TURKEY 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 HYDERABAD  TUESDAY  FEBRUARY 07, 2023  `9.00  PAGES 16  LATE CITY EDITION Gaziantep Aleppo  Severe  Very strong  Strong  Moderate SYRIA THE MINUTE-LONG TREMOR COULD BE TURKEY’S LARGEST A man walks among earthquake rubble as he searches for survivors in a destroyed building in Adana, Turkey on Monday (L); and rescue operations in full swing in Syria | AP/AFP 2,600 KILLED AND COUNTING Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi AT A GLANCE 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 2,600 people and leaving many others injured. The toll is expected to go up 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 Casualties were . reported from at least 10 provinces in Turkey . The epicentre was in Turkey’s province of Kahramanmaras. It sent residents of Da- OUTLAY: `2,90,396 CR Revenue expenditure `2,11,685.23 crore Capital expenditure `37,524.70 crore Revenue surplus 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 `4,881.74 cr Fiscal deficit 4.94 `38,23 re cro 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 `2,16,566.97 cr Revenue receipts EXPECTED GROWTH RATE OF GSDP IN 2023-24: 16% Harish presents `2.90 L cr Budget with confidence, hope & optimism NO NEW SCHEMES IN ELECTION YEAR V V B A L A K R I S H N A @ Hyderabad FINANCE Minister T Harish Rao, while presenting the last Budget of the current Bharat Rashtra Samithi-led State government in the election year on Monday in the State Legislative Assembly banked on three fac, tors — confidence, hope and optimism. The State government is confident of meeting its estimated own tax revenue of `1.31 lakh crore. They hope the Centre will be generous and release the estimated g rants-in-aid of `41,259.17 crore, as well as the estimated `17,828 crore from the Interstate Settlement and not cut the open market borrowings of `40,615.68 crore. Even if the Centre is not generous, the State is optimistic about meeting its budgetary target by reaching its own tax revenue target, which will enable it to fulfil its commitments. Thus, the Budget 202324 with an outlay of `2,90,396 crore is nothing but a composition of being realistic in own tax revenues and unrealistic about the Centre’s generosity. Due to this typical financial situation, it seems, Harish didn’t announce any new schemes, even in election year and stuck to continuing the initiatives, which the government expects to be sufficient for the ruling party to be in the good books of a majority of voters. Harish presented the Budget with `4,881.74 crore revenue surplus and with `38,234.94 crore fiscal deficit for 2023-24. This year’s Budget saw a 13 per cent hike when compared to INSIDE Allegedly due to the typical financial situation in the State, Finance Minister T Harish Rao, didn’t announce any new schemes, even in election year and stuck to continuing the initiatives, which the government expects to be sufficient for the ruling party to be in the good books of a majority of voters. Harish presented the Budget with `4,881.74 crore revenue surplus and with `38,234.94 crore fiscal deficit for 2023-24 Finance Minister T Harish Rao presents the 2023-24 Budget in Telangana Assembly, Hyderabad, on Monday the 2022-23 Budget, which had a total outlay of `2.56 lakh crore. Out of the total `2.90 lakh crore Budget estimates for 2023-24, the finance minister proposed `2,11,685 crore for revenue expenditure and `37,525 crore for capital expenditure. When asked if the State would be successful in getting estimated funds from the Centre, a Finance Department source said, “Our estimates with regard to the State Own Tax Revenues (SOTR) are reasonable and realistic. We hope that the Centre will release funds as we expect. In revenue receipts, the State showed `17,828 crore power dues under Interstate Settlements, hoping that the Centre would clear this amount. Telangana has been arguing that it had to receive power dues from Andhra Pradesh. The Centre recently cleared `6,500 crore power dues to AP. So, we are hopeful that the Telangana too will get the same.” However, the finance minister revised grants-in-aid for 2022-23 to `30,250.22 crore against the Budget estimates of `41,001.73 CONTINUED ON P4 crore. AGRI REMAINS KEY PRIORITY I P4 `26.8K CR FOR IRRIGATION I P4 HIGHLIGHTS `2,500 crore additional funds for maintenance of R&B roads `500 crore for providing infrastructure facilities to all universities for salary payment of new recruits Regularisation Minority Finance of 11,000 Corporation Budget contract has been increased employees from `31 crore to from April 2003 `270 crore `1,000 cr `2,000 crore for maintenance `1,000 to `3,000 per month of PR roads honorarium to midday meal workers SERP EMPLOYEES’ PAY SCALE TO BE IMPLEMENTED FROM APRIL 2003 IMPORTANT ALLOCATIONS Scheme 2022-23 2023-24 (`in cr) Rythu Bandhu 14,800 15,075 Kalyana Lakshmi & Shaadi Mubarak 2,750 3,210 Rythu Bima 1,466 1,589 Scholarships and DIET 4,690 5,609 Power subsidy 10,500 12,000 Rice subsidy 2,786 3,000 Farmers’ debt waiver NA 6,385 Aasara NA 12,000 2BHK units (@ `3 lakh each) 12,000 12,000 Dalit Bandhu 17,700 17,700 KCR nutrition kits 200 Palle Pragathi 3,360 3,360 Pattana Pragathi 1,474 1,474 HC UPHOLDS CBI PROBE INTO POACHGATE | P5 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 p r o m o t e r l eve r a g e 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 Econom- ic 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. Lost `10 lakh crore The conglomerate has lost nearly `10 lakh crore in market capitalisation in just 8 sessions after Hindenburg Research published a scathing report 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 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 Nations, 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 PM lays out strategy to boost energy sector More investments Justifying the need for more investments, Modi said there is a rising demand for energy in the country in near future E X P R ESS N E WS S E RV I C E @ Bengaluru 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 vehicles and hydrogen. The PM said India is working to enhance petrochemical production capacity He said . ‘no-go’ curbs on oil exploration and production on up to 10 lakh sq km area were lifted, and appealed to investors “to make use of these opportunities, and increase your presence in the exploration of fossil fuels.”