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 ■ ■ BHUBANESWAR  THURSDAY  SEPTEMBER 05, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 14  JEYPORE EDITION SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT Mariyappan Thangavelu bags a bronze in the men’s high jump T63 event; Harvinder Singh becomes the first Indian archer to reach the final of the Paralympics | P13 Govt dissolves all 23 SDCs after CM Majhi nod E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Bhubaneswar 1,00,000 Thousands of uprooted trees in the Eturunagaram Wildlife Sanctuary in Mulugu district after a gale last Saturday. (Left) Volunteers rescue a woman from a flooded area on Wednesday | PRASANT MADUGULA TREES UPROOTED IN T’GANA FOREST Freak weather at Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary produced tornado-like effect U M A H E S H & A A R T I K A S H YA P @ Mulugu/Hyderabad A rare weather phenomenon left waste thousands of trees — some estimates put the figure at over one lakh — across 200 hectares in the Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary between Medaram-Pasara and Medaram-Tadavi in Telangana. While there was no loss to fauna due to what was described by some environmentalists as a squall, the ecological damage was incalculable. Panchayat Raj Minister Danasari Anasuya alias Seethakka said they never expected around one lakh trees getting uprooted due to a heavy gale. According to forest officials, trees like neem, banyan, peepal and oth- ers bore the brunt of nature’s fury . Leopards were spotted in the sanctuary spread over 81,200 hectares though wild animals seldom venture to this area. Elusing Meru, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Protection and Vigilance) told this newspaper: “This is a very rare incident and very unlikely in a state like Telangana. This is probably the result of high winds and cloudburst.” Senior officials of the India Meteorological Department said, “This is a highly localised convective activity We are examining the exact . nature and cause. Our preliminary observations are that it was an effect of thunderstorm activity and strong pressure deficiency giving it , a tornado effect.” Experts concurred. Environmentalist and public policy expert Donthi Narasimha Reddy said: “What has happened in Mulugu seems to be a squall, a localised storm or sudden gusty winds, a very unusual weather condition, due to heavy rains and thunderstorms. Such occurrences are common in West Bengal and the Northeast but very rare in a geography like Telangana.” Mulugu District Forest Officer (DFO) Rahul Jadhav Yadav told reporters that the devastation occurred on August 31, possibly due to localised strong wind pressure and a cloudburst. He said the incessant rains appeared to have led to soil erosion, contributing to the uprooting of the trees. IN a significant move, the state government on Wednesday dissolved all the 23 special development councils (SDCs) established in as many tribal dominated districts of the state by the previous BJD regime. Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi approved a proposal for dissolution of the SDCs which remained dysfunctional and failed to meet the objective for which the councils were constituted, sources said. A brainchild of Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the BJD government established SDCs on September 21, 2017 in nine tribaldominated districts where 62 tribal communities and 13 particularly vulnerable tribal g roups inhabit. The SDCs were set up in Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Gajapati, Kandhamal, Rayagada, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur and Koraput districts to involve tribals, constituting nearly 23 per cent of the total population of the state, in the development process. In May 2023, the BJD government expanded the SDCs to 14 more districts in a clear move to woo tribal voters ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. The new districts brought under the SDCs included Balangir, Ganjam, Boudh, Balasore, Sambalpur, Dhenkanal, Kalahandi, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Angul, Bargarh, Jajpur, Jharsuguda and Deogarh. For long, the BJP alleged that the only objective of the SDCs was to rehabilitate tribal leaders owing allegiance to the BJD. The chairperson of the council was given the status of minister of state, vicechairperson equivalent of zill parishad VC and members were given status of ZP members. The nine SDCs formed first had met only once since their inception. The BJD government had given a total grant of `351 crore for 2023-24 keeping an eye on the 2024 elections and `226 crore in the vote of account placed before the election in February for 2024-25. Modi takes swipe at China’s expansionism E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday took a swipe at China saying India supports a “policy of development, and not expansionism” as he concluded his two-day visit to Brunei Darussalam. Modi’s comment, which did not name any country at , a banquet hosted by Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah came at a time when an aggressive China is engaged in territorial disputes with the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, and Taiwan. “A code of conduct should be finalised in this region,” Modi said, Prime Minister Narendra adding: “We support freedom of Modi with Singapore navigation and overflight under Prime Minister Lawrence international laws like UNCLOS Wong, in Singapore, on (United Nations Convention on the Wednesday | PTI Law of the Sea)”. This was the first bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Brunei. According to a joint statement issued after the visit, India and Brunei have elevated their relationship to an ‘enhanced partnership’. CONTINUED ON P7