MADURAI l friday l june 21, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l LATE city EDITION eight applications received for EVM verification, says Poll panel The Election Commission said eight aggrieved candidates have sought verification of tampering or modification of micro-controller chips in EVMs Verification sought for 92 polling stations Candidates must pay `47,200 per set of evm The BJP’s Ahmednagar candidate Sujay Vikhe-Patil, who lost to Nilesh Lanke of the NCP (Sharad Pawar), sought verification of EVMs from 40 polling stations. A YSR Congress Party and a Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) candidate in Tamil Nadu are also among those who have sought verification. In all, verification is sought for 92 polling stations across six states ■ The Supreme Court had on April 26 allowed unsuccessful candidates securing second and third places to seek verification of micro-controller chips embedded in 5% of EVMs per assembly constituency ■ Candidates must pay `47,200 per set of EVM. The amount will be refunded only if a discrepancy is found by EVM makers during verification 30 days is the time from announcement of results within which such pleas must be filed 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 `10 lakh solatium each to kin of dead Enforcement Bureau ADGP shunted out Oppn Plans statewide protests aiadmk moves hc; bjp wants cbi probe Hooch toll rises to 38; 24 more critical E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ New Delhi Ex-judge Gokuldas to probe tragedy Chief Minister M K Stalin, who held a held a review meet on Thursday, announced setting up of a one-man commission to be led by retired Madras HC Judge B Gokuldas to make recommendations to the government on measures to be taken to prevent recurrence of such incidents and also look into the reasons for the deaths. The deaths were due to consumption of ‘methanol mixed arrack’, the CM said | P4 Wooden logs being arranged for mass cremation of the bodies of the hooch tragedy victims in Kallakurichi on Thursday | R sriram Express News Service @ Kallakurichi/Chennai The death toll in the illicit arrack tragedy in Kallakurichi went up to 38 on Thursday as several victims undergoing treatment at various hospitals died without responding to treatment. At least 118 people are still being treated as inpatients and 24 of them are in critical condition, sources said. The deceased include 34 men, three women, and one transgender. Earlier on Thursday, bodies of 29 victims were handed over to their families for last rites in Karunapuram and Kottaimedu areas. Around 6 pm, about 19 bodies were cremated along the banks of Gomuki river. Bodies of 10 others were cremated at other crematoriums. More than 2,000 police personnel drawn from various districts have been deployed across the district. Chief Minister M K Stalin announced `10 lakh solatium each to the families of the deceased and `50,000 each to those undergoing treatment. “Four people linked to the sale of the ‘poisonous arrack’ have been arrested so far,” the CM said in a statement. Stalin said he had directed police to probe the source of methanol which led to the deaths. Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal, ADGP, Crime, Chennai, holding full additional charge as ADGP, Enforcement Bureau CID, and SR Senthil Kumar, SP , Enforcement, Chennai zone, were transferred out of their posts and asked to report at the office of the Head of Police Force, Chennai. Home Secretary P Amudha and DGP Shankar Jiwal have been directed to visit Kallakurichi district and file a report within two days. Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, who met the victims’ families on Thursday, handed over the aid cheques and assured them of action to curb hooch. AIADMK leader Edappadi K Palaniswami has urged the CM to take responsibility for the tragedy and resign from the post. The opposition party will hold a statewide protest on June 24 demanding that the CM step down taking moral responsibility for the tragedy. Palaniswami also alleged that the DMK government had failed to take action on wide prevalence of illicit liquor in the district despite his party’s Kallakurichi MLA M Senthilkumar raising the issue multiple times. “Senthilkumar alerted the district SP five days ago regarding the rampant sale of illicit liquor. He raised the issue once again with the SP two days ago, but no action was taken,” EPS said. PMK founder S Ramadoss has called for the resignation of the CM and ministers S Muthusamy and E V Velu. He had sought the support of parties to defeat DMK in the Vikravandi bypoll. Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai has announced a statewide protest on June 22 over the ‘incompetence’ of the DMK government. The AIADMK has filed a PIL in the Madras High Court seeking a CBI probe into the tragedy. The court would take up the matter on Friday CB-CID officials have . started their probe in Kallakurichi, and about 200 litres of illicit arrack have already been seized. Health Minister Ma Subramanian and PWD Minister EV Velu are in Kallakurichi to render help to the affected people. The tragedy comes a year after the death of at least 23 people in Villupuram and Chengalpattu due to spurious liquor. More Reports on p4 Heatwave hits over 40,000, kills at least 110 since March, say officials K AVITA BA J ELI - DATT @ New Delhi The brutal heat wave sweeping large swathes of the country killed at least 110 people in the past one-and-a-half months and left around 40,000 people grappling with the effects of suspected heat stroke, Union health ministry sources said on Thursday The figures emerged from . the data received from states between March 1 and June 18. Of this, six deaths were recorded on June 18 alone, officials said. They added that the numbers could go up as they were still assessing data on heat-related incidents submitted by states. They added that Uttar Pradesh is the worst affected, followed by Bihar, Rajasthan, and Odisha. In a review meeting held on Wednesday Union health minis, ter J P Nadda had directed states and Union territories to submit data from all health facilities daily and flag suspected heat- Two students cover their heads to protect from scorching heat in Lucknow | ANI related deaths. The direction came in the absence of official data on cases and deaths due to heat stroke in the country . Nadda said he has issued directions to all hospitals to treat heat stroke-related cases on a priority basis. “I have also told officials to visit central hospitals and centrally-managed hospitals to see if separate arrangements have been made for heat wave-affected cases. I also urge the public to give special focus on liquid diet, and have more and more water to avoid dehydration,” he said. Following Nadda’s directions, the Union health ministry issued an advisory to all states on ‘Heat Wave Season 2024’. It asked states to investigate all heat-related cases and called for having cooling appliances in hospitals for the management of severe heat-related illnesses. NTA institutional failure, says govt, probe panel soon Govt: Drug shortage allegation is not true Health minister Ma Subramanian and PWD Minister EV Velu on Thursday rejected allegations of shortage of key medicines needed to treat methanol poisoning in government hospitals. Earlier in the day, AIADMK leader Edappadi K Palaniswami blamed the state government for ‘failing to ensure proper treatment’ for those affected. Palaniswami alleged that there was a shortage of an important medicine needed to treat methanol poisoning | P4 Karunapuram echoes with wails of mourners Every street in Karunapuram village had purple shamiana laid in front of the houses and the neighbourhood echoed with the wails of the family members of the victims of illicit arrack. Over 19 people from the locality had died on Tuesday and Wednesday. At least five children below the age of 15 have lost their parents in the village as of Thursday. The death of the first victim of the tragedy, G Praveen Kumar (25), has left his two sons, aged seven and five, without a home, as his wife had left the family four years ago | P4 Under fire over alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG and the UGC-NET, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday admitted that consecutive paper leak cases affecting the lives of at least 35 lakh students represent an institutional failure of the National Testing Agency (NTA). He announced the formation of a high-level panel to scrutinise the functioning of the NTA, which conducted those exams. The panel will comprise eminent individuals, sociologists and education experts who will examine the NTA’s structure, functioning, exam processes, transparency and data management, he said. Pradhan’s announcement came a day after the NTA cancelled the UGCNET after conformation the question paper was leaked on the dark net. The matter is now under investigation by the CBI. Addressing concerns about the NEET-UG as well, Pradhan said isolated instances of malpractice should not unfairly impact lakhs of students who legitimately passed the exam. He urged the Opposition not to politicise the matter and assured strict actions against any the guilty, including NTA officials. “Let us have faith in our systems; no irregularities or malpractices will be tolerated by the government,” he said. Regarding the cancellation of the UGCNET exam for junior research fellows, assistant professors, and PhD scholars, Pradhan disclosed that the exam paper had been leaked on Telegram. He said the government was committed to maintaining the integrity of the examination process and sought trust in the system. Pradhan said although an anticheating bill had been approved by both Houses of Parliament earlier this year, the law ministry is currently refining the associated regulations. “At present, we lack effective measures to confront such challenges,” he said. By taking responsibility, we have to rectify the system. We are committed to exams with zero errors. I request everyone to not spread rumours Dharmendra Pradhan CBI files case in UGCNET leak The CBI on Thursday registered a case against unknown persons on the basis of a complaint from the Education Secretary. “The complaint said UGC recieved inputs that the integrity of UGC-NET may have been compromised,” a senior CBI official said Delhi court grants bail to Kejriwal S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi in a big relief to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, a Delhi court on Thursday granted him bail in the money laundering case that stems from the alleged excise scam. Kejriwal is the prime accused in the now scrapped Delhi liquor case. The court granted bail after directing Kejriwal to furnish a personal bail bond of `1 lakh. Vacation Judge of the Rouse Avenue Court, Niyay Bindu, declined the Enforcement Directorate’s request to keep the bail order in abeyance for 48 hours to allow it to appeal. Kejriwal is expected to come out of Tihar Jail by Friday evening after furnishing the bail bond and other completing other formalities. The judge also directed Kejriwal to appear before the court whenever required and to cooperate with the investigation. It is to be noted that as the summer vacations are currently going on in courts, it’s the duty judges who hear important cases involving human liberty and bail matters. Earlier, on June 5, special judge Kaveri Baweja of the same court had rejected Kejriwal’s bail plea on the ground that his involvement in the crime could not be ruled out. The ED had told the court that Kejriwal is the mastermind of the liquor scam. express read FIDE visit to inspect World C’ship final Students protesting over alleged malpractices in the NEET in New Delhi SC stays proceedings in HCs S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed all proceedings before various high courts on the the conduct of the NEET-UG exam and issued notices to the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the Centre on a fresh bunch of pleas against irregularities in the exam. A two-judge vacation bench of justices Vikram Nath and S V N Bhatti was hearing the NTA’s request to transfer all cases filed in various high courts on the matter to itself. The bench tagged it along with other pending pleas for hearing on July 8. The court reiterated its refusal to stay the counselling. More than 35 petitions have been filed in the top court on the matter. Chennai: A two-member FIDE team have landed in the city to inspect a few potential venues for World Chess Championship final match. The city, which bid for the event, is in contention to host the event between Ding Liren and D Gukesh. FIDE had earlier visited Delhi and Singapore | P11 With help from SKY, India beat Afghanistan Bridgetown: A cameo from Suryakumar Yadav helped India win their first Super 8 tie of T20 World Cup against Afghanistan. After opting to bat, Yadav (28-ball 53) helped team to 181/8. Jasprit Bumrah picked three for seven as India skittled them out for just 134 runs | P11 HC strikes down Nitish govt’s quota bump-up RA M ASHAN K AR @ Patna IN a major setback to the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government, the Patna High Court on Thursday set aside the state government’s move to raise quotas for deprived classes from 50% 65%. A Division Bench headed by Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran passed the order on a bunch of petitions that opposed the Bihar Reservation (for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes) (Amendment) Act, 2023 two-fold jump in rabies death in TN this yr and the Bihar (in admission in educational institutions) Reservation (Amendment) Act, 2023. The bench, also comprising Justice Harish Kumar, set aside the amendments brought by the state government in November 2023 as ultra vires and being violative of equally under the Indian Constitution. The amendments had resulted in the reservation cap for government jobs and educational institutions touching 75% after adding 10% quota for the Economically Weaker Sections. The amendments were based on the findings of a caste survey . Following the survey the state , government increased the quota for Scheduled Castes to 20%, Scheduled Tribes to 2%, Extremely Backward Classes to 25% and for Other Backward Classes to 18%. The petitioners argued the hike in reservation by the state government was beyond its legislative powers. “The amendments are violative of the Su- preme Court verdict passed in the case of Indira Sawney versus Union of India whereby a maximum ceiling of 50% was laid down. The quota hike was also discriminatory in nature and violative of the fundamental rights to equality and guaranteed to the citizens by Article 14, 15 and 16,” they told the HC. Reacting to the HC verdict, the BJP’s Bihar unit chief and deputy chief minister Samrat Choudhary said the government would move the Supreme Court against the order. SINDU J A J ANE @ Chennai of dog bites being reported from across the state has also gone up in recent weeks. The increase in the number of rabies deaths has come at a time when the Union Health Ministry has launched the National Action Plan for Dog Mediated Rabies Elimination (NAPRE) programme with the aim to reduce human deaths caused due to dog mediated ra- bies to zero by 2030. Doctors and health department officials said prevention of deaths involves a multidisciplinary approach. Speaking to TNIE, Dr T S Selvavinayagam, Director of Public Health, said the challenges in preventing deaths include people not completing the full course of anti-rabies vaccination due to various reasons. Continued on p5 The number of human deaths due to rabies in Tamil Nadu has almost doubled this year with 16 deaths being reported since January . The total deaths for the same period last year was nine, according to the data provided by the state health and family welfare department. The number
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