hyderabad l thursday l july 02, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l LATE City EDITION Indigo launches ‘lite fare’ for flyers with only cabin baggage IndiGo has introduced an entry-level ‘Lite’ fare for passengers travelling on both domestic and international flights with only cabin baggage Available when booking directly with airline weeks after Air India’s ‘basic fare’ launch Lite fare can be availed when booking tickets directly with the airline including the website, mobile application and contact centre. The low fare option will be applicable for both domestic and international nonstop routes for adult and child passengers, the airline said in a statement. It will be available only for economy class passengers ■ ■ “Customers will enjoy a lower base price with an auto-assigned seat at no additional cost, and a cabin bag allowance of up to 7 kgs,” the airline, operated by InterGlobe Aviation, said in a statement It comes weeks after Tata Group’s Air India introduced its own basic fare, where it gave the option to opt out from complimentary meal 2,100 Flights operated daily by Indigo, which is India’s largest airline 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 Mexico break knockout curse Mbappe show in NYNJ At the rate Les Bleus are going, the others may as well stop bothering right now. Against Sweden, they dazzled with Kylian Mbappe adding two more goals to his tally. He’s now level with Lionel Messi with six. Michael Olise also sparkled with two more assists In front of a heaving Azteca, Mexico were all over Ecuador like a rash and scored the goals to take them to the last 16. It was their first knockout win at the World Cup in 40 years and the residents emptied out on to the streets to celebrate the landmark. With them playing the last 16 game also at the Azteca, there’s promise of more glory Kane and able England survive Congo Harry Kane scored two second-half goals to help England rally for a 2-1 win over DR Congo and a spot in the round of 16 on Wednesday. England’s all-time leading scorer and captain helped team to evade one of the biggest upsets in World Cup after trailing in first half Bill to axe arrested CM may be back Controversial Constitution Amendment Bill may figure in the Monsoon session R a j esh K u m a r T h a k u r @ New Delhi Today’s matches: Spain vs Austria: 12.30 AM*, Portugal vs Croatia 4.30 AM*, Switzerland vs Algeria 8.30 AM* ( IST Friday) HC seeks report on misuse of orders on OC T G N a i d u @ Hyderabad The Telangana High Court has expressed serious concern over the grant of electricity connections to thousands of buildings without Occupancy Certificates (OCs), observing that its earlier conditional orders had been misused. Justice Nagesh Bheemapaka directed the chairman and managing director of TG Transco to submit a comprehensive report by July 15 on the implementation of the court’s earlier directions. The report should specify the number of electricity connections granted based on undertakings filed before the court, the number of beneficiaries who have since submitted OCs, those who are yet to comply, and the action taken against defaulters. The court also directed the Registry to forward a copy of its order to the principal secretary of the Energy department and the chairmen and managing directors of TGSPDCL and TGNPDCL. The matter has been posted for further hearing on July 15. The observations came while hearing a batch of writ petitions filed by Lakshman Murthy and others from Siddipet, challenging the insistence of electricity authorities on the production of an OC before granting power connections. During the hearing, Justice Nagesh Bheemapaka noted that in 2017, the High Court had passed conditional orders in thousands of similar cases, directing electricity authorities to provide power connections after accepting undertakings from petitioners that they would subsequently obtain and submit OCs issued by municipal authorities.  continued on p4 E x p r e s s Re a d CM pitches AI-based traffic signalling in Hyd Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday proposed integrating traffic signals across Hyderabad and using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve traffic management, including regulating traffic flow during heavy rain | P3 KTR accepts Revanth’s challenge to debate Hyderabad: Accepting the challenge thrown at him by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Wednesday dared the former to an open debate on the government’s “administrative failures, the plight of farmers and the ongoing agrarian crisis.” | P4 SC firms up ITR yardstick for compensation in road accidents S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi In an attempt to bring uniformity in motor accident compensation cases, the Supreme Court on Wednesday framed guidelines for determining annual income of the deceased or injured claimants based on their income tax retur ns (ITR). “ITRs are statutory records and carry a presumption of correctness. In case of salaried individuals, income does not fluctuate significantly making , the latest ITR the most accurate reflection. For self-employed persons, earnings vary , so a three-year average ensures a realistic assessment,” said a two-judge bench of justices Sanjay Karol and N Kotiswar Singh. The bench observed that while no straitjacket formula can be fixed for computing income under the Motor Vehicles Act, a distinction must be Factoring in promotion In cases where a promotion or pay revision had taken place shortly before the accident and was not reflected in the ITR, courts could consider promotion letters and other records drawn — in these accidental claims cases — between the salaried employees and selfemployed persons when relying on ITRs for compensation. The verdict came on an appeal by an insurance firm challenging a high court order that had fixed the deceased’s income by picking the highest ITR from the last five years. Disapproving the method, the bench said selecting the highest return in isolation would result in inflated awards and unfairly burden insurers. The court further said tribunals could deviate from ITRs if a particular year reflected exceptional income due to onetime gains or abnormal losses. Where ITRs are not filed, it said, courts may rely on Form 26AS, bank statements or salary slips, but must record reasons for doing so. The bench also said fluctuation in income of self-employed victims needs to be factored in. It could arise from the nature of the business, growth pattern and impact of death on the business and its potential growth. The court directed its registry to circulate the guidelines to all Motor Accident Claims Tribunals and high courts across the country to ensure uniform application in pending and future matters. cm to thank midjil on july 4 for political start | p4 Re-NEET had 2 lakh fewer candidates than first exam Legislative priority Apart from the bill to disqualify PMs, CMs and ministers, the govt is expected to accord priority to a limited number of other bills during the Monsoon Session, including the Women’s Reservation Bill, indicating a focused legislative agenda on major policy initiatives Opposition boycott Members of main Opposition parties like the Congress, Trinamool Congress, SP, DMK and the Left boycotted the panel. However, the NCP (Sharad Pawar), AIMIM and other fencesitters such as the BJD, YSRCP and SAD participated in the committee S L a lith a @ New Delhi The contentious 130th Constitution Amendment Bill on disqualifying prime ministers and chief ministers could be back in Parliament as its vetting by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) is about to be over. The government is said to be keen on piloting the bill that was first introduced last year, for possible passage in the forthcoming Monsoon Session. The session is expected from July 20 but not later than July 27. As per the proposed amendment, offices of the PM and CMs would automatically fall vacant if the incumbent remains in judicial custody for more than 30 days without bail. The government maintains that the measure is intended to strengthen accountability and reinforce public confidence in the holders of high constitutional offices. Opposition parties, however, have expressed serious reservations, arguing that the proposal could have far-reaching constitutional and political consequences, particularly in cases where judicial proceedings remain unresolved. They have also questioned its compatibility with established constitutional principles, particularly the presumption of innocence till proved guilty . The bill was referred to a 31-member JPC chaired by former IAS officer-turnedpolitician and BJP MP Aprajita Sarangi. The panel is expected to finalise its report before the Monsoon Session. Led by the Congress, the Opposition boycotted the JPC, contending that participation would serve no meaningful purpose. The ruling NDA, however, rejected those objections and defended the JPC’s functioning, arguing that the bill was the need of hour. The bill is now expected to be tabled in the Lok Sabha. Sources indicated that it figures prominently in the legislative agenda for the upcoming session. More than two lakh students who took the May 3 NEET-UG exam did not appear for the subsequent retest held on June 21, according to the National Testing Agency’s initial estimates. A total of 22,05,035 candidates appeared for the first exam, while the retest had about 20 lakh candidates, a 9% dip. The National Testing Agency (NTA) officials said the exact figures are being compiled. Meanwhile, as many as 21 students took their lives in the period between the first test and the retest. Experts in the field of education pointed to the mental trauma of the paper leak and a lack of trust in the examination process owing to the leak. Sources at the NTA, however, cited changed circumstances or practical reasons. “A good number of aspirants also take up the JEE examination (decider for engineering colleges) and the JEE-Advanced exam for admission into IITs. If they did well in it, they could have decided to give up on the medical dreams,” an NTA source said. A few aspirants also apply to institutions abroad and could have decided to opt out, as studying abroad is viewed by most Indians as very prestigious, the source added. Another source said that after the answer keys of the original exam were released on May 6, some aspirants may have felt that they are just not cut out for this kind of strenuous exam. Horror at B’luru IT firm’s daycare OGH scripts history centre as toddlers tortured, 5 booked with five-organ 36-hour miracle transplant M eghn a N ath @ Hyderabad Doctors at Osmania General Hospital (OGH) have scripted medical history by successfully performing what is being claimed as India’s first simultaneous five-organ (multivisceral) transplant on a single patient who was turned away by several private hospitals. The marathon 36-hour surgery is being described by specialists as one of the most complex procedures in transplant medicine. The achievement has also drawn the attention of the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO), the apex body under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, which on Wednesday sought detailed information from OGH about the landmark surgery . The procedure was performed on a 30-year-old engineer from Rajanna Sircilla district who had been suffering from a rare, life-threatening gastrointestinal disorder that left him unable to diThe doctors who were part of the team that gest food. For sev- performed the complex surgery at the OGH eral years, he survived on intravenous nutritional support after multiple treatment attempts failed, leaving transplantation as his only chance of survival. A multidisciplinary team led by Dr Ch Madhusudan, head of the Department of Surgical Gastroenterology and chief transplant surgeon at OGH, transplanted five organs — the stomach, duodenum, pancreas, small intestine and right colon — in a single operation that lasted nearly 36 hours. Speaking to TNIE, Dr Madhusudan said, “The patient was admitted to OGH six months ago and placed on the Jeevandan organ transplant waiting list. Finding a suitable deceased donor was challenging because the procedure required not only blood group compatibility but also lymphocyte cross-matching. A donor was identified three months ago, but the organs were found to be unsuitable for transplantation.  continued on p5 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru IN a horrific incident, toddlers were allegedly subjected to physical abuse at a daycare centre located inside an IT company campus in HAL police limits. The caregivers allegedly placed children inside a washing machine, sprayed water into their mouths using toilet jet sprays, and locked them inside a washroom as punishment for crying. According to the FIR registered at HAL police station on June 29, based on a complaint filed by an official of the District Child Protection Unit, Bengaluru East, the incident occurred at Society General Staff being questioned, videos analysed: Police Police registered an FIR against the daycare in-charge and four caregivers under the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act. Police are questioning the accused women and verifying the authenticity of the videos, when the incidents occurred, and how many children were subjected to similar abuse Baby Care, a daycare facility operating on the Capgemini Technology Services India campus in Brookefield, where employees of the IT company leave their children during working hours. The complaint stated that the Child Helpline received videos showing children being subjected to mental and physical abuse by daycare caregivers Manjula, Vijayalakshmi, Bhavani, Sindhu and Bindu. It is alleged that whenever the children cried or created a disturbance, the caregivers intimidated them by placing them inside a front loading washing machine, making them sit inside a Western-style toilet commode, forcefully spraying water into their mouths using the health faucet, locking them inside bathrooms, and subjecting them to other forms of physical abuse. According to the videos, more than 15 toddlers aged between two and four years were present at the daycare. `1.95l CR HIGHER IMPORT REVENUE BUOYS JUNE GST NUMBERS GST collections rose 14% year-on-year to `1.95 lakh crore in June on the back of higher tax mop-up from imports as well as domestic supplies. GST revenues were over `1.94 lakh crore in May this year and `1.71 lakh crore in June 2025 | P10 raising a stink Madgi forces K’taka civic body to shift garbage dump yard P K rishn a @ Sangareddy Villagers in Madgi on the Telangana-Karnataka border have secured an assurance from the Bidar Municipal Council that the garbage dump yard serving Bidar town will be shifted within three months after nearly two weeks of sustained protests. The assurance came on Wednesday following continuous protests by residents of Madgi village in Sangareddy district against the dumping of garbage on land adjoining their village. The land where the waste was being dumped lies in Karnataka, although it is adjacent to Madgi in Telangana. The villagers alleged that the dumping had left them to contend with foul odour, flies and mosquitoes, making daily life increasingly difficult. They said garbage collected from Bidar town, about 42 km away, was being transported every day and dumped close to their habitation. Determined to stop the practice, residents repeatedly intercepted garbage-laden vehicles The garbage dumped near Madgi village along the Telangana-Karnataka border by Bidar municipal staff over the past fortnight and turned them back before they could reach the site. The confrontation intensified on Tuesday when Bidar municipal officials arrived with several vehicles to dump garbage near the village. Residents questioned why the land was being used as a dump yard when they had earlier been told that a police station would be constructed there after the nearly five-acre plot was levelled. Villagers alleged that, despite their objections, municipal workers dumped the waste on the Madgi-Bidar road before leaving.  continued on p5