MANGALURU  SATURDAY  OCTOBER 26, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 14  CITY EDITION CENTRE ASKS STATES TO DISCOURAGE FIRECRACKERS TO CURB POLLUTION STOP STUBBLE BURNING, REDUCE GENSETS USE With air pollution levels soaring in many cities, the Union health ministry has shot off a letter to all states, urging them to take preventive steps ■ 0-50 CHECK AIR QUALITY BEFORE VENTURING OUT In the letter, Director General of Health Services Dr Atul Goel advised state authorities to discourage stubble and waste burning and spread awareness among people about reducing firecrackers during festivities, promoting public transportation, limiting reliance on diesel-based generators, and curbing smoking. The letter noted that air pollution has become a health hazard ■ ■ The advisory said people in polluted cities must minimise their exposure to polluted air and check the air quality indices before venturing out The other preventive measures include avoiding congested areas, and opting for cleaner fuels at home for cooking, heating, and lighting Those with pre-existing health conditions must take extra care, it added HEALTHY AIR QUALITY INDEX (AQI) RANGE. ANYTHING ABOVE THIS IS DEEMED HARMFUL 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 PILGRIMS PANIC Bomb threats to four hotels in Tirupati D S U R E N D R A K U M A R @ Tirupati A series of bomb threats sent by e-mail to four hotels in Tirupati on Thursday triggered widespread panic in the temple town. The threats targeted three hotels along the Tirumala bypass road and another at Ramanuja Circle, leaving residents and pilgrims anxious. Under the supervision of Tirupati DSP Venkata Narayana, police teams launched an intensive search operation at the targeted hotels. Special teams, including bomb squads and sniffer dogs, were deployed to inspect each hotel thoroughly No explosives or suspicious . items were found. Speaking to mediapersons on Friday DSP Narayana said vig, il has been stepped up. He explained that teams have been mobilised to carry out searches and assured the public that no explosives were found during their inspections. Hotels in the city have been advised to remain vigilant for suspicious activity or unclaimed items. Thousands of people travel to Tirupati every day to offer prayers at the Srivari temple in Tirumala. CONTINUED ON: P5 MUDA: Lokayukta police quiz CM’s wife cation in the morning. An FIR was filed against Siddaramaiah and three others following a special court order to submit a report after conducting an investigation into a complaint filed by activist Snehamayi Krishna of Mysuru. The sources revealed that Parvathy was interrogated for three hours. The interrogation focused on her decision to return the 14 sites to MUDA, the manner in which sites were allotted and land acquired from her for formation of a residential layout. The Lokayukta police also questioned her regarding alle- EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Mysuru THE Lokayukta police on Friday questioned Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathy in the alle ged irregularities in allotment of 14 sites to her by MUDA. Parvathy Siddaramaiah is accused No 2 in the case. Mallikarjuna Swamy, brother-in-law of Siddaramaiah, was questioned last week. According to highly placed sources, a team led by Lokayukta Superintendent of Police TJ Udesh questioned Parvathy Siddaramaiah at an undisclosed lo- Disengagement to be complete by Tuesday Regular patrolling along LAC expected to resume on Wednesday THE muddled Trudeau government has decided to slash its immigrant intake by about 20% from the next year so as to rightsize its population. While Trudeau had earlier announced he would allow 5 lakh immigrants each in 2025 and 2026, he admitted that after the pandemic, “between addressing labour needs and maintaining population growth, we didn’t get the balance right.” As per the new plan 3.95 lakh new permanent residents will be EXPRESS READ Guv rushed to hospital with fever, discomfort Bengaluru: Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot was rushed to Manipal Hospital in the city on Friday after he reported discomfort and fever. Hospital sources confirmed that 76-yearold Gehlot is doing well and responding positively to treatment. Mining case: Quantum of punishment today Bengaluru: The special court for the trial of cases against sitting and former MPs/MLAs will pronounce on Saturday the quantum of punishment for the seven accused, including Karwar Congress MLA Satish Krishna Sail, in connection with the illegal extraction of iron ore | P5 inked on Monday troops pullout , and dismantling of the tempoTHE disengagement of troops rary structures star ted on from the two remaining friction Wednesday The whole process is . points in eastern Ladakh—Dep- expected to complete by next sang and Demchok—is in full Tuesday and coordinated patrolswing and is likely to be complete ling from the next day after by October 29, sources said. Giv- ground verification. ing clarity on its progress on the “Both sides will inform each ground, Army sources told other about their patrols to this paper on Friday that ward off any faceoff and patrols are likely to unsavoury incidents. Also, resume from October 30. surveillance mechanisms Both sides are moving will be set to keep an eye fast on the recently on everything,” said reached agreement to desources. escalate tensions on the Officials said the curLine of Actual Control rent batch of agreements (LAC), where Indian and is exclusively for the disChinese troops were engagement of Depsang Tents and shades locked in a face-off since and Demchok and does are being 2020. Explaining the not talk about patrolling removed. The process, sources said vehicles are also limits and buffer zones temporary structures being shifted back in the areas where disenin batches are being knocked down. gagement has already Adhering to agreements taken place. Army sources between the two sides, The ag reement on Indian troops have beDepsang and Demchok gun to pull back equipment to is expected to lead to the forces rear locations in these areas. reaching their pre-Galwan posi“The tents and shades are be- tions of April 2020. ing removed with continuous The ties between India and verifications being done. The ve- China had nosedived following a hicles are also being shifted back fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in batches,” sources said. in June 2020 that marked the While the agreement between most serious military conflict bethe Corps Commanders was tween the two sides in decades. M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi CHARM OFFENSIVE Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at a joint press conference at the Hyderabad House, in New Delhi on Friday | SHEKHAR YADAV | P9 FEWER INDIANS TO GET VISA POWER AS CANADA CUTS TARGET M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi Chief Minister Siddaramaiah hands over a cheque to the family of Anjali Ambiger who was murdered in May this year, at Hubballi Airport on Friday | D HEMANTH gations of a sub-registrar visiting her house to complete the land registration and cancellation procedures. The Lokayukta SP issued a notice on Thursday asking Parvathy to appear in person for questioning. Accordingly, she went to the Lokayukta office around 10.30 am on Friday. She w a s a c c o m p a n i e d by h e r assistant. The sources said Parvathy reportedly gave “satisfactory” answers and produced documents related to allotment of MUDA sites, her land acquisition, and cancellation of sites allotted to her. allowed in 2025, down from 4.85 lakh in 2024. The revised targets for 2026 and 2027 are 3.8 lakh and 3.65 lakh, respectively. The announcement comes months after student visas were cut by almost 35%, as compared to the previous year. Besides, student visas were capped at 3,60,000 for two years. Cumulatively, Trudeau’s announcement is expected to affect Indians in a big way. India had around 3,19,000 students studying in Canada in 2023. The cut in student visas primarily impacted Indians, who constitute more than 41% of Canada’s international student population. In a post on X, Trudeau said, “We’re going to have fewer temporary foreign workers in Canada. We’re bringing in stricter rules for companies to prove why they can’t hire Canadian workers first.” This move is expected to complicate job opportunities for immigrants settling in Canada. As per Statistics Canada, the country had 2.8 million temporary residents, including workers and students, in the second quarter of 2024. Bommai’s son doesn’t own a car, Nikhil’s worth `107.48 cr EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hubballi/Bengaluru SONS of two former chief ministers, who are contesting the November 13 byelections in the state, have revealed some interesting details regarding their assets in their poll affidavits. While Nikhil, son of HD Kumaraswamy of JDS, owns five swanky cars, Bharat Bommai, son of Basavaraj Bommai of BJP , doesn’t even own one. Both have invested in several c o m p a n i e s. B h a r a t ’s w i f e Padakannaya Poornima Ibbani has a Maruti Swift car, but Nikhil’s wife Revathy M owns no vehicle. He owns properties worth Rs 107.48 crore. In his affidavit, Bharat has declared that he owns movable assets worth Rs 3.79 crore and immovable assets worth Rs 5.5 crore. He owns a house in RT Nagar and a flat at Amruthahalli in Bengaluru. He, however, has no agriculture, non-agriculture or commercial properties in his name. But his wife has movable assets worth Rs 3.64 crore and immovable assets worth Rs 2.83 crore. Both have liabilities amounting to Rs 2.32 crore and Rs 1 crore, respectively . Bharat, who is BJP’s Shiggaon candidate, has invested Rs 1.24 crore in six firms as partner. Apart from having bank deposits and investments in capital market, Bharat has invested Rs 10 lakh in mutual fund. P4 PDO SUSPENDED 70 fall ill after drinking polluted water in Dharwad dist M A L L I K A R J U N H I R E M AT H @ Kalghatgi PATROLLING TROOPS WILL CARRY WEAPONS For better coordination and smooth operations, each side will inform the other about the size of the patrolling team and the schedule. Also, the patrolling troops will carry weapons including rifles, sources said BOTH SIDES TO GO BACK TO PRE-2020 SITES Under the recent agreement, both Indian and Chinese troops will fall back to the positions they had held before April 2020. They will now resume patrolling the same areas they used to do till that date SCOOPED UP TO SCHOOL! After the village bridge-cum-barrage got sumberged during the recent rain, residents of Upparatti in Gokak taluk used an earthmover to help children cross the river to reach their school. A video of the earthmover ferrying the schoolchildren in its bucket went viral on social media recently MORE than 70 people fell ill after drinking contaminated water at Mutagi village of Kalghatgi taluk in Dharwad district on Wednesday and Thursday . Ten people are still being treated at the KIMS Hospital in Hubballi and 36 at Kalghatgi taluk hospital. Timely medication helped the rest recover fast, according to sources. While some started vomiting, others suffered from diarrhea and uneasiness after drinking contaminated water. Deputy commissioner Divya Prabhu has issued an order suspending local Panchayat Development Officer Praveen Kumar Ganni for negligence. Divya Prabhu, who visited Mutagi, told TNIE that three overhead tanks get water from three borewells in the village. Contaminated water from an overflowing lake in the village might have entered one of the uncapped borewells. Wat e r s a m p l e s h ave been sent for tests, she said. “I have instructed the civic officials to cut water supply from the borewell to areas such as Kurbar Oni, Goudar Oni and Plot Oni. Water will be supplied to the affected areas through tankers till the situation improves. People under treatment are recovering fast,” she said. District health officer Shashi Patil said that the officials will look into the allegation that the overhead tanks are not being cleaned on a regular basis and this could have led to water contamination. The other reason could be contaminated water entering one of the borewells due to heavy rain, she added. Meanwhile, a villager alleged that the civic body has not taken steps to clean the tanks though many petitions have been submitted to it. The lab report will reveal the truth, he said. 39 lakh MGNREGA workers deleted in 5 months; 6.7 cr out of Aadhaar payment system P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi OVER 39 lakh registered workers were deleted from the Centre’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (MGNREGA) in the current financial year (April to September), according to a report by civil society organisation LibTech India, released on Friday As per LibTech’s previous . year’s report, more than eight crore workers were removed from the MGNREGA registry during FY 2022-23 and 2023-24. In another worrying trend, the data showed that over 6.7 crore workers nationwide have become ineligible to seek work under the rural job scheme for not complying with the mandatory Aadhaar seeding. The data points out that regardless of extended deadlines, 27.4% of all MGNREGA workers and 4.2% of ac- tive workers are currently ineligible for the Aadhaar-based Payment System (ABPS). In January 2023, the Centre mandated the nationwide implementation of ABPS. Following public outcry and pressure from civil society organisations, the deadline for ABPS implementation was extended multiple times. However, since January 1, 2024, ABPS has been made mandatory . While Assam has the highest percentage of active workers (22%) ineligible for ABPS, Kerala has the lowest. As for all workers, Maharashtra has the highest ineligible percentage of workers (66.3%) while Andhra Pradesh has the lowest. In another critical finding, employment opportunities under MGNREGA dropped significantly compared to the previous year, from 184 crore to 154 CONCERN OVER SUSPENSION OF WORK IN BENGAL The report highlighted the suspension of MGNREGA works in West Bengal since December 2021. “The ongoing legal case in the Calcutta High Court further complicates the situation, emphasizing the urgent need for intervention to restore the program’s functionality in the state.” crore person-days. Moreover, the data shows a steep decline in person-days generated compared to the previous financial year, reflecting a 16.6% decrease. While Tamil Nadu and Odisha registered the steepest declines in person-days, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh saw increases. “This drop suggests not only a shrinking participation base but also a potential shortfall in the delivery of employment op- portunities to those who need them most. The persistent implementation challenges, particularly with Aadhaar-based payments and worker eligibility for ABPS, continue to exacerbate these issues,” it said. While there were marginal worker additions, they were overshadowed by the significant number of worker deletions. “This raises concerns about the efficacy of the system,” it said.