BENGALURU l sunday l july 20, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 28 l LATE CITY EDITION Monsoon mayhem: 18 dead in uttar pradesh, alert for kerala Rain-related incidents in UP claimed 18 lives on Saturday while IMD issued alerts for heavy rain in U’khand, Himachal Pradesh, Bengal and Kerala landslides in arunachal pradesh, sikkim red alerts for u’khand, parts of kerala While torrential rain caused a flood-like situation in parts of Rajasthan, heavy rainfall and landslides in some areas of Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim affected normal life and disrupted traffic movement. In Uttar Pradesh, of the 18 people who died due to rain-related events, eight died of drowning, while two died of snakebites, officials said ■ ■ In Uttarakhand, a ‘red alert’ for heavy rain on Sunday in parts of the Kumaon region has been issued by the meteorological department In Kerala, IMD has issued a ‘red alert’ for rain in five northern districts — Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur, and Kasaragod — where incessant rains lashed several areas, causing inundation 23.4 cm of rain was recorded in Nainwa of Bundi district in rajasthan CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI New road to Daulet Beg Oldie near LAC by next yr-end M AYA N K SI N G H @ New Delhi C hi n a Daulet Beg Oldie Saser Murgo Sasoma Ladakh Shyok Leh India Durbuk Map not to scale A new road to the strategically significant Depsang and Daulet Beg Oldie (DBO) near the Line of Actual Control along the China border in Ladakh is expected to become fully operational from November 2026. The new road, which runs almost parallel to the existing Darbuk-Shyok-Daulet Beg-Oldie (DSDBO) road, follows the alignment of Sasoma-Saser LaSaser Brangsa-Gapshan-DBO. The under-construction road is Plans afoot to make it an all-weather road about 130 km long and has nine Plans are on to make it an all-weather road. The BRO is working on a bridges of 40 tonne capacity . At present, the DSDBO is the 8-km-long tunnel at Saser La. Currently it is at the detailed project report stage. It will take 4-5 years to complete the tunnel project only road link to DBO. But parts of the road are under the direct observation of Sources said, “We Sunday have completed every- ber-November next year.” road the Chinese forces. BeFor the forces, the new Special thing from Sasoma to will facilitate faster troop-arsides, it has around 37 bridges of various lengths Saser Brangsa and mament movement away from and widths, making it that ahead of it towards east- the enemy’s line of sight. “Almuch more vulnerable. The 255ward — Murgo and Gapshan. most all artillery weapons, inkm DSDBO road ends at DBO, Over 70% work is done. We are cluding Bofors howitzers, were which is about 20 km away from certain that the entire stretch moved on this axis till Saser the Karakoram Pass. will be operational from Octo- Brangsa to test its load carry- Worrying rise in violence against women; private university’s student blames teachers for death Miscreants set 15-yr-old girl on fire in Odisha A s i s h M e h ta / R a j K u m a r M o h a n t y @ Bhubaneswar/Puri Accused won’t be spared: CM CM Mohan Charan Majhi said stringent action will be initiated against perpetrators of the crime. “Her health condition is being monitored. If needed she will be airlifted to Delhi,” Majhi added. Criminals have become emboldened under this government and are not worried about punishment Naveen Patnaik, Former CM THE horror run of atrocities against women continued as Odisha woke up to the shocking attack on a 15-year-old girl who was set on fire by a group of miscreants in Puri district on Saturday morning. The minor girl, who suffered over 70 per cent burn injuries, was rescued by locals and shifted to AIIMS-Bhubaneswar. Preliminary investigations suggest the attack was premeditated. The girl was on her way to a friend’s house in a village under Balanga police station limits, 37 km from Bhubaneswar, when three youths gagged her with a handkerchief and abducted her on a bike, police said. They took her to the bank of Bhargavi river where she was doused with inflammable substances. In a bid to save her life, the girl ran towards nearby houses and cried for help, when a local resident came to her rescue and doused the flames before alerting police. The girl belonged to a minority community . The girl’s parents lodged an FIR with Balanga police station, police said, adding she was a Class 8 dropout and her father works at an automobile repair workshop. The incident comes close on the heels of the self-immolation by a 20-year-old student in Balasore. Executive director of AIIMS-Bhubaneswar Dr Ashutosh Biswas said the girl suffered 70 per cent burn injuries. “She is in ICU but without ventilator support... The next 72 hours are very crucial,” he said. Odisha Director General of Police Y B Khurania said special teams have been formed to nab the perpetrators. BDS student dies by suicide, faculty held N a m i ta B a j pa i @ Lucknow A second-year BDS student died by suicide due to alleged harassment by faculty members at Sharda University in Greater Noida on Friday . Soon after the university suspended two faculty members, both were arrested by police on Saturday since Jyoti Sharma, 21, had named them in her suicide note. The student from Gurugram took the extreme step in her hostel room inside the university . A suicide note was recovered from the scene in which the student accused her teachers, from PCP and Dental Materials department, of harassment and humiliation, and held them responsible for her extreme step. “If I die, Mahendra Sir and Sherry Mam will be responsible for my death. They tortured me mentally and humiliated me. I have been in depression because of their behaviour for a long time. I want them to suffer the same express read Justice Bakhru is new CJ of K’taka HC 34 die as boat capsizes in Vietnam Bengaluru: Justice Vibhu Bakhru was sworn in as Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court on Saturday. Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot administered oath of office to the new CJ. Prior to this, Justice Bakhru (59) was a Judge at the Delhi High Court. P5 Ha Long Bay: A boat carrying tourists capsized during a sudden thunderstorm in Vietnam on Saturday afternoon during a sightseeing excursion, killing 34 people, state media reported. Eight others remain missing. Trump’s latest: ‘5 jets were shot down’ during India-Pak conflict J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi After again claiming he brokered peace between India and Pakistan during the four-day standoff following Operation Sindoor, a claim repeatedly denied by the Indian government, US President Donald Trump has now said that “five jets were shot down” during conflict in May . He, however, did not clarify whether the losses were suffered by one side or both. Speaking at a White House dinner for Republican senators on Friday, Trump said: “We stopped a lot of wars. And these were serious, India and Pakistan that was going on. Planes were being shot out of there. I think five jets were shot down, actually These are two serious nuclear . countries, and they were hitting each other.” Trump again claimed that the US defused the situation using trade leverage. “But India and Pakistan were going at it, and they were back and forth, and it was getting bigger and bigger, and we got it solved through trade.” New Delhi has consistently dismissed Trump’s repeated assertions, maintaining that the ceasefire on May 10 was Cold war continues... Siddu refuses to name DKS at Mysuru event E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Mysuru Congress activists raise slogans after the girl’s suicide in Greater Noida | PTI achieved through direct communication between Indian and Pakistani military officials, without any foreign involvement. The brief conflict followed Operation Sindoor, launched by India on May 7 in response to a deadly terror attack in J&K’s Pahalgam. Since then, Trump has repeatedly said that his administration played a key role in ending the standoff and preventing further escalation. Hours later, he described the BRICS as a little group that wants to take over the “dominance of the dollar”. “And I said anybody that’s in the BRICS consortium of nations, we’re going to tariff you 10%,” Trump told reporters at the White House. The two teachers named by the student in her suicide note | PTI way as I am. …Sorry I cannot .. bear it anymore,” the student wrote in her note. Dr Ajit Kumar, director, PR, Sharda University, assured that the guilty would be punished. “Two teachers named by the victim have been suspended and a probe committee has been set up,” he said. The matter is currently under investigation, said Sudhir Kumar, additional DCP Great, er Noida. The student was found hanging by her roommates who alerted the hostel warden after receiving no response at her door, following which police were alerted. ing capacity sources said. ,” The new road will also beef up the Siachen battlefield as it branches off from Sasoma in the Nubra Valley, which is on the route to the Siachen Base Camp from Leh. The route will converge with the DSDBO at Murgo, reducing the distance from Leh to DBO by 79 km — from 322 km via DSDBO road to 243 km via the new road. It will also reduce the travel time from two days to 11-12 hours. The cold war between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar came to the fore again during the state government’s ‘Sadhana Samavesha’ here on Saturday . After AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge delivered a lengthy speech, Siddaramaiah took the stage to showcase his government’s achievements. He acknowledged the presence of several ministers, legislators and Congress leaders on the stage, but conspicuously left out Shivakumar’s name. Shivakumar addressed the gathering and left the venue before Siddaramaiah’s speech. Assuming that it was an oversight, a Congress leader, who is an advocate, accompanied by actor and music director Sadhu Kokila, walked up to Siddaramaiah and quietly press Intake BJP for CBI probe into stampede | P4 4 kg cocaine ceased at KIA | P3 Greater Bengaluru to have 5 corporations E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bengaluru The state government on Saturday proposed to split BBMP into five corporations for the ‘smooth’ administration of Greater Bengaluru. As per the draft notification of the Urban Development Department (UDD), the proposed corporations are Bengaluru West, Bengaluru South, Bengaluru North, Bengaluru East and Bengaluru Central. Schedule -1 of the notification has the boundaries of each corporation.  In accordance with subsection (1) of section 5 and sub-section (1) of section 7 of the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024 (Karnataka Act No. 36 of 2025), the government proposed to form five corporations after taking into consideration the city’s area, population, revenue generated, percentage of employment in non-agricultural activities, economic importance and the infrastructural provisions available, according to the notification. The state government has invited objections/suggestions from the people to its proposal within 30 days from the date of publication of the notification. Objections or suggestions may be sent to the Deputy Chief Secretary to the State Government, Room No 436, 4th Floor, Vikas Soudha, Dr BR Ambedkar Veedhi, Bangalore - 560001.  pointed out that he had not mentioned Shivakumar’s name. A visibly upset Siddaramaiah told the advocate that the omission was intentional. “DK Shivakumar is not on the stage. He left for Bengaluru to attend another event. That’s why I didn’t take his name. We only show respect and acknowledge only those who are on the stage and not those who have left or are sitting at home. As an advocate you should understand this,” the CM snapped at him. Continuing his speech, Siddaramaiah said, “There are many ministers and legislators on the stage, who may not get a chance to speak today, as Kharge has to return to Delhi soon. But no one should feel bad about it.” His p o i n t e d re m a rk s d rew a knowing smile from Mallikarjun Kharge and Home Minister G Parameshwara. Annamalai ex-cop may become bjp gen secy The former Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party president is likely to be elevated to the post of BJP general secretary soon | P5 WITH THIS ISSUE Holidays in Hell PLUS 12 P AGES