tirupati l monday l september 09, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION India reports 1st suspected case of deadlier mpox virus strain Suspected case of the new and deadlier strain of the virus in a man who arrived in India from a country experiencing mpox transmission Patient isolated, contact tracing on Samples have been collected and are being tested to confirm the presence of mpox, Union health ministry said. The patient has been isolated at a designated hospital and is currently stable. “The case is being managed in line with established protocols, and contact tracing is ongoing to identify potential sources and assess the impact within the country,” the health ministry said ■ 30 India well prepared, says health ministry ■ Urging the public not to panic, the government said the country is fully prepared to deal with such isolated travel-related cases of mpox The mpox virus is known to spread through skin-to-skin contact or sharing items like towels. As many as 15,600 cases and 537 deaths have been reported so far this year globally, according to the WHO | P7 cases of Mpox infections caused by older virus strain reported in India since 2022 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 Budameru breaches plugged; CM seeks `6,800 cr aid from Centre S g u r u s r i k a n t h @ Vijayawada Indian Army personnel, including the Engineering and Medical teams from the 54 Infantry Division, assisted the civil adminstration in successfully plugging the three breaches at the Budameru Rivulet, which caused flooding in Vijayawada last week. On the directives of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, works are underway to increase the height of the bunds as a precautionary measure. The Army personnel utilised 16,000 sandbags, Hesco bastions, and locally fabricated metal Gideon bags. With Pulivagu in G Kondur mandal in spate, Naidu has asked officials to be on high alert. Meanwhile, the State government has submitted the flood loss report to the Central government and sought `6,880 crore as financial assistance, the Chief Minister said on Saturday night. Starting Monday, enumeration of losses due to heavy rains and floods will commence. A fever survey will also be conducted in the flood-affected areas simultaneously As . per the official statement, toll in rain-related incidents in the State has risen to 45. Of the total, 35 deaths were reported in NTR district. As water level in the Prakasam Barrage surged on Sunday, an alert was sounded in Express read 4-day health survey in Vijayawada from today Vijayawada: The State Health Ministry will launch a four-day door-to-door medical survey on Monday to monitor the spread of diseases in flood-affected areas of Vijayawada. A total of 150 medical teams have been deployed for the survey | P3 India plans to bring more cheetahs from Kenya New Delhi: India has renewed its interest in bringing a fresh batch of cheetahs from Kenya, a country in the northern hemisphere with seasonal patterns similar to that of India, officials said. India has agreed to sign a new MoU with Kenya | P7 Join us, Pak sees you as foreigners, Rajnath tells PoK Dialogue possible only if Pakistan stops terror, defence minister says during J&K election rally F aya z w a n i @ Srinagar After the three breaches to the Budameru Rivulet were plugged, works were underway to increase the height of the bund | express low-lying areas along the course of the Krishna River. At 10 pm, surplus water at Prakasam Barrage stood at 4,68,720 cusecs. The first warning was issued around noon when the water level crossed four lakh cusecs. Due to the increasing inflows, Kolleru lake in Eluru district is also swelling up. A high alert has been sounded in the surrounding villages. Eluru district administration is prepared to evacuate people, if the situation escalates further. RELIEF OPERATIONS UNDERWAY 68,200 families receive essential commodities Naidu calls on Guv Nazeer The Chief Minister called on Governor S Abdul Nazeer on Sunday and apprised him about the situation arising out of the floods. Naidu briefed the Gover nor on the damage caused due to heavy rains in Vijayawada and other parts of P4 the State.  20,4591 Rains to continue families yet Very heavy to ALERT AT to be PRAKASAM covered extremely heavy rain BARRAGE likely over Surplus inflows parts of north Total 4,68,720 deaths coastal AP cusecs 45 DEFENCE Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday asked the residents of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) to join India, saying “we consider you our own unlike Pakistan which treats you as foreigners”. He said after seeing the development in Jammu and Kashmir, PoK residents will themselves reject Pakistan and join India. “There will be so much development that the people in PoK would say that we do not want to live with Pakistan and instead will go to India,” the defence minister said while addressing an election rally in the Ramban assembly constituency in support of BJP candidate Rakesh Singh Thakur. The Union minister said there has been a sea change in the overall security situation in Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. The Union minister said Pakistan’s top law officer recently filed an affidavit in court terming PoK a foreign land. “I want to tell PoK residents that people of India don’t treat you as foreign- ers... Come and join us,” he said. In June this year, Pakistan’s additional attorney general told the Islamabad High Court in a case related to illegal detention of PoK poet and journalist Ahmed Farhad that PoK is a foreign territory and “therefore not under the jurisdiction of the court”. Farhad was abducted by Pakistani intelligence agencies over some of his critical comments. He was produced in court after two weeks court and was released a few weeks later. On the campaign by Kashmir-based parties to restore Article 370, Rajnath said there has been a big change since the provision was scrapped. “After 2019, Modi gover nment spent `38,000 crore on J&K development. Earlier, pistols and revolvers used to be in hands of Kashmiri youth but now they are carrying laptops and computers,” he said. Rajnath added that talks with Pakistan will be possible only if Islamabad stops terrorism in J&K. “When Pakistan stops sponsoring terrorism in J&K, India will start dialogue with them,” he said. Prakasam Barrage gate damage: Case booked Express News Service @ Vijayawada One Town police on Saturday registered a case following a complaint lodged by the Water Resources Department (WRD) officials suspecting possible sabotage behind the damage caused to the counterweight of Gate No. 69 of Prakasam Barrage. It may be recalled that the counterweight of Gate No. 69 broke when four boats from an unknown place upstream of Krishna drifted towards the barrage, and rammed into it on the night of September 1. Due to the impact, the counterweight broke, causing concern over the safety of the barrage. Irrigation Department Execu- tive Engineer Krishna Rao lodged the complaint with the One Town police, suspecting the chances of possible sabotage, and wanted the police to investigate the matter, and find out the details of the boat owners. In his complaint, he stated that no one came claimed to be the owners of the boats, which raised the suspicion of possible sabotage. Three special teams have been formed to identify the owners of the boats. It has been learnt that the NTR district police have identified the owners of the boats. On the instructions of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, NTR District Commissioner of Police SV Rajasekhar Babu is monitoring the case investigation. Manipur CM seeks more powers for state to tackle violence in meet with guv P r a s a n ta M a z u m d a r @ Guwahati Amid speculations that he may quit amid raging ethnic violence in the state, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Sunday met Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya for the second time in 24 hours and submitted a memorandum, demanding protection of the state’s territorial integrity and abrogation of the Suspension of Operation (SoO) agreement. The SoO pact was signed by the Centre and the Manipur government with two umbrella organisations of Kuki insurgent groups in 2008. Since then, it has been extended periodically . The Raj Bhawan said the CM and his cabinet colleagues met the governor. But neither the Raj Bhawan nor the CM’s office shared content of the memorandum. According to sources, Singh has sought more powers to the state government to deal with insurgency. The memorandum sought handing over the Unified Command to the state and rejection of Kukis’ demand for a ‘separate administration’. Meanwhile, the Assam Rifles on Sunday deployed antidrone systems in the fringe areas to repel any rogue drones. “CRPF has also tested one anti-drone system and given it to the force deployed in the state. Some more anti-drone guns are being brought to the state by CRPF shortly,” the Manipur Police said, adding: “The state police have also started the process for procurement of anti-drone system to enhance its security measures and tackle threats from drones effectively.” After a hiatus of four months, fresh ethnic violence erupted in Manipur on September 1 with drones being used to mount attacks. No new incidents of violence have so far been reported on Sunday. SPs in coordination with security forces are continuously monitoring the situation — Official on a high record haul at Repair works for the counterweight of gate 69 at Prakasam Barrage were underway in Vijayawada on Sunday | Prasant Madugula paralympics India’s para-athletes has had a memorable Paralympic Games in Paris as young athletes helped India win record 29 medals this year | P11 Rains batter Uttarandhra, trigger landslides & floods TMC’s RS MP Jawahar Sircar quits over RG Kar hosp horror u s h a p e r i @ Visakhapatnam A retaining wall in Gopalapatnam collapsed following the heavy rainfall in Visakhapatnam on Sunday | EXPRESS Continuous rainfall since Saturday night has caused widespread disruption across the north coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh, including Visakhapatnam, Anakapalle, Alluri Sitarama Raju and erstwhile Vizianagaram and Srikakulam. The downpour has led to overflowing of water streams, landslides in hilly areas, road blockages, drainage overflows, and severe flooding in low-lying areas. Later in the evening, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the situation with officials and directed them to take measures to mitigate loss of lives and property. Further, he appealed to people to stay alert as there was a possibility of flash floods and more landslides. In Visakhapatnam, continuous downpour triggered landslides in Gopalapatnam, particularly near the Chinna Konda area, endangering several homes. Under MLA Gana Babu’s direction, officials have evacuated residents from the most vulner- Global human chain against rape-murder An APSRTC bus fell into a valley in Jaddangi, Alluri Sitarama Raju district; Chemagedda bridge in GK Veedhi collapsed due to heavy rainfall on Sunday | EXPRESS able areas and moved them to safer locations. “We have successfully evacuated all individuals from the affected areas and ensured their safety in rescue shelters. We have cut off power to all electric poles in the area to prevent further risk. We are currently in talks with engineers to explore options for diverting the water flow and mitigating potential damage in this area. Our goal is to prevent additional harm and minimise the impact of the situation,” said Gana Babu. Despite these efforts, many homes remain at risk, prompting the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) to urge residents to stay alert. The area is home to several houses built along the hillside, increasing anxiety among locals. Meanwhile, heavy rainfall in Alluri Sitarama Raju district has caused significant damage, washing away bridges on canals and severing road links to over 30 villages. The Chamagedda bridge in GK Veedhi collapsed due to heavy water flow, disconnecting roadways to nearly 30 villages.  P4 People from all walks of life hit the streets of Kolkata on Sunday in protest over the rape and murder of a medic in a state-run hospital a month ago. In south Kolkata, around 4,000 ex-students of over 40 schools, a large number of them women, walked 2 km demanding justice for the victim. Meanwhile, in solidarity with the protests in India, people in 130 cities across 30 countries including the US, UK, Ireland, Australia, and Japan formed a ‘global human chain’ against the rape-murder of the Kolkata doctor on Sunday evening S u l a g n a S e n g u p ta @ Kolkata PUTTING pressure on the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, the party’s Rajya Sabha member Jawhar Sircar said he was resigning from Parliament and quitting politics altogether, terming the steps taken by the state government in handling the rape and murder of the doctor at RG Kar hospital “too little and quite late”. In a letter addressed to West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Sircar said he was aghast at the state government’s apathy towards corruption and the “strong-arm tactics” of a section of party leaders. “Though I carried on my task in Parliament with fervour, I became increasingly disillusioned as the state government seemed quite unconcerned about corruption and the increasing strong-arm tactics of a section of leaders,” he said. People take part in a protest march over the rape-murder of a doctor at RG Kar hospital, in Kolkata on Sunday | PTI Sircar said that in 2022, a year after he joined the TMC, he was shocked to see the ‘open corruption’ that former education minister Partha Chatterjee had indulged in. Terming the protests over the doctor’s death spontaneous, the former chief of Prasar Bharti said he had not seen “such angst and total no-confidence” against a government. He said the public outrage over the RG Kar incident reflected the public’s growing discontent with the TMC government in West Bengal.