chennai l tuesday l november 12, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 20 l late city EDITION Vistara makes its last flight ahead of merger with Air India The airline operated its last international and domestic flights as an independent airline on Monday night ahead of its merger with Air India Delhi-singapore flight was airline’s last Vistara’s ‘UK’ code gives way to ‘AI2’ Vistara’s last domestic flight departed Mumbai for Delhi around 11.40 pm on Monday. Minutes later, its last international flight, bound for Singapore, took to the skies from the Delhi airport. Vistara commenced its flight operations in January 2015. The airline, a joint venture between Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, will merge with Air India on Tuesday ■ ■ Post the merger, the airline’s ‘UK’ code will be replaced with a special four-digit Air India code — ‘AI2XXX’. Vistara has a fleet of 70 airplanes The merger marks the second major consolidation wave in the country’s fast-growing civil aviation space after Indian Airlines merged with Air India and Air Sahara merged with Jet Airways in 2006-2007 208 The size of air india’s aircraft fleet post the merger with vistara 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 Ten suspected militants shot dead in Manipur Kuki-Zo Council says its ‘volunteers’ killed by CRPF, calls for total shutdown in state today P R A S A N TA M A Z U M D A R @ Guwahati TEN militants were killed and a CRPF jawan was injured in a gunfight in restive Manipur’s Jiribam district on Monday. Manipur police said in a statement that the incident occurred at around 3 pm when armed militants attacked the CRPF post located at the Jakuradhor and Borobekra Police Station, located nearby . “The security forces retaliated strongly Due . to the attack, one CRPF constable namely Sanjeev Kumar sustained bullet injury and has been evacuated to Silchar Medical College, Assam and is under treatment,” the statement said. It added that the CRPF and civil police personnel fiercely retaliated and the situation was brought under control after 40-45 minutes of heavy exchange of fire. Police said they searched the whole area after the firing ceased and found the bodies of 10 militants along with arms and ammunition. The weapons recovered included three AK series rifles, four SLRs, two INSAS rifles, one RPG, one Pump Action Gun besides bulletproof helmets and magazines. “A criminal case has been registered and is being investigated into. Operations in and around Jakuradhor, under Borobekra Police Station, Jiribam District continued to flush out armed militants. Reinforcement teams consisting of Assam Rifles, CRPF and Civil Police have been rushed there,” the statement added. Reacting to the gunfight, the Kuki-Zo Council said its ‘volunteers’ were killed and announced a dawn-to-dusk shutdown on Tuesday. It said the protest is “in honour of the victims and to express our collective grief and solidarity who were brutally shot dead”. 10% dip in distance edu enrolment, Madras univ’s cash cow takes a hit b i n i ta j a i swa l @ Chennai New CJI sworn in President Droupadi Murmu administers the oath of office to Justice Sanjiv Khanna as the 51st Chief Justice of India, at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Monday | PTI Clean air fundamental right of citizens, says SC S u c h i tra K a lyan M o h ant y @ New Delhi The Supreme Court said on Monday that it is a fundamental right of every citizen to live in a pollution-free atmosphere, adding no religion encourages any activity that creates pollution. Pulling up the Delhi authorities over their failure to enforce firecracker ban during Diwali, a bench of justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih said if firecrackers are burnt in this fashion, it will also affect the fundamental right to health of the citizens. “The right to live in a pollution-free atmosphere is a fundamental right of every citizen which is protected by Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Prima facie we are of the view that no religion encourages any activity that creates pollution or compromises with the health of the people,” the bench observed. The Delhi government issued an order banning the use of firecrackers on October 14. “There is nothing filed in the affidavit that the order imposing ban was communicated to those who have been permitted to manufacture, store and sell crackers,” the bench told Delhi Police. The Institute of Distance Education (IDE) of the University of Madras, one of the major sources of revenue for the cash-strapped state varsity, may register a 10% drop in enrolment this year as the number of admissions for the academic year 2024-25 — which closes on November 15 — stands at 25,421 compared to 28,209 in 2023-24. In 2022-23, the IDE had admitted 30,157 students, up from 29,811 in 2021-22. Prolonged de- express read Chennai, delta dists may get heavy rain till Friday Chennai: Heavy rain may lash Chennai, surrounding areas and delta districts till Friday. A low pressure area has formed due to upper air cyclonic circulation over Bay of Bengal, the Met said | P2 SC stays HC order on CBI probe in TN Pocso case Chennai: Apex Court on Monday stayed a HC order transferring a Pocso case involving a 10-year-old girl to the CBI, and also ordered the constitution of an SIT | P2 lay in appointing a vice-chancellor to the university and lack of new courses seem to have affected the popularity of the IDE, sources said. “We are expecting the figure to go up marginally by the time the deadline closes, but it will definitely be lesser compared to last year,” a university official said. Given that the IDE had generated over `100 crore in course and examination fees last year, officials acknowledge the university’s heavy depend- ence on IDE’s revenue. In order to improve the income, the IDE has to attract more students by offering new, skilloriented and emergent courses, however, the absence of a vice-chancellor has thrown a wrench into the works. As is, the IDE is struggling to run even the existing courses, university officials added. “It is difficult to start new courses without a V-C. The convener committee only manages the day-to-day affairs, they do not get into the more complex issues,” said a faculty member.  P7 Uddhav fumes as ECI officials inspect his bag, personal stuff S U D HI R S U R YA W A N S HI @ Mumbai shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday trained his guns on the Election Commission of India (ECI) claiming its officials are targeting opposition leaders. He said his bags and personal belongings were searched when he arrived in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal to campaign for the November 20 assembly elections. Thackeray asked if the ECI would inspect the bags of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, and deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis in a similar fashion. Disclosing this at a rally at Wani on Monday, he told his party workers that they can also check the identity cards of the searching team and inspect their pockets as well. A video footage shared by his party showed heated exchange of words between Thackeray and the ECI officers.