bhubaneswar l saturday l august 01, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l jeypore EDITION Hamas agrees to disarm, accepts Trump’s peace plan for Gaza Hamas on Friday threw up a surprise, saying it will disarm and accept a deal announced by US President Donald Trump to end its war with Israel Israel wary, No official reaction yet Israel is yet to officially comment, but sources said there will be no withdrawal of Israeli forces from their current lines untill the disarmament is genuine and total. “A lot needs to fall in place for this to work,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said. “Verifying Hamas’ compliance will be a challenge. Israel would need to eventually withdraw from Gaza,” he said ■ 4-page Concessions to save Gazans, says Hamas ■ Trump says “complete disarmament” by Hamas is a critical step toward a new Palestinian government in Gaza Ghazi Hamad, a member of Hamas’ negotiating team, said the movement was making “concessions for the sake of our people in the Gaza Strip, to save them from killing and displacement” | P9 plan for Hamas disarmament and gradual Israeli withdrawal 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 Mega allocation Floods receding but over 2.68L for offshore oil & people still marooned: Pujari gas exploration ers are on a decreasing trend after the rains have stopped. However, Mahanadi is still flowing slightly above the danger mark, he said. Pujari said on Friday morning, two gates of Hirakud reservoir were open and 8,65,474 cusecs of water was passing through Munduli. Subsequently 14 gates have , been opened through which 1.5 lakh cusecs of water is being discharged, which will take around 40 hours to reach Mundali and Naraj, he said. “By that time, the water flow of Mahanadi at Munduli will have reduced. So no major danger is anticipated from this floodwater. That notwithstanding, officials of the Water Resources department are keeping a close watch on the situation,” he said. The minister said, five coastal districts, including Cuttack, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Khurda and Puri, have been instructed to remain on full alert. ODRAF, NDRF and Fire Services teams have been deployed for relief and rescue operations, if situation arises. At present, 17 ODRAF teams, six NDRF and 112 Fire and Emergency Response teams have been deployed in various districts. Rescue operations, evacuation and relief material distribution are being carried out continuously in all affected areas, he said. CONTINUED ON P5 Cabinet clears `84K-cr Samudra Manthan plan to strengthen long-term energy security Risky business Drilling in ultradeepwater areas could cost up to `2,400 crore per well. Plus, there is no certainty that the investment will result in a discovery or production increase Floating solar projects To boost India’s solar power generation, the government approved the Pradhan Mantri Surya Sarovar Yojana, a `5,070-crore scheme to set up 5,000 MW (5GW) of floating solar power projects over the next five years. According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, India currently has 0.7 GW of installed floating solar capacity R A K E S H K U M A R @ New Delhi IN a bid to increase domestic oil and gas production, the government on Friday approved the `84,000-crore Samudra Manthan scheme to accelerate deep-sea exploration. According to the petroleum ministry, the scheme will add 600 million tonnes of oil equivalent (MTOE) to India’s hydrocarbon reserves. It is projected to increase annual domestic oil and gas production by 10-15 MTOE, with the potential to reach 20 MTOE at peak production. The biggest share of the scheme—`43,200 crore—has been earmarked to support the drilling of 60 deepwater and ultra-deepwater exploration wells. The government will provide financial support to staterun ONGC and Oil India as well as private exploration firms to encourage drilling in deepwater areas where exploration is expensive and highly risky . The support comes after the government opened nearly 99% of the offshore areas that were earlier classified as ‘no-go’ zones due to defence and space-related restrictions. Another `28,500 crore has been allocated for large-scale 2D and 3D offshore seismic surveys and advanced data processing using technologies such as artificial intelligence. The surveys will help create detailed maps of the seabed and identify promising locations for drilling. The scheme also provides `10,000 crore to build common offshore infrastructure for developing stranded discoveries in basins such as Mahanadi and Kutch, where high evacuation costs have made projects commercially unviable. Shared infrastructure is expected to reduce project costs and bring these discoveries into production. In addition, `2,000 crore has been allocated for setting up an Oil and Gas Manufacturing and Services Zone to promote domestic manufacturing of oilfield equipment and services under the Make in India initiative. The government expects the move to reduce import dependence and strengthen the domestic supply chain. India currently imports more than 88% of its crude oil requirement. The scheme will help cut dependence on imported crude. The move follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of the National Deep Water Exploration Mission, named Samudra Manthan, during his Independence Day address on August 15, 2025. Weak monsoon IMD forecasts deficient rains in Aug-Sept J I T E N D R A C H O U B E Y @ New Delhi THE India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday forecast belownormal rains during the second half of the southwest monsoon season (August-September), raising concerns about the prospects of kharif crops, which heavily depend on rainfall for their water needs. The first half of the monsoon season (June-July) recorded 13% deficit of the long-period average rainfall, leading to a 5% fall in kharif crop sowing. The IMD estimates that August and September will receive 422.8 mm of rainfall, which is considered below normal. However, parts of eastern Peninsular India, some areas of northwest and central India, and isolated regions in the east and northeast could receive normal rains. In its monthly forecast released on Friday, the IMD said rainfall in the next two months is estimated to be less than 94% of the long period average (LPA). It cited the presence of El Niño in the eastern Pacific Ocean, which it said could strengthen in the second half of the monsoon season leading to above-normal daytime and night-time temperatures. El Niño is a phenomenon characterised by the warming of the eastern Pacific Ocean, which is associated with a weaker monsoon in India. Teachers coming out of flooded Bhadrak Women College on Friday | DEBADATTA MALLICK E x p ress N e w s S er v i c e @ Bhubaneswar Nearly eight lakh people across 15 districts of the state are still in the grip of floods caused by heavy rains during the last several days, the government said on Friday . Revenue and Disaster Management minister Suresh Pujari, who reviewed the situation at a high-level meeting in Lok Seva Bhawan, said more than 2.68 lakh people continue to be marooned in floodwaters at several coastal and norther n districts. The floods have damaged crops over 21,380 hectares land. Pujari said the flood situation is gradually improving as waterlevels in the Devi, Kushabhadra, CM to make aerial survey today Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi will make an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas in Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore and Keonjhar districts on Saturday morning. Revenue and Disaster Management minister Suresh Pujari and special relief commissioner Rajesh Prabhakar Patil will accompany him. The chief minister will review the flood situation and take stock of the ongoing rescue and relief operations Ib, Brahmani, Baitarani, Budhabalanga, Subarnarekha, Bansadhara, Rushikulya and Jalaka riv- Spain Strait of Gibralter Ceuta Morocco Morocco Algeria Mauritania Mali Migrant Tsunami Over 48,000 migrants returned to Morocco from Spain’s Ceuta after an estimated 60,000 of them crossed the frontier into its north African enclave in recent days. At least 43 migrants died during the crossing. The influx came after Spain’s Supreme Court ruled that migrants stopped at sea while trying to reach Ceuta or Melilla, another Spanish exclave, cannot be summarily returned to Morocco | PTI | Report: P9 CM meets Shah, seeks support for Odisha’s devpt E x p ress N e w s S er v i c e @ Bhubaneswar Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Friday sought continued support of the Centre to strengthen the state’s development journey. The chief minister, who is on a four-day visit to New Delhi, called on Union Home minister Amit Shah and briefed him on Odisha’s developmental initiatives, law and order situation, internal security and various ongoing welfare schemes. Referring to the rapid industrialisation in Odisha over the last two years, Majhi sought express read Govt forms team to probe medical PG examination paper leak Bhubaneswar/Berhampur: The Health and Family Welfare department has constituted a three-member committee to investigate all aspects of the alleged question paper leak in the MKCG Medical College and Hospital at Berhampur. A release from the department said the high-level committee will also probe into possible lapses on the part of the Odisha University of Health Sciences (OUHS), which conducted the examination | P4 CM Mohan Charan Majhi with Union Home minister Amit Shah at New Delhi Shah’s support to further accelerate it, particularly in the area of industrial security. The chief minister said that due to the firm leadership of Shah, Odisha has earned the recognition of a naxal-free state. Majhi said the success in naxal suppression has created a conducive environment for the state’s socio-economic development. He informed the Union Home minister that the state government is fully implementing all central and state welfare schemes through the Gramoday Yojana for development of the naxal-free regions. Stating that law and order situation in the state remained under control because of the proactive policing, the chief minister said under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Odisha is progressing rapidly on a new path of development, progress and prosperity. In the cooperative sector, he thanked Shah for the direct support of the Centre in the revival of sugar mills in Odisha. He stated that the double-engine gover nment has won the trust of the people through direct public outreach and prompt grievance CONTINUED ON P5 redressal. Delhi riots: Ex-AAP leader, 4 others get lifer for IB officer’s murder U D AYA N K I S H O R E @ New Delhi A Delhi court on Friday awarded life imprisonment to former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and four others for killing Intelligence Bureau officer Ankit Sharma during the 2020 Delhi riots. Additional Sessions Judge Praveen Singh awarded the minimum punishment prescribed for murder under law, saying the prosecution was not able to prove that the convicts were not beyond refor mation. The judge said the case did not fall within the “rarest of rare” category warranting the death penalty . “I find myself unable to agree with the SPP (special public prosecutor) that the convicts are beyond reformation, or have such a fiendish character that their continued existence, even Former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain in prison, will be a men- being escorted by police | PTI ace to society the judge ,” Will move HC: Hussain said. Hussain and other Tahir Hussain, 48, an AAP convicts – Nazim, Kash- councillor from Nehru Vihar in im, Anas, and Javed – northeast Delhi when riots were present before the erupted amid anti-CAA court while the order protests in February 2020, said was pronounced. The on Friday, “The match was convicts were brought fixed and the High Court will before the court in tight give justice; it is not too late.” security . The judge said the State had not brought anything on record to establish that any of the convicts had any violent disposition or propensity to crime.The convicts had urged the court to show mercy claiming that the offence did not fall un, der the category of “rarest of rare”. Police had submitted that Sharma was brutally killed and was not shown any mercy by the convicts, so they should not be given any leniency . IB officer Sharma was killed by the accused persons on February 25, 2020. Class X student stabbed to death outside school Tension erupted in Bariniput area of Koraput district after a Class X student of a government-run school was allegedly stabbed to death over past enmity on Friday afternoon | P4 Omar, Payal ‘embraced freedom’, will dissolve marriage: SC S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi PUTTING a lid on a long legal chapter of matrimonial dispute spanning over 16 years, the Supreme Court on Friday agreed to dissolve the marriage of J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Payal Abdullah after noting their joint position that they have “embraced freedom”. “We will make it a part of our order and will dispose it of in terms of that ... will pass a formal order later,” said a bench of justices P S Narasimha and Alok Aradhe. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the National Conference leader, on Friday informed the bench that an application under Article 142 of the Constitution, seeking dissolution was filed as the matter was “settled between the parties.” “Both of them have embraced freedom. It’s all settled. (Article) 142 has been filed in the case. Your lordships may g rant divorce,” he contended before the court. Sibal added that all other matters will be withdrawn as it was set out in the application. T he cour t was hearing two petitions, including Omar’s plea seek- A ‘dead’ union The Supreme Court had asked the couple to resolve their disputes. Presenting the case for divorce, Sibal submitted that the marriage was “dead” as they have been living separately for 15 years ing divorce on grounds of cruelty. The couple had got married on September 1, 1994. In July 2024, the court sought Payal’s response to Omar’s challenge to a Delhi High Court order that dismissed his appeal and upheld the 2016 family court decision denying divorce. After his plea was dismissed by Delhi HC, Omar moved the apex court. Before the HC passed the order, the family court on August 30, 2016 had dismissed the plea, ruling that Omar failed to prove cruelty or desertion. His petition claimed the marriage was irretrievably broken, with no conjugal relationship since 2007 and separation since 2009.