TU R K E Y Kahramanmaras 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 ■ ■ Epicentre tadepalligudem l tuesday l february 7, 2023 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Gaziantep Aleppo  Severe  Very strong  Strong  Moderate s yr i a The Minute-long quake could be Turkey’s largest First quake centred north of Gaziantep in Turkey. It struck at 4.17 am local time and lasted about a minute. It could be Turkey’s largest so far A strong 6.7 aftershock came 10 minutes later. Tremors from the quake were felt as far away as Greenland. It was also felt in Egypt, Lebanon and Cyprus. Tsunami warning was briefly issued in Italy Collapsed buildings in a rebel-held village in Syria on Monday (L) and rescue operations in full swing in the earthquake-hit regions in Syria and Turkey | AFP 2,300 killed and counting Y e s h i Se l i @ New Delhi A monster 7.8 magnitude earthquake in the wee hours of Monday — followed by another 7.5 about 10 hours later — rocked Turkey and Syria toppling hundreds of buildings and killing over 2,300 people and leaving many others injured. The toll is expected to shoot as hundreds are still trapped under rubble. It was a cold, rainy and snowy night when the pre-dawn quake struck, reducing buildings to piles of pancaked floors on both sides of the border. Thousands of buildings collapsed in a wide area extending from Syria’s cities of Aleppo and Hama to Turkey’s Diyarbakir, more than 330 km to the northeast. A hospital collapsed in the coastal city of Iskenderun in Turkey. Casualities were reported from at least 10 provinces in Turkey . The epicentre was in Turkey’s province of Kahramanmaras. It sent residents of Da- mascus rushing into the streets, jolted awake people in their beds in Beirut, and was felt in faraway Cairo. “Because the debris removal efforts are continuing in many buildings in the earthquake zone, we do not know how high the number of dead and injured will rise,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. Hundreds of families remained trapped in rubble in Syria, an emergency organisation, called the White Helmets, run by the country’s opposition said in a statement. The Turkey-Syria region sits on top of major fault lines and frequently experiences quakes. As many as 18,000 were killed in a similarly powerful earthquakes that hit Turkey in 1999. Researchers said Monday’s earthquake was a strike-slip quake, where two tectonic Second quake was not an aftershock The 7.5-magnitude second quake struck at 1.24 pm local time, around 95 km north of the first quake. Officials said it was not an aftershock 2,800 rescue teams have been deployed in Turkey. The nation’s armed forces have set up an air corridor to enable search and rescue teams to reach the affected zones. At least 22 countries are rushing aid  U.S. Geological Survey warns fatalities could even cross 10,000  earthquake was 18 km deep  race against time to rescue victims  India to send two NDRF teams comprising 100 personnel plates slide past each other horizontally instead of moving up , and down. They said it was one of the biggest strike-slip quakes in the world. At the United Nationa, diplomats from the 193 member countries stood in silent tribute to victims of the earthquake. Offers of help poured in from across the globe, including India, Britain, the European Union and NATO. India will send two teams of National Disaster Response Force comprising 100 personnel with specially trained dog squads and necessary equipment to help expedite the search and rescue operations. Medical teams are also being readied with trained doctors and paramedics with essential medicines. Relief material will be dispatched in coordination with the Government of Republic of Türkiye and Indian Embassy in Ankara and Consulate General office in Istanbul. “Anguished by the loss of lives and damage of property due to the earthquake in Turkey. Condolences to the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon. India stands in solidarity with the people of Turkey and is ready to offer all possible assistance to cope with this tragedy,’’ said Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Principal Secretary to the PM held a high-level meeting in South Block to discuss immediate relief measures.  Thousands homeless P9 SC to hear plea against PM lays out 4-pronged strategy to boost energy sector Victoria Gowri today E x p r e ss N e ws Se r v i c e @ Bengaluru proposed appointment as a judge poses a grave threat to IN a rare move, the Supreme the fair administration of jusCourt on Monday agreed to tice and citizens right to the hear an urgent plea seeking to same under Article 21 of the restrain advocate Lekshmana Constitution,” the plea stated. Chandra Victoria Gowri from Urging the bench to stay the taking oath as a judge of the warrant of her appointment Madras High Court, soon after and swearing in, Ramachanthe Centre notified her dran said certain vital appointment. information was not Earlier in the day, before the six-member minutes after Union collegium when it reclaw minister Kiren Riommended her name jiju tweeted confirmon January 17, 2023. ing Gowri’s elevation, He also referred to a bench headed by the top court’s 1992 Chief Justice D Y ruling of quashing the Victoria Gowri C h a n d r a ch u d h a d appointment of an HC agreed to list the plea for Fri- judge after finding the person day The hearing was, however, recommended “ineligible.” . advanced after senior advocate Considering the senior counRaju Ramachandran again sel’s contention, CJI Chandramentioned the plea, seeking the chud said the collegium has court’s urgent intervention. taken cognisance of the develThe petitioners, a group of opments that took place after lawyers from Chennai, in their its recommendation. “We can plea referred to the alleged hate list it tomorrow morning,” speeches made by Gowri. “Her Chandrachud said. Sh r u t i K a k k a r @ New Delhi Madras high court gets five new judges The President on Monday appointed five additional judges to the Madras High Court. Of them, Lekshmana Chandra Victoria Gowri, Pillaipakkam Bahukutumbi Balaji and Kandhasami Kulanthaivelu Ramakrishnan are from the Bar while Ramachandran Kalaimathi and Govindarajan Thilakavadi are from the judicial services. A notification of the appointment was issued by the Department of Justice. P2 historic milestone The Naval variant of the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft makes its maiden landing onboard the country’s first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier INS Vikrant on Monday | PTI IN a big push for India’s energy sector, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday laid out a four-pronged strategy while appealing to global and domestic investors from the exploration and production (E&P) sector to invest in the country . Inaugurating India Energy Week 2023, Modi explained four major verticals for the strategic energy sector: increasing domestic exploration and production; diversifying the supply; expanding fuels like biofuel, ethanol, compressed biogas and solar; and de-carbonisation via electric vehi- Adani prepays $1.14 bn for release of pledged shares a RS H A D k H A N @ New Delhi IN a bid to salvage investor confidence amid huge market value erosion, billionaire Gautam Adani and family have prepaid $1.1 billion worth of loans that were taken by pledging shares of Adani group firms. The group had time till September 2024 to repay the loans. “In light of recent market volatility and in continuation of the promoters’ commitment to reduce the overall promoter leverage backed by Adani shares, we are pleased to inform that promoters have posted the amounts to prepay $1,114 million ahead of maturity of September 2024,” a company statement read. With this, over 200 million shares in three Adani group firms — 168.27 mn shares of Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) representing 12% of the promoters’ holding, 27.56 mn shares (3% of promoters’ holding) in Adani Green Energy and 11.77 mn (1.4%) in Adani Transmission — will be released. The promoter family owns 65.13% in APSEZ, of which 17.31% is pledged, according to BSE data updated till December 31. The promoter’s stake in Adani Green Energy is 60.75% (pledge: 4.36%) and 74.19% in Adani Transmission (pledge: 6.62%). The ports-to-power conglomerate has been under fire and lost nearly `10 lakh crore in market capitalisation in just eight sessions after US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research published a scathing report alleging fraud and stock price manipulation. The relentless stock rout had also triggered concerns of the group’s ability to meet debt obligations. The latest move by the promoters is aimed to address such concerns. The Adani Group’s gross debt is estimated at about `2 lakh crore. AP to get `689 cr as GST compensation: FM E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that `689 crore was pending to Andhra Pradesh as GST compensation for the period between April and June, 2022. This pending amount would be released from the Compensation Fund wherein monthly cess collection was being transferred and credited. The Union Minister was replying to a question raised by Y S RC M P Va l l a b h a n e n i Balashowry in the Lok Sabha on when the pending GST compensation amount would be released by the Centre to the State. Sitharaman said, “As per the provision of GST (Compensation to States) Act, 2017 and taking into account `1.10 lakh crore for financial year 2020-21 and `1.59 lakh crore for 2021-22 released to States as back to back loan in the lieu of GST compensation, the entire GST compensation dues of all the States and Union Territories, including Andhra Pradesh has been cleared by the Centre up to May 31, 2022.” “Taking into account the loan of `2,311 crore in financial year 2020-21 and `3,272 crore in 2021-22 released to Andhra in the lieu of GST compensation and release of bimonthly GST compensation from July 2017 to , June, 2022, only `689 crore was pending to the State as GST compensation for April-June, 2022,” the Finance Minister P4 elaborated.  A few States have requested for extension of payment of GST compensation beyond transition period of five years. Centre is committed to payment of compensation Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister cles and hydrogen. The PM said India is working to enhance petrochemical production capacity and asked the industry leadership to utilise technology and the startup ecosystem to expand their energy landscape. He said ‘no-go’ curbs on oil exploration and production on up to 10 lakh sq km More investments Justifying the need for more investments, Modi pointed out the rising demand for energy in the country in the near future, with a rapid pace of development expected to result in new cities being developed area were lifted, and appealed to investors “to make use of these opportunities, and increase your presence in the exploration of fossil fuels.” Quoting International Energy Association, the Prime Minister said India’s energy demands will be highest in the present decade, presenting an opportunity for stakeholders.