hyderabad l sunday l june 16, 2024 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l late city EDITION Zelenskyy hopes peace meeting in swiss resort will make history Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the summit brought the focus back on the war. Joint efforts can stop it and establish peace 50 heads of state expected to attend Host has three items on the agenda Switzerland, which is hosting the peace summit, said more than 50 heads of state and government will join the meet at the B’rgenstock resort overlooking Lake Lucerne. Russia and China and a bunch of other nations will not participitate. The US has sent Vice President Kamala Harris to the event. An official from India will be attending the summit | P9 ■ Switzerland has three items on the peace summit agenda: nuclear safety of the Zaporizhzhia power plant; humanitarian assistance and exchange of PoWs; and food security, which has been disrupted because of war ■ Putin wants any peace deal to be built around Ukraine’s neutral status and limits on its armed forces, while delaying talks about Russia-occupied areas 100 delegates are attending the peace summit in the swiss resort 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 kuwait fire Victim families to get `8 lakh relief, wages for four years Ami d s e l f i e d ip l o m a c y India-Middle east corridor gets g7 shot E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Kochi The founder of the company whose 49 employees died in an inferno at their residence in Kuwait three days ago, on Saturday offered a public apology . As many as 45 of the victims were Indians. K G Abraham, 70, the founder of the NBTC Group that hired them, hails from Pathanamthitta. He dismissed charges of overcrowding in the residential apartments or irregularities in the building permits. He said the company will protect the families of the victims, including providing educational support to students.”We are sorry We are so sorry I was . . crying at home hearing about the tragic accident. They are our people. They are like our families. Some of them had been working with us for 25-27 years,” Abraham said. “We believe this did not happen because of our mistake. But, still we will take the responsibility. They were working with us. They built our company They are our family . .” He said the company will give `8 lakh each to the families of the deceased. “Further, there is insurance coverage for all the employees. This will ensure that the families receive four years’ salaries of the victims. We will also provide jobs to the dependents of the victims’ families as per their educational qualifications,” he said. The NBTC Group is into construction, manufacturing, oil and natural gas, and retail. WITH THIS ISSUE Second Coming PLUS 12 PAGES Justice Ghose Commission to follow KLIS money trail M A N D A RA V I N D ER RE D D Y @ Hyderabad The Justice PC Ghose Commission, which is probing the allegations of irregularities in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS), plans to scour through financial statements of contractor agencies. If necessary, the commission may seek details of contracts regarding KLIS from the Registrar of Companies, according to sources. The commission is also likely to analyse the financial transactions of the contractor agencies due to allegations of massive corruption. During its investigation so far, the commission report- edly found that works had been given to 10 to 15 subcontractor companies. On Saturday, the Commission met retired engineers of the Anantha Ramulu Committee formed in 2015. The engineers handed over a copy of the Anantha Ramulu Committee report to the commission. Sources said that the engineers told the commission that the then chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao ignored their report and choose Medigadda to construct the barrage. They said that their proposal to construct the project at Thummidihatti was brushed aside by the former chief minister. CONITNUED ON P5 KCR to Justice Reddy: Power probe panel biased, step down Express news service @ Hyderabad Italian PM Giorgia Meloni takes a selfie with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on the G7 summit in Italy | PTI Agencies If the Group of Seven summit in Italy was all about heavy-duty diplomacy it had , its moments of fun as well. Like Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni taking a selfie video with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, tagging it as Meloni and sharing it from her official X handle as well as her Instagram account. Her four words as caption — Hi friends, from #Melodi — broke the internet with 23 million views in 10 hours. Modi attended the summit at the invitation of host Meloni. As for the business end of the summit, the G7 industrialised nations committed themselves to promoting con- crete infrastructure initiatives such as the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) in their communique at the end of the meet, also attended by Modi. The communique also reiterated the commitment to a ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’ based on the rule of law. “We will further promote concrete G7 PGII (Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment) initiatives, flagship projects, and complementary initiatives to develop transformative economic corridors for quality infrastructure and investment, such as the deepening of our coordination and financing for the Lobito Corridor, the Luzon Corridor, the Middle Corridor, and the In- dia-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, also building on the EU Global Gateway, the Great Green Wall Initiative, and the Mattei Plan for Africa launched by Italy the ,” communique read. The IMEC envisages a vast road, railroad and shipping network among Saudi Arabia, India, the US and Europe to ensure integration among Asia, the Middle East and the West. It is also seen as an initiative by like-minded nations to gain strategic influence in the face of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which has faced increasing criticism over lack of transparency and disregard for sovereignty of the nations. The IMEC was firmed up on the sidelines of the G20 summit in India last year. KCR’s letter is testimony to the fact that he would go to any extreme to cover up his corruption and irregularities, and attack a person of any stature Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Union minister of state for Home The fear in KCR is evident in his 12-page letter. Instead of proving his innocence, he is trying to provoke Telangana sentiment by asking how the people can be investigated B Mahesh Kumar Goud, TPCC working president Former Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has alleged that the Justice L Narasimha Reddy commission, which is looking into alleged irregularities in the power sector, is biased and urged him to step down. In his 12-page reply to the commission on Saturday, the former chief minister claimed that all steps were initiated as per the judgments of the Electricity Regulatory Commission (ERC) formed as per the Electricity Act of 2003. If any organisation or person had any objection, they could have aired them at the public hearings conducted by the ERC, he added. The former chief minister had sought time till July-end to submit his reply but the commission had asked him to do so by Saturday . In his re ply, KC R s a i d : “A Revanth Reddy, then an MLA of the TDP, 14 dead Unauthorised structures outside Jagan residence demolished after tempo falls into alaknanda express news service @ Hyderabad 26 tourists were travelling from Gurugram to Tungnath -Chopta in U’khand. Ten were injured, some seriously. They have been admitted to AIIMS Rishikesh | P8 20 ias officers transferred in telangana | p4 People walk past the demolished structures outside former Andhra CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s residence in Hyderabad on Saturday | Sri Loganathan Velmurugan The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Cor poration (GHMC) on Saturday finally dismantled the unauthorised structures abutting the compound wall of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s residence at Lotus Pond in Banjara Hills. The unauthorised structures, built on the footpath and a por- tion of the road, were intended for the YSRC chief ’s security. According to GHMC officials, several complaints were received from people saying the constructions were obstructing the road and inconveniencing commuters. This demolition comes shortly after Jagan lost power in the recently concluded Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections. It was carried out by the enforcement wing of the GHMC with the help of ma- chinery including a JCB. Anticipating that Jagan’s supporters would gather at Lotus Pond, GHMC authorities took the assistance of police to prevent any untoward incident. While Jagan’s supporters argued that the structures were needed for his security, residents welcomed the civic body’s action. “All these days, we were facing hassles in accessing the road,” a resident said. GHMC officials said that the civic body will lay a new pavement in front of Jagan’s residence. T20 World Cup Group discussion: Crash out in testing conditions k a lya n i m a n g a l e @ Chennai THE day the 2024 T20 World Cup started, nobody would have imagined that halfway through the tour nament, amongst the four semi-finalists from the previous edition, only India would have confirmed their position in the Super 8. There were talks of sluggish pitches, weather disruptions, one-sided matches but in the end what mattered was results in the middle. And to be fair, teams that played well won. The tournament has truly turned global too. The likes of New Zealand and Pakistan, are already out of the World Cup, while defending champs England were at the mercy of weather as their match against Namibia was delayed due to rain on Saturday On the other . hand, Afghanistan (ranked 10 in ICC T20I rankings) and the USA have qualified for the Super 8 for the first time. The reasons these so-called big teams have struggled to make it to the Super 8 can be traced back to the conditions in the US. At the same time, the lower-ranked teams, especially from the associate nations, have raised the bar to a new level. Undoubtedly, there have been a handful of upsets, but there could have been more such results. For example, at one time during the chase of 136 against Papua New Guinea in the second fixture of the WC, West Indies were in trouble with 10 runs required per over. USA took it a step further with a super-over win against Pakistan, which knocked the 2022 runners-up out of contention for the Super 8. Afghanistan, who were so close to the semi-final spot in the ODI World Cup last year, surpassed all expectations to beat New Zealand comprehensively this time. On Saturday Nepal lost by just one , run against South Africa. The usual contenders like India, Australia and West Indies have remained unbeaten to confirm their spots, however, it is the unusual suspects that have made T20 WC more interesting. US is the only associate team to have qualified for Super 8 so far. India, Australia, Afghanistan, West Indies & South Africa have also qualified for the Super 8 till now had submitted his objections to buying of power from Chhattisgarh to the ERC and the latter had given clearance after carefully considering the objections filed. The law stipulates that if Revanth had any objections, he was empowered to move the Electricity Appellate Tribunal and later the Supreme Court too. However, Revanth had not preferred to move the higher authorities objecting to the ERC decision.” However, after Revanth became the chief minister, his government bypassed the “well-known legal standing” that “inquiry commissions could not be constituted against the orders of the ERC decisions and the government set up a Commission of Inquiry under your chairmanship,” the BRS chief said in his letter to Justice Reddy . “I believe you have gone beyond the terms of reference in apportioning unjustified blame, which shows your determination to discredit the erstwhile government. Hence the request for you to withdraw from the commission of inquiry,” the former CM added. CONTINUED ON P5 8 Maoists, 1 STF jawan killed in C’garh encounter e j a z k a i s e r @ Raipur Eight fighters of the outlawed CPI (Maoist), including three women, and a jawan were killed in a gunfight at the forested terrain of Maad region of Narayanpur district, about 400 km south of Raipur in Chhattisgarh on Saturday . Besides the jawan, two other security officials sustained injuries, said Sunderraj P, Bastar’s Inspector General of Police. The injured jawans have been airlifted to a hospital in Raipur and are said to be out of danger. All three belonged to the Special Task Force (STF). The deceased jawan was identified as Nitish Ekka. He is a resident of Jashpur district. Based on intelligence inputs about the presence of senior Maoist members, a joint operation was conducted by the District Reserved Guards, the STF, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and Border Security Force on Saturday morning, Sunderraj said. The operation continued throughout the day along the Kutul, Farasbeda and Kodtameta jungles resulting in the death of the Maoists and jawan, he added.
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