BHUBANESWAR l wednesday l december 24, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l LATE CITY EDITION chinnaswamy stadium fails to get approval to host matches The Vijay Hazare Trophy matches, supposed to be held at M Chinnaswamy in Bengaluru, moved elsewhere after government denied permission Committee to submit report to govt Games moved to BCCI CoE, says KSCA Following the stampede during RCB’s IPL celebrations on June 4, the stadium has not hosted any games. The Karnataka State Association sought permission to host without any crowd. The state home minister had constituted a committee that visited the venue to review on Monday and denied their request. They will submit the findings to the government ■ ■ With no permission to host the 50-over matches, KSCA said in a statement that the fixtures have been moved to BCCI Centre of Excellence for the time being Both Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant, who were supposed to play at the venue, will now turn up for Delhi against Andhra at BCCI CoE | P13 May 3 was when the last official IPL match was held at the venue 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 $450 mn relief package India, Bangladesh summon envoys for cyclone-hit Sri Lanka amid protests EAM S Jaishankar announces aid, builds on First Responder role Maoist cadres pose with DGP YB Khurania and senior police officials after their surrender at Malkangiri on Tuesday | express J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi 22 Maoists surrender with arms before DGP in Malkangiri district India on Tuesday pledged a $450 million reconstruction and recovery package to Sri Lanka following the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah, Exter nal Affairs Minister S Jaishankar announced during his visit to Colombo as a special envoy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking after talks with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath, Jaishankar said he carried a personal message from Prime Minister Modi to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, whom he met earlier in the day. “The letter from Prime Minister Modi builds on our First Responder role and commits a reconstruction package of USD 450 million.” Jaishankar said the package would comprise $350 million in concessional lines of credit and $100 million in grants. The assistance will focus on rebuilding roads, railways and bridges; housing; health and education facilities; agriculture; and strengthening disaster preparedness. “We are conscious that work sha Border Special Zonal Committee and one from Gadchiroli Area Committee. In what is being seen as a waThey handed over one AKtershed moment in Odisha’s 47, a self-loading rifle, two INfight against Left-Wing ex- SAS, three .303 rifles, two sintremism (LWE), as many as gle shot/12 bore rifles, 150 22 Naxals, including a divi- rounds of live ammunition, sional committee member nine magazines, 20 kg of ex(DVCM) and six area plosives, 13 IEDs, committee members gelatin sticks, codex ( AC M s ) , s u r re n wire and other dered and laid down articles. their weapons before As per the state Malkangiri has DGP YB Khurania government’s surshown that in Malkangiri disrender-cum-rehabilpeace can trict on Tuesday . itation policy, the replace fear. We are confident Among those who Maoists in the rank renounced violence, that Odisha will of divisional combid farewell to seven were senior mittee member will Naxalism by cadres, including dibe provided `22 lakh March 2026 visional committee each, area commitmember and comtee members `5.50 YB Khurania, DGP mander of platoon lakh each and party number-31 Linge alimembers `1.65 lakh as Muye Madkam, and six each. Additionally, the cadACMs. The remaining 15 res will be provided `3.30 were party members. lakh for one AK-47 each, `1.65 All the Maoists, 12 men lakh for one INSAS and SLR and 10 women, are natives of each, `82,500 for .303 rifle neighbouring Chhattisgarh’s each and `33,000 for single Sukma, Dantewada and Bi- shot/12 bore gun each. For japur districts. While 19 were Tuesday’s surrender alone, members of Dandakaranya the total admissible benefit Special Zonal Committee, has been put at `1.84 crore, two belonged to Andhra-Odi- police said.  Continued on P7 E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar/ Malkangiri Assessees sore with taxman’s ‘nudge’ on ITR D IPA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi Holiday mood dampened for thousands of taxpayers ahead of the Christmas and New Year with the tax department seeking clarification about the discrepancies in their returns for assessment year 2025-26. Sources said the income tax department’s automated risk management framework flagged a high volume of cases where refund claims are substantially high and do not align with official data. Such refunds have been put on hold. Tax professionals noted a surge in alerts targeting taxpayers who may be misreporting information. Key triggers for these investigations include Form 16 mismatches, suspicious deductions, and non-disclosures of assets. According to IT department, ‘identified’ taxpayers are being contacted through SMS and email under the Non-intrusive Usage of Data to Guide and Enable (NUDGE) campaign to correct errors. The due date for filing revised ITRs is December 31. S Jaishankar hands over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s letter to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake | PTI towards mitigating the impact of Cyclone Ditwah must be done in the quickest time possible,” he said and added that India and Sri Lanka were finalising coordination mechanisms for rapid delivery . Jaishankar also pointed to longer-term support, including boosting Indian tourism and foreign direct investment. “India stands firmly with Sri Lanka more than ever before,” he said, expressing confidence in the island nation’s resilience as it recovers from the disaster. Bluebird mission countdown begins ISRO will launch the Bluebird Block-2 spacecraft on board launch vehicle LVM3-M6 at 8.54 am on Wednesday from Sriharikota Detailing India’s emergency response, Jaishankar said relief operations under Operation Sagar Bandhu began on the day Cyclone Ditwah made landfall. “Our Aircraft Carrier INS Vikrant and INS Udayagiri were present at Colombo and delivered relief material, after which helicopters were deployed,” he said. Indian Air Force Mi-17 helicopters operated in Sri Lanka for more than two weeks, while an 80-member National Disaster Response Force team carried out rescue and relief work. The Indian Army also set up a field hospital near Kandy with 85 medical personnel, providing emergency care to over 8,000 people. Besides, army engineers erected a Bailey bridge at Kilinochchi using equipment transported by C-17 aircraft, while another bridge at Chilaw is currently under construction. According to a World Bank Group Global Rapid Post-Disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE) report, the cyclone caused an estimated $4.1 billion in damage, which is around 4 percent of Sri Lanka’s GDP . j aya n t h j a c o b @ New Delhi INDIA and Bangladesh summoned each other’s envoys on Tuesday to lodge formal protests over developments straining bilateral ties, as widespread demonstrations erupted across India following the lynching of a Hindu man in Bangladesh. Dhaka summoned Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma on Tuesday morning, expressing concern over an “unsatisfactory security situation” at Bangladesh’s missions in India. Foreign Secretary Asad Alam Siam raised issues related to protests outside diplomatic premises in New Delhi, Kolkata and Agartala. “The foreign secretary conveyed Bangladesh’s serious concern and emphasised the host country’s responsibility under the Vienna Convention to ensure full protection of diplomatic premises,” a source said. Hours later, India summoned Bangladesh High Commissioner Riaz Hamidullah for the second time in a week over security concerns for Indian missions in Bangladesh. India urged a thorough probe into student leader Hadi’s death rather than blam- Assam’s Karbi Anglong on fire Flames billow from an area after an arson attack following demands for eviction of encroachers in Karbi Anglong district on Tuesday; and security personnel try to control the situation | ANI | P10 ing India, noting that unverified claims sparked anti-India protests, including an attempt to storm the Indian Assistant High Commission in Chittagong. The exchanges followed protests by Hindu right-wing groups across New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Jammu, among many, against the December 18 lynching of Dipu Chandra Das, 25, in Mymensingh, allegedly over blasphemy charges. In New Delhi, VHP and Bajrang Dal cadres broke barricades and attempted to march towards the Bangladesh High Commission.