villupuram l wednesday l october 30, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION After India, now Brazil opts out of China’s Belt and Road Initiative Brazil has decided not to join China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), becoming the 2nd BRICS member after India to opt out of the project WILL COOPERATE IN OTHER WAYS, SAYS OFFICIAL Realpolitik, Trump factor in play Brazil, headed by President Lula da Silva, will instead seek alternative ways to collaborate with Chinese investors. Brazil wants to ‘take the relationship with China to a new level, without having to sign an accession contract’, Celso Amorim, special presidential adviser for international affairs, told Brazilian newspaper O Globo. India was the first BRICS country to publicly oppose BRI ■ ■ Explaining that Brazil does not want to take Chinese projects as ‘an insurance policy’, the official said, “We are not entering into a treaty” The prevailing opinion in Brazil is that joining the project would not only fail to bring any tangible benefits for Brazil in the short term but could also make relations with a potential Trump administration more difficult Nov 20 China had hoped to bring Brazil on board during Prez Xi Jinping’s visit 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 Charles, Camilla on secret B’luru trip for treatment S u b h a s h C h a n d r a NS & Ri s h i ta K h a n n a @Bengaluru King Charles III is on his first secret visit to Bengaluru after his coronation as king of the United Kingdom on May 6, 2023, at Westminster Abbey, London. He arrived in Bengaluru on October 27 and will be at the Soukya International Holistic Health Centre (SIHHC) in Whitefield for wellness treatment till Wednesday night, when he is expected to fly to London. Sources privy to his secret visit informed this newspaper that King Charles arrived in Bengalu- ru directly from Samoa where he attended the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting from October 21-26. His visit to Bengaluru was strictly kept under wraps and he was directly taken to SIHHC where he was also joined by his wife Queen Camilla. According to sources, the couple’s day begins with a morning yoga session, followed by breakfast and rejuvenation treatment before lunch. After a brief rest, a second round of therapies follows, ending with a meditation session before dinner and lights out by 9 pm. They have 102 hurt in blast during Kerala temple fireworks Charles and Camilla in one of their previous visits for wellness treatment | Source: SIHHC been enjoying long walks around the campus, visiting the organic farm and cattle shed. Considering the high-profile secret visit, a high-security ring was thrown around SIHHC. The health centre, founded by Dr Issac Mathai, is located in Sam- ethanahalli, Whitefield, on Bengaluru’s outskirts. This integrative medical facility combines traditional systems of medicine, including Ayurveda, Homeopathy , Yoga, and Naturopathy, along with over 30 complementary therapies like Reflexology, Acupres- sure, Acupuncture and Dietetics. Although this is his first visit as a monarch, Charles has visited the centre on nine earlier occasions, and celebrated Deepavali on three occasions there. The royal couple has earlier taken wellness treatments, including antia g i n g , d e t ox i f i c at i o n a n d rejuvenation. On November 14, 2019, the couple celebrated the then Prince Charles’ 71st birthday at SIHHC, an event which attracted a lot of publicity unlike this visit. Formerly the Prince of Wales, Charles became King after the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II on September 8, 2022. with India to slap penalties on GE Drug syndicatebusted Mexican links over fighter jet engines delay U J W A L J A L A L I @ New Delhi Delivery schedule running late by two years; first batch expected by March 2025 Way past Deadline Air Force ordered 83 LCA Tejas Mk1As from HAL for `46,000 crore in 2021; delivery was to start in March 2024 but delayed due to non-receipt of engines from GE Stricter norms The government is working on a new procurement system under which sensitive information about the arms and equipment could be safeguarded Maya n k Si n g h @ New Delhi THE Centre has decided to impose penalties on US manufacturer GE Aerospace for delays in the delivery of jet engines for Indian Air Force’s indigenous light combat aircraft, Tejas Mk-1A. The government is also tightening the procurement norms to safeguard the sensitive details of defence contracts, highly placed sources told this newspaper. The penalty clause against GE Aerospace has been invoked for the delay in the supply of GE-404 engines contracted by India for the Mk-1A series. All defence contracts carry a penalty clause to make the contractor follow a fixed timeline; in case of breach of this timeline, they will have to pay a reasonable compensation. Sources said GE Aerospace shifted delivery schedule multiple times, cumulatively leading to a delay of two years. The delivery was supposed to start in 2023; it has now been pushed back to March 2025, going by the GE’s latest schedule. GE has been contracted to manufacture and deliver 99 jet engines (GE-404) and not even one has been delivered, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) sources told this newspaper. The deal, signed between HAL and GE Aerospace in 2021, was worth $716 million. Flagging the inordinate delays, Chief of Air Staff A P Singh said in October: “It is a known fact that Tejas has been delayed. There is no doubt. There is also a promise that the production rate will be increased to 24 aircraft per year. If that promise is kept, the delays can be caught up with. The first aim is not to let our aircraft strength go down.” Sources in the know said the delays are purely a logistics matter involving GE Aerospace, which is facing some issues with its suppliers, and that HAL could not be faulted for this. The delays were also flagged at the highest levels with Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising the issue during his visit to the US in September. The government is also working on a new procurement system to protect sensitive information. “We are working to get hold of a model so that we are not hauled to courts and asked to reveal national secrets,” a senior official told this newspaper. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Special Cell of Delhi Police, in a joint operation, on Tuesday dismantled a meth manufacturing lab being run clandestinely in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida and arrested four persons, including a former warden of Tihar Jail, a Delhi-based businessman and a Mumbai-based chemist. The crackdown has revealed scintillating details of the syndicate, such as the lab’s links with notorious Mexican drug cartel, Cartel De Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG). The meth manufactured at the Noida lab was tested by a member of the Mexican cartel in Delhi. CJNG is considered one of the most dangerous criminal networks in Mexico and the second-most powerful after the Sinaloa Cartel. It is heavily militarised, has its own ‘Special Operation Group’ that travels in armoured vehicles. Cannibalism of a victim is one of the ways the cartel trains its new recruits. Acting on a tip-off, the sleuths on October 25 raided the factory in Kasna Industrial Area of Noida. “We found about 95 kg of methamphetamine in solid and liquid forms,” Deputy Director General (NCB) Gyaneshwar Singh said. The value of seized drugs is estimated to be around `100 crore. Preliminary probe revealed that the Delhi-based businessman, who was found inside the factory at the time of the raid along with the former Tihar Jail warden, were instrumental in setting up of the illegal factory procuring chemicals required to , produce meth and importing the machinery . sick system Hundreds of PG doctors abscond from mandatory govt duty in TN TH I N A K A R A N R A J A M A N I @ Tenkasi Smoke seen at Anjoottambalam Veerarkavu temple in Nileshwar, Kasaragod, following the blast | Express Ex p r e s s N e w s S e r v ic e @ Kasaragod Revelry gave way to horror on Tuesday after an explosion during a fireworks display at a temple in Kerala’s Kasaragod district left 102 people injured, seven of them critically The in. jured have been admitted in Kasaragod, Kannur, Kozhikode and Mangaluru hospitals. Sources said the firecrackers had been kept near the temple compound. The Nileshwar police booked eight persons, including seven temple committee members. Three have been arrested. District Police Chief Shilpa D said permission had not been obtained for bursting the crackers. “There were no safety measures, including fire extinguishers,” she said. The incident occurred around midnight during the ‘Theyyam Mahotsavam’ at the Anjoottambalam Veerarkavu temple in Nileshwar. A large number of people from across the district had turned up for the event, as it was the first theyyam performance to be held this year in a temple in the north Malabar region. During the fireworks display sparks flew into , the storage room nearby where more firecrackers were kept, resulting in the explosion. “It was around midnight. The theyyam performance was on, and a huge crowd, including women and children, had come to the temple to witness it. Many people were standing near the storage shed for a better view. Crackers were being burst at the time,” said Gopi, 59, an eyewitness. Suddenly, sparks from the fireworks fell into the shed where firecrackers for the day’s programme were kept, he said. “There was a loud sound. Many people got trapped inside the shed as a wall behind them prevented their escape,” Gopi said. Two days’ celebrations had been planned for the ‘mahotsavam’. Following the mishap, all the celebrations were cancelled. My circular, issued to directors within weeks of joining, clearly sets the tone for the action to come in next few days Supriya Sahu, Health Secretary Violation of bond These doctors had signed a security bond, promising to remain in government service until retirement, which they have now violated Even as scores of students in Tamil Nadu fight the discernible exclusiveness of NEET, hundreds of others who were fortunate enough to reap education benefits and take the Hippocratic Oath continue to abscond from government service without any fear of action. Under the Right to Information Act, TNIE obtained a list of 144 absconding doctors from 21 public health institutions under the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DME&R) in the last four years. Most institutions under the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services (DMS) refused even to provide that information. In health institutions under the DME&R alone, there are 316 absconding doctors, said health secretary Supriya Sahu. Activists said strong action must be taken against hundreds of such PG doctors, who left government service to join the private sector after availing of 50% reservation in PG seats, 30% incentive marks in PG NEET, and three years of education leave with a hefty government salary . These doctors had signed a security bond with the state, promising to remain in government service until retirement, which they have now violated. Though action must have been initiated within weeks of them absenting themselves from work, a few of them have been served with show-cause notices only now, they said. Take the case of Dr Tamilarasan, MD, who went on unauthorised absence from Shengottai GH since March 3, 2022. He works at a hospital owned by his family member. Despite an inquiry, no step has been taken to recover the bond money . P5 diwali in white house US President Joe Biden speaks at a reception in celebration of Diwali, in the East Room of the White House | AFP express read TN voter count rises by 8 lakh, now at 6.27cr Chennai: According to the draft electoral rolls released on Tuesday, the TN voter population has gone up to 6.27 crore, compared to the 6.18 crore in the integrated final electoral roll released in January. Of them, 3.19 crore are women, 3.07 crore are men and 8,964 are third-gender voters | P4 NCB seizes 2.7 kg meth worth `27 cr; 2 held Chennai: NCB has seized 2.7 kg of methamphetamine worth `27 crore from two, including a Sri Lankan national from Chennai. The agency intercepted Vijaykumar and Manivannan on October 22 and seized 1.9 kg drug. Nearly 800 g of the drug was seized from Manivannan’s house | P2 HC revives DA case against OPS & kin, orders daily hearing Ex p r e s s N e w s S e r v ic e @ Chennai The Madras High Court on Tuesday revived the 2006 disproportionate assets case against former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and his family members by setting aside the trial court order that allowed the prosecution to withdraw the case and discharge them. Setting aside the 2012 order of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Sivaganga permitting the prosecution to withdraw the case, Justice N Anand Venkatesh restored the case to the file of the CJM and ordered transferring the case to the special court for MP/ MLA cases in Madurai. He directed the Madurai court to obtain a bond with or without sureties from OPS and his family members, except OPS’s wife Vijayalakshmi and brother Balamurugan (since deceased) as the charges against them were abated, on their appearance before the court. Since the case was registered in 2006, the judge directed the Ma- durai court to hold expeditious trial on a day-to-day basis and dispose it on or before June 31, 2025, and directed filing of a compliance report to the Registrar General (RG) of the court. The judge had taken suo motu revision of the order discharging OPS, his wife, son Ravindranathkumar, brother O Raja, his wife Sasikalavathi, O Balamurugan and his wife Latha Maheshwari for allegedly amassing `1.77-crore assets disproportionate to his income sources during his tenure as minister and CM between 2001-06. P5 Where law has been deliberately ambushed and streams of justice are polluted, this court considers it a duty to interfere Justice Anand Venkatesh Excess fee: Barred from exam, girl attempts suicide S u ba s h i n i Vijayak u m a r @ Chennai A 19-year-old third-year BA student at Guru Nanak College, a government-aided college in Velachery, attempted to die by suicide after being barred from her semester examinations on Monday for refusing to pay more than the governmentstipulated fees. She had also filed a case against the college on the same. Despite intervention from the Directorate of Collegiate Education (DCE), the college refused to issue hall ticket, said her mother D Lakshmi. She enrolled in the government-aided BA Economics course, paid `28,000 in first year and `27,000 second year. The college demanded around `30,000 next year. The government-stipulated fee is nearly `800 for first year and around `300 each for next years, as per the college’s statement to DCE in 2018. P5