KANNUR l friday l January 19, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l city EDITION Ram lalla placed inside sanctum santorum of Temple in Ayodhya The idol of Ram Lalla as a 5-year-old, was placed on a lotus-shaped, gold-plated throne in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple in Ayodhya Makeshift Shikhar over the garbh griha half-day holiday for Central govt staff For now, Ram Lalla is wrapped up in cloth. The full idol can be seen only after the consecration ceremony. Work on a makeshift shikhar (peak) over the sanctum santorum is nearing completion. Given the controversy over consecration under an incomplete shikhar, the construction company has been directed to ensure that the garbh griha shikhar is built at the earliest ■ ■ The idol crafted by Mysuru sculptor Arun Yogiraj reached the temple premises in Ayodhya late on Wednesday evening. Ram Lalla was placed in the sanctum sanctorum with the help of a crane. A special puja was performed before the idol entered the temple Central govt offices to be closed for half a day on January 22 1.5 tonnes is the weight of ram lalla idol placed in the garba griha 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 Pak claims it hit Baloch terrorists across the border; worry over more regional instability Tit-for-tat Pakistani airstrikes within Iran Y e s h i S e l i @ New Delhi Rescue officials during the search operation at the Harni lake in Vadodara | PTI 14 students dead as overcrowded boat flips in Guj D i l i p S i n g h K s h at r i ya Case lodged against 5 accused, 2 held A school picnic turned tragic as 14 students and two teachers were killed after their boat capsized in Harni lake on the outskirts of Vadodara in Gujarat on Thursday evening. Officials said 27 people were on board when the mishap occured. However, locals claimed the boat was carrying 31 people, including 23 kids, against the capacity of 14 adults, and that only 11 were given life jackets. The students and teachers were from New Sunrise School, Vadodara and were on a picnic organised by the school. According to sources, the students were aged 7-8 years and left in two boats — English medium students in one boat and Gujarati medium students in the next. Only the latter returned safely. The boats were operated by a private contractor with licence from the Vadodara Municipal Corporation. “We had no idea about what The police have lodged an FIR against five persons including the boat contractor under IPC Sections 304, 308 and 337. Two persons, including the main accused, have been detained @ Ahmedabad express read Police can’t be guided by anger, says HC Kochi: Coming down heavily on the police for their use of disrespectful words such as ‘eda’, ‘edi’, ‘poda’ and ‘podi’ while addressing the public, the High Court has said police could not be guided by anger. P6 6 DAys TO gO PrEsENTs THINKEDU CONCLAVE happened there. We left with our boys from the Gujarati medium. When the others did not return, we inquired why they were taking so much time. Then we discovered the boat capsized,” said a teacher. Fire officials said local residents rescued some children before the fire brigade personnel reached the spot. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, who visited the accident site, has sought a detailed report from the District Magistrate within 10 days. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ex gratia of `2 lakh to the next of kin of each deceased and `50,000 to the injured. In a tit-for-tat attack, Pakistan on Thursday bombed terror hideouts within Iran on the Balochistan border, killing at least nine persons, including four children, further inflaming bilateral relations. The strikes came a couple of days after Iranian missiles and drones hit two bases of Baloch terror outfit Jaish al-Adil in the Panjgur town of Pakistan’s Balochistan province. “We only targeted Iranian terrorists on Pakistan’s soil,” Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian had claimed on Wednesday at Davos. A furious Tehran summoned Islamabad’s charge d’affaires to register its protest and demand an explanation. All nine deaths were of foreign nationals, Iran’s interior minister Ahmad Vahidi said. Pakistan claimed its precision military strikes at dawn took out hideouts used by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the Balochistan Lib- AFGHANISTAN IRAN Saravan India Pak bombards seven sites within Iran on Thursday in retaliation, kills 9 The Indian foreign office chose not to comment on retaliatory Pakistani strikes. A day earlier, India supported Iran’s missile attacks on terror bases in Pakistan, saying it understands actions countries take in self-defence eration Front (BLF) within Iran’s Sistan-o-Baluchistan province. Codenamed Marg Bar Sarmachar, (Death to guer- Drone attack on a merchant ship in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday night triggered a fire | PTI Navy saves another drone-hit vessel M aya nk S i n g h @ New Delhi The Indian Navy responded to a distress call from a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden following a drone attack on Wednesday night. There were no casualties on board the vessel with 22 crew (nine Indians included) and fire was brought under control. The vessel is proceeding to its next port of call. “INS Visakhapatnam, mission deployed in Gulf of Aden for anti-piracy operations, swiftly responded to a distress call by Marshall Island flagged MV Genco Picardy following a drone attack at 23.11 hrs on 17 Jan 24,” the Indian Navy said in a statement on Thursday . A large percentage of India’s trade, including oil and fertilisers, passes through the Gulf of Aden, which has now become a chokepoint. Lots of foreign vessels have Indians as crew. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Thursday said India is deeply concerned over the unfolding security situation in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Houthi militants have been attacking merchant vessels in the Red Sea since November, apparently in response to Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. Exalogic row: Oppn demands court-monitored ED, CBI probe Express News Service @ T’Puram With the Lok Sabha election round the corner, the findings in an inquiry report by the Registrar of Companies (RoC), Bengaluru, against Exalogic Solutions, the company owned by Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena T, has put the CPM and the chief minister in a fix. Targeting Pinarayi, the Congress on Thursday demanded investigations by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and CBI under the court supervision, into the RoC’s findings. The CPM defended Veena, saying all sufficient documents had been submitted before the RoC. In its report, the RoC has Prescribing antibiotics? Doc must explain why E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @Kochi In a bid to curb the misuse of antibiotics, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), under the Union Health Ministry, asked doctors to make it a mandatory practice to mention the reason in writing for prescribing them. “It is an urgent appeal to all the doctors to make it mandatory practice to write indication/reason/justification while prescribing antimicrobials,” DGHS, Professor Atul Goel wrote in a letter dated January 1. Doctors must refer to the specific reason or the medical conditions for which the antibiotics have been prescribed to a patient. The DGHS also asked pharmacist associations to ensure antibiotics are sold only on the prescription of a qualified doctor. “Misuse and overuse of antimicrobials is one the main drivers in the emergence of drug-resistant pathogens. With few new antibiotics in the Research and Development pipeline, prudent antibiotic use is the only option to delay the development of resistance,” it said. K a v i ta B a j e l i - D at t @ New Delhi beyond borders Kalari adds vigour to Chilean theatre P o o j a N a i r @Kozhikode Kalaripayattu is making waves in Chile and how! Santiago a Mil Inter national Theater Festival, the annual event currently under way in Santiago, Chile, boasts of a long association with the state’s martial arts form, which is counted among the oldest forms of combat in the world. For the past few years, theatre performances in Chile, especially physical performances, have been seeing a major influence of kalaripayattu, thanks to the form’s exponents in Kerala who have been working hard to popularise its importance and potentials worldwide. Belu Munoz Alarcon, a Chilean Site of Iranian attack on a terror outfit within Pakistan on Tuesday India stays mum SFI leader hacked at Maharaja’s College, one held Hours after a differentlyabled teacher of the Maharaja’s College was stabbed, an SFI leader of the same college was seriously hurt in an attack reportedly by the activists of the Fraternity Movement and the KSU on Wednesday night. Abdul Nasar P A, the unit secretary of the SFI, has been admitted to a private hospital, where his condition is stated to be stable. One Fraternity worker has been arrested in this connection. The attack triggered a clash between SFI workers and a group of Fraternity Movement and KSU activists in which several students from both sides were in● More on P6 jured.  PAKistan Koh Sabz rillas), the strikes were carried out using killer drones, rockets, loitering munitions and stand-off weapons. Pakistan Air Force fighter jets used stand-off extended range munitions to bombard seven targets while the planes remaining inside Pakistani airspace. “Over the last several years, in our engagements with Iran, Pakistan has consistently shared its serious concerns about the safe havens and sanctuaries enjoyed by Pakistani origin terrorists calling themselves Sarmachars on the ungoverned spaces inside Iran. Pakistan also shared multiple dossiers with concrete evidence of the presence and activities of these terrorists,” Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement. Recent Iranian strikes in Syria, Iraq and Pakistan in response to terrorist attacks on its territory and Thursday’s counter-attack, heightened international concerns about regional stability P11 . A kalari training session under way in Chile theatre actor who has been learning kalaripayattu six years ago and visited Kozhikode four months back, says in their country, it is common for people to raise a voice against injustices. “Our performances are an extension of such protests. Kalari helps us explore our mind and body alike, which is essential in our theatre performances,” she says. The connection between kalaripayattu and Chile dates back to nearly two decades, say sources. Two researchers from the Experimental Theatre Company in the University of Chile and the Teatro Ensayo at Catholic University, Chile, who had been until then adopting and practising martial arts techniques of China for theatre performances, came to know about kalaripayattu. Soon, more theatre students from the South American nation were exposed to kalari, and Chile’s physical theatres started witnessing a major shift to the state’s traditional martial ● More on P6 arts in their plays.  highlighted major violations and fraud by Exalogic in its transactions with CMRL. It said the company filed for declaration of dormancy status in November 2022 in a fraudulent and misleading manner. The report further pointed at a lapse, wherein Veena received payments to the tune of `55 lakh from CMRL in individual capacity. Violations of various sections of the Companies Act 2013 and Companies (Accounts) Rules 2014 were detected, it stated. The RoC report recommended an ED probe into any violation of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and a CBI investigation for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Highlighting the findings, Leader of Opposition V D Satheeshan and state Congress president K Sudhakaran alleged a nexus between the CPM and BJP to protect Pinarayi. Satheeshan accused the CM of misleading the assembly by hiding the truth about the financial dealings between Exalogic and Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL).  ● More on P6