chennai l sunday l july 21, 2024 l `12.00 l PAGES 26 l late city EDITION Oly Prep: ministry spends `470 crore in 16 sports disciplines India have qualified to participate at the Paris Olympics Archery Athletics Badminton Boxing funding TopS core group: 5 Development group: 10 funding TopS core group: 23 Development group: 13 funding TopS core group: 10 Development group: 15 funding TopS core group: 9 Development group: 20 J39.18 cr J96.08 cr J72.03 cr J60.93 cr Equestrian J95L funding TopS c ore group: 2 Golf J1.74 cr funding TopS c ore group: 4 Development group: 2 Hockey J41.30 cr Judo J6.33 cr Rowing J3.89 cr funding funding funding TopS core group: 33 TopS core group: 9 TopS core group: 3 Note: Elite athletes in TOPS core group; rest in development Sailing Swimming Table Tennis funding TopS core group: 2 funding TopS core group: 1 Development group: 1 funding TopS core group: 5 Development group: 10 J3.78 cr J3.90 cr J12.92 cr Tennis Weightlifting funding TopS core group: 3 funding TopS core group: 2 Development group: 6 J1.67 cr J27 cr Shooting Wrestling funding TopS core group: 25 Development group: 20 funding TopS core group: 10 Development group: 15 J60.42 cr J37.80 cr 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 30 hospitalised after gas leak in Thoothukudi seafood unit City-wise result of NEET-UG declared by NTA express news service @ Thoothukudi Express News Service @ New Delhi The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Saturday released the the centre and city-wise results for NEET-UG, following a Supreme Court order to do so. Interestingly, data from a retest centre at Hardayal Public School in Haryana showed significant score drops, indicating stricter controls in the re-exam process. The highest score in the retest was 682, compared to multiple perfect scores previously Only 13 can. didates of the centre in Haryana’s Jhajjar managed to score more than 600 marks. As many as 67 students across the country had scored a perfect 720, unprecedented in the testing agency’s history, with six from the centre in Haryana figuring in the list. It raised suspicions about irregularities at the centre. The servers of the result website crashed on Saturday in the afternoon due to heavy traffic but recovered later. A few complaints were received from students and parents about missing exam results at centres where they had appeared for the exam. Meanwhile, the CBI on Saturday made three more arrests in the paper leak case, including two MBBS students from a medical college in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur and one B Tech (Electrical) graduate from the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, officials said. The CBI has so far arrested 21 accused in six cases related to the alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG exam. e x p r e ss r e a d Elevation as DyCM will be CM’s call: Udhaya Chennai: Amid rumours regarding his elevation to the post of Tamil Nadu’s Deputy CM, minister and DMK’s youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin on Saturday said the decision lies solely with Chief Minister M K Stalin | P4 Bengali worker among 2 killed in TN wall collapse Coimbatore: Two, including a woman from West Bengal, were killed after a 20-foot-high wall collapsed on them at a farm near Pollachi on Saturday. The wall was reportedly damp from last week’s downpour | P7 WITH THIS ISSUE Beauty and the Best PLUS 12 PAGES MID SEA fire Smoke billows after a fire broke out on a merchant vessel off the Goa coast. The fire was put out after more than 24 hours. One crew member is missing. The Coast Guard carried out fire-fighting operations on the Maersk Frankfurt vessel, which was carrying hazardous materials such as benzene and sodium cyanate | PTI S u b a s h i n i V i j ayak u m a r @ Chennai Entire country under curfew with army patrolling cities The army has been deployed nationwide to control the law and order situation — Shahdat Hossain, armed forces spokesman A g e n c i e s @ Dhaka Police imposed a strict curfew with shoot-at-sight orders across Bangladesh as military forces patrolled parts of the capital on Saturday after scores were killed and hundreds injured in clashes over reservation of government jobs. The curfew began at midnight and was relaxed from noon to 2 pm for people to run essential errands, and is expected to last until 10 am on Sunday. The demonstrations started weeks ago to protest a quota system that reserves up to 30% of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s war of independence in 1971. Violence erupted on Tuesday , with the Daily Prothom Alo newspaper reporting the death of at least 103 people. Friday was the deadliest day so far with Somoy TV reported 43 killed, while an Associated Press reporter saw 23 bodies at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital. Local media also reported that some 800 inmates fled from a prison in Narsingdi, a district north of Dhaka, after protesters stormed the facility and set it on fire on Friday . Hundreds of thousands of people had battled police across the capital on Friday, police spokesman Faruk Hossain said. “At least 150 police officers were admitted to hospital. Another 150 were given first aid treatment,” he said, adding two officers were beaten to death. “The protesters torched many police booths... Many gover nment of fices were torched and vandalised.” Exodus continues, over 950 students cross over to India E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Guwahati The exodus of Indian, Nepalese and Bhutanese students from strife-torn Bangladesh continues with over 950 students entering India through the Meghalaya and Tripura borders so far. “In the past three days, a total of 856 people from India, Nepal and Bhutan, mostly students, have crossed over to the country from Bangladesh through Dawki, an India-Bangladesh border town in the West Jaintia Hills district,” a senior home department official said. Besides, around 100 students returned to India through two integrated checkposts in Tripura. Thomas Gamaliyen, a security officer at the Dawki Land Port, told this newspaper the Meghalaya government provided a bus to drop the students at the Inter State Bus Terminus at Mawpat on the outskirts of Shillong but not many availed the service which is available once a day “They . are coming to Dawki in groups on Bangladeshi taxis and buses. Immediately thereafter, they hire cars to go to Shillong or Guwahati. We help them in hiring the vehicles,” Gamaliyen said. Look who wants to ease stance on faith Learning from its recent election debacle, the CPM in Kerala is set to take a more liberal stance on matters of faith and beliefs. Marking a major shift from its position, the party plans to offer support and legitimacy to lakhs of its members who are believers. The leadership is learnt to be preparing to take an inclusive approach by welcoming the faithful, especially Hindus, into its fold. The two-day party state committee, which begins on Sunday , will discuss these issues in detail as part of an organisational ‘It’s not ammonia’ State Labour Welfare Minister Ganesan ruled out ammonia gas leak, stating that the victims fainted after inhaling smoke. “Action will be taken based on reports to be filed by health department and TNPCB,” he said Shoot-at-sight fiat New SOP to make TN buses disabled-friendly out in Bangladesh Course correction K S S r e e j i t h @ T’Puram Thirty female workers of a private seafood exporting unit at P u d u r p a n d i ap u r a m i n Thoothukudi district and a fire and rescue services officer were admitted to hospitals after they fainted due to suspected ammonia gas leak at the plant on Friday night. Five of the affected are being treated at the Intensive Care Unit. All the victims are stable and recovering, hospital sources said. According to sources, the employees working in night shift were on a break on Friday night when smoke began billowing out from the cold storage unit located some 100 metres from their work place. The women were hit by the smoke — which had a pungent smell according to one victim — causing them to suffocate and faint. An employee at the unit said a fire at the cold storage unit caused by electrical issues triggered the smoke. “Fire in cables sandwiched between the cold storage wall and the PUF (polyurethane foam) panels, a thermal insulator, triggered the blaze that gutted a portion of the unit. A charred PUF panel produced the smoke,” he said. Speaking to TNIE, a worker hailing from Odisha recalled she had been chatting with her workmates during break when the smoke suddenly engulfed them. “Many others sitting next to me began shouting and swooned,” she added. P7 and political course correction. “The CPM has decided to introspect on its declared position on faith and believers,” a critical insider in the party said. “The party faced a similar setback in 2019, over the issue of permitting women to enter the Sabarimala temple. Rahul Gandhi’s decision to contest from Wayanad also delivered a body blow. The leadership, from then state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan to district leaders, visited households, particularly Hindu homes, and admitted their failings. However, after the 2021 state election, the CPM failed to read the writing on the wall. The leadership has now understood that to defend against the right-wing onslaught, it will need to drastically shift its position,” he said. The rethink is based on the fact that the society is still feudal and since a people’s revolution has not happened, there is no scope for dialectical materialism. “Faith is the most important factor affecting society a state secretar,” iat member said. “ vast majorA ity of people are believers. The CPM often failed to address these sections,” he said. Palakkad plenum Many party insiders felt it was the position taken at the Palakkad plenum — which directed members to keep a distance from rituals and templerelated activities — that alienated the believers In an attempt to make public transport services disabledfriendly the state transport cor, porations have issued a new standard operating procedure (SOP) for drivers and conductors of government buses to make travel comfortable for disabled passengers. One of the key points of the new SOP issued based on a directive , from the transport department secretary is the mandatory feed, back mechanism to be put in place to receive response from disabled passengers. Each transport corporation has to come up with a system to collect feedback from disabled passengers, based on which suitable guidance must be provided to drivers and conductors at their monthly training session, a top official of the transport department said. “Making sure drivers and conductors are sensitive to needs of disabled persons is important. Corporations should engage with them to understand their needs,” he said.  P7 At least 5-6 incidents of ill-treatment of disabled persons occur across TN on a daily basis TARATDAC