tirupati l thursday l august 29, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Govt to set up 12 new industrial cities to boost manufacturing The Union cabinet on Wednesday approved 12 new industrial cities in 10 states with an estimated investment of `28,602 crore Projects expected to create 40 lakh jobs New industrial areas will come up in Kerala’s Palakkad, Andhra Pradesh’s Orvakal and Kopparthy and Telangana’s Zaheerabad and across eight more locations in seven states. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the projects would be completed by 2027 and would create about 10 lakh direct and 30 lakh indirect job opportunities | P7 ■ 234 Three new railway projects greenlighted ■ The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved three railway projects worth `6,456 crore covering Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh to boost connectivity and line capacity The Centre also expanded the scope of Agricultural Infrastructure Fund to strengthen the farm-related infrastructure in the country more cities to get private FM Radio as govt to hold third batch of ascending e-auctions 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 Reports of clashes in various districts; attendance thin at govt offices, schools, colleges Amid sporadic violence, bandh response mixed Centre sanctions `12,157 crore for Polavaram proj E x p r ess N e w s S e r v i c e @ Vijayawada S u l agna S eng u p ta @ Kolkata IMA suspends ex-principal’s membership The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Wednesday suspended the membership of former RG Kar Medical College and Hospital principal Dr Sandip Ghosh. The suspension came upon requests from the IMA’s West Bengal unit Security measures Security audit of district hospitals, night patrolling and regulated access at large health facilities were among the slew of measures the Centre asked states to implement to prevent violence against medical professionals Sporadic incidents of violence were reported from across the state on Wednesday during the 12-hour bandh called by the BJP against the police action on students who took part in a march to Nabanna, the state secretariat, the previous day . They were protesting against the horrific rape and murder of a PG trainee doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on Augest 9 and demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. While the bandh evoked mixed response, reports of BJP workers clashing with the police and the ruling Trinamool Congress activists poured in from several districts. Shots were fired at a local BJP leader at Bhatpara in North 24-Parganas, triggering violence. Former Barrackpore MP and BJP leader Arjun Singh and his TMC counterpart Somnath Shyam were involved in a showdown, with both leaders and their supporters standing face to face in altercation. A BJP supporter was later admitted to a hospital with bullet injuries. In Kolkata, councillor Sajal Ghosh was arrested from his residence after clashes between BJP and TMC supporters. DC (Central) Indira Mukherjee said Ghosh was arrested for making provocative comments. At Baguihati in the northern fringes of the city Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar, , accompanied by former MP Debasree Choudhury and senior state party leaders, had an altercation with the police when they tried to stop him. Later, the Union minister blocked CR Avenue outside the state BJP headquarters along with party workers. Leader of the Opposition in the Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari led a march in Nandigram. In Hooghly’s Konnagar, TMC and BJP workers clashed in the presence of the police. Tension erupted when BJP workers allegedly asked traders to down their shutters and TMC men prevented them, leading to a fight. Most offices, schools and colleges had thin attendance. ‘fillip for ap’ A clash between the police and BJP activists during the 12-hour Bengal Bandh, at Bowbazar in Kolkata on Wednesday | ANI enough is enough, says prez, asks nation to protect women R A J E S H K UM A R T H A K UR @ New Delhi Droupadi Murmu Rapists to get death in toughened law: Didi West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said an amendment to existing laws will be passed in the state assembly next week to ensure capital punishment to convicted rapists. Expressing shock and anguish over the alleged rapemurder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital, President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday said, “enough is enough”. No civilised society must allow its daughters and sisters to be subjected to such atrocities, she added. “The nation is bound to be outraged, and so am I,” the President wrote in an exclusive signed article for news agency PTI. This is the first time that the President is sharing her views on the incident in Kolkata. Murmu said the time has come to introspect. “Where have we erred? And what can we do to remove the errors? Without finding out the answer to that question, the half of our population cannot live as freely as the other half,” she wrote in the article titled Women’s Safety: Enough is Enough. Murmu blamed a ‘deplorable mindset’ for fuelling crimes against women. “Social prejudices as well as some customs and practices have always opposed the expansion of women’s rights. This is a rather deplorable mindset. This mindset sees the female as a lesser human being, less powerful, less capable, less intelligent.” Those who hold such views see women as an object and it is this objectification that is behind the atrocities, she wrote. She concluded the article saying, “We owe it to our daughters to remove the hurdles from their path of winning the freedom from fear.” Following the Union Cabinet’s approval to sanction `12,157 crore for completing phase-one works of the Polavaram Irrigation Project and develop three industrial corridors in the State, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday said the Centre’s decisions have given a renewed hope to his government. Besides allocating the funds, the Chief Minister noted, the Centre has fixed a timeline for the completion of works under the first phase of the project (up to the level of 41.15 metres) by March, 2027. He thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil for the same. Further, he pointed out that completion of phase-one works will allow storage of 119 TMC of w a t e r i n P o l av a r a m project. Speaking to mediapersons at the State Secretariat on Wednesday, the Chief Minister felt that Centre’s support will give a fillip to the State, at a time when it is in distress. It has been estimated that `30,436.95 crore is required for Polavaram Phase-1. The State government had spent `4,730.71 crore before it was declared as a national project. After considering Reverse tendering abolished, SEB dissolved cabinet decisions 2,774 new ration shops to be set up in the State; `11.51 cr to be released for e-POS machines at these shops Salaries of PAs to be hiked to `36,000 from `18,000 & to `50,000 for PSs Every Minister allowed to have 4 employees in Peshi: a PRO, a Vision Maintenance Officer and two Social Media Managers. Appointments should be completed in 3 weeks E x p r ess N e w s S e r v i c e @ Vijayawada The State Cabinet on Wednesday decided to reconstitute the Excise Department and do away with the reverse tendering process, implemented by the previous YSRC government. The decisions were taken during a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu at the State Secretariat on Wednesday . Disclosing the details, Minister for Housing and Informa- Sexual abuse: SIT to record statements before magistrate the testimonials of the complainants before a magistrate THE special investigation team to rule out chances of their (SIT) probing the allegations of changing the statements dursexual harassment in Malay- ing the trial stage and also to alam film industry will record safeguard them from unwanted the confidential statements of cross-examination. the complainants before a magMeanwhile, the Museum poistrate to ensure lice in Thiruvananthat they have evithapuram on d e n t i a r y v a l u e, Wednesday regiswhich will prove tered a rape case crucial during the against actor Sidtrial. dique based on the The SIT has so far complaint filed by a identified 16 incifemale actor. The dents of harassment case was registered Siddique as alleged by several after the woman persons before the mailed her commedia and on social media plat- plaint to the State Police Chief forms. The allegations are be- on Tuesday, alleging that Siding verified, said police sourc- dique had sexually assaulted es. They said the police have so her at a hotel in Thiruvananfar received eight formal com- thapuram in 2016. Siddique has plaints, with cases registered been booked for raping and in two. threatening the actor. Both the Notably, the SIT will record offences are non-bailable. S H A N A S @ T’Puram tion and Public Relations Kol u s u P a r t h a s a r t hy t o l d mediapersons that the Cabinet resolved to abolish the reverse tendering method and call for tenders through the old system. The Chief Minister told the Council of Ministers that the tendering system should be implemented as per guidelines issued by the Central Vigilance Commission, the Minister said. He alleged that the previous regime brought the reverse tendering process only to benefit certain contractors. Further, Parthasarthy an- E x p r ess N e w s S e r v i c e @ Srikakulam ysrc mlc quits in the grip of nature A woman being evacuated from a flood-hit hospital in Vadodara on Wednesday | ANI Done deal Anti-trust nod to mega RIL, Disney merger @ New Delhi THe Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Wednesday approved the $8.5-billion merger of Reliance Industries and Walt Disney Co’s Indian media assets, after the two parties offered to assuage concerns over their grip on broadcasting rights for cricket. The antitrust watchdog’s decision paves the way for the creation of India’s largest broadcasting empire in terms of reach and financial muscle. The CCI’s announcement came on the eve of RIL’s annual general meeting. Announced six months ago, the merger deal reportedly faced intense regulatory scrutiny. And the green signal has come after the parties proposed certain modifications to the original transaction structure. The CCI stated that its approval is subject to the compliance of the State’s contribution, an amount of `25,706 crore is to be paid by the Centre. So, far `15,146 crore has been released. As the State government has spent `1,095 crore on land acquisition and compensations, the Centre has now approved the sanction of the remaining `12,157 crore. Of the total, `6,000 crore will be released in 2024-25 and the remaining `6,157 crore in 2025-26, Naidu explained. Observing that the cost of the project will surge with the delay in construction, he said, “The irrigation project, which was dumped in the Godavari River during the YSRC regime, is now P4 back on track.”  Rats bite five students at state-run hostel P Sunitha resigned from party & post E x p r ess N e w s S e r v i c e The Centre has come forward to spend `28,602 crore on Visakhapatnam - Chennai, Bengaluru - Chennai and Bengaluru - Hyderabad Industrial Corridors, Naidu explained & added that developing industrial nodes at Kopparthy & Orvakal will generate jobs at a large scale vaccines given nounced that approval was given for the restoration of Polavaram Left Main Canal works and reconstitution of the Excise Department. He explained that the Cabinet decided to revive the Polavaram Left Bank Canal works and resolved to continue the existing contractor to execute these works. A decision to sanction 269 supernumerary posts and appoint them as ward and welfare development secretaries in the Municipal Administration and Urban Development DepartP4 ment was also taken.  A day after former MLAs and Eluru Mayor defected from the YSRC, Sunitha reportedly submitted her resignation to party chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy | P4 `28,000 crore for industrial corridors the changes proposed by the parties. It, however, did not divulge the details. According to reports, Reliance and Disney proposed certain concessions, including assurances that they won’t jack up ad rates for streamed cricket matches. The merger will combine the entertainment businesses (along with certain other identified businesses) of Viacom18, part of Asia’s richest billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance group, and Star India Pvt Ltd, wholly owned by The Walt Disney Company . The JV expected to be com, pleted by the end of this year or early 2025, will be controlled by the Reliance group with Ambani holding 63% stake. Disney will have the remaining 37%. Nita Ambani will be the chairperson of the JV while former Disney executive Uday Shankar will come on board as vice-chairperson. Five students of Dr BR Ambedkar Gurukulam Girls College at Tamarapalli in Srikakulam district were bitten by rats while they were asleep in their hostel dormitory on Tuesday. The students were shifted to Narasannapeta government hospital and were administered anti-rabies vaccine. Stating that the health condition of the students is stable and that they returned to the hostel, Dr BR Ambedkar Gurukulam Schools/Colleges District Coordinating Officer (DCO) N Balaji Naik said at least 240 students have been studying in the college at Tamarapalli. They reside in a dormitory and attend classes on the same campus. Elaborating on the incident, Naik said doors of the dormitory were left open in the night on Monday following which the , rats entered the premises and bit the students, studying intermediate first year, early on Tuesday . On receiving the information, college staff immediately rushed them to Narasannapeta government hospital, where they were kept under observation for a couple of hours and were discharged after being administered anti-rabies vaccine as a precautionary measure, he explained. The DCO assured that measures will be taken to ensure that such incidents do not reP4 cur.