THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l monday l april 20, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION U.S. delegation to reach Pakistan today to resume talks with IRan US President Donald Trump renewed his threats to destroy Iran’s vital infrastructure if it did not agree to a deal with the US to end the war ‘NO MORE MR. NICE GUY’, Trump warns Iran day after ships fired at, strait stays shut Trump said his negotiators would arrive in Islamabad on Monday evening. Ahead of the expected talks, Trump stepped up his threats saying the US will “knock out every single power plant and bridge in Iran” if it does not agree to the deal he offers. “NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!” he wrote on Truth Social. Vice President J D Vance is expected to lead the US delegation ■ ■ The Strait of Hormuz remained closed on Sunday. Trump slammed Iran for violating the ceasefire by firing upon ships transiting the strait Meanwhile, Iran doubled down on its pledge to curb ships transiting through the strategic waterway. “It is impossible for others to pass, while we cannot,” Iranian speaker Mohammed Ghalibaf said | P9 Wednesday when the current ceasefire between IRan and the U.S. expires 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 Dinesh Trivedi to be India’s next envoy to Dhaka Oppn parties see poll code violation in PM’s address PA R V E Z S U LTAN @ New Delhi A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit out at the Opposition for voting against the women’s quota bill in the Lok Sabha, the Left parties wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar alleging Modi’s address to the nation violated the poll code. A Congress leader in Kerala also wrote to the EC against the alleged violation, while West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee said she would soon file a complaint against Modi’s “illegal campaign”. In separate letters to the poll panel, CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby and CPI Rajya Sabha MP P Sandosh Kumar alleged misuse of public broadcaster Doordarshan to influence public opinion in the mids of state elections. B a b y said the prime minister’s televised add r e s s constitutes a flagrant breach of the MCC provision laid down in the section under the heading Party in Power. “It was blatantly political, targeting the opposition parties… and seeking to influence public opinion, including the voters of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, in favour of the ruling party he said, adding appropriate ,” proceedings should be initiated. CPI’s Sandosh Kumar said that the speech contained attempts at influencing public opinion on a matter under active political contestation. TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee said her party plans to file a formal complaint with the Election Commission. In his complaint to the Election Commission of India, former Congress MLA Anil Akkara termed the PM’s address “a grave breach of election protocols” and sought appropriate action. Stateworkers hit As migrant head back home Hospitality & construction sectors hit the hardest by unprecedented reverse migration that began with announcement of SIR and assembly elections in West Bengal and Assam. Iran-Israel war that triggered LPG shortage is another factor, say experts | P4 Concrete structures reduced to rubble at the Vanaja fireworks unit in Kattanarpatti after a massive explosion; (right) fire and rescue services personnel carrying an injured man to safety; (inset) a woman breaks down outside the Virudhunagar MCH | k k sundar 23 killed, 11 injured in explosion at Tamil Nadu firecracker unit Police and media personnel, including TNIE photographer, hurt in second blast during rescue op H a ri n i M @ Virudhunagar At least 23 workers were charred to death and 11 others sustained injuries in a massive explosion at Vanaja fireworks unit at Kattanarpatti village near Virudhunagar in Tamil Nadu on Sunday. Five policemen, some media personnel, including TNIE senior photojournalist K K Sundar, and a few fire and rescue services personnel suffered injuries in a second blast at the private firecracker unit d u r i n g re s c u e o p e r at i o n around 7 pm. Based on preliminary inquiry, police said the incident happened around 3 pm when around 50 employees were working at the licensed unit. The blast is believed to have originated in the front veranda area, where workers were allegedly handling raw materials. The impact of the blast was so severe that at least four rooms were reduced to rubble, and several adjacent structures were completely levelled. Sources said fire and rescue services personnel battled the flames for several hours. So far, police have identified the deceased as K Velsamy (56), S Porkodi (63) both from Thiruthangal village, K Pandiammal (55), M Bakyalakshmi (40), K Kaliammal (45), M Indhurani (46), R Mariammal (57), K Maruthan (50), his wife Nagammal (48), K Pandiammal (54), A Janaki (55) and I Nachiammal (55), all from Servaikaranpatti. The charred bodies of the deceased were shifted to Government Virudhunagar Medical College Hospital and the a deafening blast and call of duty Virudhunagar: In a firsthand account, TNIE’s photojournalist K K Sundar recounts a harrowing experience during the blast at Kattanapatti. While approaching the site on Sunday, Sundar was nearly caught in a massive secondary blast. The explosion was so powerful that it caused temporary disorientation and a head injury from flying debris. Despite the physical trauma and panic, Sundar overcame personal fear to answer his call of duty | P5 9,000 Indians facing deportation from Canada as new law kicks in H a rpree t b a j w a @ Chandigarh About 9,000 Indians, most of them students from Punjab, who had sought asylum in Canada, are facing deportation under the country’s new immigration law. Bill C-12, enacted on March 26, tightens rules for asylum seekers in Canada. Many students from Punjab, who had adopted the asylum route to extend their stay in Canada after completing their studies there, due to stringent visa rules and limited pathways to permanent residency, would be affected. A spokesperson for the Canadian Immigration Minister said the government is now implementing the new law and is in the process of sending procedural fairness letters to affected individuals. According to reports, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has told Representational image Tighter curbs on asylum seekers Under Bill C-12, which came into force on March 26, individuals applying for asylum more than one year after arriving in Canada will be deemed ineligible for a full hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board some of them to leave the country immediately . Reports said the IRCC has issued procedural fairness no- tices to 30,000 asylum seekers, including 9,000 from India, informing them that their asylum claims may no longer qualify and advising them to leave Canada voluntarily or face enforcement action. The IRCC has clarified that those receiving the notice have 21 days to submit additional information. Failure to respond to the notice could lead to deportation proceedings, it said. These notices have triggered panic. Affected individuals have been advised to consult registered immigration consultants or lawyers and gather all supporting documents. Bill C-12 retroactively bars individuals who entered Canada more than one year prior to filing an asylum claim from referring their cases to the Immigration and Refugee Board. This rule applies to entries dating back to June 24, 2020. sunny shift Solar ‘hot cake’ as power usage goes through roof P o o j a N a ir @Kozhikode Summer evenings for Shyam Prasad meant inspecting every room at his house in Kozhikode’s Malaparamba and reminding his family to switch off the lights, fans and other appliances as power bills climbed with rising temperatures. This year, however, Shyam is relaxed. Ever since he installed a 3-kW rooftop solar unit in March, he has not had to worry about bills soaring due to the sweltering heat. The story is similar in thou- managed engagement, where messaging, access and negotiaIn a calibrated move, the gov- tion bandwidth may outweigh er nment is set to appoint traditional bureaucratic contiformer Union minister and nuity. The move also carries former Trinamool Congress domestic political messaging leader Dinesh Trivedi as In- as Trivedi is a former Trinadia’s next High Commissioner mool Congress leader. to Bangladesh, opting for a poTrivedi’s own arc—from a litical heavyweight over a ca- Trinamool Congress minister reer diplomat at a in the UPA governmoment of cautious ment under Manmoreset in Dhaka-New han Singh to a BJP Delhi ties. entrant in 2021—adds Though Banglaa layer of political desh had been quietly adaptability that may infor med that the be seen as useful in a next envoy would be complex bilateral seta political appointee, ting. His parliamenTrivedi’s selection tary experience stands out for across both Houses, Ex-Trinamool both timing and sigand familiarity with leader nalling value. West Bengal’s politiTrivedi, 75, served He replaces Pranay cal landscape, could as the Railway Verma, who moves to also prove relevant in minister and Brussels as India’s managing cross-borambassador to the Minister of State for der sensitivities. European Union. Health and Family The backdrop to Trivedi becomes one Welfare during the this decision is a peUPA rule. He was of the few overtly poriod of strain followlitical nominees to a elected to the Rajya ing the upheaval asSabha from West sensitive neighboursociated with Bengal and was a hood posting in reMuhammad Yunus’s Lok Sabha MP from interim phase, durcent years. The appointment Barrackpore. He quit ing which bilateral the Trinamool comes as India looks ties frayed alongside Congress in 2021 to reset its Banglaconcer ns over the desh policy amid an and joined the BJP safety of minorities. evolving political The precedent is not landscape under the Tarique entirely isolated in recent Rahman dispensation. times. The earlier deployment Against this backdrop, send- of former Army Chief Dalbir ing a 75-year-old political vet- Singh Suhag to Seychelles eran suggests a deliberate piv- hinted at a broader willingness o t : f r o m p r o t o c o l - h e av y to assign high-profile figures to diplomacy to a more politically strategic missions. J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi No load shedding: Minister Palakkad: The state will not resort to load shedding, Power Minister K Krishnankutty has said. “The government has made adequate arrangements for uninterrupted supply.” | P5 sands of households across the state. As Kerala’s power consumption shatters records this summer—the state on Saturday consumed 117.1555 million units of power and peak load touched to its highest at 6,033MW—there has been accelerated interest in rooftop solar units, especially of 3kW and 5kW units, among homeowners. Since January 2026, there has been a steep rise in demand for the units and around 40,000 consumers are awaiting installation or conversion (of applications). Officials note that the bulk of the applications were received in March and April. Kerala’s solar expansion has been rapid over the past year, with over 1.08 lakh rooftop solar plants installed between April and December 2025, pushing the total to over 3.6 lakh installations statewide. In comparison, the previous fiscal saw around 98,636 additions. The accelerated pace is widely linked to the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, which has made solar adoption more financially viable for households. “The shift is helping both consumers and the power sector,” said Naseef Irshad, assistant engineer at KSEB’s 110kV GIS substation at Gandhi Road ● More on P4 in Kozhikode.  injured are also getting treatment at the same hospital. Police identified the injured as Saratha, Panjavar nam, Petchiammal, Sangli Thangam, Veerabathran, Arunkumar, a 12-year-old V Sathish (son of one of the workers who was playing at the spot). Among the injured, Petchiammal and Panjavarnam sustained more than 80% burns and are said to be critical. The rescue operations resumed post a brief halt after the second blast. Minister KKSSR Ramachandran said Chief Minister M K Stalin will announce compensation after getting approval from the ECI. President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President C P Radhakrishnan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Stalin expressed condolences. loan apps behind Tata Trusts 15k complaints, scraps ‘Parsi only’ clause 7 suicides in 3 yrs 3-year wrap S h a n A S @T’Puram The death of BDS student Nithin Raj has shone the spotlight back on illegal loan apps, specifically how they extort victims using personal data accessed from their own devices. Nithin, a first-year student of Kannur Dental College, Anjarakandy ended his , life on April 10. A probe revealed he had borrowed money from a predatory loan app and, a day before his death, received threat calls from the app’s operators. As per the police data, around 15,000 people from Kerala lodged petitions against illegal loan apps via the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) in the past three years. However, only 284 complainants chose to go ahead with their pleas and get FIRs registered. More worryingly, police sources said they were able to establish links between at least seven suicides in the last three years and loan app scams. A whopping `70 crore was lost during the threeyear period and only `28 crore, or 40% , could be re- 1,836 loan apps banned by cops 5,317 websites involved in such scams taken down 284 FIRs filed K70 crore lost,K28 cr recovered Every third loan app victim a private employee, every fifth a homemaker Insurance agents, techies and bank staff least vulnerable trieved. Arrests were made in some instances, including in Nithin’s case, while the investigation is continuing on the other complaints. Cyber cops said the scammers mostly targeted those working in informal sectors and having low income. Around 32% of the loan app scam victims were those employed with private firms, while homemakers followed at 20.18%. Around 9.79% of the targets were businessmen who have to maintain cash flow to stay afloat. Around 4.37% were ● More on P4 students.  E X P R E SS R E A D 8-year-old boy dies of snakebite, sibling stable Thrissur: An eight-year-old boy died after being bitten by a snake while asleep at home in Thrissur on Saturday night. The deceased, Aljo, was a Class II student of Kadambode ALP School. His brother, Anjo, 10, who was also bitten, is under treatment and his condition is stable. A search of the bedroom later led to the discovery of a baby snake of common krait species curled up beneath a pillow on the bed. It was killed | P4 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Mumbai tata Trusts, led by chairman Noel Tata, on Sunday said it has decided to correct certain clauses in the trust deed of the Bai Hirabai Jamsetji Tata Navsari Charitable Institution that restrict trusteeship to Parsis, and that too to those residing in the erstwhile Bombay Presidency . “The trustees, at their April 17 meeting, have decided to initiate proceedings... for alteration of restrictive clauses with respect to the eligibility of trustees,” Tata Trusts said in a rare public statement. The development comes days after Mehli Mistry, a former trustee of the Tata Trusts, challenged the appointments of industrialist Venu Srinivasan and former defence secretary Vijay Singh to the board of Hirabai Trust in a complaint to the Maharashtra Charity Commissioner. The dozen-odd trusts, which own 66.4% of the nation’s largest business group, have been embroiled in controversy ever since Noel Tata became chairman in 2024. Several trustees questioned the trusts’ functioning and sought the listing of holding company Tata Sons. Non-Zoroastrians have been appointed to the trusts since 2000, following a legal opinion obtained from former CJI M H Kania. Tata Sons director R Krishna Kumar became the first non-Parsi trustee on the board of the Hirabai Trust, created under a 1916 codicil to the will of Ratan Tata.