BHUBANESWAR  SUNDAY  DECEMBER 01, 2024  `12.00  PAGES 28  LATE CITY EDITION CT SCHEDULE: PCB, BCCI STILL TRYING TO FIND TANGIBLE SOLUTION ICC is yet to announce any formal schedule for Champions Trophy. Though hybrid model is likely, yet ICC, BCCI & PCB are thrashing out finer points File picture of Mohsin Naqvi, PCB chairman PCB MAY NOT PLAY ICC EVENTS IN INDIA TILL 2031 INDIA TOURNAMENTS MIGHT GET AFFECTED After two days of discussions, Pakistan Cricket Board chief Mohsin Naqvi told a few reporters in Dubai that they would take a decision in the best interest of cricket. However, he also said that whatever decision the ICC takes now will have a bearing on the future ICC tournaments hosted by India till 2031. If India doesn’t travel, Pakistan too won’t come to India ■ ■ There are at least three major ICC men’s events scheduled in India — the 2026 T20 World Cup jointly with Sri Lanka, the 2029 CT and the 2031 ODI World Cup jointly with Bangladesh In women’s, the One Day International (ODI) World Cup will be held in India this October | MORE ON P15 2025 TENTATIVE DATES FOR THE 2025 ICC CHAMPIONS TROPHY: FEB 19 TO MAR 9 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 FENGAL MAKES LANDFALL; RAIN AND WIND SWEEP TN Cyclone touches land at 6.30 pm near Puducherry Water level in reservoirs up Rainfall likely in four districts, Pondy on Sunday E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai DEVIS ALL Devi awardees (from left) co-founder of Vimor, Pavithra Muddaya; Prof and Dean, National Centre for Biological Science, Dr Vatsala Thirumalai; classical dancer Nirupama Rajendra; activist Alina Alam; Olympian Anju Bobby George; Nimhans Director Dr Pratima Murthy; Founding Director of Science Gallery Jahnavi Phalkey; Founder and Managing Trustee of Neev School Kavitha Gupta Sabharwal; restaurateur Sonali Sattar; author Samhita Anri; and Founder and Managing Trustee of Sanket Trust Arundhati Nag with TNIE CEO Lakshmi Menon (4th from L), TNIE chairman Manoj Kumar Sonthalia (7th from L), former Infosys CEO S D Shibulal (8th from L), TNIE Editorial Director Prabhu Chawla (9th from L), TNIE Editor Santwana Bhattacharya (8th from R) and Director of Events Xpress Neha Sonthalia Periwal (6th from R), in Bengaluru on Saturday | VINOD KUMAR.T | REPORT: P7 Maharashtra govt will take oath on Dec 5 S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai DAYS after the Mahayuti alliance retained power in Maharashtra, the first clarity on the new government came in the form of the date and venue of the swearing in ceremony Apart . from the NCP’s participation in the government, all else was hazy . Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said the oath taking ceremony will be held at Azad Maidan here in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, December 5, at 5 pm. While he was silent on the identity of next chief minister, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis continued to be the front runner for the post. NCP head Ajit Pawar is likely to take his oath as well as deputy chief minister but there was no clarity about caretaker Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Sources said a meeting of the BJP legislative party would be held on December 2 or 3 to choose its leader, who would go on to be the new CM. Earlier in the day, Union minister of state for civil aviation Muralidhar Mohal’s name was in circulation as a dark horse in the race of CM. He represents Pune in the Lok Sabha, is a Maratha, and is close to the top leadership of the BJP. The speculation was he could helm the government while Fadnavis may be elevated as BJP’s national president. But Mohal quickly tamped down the speculation saying he is not at all in the CM race. A DOOM WITH A VIEW WITH THIS ISSUE PLUS 12 PAGES DGP CONFERENCE States asked to make efforts to end Naxal menace by 2026 A S I S H M E H TA @ Bhubaneswar Chhattisgarh as more than 2,000 ultras as still active in PRIME Minister Narendra about 15 districts of the Modi on Saturday chaired state. The districts include the sessions at the 59th DGP Bijapur, Bastar, Dantewada, and IGP conference which Dhamtari, Gariaband, deliberated on key issues of Kanker, Kondagaon, Macountry’s internal and ex- hasamund, Narayanpur ternal security matters on and Rajnandgaon, sources its second day here. said. Union Home minister With relentless operaAmit Shah took part in tions and setting up of extensive discuscompany operating sions during the bases (COB) of the meet. Deliberations security forces in on crucial issues very close proximilike narcotics are ty Naxals are on the , expected to take edge and the cenplace on the last tral government is day of the meet on wary that they Sunday . may attempt to flee On the day, the to neighbouring Chhattisgarh’s conference took states like Madhya anti-Naxal operations were stock of the Left Pradesh, Maharlauded as it has Wing extremism ashtra, Telangana, emerged as the (LWE). Despite the Andhra Pradesh best performing continued success and Odisha. It has state in tackling in the recent directed the states Maoists in 2024. months, the Centre to take effective At least 210 asked states not to Naxals have been counter measures. relax until achievAmid the comneutralised this year ing the target of bat against the ending Naxal menLWE in its last Sources ace by March 2026, stage, it will be sources said. very crucial for all Chhattisgarh’s anti-Nax- the Naxal affected states to al operations were lauded keep their security systems as it has emerged as the watertight, regularly share best performing state in intelligence, intensify optackling Maoists in 2024. So erations and restrict the far this year, at least 210 cross-border movement. Naxals including many sen- Currently the states of Odi, ior members of the banned s h a , C h h a t t i s g a r h , CPI(Maoist) have been neu- Jharkhand, West Bengal, tralised in the neighbour- Andhra Pradesh, Telangaing Chhattisgarh. na, Maharashtra, Madhya However, to ensure that Pradesh and Kerala are India is free from LWE by considered LWE affected, 2026, it is very important to although in varying deeradicate the menace from grees, sources added. CYCLONIC storm ‘Fengal’, which has been hard to predict for days, commenced its landfall between Karaikal and Mahabalipuram close to Puducherry around 6.30 pm on Saturday bringing very heavy , rain to districts along the north Tamil Nadu coast, including Chennai. The landfall, which was expected to get over in four hours, got delayed as the cyclone turned static at 30km off Puducherry coast around 11 pm. The Met department has not released an official update on the landfall till the time of going to press. Chennai received over 18cm of rainfall in 24 hours from Friday evening to 5.30 pm on Saturday The Regional Mete. orological Centre (RMC) said the spiral bands associated with the cyclone had touched land at 6.30 pm. The storm was continuously monitored by Residents in Chennai fastening roof tiles to prevent wind damage | P RAVIKUMAR the doppler weather radar at Chennai. S Balachandran, director, RMC, told reporters that it was a very dynamic cyclonic storm constantly changing moving speeds. Officials said all the important lake catchment areas in and around Chennai received good rain boosting the level of water in reservoirs. The rains were not threatening as they occur red in inter mittent spells. The rainfall ranged FINAL recommendations to reorganise the country’s war structure and the armed forces into integrated theatre commands (ITC) will reach Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s desk after Navy Day, which falls on on December 4. All three service chiefs and the Chief of Defence Staff will meet after Navy Day to give the final go-ahead to the ITC proposal, a source said. It will subsequently be for- The structure of is being reorganised into theatres so as to have assets of all three forces under one commander, who will be responsible for all ope r at i o n s u n d e r h i s theatre. The Maritime Theatre Command, based out of Karwar in Karnataka, would handle coastal and maritime operations. The Western Integrated Theatre Command will be responsible for defence and security bordering Pakistan. ON WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN World Central Kitchen said Israeli airstrike hit a car with its workers in Gaza, sought full details | P11 Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi A day after the Congress submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission of India (ECI) charging that the Maharashtra assembly election process was suspect, the poll body on Saturday invited a delegation of the party for a meeting next Tuesday at 5 pm to discuss its concerns. However, in its pushback, the ECI reiterated that polling through the electronic voting machines was completely transparent, adding candidates and their agents of all parties were involved at every stage of the process. The panel said it will review all legitimate concerns and provide a written response after hearing the party’s delegation at the December 3 meet. Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole, too, wrote to the ECI seeking to know how voter turnout increased by 7.83% after the official polling time had ended. His allegations pertained to “arbitrary deletion of voters and subsequent addition of over 10,000 voters in each constituency from the final voter lists” and the inexplicable increase in voting percentage between 5 pm and the final figures at 11.30 pm on polling day . Rebutting the allegation on addition and deletion of voters in Maharashtra, the ECI said “electoral rolls are always prepared and finalized with close involvement of all political parties”. The panel, however, said it would get the issues raised by the Congress examined. As for questions swirling around the voter turnout data, the ECI asserted that there is no discrepancy, as the data is available with all candidates polling station-wise and is verifiable. “The gap in 5 PM polling data and final voter turnout is due to procedural priorities, as presiding officers perform multiple statutory duties near the close of the poll before updating voter turnout data,” the letter read. Rajnath to get final theatre command file soon warded to the Cabinet Committee on Security, the apex decision making body on national security . The proposal has 198 initiatives to achieve restructuring, which will be a long-drawn process as a lot of changes on the ground will have to be initiated, the source added. The defence of the country will be looked after by three ITC with the concept of ‘One Border One Force’. GAZA STRIKE EC-Cong meet on 2 more ISKCON members held in B’desh Tues on Maha row DECISION AFTER NAVY DAY M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi from 10cm to 13cm in most of the weather stations. In Chennai, the highest rainfall of 13.2cm was recorded by the automatic weather station at Jaya Engineering College, followed by Meenambakkam with 11.4cm, and Nungambakkam with 10.4cm. Puducherry, where the landfall took place, recorded 10.4cm, while the Mailam station in Villupuram recorded 13.6cm. On Sunday, rainfall is expected over Villupuram, Kallakuruchi and Cuddalore districts and Puducherry where , a red alert has been issued. Chennai, Tiruvallur, Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, Ranipet, Tiruvannamalai, Dharmapuri, Salem, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai districts and Karaikal region will also experience some showers, the Met department said. The Northern Integrated Theatre Command will have the entire northern border with China under its area of responsibility with headquarters in Lucknow. Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi at an event said that the army’s vision for 2047 is to “transform into a modern, agile, adaptive, technology enabled and self-reliant future ready force, capable to deter and win wars in a multi-doman operational environment, across the full spectrum of operations.” The new structure will separate force generation and force application as per our conditions, challenges Gen Upendra Dwivedi AMID mounting tensions between India and Bangladesh following continuing atrocities against the minorities there, some educational institutions in Bangladesh painted the Indian Tricolour on the floor and urged students to walk over them, sources said. The emblem of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) was also desecrated. “A few educational institutions in Bangladesh saw the desecration of the Indian Tricolour — which was painted on the floor and students were urged to walk over them,” Professor Nazmul Ahsan Kalimullah told this newspaper. CONTINUED ON P7