BHUBANESWAR l monday l june 22, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late CITY EDITION Germany enter knockouts, historic point for Curacao Germany become third side to officially qualify for the World Cup Round of 32 while debutants Curacao hold Ecuador to a goalless draw. A look... Germany players celebrate Deniz Undav’s (L) second goal on Saturday | ap Deniz the menace, yamal opens account A point to remember for debutants Substitute Deniz Undav was the standout as Germany beat Ivory Coast 2-1 in Toronto on Saturday. Undav scored the equaliser in the 68th-minute before going on to score a dramatic injury-time winner. On Sunday, Lamine Yamal made a goalscoring return for Spain as the European champions got their campaign back on track with a 4-0 drubbing of Saudi Arabia. ■ ■ Goalkeeper Eloy Room was the hero, keeping out a record 15 shots as Curacao secured their first ever World Cup point Lionel Messi will once again be in focus when Argentina face Austria today as he looks to become all-time leading goalscorer in WC history — he currently shares the top spot with Miroslav Klose (16 goals) | P11 Today's matches Group J: Argentina vs Austria (10:30 PM), Jordan vs Algeria (8:30 AM*). Group I: France vs Iraq (2:30 AM*), Norway vs Senegal (5:30 AM*). *IST Tuesday | Live on United8 Sports & ZEE5 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 NEET-UG retest done, Physics stumps many No slip-ups this time; questions far more difficult, say experts E x p r e s s ne w s s e r v i c e @ New Delhi A collective sigh of relief was evident across the country on Sunday evening after the NEET-UG retest concluded without any slip-ups. For a majority of the 20 lakh-odd medical aspirants across India who sat for the re-examination on Sunday, nearly six weeks after the original test was scrapped following a paper leak that triggered widespread protests and put the government on the defensive, the question paper appeared much tougher than the earlier one. The National Testing Agency (NTA) said candidates appeared at 5,440 centres in India and 14 abroad, with the exam conducted in 13 languages. Around seven lakh officials — including police personnel, observers and examination staff — were deployed to oversee the exercise, completed in what the agency described as a record 37 days. “This was not the NTA acting alone. It was Team Bharat — a chain of people across the country who showed up so that, for each candidate, the only thing that mattered that morning was the paper in front of them,” Director General of NTA, Abhishek Singh, said in a statement. NTA announced the results would be released earlier than expected. Security was visibly tightened at examination centres, with Aadhaar-based biometric authentication, CCTV surveillance, signal jammers and a mandatory two-layer frisking deployed. Impersonation attempts and forged admit cards were detected at a few locations, NTA Director General Abhishek Singh confirmed. “There have been a few instances of the usage of fake admit cards as well as fake Aadhaar cards by a few who tried to write the exam for others. They could not succeed in their objective,” Singh said. A candidate being frisked ahead of NEET-UG retest in Nagpur on Sunday | PTI NTA is especially grateful to the experts from academic institutions across the country who gave their personal time to help prepare multiple sets of question papers — National Testing Agency CJP protest to continue on Monday, farmers invited The Cockroach Janta Party on Sunday invited farmer groups to join its protests over alleged exam irregularities and the NEET paper leak, with founder Abhijeet Dipke saying the protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar will continue on Monday. On the second day of the protest, Dipke sought support from farmer unions and reiterated the demand for Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation. He also alleged that Delhi Police personnel were seeking Aadhaar details and addresses of people donating water and food to the protesters PM Modi delays travel back home in view of retest Preventing standard security-related traffic restrictions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi delayed his departure from Delhi Airport by around 45 minutes on Sunday to avoid traffic disruptions for NEETUG re-examination candidates. Arriving at Delhi’s IGI airport from Kolkata at 1.15 pm, PM Modi learned that the NEET-UG exam was slated to start at 2 pm and there were several exam centres along his route to Lok Kalyan Marg, his residence. The PM chose to hold his convoy until most students reached their centres, officials said A male candidate who attempted to hide a SIM card and an old question paper in his undergar ments was caught, said a PTI report. Students though appeared flummoxed by the difficulty level of the Physics segment of the test. Students told this paper that the question paper was much tougher than the cancelled May 3 exam. Deepak Kumar, who was making his fifth attempt, said, “Biology Odisha’s capex slows to 65.9% by March-end; tax revenues resilient E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar Odisha government’s capital expenditure growth lagged behind overall spending in 202526, with the state utilising only 65.88 per cent of its budgeted capital outlay by the end of March, the provisional monthly fiscal indicators for the financial year reveals. The state incurred capital expenditure of `42,831.36 crore against a Budget Estimate (BE) of `65,012 crore, logging a relatively slower pace of infrastructure and assetcreation spending compared to revenue expenditure. The corresponding period last year had averaged 79.11 pc. In contrast, revenue expenditure reached `1,73,728.76 crore, accounting for 86.78 pc of the annual target of `2,00,200 crore. The total expenditure pattern showed Odisha spent `2,16,560.12 crore during the year, about 81.66 pc of the total budg eted expenditure of `2,65,212 crore. Capital spending constituted less than one- Fiscal indicators  Odisha spent `42,831 cr on capex against target of `65,012 cr  Total tax revenue reached `1,20,097 cr, achieving 92% of BE  Grants-in-aid from the Centre `15,881 crore, 38.18% of BE fifth of total expenditure, indicating that the state’s fiscal outgo remained largely driven by revenue commitments such as salaries, pensions, subsidies and welfare programmes. On the receipts side, Odisha mobilised revenue receipts of `1,96,012.94 crore, achieving 84.49 pc of the annual target of `2,32,000 crore. Tax revenue remained the principal source of income, contributing `1,20,097.07 crore and achieved 92.09 pc of the BE. Among major tax heads, the state’s share in central taxes emerged as the strongest contributor, with collections reaching `63,073.70 crore (97.93 pc) of the annual Continued on P5 target.  was easy but Physics is what I would call tough. Let me see how much I can score.” A good number of candidates across the country missed the exam by turning up late and were denied entry after 1.30 pm for re-exam. Leading coaching centre Akash Educational Services Limited said this NEET was calculation-heavy and rigorous and the cut-off is slated to correct below 600. 2 Odia workers dead, 62 hospitalised after ammonia gas leak at plant near Chennai R a j a l a k s h m i S a m pat h @ Chennai Two women workers from Odisha died and 62 others were hospitalised after an ammonia gas leak from a seafood export unit at Kannigaipair near Periyapalayam (around 40km from Chennai) in Tiruvallur district on Sunday morning. The deceased were identified as Jumani Juang (19) and Malati (20). The condition of seven workers is critical, sources said. Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay has ordered a probe by a high-level committee and a solatium of `2 lakh each to kin of the deceased. Police registered a case and are questioning the unit’s owners. The workers, most of them young women aged 19-20 and hailing from Odisha, Jharkhand, Assam and West Bengal, were off-duty and resting in their hostel rooms about 50m from the unit’s ammonia plant when the leak occurred around 11 am. The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team, roped in by the Tamil Nadu government to carry out rescue operations, said the gas had spread to the workers’ accommodation, caus- Workers being treated at a government hospital in Chennai on Sunday (left); NDRF personnel clearing the dormitory | Express hours that followed the leak 1 The ammonia gas leak took place around 11 am on Sunday at the seafood export unit, spreading to the workers’ accommodation 2 Health Minister K G Arunraj said that experts had reported a high level of ammonia, around 300 ppm, in the air at the plant ing them breathing difficulties and discomfort. According to Health Minister K G Arunraj, one of the workers killed died on the way to the hospital. Of the 62 hospitalised, 58 are women and four are men. An NDRF official told TNIE that the unit’s main ammonia 3 About 130 unaffected workers, hailing from Odisha, Jharkhand, Assam and West Bengal, were sent to a wedding hall nearby storage was on the ground floor. The leak is suspected to have been from a nozzle on a pipeline carrying the gas to the first floor. “We suspect this caused the incident, but the exact cause will be known only after a detailed technical investigation,” he said. Police registered a case under sections 105 and 125(a) of the BNS. Unit owners, Mohan and Joseph, were detained by police for inquiry Briefing reporters after visiting the victims at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital and Gover nment Stanley Medical College Hospital, Arunraj said experts had reported a high level of ammonia, around 300 ppm, in the air at the plant. CM sends 3-member team to Tiruvallur to Shwetha-led coordinate assistance for affected workers AMMA quits leadership E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar The state government on Sunday rushed a three-member team to Tamil Nadu following an ammonia gas leak in a seafood processing factory in Tiruvallur, which has claimed two lives and affected more than 65 people, including migrant workers from Odisha. Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi expressed condolences to the bereaved families and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured in the incident. “The Odisha government is in constant touch with the Tamil Nadu authorities. Three senior officers are travelling to Tiruvallur to coordinate assistance and extend all possible support to the affected workers and their families,” he stated. Labour department officials told this paper that a team comprising Labour and ESI special s e c re t a r y R a j e s h Ku m a r Agrawala, additional labour commissioner Madan Mohan Paik and technical consultant at labour directorate Bhakta Bandhu Acharya has been sent to Tiruvallur to coordinate the assistance for workers from the state. As per reports the incident happened at St Peter’s Paul Seafoods Exports Private Limited at Kannigaipair near Periyapalayam in Tiruvallur. Around 120 migrant workers, including women from Odisha, Assam and Jharkhand, were staying on the factory premises. The affected workers were rushed to nearby private hospitals for treatment. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay has ordered formation of three-member committee to investigate the gas leak. Minister’s nephew arrested in student suicide case in Berhampur Berhampur police on Sunday arrested Biswajit Jena, a Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA) student of a private engineering college under Golanthara police limits, in connection with the alleged suicide of a 21-year-old student of the same institution | P4 4 International Yoga Day People perform yoga during a session on the occasion of the International Day of Yoga at Namo Ghat in Varanasi on Sunday | pti E XPR E SS N E WS S E RVIC E @ Kochi Shwetha Menon, the first woman president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), and the entire executive committee on Sunday stepped down amid mounting internal rifts and controversies. The dramatic resignations followed the annual general body meeting in Kochi, which witnessed heated arguments over the annual report and statement of accounts. Several senior members alleged financial discrepancies when the accounts were presented. Shwetha said Sunday’s incidents were part of an agenda. “I feel efforts were going on to hand over the association to persons against whom allegations had been raised. I am not willing to act as a puppet for such people. There is a conspiracy,” she said, adding she has also resigned as a member of the association. Following the development, the general body appointed an ad-hoc committee headed by Ramesh Pisharody to manage the association’s affairs for the next four months. Speaking to reporters, Baburaj, a former joint secretary, alleged financial discrepancies in connection with `67 lakh spent for a family event organised by the association. Shwetha said accounts relating to a particular period could not be produced as the associationtreasurer was unavailable. self-reliance push 3 indigenous ships join Navy in boost for India’s maritime power E x p r e s s ne w s s e r v i c e @ Kolkata Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday commissioned three indigenously designed and built naval vessels, INS Dunagiri, INS Sanshodhak and INS Agray, at the Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Port in Kolkata, highlighting the country’s push for maritime strength and defence self-reliance under the Make in India initiative. “Nobody can ignore the im- Prime Minister Narendra Modi receives a memento from Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Krishna Swaminathan during the tri-commissioning ceremony in Kolkata on Sunday | PTI portance of maritime power. No nation can become a great power without it,” Modi said, pointing to the growing strategic significance of sea routes, undersea data networks, critical minerals and emerging energy resources. Referring to INS Vikrant, India’s first domestically built aircraft carrier, he said, “When we presented INS Vikrant to the nation, we announced India’s selfsufficiency in maritime power to the world. Today, INS Duna- giri, INS Sanshodhak and INS Agray add speed to that journey Modi stressed India must .” move beyond being a buyer. “India no longer wants to be a buyer. India wants to be a manufacturer. The day we become a manufacturer, we will also be the decider,” he said. INS Dunagiri is a stealth frigate, while INS Sanshodhak is a survey vessel and INS Agray is an anti-submarine warfare shallow water craft.