hyderabad l sunday l february 18, 2024 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l late city EDITION New York judge fines donald Trump, his organisation $355 Mn A New York judge ordered former US president and his companies to cough up $355 mn in penalties for duping banks with inflated claims interest of $100 Mn added to overall bill New york banks cannot lend to trump Trump’s businesses run by his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr were ordered to pay $4 million each and a former CFO was asked to pay $1 million for inflating wealth on financial statements. Trump will have to pay interest from when he received benefits from his frauds, which could add another $100 million to his bills. His lawyers have said they will appeal ■ ■ Trump and his sons barred from holding directorship in any New York corporation. So, he will have to step down from his own companies, but can appoint anyone to lead them as he continues to be the owner Trump banned from taking loans from New York banks, which is seen as a major blow given that so many lenders are from the Big Apple $88.3 MN Trump has to pay in a separate defamation & Sexual assault case 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 Annaram also leaks now, BRS govt to Live-in relationship to be blame for damages to barrages: Uttam out of central UCC draft E x p r e s s N e w s s e r v i c e @ Hyderabad Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Saturday said that leakages were observed even in Annaram barrage on Friday and noted that the state government has requested the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) to visit the project. The NDSA team would visit the barrage in the next two days, he added. Seepage was observed at vent 35 DS of the Annaram barrage. He said that the government has decided not to store water in the Kaleshwaram project barrages till the NDSA submitted its report. While tabling the white paper on irrigation and also giving a PowerPoint presentation on the damaged Medigadda barrage in the State Legislative Assembly, the minister squarely blamed the previous BRS government for the damages to the barrages that are part of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS). The same technical defects found in Medigadda plagued the Annaram project, which along with Sundilla barrage was in danger, Uttam alleged and said that no temporary repairs would be taken up till the government receives the NDSA report. The minister responded positively to the request made by MIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi to convene an all-party meeting on irrigation. In his PowerPoint presentation, he explained the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), Vigilance and NDSA reports on the Medigadda barrage. In the white paper, the minister explained what irrigation white paper says Law panel says it doesn’t fall within code’s purview As per estimates, irrigation facility for 127.58 lakh acres will be created once the ongoing projects are completed. Government needs `97,774 cr to complete all the remaining projects and create 53.98 lakh acres of additional ayacut P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi The total loan repayment burden with interest in next five years is `77,369 cr. Total amount required to complete the remaining projects is `1,75,143 cr. It costs `3.4 lakh to provide irrigation facility per acre `93,872 cr was spent on Kaleshwaram and only 98,590 acres are being irrigated The government is ready to complete the ongoing projects. Priority is being given to create more ayacut at lower cost Neglected Krishna projects will be completed budget session concludes The Assembly was adjourned sine die on Saturday after eight-day session that fresh works on irrigation projects could not be taken up as the state government had to clear a whopping `10,455 crore pending bills to contractors. “In the next five years, the government has to pay `77,369 crore principal and interest amounts on the loans taken by the BRS government for irrigation projects. The present government needs `1,75,143 crore for completing the ongoing irrigation projects and also to repay the loan amounts. With this, the expenditure to provide irrigation water per acre would come Medigadda was estimated to cost `1.8K cr; tenders were invited for `4.3K cr. KLIS is India’s biggest scam N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Irrigation Minister Kaleshwaram is not a boon, it’s a blot on Telangana A Revanth Reddy, Chief Minister It’s not a white paper, it’s a false paper T Harish Rao, ex-irrigation minister Irrigation projects have become ATMs for ruling parties. An all-party meeting should be held to discuss irrigation projects Akbaruddin Owaisi, AIMIM MLA to around `3.4 lakh. This amount may further increase due to cost escalation in future,” he said. Less ayacut Uttam Kumar Reddy said that since the formation of Telangana in 2014, the spending on the irrigation sector was `1.81 lakh crore. However, the new ayacut created was just 15.81 lakh acres, he noted. The minister reiterated that the government would not hand over irrigation projects to the Krishna River Management Board. JOLT to CONG Nath in Delhi amid buzz on joining BJP a n u r a a g s i n g h @ Bhopal Prime Minister Narendra Modi hoists BJP’s flag during the BJP National Council meeting in New Delhi on Saturday | PTI pm drills 370 into BJP, gears it up for polls RAJESH KUMAR T HAKUR @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday sought to add sentimental value to the party’s target of winning 370 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. “Winning 370 seats would be a tribute to party idealogue Dr Syama Prasad Mukharjee who made the ultimate sacrifice for the abrogation of Article 370 and preserving Bharat’s unity and integrity,” Modi said. He was addressing a gathering of his party’s national office-bearers prior to the commencement of their two-day national council meet here. The Modi government had read down Article 370 that gave special status to J&K, in August 2019. Modi urged the office-bearers to intensify the party’s Lok Sabha poll campaign around its pro-poor work and the country’s development, informing the people as how his government removed Article 370, acted for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, brought the bills for ensuring reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and assembly elections and did a lot of pro-people welfare works in the last 10 years. In a post on X later, Modi said, “Addressed the @BJP4India National Office Bearers. Complimented every Party Karyakarta for their exceptional efforts to serve people. Discussed ways to deepen our Party’s grassroots level connect across all sections of society Over the last decade, BJP . has made a mark as a party of development and good governance. Our schemes, initiatives and reforms have transformed several lives.” P7 Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath and his firsttime MP son Nakul Nath suddenly flew to New Delhi on Saturday afternoon, further fuelling speculation about the Congress veteran ending his decades-long association with the party and joining the BJP. However, senior Congress leaders, including Digvijaya Singh, dubbed the speculation as baseless. Nath has not confirmed the speculation and told journalists in Delhi, “Why are you so excited? You’ll be the first ones to know if anything like what you are saying (joining BJP) happens.” Sources said the rift between Nath and the party high command, including Rahul Gandhi and those close to him, has widened since the party’s 2023 assembly poll defeat. Though Nath was in constant touch with Sonia Gandhi and was expecting a Rajya Sabha ticket, the Congress chose state party treasurer and wealthy Yadav politician Ashok Singh as its candidate. Kejriwal appears virtually in court JAISO N WILSO N @ New Delhi Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday appeared before a local court here through video conferencing on a plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) accusing him of skipping its summons in the excise policy scam. Kejriwal told Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Divya Malhotra that he wanted to appear in person but the budget session of the Assembly that commenced on February 15 demanded his presence there. “I wanted to appear but all of a sudden the floor test came... Our budget session will go on till March first week. You may list the case after that, I will appear in person,” Kejriwal orally stated in Hindi. In a significant departure from the Uttarakhand model, the proposed central law on the Uniform Civil Code is unlikely to go into the question of live-in relationships as it doesn’t fall within the UCC’s purview, highly placed sources in the law ministry said. The Uttarakhand code proposed mandatory registration of live-in relationships and stringent punishment for violators, spurring public debate on privacy and personal liberty . Sources said that senior members of the Law Commission are not in favour of bringing in live-in relationships under the ambit of the UCC bill. The 22nd Law Commission of India is tasked with drafting a nationwide UCC, a long-time poll promise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Members of the commission believe that the Uttarakhand code legalised livein relations through compulsory registration, which is counter-productive, said sources. “The institution of marriage is sacrosanct and live-in relationships cannot replace it. The UCC is about common family law for all religious communities on matters such as marriage, divorce, adoption, inheritance and succession. Co-habitation doesn’t come under the purview of the UCC. But the Uttarakhand UCC has given it a status of marriage now,” said the top official. The of- press clusive National narrative The BJP plans to push a national UCC narrative in the general elections. Recently, Union minister Amit Shah said that a secular country cannot have religion-based civil codes. “The enforcement of the UCC in Uttarakhand is for social change,” he said ficial pointed out that live-in relationships are currently referenced under the 2005 Domestic Violence Act, as domestic relationships. The law also has provisions for maintenance now. “In the Uttarakhand UCC, a child born from such a registered live-in relationship will be treated as legitimate,” the official said. While some of the BJP-ruled states like Assam and Gujarat are already mulling their own UCC bills by using the Uttarakhand model, the official said it will give rise to constitutional complexities. “Though states can enact some of the personal laws, the central law prevails in some cases,” he said. The Uttarakhand code mandates that persons in live-ins inform the concerned registrar within a month of the relationship, else they could face a jail term of up to three months, a fine of up to `10,000, or both. WITH THIS ISSUE The New Worker PLUS 12 PAGES inside indian women shuttlers in maiden asian team final I P11
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