chennai l Thursday l June 19, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 20 l late city EDITION Govt set to roll out annual FASTag passes for pvt vehicles from Aug 15 Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways of India, Nitin Gadkari, on Wednesday said the move is aimed at making highway travel hassle-free 200 trips on national highways for `3,000 Less congestion, disputes at toll plazas The pass will be valid for one year from the date of activation, or 200 trips, whichever comes first. Users may re-purchase the pass once the 200-trip limit is exhausted, even if the one-year validity period has not yet ended. The pass—valid only at NHAI-operated toll plazas—is designed exclusively for non-commercial private vehicles such as cars, jeeps & vans ■ The annual pass can be activated on existing FASTag ■ Gadkari said the annual pass will reduce wait time, ease congestion, and minimise disputes at toll plazas ■ Using annual passes will not be mandatory; users can continue to pass toll plazas using their existing electronic toll collection tags | P9 `15 Will be the Average cost of crossing a toll plaza for annual pass holders 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 Modi calls out Don’s claim, turns down invite to meet India has always been against 3rd-party mediation on the issue: PM J aya n t h J a co b @ New Delhi Kashmiri students wait to board a flight to India under an evacuation operation facilitated by Govt of India, at Yerevan Int’l Airport in Armenia on Wednesday | pti Operation Sindhu starts, first evacuation flight to land in New Delhi today in Sheraz University I am wor. ried about his safety especially , @ New Delhi / Srinagar / Lucknow after hearing news that a hostel came under Isreali strike,” said INDIA has launched Operation Srinag ar resident Shabir Sindhu to evacuate its nation- Ahmed. als from conflict-torn Iran, Nasir Khuehami, national which has come under heavy convenor of J&K Students AsIsraeli aerial bombardment. sociation, said 250 more stuThe first evacuation dents have been shiftflight is expected to ed to safer location of ‘Iran will not land in New Delhi on Qom. They will be surrender’ Thursday . evacuated to ArmeIran’s supreme A total of 110 Indinia and then airlifted an students boarded a leader Ayatollah Ali to Delhi. Khamenei on special flight from Meanwhile, the Wednesday Yerevan in Armenia families of those rejected US on Wednesday. The working in Israel are President Donald flight is scheduled to e q u a l l y wo r r i e d . land in New Delhi Trump’s ultimatum Workers from around around 2:00 am on to surrender. “Wise 70 families from Baraindividuals who Thursday Around 90 . banki, Lucknow and know Iran, its of these students are other districts are people, and its from Jammu and employed in various Kashmir. There are history never speak factories in Israel. around 1,300 J&K stu- to this nation with Ram Singh, a weldthe language of dents in Iran. er from Malihabad, threats,” he said The Iranian EmLucknow, shared his bassy in Delhi said experiences with his five Indian students were in- family through a video call, exjured during a strike on a medi- plaining that mobile alerts cal students’ dormitory on Ke- come 10 minutes before a misshavarz Street in Tehran on sile attack, followed by loud siSunday. Sources said the stu- rens five minutes ahead. dents were safely evacuated “The moment the siren and nobody sustained any seri- sounds, there’s panic all ous injury . around. Everyone runs for the “My ward is studying MBBS bunkers,” he told his family . J AYA N TH J A C O B , F aya z W a n i & N a m i ta B a jpa i SC slams TN on suspension of ADGP in abduction case S U C HITRA KA LYA N M O HA N T Y @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Wednesday slammed the Tamil Nadu government for the suspension of ADGP H M Jayaram (Armed Police), who was taken into custody as ordered by the Madras High Court in a kidnapping case, after noting that “these kinds of (government) orders are shocking and demoralising.” “He (Jayaram) is a senior police officer. Where was the requirement for you to put him under suspension,” asked a bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Manmohan. It was alleged that the abduction of a boy in a love marriage case was carried out using the official vehicle of ADGP Jayaram. During the course of the hearing on Wednesday, the lawyer for the Tamil Nadu government submitted that the officer was taken into custody and released on Tuesday at 5 pm.  P7 Sending a clear and firm message to Washington, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told US President Donald Trump that India has never accepted—and will never accept—third-party mediation on the Kashmir issue. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said Modi made it unequivocally clear during their 35-minute phone call on Tuesday . The call—their second direct engagement since the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam— came against the backdrop of Operation Sindoor. Misri said “India’s response was measured, precise, and limited to terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir,” underscoring New Delhi’s commitment to strategic restraint without compromising on national security . The conversation also sought to clarify India’s position on recent claims by President Trump, who had repeatedly talked about playing a role in brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan. Modi directly addressed this, saying there were “no discus- Narendra Modi sions on a trade deal between India and the US or about a mediation between India and Pakistan” at any point during the four days of military confrontation. The ceasefire talks, he said, were conducted exclusively between India and Pakistan, without any external involvement whatsoever. President Trump suggested a stopover meeting in the US during Modi’s return from Canada, but the prime minister declined due to prior commitments. Both agreed to find another opportunity for an in-person meeting soon. Hours later, Trump reiterated that he intervened to prevent a military conflict between India and Pakistan in May after the Pahalgam terror attack. Coming, rules to mandate IST for time sovereignty J i t e n d r a C h ou b e y @ New Delhi Did you know the Indian Standard Time (IST) is derived from the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) with an offset of +5.30 hours? It is a successor to the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a ‘One Nation, One Time’ pitch, the Department of Consumer Affairs, in collaboration with CSIR-NPL and ISRO, is set to notify a bunch of rules for synchronisation of all activities with IST. It may not appear to be a big deal for the aam aadmi, but synchronisation would make digital transactions more secure, add accuracy to utility billing and reduce risks of cybercrime. Currently, Indian industries depend on the GPS of US satellites for synchronised time. But it can be vulnerable to manipulation. For context, the time standard used for the recent four-day Operation Sindoor against Pakistan was not linked to the GPS to keep it away from the prying eyes of the enemy . The government has now directed that all legal, commercial, and administrative activities be synchronised with IST. The use of alternative time references will be prohibited. Establishing a domestic source of time standard is critical for sectors like telecom, where even nanoseconds can make a difference. express read Will provide security for release of ‘Thug Life’, Karnataka govt tells SC NEW DELHI: The Karnataka government late on Wednesday filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court saying that if actor Kamal Haasan’s movie ‘Thug Life’ is released in the state, it would take all necessary steps to provide security to all the citizens and stakeholders concerned. A two-judge Supreme Court bench will hear the case on Thursday | P5 Gold seizures at Chennai airport drop by 50% Siddharth Prabhakar @ Chennai Gold seizures by Customs authorities at the Chennai international airport have reduced by half in 2024-25 compared to the previous year. As per official data sourced through RTI, Chennai Customs seized around 310kg of gold worth `166 crore in 560 cases from April 2023 to March 2024. The seizures dropped to 160kg of gold worth `110 crore across 233 cases from April 2024 to March 2025. The number of ar- rests made by Customs authorities, however, increased from 72 to 106 over the past one year, the data show. After an increasing trend in gold seizures at the airport over the last few years, the trend seems to be reversing. For instance, in 2022-23, Customs had seized around 250kg of gold, which was almost 25% more compared to 2023-24. Gold is usually smuggled into India from UAE and Southeast Asian countries. Officials and those involved in the trade attribute two reasons to the drop — strict checking by Chennai Customs and reduction of gold import duty from 15% to 6% by the union government in July 2024. “Gold smuggling has become a less lucrative business. The risk to reward ratio has dropped. The incentive for smuggling is the evasion of import duty and with the duty cut, trade margins have reduced,” said a senior official.  P7 Donald Trump Other channels? A retired Customs official said that smuggled gold is also a way to hide illicit wealth in India and a drop in airport seizures could mean it may be happening through other channels Speaking to reporters at the White House, he described Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “a fantastic man” and expressed optimism about a forthcoming trade deal between the US and India. “Well, I stopped the war… I love Pakistan. I think Modi is a fantastic man. I spoke to him last night. We’re going to make a trade deal with Modi of India. But I stopped the war between Pakistan and India,” President Trump said. Addressing speculation around a potential White House meeting with Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir, Trump credited Munir with playing a key role in de-escalating the crisis. “This man was extremely influential in stopping it from the Pakistan side,” Trump said, referring to Munir. “Modi, from the India side, and others — they were going at it, and they’re both nuclear countries. I got it stopped.” Trump also questioned media coverage of his claims, stating, “I don’t think I had one story. Did I have one story written…” India and Canada reset ties, to reinstate envoys J AYA N TH J A C O B @ New Delhi IN a big step towards mending strained ties, India and Canada have agreed to reinstate High Commissioners in each other’s capitals and restart stalled trade negotiations, following a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on the sidelines of the G7 Summit early on Wednesday . Modi and Carney agreed to restore stability to the relationship with the return of top diplomats. “Diplomatic steps will follow in due course,” said Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri. The meeting set in motion the resumption of dialogues on trade, connectivity, and public engagement. Trade talks, previously paused, will also be revived, with both leaders instructing their officials to restart negotiations soon. Collaboration on global challenges and emerging technologies formed a key part of the discussion, with both sides agreeing to deepen cooperation in clean energy, AI, digital infrastructure, food security and , critical minerals. After the meeting, PM Modi said, “Had an excellent meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney Complimented him and the . Canadian Government for suc- Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Canadian PM Mark Carney on the sidelines of G7 Summit at Kananaskis, Canada | PTI cessfully hosting the G7 Summit. India and Canada are connected by a strong belief in democracy freedom and rule of , law. PM Carney and I look forward to working closely to add momentum to the India-Canada friendship. Areas like trade, energy, space, clean energy, critical minerals, fertilisers and more offer immense potential in this regard.” This marks Prime Minister Modi’s first visit to Canada since the diplomatic fallout following allegations of Indian involvement in the killing of pro-Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The controversy had triggered diplomatic expulsions and the suspension of key dialogues.  P9