HYDERABAD  TUESDAY  SEPTEMBER 27, 2022  `9.00  PAGES 16  LATE CITY EDITION INVESTORS LOSE `13.30 LAKH CR IN FOUR DAYS OF MARKET CRASH Falling for the fourth straight day, the 30-share BSE Sensex on Monday tanked 953.70 points (1.64%) to settle at 57,145.22 SENSEX FALLS 1,060 PTS IN INTRA-DAY TRADE RUPEE SINKS FURTHER, TOUCHES 81.67 PER $ With this, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms tumbled as much as `13,30,753.42 crore in four sessions to reach `2,70,11,460.11 crore. During the day, the sensitive index plummeted 1,060.68 points or 1.82% to 57,038.24. Maruti, Tata Steel, ITC, Axis Bank, NTPC, Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra were the major laggards | P10 ■ ■ ■ The rupee plunged 58 paise to close at an all-time low of 81.67 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday On Friday, the rupee had slumped 30 paise to close at 81.09 Monday’s is the fourth consecutive session of loss for the Indian currency, during which it has lost 193 paise against the greenback 4.31% IN FOUR DAYS, THE BSE BENCHMARK SLUMPED AS MUCH AS 2,574.52 POINTS 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 Quit as CM, Nath to tell Gehlot Else, he could be dropped as Gandhi family’s pick for Congress prez; may lose CM post later S H A H I D FA R I D I A N D R A J E S H A S N A N I @ New Delhi/Jaipur IT & Industries Minister KT Rama Rao interacts with the students of IIIT-Basara in Nirmal district on Monday KTR pats IIIT-Basara students for satyagraha, promises mini T-hub E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Adilabad THREE months after the students of Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT), popularly known as IIIT-Basara, went on a peaceful strike modelled on the principle of “satyagraha” demanding better living conditions, IT & Industries Minister K T Rama Rao on Monday spent time with the students learning about their problems first hand, the quality of education being imparted and the type of food that was being served to them in the hostels. He appreciated the students for their Gandhian style of peaceful protest, sometimes sitting out in the rain, without any political involvement. The Minister was all praise for the students for forming a student governing council to deal with the problems in the university without involving any Opposition parties. “I like your initiative and your sense I like your initiative and your sense in keeping the Opposition parties at bay and fighting heroically but peacefully for one full week in June, even braving rain KT Rama Rao, IT & Industries Minister in keeping the Opposition parties at bay and fighting heroically but peacefully for one full week in June, even braving rain,” he said and advised them to take up a specific initiative. Laptops, add’l classrooms During his interaction with the students, Rama Rao announced that an innovation hub (mini T-hub) will be set up on the campus to spur the students’ imagination and creativity . The Minister promised a mini outdoor stadium with an investment of `3 crore, distribution of laptops to all the students who were left out, and construction of 50 additional classrooms. He said he would visit the university in November to personally distribute the laptops and asked Vice-Chancellor V Venkata Ramana to see that the conference hall has chairs for the students to sit. “If students sit on the floor, it does not look good. Either they should sit on chairs or we should go and sit with them,” he said and did exactly what he said after the meeting. He spent a lot of time chatting with the students and taking pictures with them. He enquired with the students which village they came from and what they were studying, and whether their stay was good in CONTINUED ON P2 the hostel. CONGRESS president Sonia Gandhi on Monday decided to depute senior party leader Kamal Nath to persuade Ashok Gehlot to resign from the post of Rajasthan chief minister before filing his nomination papers for the post of the party’s national president. Sources said Kamal Nath has been asked to convey to Gehlot that if he does not resign, he would not be supported by the party high command for presidentship. They said if Gehlot does not heed to Kamal Nath’s message he may be asked not to file his nomination papers in the party election. Kamal Nath, who flew in here from Bhopal on Monday, met Sonia at her residence. There was no clear word on whether he will fly to Jaipur to convey her message. Top Congress leaders told this paper that Gehlot’s rebellion may not only cost him Congress presidentship but may also lead to his removal from the post of chief minister as he has refused to accept his for mer deputy Sachin Pilot as his successor. He has conveyed to party leadership that he would not accept either Pilot or anyone SNOWDEN NOW OFFICIALLY A RUSSIAN CITIZEN President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed a decree granting Russian citizenship to former NSA contractor Edward Snowden | P9 3 kids drown in water-filled pit near Shadnagar EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad THREE children who were on a Dasara vacation drowned while playing in a pit dug up at a real estate venture located between Solipur village and Shadnagar town of Rangareddy district on Monday . The deceased were identified as Fareed, 12, Saheed, 7, and Akshith , 7 — all three from Solipur village. While Fareed was a Class 7 student, the other two were in Class 3. According to police, the incident occurred when four children went to a 20 ft by 10 ft pool which was 8 feet deep. As they were playing, one child accidentally drowned. Later, two others also drowned while trying to save the boy . The fourth child ran into the village to inform the villagers, who immediately r ushed to the spot only to find that the three children had already died. Angry villagers staged a protest at Shadnagar, demanding action against the real estate firm. Speaking to TNIE, Shadnagar Inspector S Naveen said that a case has been booked against the real estate firm under Section 304 A of IPC (causing death by negligence). Further investigation is on, he added. Meanwhile, local residents alleged that the boys died due to the failure of officials concerned to stop illegal soil mining at real estate ventures in and around Shadnagar. KEY PLAYERS IN THE RAJASTHAN DRAMA ASHOK GEHLOT CM. Tipped to be national president, but has angered Sonia Gandhi as he does not want Sachin Pilot to succeed him C P JOSHI Gehlot loyalist. Calls Maken anti-Gehlot High command’s choice as the new chief minister of Rajasthan MAHESH JOSHI & MAHENDRA CHAUDHARY Assembly Speaker. Gehlot wants him to be his successor as CM SHANTI DHARIWAL SACHIN PILOT Cong chief whip Joshi and deputy chief whip, CM’s loyalists. Joshi in Sonia’s line of fire RAJENDRA GUDHA One of the six BSPturned-Congress MLAs. On the fence GOVIND SINGH DOTASRA PRATAP SINGH KHACHARIYAWAS Jat leader and PCC chief, Gehlot’s man Gehlot loyalist. Was close to Pilot before 2018 MALLIKARJUN SENT TO JAIPUR BY SONIA FOR THE SMOOTH SUCCESSION KHARGE AND AJAY MAKEN AT SUNDAY’S CLP MEET; GEHLOT LOYALISTS BOYCOTTED IT from his camp. He said Pilot and the MLAs who had walked out with him to form a government with the help of the BJP are not acceptable to a large number of Congress MLAs. Kamal Nath’s meeting with Gehlot is the party leadership’s last-ditch attempt to seek Gehlot’s compliance with its decision to hand over chief ministership to Pilot. Congress MLAs loyal to Gehlot had on Sunday refused to meet the party’s central observers Ajay M a ke n a n d M a l l i k a r j u n Kharge. The central observers were sent to get the MLAs to pass a resolution authorising the Congress president to choose the next chief minister. MLAs in the Gehlot camp re- SIX STUDENTS SCORE 100 PERCENTILE IN CUET-PG E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ New Delhi THE National Testing Agency on Monday announced the results of the much-awaited Common University Entrance Test (CUET)-PG, for which over six lakh candidates had registered. Six students scored 100 percentile — Nakul Kumar Vaish (BEd), Akash Patel (BEd), Sumit Joshi (Social Work), Neeraj Godara (Social Work), Mayank Kumar Mishra (General, MBA etc.) and Mohit (General, MBA etc.). However, unlike the CUET-UG exam results, officials clarified that ‘no normalisation of scores” was done for the postgraduate exams. “Universities will prepare the rank lists based on ‘raw marks’ and not NTA scores,” said UGC Chairman Prof M Jagadesh Kumar. He noted that the PG exam was held in a single sitting for most subjects, which was not the case in the UG exam conducted in different phases and shifts. So, scores had to be normalised to provide a level-playing field for all. When the CUET-UG results were announced on September 16, the UGC chairman had said admission to undergraduate courses in central universities would be through the ‘normalised’ marks and not percentile or raw marks. However, this ‘normalisation’ in CUET-UG had left several aspirants disappointed as they found their marks reduced from their original scores, making it difficult for them to get admission in their dream colleges. EXPRESS READ TSRTC to run sleeper buses to metro cities TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR Motorists struggle to make their way through a water-logged street in Chintal Basti of Hyderabad on Monday | VINAY MADAPU Heavy rains accompanied by thunderstorms took Hyderabad by surprise on Monday evening Heavy downpour that continued well into the night inundated several low-lying areas According to IMD, thunderstorms are very likely to occur across Telangana in the next four days | P3 Hyderabad: For the first time after the formation of the State, the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) is all set to roll out AC sleeper class buses in its fleet to connect different parts of the country | P2 TS EAMCET counselling postponed to Oct 11 Hyderabad: Telangana State Council of Higher Education on Monday announced a revised schedule of Phase II counselling of TS EAMCET exam. The process of counselling will now begin by October 11 postponed from its earlier date of September 28 | P4 fused to sign the resolution. The party leadership in Delhi feels the MLAs avoided the central observers on the direction of Gehlot. This is being seen as an open rebellion by Gehlot against the Gandhi family and the party’s central leadership. Congress leaders in Delhi said the party has started looking for an alternative candidate for the post of Congress president. There are four days left for the nominations to close for the party’s presidential election. Nominations for the presidential elections close on September 30. The Congress Legislature Party meeting, which was called on Sunday had to be can, celled as more than 90 MLAs loyal to Gehlot threatened to resign. Gehlot loyalists Shanti Dhariwal and Chief Whip Mahesh Joshi are being seen by the high command as the key players in the drama. Gehlot met Kharge in the hotel he was staying on Monday afternoon. Before leaving for Delhi, Kharge said, “Everyone will have to be on the same page with Congress president’s decision. There has to be unity and discipline in the party unit.” Dhariwal later alleged that Maken was part of a plot to unseat Gehlot as CM. Azad floats party, to offer 50% seats to youth, women FAYA Z WA N I @ Srinagar FORMER Congress leader and Ghulam Nabi Azad, who quit the grand old party a month ago, on Monday launched his own political outfit Democratic Azad Party (DAP). The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said his party will not be autocratic but democratic with independent ideology . He sought to downplay the allegations that his party will work for the BJP, saying his outfit will follow the principles of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. “Our policies will not be influenced by the politics of religion, caste or creed. We respect all religions, all regions and all parties,” he said. Azad said he had initially planned to float the party on September 23 but later decided to launch on 26th Monday, the first day of the Navratri. Fifty per cent tickets will be given to youth and women in the next Assembly polls, he said, adding Article 370 restoration won’t be an election issue. 22-yr-old dies of cardiac arrest Arunachal village celebrates arrival of first LPG cylinders after watching T20 match ROAD CONNECTIVITY P R A S A N TA M A Z U M D A R @ Guwahati COOKING gas has wended its way to the “disconnected” Vijaynagar circle of Arunachal Pradesh on the Myanmar border, 57 years after the first Indane LPG connection in India was released on October 22, 1965 in Kolkata. Two days ago, an agency, based in the Miao subdivision of Changlang district, delivered LPG cylinders to 15 families in Vijaynagar, 157 km away . Locals celebrated it. Minister Kamlung Mossang said the service fulfilled a longfelt need of the people. “They rely entirely on firewood for cooking and they faced a lot of Happy locals pose with LPG cylinders at Vijaynagar in Arunachal Pradesh | EXPRESS difficulties especially during the rainy season,” he said. Antu Ngemu, the gas agency proprietor, said the consumers were overjoyed. Nearly 500 others applied for the LPG connection but their documents are yet to reach the agency. “We haven’t been able to extend the service to them due to issues like logistics and documentation. Even for one bank transaction, you have to wait for several days,” Antu said. Usina Yobin said her father was so ecstatic that he called her up to break the news of the arrival of the red cylinders. “He received the cylinders, not the oven which will be delivered soon, but that couldn’t take away his joy,” Usina told this newspaper from Jairampur in the district where she was married off in 2019. The BSNL reached Vijaynagar in 2020 but one can get through only if lucky This re. porter could not reach any of the LPG consumers despite multiple attempts. After her wedding, Usina had to walk for over 100 km and five days along with her husband until reaching a road where she hopped into a car to go to his house. “Life is very difficult in Vijaynagar. Locals walk 15-20 km to go to a forest to collect firewood,” she said. Spread across 8,000 sq km, Vijaynagar was discovered in 1961 by the Assam Rifles during an expedition “Srijit II”. It was carried out under the leadership of Major General A S Guraya, the then Inspector General. He had named the valley after his son, Vijay . EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad IN a shocking incident, a 22-year-old youth died of a sudden cardiac arrest at his home on Sunday night. Abhijit was the son of Chandrashekhar Reddy, MD of Telangana State Medical Services Infrastructure Development Corporation. Abhijit, a recent engineering graduate, had fallen asleep while watching the IndiaAustralia T20 cricket match with his family He woke up at . 2 am and complained of severe chest pain. His family rushed him to Apollo Hospital in Hyderguda, where doctors declared him brought dead. The youth recently secured a job in a Dubai-based oil company with a salary package of around `50 lakh per annum. He was supposed to join the company next month. Family members said Abhijit was healthy and never had any major health issues. Health Minister T Harish Rao and BJP MLA Eatala Rajender expressed their condolences to the bereaved family . EVERYONE SHOULD LEARN CPR: EXPERTS | P3