K.
A number of BJP leaders Sitharaman, S. Jaishank- ty despite emerging as the fortunes and strengthen- later this year in the Hindi Shivakumar, Kharge gave
including party national ar, Smriti Irani, Nitin single largest party, the ing its credentials as the heartland states of it momentum and thereby
president J.P. Nadda, Chief Gadkari, among others too BJP is this time hoping for main opposition player Madhya Pradesh, Chhatt- prepared the pitch for the
Ministers of BJP ruled have travelled to various a clear mandate with full against the BJP ahead of isgarh and Rajasthan. party’s top leaders Rahul
states like Uttar Pradesh's parts of the state for cam- majority, and has set a tar- the 2024 Lok Sabha elec- Focused on this, the and Priyanka Gandhi to
Yogi Adiyanath, Assam's paigning. get of winning at least 150 tions. By winning party has been involved in join in. — PTI

LAST | ATTEMPT
Congress family breaking all limits: Modi
From page 1
Continuing his attack,
Modi accused the Congress
leaders of secretly meeting
foreign diplomats who hate
India and repeatedly
indulging in activities that
insult India’s sovereignty,
adding, “they were not
ashamed of it”.
Stating that in this
Karnataka election, the
Congress’ “shahi parivar”
had gone a step ahead
“breaking all the limits and
crushing the feelings of the
country”, Modi said, "not
only Karnataka, I want to
tell this to the entire coun-
try with a lot of pain that in
this election Congress’
‘shahi parivar’ yesterday
came to Karnataka and
said that they want to pro-
Modi says insulting feelings of K’taka is like insulting ‘culture, pride’ of the state
tect the “sovereignty” of
Karnataka.
“Karnataka’s sovereignty
— you know what is the
meaning of it? They have
sat in Parliament for so
many years, they have
taken oaths on India's
Constitution, and they say
this... When a country
becomes Independent, it is
called a sovereign country.
The meaning of what
Congress is saying is that
the Congress believes that
Karnataka is separate from
India,” he said, without
taking any names.
Asking people whether
they approved of it and
whether they would punish
the Congress for such a
statement, the Prime
Minister said, “It meant
that the Congress was
openly advocating for sepa-
rating Karnataka from
India.”
“I had never thought that
the disease of the tukde-
tukde gang would reach the
Congress’ top level,” he
said, accusing the party of
insulting Kannada fighters
who fought for India's
Independence and insult-
ing the patriotism of crores
of Kannadigas.
Noting that this was the
land where "Rashtra Kavi"
Kuvempu had said Karna-
taka was an integral part of
India with the lines in the
state anthem, “Jaya Bhara-
ta Jananiya Tanujate Jaya
he Karnataka Maate”, Mo-
di said, “For every Kannad-
iga, Karnataka is a mother
and she has been described
as the daughter of ‘Bharat
ma’. I can feel the feelings
of Kannadigas.”
Insulting the feelings of
Karnataka was like insult-
ing the “culture and pride”
of the state, he added.
At an election rally in
Shivamogga, Modi, with-
out taking the name of
Gandhi, said, “Now, the
Congress is so afraid and
scared that when their lies
did not work, then those
who are not taking part in
campaigning are being
brought here. The
Congress has started
dumping the responsibility
of defeat on each other.”
On Saturday, Sonia
Gandhi, who has largely
stayed away from cam-
paigning and public rallies
since the 2019 Lok Sabha
polls reportedly due to
health reasons, addressed
her first election meeting
in Karnataka, which votes
on May 10.
The Prime Minister also
said that the Congress’
“balloon of lies is no longer
working as people have
burst it”. As Modi was pre-
sented a Hanuman idol and
a saffron-colored “Shivaji”
turban, the crowd roared
with “Jai Sri Ram” (Hail
Lord Ram) chants while the
Prime Minister raised
“Bajrang Bali Ki Jai” (Hail
Hanuman) slogans.
The Prime Minister said
that he was touched by the
overwhelming response to
his roadshow held in
Bengaluru earlier on
Sunday.
“It was supposed to be a
long roadshow, but due to
CONGRESS WILL COME TO POWER IN
KARNATAKA, SAYS SHARAD PAWAR
the NEET exam, I told our
Solapur, May 7: Nationalist
Congress Party (NCP) chief
Sharad Pawar said on Sunday
that the Congress will come
from Mumbai, the 82-year-
old politician said that in the
current situation, the BJP is
in power in five to six states,
party that our exam (elec- to power in Karnataka, which while the rest have non-BJP
tion) is on May 10, whereas is now being governed by governments. As per the
the childrens’ exam is the BJP. Speaking to information I have received,
today. Hence, we should reporters in pilgrim town Congress will come to power
take care of their exams. Pandharpur, about 350 km in Karnataka. — PTI
So, we did a roadshow in
the morning and finished it
early,” he said.
Modi said that despite
being a Sunday, the stre-
ngth Bengaluru displayed,
the faith it reposed and the
love it demonstrated touc-
hed his heart and he will be
indebted to Karnataka.
Modi said he wanted to
pay back the love and bless-
ings showered on him by
the people. “I want to give
you the original guarantee
for your love and blessings;
I will develop Karnataka
and refund your love with
interest,” he said. — PTI
 EDIT
DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | MONDAY | 8 MAY 2023
pg 6

Subhani

8 MAY 2023

India was forced to

talk tough at SCO
T
he Asian geopolitical landscape has not changed. India has little choice
except to live as it must in a state of perpetual hostility with Pakistan
and with China — despite trade flowing freely and mostly in favour of
China because of the compulsions of the price of goods. It is only a
quirk of timing that India should be chairing G-20 for the year even as it host-
ed the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s Council for Foreign Ministers’
meeting in Goa last week.
India may have been thrust into the role of chairing important diplomatic
meetings. But, considering the Pakistani foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto
Zardari’s snarky comment on India and Kashmir, it could have done little
about the SCO ending as a slanging match with Pakistan. It was not a great
idea that the neighbouring country’s foreign minister chose to visit India even
if he had to because Pakistan’s benefactor China is the main driver of SCO and
the Russian foreign minister’s presence was an additional incentive for
Pakistan towards pursuing that newfound friend-
The Indian counter ship.
to Bilawal’s The SCO meeting of foreign ministers was hard-
comment was ly a diplomatic success. At best, the meetings of
foreign ministers represented an opportunity for
doubtless a caustic India to emphasise its points of view, as it had to

Manipur smoke signals

one, but it had to be with China which keeps harping on normalising
seen more in the relationships before trying to settle the border sit- LETTERS
context of a couple uation. For India, disengagement to pre-2020 posi-
tions was a basic reference point.
of most recent The presence of Russia’s Sergei Lavrov lent the WEIGHT LOSS
events of Goa scene an intriguing dimension with the for- It is a welcome initiative to
terror in the eign minister also throwing light on an incipient
Kashmir Valley... economic problem with the Indian rupee to pay for
discounted Russian crude piling up, though his
bilateral meeting with Mr S. Jaishankar was unlikely to be helpful in solving
this new riddle. India’s foreign minister must have come away with the
impression that the bilateral meetings he had with his Chinese and Russian
were ignored by Delhi In the early 1700s, ter Manipur had was the
give Fit-Cop awards to
police officers who lost
weight (20 cops awarded
for weight loss, May 7).
counterparts were more productive than the fuller SCO table. A Pakistani for- the Meitei became Congress’ Rishang Keish- Awards on similar lines
eign minister was visiting India for the first time in 12 years. But, far from
helping that to be a new starting point for building a constituency of peace and Monideepa Hindus but over the
ing in 1997. So, when the
politically dominant Mei- may be introduced for
last five-10 decades,
not let ties remain hostage to history, all that the visit did was stoke a war of
words. It began, of course, with Bilawal’s comment, made to Pakistani media Banerjie a section started
tei held demonstrations
against Myanmarese infil-
MLAs and MPs too.
S. Nageswara Rao
representatives and meant for his domestic audience, which was about India returning to its ethnic trators and the growing
hosting the G-20 tourism summit in Srinagar later this month and what drug menace, it further Hyderabad
Pakistan would really like to do about it.
religion called stirred the pot.
The Indian counter to Bilawal’s comment was doubtless a caustic one, but it
had to be seen more in the context of a couple of most recent events of terror in
‘Sanamahism’. Before
its accession in 1949,
On May 3, as the Kuki
marched in tribal solidari-
LAND AT LAC

G
the Kashmir Valley, in Poonch and Rajouri, which points to Pakistan upping eography, they
its old game again. If indeed, a Pakistan hand is seen encouraging the export of say, is every-
terror as in the two attacks, it would be a big change from its much-touted
thing, even des-
promise of distancing from state sponsorship of terror via which it has man- tiny. Nothing
aged to extract some concessions regarding staying out of the Financial Action could be truer
Task Force (FATF) lists. for Manipur today, where
Far from being a genial host, India may have risked being seen as abrasive. since May 3 a section of the
But, as they say, the more things change, the more they remain the same, at state’s minority tribal and
least as far as Pakistan and its terrorism playbook and China’s acquisitive eye majority Meitei popula-
on territories are concerned. tions have clashed with a
bitterness that is unre-
membered and has left sev-
Pawar’s pragmatic politics eral people dead.
Such was the scale of the
violence that 24 hours or so
A narrative about the
tribal identity gained
ground. In the early 1700s,
the Meitei had become
Hindus but over the last
five to ten decades, a sec-
tion started returning to
their ethnic religion called
“Sanamahism” and under-
scoring how, before its
accession to India in 1949,
the Meitei were counted as
“a tribe among the tribes of
Manipur”. In 2013, a sec-
tion of the Meitei, includ-
the Meitei were
counted as ‘a tribe’...
drive last year to clear re-
served and protected for-
ests in the hills of en-
croachment and insisted
that villagers, who lived
inside the forests, get their
identities verified.
The purpose of this exer-
cise was the government’s
bid to protect forests, id-
entify illegal immigrants
ty across the hills, a memo-
rial to Kuki soldiers was
allegedly vandalised by the
Meitei. Geography kicked
in to decide the fate of
many in the violence that
followed. The Meitei who
lived in the hill districts
took a beating and the Kuki
who had made Imphal
their home bore the brunt.
The huge concern is that
if the violence is not con-
tained immediately, it may
spread to other neighbour-
India has lost some posts to China
(India lost land at LAC, step up
strategies game, May 7). In
Parliament sessions, there not dis-
cussions between government and
the Opposition. India has been suf-
fering two hostile neighbours who
themselves are friends. The
Congress and the BJP were and are
in power but the situation at bor-
ders remain unresolved.
D. Kishan Prasad
THE KERALA STORY
Karimnagar

N
ationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar has bought later, the Centre felt it must ing the Sanamahis, raised from neighbouring Myan- ing states. Kuki and Meitei
time, and peace, by his decision to drop the plan to quit his post and step in. In an oddly coy the demand for Scheduled mar and crack down on are spread out across the Movies like The Kerala Story
hand over the party to the next generation. His decision could also boost fashion — there appears to Tribe status — something tribals cultivating poppy in Northeast and people from should not be allowed (MP waives
the efforts to forge a platform which the Opposition parties could board in an be no official notification they felt would protect the hills to supply the nar- the other states live, study tax on The Kerala Story, May 7).
effort to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. about it — the Centre is Meitei lands. cotic to the drug trade. and work in Manipur in They will disturb peace and create
Mr Pawar dropped the bombshell by announcing his retirement at a time widely reported to have They went to the Union But these measures put large numbers. The latter communal disharmony within the
when speculation was rife that party leader and his nephew Ajit Pawar could promulgated Article 355 of ministry of tribal affairs the Kuki tribals on edge. are being evacuated but nation. With the election round the
split the party and take a faction to the BJP camp. That could have meant the the Constitution in Mani- demanding tribal status. They accused the state gov- tensions are being reported corner political parties will take
marginalisation of the NCP, which has recently lost its status as a national pur, that empowers it to The ministry referred the ernment of step-motherly from Meghalaya and advantage of this and drive youths
party, in the only one state where it still is a factor to be reckoned with. It protect states from exter- matter to the state govern- treatment. Mizoram too. The Naga in the wrong direction.
would also have had a cascading effect nationally, and the stature of Mr Pawar nal threats and internal ment, which sat on the Then in March, the state people who live in the hills Mohammed Ashfaque
would have taken a hit there, too. He has, for the time being averted that pos- disturbance, in this case, issue. Unless a state recom- government announced of Manipur and have little Hyderabad
sibility. While the party rank and file and even leaders from friendly parties the latter. mends a change of status of that it was withdrawing love lost for the Kuki have
have vouched for Mr Pawar’s leadership, it would be tough for the second rung
to successfully execute a split and still survive. Mr Pawar will now have time
If you have never been to
Manipur, think of a foot-
a community and sends
detailed ethnographic and
from the Suspension of
Operations deal in place
so far largely remained
silent. But for how long?
SECRETARIAT ENTRY
to work on the faultlines within the party and steer it on to a path which he ball stadium. As your air- socio-economic reports, the since 2008 between the A return to normality is It is unfortunate that BRS MLA
thinks is right. craft begins to descend into Centre can do nothing. state, the Centre and two clearly a priority in was denied entry into the new sec-
Mr Pawar is one of the few leaders with whom every single Opposition party Imphal airport, you will So, the Meitei Tribe Un- Kuki insurgent groups, Manipur. The Centre must retariat (Balaraju refused entry at
leader, be it Mamata Banerjee or Rahul Gandhi, is comfortable to work with. see the capital city ion went to court. On which was a kind of cease- take a hard look at the sim- new secretariat, May). People with
Mr Pawar’s announcement that he would work towards preparing a common sprawled out below you — March 27, the Manipur fire. The Centre rejected mering issues in the North- grievances must be allowed entry
minimum programme for the Opposition before the Lok Sabha polls is an a vast valley as flat as a high court directed the the state’s withdrawal east states and encourage into the Secretariat so that prob-
ambitious target which would demand marshalling all his negotiating skills as football field surrounded state government to “con- from the tripartite deal but the state governments to lems can be solved. Passes can be
the Opposition is such a disparate group. A CMP will be necessary but not nec- by hills that rise like spec- sider the case of the petitio- the issue made the Kuki jit- resolve them. Since all the issued from 3 pm to 5 pm.
essarily a sufficient element even for putting up a fight against the Narendra tator galleries. These hills ners for inclusion of the tery. The Manipur high states in the region are John Samuel
Modi-led NDA. cover 90 per cent of Ma- Meetei/Metei community court order on the Meitei either BJP-led or BJP- Secunderabad
Mr Pawar has carefully played his cards, got his party firmly behind him and nipur and house 40 per cent in the Scheduled Tribe list demand for Scheduled friendly, surely that should
bargained a better position on the national political scene by his announce- of its population — the expeditiously, preferably Tribe status pushed them not be a problem. In fact, Email your letters to
ments first to quit, and then to return to, his party position. It looks like Mr Kuki and Naga and several within a period of four over the edge. the BJP’s dominance of the info@deccanmail.com,
Pawar and practical politics are inseparable twins. other smaller clans who weeks from the date of the At the end of April, a Northeast may be the best editor@deccanmail.com.
are mostly Christian. order”. sports facility the chief time to set up peace com-
Their land is protected by On May 6, a BJP MLA minister was to inaugurate mittees among groups at
DECCAN CHRONICLE loggerheads and push for a
the law and cannot be pur- from Manipur went to the in the Kuki-dominated hill
KAUSHIK MITTER K. SUDHAKAR chased by outsiders. Supreme Court challeng- district of Churachandpur resolution of differences 50 YEARS AGO IN
Editor Printer & Publisher The majority Meitei peo- ing the high court order. was set on fire hours before that could be centuries old.
ple are 53 per cent of But it was too late. the event. The Indigenous But the way the smoke
DECCAN CHRONICLE offices are located at: Manipur’s population and The Kuki erupted in Tribal Leaders Forum signals coming out of
protest, outraged because called for non-cooperation Manipur were ignored, the
Hyderabad: 36, Sarojini Devi Road, Secunderabad - 500 003, Ph: 040-27803930-4; Fax : 040-27805256
live in the Imphal Valley
which is 1,864 sq km in size tribal status for the majori- against the state, the Kuki way thorny issues were Lok Sabha drops suffixes
Vijayawada: No.C-3 & 4 Patamata, Industrial Estate, Auto Nagar, Vijayawada (A.P.), Ph: 0866-2555284.
Visakhapatnam: Survey No.1/3A Beach Road, Near Kailasagiri Ropeway, Sector-9 MVP Colony, but covers just 10 per cent ty Meitei in the state means Students Organisation allowed to snowball into to former ruler MPs
Visakhapatnam - 530 017 (A.P), Ph: 0891-2552333/2552334; Fax: 0891-2755285 of the state’s land mass. more competition for the backed the forum and the the outburst that Manipur New Delhi, May 7.
Rajahmundry: Vemagiri, Dhawaleswaram Rd, Rajahmundry, Ph: 0883-2417618/2417208; Telefax: 0883- Anyone can buy land in minority population for All Manipur Students saw over the past few days, Following strong protests from
2417208 Imphal, including the trib- benefits available to the Union called tribal solidar- intent will always be in Prof. Hiren Mukherjee (CPI) and
Anantapur: Thapovan colony, Bangalore By-Pass Road, Anantapur - 515004, Ph: 08554-276903; Fax: als who live in the hills. As Scheduled Tribes, includ- ity marches on May 3. question and wounds will Mr. Era Sezhiyan (DMK), the Lok
08554-276904 the number of “outsiders” ing reservation in jobs, The Meitei were not sit- take ages to heal. Sabha today decided that former
Karimnagar: H. No. 1-21-12/1, Cheralabhutkur Road, Mugudhumpur Village, Karimnagar-505186, PH. buying land in Imphal education, even land. ting around. This majority Rulers, who happen to be
NO. 9121181123.
Nellore: Survey No.527/2, Burranpur Village, Venkatachalam (M), Chemmudugunta Panchayat, Nellore,
grew, the Meitei — the While the ST issue was community dominates the Members of the House will be
Ph: 0861-2348581/82; Telefax: 0861-2348580 indigenous residents of the the immediate trigger, 60-seat state Assembly Monideepa Banerjie is a addressed with the usual prefix
Chennai: SP-3 Developed Plot, Industrial Estate, Guindy, Chennai - 600 032, Ph: 044-22254747/ 48/50/51; Imphal Valley — began to Manipur was on a powder where only 20 seats are senior journalist based in “Shri or Shrimati” and the name
Advt Fax: 22254765/22254766/42305325 feel marginalised in what keg ever since chief minis- reserved for SC/ST. The Kolkata who has extensive- of the former States will not be
Coimbatore: Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited, No. 2/22 Sengalipalayam Road, N.G.G.O Colony Post, had been their homeland ter N. Biren Singh’s BJP chief minister is Meitei. ly travelled in and reported added to their names.
Kurudampalayam village - 641 022 and kingdom for centuries. government launched a The last tribal chief minis- from the Northeast region

W
ill I have egg on my face if, after a three-
day trip to Karnataka, I follow my intu-
ition and give the Congress a small
advantage?
Saeed Naqvi The Assembly polls are just a few days away and
Bajrangbali has been introduced into active elec-
Lord Hanuman will give them the tailwind to
touch the finishing line. Seldom have I seen a
major political party so totally dwarfed by a leader
like Mr Modi. There may be disgust with the BJP
across classes — my taxi driver or a business exec-
utive but they had the same comment: “Modi will
the BJP. In Karnataka, however, the traffic is in
the reverse direction: key leaders like Jagdish
Shettar and Laxman Sarvadi have left the BJP for
the Congress. This is a huge psychological set-
back.
All of this should give the Congress an advan-
ber of combinations, all pointing to a fierce elec-
tion. A notable fact is this: there are many more
people predicting a Congress victory than a BJP
one. Yes, the third party (JD-S) could make for a
thrilling entry should the numbers encourage
lengthy coalition parleys.

Wide Angle
tioneering by Congress whiz kid Randeep
Surjewala. He was taking a jibe at the Bajrang
Dal’s hate-mongering, so he said the Congress will
ban the Bajrang Dal should it come to power. He
has a talent for blowing sky-high such issues that
can be handled in undertones. Remember how,
with a purohit’s self-confidence, he had declared
Karnataka too Rahul Gandhi a “janeudhari” Brahmin, opening
up a dubious caste debate.
No sooner had Mr Surjewala mentioned the
win it for them”.
Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Atal Behari
Vajpayee had a natural charisma. The charisma of
MGR, Jayalalithaa and NTR derived from a com-
bination of factors: cinematic glamour plus lingu-
istic regionalism. That Amitabh Bachchan’s cha-
risma never took off in the realm of politics was
for a simple reason: his undoubted cinematic gla-
mour didn’t have linguistic regionalism to boost
it. Mr Modi’s charisma has been choreographed
tage, even though observers suggest the party’s
campaign suffered from an excessive focus on Mr
Modi and his misdemeanours. What the Congress
will do for the people was not persuasively put
across. Even so, there is a certain bounce in the
Congressmen’s tread.
There is another fly in the Congress ointment.
The party has two aspirants for chief minister:
Siddaramaiah, from the lower-caste Uruba com-
munity, and D.K. Shivakumar, an agriculturalist
No sooner did Mr Surjewala’s announcement on
a Bajrang Dal ban break than Mr Shivakumar
charged off to the Hanuman temple, cameramen
in tow, to commit him to posterity as a bhakt. He
said the Congress will create an Anjanadri
Development Board to develop Lord Hanuman’s
birthplace on the hills of Koppal in Karnataka.
The person who must be feeling left out of the
excessive Hanuman bhakti must be AAP supremo
Arvind Kejriwal, who first started the tradition of

close to call, Bajrang Dal than Prime Minister Narendra Modi,

hovering over the state like an eagle (with 30 ral-
lies and roadshows), swooped on the “anti-
by the media. Every TV channel, English or lan-
guage newspaper, is captive to his persona. For a
deeply religious country, Mr Modi’s omnipre-
Vokkaliga.
The Assembly has 224 seats. Supposing the
Congress’ tally is 80. Should the leadership confer
reciting Hanuman Chalisa at the drop of a hat.
Credit must go to the BJP for hollowing out
almost all political parties of their secular preten-

but Congress Hanuman tirade” by the Congress. “So, they want

to imprison Lord Hanuman?” he said. A local jour-
nalist said “the Congress has handed them an
has advantage
issue on which Modi will go to town”.
Every Hanuman temple in the state echoed to
the sound of kirtans. Not to be left behind, the
Congress’ Vokkaliga mascot D.K. Shivakumar
raised the stakes even further. Should he become
CM, he would build Hanuman mandirs in every
district. For the formidable builders’ lobby, this
was honeyed music.
The BJP’s expectation is that, in the last lap of
the campaign, Mr Modi’s rhetorical talent plus
sence recalls “jidhar dekhta hoon, udhar tu hi tu
hai (Your glory permeates any direction I look)”.
This might imply that the BJP will romp home.
And yet, that’s not the way it works. Mr Modi is an
advantage no other party has. But the state’s BJP
government has been extracting 40 per cent of all
government contract payments from contractors,
and the contractors have revealed this unchal-
lenged truth on live TV. The burden becomes too
heavy even for Mr Modi to carry through. And the
40 per cent scandal is only one of the negatives
attached to the BJP in this campaign.
One is familiar with Congressmen’s exodus to
the chief ministership on Mr Siddaramaiah in
anticipation of a coalition, why would Mr
Shivakumar and his supporters (if he has suffi-
cient numbers) not be lured by the BJP in case the
party is short of numbers. Such is the speculation
in the ranks of a nervous BJP. BJP spokesman S.
Prakash spoke to me with the brazenness of some-
one determined to create an impression of super
self-confidence: “We are ruthless; we will splurge
money to win over candidates. We have more
money than all the other parties.” Such speech
does not a victor make. To the contrary, it betrays
weakness. There are figures galore, and any num-
sions. Mr Surjewala’s anti-Bajrang Dal projection
was aimed at luring Muslim votes away from the
JD(S) which, if inflated, might play the monkey
between quarrelling cats. No sooner had Mr
Surjewala shot his bolt than the Congress was dis-
tancing itself from the controversial statement. At
least since Indira Gandhi’s 1983 Jammu election,
the Congress has learnt the lesson of shepherding
Hindu votes with care and ignoring Muslim votes
proportionately.
The writer is a senior journalist and
commentator based in New Delhi
 NATION
DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | MONDAY | 8 MAY 2023
SHORT
PIA FLIGHT PK248
TAKES
STRAYS INTO
INDIAN AIRSPACE
Lahore, May 7: A Pakistan
International Airlines (PIA)
aircraft flew in Indian air-
space for almost 10 minutes as
the plane failed to land at the
Lahore airport due to heavy
rain, according to a media
report on Sunday.
The PIA flight PK248, which
returned from Muscat on May
4 at 8 pm, failed to land at the
Allama Iqbal International
Airport in Lahore due to the
heavy rain, The News report-
ed.
The pilot attempted to land at
the airport, but the Boeing 777
aircraft became unstable and
could not land, it added.
On the instructions of the air
traffic controller, the pilot ini-
tiated the go-around approach,
during which he lost his way
due to heavy rain and low alti-
tude, the paper said.
The aircraft, flying at an alti-
tude of 13,500 feet with a speed
of 292 km/hr, entered the
Indian airspace from the
Badhana police station.
The plane turned back from
Naushehra Pannuan after
travelling 40 kms through the
city of Taran Sahib and
Rasulpur in the Indian Punjab.
While flying in Indian air-
space, the captain took the
plane to a height of 20,000 feet,
and the plane flew in the
Indian airspace for seven min-
utes.
The flight then re-entered the
Pakistani airspace from near
the village of Jhagian Noor
Muhammad in the Indian
Punjab. The flight then re-
entered Indian airspace via
the villages of Dona Mabboki,
Chaant, Dhupsari Kasur and
Ghati Kalanjar in Kasur dis-
trict of the Pakistani Punjab.
Three minutes later, the
plane re-entered Pakistani ter-
ritory from the village of
Lakha Singhwala Hithar in
the Indian Punjab. At that
time, the plane was at an alti-
tude of 23,000 feet at a speed of
320 kms.
After entering Pakistan's air-
space, the plane flew to
Multan.
The plane travelled a total of
120 kilometres in the Indian
territory for almost ten min-
utes, the paper added.
GEHLOT: RAJE, 2
MORE SAVED GOVT
DURING ’20 REVOLT
Dholpur (Rajasthan), May 7:
Rajasthan Chief Minister
Ashok Gehlot on Sunday
claimed Vasundhara Raje and
two other BJP leaders had
helped save his government
during the 2020 revolt by his
party MLAs.
He also took potshots at the
rebel Congress MLAs saying
they should return the money
they had taken from the BJP
so that they can carry out
their duty without any pres-
sure. Gehlot’s then deputy
Sachin Pilot and 18 other
Congress MLAs had revolted
against his leadership in July
2020. The month-long crisis
ended after the intervention of
the party high command. Pilot
was then removed as the
deputy chief minister and
state Congress president.
Addressing a programme in
Dholpur, Gehlot said his gov-
ernment could be saved
because of the support of
three BJP leaders -- former
chief minister Vasundhara
Raje, former Assembly speak-
er Kailash Meghwal, and MLA
Shobharani Kushwah.
ED REVEALS `2K CR
GRAFT IN C’GARH
LIQUOR SALES
New Delhi, May 7: Money
was “illegally” collected on
“every bottle” of liquor sold in
Chhattisgarh and evidence of
“unprecedented” corruption
and laundering of `2,000 crore
generated by an alcohol syndi-
cate led by Anwar Dhebar, the
elder brother of Raipur Mayor
Aijaz Dhebar, has been collect-
ed, the ED said on Sunday.
Anwar Debhar was arrested
by the federal agency under
the criminal sections of the
Prevention of Money
Laundering Act (PMLA) in the
early hours of Saturday from a
hotel in Raipur while he was
trying “to run from the back
door”, it said in a statement.
He was remanded in four-day
Enforcement Directorate (ED)
custody by a special PMLA
court even as his lawyer said
the arrest seemed to be “politi-
cally motivated” and that they
would move the Supreme
Court. The agency said Anwar
Dhebar did not join the probe
in the case despite being sum-
moned seven times and
charged that he was “continu-
ously using benami SIM cards
and internet dongles, and was
changing locations”.
Farmers’ unions join EAM: Operation Kaveri
protesting wrestlers concludes, 4,000 rescued
Panel gives May 21 deadline for arrest of Brij Bhushan
BHASKAR HARI
SHARMA | DC
NEW DELHI, MAY 7
Several farmers’ Union
members joined the
wrestlers’ protest at
Jantar Mantar demanding
action against BJP MP
and Wrestling Federation
of India (WFI) president
Brij Bhushan Sharan
Singh over sexual harass-
ment allegations.
Four national women’s
organisations have also
given a joint call to hold
nationwide protests for
the immediate arrest of
the BJP MP and Haryana
minister Sandeep Singh
over allegations of sexual
harassment.
Further, the 31-member
committee, which is advis-
ing the wrestlers, said if
Singh is not arrested by
May 21, it will take a “sig-
nificant decision,” even as
Vinesh Phogat insisted
that their protest has not
been hijacked by farmers.
Singh, meanwhile, urged
the farmer leaders not to
make the “mistake” and
instead wait for the out-
come of the probe. He
again claimed he is inno-
cent and alleged that he is
being targeted as he has
brought reforms in the
selection process for
wrestlers.
The WFI chief made the
remarks in a video posted
on social media.
In the 25-minute video
posted on Facebook on
Saturday night, Singh
said, “Chacha-Taau
(uncles), I am not saying
that you should not come
to Delhi. You can come to
Delhi and do whatever you
want.”
“From the first day I
have said that if charges
against me are proven, I
will hang myself.”
Ajit Pawar
AJIT: ALLIANCE
WITH MVA WILL
REMAIN INTACT
Pune, May 7: Senior
NCP leader Ajit Pawar
on Sunday said the
Maha Vikas Aghadi
(MVA) alliance will
remain intact and neces-
sary efforts are being
taken.
He also said the topic
of Sharad Pawar’s resig-
nation as NCP chief and
its withdrawal is over
and the matter need not
be discussed.
Speaking to reporters
in Baramati in Pune dis-
trict, he dismissed spec-
ulation about his
absence at a press con-
ference held in Mumbai
on Friday where Sharad
Pawar announced his
decision to withdraw his
resignation as the NCP
chief.
“MVA belonged to us
earlier. It was, is, and
will remain intact in
future also. Related work
(to strengthen the
alliance) is going on,” he
said when asked if
Sharad Pawar's decision
to not step down has
boosted enthusiasm in
MVA.
The MVA comprises
Shiv Sena (UBT) led by
Uddhav Thackeray, NCP,
and Congress.
Queried on an atmos-
phere of confusion pre-
vailing against him,
especially his future
political course, Ajit
Pawar blamed the media
and his “wellwishers”, a
cryptic reference to his
detractors in politics.
“You field such kind of
questions to me (that
create the confusion).
Those who are envious
of my (style of) work and
the people who love me
(pun intended) create
such an atmosphere of
confusion,” he said.
— PTI
● Sharad Pawar's deci-
sion to not step down
has boosted enthusiasm
in MVA, said Senior NCP
leader Ajit Pawar
Farmer leaders Rakesh Tikait and Mehar Singh along with wrestlers Sakshi Malik and
Vinesh Phogat speak to the media during wrestlers’ protest at Jantar Mantar, in New
Delhi on Sunday.
Believe me, if daughters
of your village are into
wrestling, then ask them
when no one is around if
the allegations against
Singh depict what Singh
is. After that, you can do
whatever you want. “But,
one thing I would say with
folded hands is that when
the probe is complete, I
will come to your khap
panchayat. If I am guilty,
you can beat me to death
with shoes,” he added.
In a statement, the All
India Democratic Wom-
en’s Association, National
Federation of Indian
Women, Coordination
POW-PMS-IJM All India
Mahila Sanskritik Sang-
athan, and the All India
Agragami Mahila Sanga-
than expressed solidarity
with the protesting
wrestlers.
“Hundreds of protests
will be held in different
parts of the country.
Women will hold meetings
in villages, bastis, and
mohallas to expose the
‘anti-women’ face of the
Abhishek sets aim to win
40 LS seats in next polls
RAJIB CHOWDHURI | DC
KOLKATA, MAY 7
Trinamul Congress scion
Abhishek Banerjee has
set a target before his
party to win 40 seats out of
42 in West Bengal in the
Lok Sabha election next
year.
He unveiled his party’s
goal days ahead of home
minister Amit Shah’s
visit here to celebrate
Rabindranath Tagore’s
birth anniversary.
Shah, on his last West
Bengal visit nearly a mon-
th ago, tasked the BJP to
win at least 35 seats from
the state in 2024. In 2019,
the TMC won 22 seats
while the BJP got 18.
The TMC tally, however,
rose to 24 seats after it
snatched Asansol from
the BJP in a byelection,
while Barrackpore BJP
MP Arjun Singh has made
a comeback.
On Saturday evening,
Banerjee said at a TMC
outreach campaign at
Bhagabangola in Murshi-
dabad: “If the TMC would
have had 34-35 MPs
instead of 22, would the
BJP be able to stop us? We
will go all out with an aim
to win 40 seats next year.
Among them, the TMC
will get three out of
three seats from
Murshidabad.”
Chief minister Mamata
Banerjee’s nephew
alleged: “If the TMC had
34-35 MPs, the BJP would
PROGRESSIVE | MOVE
Women officers to be posted along LoC
PAWAN BALI | DC
NEW DELHI, MAY 7
Defence minister Rajnath
Singh has approved post-
ing of Women Officers of
the Territorial Army along
the Line of Control (LoC)
with Pakistan. “Raksha
Mantri Rajnath Singh has
approved the posting of
Women Officers of the
Territorial Army (TA)
with Engineer Regiments
of the Territorial Army
along the Line of Control
and as staff officers at
Territorial Army Group
Headquarters/ Directorate
— PRITAM BANDYOPADHYAY
BJP. Lakhs of signatures
will be collected, which
will be sent to the Prime
Minister through district
collectors,” the statement
said.
“The Delhi police has
already stepped up securi-
ty arrangements and vehi-
cles entering Delhi are
being checked and pickets
increased at Delhi-
Ghazipur, Tikri, and
Singhu borders. Security
forces have been deployed
and activities at the
protest site are being mon-
itored round the clock
through CCTVs to ensure
that no untoward incident
takes place. Those visiting
the protest site are being
checked thoroughly as
part of precautionary
measures,” he said.
Several farm and khap
leaders, including BKU
spokesperson Rakesh
Tikait, shared the dais.
“We decided that mem-
bers from every khap will
come to the protest site
every day. They will stay
here during the day and
TMC AIMS FOR CLEAN SWEEP
Trinamool Congress national
general secretary Abhishek
Banerjee greets activists dur-
ing his Jono Sanjog Yatra, in
Murshidabad district, Sunday.
not have dared to hold
back the Central funds
under various schemes
for us while petrol prices
would have dropped by
`10 and cooking gas prices
would have got reduced by
`300.”
The Diamond Harbour
MP claimed: “The cooking
gas price declined since
the TMC won. It however
shot up as the Congress
won. Convince the people
about it. Am I lying? The
BJP lost in Himachal
Pradesh. But has the cook-
ing gas price dropped? It
did only after they lost in
Bengal.”
He added: “Our victory
in three seats in
Murshidabad has to be
ensured. People need to be
Officers to serve and train under same conditions as their male counterparts
● This progressive policy measure is aimed at
enhancing the scope of employment of Women
Officers as well as meeting their professional aspi-
rations.
● The Territorial Army is based on a Citizen
Soldiers' army concept and officers undergo Annual
Training on basic military skills while remaining
gainfully employed in civilian life.
General of Territorial
Army at New Delhi, as per
organisational require-
ment,” said defence min-
istry on Sunday.
This progressive policy
measure is aimed at enha-
ncing the scope of employ-
ment of Women Officers as
return by the evening,”
Tikait said before a huge
gathering.
“The wrestlers’ commit-
tee will take care of the
protest and we will sup-
port the wrestlers from
outside. We have sched-
uled a meeting for May 21.
If the government does
not offer a resolution, we
will devise our next strate-
gy,” he added.
The wrestlers, along
with hundreds of support-
ers, carried out a candle-
light march in the
evening. Slogans of inqi-
lab zindabad reverberated
as the wrestlers walked
holding each other’s
hands. Patriotic songs
such as Mera Rang De
Basanti Chola were played
just before the march
started. The SKM has said
that during May 11-18, an
all-India agitation shall be
held in all state capitals,
district headquarters, and
talukas. Public meetings
and protest marches shall
be held in support of the
agitating wrestlers.
If the TMC
would have
had 34-35 MPs
instead of 22,
would the BJP be
able to stop us?
We will go all out
with an aim to win
40 seats next year.
Among them, the
TMC will get three
out of three seats
from Murshidabad.
If the TMC had 34-
35 MPs, the BJP
would not have
dared to hold back
the Central funds.
told that they are getting
deprived because of divi-
sion of votes by them. It
does not matter if the
TMC loses a seat. It is you
who will be deprived. If
the TMC wins a seat, you
will get the money of your
right. It is well estab-
lished.”
Mocking Banerjee, state
BJP chief Sukanta
Majumdar said: “There is
no problem for anyone
dreaming. So, he can also
dream. He earlier made a
forecast of winning 240
seats in the last Assembly
election here. Now he
talks about 40. His aims
somehow hover around
420 anyway. The number
may be a lucky one for
him.”
well as meeting their pro-
fessional aspirations, it
said. They will now serve
and train under the same
conditions as their male
counterparts in a wider ra-
nge of units and appoint-
ments. The Territorial Ar-
my had commenced com-
SRIDHAR
KUMARASWAMI | DC
NEW DELHI, MAY 7
External affairs minister
S. Jaishankar announced
the completion of
‘Operation Kaveri’
through which nearly
4,000 people, mostly
Indian nationals, were
evacuated from war-torn
Sudan.
Terming it as India’s
“most dangerous” evacua-
tion operation,
Jaishankar said on
Sunday that Indian diplo-
mats risked their lives to
rescue Indians stuck in
Sudan, including negoti-
ating checkpoints and
arranging petrol from the
‘black market’ for hired
buses used to evacuate
Indians from Sudan’s cap-
ital of Khartoum to Port
Sudan, a journey of 850
km by road.
Taking a veiled jab at
senior Congress leader
and former Karnataka
chief minister
Siddaramaiah, who had
questioned the Centre in
the initial days of the
evacuation mission
regarding the rescue of
some tribals from
Karnataka stuck in
Sudan, the EAM said,
“These are the times
when people need to trust
the government. This gov-
ernment has systems in
place and is committed to
Indian citizens abroad.
The team had to undergo
several processes.” About
11 per cent of Indians res-
cued from Sudan were
from Karnataka, the EAM
added.
In a video message, the
EAM said, “We have just
People of violence-hit areas of Manipur at a relief camp set up by the Assam
Government, in Cachar district of Assam, Sunday.
Govt willing to have peace
talks, says Kishan Reddy
From page 1
“Please come forward to
solve the issue in a peace-
ful manner. The Indian
government is ready. You
have seen the farmers'
issue. When it was peace-
ful, we tried to convince
them. As the issue was not
resolved, we agreed to
their demands, and those
bills (pertaining to farm
laws) were withdrawn. So,
the Indian government is
not adamant,” Reddy told
reporters in Hyderabad.
He stressed that the peo-
ple's welfare was the gov-
ernment's main focus and
requested Manipur resi-
dents to understand this
and come forward for
talks. He assured them the
government (state or
Centre) would take care of
those who suffered losses
due to the violence and
missioning of women Offi-
cers since 2019, in Ecolo-
gical Task Force Units, TA
Oil sector units and TA Ra-
ilway Engineer Regiment.
Based on the experience
gained during this period,
it has been decided to
extend the scope of further
employment for women
officers in Territorial
Army. The Territorial
Army is based on a Citizen
Soldiers' army concept and
officers undergo Annual
Training on basic military
skills while remaining
gainfully employed in
civilian life.
A file photo of Indian Air Force personnel during evacu-
ations from violence-hit Sudan under Operation Kaveri.
EAM SLAMS BHUTTO’S REMARKS
From page 1
Beijing will also closely
monitor the outcome of
the impending G7 meet in
Hiroshima, Japan, which
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi will attend as a
guest as well as the four-
nation Quad Summit in
Australia which the
Prime Minister will
attend later this month.
Beijing sees the Quad as a
force to counter it in the
region.
Meanwhile, external
affairs minister S.
Jaishankar slammed
Pakistan and the remarks
completed Operation
Kaveri. It was the most
dangerous operation by
people who risked their
lives. When the fighting
started, most of the
Embassies were quick to
leave. Our Embassy
stayed put because there
were Indians in
Khartoum.” He said he
had to order the Indian
Ambassador and diplo-
lost lives in the clashes.
Kishan Reddy said after
Narendra Modi became
the Prime Minister, dis-
cussions were held with
several insurgent groups
in the Northeast and
peace prevailed in the
region. He said Modi
would order a comprehen-
sive inquiry on the issue.
"If they have any prob-
lem, it is the responsibili-
ty of the state and Central
governments to solve it.
We all should observe
restraint. We should solve
the issue through discus-
sions, but not through vio-
lence. Nothing can be
achieved through vio-
lence. Violence is not the
only way," he added.
Manipur governor
Sushri Anusuiya Uikey
also appealed to the peo-
ple in the state to main-
tain brotherhood and dis-
NEXT R-DAY PARADE LIKELY TO SEE
ALL-WOMEN MARCHING CONTINGENTS
New Delhi, May 7: Next
year’s Republic Day
Parade here could see all-
women marching and
band contingents with
authorities working on
such a proposal for the
ceremonial event to be
held at Kartavya Path,
defence sources said.
The defence ministry, in
March, had circulated an
office memorandum to the
three services and various
pg 7
— PTI
made by its foreign minis-
ter Bilawal Bhutto
Zardari. The latter had
threatened New Delhi and
said Pakistan would “give
India an answer when the
time comes that it would
not forget.” “As a foreign
minister of an SCO mem-
ber, Zardari was treated
accordingly. As a promot-
er, justifier, and I am sorry
to say, a spokesperson of
the terrorism industry,
which is the mainstay of
Pakistan, his positions
were called out and coun-
tered, including at the
SCO meeting,"
Jaishankar said.
mats to relocate to safer
places within Sudan after
the operation was practi-
cally over since they
refused to leave Sudan
because some Indians
may be stuck in parts of
the war-torn nation.
Stating that if some
Indians are still stuck,
then “additional efforts”
would be made to rescue
them, the EAM said.
— PTI
pel the feeling of fear and
insecurity.
The Global Naga Forum
(GNF) has also called for
peace and unity. In a state-
ment, it said: "Let us
strive for peace, unity, and
understanding as we work
towards a harmonious so-
ciety where every individ-
ual is respected and valu-
ed. Together, we can over-
come these divisive forces
and build a future that is
marked by compassion,
justice, and inclusivity.”
The GNF aaid that the
violent riots that unfolded
over the last few days tar-
geting a particular com-
munity, along with loot-
ing, wanton destruction of
property and burning of
religious institutions,
were clear violations of
the principles of human
decency and civilised
behaviour.
ministries and depart-
ments on the planning
for the 2024 parade, they
said. After deliberations, it
has been decided that the
Republic Day Parade 2024
will have only women par-
ticipants in the contin-
gents (marching and
band), tableaux and other
performances during the
parade at the Kartavya
Path, said the memoran-
dum. — PTI
cmyk cmyk

DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | MONDAY | 8 MAY 2023 pg 8

 WORLD
DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | MONDAY | 8 MAY 2023
pg 9

In London, Lula calls for Palestinian

efforts to free Assange school in West
Brazil’s President will write to Sunak upon returning to Brasilia Bank razed
Rio de Janeiro, May 7: After
attending the coronation of
King Charles III in London,
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva denounced the
lack of concerted efforts to
free WikiLeaks founder Juli-
an Assange, who has spent
four years in Britain’s
Belmarsh Prison.
“It is an embarrassment
that a journalist who denoun-
ced trickery by one state aga-
inst another is arrested, con-
demned to die in jail and we
do nothing to free him. It’s a
crazy thing,” Lula told repo-
rters. “We talk about freedom
of expression; the guy is in
prison because he denounced
wrongdoing. And the press
doesn’t do anything in defe-
nce of this journalist. I can’t
understand it."
Lula offered the remarks in
response to a question about
Assange, who is a native
Australian. He said he had
forgotten to discuss the mat-
ter with UK Prime Minister
GOLD MINE FIRE
IN PERU LEAVES
27 PEOPLE DEAD
Lima, May 7: A fire in a
small gold mine in sout-
hern Peru has left 27
people dead, authorities
said on Sunday, in the
country's single dead-
liest mining accident in
more than two decades.
In a statement, the
local government said a
short-circuit sparked the
fire in the early morning
hours of Saturday in the
southern region of Are-
quipa. Images on local
media and on social me-
dia showed dark plumes
of smoke pouring out of
the site.
The mine is operated
by Yanaquihua, a small-
scale firm. The company
did not immediately res-
pond to a request for
comment.
“It’s been confirmed by
the Yanaquihua police
station, there are 27
dead,” local prosecutor
Giovanni Matos told lo-
cal television on Sunday.
Peru is the world’s top
gold producer and seco-
nd-largest copper produ-
cer. According to data
from Peru’s ministry of
energy and mines, the
incident is the single
deadliest mining acci-
dent since 2000.
In 2022, 38 people were
killed in mining accide-
nts around the country,
highlighting safety con-
cerns in Latin American
mining. Peru had its
deadliest year in 2002
when 73 people died in
different mining acci-
dents. — Reuters
● ACCORDING TO
data from Peru’s min-
istry of energy and
mines, this incident
is the single deadliest
mining accident
since 2000.
Julian Assange
Rishi Sunak, but that he wo-
uld write to him upon return-
ing to Brazil.
Assange has been fighting
extradition to the United Sta-
tes, and Lula’s comments
come at a moment that he has
shown little reluctance to
voice his differences of opin-
ion with Washington regard-
ing geopolitical matters, par-
ticularly in his opposition to
providing arms to Ukraine for
its war against Russia, and
accusing the United States
Voters wait in line to cast their ballot during advance voting at a polling station in a school in
Narathiwat, Thailand, on Sunday, a week ahead of the May 14 general election.
Long queues at Thai temples,
schools as early voting begins
Bangkok, May 7: Thais que-
ued under the blistering sun
outside temples, shopping cen-
tres and schools to cast their
early ballots on Sunday ahead
of a much-anticipated election
next week.
More than two million Thais
nationwide are registered to
vote early ahead of the king-
dom’s May 14 election, which
is shaping up to be a clash
between army-backed estab-
lishment parties and resurgent
opposition movements.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-
o-Cha, who took power in a
2014 coup before cementing
control in a controversial 2019
election, has been languishing
in opinion polls with voters fa-
vouring old-school opposition
party Pheu Thai and the more
radical Move Forward Party.
But with an electoral system
heavily stacked in favour of
the army-backed parties, chall-
and Europe of encouraging
the fighting.
His stance and repeated
statements have drawn sharp
rebukes from the White Ho-
use and Europe. For its part,
Australia has been stepping
up diplomatic pressure on the
US government to call off its
prosecution of Assange. On
Friday, Australia’s Prime Mi-
nister Anthony Albanese told
the Australian Broadcasting
Corp. in an interview that
“enough is enough. There is
nothing to be served by his
ongoing incarceration.”
Last November, Albanese
told Parliament that his “posi-
tion is clear and has been
made clear to the US adminis-
tration: That it is time that
this matter be brought to a
close.”
Assange has battled in
British courts for years to
avoid being sent to the US,
where he faces 17 charges of
espionage and one charge of
computer misuse that stem
● MORE THAN two million
Thais nationwide are regis-
tered to vote early ahead of
the kingdom’s May 14 elec-
tion, which is shaping up to
be a clash between army-
backed establishment par-
ties and resurgent opposi-
tion movements.
engers must achieve a landsli-
de victory to have any hope of
forming the next government.
“I hope this election will
change the country in a better
way,” said shopping mall work-
er Srisuda Wongsa-ad, 28, after
casting her ballot.
She was among hundreds
queuing quietly at a polling
station in Bangkok’s fashion-
able Ekkamai district to vote at
the Wat That Thong.
“I am voting for a candidate
from WikiLeaks’ publication
of a huge trove of classified
documents in 2010.
American prosecutors alle-
ge he helped US Army intelli-
gence analyst Chelsea Mann-
ing steal classified diplomatic
cables and military files that
WikiLeaks later published,
putting lives at risk.
To his supporters, Assange
is a secrecy-busting journalist
who exposed US military
wrongdoing in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
“I think there must be a
movement of world press in
his defence. Not in regard to
his person, but to defend the
right to denounce,” Lula told
reporters.
“The guy didn’t denounce
anything vulgar. He denou-
nced that a state was spying
on others, and that became a
crime against the journalist.
The press, which defends free-
dom of the press, does noth-
ing to free this citizen. It’s
sad, but it’s true.” — AP
— AFP
and party that I like, that can
answer my needs,” she said.
Elsewhere in the capital, the
Royal Paragon Hall shopping
centre was packed with voters,
albeit cooler ones, enjoying the
complex’s air conditioning.
Temperatures across the cap-
ital soared as the day went on,
with machines spraying a fine
mist of water over orderly qu-
eues at the busy Ramkhamhae-
ng University polling station
shortly before midday.
But crowds were still out in
force, with traffic and conges-
tion around busy polling sta-
tions.
“I am quite excited,” said
first-time voter Pasawee
Sriarunothai, 20, who will not
be in Bangkok on May 14.
“I decide to cast my vote ba-
sed on the party’s policies, and
I hope this election will bring
the country a better future,”
Pasawee said. — AFP
Jerusalem, May 7: Isra-
eli authorities demolish-
ed a Palestinian school in
the occupied West Bank
on Sunday, drawing harsh
condemnation from the
European Union.
COGAT, a branch of the
Israeli military, said in a
statement that the build-
ing, located about 2 km
from Bethlehem, had
been constructed illegally
and “was found to be dan-
gerous to the safety of
anyone studying or other-
wise visiting there,” and
thus an Israeli court “had
ordered it demolished.”
The European Union
delegation to the Palesti-
nians, on its official
Twitter account, said it
was “appalled” by the
school’s demolition, whi-
ch it said would affect 60
Palestinian children.
The demolition was
“illegal under interna-
tional law” and would
“only increase the suffer-
ing of the Palestinian
population and further
escalate an already tense
environment,” the EU del-
egation said.
COGAT said the build-
ing’s owner had refused
several attempts by Isra-
eli authorities to engage
in dialogue over the sta-
tus of the structure bef-
ore the enforcement of
the demolition.
Students and witnesses
said the building had
been brought to rubble
with no trace of the
Khartoum burns;
talks set to begin
Khartoum, May 7: Figh-
ting could be heard in
south Khartoum on Sund-
ay as envoys from Sudan’s
warring parties were in
Saudi Arabia for talks
that international media-
tors hope will bring an
end to a three-week-old
conflict that has killed
hundreds and triggered
an exodus.
The US-Saudi initiative
is the first serious attem-
pt to end fighting between
the army and the parami-
litary Rapid Support For-
ces (RSF) that has turned
parts of the Sudanese
capital into war zones,
derailed an international-
ly backed plan to usher in
civilian rule following
years of unrest and upris-
ings, and created a huma-
nitarian crisis.
Saudi Arabia will alloc-
ate $100 million in huma-
nitarian aid to Sudan,
Saudi state-run Al Ekhba-
riya television said on
Sunday. Battles since mid-
April have killed hundre-
ds of people and wounded
thousands of others, dis-
rupted aid supplies and
sent 1,00,000 refugees flee-
ing abroad.
● COGAT SAID that
the building had been
constructed illegally
and “was found to be
dangerous to the sa-
fety of anyone study-
ing or otherwise visit-
ing there,” and thus an
Israeli court “had ord-
ered it demolished.”
school that once stood
there. “We got ready to
come to school and when
we arrived we didn’t find
the school,” student
Mohammed Ibrahim said.
“We want a school today!
We want to study, if they
(Israeli forces) will keep
demolishing, we will keep
building.”
Witnesses also said the
contents of the building
had been confiscated.
“They demolished the
school and they took
everything with them,” a
nearby resident and wit-
ness whose grandson was
a student at the school
Ismael Salah told Reuters.
“All the furniture, they
put them in trucks and
took them.”
Israel has often cited a
lack of building permits,
which Palestinians and
rights groups say are
nearly impossible to obta-
in, in destroying Palesti-
nian structures in the
West Bank, an area it cap-
tured in the 1967 Middle
East war. — Reuters
Manahil Salah, a 28-
year-old laboratory doct-
or on an evacuation flight
from Port Sudan to the
United Arab Emirates,
said her family hid for
three days in their home
close to army headquar-
ters in the capital before
eventually travelling to
the Red Sea Coast.
“Yes I am happy to sur-
vive,” she said. “But I feel
deep sadness because I
left my mother and father
behind in Sudan, and sad
because all this pain is
happening in my homela-
nd.” Thousands of people
are pushing to leave from
Port Sudan on boats to Sa-
udi Arabia, paying for ex-
pensive commercial fligh-
ts through the only func-
tioning airport of the
country, or using evacua-
tion flights.
“We were lucky to travel
to Abu Dhabi, but what’s
happening in Khartoum,
where I spent my whole
life, is painful,” said 75-
year-old Abdulkader, who
also caught an evacuation
flight to the UAE. “Leavi-
ng your life and your me-
mories is something inde-
scribable.” — Reuters

TRILATERAL | DIALOGUE On peace and security, they emphasised need for enhanced coordination

Pak, China, Af to jointly combat terrorism

Islamabad, May 7: Pakist-
an, China and Afghanistan
have agreed to combat terro-
rism and enhance cooperat-
ion in different economic
fields, the foreign office here
said on Sunday.
The foreign ministers of
the three countries partici-
pated in the 5th China-Pak-
istan-Afghanistan Trilateral
Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue
held in Islamabad on Satu-
rday, it said in a statement.
“The three sides agreed to
advance political engageme-
nt, counterterrorism cooper-
ation and enhance trade,
investments and connectivi-
ty under the trilateral frame-
work, it said.
No further details about
the three-way interaction
were provided for which act-
ing Afghan foreign minister
Amir Khan Muttaqi was spe-
cially allowed by the UN to
travel to Pakistan.
Chinese foreign minister
Qin Gang flew from Goa, wh-
ere he attended the Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation
(SCO) meeting, to Islamabad
to participate in the trilater-
al. Separately, Muttaqi met
Pakistan foreign minister
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on
Sunday and held a candid
and in-depth exchange on
key issues of mutual con-
Pakistan’s FM Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (L) and minister of
state for foreign affairs Hina Rabbani Khar (R) with Afghanis-
tan’s FM Amir Khan Muttaqi (C) in Islamabad.
cern, including peace and
security, as well as trade and
connectivity. The two foreign
ministers reaffirmed their
desire to pursue continuous
and practical engagement.
On peace and security, they
emphasised the need for
enhanced coordination to
counter-terrorism and deep-
en bilateral cooperation.
Regarding bilateral and tr-
ansit trade, the two sides
stressed the importance of
removing impediments to
trade in order to advance the
goal of enhanced regional
economic integration and
— AFP
connectivity.
Muttaqi also met Pakistan
army chief General Syed
Asim Munir and the two dis-
cussed issues of mutual int-
erest, including aspects rela-
ted to regional security, bor-
der management, and for-
malisation of bilateral secu-
rity mechanisms for improv-
ement in the current securi-
ty environment.
COAS stressed the need for
enhanced cooperation betwe-
en the two neighbours to
effectively tackle the com-
mon challenges of terrorism
and extremism. — PTI
CJ: JUDGES MUST
FOLLOW THE
CONSTITUTION
Islamabad, May 7: Pakista-
n’s Chief Justice Umar Ata
Bandial said on Sunday that
the Supreme Court judges
were duty-bound to follow
the Constitution and must
not “blink” their eyes while
enforcing its provision of
holding polls within 90 days
of the dissolution of an
Assembly.
Speaking at a conference
on minority rights in La-
hore, the chief justice said
he was optimistic that the
country’s leaders, instituti-
ons and people were all com-
mitted to the Constitution.
“When it comes to constit-
utional enforcement we
must not blink our eyes. If it
says 90 days for holding elec-
tions, it is our duty to say
that and not our choice, ins-
tead of finding a reason why
we should avoid saying
that,” he said.
His statement came as the
May 14 deadline set by the
apex court for holding elec-
tions in the Punjab province
was approaching fast. — PTI
Imran: ISI hand
in scribe murder
Lahore, May 7: Pakistan’s
former prime minister
Imran Khan has alleged that
top ISI officer Major-General
Faisal Naseer, who tried to
kill him twice, was also
involved in the brutal murd-
er of senior journalist Arsh-
ad Sharif.
Khan’s remarks came whi-
le he was addressing a rally
in Lahore from his bullet-
bomb-proof vehicle. The ral-
ly was telecast live in other
cities through a video link.
“Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI)’s Major-General Faisal
Naseer tried to kill me twice.
He is also involved in the kil-
ling of (TV anchor) Arshad
Sharif. He also stripped my
party Senator Azam Swati
naked and inflicted severe
torture on him,” Pakistan-
Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief
Khan said.
Arshad Sharif, who was
critical of the Army, was
killed in Kenya last October
as he fled the country citing
threats to his life from the
‘BLASPHEMY’
LYNCHING AFTER
IMRAN RALLY
Peshawar, May 7: A man
was beaten to death by a mob
after being accused of blas-
phemy at a rally for former
Pakistan prime minister
Imran Khan’s party, officials
said on Sunday.
Video of the lynching has
been shared widely on social
media, with police seen vain-
ly trying to stop a frenzied
mob from beating the alle-
ged blasphemer. The inci-
dent took place on Saturday
in the Sawal Dher area of
Mardan city. — AFP
security agencies.
The shooting dead of the
investigative journalist by
police in Kenya caused out-
rage in Pakistan. — PTI
 WORLD
DECCAN CHRONICLE | HYDERABAD | MONDAY | 8 MAY 2023
SHORT
NEPAL: THREE
TAKES
PEOPLE KILLED IN
AVALANCHE
Kathmandu: At least three
people were killed and nine
others were injured in an ava-
lanche in Nepal’s Karnali
province, a media report said
on Sunday.
The incident occurred on
Saturday morning at Chyarkhu
pass. Officials said fourteen
people from Patarasi went to
Chyarkhu to collect Yarsha-
gumba (caterpillar fungus)
when the avalanche struck.
GUN-RUNNING
JORDAN MP SENT
BACK: ISRAEL
Jerusalem: Israel on Sunday
transferred a Jordanian mem-
ber of Parliament to Amman’s
authorities, weeks after arrest-
ing him for attempting to
smuggle pistols, rifles and gold
into the occupied West Bank,
officials said.
Imad Adwan was detained at
the Israel-administered Alle-
nby (King Hussein) crossing
between Jordan and the West
Bank on April 22 with Israeli
security forces finding 12 rifles
and 194 pistols in his car.
He was not charged by Israel
but was handed over to
Jordanian authorities.
PIO SENTENCED
FOR MURDERING
WOMAN IN NZ
Melbourne: A 33-year-old
Indian-origin homeless man
has been sentenced to nearly 20
years imprisonment in New
Zealand for sexually violating
and fatally strangling a woman
with Down’s syndrome in
September 2021.
Shamal Sharma violently
preyed on 27-year-old Lena
Zhang Harrap, a woman with
Down syndrome when she was
out on her daily walk in
Auckland on September 22,
2021, The NZ Herald newspaper
reported on Thursday.
Harrap’s body was found par-
tially concealed along a bush-
lined walkway about a kilome-
tre from her Mt Albert home.
DEATH PENALTY
FOR IRAQI COP IN
MURDER CASE
Baghdad: An Iraqi court on
Sunday sentenced to death a
police officer blamed for lead-
ing a group that gunned down
well-known analyst and gov-
ernment adviser Hisham al-
Hashemi three years ago in
Baghdad.
Hashemi, who had advised
the government on defeating
Sunni Muslim Islamic State
militants and curbing the influ-
ence of the pro-Iran Shi’ite
militias, was shot dead outside
his Baghdad home in July 2020
by men on a motorbike.
A court issued a death sen-
tence on Sunday against
Ahmed Hamdawi under count-
er-terrorism laws.
TOLL FROM CONGO
FLOODS RISES TO
NEARLY 400
Bukavu: The death toll from
floods and landslides triggered
by heavy rain in the east of the
Democratic Republic of Congo
has risen to nearly 400, an offi-
cial said on Sunday.
At least 394 bodies have been
recovered after last week’s
floods, said Thomas Bakenga,
administrator of Kalehe terri-
tory where the affected villages
are located.
He had announced a toll of at
least 203 people on Saturday.
Heavy rainfall in the Kalehe
region of South Kivu province
on Thursday caused rivers to
overflow, causing landslides
that engulfed the villages of
Bushushu and Nyamukubi.
CARETAKER PM
OF SLOVAKIA
HEGER QUITS
Bratislava: Slovakia’s Prime
Minister Eduard Heger said on
Sunday he had asked the presi-
dent to relieve him of his
duties, after ministers’ resigna-
tions weakened his cabinet that
is serving in a caretaker capac-
ity before elections in
September.
Heger is due to meet
President Zuzana Caputova,
who has the power to appoint a
new caretaker prime minister,
later on Sunday.
Heger faced opposition calls
to make way for a technocrat
administration to lead the
country until early elections to
take place in September. Polls
find the public favours the
biggest opposition party.
Ammo assured, Wagner 9, including shooter,
to press on in Bakhmut killed in Texas mall
Mercenary group earlier threatened to pull out from region
Moscow, May 7: The head
of the Wagner mercenary
group said on Sunday
Russia had promised his
fighters enough ammuni-
tion to stay in Bakhmut,
after threatening to pull
out in scathing videos.
Rivalries between
Yevgeny Prigozhin and
the conventional army
came to the surface during
the battle for the eastern
Ukrainian town, where
Wagner is leading the
assault.
It comes as Russia has
reported increasing drone
strikes and sabotage, amid
speculations of an expect-
ed spring counteroffensive
from Ukraine.
“Overnight we received
a combat order... they
promised to give us all the
ammunition and arma-
ments we need to continue
the operations” in
Bakhmut, Prigozhin said.
His group has been
assured “that everything
necessary will be provid-
ed,” he added.
On Friday, he threatened
to pull out of Bakhmut on
May 10, in a series of blis-
tering, heavily bleeped-
out videos, blaming
defence minister Sergei
Shoigu and chief of gener-
al staff Valery Gerasimov
for “tens of thousands” of
Russian casualties.
“Their unprofessional-
ism is destroying tens of
thousands of Russian
guys and that is unforgiv-
able,” he said at the time.
In one video, Prigozhin
Russian jet intercepts Polish plane
Warsaw, May 7: A
Russian fighter jet inter-
cepted a Polish plane on
patrol for the EU’s border
agency over the Black Sea,
causing the pilots to tem-
porarily lose control of
the aircraft, Warsaw said
on Sunday.
According to Poland’s
border force, the Russian
Sukhoi Su-35 plane did not
make radio contact before
carrying out “aggressive
and dangerous manoeu-
TIES NORMALISE:
ARAB LEAGUE
READMITS SYRIA
Cairo, May 7: The Arab
League on Sunday wel-
comed back Syria’s gov-
ernment, ending a more
than decade-long sus-
pension and securing
President Bashar al-
Assad’s return to the
Arab fold after years of
isolation.
In November 2011, the
body suspended Damas-
cus over its crackdown
on peaceful protests
which began earlier that
year and which spiralled
into a conflict that has
killed more than 500,000
people, displaced mil-
lions and battered the
country’s infrastructure
and industry.
While the front lines
have mostly quietened,
large parts of the coun-
try’s north remain out-
side government con-
trol, and no political
solution has yet been
reached to the 12-year-
old conflict.
“Government delega-
tions from the Syrian
Arab Republic will
resume their participa-
tion in Arab League
meetings” starting
Sunday, said a unani-
mous decision by the
group’s ministers.
Assad has been politi-
cally isolated since the
war began, but recent
weeks have seen a flurry
of diplomatic activity
ahead of an Arab
League summit in Saudi
Arabia on May 19.
The ministers in a
statement emphasised
their “keenness
launch a leading Arab
to
role in efforts to resolve”
the Syria crisis.
They agreed to form a
ministerial committee
to continue “direct dia-
logue with the Syrian
government in order to
reach a solution”.
However, Ahmed
Aboul Gheit, head of the
22-member Arab League,
said it was up to individ-
ual countries to decide
whether to resume ties
with Damascus. — AFP
Russian servicemen arrive to the Victory Day military parade general rehearsal in
Moscow. Russia will celebrate the 78th anniversary of the 1945 victory over Nazi
Germany on May 9.
was seen showing rows of
what he said were dead
Wagner fighters.
“They came here as vol-
unteers and they are
dying so you can get fat in
your wood-panelled off-
ices,” he said.
On Saturday, he asked
Moscow to let him hand
over his positions to
Chechen
Ramzan Kadyrov.
strongman
Kadyrov, who has ruled
Russia’s Muslim-majority
republic Chechnya, said
his men were “ready to
move” toward Bakhmut.
Prigozhin has accused
the conventional army of
not delivering ammuni-
tion. — AFP
vres, approaching the bor-
der guard plane three
times without keeping to
the required safety dis-
tance”. The Polish plane,
an L-410 Turbolet, experi-
enced turbulence and the
crew temporarily “lost
control of the aircraft and
lost altitude”, the border
force said.
It added the Russian
plane flew just in front of
the nose of the aircraft
and crossed its path at a
British anti-monarchists
released from custody
London, May 7: The
leader of anti-monarchy
group Republic and other
members were released
from custody after hours
of detention during
Saturday’s coronation of
King Charles that raised
questions over whether
the police response had
been proportionate.
Police arrested the
leader of Republic,
Graham Smith, and 51
others in central London
while thousands of royal
fans were gathering in the
streets for King Charles’s
coronation on Saturday,
saying their duty to pre-
vent disruption out-
weighed the right to
protest.
Republic said that
detained members began
to be released late on
Saturday evening, after
nearly 16 hours in custody.
“I’m now out of the
police station… Make no
mistake. There is no
longer a right to peaceful
protest in the UK,” Smith
said on Twitter.
“I have been told many
times the monarch is
there to defend our free-
doms. Now our freedoms
NATURE’S | WRATH
25,000 flee wildfires in western Canada
Ottawa, May 7: Alberta
announced a state of
emergency on Saturday as
wildfires flared across the
Canadian province, forc-
ing 25,000 people to flee
their homes in what a top
official said was an
“unprecedented” crisis.
Thousands more have
been told to be prepared to
leave on a moment’s
notice, as the number of
fires — fanned by strong
winds — jumped to 110.
One-third of the blazes
were registered as being
‘out of control’.
RUSSIA REPELS DRONE ATTACK
● Authorities in Russian-annexed Crimea said they
repelled a Ukrainian drone attack in the city of
Sevastopol overnight. It marks the latest in a wave of
alleged Ukrainian drone strikes and sabotage attempts.
● The head of the United
Nations’ nuclear watchdog
is expressing growing
anxiety about the safety of
the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear
Power Plant, after the
governor of the
Russia-occupied area
ordered the evacuation of
a town where most
plant staff live amid
ongoing attacks in
the area.
distance of “around five
metres” (16 feet).
Government spokesman
Piotr Muller told Polish
television it was a The Polish aircraft land-
“planned provocation by
Russia”.
Late on Saturday,
Romania’s defence min-
istry, which first reported
the move, condemned
Moscow’s “aggressive and
dangerous” behaviour.
Romania said the Polish
plane was on a routine
Sunak, wife to host
Coronation Lunch
London, May 7: British
Prime Minister Rishi
Sunak and his wife
Akshata Murty hosted a
Coronation Big Lunch at
Downing Street here on
Sunday for community
heroes to celebrate the
crowning of King Charles
III and Queen Camilla as
part of the country’s long
celebratory weekend.
The invitees included
US first lady Jill Biden
and British Sikh entrepre-
neur Navjot Singh
Sawhney, who won the UK
PM’s Points of Light
Award earlier this year
for his eco-friendly hand-
are under attack in his
name,” he said.
The police said on
Saturday that they under-
stood public concern fol-
lowing the arrests, but
said they acted after
receiving information
The number of fires that are fanned by strong winds jumped to 110
“We’ve declared a
provincial state of emer-
gency to protect the safety,
health and welfare of
Albertans,” the province’s
Premier Danielle Smith
said after a meeting of her
government’s emergency
management committee.
Earlier she said the
province — one of the
world’s largest oil-produc-
ing regions — “has been
experiencing a hot, dry
spring and with kindling,
all it takes is a few sparks
to ignite some frightening
wildfires.” — AFP
— AFP
● Russian forces are
evacuating residents
from the town that
serves the
Russian-occupied
Zaporizhzhia
nuclear power
plant in southern
Ukraine, the
Ukrainanian
military
said on
Sunday.
Frontex patrol with
Romanian border police
on Friday when it was
intercepted.
ed safely in Romania later.
Romanian and Spanish
planes were put on “pre-
alert” by NATO, Romania
said.
It took place “in interna-
tional airspace over the
Black Sea,” around 60 km
east of Romania’s air-
space. — AFP
Rishi Sunak
cranked Washing
Machine Project, which is
benefitting over 1,000 fam-
ilies without access to an
electric machine in
underdeveloped countries
or refugee camps. — PTI
that protesters were deter-
mined to disrupt the coro-
nation procession.
London police warned
on Friday action would be
taken if protesters tried to
“obstruct the celebra-
tion”. — Reuters
1,22,000 hectares have burned as wildfires flared across
Alberta province of Canada.
Houston, May 7: A gun-
man opened fire at a
crowded mall in the US
state of Texas, killing at
least eight people before
being shot dead by a
police officer, officials
have said, in the latest in a
relentless series of gun
violence across the United
States.
The gunfire erupted
around 3:30 pm on
Saturday at the Allen
Premium Outlets as
throngs of shoppers filled
the outdoor mall, which is
about 25 miles north of
Dallas and has more than
120 stores.
Police said they shot the
gunman dead and believe
he acted alone.
Police are yet to identify
the victims and the gun-
man. A Dallas-area med-
ical group says it was
treating victims as young
as 5 years old.
At least seven people are
being treated in hospital,
three of whom are criti-
cally ill.
Allen Fire Chief
Jonathan Boyd said seven
people — including the
gunman — were pro-
nounced dead at the scene
and two died later.
According to the offi-
cials, an Allen police offi-
cer, who was at the mall
on an unrelated call,
heard gunshots at Allen
Premium Outlets.
The officer engaged the
suspect and neutralised
the threat, Allen Police
Department posted on
Twitter.
He then called for emer-
gency personnel. The
department said, “There
is no longer an active
threat.”
Video footage showed
hundreds of shoppers
exiting the area at the
time of the shooting.
Shoppers and employees
scrambled into storage
areas and hid when they
heard gunshots, CNN
reported.
Kishida: Korea
occupation hurts
Seoul, May 7: Japan’s
prime minister expressed
sympathy for the suffer-
ing of Korean forced
labourers during Japan’s
colonial rule, as he and
his South Korean coun-
terpart on Sunday
renewed resolve to over-
come historical griev-
ances and strengthen
cooperation in the face of
shared challenges such as
North Korea’s nuclear
programme.
Comments by Japanese
Prime Minister Fumio
Kishida during his sec-
ond summit in less than
two months with South
Korean President Yoon
Suk Yeol are closely
watched in Seoul.
Yoon has faced domestic
criticism that he had pre-
emptively made conces-
sions to Tokyo without
getting corresponding
steps in return.
Kishida’s statement,
which avoided a new,
direct apology over the
colonisation but still sym-
pathised with the Korean
victims, suggests he felt
pressure to say something
to maintain momentum
for improved ties.
And personally, I have
strong pain in my heart
as I think of the extreme
difficulty and sorrow that
many people had to suffer
under the severe environ-
ment in those days,”
Kishida told a joint news
conference with Yoon,
referring to Japan’s 1910-
— AFP
Emergency personnel work the scene of a shooting at
Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, Texas.
BIDEN URGES
CONGRESS TO
BAN WEAPONS
Washington, May 7: US
President Joe Biden
renewed his call on
Sunday for Congress to
ban semi-automatic rifles
like the one used in a
weekend shooting that left
eight victims including
children dead in Texas, as
he called out Republican
inaction.
The president ordered
US flags lowered to half
staff one day after a heav-
ily-armed gunman opened
fire without warning at an
outlet mall north of
Dallas, in the latest spasm
of violence to shake the
nation. “Once again I ask
Congress to send me a bill
banning assault weapons
and high-capacity maga-
zines. Enacting universal
background checks,”
Biden said. — PTI
Witnesses said some peo-
ple sheltered in place for
up to two hours as law
enforcement cleared the
Fumio Kishida
45 colonial rule of the
Korean Peninsula.
“Japan and South Korea
share various history and
development, and I friends and relatives
believe it is my responsi-
bility as PM of Japan to
cooperate with President
Yoon and the South
Korean side as we follow
through the effort of our
predecessors who have
also overcome the diffi-
cult times,” he said.
Kishida arrived in
South Korea earlier
Sunday for a two-day
visit, which reciprocates
a mid-March trip to
Tokyo by Yoon and marks
the first exchange of vis-
its between the leaders of
the neighbors in 12 years.
The back-to-back sum-
mits were largely meant
to resolve the countries’
bitter disputes caused by
the 2018 court rulings in
South Korea that ordered
two Japanese companies
to financially compensate
some of their aging for-
mer Korean employees
for colonial-era forced
labour. Japan has rejected
the verdicts. — AP
AT 44 DEGREES, VIETNAM POSTS
RECORD-HIGH TEMP.: OFFICIALS
Hanoi, May 7: Vietnam
reported a record high
temperature late on Satur-
day with a north-central
weather station measur-
ing 44.1ºC, officials said,
breaking a previous high
set in 2019.
South Asia has been
sweltering under a heat-
wave for much of April,
with neighbouring coun-
tries also registering
pg 10
— AFP
GIRL KILLED, 5
HURT IN CALIF.
SHOOTING
Chico, May 7: A 17-year-
old girl was killed and five
other people were wound-
ed in a shooting early on
Saturday at a party near a
college campus in
Northern California,
police said.
Officers responding
around 3.30 am to reports
of gunfire found six peo-
ple shot at an apartment
building in Chico, police
Chief Billy Aldridge said.
All the victims were
taken to hospitals, and the
teenager died at a hospi-
tal, he said.
Two men, ages 21 and 19,
and a 17-year-old girl
remained hospitalised in
stable condition with non-
life-threatening injuries.
Two other men, ages 18
and 20, were treated at the
hospital. — AP
complex. One witness said
he saw a man holding his
neck, and blood dripped
down. — PTI
MULTI-VEHICLE
CRASH: 12 DEAD
IN TURKEY
Istanbul, May 7: A
multi-vehicle crash in
southern Turkey’s
Hatay province killed at
least 12 people and
injured 31
including three serious-
others,
ly, officials said.
A truck crossed into
opposite lanes after the
driver lost control late
on Saturday, colliding
with nine cars and two
minibuses.
Many of the vehicles
were parked by the road-
side near a gas station as
said goodbye to men
leaving to carry out
mandatory military
service.
Health minister Fah-
rettin Koca said that
fires broke out on the
I s ke n d e r u n - A n t a k ya
highway.
The minister tweeted
that 22 ambulances and
three medical rescue
teams were sent to the
scene in Topbogazli.
“May God have mercy
on our citizens who lost
their lives, I express my
condolences to their rel-
atives,” he tweeted. “We
will do our best to
ensure that the injured
regain their health as
soon as possible.”
Hatay was one of the
worst hit of the 11
Turkish provinces
affected by a February 6
earthquake that devas-
tated parts of Turkey
and Syria. At least 50,783
died disaster. — AP
record temperatures.
Vietnam’s weather
varies from north to south,
but the entire country is
now entering its hottest
summer months.
The record temperature
of 44.1ºC was measured
Saturday afternoon at
indoor Hoi Xuan station in
north-central Thanh Hoa
province, meteorological
forecaster said. — AFP
 HYDERABAD | MONDAY | 8 MAY 2023
quick Truecaller bets big on India Dalal St to take
BITES cues from polls
Inflation, monsoon may also have an impact
INDICATORS % still a lot of headroom for
Sensex 61,193.30 -0.26
Nifty 50 18,089.80 -0.32
S&P 500* 4,136.25 1.28
Dollar (`) 81.82 0.08
Pound Sterling (`)
Euro (`)
102.43 -0.38
90.34 -0.71
Gold (10gm)* (`) 60,636▲857 1.39
Brent crude ($/bbl)* 72.48 -3.77
IN 10-Yr bond yield 7.006 -0.1
US 10-Yr T-bill yield* 3.401 -0.038
* As of 8:30 PM IST
PTC India inks
power deal with
VS Lignite Power
Power trading solution
provider PTC India has inked a
long-term power purchase
agreement with VS Lignite
Power for 115 megawatt of
electricity supply. PTC India
executed a long-term power
purchase agreement (PPA) for
115 MW with VS Lignite Power
Pvt. Ltd, a company statement
said. VS Lignite operates a 135-
megawatt lignite-fired power
plant in Bikaner district of
Rajasthan.
Coal India Q4
profit drops 18%
on wage bill
Coal Indiareported 17.7 per
cent drop in its March quarter
net profit on higher provision
made for wage revision of
employees. Consolidated net
profit of `5,527.62 crore, or
`8.98 per share, in January-
March is compared with `6,715
crore, or `10.86 a share earning
in the same period a year back,
according to the company’s fil-
ing with stock exchanges.
The decline in profit in the Q4
FY23 was despite coal produc-
tion and dispatches to users.
Realtors closed
1,862 acre land
deals in FY23
Real estate developers
remained active on land acqui-
sition for future development
and they closed at least 87
land deals totalling 1,862 acres
during the last fiscal year,
according to real estate con-
sulting firm Anarock. During
the previous year 2021-22, real
estate consultant Anarock
noted that 44 land deals
accounting for about 1,649
acres were closed across vari-
ous cities.
TPG-backed RR
Kabel files IPO
papers with Sebi
TPG Capital-backed wires and
cables manufacturer RR Kabel
Ltd has filed preliminary
papers with capital markets
regulator Sebi to raise funds
through an initial public offer-
ing. The IPO comprises a fresh
issue of equity shares aggre-
gating up to `225 crore and an
offer for sale of over 1.72 crore
equity shares by promoters
and other shareholders,
according to DRHP.
Printed & Published by
K. Sudhakar on behalf of Deccan
Chronicle Holdings Limited, Printed at
Deccan Chronicle Press at Deccan
Chronicle Holdings Ltd. #563/9/D&9/E,
Behind Andhra Bank Pet Basheerbagh,
Kompally, Ranga Reddy Dist. Editor:
Kaushik Mitter, RNI Reg
No.APENG/2008/24282. © All rights
reserved. Reproduction in whole or in
part without written permission of The
Editor, Financial Chronicle ® is
prohibited.
New Delhi, May 7: As
Swedish caller identifica-
tion app Truecaller
touched 250 million active
users milestone in India,
CEO and co-founder Alan
Mamedi believes there is
growth here, and does not
anticipate any changes in
how its “privacy-focused,
permission-based system”
works as new regulations
come up in the country.
Mamedi asserted that
the company will be com-
pliant with the upcoming
data protection laws in
India and “welcomes any
and all actions in the mis-
sion to make communica-
tion safe and efficient”.
Mamedi, who was
recently in India along
with Truecaller’s Chief
Strategy Officer and co-
MSMEs will
benefit from
EU’s carbon
border tax
SANGEETHA G
CHENNAI, MAY 7
Despite the initial con-
cerns about the impact on
the MSME sector, the
European Union’s carbon
border tax will help
export-centric sectors
achieve net zero much
ahead of the government
deadline.
The European Union
intends to bring down car-
bon emissions in a phased
manner in order to
become a net-zero emitter
of greenhouse gases by
2050, ahead of 2070 when
India intends to be net
zero.
The Carbon Border Adj-
ustment Mechanism or
Carbon Border Tax is set
to be implemented from
October 1, 2023. In the
first phase, the EU will
monitor the emission lev-
els of goods entering the
market from different
source countries and by
2026 the tax will be levied
on goods.
Different sectors have
different emission tar-
gets. Sectors like steel,
engineering and plastics
are high on the radar. The
industry has accepted
that they have to bring
down the emission levels
to become competitive in
markets like the EU.
However, the industry has
to be further sensitised on
the need to become low
emitters. This is good for
the country as these
industries will become
net zero much ahead of
2070,” said Ajay Sahai,
director general, and CEO
of the Federation of Ind-
ian Export Organisations.
According to him, the
government is looking
into ways of lowering
emissions not just for the
exporters, but for those
focusing on the domestic
market as well.
“Large companies
realise the importance of
the carbon border tax and
they are in the process.
Government will have to
pitch in for the small and
medium companies,” he
said.
NEW | SHIFT Low taxes, lifestyle perks help Dubai to attract top talent; energy traders make the first move from UK
London’s commodities merchants look to shift to Dubai
Dubai, May 7: London’s
commodities merchants
are following some of
their Swiss peers to
Dubai, as the emirate
moves from being an out-
post focused on crude to a
major energy trading hub.
Dubai has long tried to
attract more commodities
companies, investing in
banking infrastructure
and developing exchange-
traded futures. Those
efforts have helped drive a
transformation after the
Kremlin’s invasion of
Ukraine, with many trad-
founder Nami Zarringh-
alam, said the company
appreciates Trai consulta-
tion on Caller Name
Presentation (CNAP) and
remains “very supportive
of this and any future ini-
tiatives they have”.
The telecom regulatory
authority of India (Trai)
recently asked telecom
companies to take imme-
diate action to curb pesky
calls and messages, initi-
Irdai to tighten norms for
insurance advertisements
New Delhi, May 7:
Regulator Irdai is propos-
ing to tighten norms for
insurance advertisements
by assigning higher
responsibility on senior
management of insurers
in designing and approv-
ing media campaigns for
product promotion.
In this context, the
Insurance Regulatory and
Development Authority of
India (Irdai) has proposed
an amendment in the 2021
regulations on insurance
advertisements and dis-
closure.
Under the proposed
amendment, each insurer
will be required to consti-
tute an advertisement
committee comprising at
least three members
mandatorily from market-
ing, actuarial and compli-
ance functions of the
Barista looks beyond metro cities
New Delhi, May 7:
Unfazed by the growing
competition from new
players as well as interna-
tional chains, coffee
house Barista is now
looking beyond metro
cities for expanding its
footprint and drive
growth, according to its
CEO Rajat Agrawal.
From coffee giants Tim
Hortons, Tata Starbucks,
the recently opened ‘Pret
A Manger’ to local coffee-
related startups like Blue
Tokai, Sleepy Owl and
Rage Coffee, everyone
seems to be betting big on
FSDC to review CEAT sees better biz
state of economy in replacement mart
New Delhi, May 7:
Finance minister Nirmala
Sitharaman will review
the state of the economy
amid global and domestic
challenges at a meeting of
the Financial Stability
and Development Council
(FSDC) on Monday.
The 27th meeting of the
high-level panel to be held
here will be attended by
all financial sector regula-
tors, including RBI
Governor Shaktikanta
Das, sources said.
This would be the first
meeting of the FSDC after
the passage of `45 lakh
crore Budget for 2023-24
ers of Russian raw materi-
als rushing to set up busi-
nesses in the city as
European Union and
Swiss sanctions made it
harder for them to deal
with Moscow.
While London has a
much bigger commodities
presence, more energy
traders are now moving or
expanding from the UK
capital to Dubai. They’re
being enticed by the grow-
ing pool of merchant
counterparts and low
taxes at a time when
traders themselves are
ating a slew of measures
to crackdown on the issue
of spam, and instances of
fraud.
Truecaller said it
remains focused on core
aspects of its service, that
is, protecting the highest
number of people from
unwanted or malicious
communication.
“There is a lot of room to
grow, even in India. We
currently have 250 million
active users here, even
though there may be over
500 million data connected
smartphones,” he said.
On new regulations such
as Digital India and digi-
tal personal data protec-
tion bill that are taking
shape, Truecaller CEO
affirmed that the compa-
ny is already compliant
with data protection laws
● UNDER THE
proposed amendment,
each insurer will be
required to constitute
an advertisement
committee comprising
at least three
members
insurer.
“The objective of the
amendment is to assign
higher responsibility on
the senior management
while designing and
approving the advertise-
ments for the consump-
tion of the customers,”
said the exposure draft on
which Irdai has invited
comments from the stake-
holders by May 25.
The committee will be
required to report to the
product management
committee, the draft said.
● THE HOMEGROWN
coffee chain brand,
which last month
opened its 350th store
in India in Udaipur,
also looks to reach the
count of 500 stores in
the coming two years.
the growing coffee cul-
ture in the traditionally
tea-drinking nation.
However, the Barista
CEO says that there is a
“large level of catch-up”
that has to be done by
new players as the coun-
with greater emphasis on
capital expenditure with
an outlay of `10,00,961
crore.
The FSDC is the apex
body of sectoral regula-
tors, headed by the Union
finance minister.
The meeting will review
the current global and
domestic economic situa-
tion and financial stabili-
ty issues, including those
concerning banking and
NBFCs in view of failure
of Silicon Valley Bank
and Signature Bank and
liquidity pressure faced
by Credit Suisse, accord-
ing to the sources. — PTI
raking in unprecedented
bonuses. Dubai also offers
other lifestyle perks,
in many other nations,
and will abide by upcom-
ing norms in India as well.
To a specific question on
whether the company sees
challenges to its business
model from the new rules
in offing in India, Mamedi
said, “We do not antici-
pate any changes in how
Truecaller works as a
result of upcoming regu-
lation.”
Asked if Truecaller’s
data collection processes
and practices will stand
the scrutiny of the new
data protection law that
India is proposing, he in
an email interview said:
“We have been compliant
with all data protection
laws introduced in other
countries from day one
and this is not really an
issue to us.” — PTI
It further said the prod-
uct management commit-
tee would be the final
authority either to appr-
ove or reject the advertise-
ments, after examining
the recommendations of
the advertisement com-
mittee. “Product manage-
ment committee and adve-
rtisement committee shall
be accountable and fully
responsible for releasing
the approved advertise-
ments,” the draft said.
The product manage-
ment committee, it added,
should ensure to maintain
the records of advertise-
ments, as per the record
retention policy of the
insurer, or for three years
from the date of with-
drawal of the advertise-
ment and should be made
available to Irdai as and
when called for. — PTI
try’s second-largest inte-
grated coffee house with
a presence in over 100
cities is growing at a
rapid pace.
The homegrown coffee
chain brand, which last
month opened its 350th
store in India in Udaipur,
also looks to reach the
count of 500 stores in the
coming two years.
“Now that we are
already 350th, we are
much above or far in
terms of our number of
stores presence... There is
a large level of catch up
which has to be done. We
New Delhi, May 7: Tyre
maker CEAT expects
recovery in its interna-
tional business and repla-
cement market, which are
more profitable segments,
going forward, according
to the company’s vice-
chairman Anant Goenka.
With raw material prices
remaining stable, the com-
pany is expecting “double
digit plus margins” going
forward.
“The international busi-
ness or export segment
has faced a little bit of
headwinds because of
global issues, whether it is
the (Russia-Ukraine) war,
something that’s becom-
ing increasing important
to attract top talent.
RAVI RANJAN PRASAD
MUMBAI, MAY 7
The Indian equity market
will enter a crucial phase
in the week ahead with the
year-long election season
kicking in. The market is
likely to have an impact
starting with the Karna-
taka Assembly elections
on May 10. Exit poll results
after the election may have
some impact. The domes-
tic market will also factor
in Friday’s big gains in the
US market.
US market benchmarks
gained after two consecu-
tive sessions of decline
after US Federal Reserve
raised interest rates on
Wednesday. Dow Jones
index gained 1.65 per cent
while S&P 500 and Nasdaq
100 gained 1.85 per cent
and 2.13 per cent respec-
tively.
However, the US banking
sector’s problems are like-
ly to keep global markets
quite cautious as high
interest rate burden is
impacting regional US
banks and bank stocks
have seen huge sell off.
This year’s biggest inital
public offering
Mankind Pharma, which
by
was subscribed 15.32
times, will make its mar-
ket debut on Monday.
Apple’s quarterly num-
bers announced on Friday
got a big revenue boost
from sales in India though
both global revenue and
profit were substantially
lower than the same quar-
ter last year.
The domestic earnings
season has been mixed so
far. “Half of the Nifty 50
companies have announ-
ced their results, and the
earnings growth of those
are also growing at a cer-
tain rapid pace with
about 60-70 outlets per
year,” Agrawal said.
He said the brand is
already witnessing a lot
of “new growth” happen-
ing for them in the non-
metros in the last two-
three years.
“The way the infra-
structure is getting devel-
oped in the country and
the way people are travel-
ling, now, even non-met-
ros people are very edu-
cated about what they are
consuming,” Agrawal
explained. — PTI
whether it is currency
devaluation of a lot of
developing countries...,”
Goenka said.
He said the Indian sub-
continent have been hit t
“because of currency and
forex related issues”, and
in the developing world or
developed world, there
has been a recessionary
environment.
On the outlook, CEAT
vice-chairman said, “We
expect international mar-
ket as well as the replace-
ment market, which are
the more profitable seg-
ments, to see better times
going forward.” — PTI
In the past year, Hartree
Partners LP and Free-
point Commodities LLC
are among those to move
energy traders and senior
executives to Dubai, accor-
ding to people familiar
with the matter who asked
not to be identified. It sho-
ws how historic trading
centres like London are
starting to lose out to the
emirate’s growing appeal.
It’s also part of a broader
boom in Dubai and the
United Arab Emirates,
which is benefiting from
an influx of foreign
FPIs invest `10,850 cr
in 4 trading sessions
New Delhi, May 7: For-
eign portfolio investors
(FPIs) continue to be
buyers of Indian equities
in May and invested
`10,850 crore in the last
four trading sessions due
to the country’s stable
macroeconomic environ-
ment, robust GST collec-
tion and better-than-
expected corporate quar-
terly earnings.
This came following a
net infusion of `11,630
crore in equities in April
and `7,936 crore in Ma-
rch, data available with
the depositories showed.
The March investment
was mainly driven by
bulk investment in the
Adani Group companies
by the US-based GQG
Partners. However, if
one adjusts for the
investments of GQG in
Adani Group, the net
stocks were below esti-
mates, mainly due to weak
performance by IT, metal,
and cement stocks. While
the results for banks,
financials, and auto were
better than estimates,”
said Vinod Nair, head of
research, Geojit Financial
Services.
“We expect continued
foreign inflows and favo-
urable domestic macroeco-
nomic conditions to pro-
tect the downside. The
Q4FY23 earnings estimate
of the Nifty is at 11 per
DAIKIN INDIA
AIMS TO BE $2 BN
FIRM IN 3 YEARS
New Delhi, May 7:
Airconditioner maker
Daikin Airconditioning
India expects to become a
$2-billion company in the
next three years, having
crossed the milestone of
$1 billion in FY23, said
chairman and MD
Kanwaljeet Jawa.
Daikin India has a
turnover of `8,860 crore
for the financial year
ended on March 31, 2023.
The company is looking
at India business as its
“future treasure” and
expects it to double to $2
billion (around `16,350
crore) in the next three
years, Jawa said.
Daikin India is now the
second company operat-
ing in the cooling space to
cross the $1 billion-mile-
stone after the Tata group
firm Voltas, which had
reported a total income of
`9,667 crore for FY23.
When asked about this
Jawa said: “Yes, we are a
billion-dollar company
now. Now we have top
shares in every segment
which we operate — VRV,
chillers and room air con-
ditioners..” — PTI
wealth. The arrival of
crypto millionaires, bank-
ers relocating from Asia
and wealthy Russians
shielding assets have
boosted property prices.
“We have seen well-
known hedge funds
recently open offices in
Dubai as well as independ-
ent commodities mer-
chants,” said Jonathan
Funnell, a partner at exec-
utive search firm Sidley
Marion. “The tax incentiv-
es are clear, but for some
there is a feeling that
Dubai is well positioned to
pg 11
flow is negative.
Going forward, the
appreciation in the rupee
and good fourth-quarter
results will aid in
increasing capital flows
to India, V.K. Vijaya-
kumar, chief investment
strategist at Geojit
Financial Services, said.
According to data from
the depositories, FPIs
invested a net sum of
`10,850 crore in Indian
equities in the last four
trading sessions during
May 2-5. “FPIs would
have been drawn to
Indian stocks by the
country’s stable macro-
economic climate, strong
GST collection figures,
and better-than-expected
corporate results,”
Himanshu Srivastava,
associate director - man-
ager research, Morning-
star India, said. — PTI
cent year on year; there-
fore, the next set of results
is likely to be better and
will support the investor
sentiment,” Nair said.
In the week ahead, the
release of US and Indian
CPI inflation data will be
also keenly watched by the
market participants.
The market will also fac-
tor in the news on the
progress of monsoon with
an eye on what weather
forecasting agencies have
to say on the likely arrival
date for monsoon.
Centre to
invite bids
for selling
26% in BEML
New Delhi, May 7: The
government may soon
invite financial bids for
strategic sale of defence
PSU BEML after its non-
core business got listed on
the bourses last month.
In January 2021, the gov-
ernment invited prelimi-
nary bids for selling 26
per cent stake in BEML
along with the manage-
ment control. It received
multiple expressions of
interest for the sale.
Following that, in
October last year, BEML
demerged its non-core
businesses into BEML
Land Assets and listed the
new company on the
bourses on April 19, 2023.
The listing of land and
other non-core assets is
complete. Now we will
soon invite financial bids
for the core assets, which
is construction and
defence related, an offi-
cial said.
BEML is a diversified
company supplying prod-
uct, services and support
to defence & aerospace,
mining & construction,
and rail & metro for
clients within and outside
India.
The government cur-
rently holds 54.03 per cent
stake in BEML, which is a
public sector undertaking
under the defence min-
istry. — PTI
become a major commodi-
ties-trading hub.”
Dubai has courted com-
modity businesses for
decades, and set up a free-
trade zone in 2002. It has
since introduced oil and
gold contracts, while
regional banks increased
their offerings to finance
trade flows. And compa-
nies that trade with Russ-
ian producers can do so
there without the restric-
tive sanctions imposed in
places like the EU,
Switzerland or the United
States. — Bloomberg
 SEASON-16 MONDAY | 8 MAY 2023 | HYDERABAD | DECCAN CHRONICLE

SUMMER BALL
● Chennai Super Kings
● Delhi Capitals
● Gujarat Titans
● Kolkata Knight Riders
● Lucknow Super Giants
● Mumbai Indians
● Punjab Kings
● Rajasthan Royals
● Royal Challengers Bangalore
● Sunrisers Hyderabad PAGE

12

TITAN TANGO
ORANGE POINTS TABLE
Teams P W L N/R Points Net RR
GT 11 8 3 0 16 +0.951
Faf du
Plessis, RCB 511 CSK
LSG
11
11
6
5
4
5
1
1
13
11
+0.409
+0.294
RR 11 5 6 0 10 +0.388
Yashasvi
Jaiswal, RR 477 RCB
MI
10
10
5
5
5
5
0
0
10
10
-0.209
-0.454
Shubman
Gill, GT 469 Gill, Saha power on-song Gujarat to big win PBKS
KKR
SRH
10
10
10
5
4
4
5
6
6
0
0
0
10
8
8
-0.472
-0.103
-0.472
PURPLE Ahmedabad, May 7: against a mountainous
DC 10 4 6 0 8 -0.529
Gujarat Titans’ juggernaut
continued in the Indian
chase to concede the con-
test, finishing at 171 for
SCORECARD
Premier League as the seven in 20 overs. Gujarat Titans:
Mohammed
Shami, GT
Rashid Khan,
19 defending champions
crushed Lucknow Super
Giants by 56 runs here on
Sunday to remain perched
Lucknow Super Giants
knocked off 50 runs from
the target in only four overs
with both Mayers and de
Wriddhiman Saha
(sub)Prerak Mankad b
Avesh Khan 81, Shubman
Gill (not out) 94, Hardik
c
KKR face Punjab
19
GT
Tushar
on the top of the table.
This was their eighth win
in 11 matches, taking their
Kock finding momentum.
While Mayers began with
three consecutive fours off
Pandya c Krunal Pandya b
Mohsin Khan 25, David
Miller (not out) 21. Extras in must-win game
D’pande, CSK 19 tally to 16 points and closer
to the play-offs.
Gujarat Titans, propelled
Hardik Pandya in the sec-
ond over, the third from
Mohammad Shami yielded
(LB-1, W-4, NB-1) 6. Total
(for two wickets in 20 Kolkata, May 7: A ‘Go
To’ man in Kolkata ACTION TODAY
overs) 227.
to their highest-ever total of 19 runs with de Kock hitting FoW: 1-142, 2-184. Knight Riders for more
227 for two courtesy a fran- a couple of fours and than a decade, Sunil
Short Takes chise record 142-run part- Mayers getting a six and a Bowling: Mohsin Khan 3-
0-42-1, Avesh Khan 4-0-
Narine will have to play
nership between Shubman four. out of his skin to justify
34-1, Krunal Pandya 4-0-
Gill keen to learn Gill (94 not out) and
Wriddhiman Saha (81),
Mayers was also severe on
Rashid Khan in the fifth, 38-0, Yash Thakur 4-0-48-
his place in the playing
eleven when his team face KKR VS PBKS
0, Ravi Bishnoi 2-0-21-0,
from Wriddhiman came back strongly in the hitting him for a six and a
Kyle Mayers 1-0-16-0,
Punjab Kings in a must-
win Indian Premier
FROM 7.30 PM,
Swapnil Singh 1-0-7-0, LIVE ON STAR SPORTS
G
learn
ujarat Titans’ opening bat-
ter Shubman Gill is keen to
from “phenomenal”
Marcus Stoinis 1-0-20-0.
Lucknow Super Giants:
League game, here on
Monday.
The Trinidad man, who
Wriddhiman Saha’s vast experi- Kyle Mayers c Rashid Khan has played 158 games
HEAD to HEAD
ence in the ongoing IPL, with b Sharma 48, Quinton de spread across 12 seasons,
the veteran wicketkeeper enjoy-
ing a rich vein of form in this
Kock b Rashid Khan 70,
Deepak Hooda c Tewatia b
including the current
one, has 159 wickets along
Matches 31
edition. Mohammed Shami 11, with 1039 runs with four KKR 20 PBKS 11
“Just to be able to share his Marcus Stoinis c half-centuries after he
(Saha) experience, I stand next Mohammed Shami b worked on his batting FOR THE RECORD
to him at slip, it is phenomenal Sharma 4, Nicholas once his action was ● Sunil Narine will become the
with the way he keeps going. Pooran c Mohammed deemed suspect and he fourth West Indian and fifth
He's been playing since the first Shami b Noor Ahmad 3, lost fizz of the pitch. player overall to appear in 450
IPL season,” Gill said after the Ayush Badoni c Noor Narine hasn’t been the T20 matches.
match. Ahmad b Sharma 21, same “mystery bowler”, ● Shikhar Dhawan who has
“I didn’t get much to bat in the Swapnil Singh (not out) 2, who burst into the T20 made 850 runs at an average
first few overs but it is impor- Krunal Pandya c Miller b franchise scene, for many of 29.31 and a strike rate of
tant to not get carried away Sharma 0, Ravi Bishnoi seasons but he would be 118.05 in 30 innings is the
with what your partner is second half of LSG’s chase four to collect 14 runs as (not out) 4. Extras (LB-3, first one to admit he has fourth highest run-getter
doing. I had not hit sixes in the to emerge winners in a com- LSG reached 72 for no loss W-5) 8. Total (for seven been insanely lucky. against Kolkata Knight Riders
last two matches and today I prehensive manner. after the powerplay. wickets in 20 overs) 171. The architect of 2012 after David Warner (1,075 runs
struck a few, I always keep work- Chasing 228, LSG stroked However, a brilliant catch FoW: 1-88, 2-114, 3-130, 4- and 2014 IPL wins with 24 in 27 matches), Rohit Sharma
ing on my skills,” he added. their way to a strong 102 for from Rashid in the ninth 140, 5-153, 6-166, 7-166. and 21 wickets in those (1,040 runs in 32 matches) and
GT captain Hardik Pandya one at the halfway mark but over broke LSG’s opening two seasons, has strug- Virat Kohli (861 runs in 32
Bowling: Mohammed matches).
said the game was in balance for the wheels came off eventu- stand at 88. Shami 4-0-37-1, Hardik gled for at least two of his
a long time. “The way the game ally, with GT tying down The Afghan player covered Pandya 3-0-37-0, Rashid last three seasons but
LAST YEAR’S MATCH
changed after that (Rashid's their batters with tight a distance of 26 metres from Khan 4-0-34-1, Noor KKR management (the
catch), at one point I thought the overs. deep square leg and man- principal decision mak- ● KKR beat Punjab by six
Ahmad 4-0-26-1, Mohit wickets at Mumbai.
game was even-stevens and that Despite Quinton de Kock’s aged to hold on to the ball Sharma 4-0-29-4, Alzarri ers CEO Venky Mysore
catch was match changing. We brilliant 70 in his first game while diving to his right, Joseph 1-0-5-0. and assistant coach FIRST MEETING THIS SEASON
were both driving at 100kph as a this season and Kyle getting rid of Mayers for 48 Gujarat Titans batter Wriddhiman Saha (right) cel- Abhishek Nayar) has ● Punjab beat Kolkata by 7
team but that catch caused a Mayers’ brisk 48 at the top, off 32 balls (7x4s, 2x6s) off ebrates his half-century against Lucknow Super stuck with him. runs (DLS method).
bump in their chase,” he said, LSG middle-order crumbled Mohit Sharma. — PTI Giants as Shubman Gill looks on. — BCCI However with KKR star-
— S. PERVEZ QAISER
referring to Rashid Khan’s stun- ing at another round
ning catch to dismiss Kyle robin exit with only four
Mayers. wins in 10 games, there is calls, Punjab Kings is also

Jitesh ready to play

for Team India: Jaffer
P unjab Kings wicketkeeper-
batter Jitesh Sharma has
impressed with his batting
pyrotechnics in this IPL and
their batting coach Wasim Jaffer
feels he’s ready to make Team
India debut. The 29-year-old
Vidarbha keeper-batter, who was
signed up for just `20 lakh in IPL
2022 auction, has grabbed the
opportunity in absence of an
injured Jonny Bairstow this sea-
son with some eye-catching
knocks. “Of course, last year too
he had a decent performance. I
think he has become even better,
his batting has improved, he’s
already a good wicketkeeper,”
Jaffer said on the eve of their
match against Kolkata Knight
Riders here.
Regd. No. HQ/SD/509/2021-23
Printed and Published by
K. Sudhakar on behalf of Deccan
Chronicle Holdings Limited. Printed at
Deccan Chronicle Press situated at Plot
No. 9 Alwal Village, Vallabh Nagar Taluk,
Medchal Malkajgiri Dist. Telangana and
Published at 36, S.D. Road,
Secunderabad-3.
RNI Registration No. 3081/1957.
Editor: Kaushik Mitter
Sunrisers prevail in last-ball thriller
Jaipur, May 7: Abdul
Samad smashed a six off
the last ball as Sunrisers
Hyderabad defeated
Rajasthan Royals by four
wickets to keep their play-
off hopes alive in a high-
scoring IPL thriller here
on Sunday.
Riding on aggressive
fifties by Jos Buttler (95)
and Sanju Samson (66),
Rajasthan Royals posted a
challenging 214 for two
after winning the toss and
electing to bat.
In response, Abhishek
Sharma (55), Rahul
Tripathi (47) kept them in
the hunt before Yuzvendra
Chahal (4/29) snapped up
four wickets to almost
derail their chase.
A cameo from Glenn
Phillips (25) reignited the
chase before Abdul Samad
(17 not out off 7 balls)
knocked off the winning
runs with a six in the last
ball following a no-ball
from Sandeep Sharma.
For Sunrisers,
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
(1/44) and Marco Jansen
(1/44) took one wicket
Glenn Phillips of Sunrisers Hyderabad plays a shot dur-
ing the IPL match against Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai
Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Sunday.
each.
Earlier, English opener
Jos Buttler and captain
Sanju Samson struck com-
manding half centuries as
Rajasthan Royals piled up
214 for 2 against. After a
54-run opening stand with
Yashasvi Jaiswal (35),
Buttler (95 off 59 balls)
stitched another 138 runs
with Samson (66 not out)
in 13.3 overs to steer the
— AFP
Royals to a big total after
opting to bat.
Buttler missed a well-
deserved century as he got
out in the penultimate
over with five runs short.
He hit 10 fours and four
sixes during his crafty
innings.
Samson’s 38-ball unbeat-
en knock was studded
with four boundaries and
five sixes.
no room for error in next
four games.
The question is whether
KKR can still afford to
still play the man, who
in a spot of bother and
the match is of equal
importance for them.
Having been out-batted
by Mumbai Indians in
only has seven scalps their last outing, the
SCORECARD
Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal c T. Natarajan b Marco
from 10 games with an
economy rate of 8.76 and
aggregate of 14 runs from
Shikhar Dhawan-led side
may be a spot ahead of
the eighth-placed KKR
Jansen 35, Jos Buttler lbw b Bhuvneshwar 95, Sanju Samson 8 batting innings with a with a two-point lead but
(not out) 66, Shimron Hetmyer (not out) 7. Extras (B-1, LB-5, strike-rate of less than 80. both the teams are star-
W-5) 11. Total (for two wickets in 20 overs) 214. While KKR does need to ing at elimination.
FoW: 1-54, 2-192. take some tough selection — PTI
Bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4-0-44-1, Marco Jansen 4-0-44-
1, T. Natarajan 4-0-36-0, Mayank Markande 4-0-51-0, Abhishek
Sharma 2-0-15-0, Vivrant Sharma 2-0-18-0.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Anmolpreet Singh c Hetmyer b Chahal
KOHLI’S KNOCK TRIGGERS
33. Abhishek Sharma c Chahal b R. Ashwin 55, Rahul Tripathi
c Jaiswal b Chahal 47, Heinrich Klaasen c Buttler b Chahal 26,
‘DYING’ ANCHORS DEBATE
Aiden Markram lbw b Chahal 6, Glenn Phillips c Hetmyer b New Delhi, May 7: Virat Kohli’s 55 off 46 balls in a
Yadav 25, Abdul Samad (not out) 17, Marco Jansen (not out) 3. losing cause against Delhi Capitals has fuelled the
Extras (nb 1, w 4) 5. Total (for six wickets in 20 overs) 217. growing debate on the “dying” role of anchors in
FoW: 1-51, 2-116, 3-157, 4-171, 5-174, 6-196. the T20 format.
Bowling: Sandeep Sharma 4-0-48-0, Kuldip Yadav 4-0-50-1, Kohli’s approach of “taking the game deep” was
Ravichandran Ashwin 4-0-35-1, Yuzvendra Chahal 4-0-29-4, understandable considering the non-performance
Murugan Ashwin 3-0-42-0, Obed McCoy 1-0-13-0. of the middle-order but it potentially cost them 20
extra runs for what could have a been a winning
total at the Feroz Shah Kotla. He scored 19 off the
first 18 balls he faced.
The SRH bowlers looked who continued his fine Earlier in the season, Delhi head coach Ricky
clueless throughout the form this season to reach Ponting also expressed his doubts over the future of
innings with all of them 1000 IPL runs. He struck anchors in T20s. “I’m a believer in, you know, if
bleeding runs. two maximums off you've got aggressive, powerful batsman, they can
The Royals made a rol- Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4-0- change their game to play the anchor role, but
licking start, reaching 61 44-1) and Marco Jansen (4- anchor role players can very rarely change to be
for one at the end of pow- 0-44-1) as well as five fours that 200 strike rate. The only one I can think of this
erplay, thanks to a quick- but fell to a soft dismissal year is Rahane,” the Australian legend had said
fire 35 off just 18 balls of the latter bowler in the ahead of the Sunrisers game. — PTI
from the talented Jaiswal fifth over. — PTI

SRIKANTH AND ASHMITA CONFIRM HCA shortlists 74 U-16 Vivek HCAE HUSSAMUDDIN SAILS
INTO QUATERFINALS
ASIAN GAMES BERTHS IN SINGLES
Hyderabad, May 7: Kidambi While Srikanth topped stage 2,
players for screening head coach Hyderabad, May 7: Coach for juniors),
AT WORLD BOXING
Tashkent, May 7: Fast-rising
Srikanth and Ashmita Chaliha on Lakshya was second in 1-4 ranking Hyderabad, May 7: Naidu, Ishaan Aggarwal, Rayadu Naik, K. Sai The Hyderabad Abhijit Chatterjee Indian boxer Deepak Bhoria fash-
Sunday topped the men’s and with his loss against the former The Hyderabad SSVV Nandakumar, Charan, Gurshant Singh, Cricket Association (Bowling Coach for ioned a brilliant comeback to stun
women’s singles selection trials being the only blot in an otherwise Cricket Association Pritam Dasyapu, Kakkad Urvesh on Sunday formally seniors), Ben Johnson Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist
respectively to assure themselves a clean slate. He had registered four (HCA) has shortlisted Simhadri, Kota Aditya Chandresh, Ch. Tharak, appointed former (Bowling Coach for Saken Bibossinov of Kazakhstan
place in the individual event of the wins to top Group ‘B’. On Sunday, 74 Under-16 players for Raghavendra, D R. Pranay, Kethavath Ranji Trophy player juniors), Md. Ethesham and advance to the the 51kg pre-
Asian Games. Lakshya saw off Manjunath 21-17 screening of admis- Pratyush, Uttam Pratap, S. Sai Veerendra Vijay Mohan Raj as Ali Khan (Batting quarterfinals of the World
Srikanth, the 2021 World 21-8 before losing to Srikanth. He sion into the Patnaik, K. Rushil Vardhan, Parth Sharma, the Director of Coach for seniors), Championships here on Sunday.
Championship silver medallist, and had beaten Gupta 21-17, 21-11 in his Hyderabad Cricket Aditya, Irshan Singh, M. Ilhan Ahmed Baig, Cricket, Hyderabad Mohd Musharaf Khan Trailing by a split verdict in the
Chaliha remained unbeaten in their first match of stage 2. — PTI Academy of Arush, Anudeep Javaji, Saakshith, J. Pardipan, Cricket Academy of (Batting Coach for opening two rounds Deepak put
six matches during the four-day India squad: Men’s singles: H. S. Excellence on Sunday. R. Srikar Reddy, Karan M. Rahul Kumar, Excellence (HCAE). juniors), Nitin Anthony up a stellar display in the last
long trials at the Jwala Gutta Prannoy, Kidambi Srikanth Players should report Yadav, Girivas, A. Shreyansh Pande, Daksh A 11-member team Thangaraj (Fielding three minutes to emerge winner
Badminton Academy here to join P. (Individual/ Team), Lakshya Sen, at the Gymkhana Nikshith, GauragNag, Goud, Pratham Devasi, of coaching staff Coach for seniors), after a bout review.
V. Sindhu and H. S. Prannoy for the Mithun Manjunath (Team). Cricket Ground, Adit Somendra, Buddi Advait Menon, Aaron was also named with Mohd Sajjad Ali Junedi The Indian eventually won 5-2
individual competitions as the Men’s doubles: Satwiksairaj Secunderabad on Sainath, Mohammed George, Aryan Reddy, Vivek Jaisimha (Fielding Coach for against the 2021 World Champion
selectors named a 19-member squad Rankireddy/ Chirag Shetty, Dhruv Tuesday at 6.30 am. Abdul Malik, Hari Om Avik Manish Dixit, B. given charge of the juniors), Dr Rajesh Bibossinov to reach the pre-quar-
for the continental event. Kapila/ M. R. Arjun (Individual/ Team). They should carry Singh, Medhansh Srikar, Ahwinan Ram, Ishan seniors as the Head Boksham (Physio- terfinals.
Srikanth, who had topped Group Women’s singles: P. V. Sindhu, their own cricket gear S. Rishikesh, Pranay Reddy, Jaidev Rendla, Coach. therapist for seniors), Commonwealth medallist
‘A’ with three wins, beat Siddhanth Ashmita Chaliha (Individual/ Team), and a photocopy of Kartik, Aditya Narayan, Kritin Reddy, M. Hansin Biju Nair will be N. Subas Chandra Mohammed Hussamuddin (57kg)
Gupta 21-13, 21-16 before notching Anupama Upadhyaya, Malvika Bansod their Aadhar card. M. Nitesh Naik, Reddy, Mohammed the Head Coach for Patro (Strength & also registered a facile 5-0 victory
up a 21-15, 21-14 win over Lakshya (Team). List of players: Praam Devasoth Anji, N. Mosiquddin, Moha- juniors. Conditioning for jun- over Russia’s Eduard Savvin to
Sen in stage 2 of the trials on Doubles (Individual/ Team) Women’s Gupta, Abdul Rafeay, Harshvardhan Reddy, mmed Simal, Rahul List of appointments: iors), A. Ranjith Kumar advance to the quarterfinals.
Sunday. doubles: Gayatri Gopichand/ Treesa Syed Mohammed Anupati Sidhartha, M. Karikya, Sidharth Rao Vijay Mohan Raj (Assistant Strength & Deepak started the bout slowly
The former world number one had Jolly, Ashwini Ponnappa/ Tanisha Hussain, Ayush Ranjan, Ram Charan, Syed Ayan Chepyala, Sudheev (Director of Cricket, Conditioning for sen- and took some time to get into the
defeated national champion Mithun Crasto (Individual/ Team). Mixed dou- M. Anirudh, Mohammed Hashmi, B. Satwik Nirukonda, Vikrant HCAE), Vivek Jaisimha iors), E. Krishna Reddy rhythm but Bibossinov used it to
Manjunath 22-24, 21-13, 21-14 on bles: Rohan Kapoor/ N. Sikki Reddy, Rizwan, Rithwik Raj Swaraj, P. Lalit Aditya Reddy, Wafi Kachchhi, (Head Coach for sen- (Video Analyst for his advantage and landed some
Saturday. K. Sai Pratheek/ Tanisha Crasto. Goud, K. Rampardhava Reddy, M. Charan Tej, P. Yuvraj Yadav. iors), Biju Nair (Head seniors). punches on his opponent. — PTI