chennai l monday l june 20, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l vellore EDITION war in ukraine could go on for years, warns NATo chief Jens Stoltenberg’s warning comes as Ukrainian president vowed to retake areas that have fallen to Russian forces bad news for economies around the world Stoltenberg’s prediction suggests the world economy could suffer further and possibly plunge into a very deep recession, the likes of which has not been experienced so far. Poorest countries would take the biggest hit. On a positive note, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, visiting the Black Sea city of Mykolaiv on Sunday, vowed to restore all that was destroyed ■ 87 Italy joins Qatar’s natural gas project ■ The war that began on February 24 has led to record high inflation and crippling food shortages in many countries With Russia using gas supply as a weapon, Europe has turned to new energy sources. Italy’s Eni on Sunday signed up to expand production from Qatar’s largest natural gas field | P9 N.o. of Russian troops killed on Saturday, according to Ukraine 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 Narrow escape for 185 passengers as Delhi-bound plane catches fire Ram s hanka r @ Patna As many as 185 passengers and crew of a Delhi-bound SpiceJet flight had a narrow escape on Sunday as one of the aircraft’s engines caught fire shortly after takeoff following a suspected bird hit. Flight SG-723 took off from Patna airport at 12.04 pm. According to airport officials, “soon after the take-off, the pilot noticed there was an engine problem as the wing started emitting smoke and flames and loud noises”. The pilot promptly turned off the engine and contacted Air Traffic Control to make an emergency landing. The Boeing 737 landed in Patna at 12.22 pm, 18 minutes after it took off. “The flight landed safely and all 185 passengers, including two infants, have been deboarded safely A full emergen. Top def officers rebut criticism, say Agnipath on Army to hold 83 recruitment rallies across the country; draft notification on hires today M AYA N K SI N G H @ New Delhi With the general situation across the nation easing a tad after days of violent protests, the government fielded senior tri-services officers as well as from the defence ministry to rebut criticism, convey that the short-term Agnipath recruitment scheme was very much on, and to indicate a broad timeline of its rollout. Fielding questions at a press conference on whether the government proposed to review or roll back the scheme, Lt Gen Puri, additional secretary in the Department of Military Affairs, shot back, “No, why should there be a rollback?” He said the whole objective was reduce the average age of the personnel in uniform. “I will give you an example. Do you know how many casualties are reported just for health purposes from high altitude areas? Do read about it, then you would come to know why young is important,” he said. Putting the protesters on notice, Lt Gen Puri warned that they will find no place in the Agnipath scheme. “The Army’s foundation is discipline. There is no space for arson or vandalism. Every individual will give a certificate that they were not part of the protest or vandalism. Police verification is 100%; no one can join without that. If any FIR is lodged against them, they can’t join,” he said. As for allowances, Agniveers will get them at par with regular soldiers. Also the family of any Agniveer sacrificing his/ her life in the service of the nation will get compensation of `1 crore. While many experts have wondered why the defence ministry did not seen the need to run a pilot project to test the idea, Lt Gen Puri suggested the first batch of 46,000 hires was meant to do just that — analyse the outcome to tweak the scheme if needed. Lt General Anil Puri gestures as he addresses a tri-services press meet in New Delhi on Sunday | Parveen Negi cy was declared at the airport and the situation was dealt with effectively airport direc,” tor Atul Prakash said. According to Patna district magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh, people living close to the airport alerted the district administration and the airport authorities after they noticed smoke coming out of the plane. The airport administration alerted the ATC. The pilot, however, was aware of the Was it 10 minutes or 15-20 minutes? Soon after the safe landing, there seemed to be some confusion about the duration for which the plane remained airborne. Airport officials said the emergency landing took place within 10 minutes of the takeoff while many passengers claimed they spent “15-20 minutes” inside the plane Video grab of the engine on fire | PTI Stalin asks Pinarayi to raise Siruvani dam water level so Kovai gets enough E XPR E SS N E WS S E RVIC E @ Chennai Chief Minister MK Stalin on Sunday urged his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan to direct authorities to maintain water in the Siruvani dam at its Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of 878.50m as the dam is the prime source of water for Coimbatore city . In a letter to the Kerala CM, Stalin pointed out that the Kerala Irrigation Department has been maintaining water level of the dam at 877 m instead of FRL as stipulated in the interstate agreement. “Lowering of water level by 1.5 m results in shortage of 122.05 tmcft of water, which is 19% of the total storage level of the dam. This creates difficulty in meeting the water needs of Coimbatore city in summer,” Stalin said. For the past six years, Tamil Nadu has received water only in the range of 0.484 tmcft to 1.128 tmcft as against the 1.30 tmcft stipulated in the agreement. The CM said despite multiple requests from officials and his personal request through an earlier letter, no steps have been taken by the Kerala Irrigation Department to restore the storage to the maximum level. Considering the water shortage faced by Coimbatore, Stalin requested the Kerala CM to personally intervene to resolve the “We want a mix of josh and hosh. That is why we want to reduce the age profile. The average age is 32 years at present and we want to reduce it as per the recommendations of the Kargil review committee and Arun Singh committee report,” Lt Gen Puri said E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi Six high courts got new chief justices after the government accepted the recommendation of the Supreme Court collegium, the Department of Justice in the Union Law Ministry announced on Sunday . While five high court judges were elevated as chief justices, the chief justice of the Telangana High Court, Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, was transferred to the Delhi High Court in the same capacity . The vacancy so created in the Telangana High Court has been filled by promoting Justice Ujjal Bhuyan of the same court as its chief justice. His parent ONGC Chairperson to have shorter tenure? setting an example Prime Minister Narendra Modi picks up litter while inspecting the newly-opened Indian Trade Promotion Organisation tunnel built under Pragati Maidan Integrated Transit Corridor Project, in New Delhi on Sunday | PTI Jab-o-meter Take your shot June 18 11,61,176 doses June 19 2,73,256 doses Total: 1,96,06,74,860 NATIONWIDE June 18 June 19 tamil nadu June 18 June 19 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths 13,216 12,899 8,148 8,518 23 15 596 217 0 692 243 0 The oil ministry has proposed raising of the eligibility age as well as a shorter tenure for the top ONGC post, after it failed to find a suitable candidate even after a year of searching Team OPS refuses to budge, puts out newspaper ads hailing him E x p r e ss N e ws Se r v i c e @ Chennai THE crisis within the AIADMK continued to deepen on Sunday, with many senior leaders — such as former ministers OS Manian, Pollachi V Jayaraman, and NR Sivapathi — asserting that single leadership is the way forward, even as party coordinator O Panneerselvam talked tough saying he would not accept anything but continuance of the dual leadership. JCD Prabhakar, a member of the party’s steering committee, who is taking part in all discussions with Panneerselvam, told TNIE the coordinator is unwilling to accept any compromise formula as he has been elected by the primary members of the AIADMK. Prabhakar also said Panneerselvam categorically told those who met him that any unilateral decision cannot be thrust upon the cadre in an autocratic manner. When asked, Prabhakar denied reports that Panneerselvam demanded postponement of the general council meeting. He said Panneerselvam was worried about the growing unrest among cadre due to the single leadership issue. On Sun- ors inside the flight soon after it took off from the airport. We raised an alarm. The crew members asked us to keep quiet,” another said. The post-landing flight inspection showed that three fan blades of the jet’s left engine were damaged in the suspected bird hit. The airport director said the airline made an alternative arrangement for stranded passengers to reach their destination. express read Class 10,12 results today; ‘marks aren’t everything’ ‘Mild fever’: CM’s events on Mon & Tue cancelled Chennai: With the Class 10 and 12 State Board results expected on Monday, counsellors, teachers, and other experts have reminded parents and students that one’s value is not determined by one’s marks. “Parents shouldn’t discuss their children’s results with friends or relatives... The only thing a parent should worry about is the well-being of their child,” they emphasised | P2 Chennai: Chief Minister MK Stalin has cancelled his programmes scheduled for June 20 and 21 in Ranipet, Tirupattur, and Vellore as he has a mild fever. “Doctors have advised the chief minister to take rest. The dates for the above programmes will be announced later,” a release said. On Sunday, he was to release a book and solemnise a wedding, but skipped the events JNU prof abducted, assualted over road dispute New Delhi: A JNU associate professor was allegedly abducted by a group of people and subjected to physical assault, threats and extortion following a traffic altercation. He was travelling in his car when he was abducted by a group of miscreants. In a statement on Saturday, the the JNU Teachers Association alleged that professor Sharad Baviskar was subjected to a “protracted violent assault” on the night of 17-18 June 2022. An FIR has been registered Telangana, 5 other HCs, get new CJs Mix of josh and hosh “In the next 4-5 years, our intake will be 50,000-60,000 and will increase to 90,000-1 lakh subsequently. We’ve started small at 46,000 to analyse the scheme...and to build up infra capacity. Our intake of Agniveers will go up to 1.25 lakh in the near future,” he said. Addressing the press meet, Air Marshal S K Jha said, “Agniveer batch 1 registration will start from June 24 and from July 24, phase 1 of the online examination process would start. Training would commence by December 30.” As for the Army Lt Gen Ban, si Ponappa said a draft notification on the hiring will be issued on Monday. In all, 83 recruitment rallies would be organised across the country . Vice Admiral Dinesh Tripathi said the first batch of naval recruits — both male and female — would join training by November 21. In the first batch, 3,000 Agniveers will be inducted into the Navy of 20% would be wom, en, said sources. issue. “I look forward to a positive response,” Stalin said in his letter. Stalin added that of the total water requirement of 265 MLD (million litres per day) for Coimbatore Municipal Corporation, 101.40 MLD is being supplied from the Siruvani water scheme. “The agreement for the project was entered into between Tamil Nadu and Kerala on August 19, 1973, for supply of water not exceeding 1.30 tmcft annually (July 1 to June 30) to the erstwhile Coimbatore Municipal Town for drinking water purposes for 99 years,” the chief minister said. problem by then. After receiving the clearance from Air Traffic Controller, the pilot skillfully landed the plane on one engine. The fire was doused soon after the landing and there is no serious damage to the aircraft’s fuselage. Once they were safely deboarded, passengers shared their experiences. “I have never gotten so scared in my life,” one of them said. “We felt trem- file picture day senior leaders of the party , KA Sengottaiyan and M Thambidurai held discussions with both Panneerselvam and Palaniswami in an effort to arrive at an amicable solution. Meanwhile, large advertisements listing the achievements of Panneerselvam and praising his political acumen, given by his loyalists in Tamil dailies, alleged Paneerselvam was not being allowed to function freely as coordinator of the AIADMK and claimed this was the cause for the party’s defeat in the 2021 Assembly elections. The advertisements also claimed the 10.5% reservation for the Vanniyar community, given in haste, led to the defeat of the AIADMK in southern districts. As for speculation that the Two Leaves symbol could be frozen if the AIADMK comes under a single leadership in the present situation, the party’s election wing deputy secretary and lawyer IS Inbadurai, who is supporting Palaniswami, said, “The party bylaws give room for bringing the party under a single leadership. Also, single leadership was practised previously .” He added that only two institutions — the Election Commission and the judiciary — can question this to ascertain whether due process of law and party bylaws were followed while moving towards single leadership.  Continued on: P4 transfers in the higher judiciary HC where appointed as Chief Justice Name Vipin Sanghi, judge, Delhi HC Ujjal Bhuyan, judge, Telangana HC Amjad Ahtesham Sayed, judge, Bombay HC Shinde Sambhaji Shiwaji, judge, Bombay HC Rashmin Manharbhai Chhaya, judge, Gujarat HC Name Satish Chandra Sharma, Chief Justice, Telangana HC high court is Gauhati. Delhi High Court judge Vipin Sanghi was appointed as the chief justice of the Uttarakhand High Court. He was functioning as the acting chief Uttarakhand Telangana Himachal Pradesh Rajasthan Gauhati High Court where transferred As Chief Justice, Delhi High Court justice of the Delhi High Court after Justice D N Patel retired on March 13. Justice Amjad A Sayed of the Bombay High Court will be the new chief justice in Himachal Pradesh. 2 Pak nationals among 4 terrorists killed in Valley forces in Damhal Hanjipora area of Kulgam in south KashFour terrorists, including two mir around 3.30 pm. “In the enPakistani nationals, were killed suing encounter, two local miliin two different encounters that tants were killed,” the police were ongoing in Kashmir official said. on Sunday . The slain militants The police and the were identified as Haris Army launched a joint Sharief of Srinagar search operation in the and Zakir Padder of forest area of ChandiKulgam. Haris, accordgam, Lolab in Kuping to the police, bewara district after inlonged to Lashkar Operations while Zakir was assofor mation gleaned from an arrested ter- will continue ciated with Jaish. rorist Showkat Ahmad “Both the killed mil“By targeting Sheikh. innocent civilians itants were part of “During the search including women groups involved in sevof a hideout, the tereral militancy inciand kids, rorists fired indisdents, including atunarmed criminately on the tacks on security policemen and troops. The fire was reforces and civilians,” labourers, turned and in the enthe official said. Operterrorists can’t suing heavy gunfire, deter our efforts ation in that area was two Pakistani terror- to bring peace in going on as well when ists of Lashkar were Valley,” Inspector reports last came in. killed,” a police officer General of Police, Meanwhile, the posaid, adding they suslice arrested three asKashmir, Vijay pect a few more terrorsociates of Al-Badr Kumar said ists are trapped in the outfit during checking area. The official said heavy ex- in the Wangam area of Handc h a n g e o f g u n f i r e w a s wara. The trio was identified as continuing. Nazim Ahmad Bhat, Siraj din Another encounter broke out Khan and Adil Gull, all resibetween militants and security dents of Kralgund, Kupwara. F aya z Wan i @ Srinagar