chennai l Monday l October 02, 2023 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l LATE CITY EDITION U.S. CONGRESS AVOIDS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN IN LAST-MINUTE DEAL The US government has avoided a shutdown of its services after both the House and Senate agreed on a short-term funding deal till Nov 17 New aid to ukraine blocked in the deal Zelenskyy’s Washington visit a nought President Joe Biden signed the short-term funding deal minutes before the deadline, by leaving out the new aid to Ukraine. A government shutdown would have meant govt staff will be on furlough (without pay) and various government services would be suspended. The Congress will need to fund the govt again in the coming weeks, which means the crisis is not yet over | P11 ■ ■ The loss of Ukraine aid was devastating for lawmakers of both parties vowing to support president Zelenskyy after his recent US visit The Senate bill had included $6 billion for Ukraine, which has now been dropped. However, Biden said the US cannot allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted and vowed to continue funding 2 million Federal govt staff would have lost pay if no deal was reached 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 CBI arrests 4 for killing two Manipuri students Death of two Madurai moms: records altered? @ Madurai IN a shocking development, medical officers at the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai are alleged to have fabricated case sheets and patient records with regard to two maternal deaths in September. Based on a letter from Madurai Collector MS Sangeetha, the health department has formed a committee to probe the issue on Monday . According to Deputy Director of Health Dr Kumaraguru, the collector discovered the fabrication of case sheets during the monthly maternal death audits conducted with the city health officer, joint director medical & rural health services and duty assistant professor at GRH. In her September 20 letter to Health Secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi requesting action, the collector said the Obstetrics and Gynaecology (OG) department of GRH had fabricated in their favour the case sheets of patient Semmalar, who died on September 2, and record of patient Kuppi, who died on September 5. The collector wrote that the maternal death of Semmalar was audited on SepP7 tember 3.  India’s Avinash Sable celebrates after winning the men’s 3000m steeplechase final on Sunday; (right) Tajinderpal Singh Toor won gold in men’s shot put event | PTI India on track for biggest Games Track and field athletes dominate show as country cross 50-medal mark in ongoing Asiad s w a r o o p s w a m i n at h a n @ Hangzhou ON China’s National Day India’s , hopes of surging towards the 100-medal mark received a major boost. Athletics was at its sublime best. It helped India accumulate 15 medals, their biggest in a single day They crossed . the 50-medal mark too. Even before Sunday dawned at Hangzhou, the day was heaving with promise from an Indian perspective. Aditi Ashok, the overnight leader, headed into the final day as the favourite. However, she tripped and only managed to win silver. Rohan Bopanna, fresh from winning the mixed doubles gold, was one of the many interested onlookers. Even as she lamented about ‘losing gold’ to the media, shooting, predictably, gave India its first gold of the day. The trap team of Kynan Chenai, Zoravar Singh and Prithviraj Tondaiman did enough to pip Kuwait. There was a bit of history too. The women’s trap team fetched silver. Rajeshwari Kumari, who was part of the team (Preeti Rajak and Manisha Keer were others), emulated her father and acting Olympic Council of Asia president Randhir Singh to win an Asiad medal. In the afternoon, most of Hangzhou’s roads seemingly led to the athletics Stadium or the badminton arena. China is on a week-long holiday (September 29 to October 6) as part of the Mid Autumn Festival and National Day In badminton, the at. mosphere was off the charts as the hosts fought back to complete a come-from-behind 3-2 win over India in the men’s team final. For roughly two hours of that final, the crowd had been forced to be quiet for vast swathes as India had taken a 2-0 lead. But, China are top dogs in the sport for a reason. In athletics, though, the newest darling of China’s track and field, Wu Yanni, was disqualified for a false start in the women’s 100m hurdles. India’s Jyothi Yarraji was also wrongly disqualified but she ran under protest and ended with a silver. Talk about mental toughness. GST collection in Sept zooms to `1.63 lakh cr E X PR E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ New Delhi THE Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection in September rose 10% year-on-year to `1.63 lakh crore. This is for the fourth time that the gross GST collection has crossed the `1.60 lakh crore mark in 2023-24. In August this year, the collections had fallen below the `1.60 lakh crore mark to `1.57 lakh crore. The total GST collection in the first six months of the financial year has crossed `9.9 lakh crore, and if the trend continues, the full year collection could cross `20 lakh crore. In the first half (AprilSeptember) of the last financial year, the total collection had stood at `8.9 lakh crore. The average monthly GST collection this year (till September) has been `1.65 lakh crore, which is 11% higher than `1.49 lakh crore during the corresponding period last year. According to a finance ministry statement, revenues from domestic transactions (including import of services) in September are 14% higher than revenues from these sources during the same month last year. Most large states saw double-digit increase in GST collection barring Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Jharkhand and Haryana. Bihar saw a decline of 5% year on year. May June July 1,48,995 1,65,105 April 1,47,686 1,62,712 Coimbatore: The death toll in the bus accident at Coonoor rose to nine after rescue personnel managed to recover the body of a woman on Sunday. The bus had fallen over 50 feet into a gorge on Saturday evening after the driver had lost control at the ninth hairpin bend on the ghat road | P6 1,43,612 1,59,069 Coonoor bus accident: Toll rises to nine 1,00,000 1,44,616 1,61,497 express read 1,50,000 1,40,885 1,57,090 Prime Minister Narendra Modi participates in a special cleanliness programme called Ek Taarikh, Ek Ghanta, Ek Saath as part of the nationwide ‘Swachhata Hi Seva’ campaign on the eve of Gandhi Jayanti, in New Delhi on Sunday | pti Monthly GST collection (in Lcr) 2,00,000 1,67,540 1,87,035 Sweeping changes AUG SEPT 50,000 0 Total 2022-23 8,93,334 2023-24 9,92,508 Workers unpaid for months, TN school loos stink Su b a s h i n i V i j aya k u m a r @ Chennai Sanitation at government-run schools in rural Tamil Nadu has taken a hit as the 33,500 temporary workers employed to clean toilets have been facing delays in receiving their salaries. While some haven’t received their meagre pay for two months, others have gone without salary for 10 months. The result is unusable toilets at schools where the teachers and officials haven’t been able Henglep subdivision around noon. Two minor girls aged 9 THE Central Bureau of Inves- and 11 — daughters of one of tigation (CBI) on Sunday ar- the accused women — were rested four persons, including also in the vehicle. two women, from ChurachandSubsequently, all six were pur in Manipur in connection taken to Imphal airport in an with the abduction and killing Army helicopter. Around 5 pm, of two Meitei students. they were flown out of the state “I’m pleased to share that to Assam capital Guwahati, in some of the main culprits re- a routine commercial flight. sponsible for the abduction The arrested accused will be and murder of Phiproduced before the jam Hemanjit and Kukis protest Competent Court at Hijam Linthoingam- against arrest Guwahati designated bi have been arrested as per the orders of Civil society from Churachandpur the Supreme Court, organisations in today,” Chief Ministhe CBI said in a statKuki-majority ter N Biren Singh Churachandpur on ment. It added that posted on microblogthe two minor chilSunday declared ging platform X (fordren have been handan indefinite merly Twitter). “As ed over to District shutdown in the the saying goes, one Child Protection Ofdistrict from may abscond after Monday morning in ficer, Kamrup Metro c o m m i t t i n g t h e protest against the District for their welcrime, but they canfare and protection. ‘abduction’ of six not escape the long Sources said the Kuki-Zo tribals hands of the law,” CBI was tracking the Singh added. phone of one of the slain stuHe said the government was dents, and found that it was becommitted to ensuring maxi- ing used by the accused. mum punishment, including Hemanjit (20) and Linthoincapital punishment, to the cul- gambi (17) went missing in prits for the heinous crime July when the ethnic violence they had committed. in Manipur was at its peak. It was learnt that the CBI Photos showing their bodies team, assisted by the Manipur surfaced on social media repolice and Army intercepted a cently days after internet serv, , Bolero in which the four ac- ices were restored in the state cused were travelling at the after a four-month blackout. PRASANTA MA Z U M D AR @ Guwahati J E YA L AKSHMI RAMAN U JAM to find other means to pay the workers. Top officials from the Rural Development department, which sanctions funds to pay the workers, did not respond to TNIE’s queries. However, the project director of the District Rural Development Agency in one district acknowledged the issue and said the state had yet to allocate funds of toilet maintenance. Sanitary workers at primary schools are paid `1,000 a month, while those in middle and higher secondary schools are paid `1,500 and `3,000 respectively. Workers at high school are paid `2,250. Many of the workers are women. Some have continued to work despite their dire financial situation because their children are enrolled at the same schools. “I have not received my salary for six months. As my grandchildren study in the school, I continue to work” said 54-yearold Pattammal, who works at the Panchayat Union Middle School in Arasur in SathyaP7 mangalam block.  Why delay The DRDA project director at one district acknowledged the issue but said he did not know why the funds were delayed. We have given instructions to use panchayat general funds for the wages” Super Sunday Gold: Avinash Sable (men’s 3000m steeplechase); Tajinderpal Singh Toor (men’s shot put); Men’s trap team Silver: Harmilan Bains (women’s 1500m); M Sreeshankar (men’s long jump); Jyothi Yarraji (women’s 100m hurdles); Ajay Kumar Saroj (men’s 1500m); Badminton men’s team; Aditi Ashok (women’s golf); Women’s trap team Bronze: Kynan Chenai (men’s trap) Nikhat Zareen (boxing); Jinson Johnson (men’s 1500m); Nandini Agasara (women’s heptathlon 800m); Seema Punia (Discus throw) Tale of courage & grit Boxer Parveen Hooda puts aside her father's health concerns to secure at least a bronze medal and a spot at Paris Olympics | P13