tirupati l tuesday l august 27, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Amid demand for statehood, Ladakh gets 5 new districts Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday announced the creation of five new districts in Ladakh, raising the total number to seven Move expected to improve governance Local organisations welcome decision The new districts are: Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra, and Changthang. At present, Ladakh has two districts—Leh and Kargil. Due to its size—it is the largest UT in terms of area—and difficult terrain, the UT faces administrative challenges. The move to have more districts could address this. Locals have welcomed the decision with the hope that it will improve governance ■ Congress’ Ladakh chief Nawang Rigzin Jora said: “Creating five more districts further strengthens our demand for statehood because the UT of Pondicherry with only four districts has a legislative assembly.” ■ Ladakh Buddhist Association president Chering Dorje Lakrook said: “This will benefit people in far-flung areas by getting all facilities at their doorstep.” 86,904 sq km total area of Ladakh, which has a population of 2.74 lakh (2011 census) 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 Rally to Secretariat illegal: Kolkata Police Swarm of people in RG Kar’s seminar hall seen in purported new vid S ula g na S en g u p ta @ Kolkata A purported video showing several outsiders, including the police, private security guards, lawyer Shantanu Dey, forensic expert Debasish Shome and hospital staff, at the seminar hall of the RG Kar Medical College on August 9 — the day a trainee doctor’s body was found there — but not the victim’s family members, has emerged, raising serious questions over crowding the crime scene and tampering of evidence. Meanwhile, a ‘Nabanna (Secretariat) Abhijan’ rally planned , by students under the ‘Sangrami Mancha and Chhatra Samaj’, seeking Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s resignation, was illegal, the West Bengal police, adding that no permission was sought for holding such a protest on Tuesday and that there were inputs over possible unrest during the march. The 43-second video raised questions on who called the lawyer and why the hospital authorities failed to file a case of unnatural death. This newspaper could not independently verify the authenticity of the clip. The Kolkata Police, however, claimed that the seminar hall was cordoned off. “The seminar room measures 51’ X 32’. The place where the victim’s parawada unit Toll in pharma fire accident rises to three E x p ress N e w s S er v i c e @ Visakhapatnam Death toll in the accident at Synergene Active Ingredients Private Limited’s Unit-III in Parawada Pharma City of Anakapalle district surged to three as two more workers succumbed to their injuries. It may be recalled that a fire had erupted around 12:30 am on August 23 on the first floor of B Block in the pharma unit during a chemical mixing process. According to officials, the fire was triggered by static electricity Anakapalle District . Collector Vijaya Krishnan confirmed that four workers — three from Jharkhand and one from Vizianagaram — sustained severe burns. The incident took place just days after an explosion at Escientia Advanced Sciences Private Limited in Atchutapuram SEZ, which claimed 17 lives and left 36 others injured. Among the deceased are 22year-old Roya Angiria, a helper at the pharma unit, who passed away in the early hours of August 24, and 21-year-old Lal Singh Purti, who died later that evening at 8:15 pm. Both were residents of Jharkhand. The families of the deceased were provided with a compensation of `1 crore each on August 25. K Suryanarayana, a senior chemist (35) from Vizianagaram who was receiving treatment at Indus Hospital, succumbed to his injuries on Monday The District Collector . announced that an ex-gratia of `1 crore will be handed over to his family on Tuesday . The fourth worker, Oyabon Korah (24), also a helper at the unit, remains in critical condition and is under medical care as per the State government’s directions. BJP distances itself from Kangana gyan H ar p ree t B a j w a @ Chandigarh A day after versatile actor and newbie BJP Lok Sabha member Kangana Ranaut’s foot-inthe-mouth statement on the 2020 farmers agitation, the national party leadership disowned her statement, adding she is neither permitted nor authorised to comment on the party’s policy matters. Kangana had posted a clip of an interview in which she suggested that a “Bangladesh-like situation” could have erupted in India following the agitation against the three controversial farm laws, had the country’s leadership not been strong. She went on to allege that “bodies were hanging and rapes were taking place” during the farmers’ protest and pointed fingers File photo of BJP MP Kangana Ranaut during the Parliament session | PTI at a larger conspiracy at the behest of America and China behind the agitation. Sensing the damage it could cause to the party, its central leadership put out a rather harsh statement, saying: “On behalf of the party Ms Ranaut , is neither permitted nor authorised to comment on policy matters. The Bharatiya Janata Party has directed Kangana Ranaut to not make any statement of this kind in future.” The party apparently is worried over its possible fallout in the Haryana assembly elections slated for October 1, as farmers and Jats are already unhappy with the BJP in the state, though the party is pulling out all the stops to woo them. This is not the first time Kan- The BJP does not agree with Kangana’s statement on the farmers’ agitation... The BJP is committed to following the principles of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas’ and social harmony - Statement by BJP’s central media Junior doctors protest against the rape-murder of a trainee doctor, in Kolkata | PTI New Principal of RG Kar called to cbi office The CBI has named Sandip Ghosh, former principal, in the FIR in connection with its probe into the alleged financial irregularities at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. On Monday, new principal Manas Kumar Bandhyopadhyay and new deputy superintendent Saptarshi Chakraborty were called by the CBI at their office in Salt Lake body was found inside the seminar room was cordoned off using curtains. There is no question of anyone entering that area. People, who can be seen gathering in the video, were all outside the cordoned off area,” said a senior officer. However, the state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said, “The video shows that the crime scene had almost become a fair ground.” Kolkata Mayor and TMC minister Firhad Hakim, in his rebuttal said, “Some over-enthusiastic people may have gathered there. Later, police sealed the crime scene.” As for the proposed rally on Tuesday, ADG (Law & Order) Manoj Kumar Verma said, “Nabanna is a restricted area. So far no one has sought our permission to hold protest near Nabanna.” strong winds? J&k contest Maha embarrassment poll NC to 51 seats, Cong 32 After hectic negotiation, the NC and the Congress on Monday agreed to contest 51 and 32 seats, respectively, for the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir. PDP is not part of the alliance as of now. The Mehbooba Muftiled party said it will join in if its agenda gets support | P8 Lending interface ease of credit B en K o c hu v eedan @ Mumbai IN a bid to help smaller borrowers, especially those in rural areas, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) plans to launch a Unified Lending Interface (ULI). The RBI is currently piloting an application for ‘frictionless credit’ and it will be launched nationwide soon; it will become the UPI on the credit side, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said. The new technology is aimed at reducing the time taken for appraisal, especially for smaller borrowers and those in rural areas, he added. “The Reserve Bank had last year started a tech platform for enabling frictionless credit. The central bank proposes to call it a Unified Lending Interface. The initiative is still in pilot stage and will be launched This platform facilitates seamless and consent-based flow of digital information, including even land records of various states, from multiple data service providers to lenders RBI governor Shaktikanta Das in due course,” Das said while delivering the keynote address at the Global Conference on Digital Public Infrastructure and Emerging Technologies, a part of RBI@90 initiative, in Bengaluru Monday He empha. sised that the ‘new trinity’ of JAM-UPI-ULI will be a revolutionary step forward in India’s digital infrastructure journey . The ULI platform facilitates seamless and consent-based flow of digital information, including land records of various states, from multiple data service providers to lenders. This is expected to cut down the time taken for credit appraisal, especially for smaller and rural borrowers. The RBI governor said the banking regulator is constantly working on devising new policies, systems and platforms to make financial sector stronger, nimble, customer-centric. Das also noted that UPI has the potential to evolve into a cheaper and quicker alternative to the available channels of cross-border remittances. as Modi-inaugurated Shivaji statue collapses S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai A giant statue of Maratha King Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December 2023 in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district, came crashing down on Monday The 35-foot statue broke into several . pieces around 1 pm at Rajkot Fort in Malvan, officials said. Following the incident, the opposition parties slammed the BJP-Shiv Sena-led state government, accusing it of using low-quality material for the statue. Taking potshots at PM Modi, NCP(SP) chief Sharad Pawar said no work done under him is of good quality “The . BJP government and its leaders are high on publicity stunts and low on good quality delivery he said. NCP(SP) ,” leader Jayant Patil said: “The Maharashtra government accepts commissions and gives contracts accordingly .” Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde blamed it on the gusty winds and vowed to rebuild the statue. “The wind was blowing at a speed of 45km per hour, which caused the statue to fall... It was designed and built by the Navy We will rebuild it even stronger... Navy officials . will also take part in the rebuilding,” he said. express read WIld elephant tramples elderly man to death Mock polling conducted in Nellimarla Modi, Biden discuss Ukraine, Bangladesh Parvathipuram-Manyam: A 69-year-old man was trampled to death by a wild elephant near Vannam village under Komarada mandal in the district on Monday. The deceased man was identified as Vana Sivunnaidu Vizianagaram: Following plaints by YSR, mock polling was held by election officials at Nellimarla on Monday to test the performance of the battery of EVMs. After polling 1,400 votes, the EVMs were shifted to strong rooms | P4 New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday spoke to US President Joe Biden and briefed him about his visit to Ukraine. The two leaders also discussed the ongoing situation in Bangladesh, Modi said on X Remnants of the Shivaji statue at Rajkot Fort. Inset: before the collapse gana made adverse remarks against the farmers’ protests. She dissed the agitation in the past as well, which provoked a CISF lady constable to slap her at the Chandigarh airport a few months ago. All India Kisan Sabha president Ashok Dhawale described Kangana’s remarks as highly condemnable. Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, who is a Lok Sabha member, lashed out at her, saying she is “mentally ill”. The Punjab unit of AAP described the BJP reprimanding Kangana as a strategic move ahead of the elections. Senior spokesperson Neel Garg said the BJP has historically rewarded loose cannons like Kangana and and Ajay Mishra Teni. Search for Muchumarri rape victim extended to TG K M A D H U S U D H A K A R @ Kurnool Fifty days after an eightyear-old girl was allegedly raped and murdered by three minor boys in Muchumarri village of Nandyal district, police are yet to trace her body. The accused minors had reportedly informed the police that they discarded the girl’s body in the backwaters of the River Krishna near Muchumarri lift irrigation pump house. After failing to trace the body near the village, police said they have extended the search to Telangana side of the Krishna River. Meanwhile, the parents of the eight-year-old girl are distraught and frustrated with the snail’s pace of investigation. “Officials, particularly the police, have stopped their efforts to find my daughter. I have no hope for justice. Compensation is not important. I want them to find my daughter’s body. The culprits must be punished and only then, I will feel that justice has been served,” the girl’s father rued. The incident took place on July 7, when the three minor boys, aged between 13 and 15, allegedly took the girl from a playground, where she was playing, to the pump house and committed the brutal crime. After the girl’s parents lodged a missing complaint, police launched an investigation. Subsequently, the boys allegedly confessed that they had raped the girl and dumped her body in the River with the help of their elders. Based on the suspects’ confessions, police launched a search operation in the backwaters of the Krishna River near the Muchumarri lift irrigation pump house. SDRF and NDRF teams have also scoured the depths of the River, but the P4 body was not found.  infant rescued Anganwadi worker sells baby girl for `10,000 E x p ress N e w s S er v i c e @ Ongole Krishna in Kashmir Devotees celebrating Janmashtami, at Lal Chowk in Srinagar on Monday | PTI An Anganwadi worker sold her newborn daughter to a couple from Khammam in Telangana for `10,000 and fled the Ongole Government General Hospital without informing the staff.  The incident came to light on Monday when Ponnaluru police officials rescued the infant and put her under medical observation at the Ongole GGH. The baby will soon be handed over to the Shishu Gruha. According to police, V Manjula (48), an Anganwadi worker in a village in Ponnaluru mandal limits of Prakasam district, was living with two sons and a daughter after divorcing her husband. She was in a relationship with another man when she conceived. She gave birth to the baby girl at the government hospital in Kandukuru on August 21. She was referred to the Ongole GGH on August 22 as she was weak, anaemic and was suffering from symptoms of pneumonia. While undergoing treatment at the GGH, Manjula came into contact with another patient in the same ward. She allegedly told the woman she did not want the newborn baby and that she was ready to give her away The other patient and her . husband immediately contacted their relatives in Khammam, who agreed to pay `10,000 to Manjula in return for the P4 baby  . Police rescued the baby girl from Khammam and handed her over to the District Child Protection Department officials on Monday | Express