BENGALURU  FRIDAY  JUNE 17, 2022  `9.00  PAGES 30  LATE CITY EDITION YOUR NEXT AIR TICKET MAY COST EVEN MORE With jet fuel prices hiked by a record 16% on Thursday, a 10-15% increase in air fares is likely as airlines seek to ensure that operational costs are well sustained, SpiceJet MD Ajay Singh said STEEPEST-EVER RISE IN COST OF JET FUEL OIL PRICES SHOOT UP TO DECADE-HIGH INDUSTRY DEMANDS SLASHING OF ATF TAX The price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) was increased by B19,757 per kilolitre (B19.75 per litre) on Thursday. A kilolitre of ATF now costs B1.41 lakh in Delhi—16.2% more than the previous price of B1.23 lakh Such a sharp increase in the cost of jet fuel comes as Brent — the world’s most popular crude oil benchmark — was on Thursday trading at $119.16 per barrel — the highest in almost a decade “This massive increase is not sustainable and governments, central and state, need to take urgent action to reduce taxes on ATF that are amongst the highest in the world,” Ajay Singh said SPICEJET, INTERGLOBE SHARES NOSEDIVE ■ ■ ■ Shares of SpiceJet and InterGlobe Aviation, the parent company of IndiGo, fell sharply on Thursday on the back of ATF price hike While the shares of SpiceJet tanked 7.05 per cent to settle at B40.90 apiece on the BSE, those of InterGlobe Aviation dropped by 5.22 per cent and closed at B1,644.65 apiece Airlines are also under stress from the continuing fall in the rupee’s value. “It impacts airlines as our substantial cost is either dollar denominated or pegged to the dollar,” Singh said | P12 40-50% AVIATION TURBINE FUEL’S SHARE IN THE OPERATING COST OF AN AIRLINE. THERE HAS BEEN A WHOPPING 120% RISE IN JET FUEL PRICE SINCE JUNE LAST YEAR ALONE 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 SC gives UP three days to justify its bulldozer justice against protesters EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi Smoke billows out from a train after it was set on fire by protesters opposing ‘Agnipath’ in Chapra in Bihar on Thursday | PTI Youth go on the rampage in 9 states over Agnipath Govt empowers Rajnath to amend scheme without Cabinet’s nod EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi VIOLENT protests broke out in nine states against the Centre’s Agnipath short-term recruitment scheme for the armed forces, putting the government on the backfoot. With the Opposition, too, stepping up the heat, the government responded by empowering Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to make changes to the scheme as required at his level without seeking the Cabinet’s concurrence. Protesters set trains on fire and disrupted rail and road traffic, smashed window panes of buses and pelted stones in Bihar, Haryana, UP Jharkhand, , Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu. There were protests at Delhi’s Nangloi railway station as aspirants stopped trains and demanded a rollback of the new policy. At least 34 trains were cancelled and eight others were partially cancelled due to the protests. Besides 72 trains were running late due to the agitation. Bihar was the worst affected with protesters resorting to arson at several places in as many as 11 districts, including Chhapra, Ara, Siwan, Gopalganj, Ara, Jehanabad, Saharsa and Security personnel try to disperse Youth Congress workers protesting in Delhi| PTI FIRST AMENDMENT The government introduced a one-time waiver later in the day to increase the age cap to 23 years from 21 years for recruitment under the Agnipath scheme this year since there was no hiring during the last two years Nawada. National highways were blocked in Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur, Buxar, Arwal and East Champaran districts. In Saran and Kaimur, train bogies and an engine were torched. BJP MLA Aruna Devi had to face the protestors’ wrath in Nawada when she was on her way to the district headquarters in her vehicle. The driver Surjewala out, Jairam is new communication, publicity head in Cong EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi RECENTLY elected Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh was on Thursday appointed Congress general secretary incharge of communication, publicity and media. He replaced Randeep Singh Surjewala, a leader from Haryana, who held the position for years. A party statement said Surjewala “has been thankfully relieved from his current responsibility as General Secretary Incharge, Communication (sic).” But he will continue to be the general secretary incharge of Karnataka, it added. Party leaders described the appointment of Jairam, a former Union minister, as a pleasant surprise. “This change may be attributed to brainstorming held in Udaipur last month. Surjewalaji had been in-charge for a long time, hence this was bound to happen. Deliberation about overhauling of the media and communication department was on for about six months. I believe the top leadership was waiting for the right time and right face to take a decision. His (Jairam’s) was thrashed and windowpanes of her car smashed by the protesters. The PatnaRanchi-Jansatabdi Express, Kashi-Patna Jansatabdi Express, Lok Manya Tilak-Kamakhya Express were among the trains that remained stranded at different locations due to violent protests. In Haryana, hundreds of people blocked roads in Gurugram, Rewari, Palwal. Stone-pelting crowds damaged a police vehicle in Palwal and Agra Chowk on National Highway-19 was blocked for several hours. In Madhya Pradesh, youth hailing from Bhind, Morena, Gwalior and adjoining districts of Gwalior-Chambal region, which sends a large number of recruits into the Army went on , the rampage for around 4-5 hours in Gole ka Mandir area of Gwalior. The Birla Nagar railway station located on the Delhi-Gwalior-Bhopal rail section saw major violence as the mob damaged property all around, including the office of the station manager. As protests spread across at least 10 districts of UP, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath urged the youth not to be misguided and use the opportunity P9 to serve “Mother India”. DEATH Penalty for trio in couple murder case A court in Chikkodi, Belagavi, awarded death sentence to three residents of the taluk for brutally murdering a couple in October 2013 on suspicion of having an illicit affair | P5 JAB-O-METER Jairam Ramesh Randeep Surjewala experience will certainly help the party said a leader. ,” In the changing environment, the jurisdiction, scope and structure of the media and communication department of the Congress should be expanded and made more effective with the help of subject-matter experts, and by connecting media, social media, data, research, etc., to the communication department, the party had said in its Udaipur Nav Sankalp Declaration. Another leader said the decision to replace Surjewala is in line with the rule of ‘one person, one post’ announced by the party recently “Rameshji is an . appropriate choice as he will cater to the party’s needs in north and south (India). Sooner or later, more organisational changes will take place.” TAKE YOUR SHOT June 15 13,17,558 doses June 16 13,21,282 doses TOTAL: 195,81,81,838 THE Supreme Court on Thursday gave the Uttar Pradesh government three days to respond to petitions challenging the selective demolition of properties of protesters, re-emphasising the need to follow the due process of law. There must be a sense among the citizens that the rule of law prevails in the country a vaca, tion bench of justices A S Bopanna and Vikram Nath said. It posted the matter for further hearing on Tuesday . “Everything should be fair. We expect the authorities to PAYING A PRICE 19 pro-hijab girls denied tickets over attendance EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Mangaluru AS many as 19 Muslim girl students of a college near Mangaluru have been barred from writing examinations due to shortage in their attendance. The students of Government First Grade College in Haleyangadi on the outskirts of Mangaluru have not been attending classes for more than a month after the college implemented the hijab ban following the Karnataka High Court’s order. “Our students in the first, second and third semesters have not been able to write their exams due to attendance shortage. The hijab rule was implemented in the middle of the year,” protested a student. Sridhar, principal of the college said due to low attendance, students cannot write the exams. “We have been trying to convince these students as well as their parents about the HC order but they are adamant on wearing hijab. We have even arranged separate rooms for these students to remove their hijab. We urged them to attend classes from June 1 and assured that despite attendance shortage, they will be allowed to write exams but they did not listen to us. If they want to continue attending classes and write the next exam, they have to take special permission from Mangalore University,” he said. Meanwhile, some of the affected students have decided to quit studies. Some of them have started attending tailoring classes. NATIONWIDE JUNE 15 JUNE 16 KARNATAKA JUNE 15 JUNE 16 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths 8,822 12,213 5,718 7,624 15 11 648 532 1 833 458 1 strictly follow the due procedure under the law,” it said. Following protests in UP last week over hate speech by two BJP functionaries, properties of activists and those who allegedly led the protests were razed by the district administrations. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the UP government, and senior advocate Harish Salve, representing the Kanpur and Prayagraj civic authorities, said due process was followed and notice in one instance of demolition was given way back in August 2020. Mehta said none of the af- fected parties were before the court. Instead, a body of clerics and scholars, the Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, has approached the court seeking a generic order against demolitions. The Jamiat contended that the demolitions happened after sharp statements by the highest constitutional authorities, including the UP chief minister, without giving any opportunity to the accused to vacate their houses. In a statement on Monday the Jamiat said the SC had , ordered a stay on punitive demolitions in Northwest Delhi under similar circumstances. MLC POLLS: BJP RETAINS 2 SEATS, CONG WINS 2 D EVA RA J B H I R E H A L L I @ Bengaluru THE BJP has managed to retain two seats and the opposition Congress won two seats in the Karnataka Legislative Council polls, results of which were announced on Thursday . BJP candidate Basavaraj Horatti won the West Teachers’ seat and large and medium scale industries minister Mur ug esh Nirani’s brother Hanumant Nirani won the North West Graduates’ seat. Congress candidate Prakash Hukkeri wrested the North West Graduates’ seat from the BJP and the South Graduates’ seat — earlier held by the JDS — was won by Congress candidate Madhu G Made Gowda, after an intense multi-cornered fight among the candidates of the three major parties and three independents in the Vokkaliga bastion. The independents seemingly ate away the traditional BJP and the JDS votes and the split of votes helped the Congress in this constituency . The Bommai-led BJP state government has however managed to retain the majority in the Upper House by winning two seats as it has crossed the halfway mark in the 75-member House. This will enable the party to pass significant bills such as anti-conversion bill, which was made a law through the ordinance with the governor’s nod. P4 Markets roil after Fed rate hike US stocks had closed higher on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates by 75 basis points. Asian markets, too, rose in early trading on Thursday. However, the rally was short-lived as initial optimism wore off after dangers to the economy became clearer. Here’s a look at indices on Thursday France’s CAC 40 fell 2.39% US The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.64%, 810 points, tumbling below 30,000 to the lowest level in more than a year The S&P 500 slipped 3.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite slid 4.5% Europe Asia Germany’s DAX down 3.31% FTSE 100 slipped 3.14% Stoxx Europe 600 fell 2.47% After a morning rally, BSE Sensex plummeted 1,045.60 points or 1.99% to settle at 51,495.79 — its fifth day of decline NSE Nifty plunged 331.55 points or 2.11% to close at 15,360.60 Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 2.17% China’s Shanghai Composite slipped 0.6% at closing JAPAN’S NIKKEI 225 AND KOREA’S KOSPI, HOWEVER, EDGED UP 0.4% AND 0.16%, RESPECTIVELY EXPRESS READ UNDER THE WEATHER Viral infections on the rise in city Bengaluru: The rapid changes in weather conditions are taking a toll on people’s health in the city. Doctors from both government and private hospitals in Bengaluru say that an increasing number of people have been approaching them with symptoms of common flu, leptospirosis, water-borne diseases like cholera and diarrhoea and even severe dengue cases. Also, with schools re-opening in full swing, children are bearing the brunt of cold and related infections | P3 ON GUARD Police and Rapid Action Force patrol in Prayagraj on Thursday. Uttar Pradesh has stepped up security ahead of Friday prayers, anticipating more protests against hate speech MULTIPLE LANDSLIDES 2 more dead in Assam rain Guwahati: Two children were crushed to death when their house collapsed after being hit by a landslide in Assam’s Goalpara district on Thursday as heavy rain continued to lash the state for the third consecutive day. The two deceased children were identified as 11-year-old Hussain Ali and eight-year-old Asma Khatoon. In Guwahati, three persons suffered injuries in Noonmati area as multiple landslides were reported across the city during the day WITH THIS ISSUE CITY’S BEST WEEKEND GUIDE 30 PAGES, INCLUDING 16 OF INDULGE (TABLOID) Historical Sahasralinga in Sirsi losing 500-yr-old Shivalings SUBHASH CHANDRA NS @ Karwar The idols in the Shalmala river at Sahasralinga in Uttara Kannada district | EXPRESS THE historical Sahasralinga, a pilgrimage centre and major tourist attraction in the Shalmala river in Sirsi taluk is fast losing hundreds of Shivlings installed during the 15th century AD. The Shivalings, installed by the rulers of Sodhe dynasty, are being either damaged by miscreants or being taken away by tourists. These Shivling idols are said to be at least 500 years old. Some people residing here believe they are at least 1,000 years old, installed by rulers of Kadamba dynasty . “They were installed by Sodhe kings and are 1,000 in number. If you take 8 km upstream and downstream into consideration, in Sahasralinga there are over 200 of them. But now their numbers are dwindling, and only 80 are left,” Rajiv Bhat, a priest told TNIE. Ravindra Naik, a local resident, said he has brought this matter to the notice of the local panchayat authorities but to no avail. When contacted, Jayanth, Deputy Director, Department of Tourism, Uttara Kannada district said the Sahasralinga is managed by the Bhairumbe Gram Panchayat. “Our role is limited to appointing a guard. We will look into what he is doing or if necessary we will take steps to protect them,” he said. Deputy Commissioner, Uttara Kannada, Mullai Muhilan said that he will look into the matter. Sahasralinga draws tourists as it is home to idols of L o r d S h iv a i n v a r i o u s sizes and shapes. It has been a most a soughtafter destination for devotees with many thronging the place during Mahashivaratri.