twitter THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l saturday l January 28, 2023 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION Go First slapped `10L penalty for leaving behind 55 flyers Aviation regulator DGCA on Friday imposed heavy fine on the low-cost airline for the January 9 incident at Bengaluru airport Flight left with luggage minus passengers Airline failed in its duty, says DGCA The flyers were waiting in an airport shuttle bus when the Delhi-bound flight took off with their luggage. “Perusal of reply of Go First reveals that there was improper communication, coordination between terminal coordinator, commercial staff and crew regarding boarding of passengers in the aircraft,” the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s statement read ■ ■ “The airline failed to ensure adequate arrangement for ground handling, preparation of load and trim sheet, flight dispatch and passenger/cargo handling...” the DGCA statement added On January 10, Go First apologised for the inconvenience caused to the passengers due to what it termed “inadvertent oversight” A40 lakh Penalty imposed by DGCA on Air India for two incidents this month 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 Notice to Pak to review & modify Indus water pact Islamabad has three months to open talks Yesh i S e l i @ New Delhi Nuts & bolts of the dispute For the first time, India has put Pakistan on notice seeking a review and modification of the Indus Water Treaty negotiated by the World Bank and signed by both sides in 1960. The notice was sent on January 25 through the existing mechanism of the Indus Water commissioners. Pakistan has three months to get to the talks table to rectify a material breach flagged by India of the treaty . While the treaty provides India absolute control of the eastern rivers of the Indus, which are Ravi, Sutlej and Beas, it lets Pakistan make unrestricted use of the western rivers — the Indus, Jhelum and Chenab. India, though, is permitted to use the western rivers for domestic, non-consumptive, agricultural and generation of hydro-electric power, subject to conditions in the treaty on their design and operation. In 2018, India commissioned the Kishanganga hydroelectric power plant (330 MW) on its side of the Jhelum’s tributary . A bigger Ratle power plant (850 MW) is under construction across the Chenab’s tributary . Pakistan objected to their design and in 2015 sought a neutral expert to sort out the matter. India was okay with it. But a year later, Pakistan unilaterally retracted the request and sought a court of arbitration instead. India opposed it and the World Bank put the matter While Indus, Jhelum and Chenab are for Pakistan under the treaty, India can build hydroelectric power plants subject to design approval India has already built a hydroelectric power plant on Jhelum and is constructing another on Chenab In 2015, Pakistan objected to their design and wanted a neutral expert to sort it out. India agreed A year later, Pakistan sought a court of arbitration instead. It was India’s turn to object, saying two parallel negotiations can’t be allowed under the treaty on ice in December 2016. Since the dispute remained unresolved, the World Bank on March 31, 2022 resumed the process of appointing a neutral expert and a chairman for a court of arbitration. “Despite repeated efforts by India to find a mutually agreeable way forward, Pakistan refused to discuss the issue during the five meetings of the Permanent Indus Commission from 2017 to 2022,’’ sources said. However, parallel consideration of the same issue by two different mechanisms is not covered under the treaty “India . has always been a steadfast supporter and a responsible partner in the IWT. Pakistan’s actions have adversely impinged on the provisions of IWT and forced India to issue an appropriate notice for modification of IWT,’’ said sources. slam done Tennis star Sania Mirza bid a tearful adieu to her Grand Slam career with a runners-up finish alongside best friend Rohan Bopanna at the Australian Open mixed doubles Rod Laver Arena has been her happy hunting ground. She won women’s doubles and mixed doubles titles and runners-up four times | P11 Investors lose `11 lakh crore as markets fall A RS H AD K H AN @ New Delhi INDIA’s equity markets fell sharply on Friday with both the Sensex and Nifty hitting a three-month low. At close, the Sensex was down 874.16 points, or 1.45%, at 59,330.90, while Nifty declined 287.70 points, or 1.61%, at 17,604.30. The dip was largely due to the slump in Adani group stocks, which fell up to 23% during intraday trading, and its spillover impact on banking stocks that have an exposure to the group. The markets had closed with sharp cuts in the previous trading session on Wednesday too. , The meltdown left investors poorer by about `11 lakh crore since Wednesday Ada. ni group stocks have come under pressure after US activist investor Hindenburg Research alleged 85% downside in the scrips “purely on fundamental valuations,” announced a short position in the group’s stocks, and accused Adani of manipulating stock prices. FII stance ahead of the Budget and US Fed meeting also fuelled Friday’s Full report: P10 fall. HC judge recalls order granting bail to two Saiby clients P R a m d a s @Kochi The ramifications of the ‘cashfor-verdicts’ scam are proving to be far-reaching. A judge of the Kerala High Court has recalled his earlier ruling in a bail case in which the petitioners were represented by the lawyer — Saiby Jose Kidangoor — in the eye of the storm. Justice Ziyad Rahman A A issued the order on January 23 based on a petition filed by the victim in the case seeking recall of the judgment and a rehearing of the case. An investigation by the vigilance wing of the HC had exposed the lawyer, who allegedly took money from clients on the promise of favourable verdicts. An advocate deposed before the vigilance wing that Saiby collected `50 lakh from his clients on the pretext of paying the amount to Justice Ziyad. When allegations against the lawyer surfaced, the de facto complainant in the case moved Justice Ziyad seeking to recall the order issued on April 29, 2022, granting anticipatory bail to two persons who were represented by Saiby. The case was registered with Ranni police station for offences under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. In the bail order, the court noted that though the notice of the bail application has been served on the de facto complainant, the advocate did not appear on his behalf. Adv V Sethunath, who appeared for the complainant, submitted that no notice had been served to him. In fact, no notice was served from this court, the direction was to serve the notice through the police. The police did not serve any notice on the Complainant’s move When allegations against the lawyer surfaced, the de facto complainant in the case moved Justice Ziyad seeking to recall the order issued on April 29, 2022, granting anticipatory bail to two persons who were represented by Saiby. AI to sort coin Rahul drops off Yatra after offerings at alleged breach of security Sabarimala M S V i d ya n a n d a n @T’Puram THE Travancore Devaswom Board is considering employing artificial intelligence (AI) to deal with the huge volume of coins received as offerings at the Sabarimala temple. The board has already received two project proposals on the same. One, from an engineering college in Chennai and the other from an entrepreneur from Kerala. Board president K Ananthagopan told TNIE that the team from the engineering college’s AI department had shown a prototype. “We have sought more clarifications on the prototype. We will place an order only after examining all proposals, and with the help of technical experts,” he said. The Kerala entrepreneur, too, has been asked to make a presentation before the board, Ananthagopan added. Both proposals are for machines that will sort the coins by denomination. The counting has to be done separately, but the job will be less cumbersome. At present, there are three coin-sorting machines at Sabarimala. They separate coins en masse -- by removing other materials such as rice, flowers, and folded currencies that are deposited in the offering boxes. It does not offer segregation by coin denomination. This year, the board is yet to finish the counting of coins even a week into the process. The president said it would take another week for the counting to end. “We plan to install the new machines before the next pilgrimage season. It can save a lot of manpower. The segregation and counting of coins is a stressful job. Getting machines to do the job will be helpful,” he added. Global laurels Startup Mission is among world’s top 5 biz incubators E x p ress Ne w s S erv i c e @T’Puram In a major boost to the startup ecosystem in the state, a World Benchmark Study has ranked Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) as one of the world’s top five business incubators. The study conducted by UBI Global, a , Sweden-based innovation intelligence company identifies the best programmes , from around the world and shares the best practices for building a robust startup ecosystem. The sixth edition of the study saw over 1,800 organisations assessed. Of them, 109 were benchmarked. A Startup Mission official said the communication mentions only about the state’s inclusion in the top 5 list and its exact position will be announced only in June. “This achievement is the result of the Left government’s policy to ensure a favourable environment for startups for realising a bright future for the state,” Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote on Facebook. This recognition will help bring in more investments in Kerala’s startup sector, he added. The governor in his Republic Day speech too had noted the exemplary role played by KSUM in building the world’s best startup Others in the chart Bilgiyi Ticarile tirme Merkezi (Turkey) MIDITEC (Brazil) Nexus - Hub de Inovação do Parque Tecnológico São José dos Campos (Brazil) Shanghai Caohejing Hi-tech Park Innovation Center (China) ecosystem in Kerala. “Finding a place among the top five business incubators of the world is a big recognition for KSUM’s efforts in creating a robust ecosystem and for its various incubation programmes,” KSUM CEO Anoop Ambika said. Its innovative programmes, including the virtual incubation programme, ‘Fail Fast or Succeed’, physical incubation support provided for startups, and the systematic funding mechanism for startups, have played a key role in this global recognition, he said. KSUM received major accolades in the past five years, adding to the momentum of its incubation activities that accelerated the growth of many nascent firms. KSUM is the nodal agency of the state government for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the state. Congress fumes “Security arrangements in Jammu were good. But what happened now? There was a serious security lapse. There was virtually no security during the yatra in the Valley today,” alleged Congress leader K C Venugopal ‘Were not consulted’ “Police were not consulted by the organisers before deciding to discontinue the yatra after walking for about 1 km. The rest of the yatra went on peacefully,” the police said F aya z W a n i @ Srinagar Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday cancelled his padyatra after the Bharat Jodo Yatra entered the militancyhit South Kashmir, alleging complete collapse of security arrangements. The police, however, rejected the charge saying foolproof security would continue to be provided to the yatra. Rahul started the day’s walk from Banihal along with former J&K chief minister and National Conference vicepresident Omar Abdullah. But after the yatra entered Qazigund in south Kashmir, he opted out after accepting the recommendation of his security detail though the rest of the participants continued their foot march. Talking to the media in Anantnag, where he arrived in a car, Rahul said a large crowd had gathered in Qazigund and “we were looking forward to walking. Unfortunately police, men who were supposed to Rahul Gandhi with NC vice-president Omar Abdullah during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, in Qazigund on Friday | PTI manage the crowd were nowhere to be seen.” However, the J&K Police said only authorised persons identified by the organisers and the frisked crowd were allowed inside on the route of yatra. “The organisers & managers of BJY did not intimate about large gathering from Banihal joining the yatra, which thronged near the starting point,” they added. petitioner. From the case status, it can be seen that though the return notice date is May 20, 2022, the case was called on April 29, 2022, and an inquiry is to be conducted on this aspect, Adv Sethunath said. “The petitioners misled the court on the facts, the law and the precedents of the Supreme Court and High Court. The application was disposed of without notice to them and therefore the same stands nullified,” he ● More on P4 added.  Edit: AFTER BRIBERY SCANDAL, JUDICIAL CLEAN-UP MUST: P6 E X P RESS REA D ECI to reconsider bypoll notification Kochi: The SC has disposed of a petition filed by former Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faisal challenging the byelection notification issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in view of his conviction in an attemptto-murder case. The court disposed of the petition considering the submission made by the ECI that it would act in accordance with the law in view of the Kerala High Court order suspending his conviction. P5 Not joining BJP, says Anil Antony New Delhi: Congress leader A K Antony’s son Anil Antony, who quit all party posts in the wake of the row over his tweets opposing the BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, says he has no plans to join the BJP. In an interview, Anil says Rahul Gandhi is surrounded by intolerant people. P4 16 pages, including 4 pages of THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Express