BHUBANESWAR MONDAY OCTOBER 21, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 12 JEYPORE EDITION FEMALE CHEETAH TO SOON GIVE BIRTH TO CUBS AT KUNO NATIONAL PARK Veera, one of the South African cheetahs at the park, is pregnant and is expected to deliver soon, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said BOOST FOR PROJECT CHEETAH, SAYS MP CM LOWEST SURVIVAL RATE AMONG FELINES “Happiness is coming to Kuno… A female cheetah is soon going to give birth to cubs at the KNP. This news is a symbol of the great achievement of the Cheetah Project. The project started under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi is proving to be continuously improving the ecological balance,” Yadav wrote in a post on social media platform X while sharing the information ■ ■ ■ In September 2022, the prime minister released five female and three male cheetahs brought from Namibia into the Kuno National Park In February 2023, 12 more cheetahs were translocated from South Africa According to wildlife literature, among all feline family cubs, cheetah cubs have the lowest survival rate with only 5% reaching adulthood 17 NUMBER OF CUBS BORN IN THE KUNO PARK IN THE PAST TWO YEARS; 12 HAVE SURVIVED 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 Brinkmanship as Uddhav’s Sena, Cong bicker on 15 Both refuse to yield; grand old party looks to contest from more if push comes to shove S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai as early as Monday . “The party leadership told us WHILE the BJP announced its that the Congress should prefirst list for 99 candidates for pare to contest 150 to 160 seats the assembly elections on Sun- as a contingency plan if push day, politics of brinkmanship comes to shove. We were ready played out in the Opposition for 110-120 seats; now we have Maha Vikas Aghadi between to expand our horizon and look the Congress and the Uddhav for potential candidates. We Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, par- have started tapping Congress ticularly over 15 seats in the Vi- aspirants from other constitudarbha region and elsewhere. encies to get a sense of their Since the Congress winning potential,” the has a better strike rate RJD may go leader said, requesting it alone in anonymity. in Vidarbha, it does not want to yield. But Ud- Jharkhand Another Congress dhav is equally stub- With the rift in leader claimed that the born and the dispute Uddhav Sena neither the ruling has reached Delhi. has presence in these INDIA bloc After the Congress’ widening over 15 seats nor does it have refusal, Uddhav called candidates, yet they are seat sharing, a meeting of his senior the RJD said it adamant about them. party leaders to weigh may go alone “If the Uddhav Sena his options and decide in the assembly eventually contests on the next steps. Earfrom these seats, all of polls in lier in the day, his son Jharkhand. The them would easily fall Aditya and Anil Parab party wants to into the ruling Mahaymet former Union min- contest 18-20 uti’s pocket. The Sena ister Sharad Pawar to seats but has (UBT) should underfind a middle ground to stand the gravity of the been offered resolve the situation. situation and back off,” just 4-5 | P7 A meeting of the he said. Congress election and screenHowever, a Sena (UBT) leader ing committee scheduled in accused the Congress of being Delhi on Sunday got cancelled a habitual offender in not giv, due to the stalemate. But for the ing space to its allies. “It should impasse, the party was expect- learn lessons from the Haryana ed to announce its first list of debacle. We are expecting this candidates after the meeting. issue would be resolved soon in A senior Congress leader the larger interests of the from the state who is in Delhi state,” he said. for the meeting, said they were Uddhav has also asked the advised not to return as the Congress not to stretch things next meeting could take place beyond the breaking point. 90 and counting as 25 more flights get hoax bomb threats Cyclone Dana to form by Oct 23, may hit N Odisha-WB coast: IMD S H E K H A R S I N G H @ New Delhi EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE HOAX bomb threats continued to disrupt the aviation sector for the seventh consecutive day on Sunday, grounding planes and unnerving passengers. As many as 25 flights across major carriers— IndiGo, Vistara, Air India and Akasa Air—were forced into emergency security measures after receiving hoax threats. Since October 14, over 90 Indian flights have been affected by similar bomb scares. Though these threats turned out to be fake, the fallout is real: delayed flights, disrupted schedules, and mounting anxiety among passengers and airlines. “We received security threats on six of our flights,” a Vistara spokesperson said, listing major international routes — Delhi to Frankfurt, Singapore to Mumbai, Bali to Delhi, Singapore to Delhi, Singapore to Pune, and Mumbai to Singapore. X handle Six of the affected IndiGo blocked flights included those on the On Sunday, a Delhi-Istanbul, Mumbai-Istanhandle on bul, Jeddah-Mumbai, social media Kozhikode-Dammam in Saudi Arabia, Pune-Jodhpur, and platform X that had issued Goa-Ahmedabad sectors. Akasa Air said six flights — bomb threats Ahmedabad to Mumbai, Delhi to some flights was blocked to Goa, Mumbai to Bagdogra, Delhi to Hyderabad, Kochi to Mumbai and Lucknow to Mumbai — received security alerts. “The Akasa Air Emergency Response teams were in touch with security and regulatory authorities,” said an airline spokesperson. Sources said six Air India flights, too, faced a similar situation though its officials did not share the number. They, however, confirmed that some flights were subject to security threats received on social media. “Following the laid down protocols, relevant authorities were immediately alerted, and all security procedures strictly adhered to, as per guidance from the regulatory authorities and security agencies,” said an official. While the source of bomb threats have largely been confined to social media, their growing number and frequency are a cause of concern. DOCTOR AND SIX MIGRANT WORKERS SHOT DEAD IN J&K’S GANDERBAL DIST In the second targeted attack within three days in the Kashmir Valley, terrorists on Sunday shot dead a doctor and six migrant labourers working in a key infrastructure project at Gagangir area of Sonmarg in Ganderbal district. A few others were injured in the terror attack | P5 SEER SAMMAN Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets Kanchi Shankaracharya Vijayendra Saraswati Swamigal at the inauguration of the RJ Sankara Eye Hospital, in Varanasi on Sunday | PTI, P8 Mysterious blast outside CRPF school in Delhi, multi-agency investigation on U J W A L J A L A L I @ New Delhi A mysterious blast occurred near a CRPF school in Delhi’s Rohini area on Sunday morning, sparking a security alert in the national capital. The blast, which appeared to be triggered by a crude bomb, partially damaged the school’s wall and some cars parked nearby Nobody was injured. . Delhi Police personnel reached the spot soon after the explosion. The National Security Guard and National Investigative Agency also sent their teams to inspect the blast site. Investigators lifted fragments of some white powder from the spot, which indicated the usage of a crude bomb having chemical mixture of ammonium nitrate and ammonium chloride. “As of now, we don’t think any improvised explosive device was used as no metal-like substances, shrapnel or ball bearings were found at the site,” a senior official told this newspaper. National Security Guard personnel inspect the blast site outside the CRPF school at Prashant Vihar in Rohini area of New Delhi on Sunday morning | PARVEEN NEGI DCP (Rohini) Amit Goel said the police was alerted about the blast at 7.50 am. He said the police personnel who rushed to the spot reported foul smell emanating from the area. “The glasses of a nearby shop and some cars parked nearby were shattered. However, no one was injured,” the DCP said. A video of the incident, possibly recorded by some locals, showed thick plumes of smoke billowing from the blast site. “A multi-agency probe is on. I am keeping a constant watch on the progress of the investigation and assure that the guilty will be brought to book. I appeal to all to maintain restrain and not indulge in fear mongering,” Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena said. Official sources said there was no intelligence input about any possible disruption. Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi blamed the Centre for the blast. “The bomb blast exposes the deteriorating security situation in Delhi. The BJP-led Central government is responsible for law and order in the city However, they spend their . time obstructing the efforts of the elected Delhi government rather than fulfilling their responsibilities. This neglect has resulted in Delhi resembling the 1990s Mumbai underworld era, with shootings, extortion, and rising criminal confidence,” she said. Govt activates disaster response machinery @ Bhubaneswar CYCLONE Dana, the season’s first tropical storm, is likely to form over the Bay of Bengal by October 23. It may take shape of a severe category storm and move in the northwest direction towards north Odisha and West Bengal coasts, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday . Director general IMD Dr Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said an upper air cyclonic circulation over central Andaman Sea persisted over north Andaman Sea on the day Under its influence, . a low pressure area is very likely to form over east-central Bay of Bengal and adjoining north Andaman Sea within 24 hours. “The system is expected to move west-northwestwards and intensify into a depression by October 22 morning and further into a cyclonic storm the next day over east-central Bay of Bengal. Thereafter, it is likely to move northwestwards and reach northwest Bay of Bengal off Odisha-West Bengal coasts by October 24 morning,” Mohapatra told TNIE. The tropical storm is most likely to intensify into a severe category cyclone with wind E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Bhubaneswar speeds gusting up to 120 kmph. However, the exact track and intensity can only be ascertained after the system takes shape. “Such details will emerge after the low pressure area forms and subsequently intensifies into a depression,” the IMD DG said. The cyclone’s name Dana has been proposed by Qatar which in Arabic means the most perfectly sized, valuable and beautiful pearl. Names of cyclones in the North Indian Ocean including the Bay of Bengal and Arabian sea are chosen from the list proposed by the WMO/ESCAP panel nations of Bangladesh, India, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and CONTINUED ON P5 Yemen. THE state government on Sunday activated its disaster response and mitigation machinery in view of the impending cyclone Dana. Chief secretary Manoj Ahuja reviewed the preparedness of the state and district administrations and instructed collectors to get their action plan ready by Monday . While asking the collectors to get the cyclone shelters and evacuation plans ready immediately, Ahuja sought their disaster mitigation requirements including deployment of ODRAF, Fire Services and NDRF units, by Monday. The collectors have been asked to visit cyclone shelters personally on Monday to ensure that the facilities are equipped with functional amenities and ready to accommodate the evacuated people from vulnerable areas. Revenue and Disaster Management minister Suresh Pujari said all necessary steps are being taken to ensure safety and security of the people. “The state government has started taking steps in advance to reduce the impact of the possible cyclone. Detailed discussions have been held with the officials concerned and the administration in different districts asked to stay alert and prepared to deal with CONTINUED ON P5 the situation,” he said.
Express Network Private Limited publishes thirty three E-paper editions of The New Indian Express newspaper , thirty two E-paper editions of Dinamani, one E-paper edition of The Morning Standard, one E-paper edition of Malayalam Vaarika magazine and one E-paper edition of the Indulge - The Morning Standard, Kolkatta.