DHARMAPURI l sunday l june 15, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l city EDITION J&K to reopen Destinations closed after Pahalgam attack in phases Jammu & Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha on Saturday said closed parks at tourist places will be reopened in a phased manner starting June 17 8 parks in jammu to reopen in first phase Sinha said the tourist spots that would be reopened include Beetab Valley and the parks near Pahalgam market. In Srinagar, Badamwari Park, Duck Park and Taqdeer Park will be reopened. Sarthal and Dhaggar in Kathua, Devipindi, Siyad Baba, and Sula Park in Reasi, Guldanda and Jai valley in Doda, and Pancheri in Udhampur—all in Jammu—will also be reopened reports from districts and then some more places will be reopened in consultation with the tourism department, the L-G said | P8 ■ Security has been beefed up for the Amarnath Yatra starting July 3, the L-G said, adding that he expects a large number of pilgrims 48 Tight security for Amarnath yatra ■ The committee comprising divisional commissioners and IGPs will take out of 87 tourist spots in Kashmir closed after April 22 Pahalgam attack 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 Dangerous escalation Iran threatens to hit US, UK bases in West Asia; Israel vows to destroy Tehran’s nuclear infra AGENCIES @ Jerusalem / Dubai Cranes clearing the debris of the crashed plane in Ahmedabad on Saturday | PTI Toll 270, probe panel formed D i l i p S i n g h K s h at r i ya @ Ahmedabad The death toll in the Air India flight tragedy here went up to 270, even as a body was extracted from the tail of the crashed aircraft on Saturday The Lon. don-bound flight had rammed into the BJ Medical College hostel moments after takeoff on Thursday . As of now, DNA matches of 11 victims with their families have been established — three more than on Friday. Since many bodies were charred beyond recognition, authorities are depending almost entirely on DNA testing for accurate identification. “This isn’t something we can afford to rush. Every case must be verified with clinical precision,” said Dr Rajnish Patel, surgery professor at B J Medical College. Gujarat Revenue Secretary Alok Pandey said many of the victims hailed from 18 of the state’s 33 districts. He said said 230 teams have been formed to coordinate with families of the victims. “A grief counsellor `25L interim relief Air India will make interim payment of `25 lakh to the families of the deceased and survivors of the plane crash — in addition to its `1 crore compensation has been assigned to every family to deal with mental trauma,” Pandey added. Gandhinagar Forensic Science Lab (FSL) Director H P Sanghvi said, “We’ve begun profile matching. Tests are ongoing in batches, each taking 36–48 hours. A team of 36 experts is working round-the-clock with the National Forensic Lab to expedite the process.” In a related development, the Centre constituted a multi-disciplinary panel headed by the Union home secretary to probe the cause of the air crash. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge urged the government to fix accountability “Let . the black box reveal the truth. The government must then fix accountability,” he said after visiting the crash site. P8 IRAN and Israel on Saturday carried out waves of deadly attacks at each other, ignoring pleas from various countries including India for an immediate de-escalation of hostilities. Israel’s attacks on Iran’s military and nuclear targets on Friday and Saturday killed 78 people, according to Iranian authorities. The Israeli military said its air strikes killed 20 Iranian army and Revolutionary Guard commanders. According to local media, Iran’s retaliatory strikes in the wee hours on Saturday killed three persons and injured 80 others in Israel. The development comes amid the ongoing talks between Iran and the US seeking to reach a deal on Tehran’s nuclear programme. A sixth round of negotiations is scheduled in Oman on Sunday, but it’s not clear if the talks will take place. Iran on Saturday said it would be meaningless to hold talks while it is under attack. Israel said it has destroyed Destroyed residential buildings in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, Israel, hit by a missile fired from Iran on Saturday | ap/pti India on Saturday sought to distance itself from the statement of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization criticising Israel’s strikes, saying the conflict can be sorted out only through dialogue and diplomacy | P7 Iran’s air defence systems claiming its jets flew for nearly two hours over Iranian airspace, hitting targets. “Tehran is no longer immune; the capital is exposed to strikes,” an IDF spokesperson said, adding that Israel plans to dismantle Iran’s military and nuclear capabilities. As for Iran, it threatened to attack the regional military S u b a s h i n i V i j aya k u m a r @ Chennai The number of students who had qualified in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)-UG in Tamil Nadu recorded a marginal dip of 2.2 percentage points in the results declared by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Saturday . Of the 1.36 lakh TN students who had appeared for the test this year, 76,181 have qualified Shaken & Stirred PLUS 12 P AGES (56.1%), a tad below the previ- tongues wagging as all the TN ous year’s 58.3%. Since there is political parties, except the a drop in score across BJP, have opposed the the country, with the test saying that it puts top mark being 686, the poor, rural students at a lowest since 2019, the disadvantage and the cut-off for MBBS adcentre must give exempmission may drop by tion to TN students from 60 to 70 marks. the test.The topper from The drop in number Tamil Nadu, S Soorya of qualifying candi- Soorya Narayanan Narayanan of Tiruneldates and failure of veli district, secured an Tamil Nadu students to make it All India Rank (AIR) of 27. Last to the top 25 ranks, may set year, P Rajaneesh from the state was among the 17 students who secured first rank by scoring a perfect 720 out of 720. In 2023, J Prabanjan from TN shared AIR 1 with another student from Andhra Pradesh by scoring 720. Moreover, five students from Tamil Nadu secured a spot among the top 25 in 2023. Besides Soorya Narayanan, five more students made it to the top 100 AIR this year, compared to 10 students in 2024. P5 Raj aspirant nat’l topper, 55.96% clear NEET-UG New Delhi: A total of 12,36,531 candidates, majority of them women, have cleared NEET-UG. Rajasthan’s Mahesh Kumar has emerged national topper with a percentile of 99.9999547. Of the 22,09,318 who took the test, 55.96% have cleared it Inside 3 Tribal students get NIT seats | P4 e x p r ess r ea d Tension grips Tiruvallur as cops attempt to question MLA CHENNAI: A minor altercation broke out between police and supporters of MLA ‘Poovai’ M Jaganmoorthi as the cops arrived at his house in Tiruvallur on Saturday to question him in an abduction case. The MLA fled from the spot | P4 Baga l ava n P e r i e r B @ Cuddalore Chandra receives the house key from her former students on Friday | Express WITH THIS ISSUE Marginal dip in TN NEET show; MBBS cut-off may fall 35 years on, TN teacher gets new home as ‘guru dakshina’ For J Chandra, a 75-year-old retired private schoolteacher of Chidambaram whose entire life was spent in illuminating the lives of thousands of students, help came at her darkest hour from her own students — in the form a new home. As the teacher landed in bad times after the death of her husband and relatives, and poor health affected her ability to teach, she had to wage a lonely battle for survival inside a crumbling hut. All this changed when N Manikandan, one of her former students from 35 years ago who couldn’t bear to see her troubles, reached out to his classmates to give their history teacher a helping hand. On Friday (June 13) morning, Chandra stepped into the new home built by her students at a cost of `3.5 lakh at Kavarappalayam Street in Bhuvanagiri. It took six months to finish the construction work but the smile on Chandra’s face, when her former students handed over the key to their beloved teacher, made it all worthwhile.  P5 bases of Israel’s allies including the US, UK, and France if they helped Tel Aviv. The warning came after reports said US air defence systems shot down Iranian missiles. With both Israel and Iran hardening their positions, it could become a protracted, fullfledged war that could disrupt global economy by making the Red Sea more unsafe. P9 India distances itself from sco statement Accused in `100-cr cryptocurrency case held in B’luru by Pondy cops PUDUCHERRY: In a major breakthrough in a cryptocurrency fraud case, the Puducherry Cybercrime Police arrested Imran Basha (37), a resident of Coimbatore, from Bengaluru. Basha is the main accused in the `100 crore scam | P3 TAKE YOUR FIRST STEP TOWARDS TRANSFORMATION GITAM ADMISSION TEST (GAT) History-sheeter locks up cop in police station in Madurai united by cricket South Africa captain Temba Bavuma with the World Test Championship mace after beating Australia in the final. This is SA’s first ICC trophy in 27 years | AP | P11 Madurai: A history-sheeter locked up a head constable in a room inside the V Chatrapatti police station in Madurai and ransacked the station early on Saturday after cops held inquiry with his family. Search is on to nab him | P4 LAST DATE TO REGISTER 19 June th 2025 su n d a y spe c ia l EXAM DATE 22 June nd A peek into where Gill’s journey began G o m e s h S @ Chennai Chak Khere Wala in Punjab, close to the Pakistan border, is not even a speck on the map. It would have remained a nondescript village of India’s vast hinterland if not for one man — Shubman Gill. When the newlyanointed India captain walks in the India blazer to toss the coin against England in the first Test at Leeds on Friday (June 20), the village would enter into the folklore of Indian cricket. This is where Gill’s cricketing journey began as a threeyear-old with a wooden bat carved out of a tree trunk. Gill’s grandparents — Sardar Didar Singh Gill and Gurmail — still live in the house surrounded by acres of farm land. The small stretch of concrete built to make Gill bat and the kitchen walls still stand as a testimony to his early toil as a batter. Didar, who is nearing 90, showed the house where Gill’s mementos and plaques hold pride of place. Gill and his father may have shifted to Mohali when he was seven but the cricketer has not forgotten the village. A small distance away from the Gills’ is the Jaimal Wala Academy. Coach Gurpreet Singh says Gill’s father trains kids whenever he is in village. Gill donat- 2025 Architecture ed `3.5L, which was used to set up the nets and buy equipment. The construction got over on Friday The district authorities . are building a new stadium to honour him. “Since Shubman, a lot of academies have come up in the area,” says Surinder Chindi, Fazilka Cricket Association Secretary  . P11 The patch of concrete where Shubman Gill used to practice as a child. The kitchen is on the right I Gomesh S Engineering Humanities Law Management Medicine Nursing Paramedical Pharmacy Physiotherapy Public Policy Sciences MERIT SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE UP TO 100% THAT ALSO COVER FOOD AND ACCOMMODATION BENGALURU | HYDERABAD | VISAKHAPATNAM 8884984000 www.gitam.edu Scan the code to schedule your test