HYDERABAD  WEDNESDAY  MAY 18, 2022  `9.00  PAGES 16  LATE CITY EDITION ALL GREEN CARD PETITIONS TO GET PROCESSED IN 6 MONTHS? An advisory panel has voted to recommend the US president that all green card applications be processed in six months WILL PUSH FOR STREAMLINING OF PROCESS COULD BENEFIT THOUSANDS OF INDIANS The President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (PACAANHPI) has recommended that the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) remove redundant steps, introduce automation wherever possible and improve its internal dashboards and reporting systems to speed up the process ■ ■ Additionally, the panel will recommend that the National Visa Center, which schedules and conducts visa interviews, double its human resource capacity over the next three months The proposals, if adopted, may benefit thousands of Indians, some of whom have been waiting for decades to get green card 4,21,358 PENDING INTERVIEWS IN APRIL. ONLY 65K FAMILY GREEN CARDS ISSUED IN 2021 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 Protect ‘Linga’, Wholesale inflation at record high of 15% let Muslims free entry to pray: SC The Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi that is in the eye of a storm | PTI ‘Totally against judicial decorum’ “Ajay Kumar Mishra performed his duties as advocate commissioner very irresponsibly. A probe shows that a private photographer was engaged by him and he kept giving media bytes that were totally against judicial decorum,” trial court judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar said Mishra for engaging a private cameraman for the Gyanvapi survey who went about leaking information to the media in flagrant violation of the confidentiality mandate. It was special advocate commissioner Vishal Singh who outed Mishra’s lensman R P Singh leaking the survey’s proceedings. Singh has now been tasked with submitting the survey report and granted two days to do so. Meanwhile, a couple of fresh petitions were filed seeking permission to perform puja of the ‘Shivalinga’ besides ordering demolition of walls of the basements on the premises and removal of debris for collection of more evidence. 90% loan amounts the PFC and REC released as per the agreement but decided not to release the balance amounts until the State government obtains RBI clearance `37,737 cr loan the State government proposed to raise from the PFC. `33,079 crore released so far `30,536 cr loan the REC agreed to provide, but so far released only `12,742 crore STUNG by the refusal to release balance loan amounts to fund irrigation projects, the State government is considering initiating legal action against two financial institutions — Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corporation Ltd (REC). The government considers the loan turndown to be in violation of the tripartite agreement it had signed with them. After the Union Finance Ministry refused to give permission to the State government to raise open market borrowings, it is now the turn of PFC and REC to back out on releasing the loan amounts. PFC and REC loans are meant for Kaleshwaram Irrigation Project Corporation (KIPCL), Indiramma Flood Flow Canal, Devadula Lift Irrigation Project, Kanthanapaly Sujala Sravanthi, Tupakulagudem, Sitarama Lift Irrigation Scheme and other projects 15.08% 13.83% 5.54% 3.68% Apr 2022 Oct 2021 -1.57% Apr 2020 Apr 2019 Oct 2018 Apr 2018 Oct 2017 Apr 2017 Oct 2016 Oct 2019 0.00% -1.9% Apr 2016 Oct 2015 Apr 2015 -4.76% 1.31% 3.62% 0.87% -3.42% 3.24% Apr 2021 1.27% Oct 2020 3.85% 3.72% 10.74% Plenary promise: KCR begins working on ‘alternative agenda’ EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has begun preparing an ‘alternative agenda’ for the country, which he announced at the TRS plenary on April 27. Having returned to Pragathi Bhavan from his Erravalli farmhouse on Monday, Rao began discussions for the alternative agenda with his pet subject — irrigation. According to sources, Rao held a detailed discussion with Central Water Commission’s former chairman Syed Masood Husain at Pragathi Bhavan on Tuesday . “The Chief Minister discussed several issues relating to the country’s irrigation potential. He discussed the big irrigation projects in the country, water availability in major rivers and other related issues,” sources said. The meeting had nothing to do with any policy decision relating CABINET TO MEET NEXT WEEK In view of Union Finance Ministry not allowing the State government to raise Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management loans, leading to a financial crisis, the State Cabinet is expected to meet next week to discuss the same. According to sources, the Chief Minister has already held discussions with finance officials on the issue. The sources also said that the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme will also be included in the agenda of the Cabinet meeting. The BJP-led Central government’s non-cooperation, paddy purchases, Kharif action plan and other issues would be discussed during the meeting, sources added. to Telangana. It was a purely personal interaction between the CM and the former CWC chairman, sources said. Rao also discussed the availability of around 70,000 tmcft water in the country In recent . times, Rao has stated on various occasions that the country has 70,000 tmcft water and 40 crore acres of arable land. Even if irrigation is provided to the 40 crore acres, the country will still have a surplus of 30,000 tmcft water, he opines. Out of this, if 10,000 tmcft water is used for drinking needs, then the country can still have a surplus of 20,000 tmcft. Yet, several States continue to face a drought-like situation, he says. Earlier, Rao used to have lengthy meetings with former CWC official R Vidyasagar Rao before the formation of Telangana on the irrigation sector. Rao is also planning to hold meetings with retired All India Service (AIS) offices and worldrenowned economists on subjects like administration and finances. KTR LEADS TELANGANA DELEGATION TO UK, DAVOS | P4 PFC, REC refuse to release loan amounts, TS mulls legal action V V B A L A K R I S H N A @ Hyderabad 6.70% 5.06% Oct 2014 THE Supreme Court on Tuesday directed that the area where a ‘Shivalinga’ was indicated to have been found in the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi a day ago should be fully protected, but the rights of Muslims to enter and offer prayers must not be infringed. The court was hearing a petition challenging a Allahabad High Court order that had permitted the inspection and videography of the premises. “In order to obviate any dispute on the meaning and content of the order of the trial judge, the operation and ambit of the order dated 16 May 2022 shall stand restricted to the extent that the District Magistrate, Varanasi shall ensure that the area where the Shivalinga is stated to have been found, as indicated in the order, shall be duly protected. The above direction shall not in any manner restrain or impede the access of Muslims to the mosque or the use of the mosque for the purpose of performing namaz and religious observance,” a bench led by Justice D Y Chandrachud said in its interim order. Senior advocate Hufeza Ahmadi, appearing for the Anjuman Islamia Masjid Committee, sought a stay in the trial court’s proceedings in Varanasi. “The order (to seal the wuzu khana where the Shivalinga was said to have been found) was passed ex-parte without serving to us...What was the tearing hurry the way the premises was sealed?” he asked. However, the bench refused to issue a stay order. The court issued notices to the petitioners and the UP government and posted the matter for next hearing on May 19. In Varanasi, trial court judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar sacked his court-appointed advocate commissioner Ajay Kumar policy committee may frontload rates by another 25-50 basis points. FY23 could thus further see rates going up by 100-125 basis points, with the RBI now showing its intent to keep real rates above neutral,” said Madhavi Arora, lead economist at Emkay Global Financial Services. MAKING SENSE OF WPI PEAK Y-O-Y (%) Oct 2013 P R AT H M A S H A R M A A N D N A M I TA B A J PA I @ New Delhi/Lucknow Apr 2014 Advocate commissioner leading survey of Gyanvapi sacked; 2 more days to file report INDIA’S wholesale price-based inflation jumped to an all-time high of 15.08% due to acrossthe-board rise in prices, including those of food and fuel. Continuous high inflation — both retail and wholesale — would further put pressure on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to hike interest rates in its June monetary policy . The WPI inflation has been in double digits perpetually for the last 13 months. Overall inflation in food articles was recorded at 8.35%. In the food basket, the highest inflation was observed in the items like vegetables, potato, fruits and wheat at 23.24%, 19.84%, 10.89% and 10.70%, respectively Crude pe. troleum and natural gas rose by 69.07% year-on-year, while petrol witnessed a surge in prices by 60.63%. In the fuel and power baskets, inflation stood at 38.66%, whereas in manufactured products it was 10.85% and oil seeds 16.10%. Also, ore inflation accelerated for the third consecutive month to 11.1 per cent from 10.9 per cent in March 2022. “We see June’s policy to be super-live, and the monetary Apr 2013 M O N I K A YA D A V @ New Delhi The State government had signed a tripartite agreement with these financial institutions for the construction of several irrigation projects in the past. Though PFC and REC released around 90 per cent loan amounts as per the agreement, they decided not to release the balance amounts until the State government obtains clearance from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). According to government sources, the PFC and REC stopped releasing the loan amounts in April this year. The State government proposed to raise `37,737 crore from the PFC of which it released `33,079 crore so far. Likewise, as against the agreed loan amount of `30,536 crore, the REC has so far released only `12,742 crore. The Telangana Water Resources Development Corporation (TWRDC) also entered into an agreement to raise a loan of `13,516 crore. But it has received only `12,239 crore P4 till March, 2022. 15 SARPANCHES THREATEN TO RESIGN OVER LACK OF FUNDS | P2 Ujjal Bhuyan is new CJ of Telangana HC E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad SENIOR judge Justice Ujjal Bhuyan will be the new Chief Justice of Telangana High Court. The Supreme Court Collegium, headed by Chief Justice of India Justice NV Ramana, has recommended his elevation while transferring the incumbent, Satish Chandra Sharma to Delhi High Court as the Chief Justice. Ujjal Bhuyan, who was a judge of Bombay High Court for two years, was transferred to Telangana High Court and he took oath on October 22 last year. Justice Bhuyan obtained his LLB degree from the Government Law College, Guwahati and LLM from Guwahati University He . enrolled at the Bar in 1991 and practised before the principal seat of the Gauhati High Court. He also practised before the Central Administrative Tribunal, Guwahati Bench, and the Assam Board of Revenue. He was standing counsel of the Income Tax Department for 16 years, starting as junior standing counsel in May 1995 before being appointed senior standing counsel in 2008. He was the additional government advocate, Meghalaya, in the principal seat of the Gauhati HC from April 2002 to October 2006. Justice Bhuyan was designated senior advocate in 2010 by the Gauhati High Court and was appointed additional advocate general of Assam in 2011. He was elevated as additional judge of Gauhati High Court on October 17, 2011, and was made a permanent judge on March 20, 2013. Just a few days ago, retail inflation data registered an eightyear high at 7.79% in April. In a bid to tame inflation, the RBI this month raised the repo rate by 40 basis points to 4.4% and cash reserve ratio by 0.5%. Meanwhile, days after the Union commerce ministry banned wheat exports, on Tuesday it gave some relaxation to consignments registered with the customs on or before May 13. It also allowed a wheat consignment headed for Egypt, which was already under loading at the Kandla port. “The order served three main purposes: ensure India’s food security and check inflation, it helps other countries facing food deficit, and it maintains India’s reliability as a supplier. The order also aimed to provide a clear direction to the wheat market to prevent hoarding,” the Centre said in a statement. EXPRESS READ HC allows Karvy MD to file petition seeking bail Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday granted a huge relief to Karvy Stock Broking Limited (KSBL) Managing Director C Parthasarthy by quashing the remand order passed by the Metropolitan Sessions Judge-cum-Special Court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against him | P4 Four wanted in the 1993 Mumbai blasts arrested Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Anti Terrorist Squad has arrested four persons wanted in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, officials said on Tuesday. Abu Bakar, Saiyad Qureshi, Mohammad Shoeb Qureshi alias Shoeb Bawa and Mohammad Yusuf Ismail alias Yusuf Bhatka, all residents of Mumbai, were on the run for 29 years, they said | P8 CBI RAIDS ON PC, KARTI IN CASH-FOR-VISA CASE E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi A CBI official gestures to the media during a raid at P Chidambaram’s residence in Chennai on Tuesday | R SATISH BABU Karti got `50 L from Vedanta Group, says ED According to the FIR, Advantage Strategic Consulting, a company linked to Karti, got `50 lakh from the Vedanta Group to organise visas for 263 Chinese nationals in 2011, when P Chidambaram was Union home minister. The visas were meant to help expedite the delayed power project. Vedanta’s offer was made through a chartered accountant S Bhakararaman. KEEPING up the pressure on senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram, the CBI on Tuesday conducted raids and searches at his son Karti’s residence and office premises across nine cities, in a fresh case relating to alleged acceptance of `50 lakh bribe for facilitating visas for Chinese employees working for a power project in Punjab. T he raids were car ried out at Chidambarams’ properties in Chennai, Mumbai, Koppal (Karnataka), Mansa (Punjab) and Jharsuguda (Odisha), CBI sources said, even as the agency was wary of disclosing the nature of documents it seized in the course of its operations. Chidambaram’s son Karti is alleged to have taken the bribe in 2011 for facilitating visas for about 300 the Chinese employees working at the Talwandi Sabo Power Project in Punjab. A super-critical 1,980 MW thermal power project, the Talwandi Sabo plant is located at Banawala in Punjab’s Mansa district. This is the second time Karti has come under the CBI’s scanner. He was previously probed in the Aircel-Maxis and the INX Media cases. Karti was arrested in 2018 in the INX Media case. This was followed a year later with the CBI arresting Chidambaram. According to the FIR, Karti accepted a gratification of `50 lakh for facilitating visas for the Chinese nationals. The money was allegedly sent to an account of one of Karti’s companies to “devise a back door way to defeat the home ministry ceiling on visa”.