hyderabad l wednesday l august 13, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION Govt nod for 4 chip plants worth `4,594 cr in Odisha, Punjab, AP Out of the four projects, Odisha will get two, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh one each, Union I&B minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Tuesday odisha to witness `4,009 crore investment In all, 10 projects under national mission Vaishnaw said SiCSem will set up a silicon carbide semiconductor plant in Bhubaneswar for `2,066 crore, while Intel-backed 3D Glass Solutions will establish a manufacturing unit in Odisha with an investment of `1,943 cr; electronics component maker CDIL will set up a facility in Punjab for `117 crore; and ASIP will establish a chip packaging plant in AP for `468 crore ■ ■ The four new projects together are expected to generate a cumulative employment for 2,034 skilled professionals, a govt release said | P7 With the four new approvals, the total approved projects under the India Semiconductor Mission is now 10 with cumulative investments of around `1.6 lakh crore spread across six states, the release added `76,000 cr outlay of semiconductor mission under which projects are approved 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 Gaza GENOCIDE Priyanka vs Israel embassy PREETHA NAIR @ New Delhi Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Israeli Ambassador to India Reuven Azar were at daggers drawn on Tuesday after the former accused Israel of committing “genocide” and criticised the Indian government’s “shameful” silence over “the devastation on the people of Palestine”. The Wayanad MP’s remarks received a sharp response from Israel’s ambassador to India, Reuven Azar. “What is shameful is your deceit. Israel Killed 25,000 Hamas terrorists. The terrible cost in human lives derives from Hamas’s heinous tactics of hiding behind civilians, their shooting of people trying to evacuate or receive assistance and their rocket fire,” Azar said on X. The diplomat’s reply was to a post by Priyanka on the microblogging platform that Israel has “murdered over 60,000 people, 18,430 of whom were children”. Targeting the Modi government, Priyanka said enabling these crimes by silence and inaction is a crime in itself. In another post on X, she said the “cold blooded murder” of five Al Jazeera journalists is another heinous crime on Palestinian soil and said the immeasurable courage of those who dare to stand for the truth will never be broken by the violence and hatred of the Israeli state. “In a world where much of the media is enslaved to power and commerce, these brave souls reminded us of what true journalism is. May they rest in peace,” she said. The Israeli envoy said that Israel facilitated two million tonnes of food into Gaza while Hamas tries to sequester them, creating hunger. “Gaza population has grown 450% in the last 50 years, no genocide there. Don’t buy Hamas numbers,” Azar said on X. e x p r e ss r e a d SIT to probe if 50 kids trafficked by Srushti Hyderabad: The Gopalapuram police will transfer the investigation into the fake surrogacy and interstate child trafficking racket, busted in July, to the SIT of the CCS police, as per the instructions of the Hyderabad Police Commissioner, North Zone DCP S Rashmi Perumal said | P3 KTR notice to Bandi over tapgate allegations Hyderabad: BRS working president KT Rama Rao sent a legal notice to Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay over what he termed as “baseless and defamatory” remarks the latter made against him in connection with the alleged phone-tapping case | P4 Inclusion or exclusion from rolls within Election Commission of India’s ambit, says bench Bihar SIR appears to be a trust deficit issue: SC SUCHITRA K ALYAN MOHANTY @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Tuesday observed that the special intensive revision (SIR) in Bihar appears to be a matter of trust deficit, adding inclusion or exclusion of citizens from electoral rolls was within the ambit of the Election Commission of India (ECI). A bench of justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, which commenced the hearing on a batch of petitions, called the SIR row “largely a trust deficit issue”, going by the ECI’s claim that roughly 6.5 crore of the total 7.9 crore voting population didn’t have to file any documents for themselves or their parents who featured in the 2003 poll roll. Besides, “if out of 7.9 crore voters, 7.24 crore voters responded to SIR, it demolishes the theory of one crore voters missing or disenfranchised,” the bench said. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha and others, argued that the exclusion of about 65 lakh voters from the draft elec- toral roll is illegal. “Despite residents holding Aadhaar, ration and EPIC cards, officials refused to accept the documents. People were struggling to find birth certificates and other documents of their parents,” he said. However, Justice Surya Kant told Sibal he was making a very sweeping statement that nobody has documents in Bihar. “If this happens in Bihar, then what will happen in other parts of the country?” he wondered. Contrary to its earlier advice to the ECI to consider Aadhaar and voter I-cards for the SIR process, the bench agreed with the poll body that they were not proof of citizenship. Senior advocate Abhishek redesigned Unity Mall to be 50 floors now E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Hyderabad The proposed “Unity Mall” for which excavation work is nearing completion will no longer be limited to a six-storey building but would instead be the tallest mall in Hyderabad. The government is believed to have approved the revised plans to build the 50-storey tower at a cost of `1,500 crore in PPP mode on the 5.16 acres of land belonging to the Telangana State Leather Industries Promotion Corporation in Raidurg. According to officials, the redesigned mall will have at least five basements for parking and other facilities, six floors dedicated to hosting exhibitions for textile, handloom and crafts products and 39 floors for commercial usage. The total area of the tower would be 30 lakh sq ft. The implementing agency of the project is Telangana Trade Promotion Corporation (TGTPC). Officials said that the estimated cost of the project is `1,500 crore and will be built under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode. It may be recalled that the Union government decided to construct “Unity Malls” The proposed ‘Unity Mall’ across the country under “One District - One Product” scheme, which is envisaged to exhibit and promote the local handlooms and crafts at one place. As a part of this, the Union government had allocated `202 crore of which `101 crore was released for constructing the Unity Mall.  continued on P5 Torrent expected Statewide forecast Red Alert Very heavy to extremely heavy rain in  Hanamkonda  Jangaon  Mahbubabad  Warangal  Yadadri Bhuvanagiri Orange Alert Heavy to very heavy rain in  Bhadradri Kothagudem  Hyderabad  Karimnagar Jayashankar Bhupalpally Warangal city on Tuesday  Medchal–Malkajgiri  Mulugu  Peddapalli Rangareddy  Siddipet HYDRAA warns of extremely heavy rain for 3 days in Greater Hyderabad limits  Northern Hyderabad (Medchal, Cyberabad areas) to be worst affected  Rainfall likely above 10–15 cm; some areas may see up to 20 cm Warangal Wrecked Sangem: 202.7 mm Wardhanapeta: 122.3 mm Qila Warangal: 148.5 mm Mangapet: 164 mm 645 mm: Cumulative rainfall this season in Warangal district CM’s directives  Leaves of govt employees cancelled  IT firms urged to consider work-from-home  Helicopters to be on standby for flood rescue; coordination with Army & NDRF Schools in Hanamkonda, Jangaon, Mahbubabad, Warangal and Yadadri Bhuvanagiri to be closed on August 13 and 14; only morning shift in GHMC limits Singhvi, representing different political parties, questioned the timeline — just before the Bihar state polls — for the completion of the exercise. The court, however, stressed that as per the rules, those excluded have to submit applications for inclusion, and it is only at this stage that anyone’s objection will be considered. But Singhvi submitted that the EC was never intended to be the policeman of citizenship. “What is happening here is de facto deletion. Non-inclusion is the clever word being used here.” Sibal pointed out that while in one constituency in the state, contrary to the poll panel’s claims, 12 people declared dead were found alive, in another instance alive persons were declared dead. But senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the ECI, said any exercise of such a nature was bound to have some defects at the draft stage. “This process can be rectified,” Dwivedi said. The arguments were inconclusive and would continue on Wednesday . P8 Bombay HC: Aadhaar isn’t citizenship proof The Bombay High Court on Tuesday denied bail to an alleged Bangladeshi national, saying mere possession of documents such as Aadhaar card, PAN card or a Voter ID card does not make someone a citizen of India. “They are meant for identification or availing services, but do not override the basic legal requirements of citizenship as prescribed in the Citizenship Act, 1955,” Justice Borkar said | P8 EC gets plaint on Siddu’s 2018 ‘vote purchase’ Amid vote theft charges against the poll body in Karnataka, BJP MP Lahar Singh Siroya petitioned the ECI citing a video of former Union minister C M Ibrahim claiming he had ‘purchased’ 3,000 votes in the 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections to ensure a narrow victory of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the Badami assembly constituency Justice Aravind on panel of 3 to probe Varma misconduct PREETHA NAIR @ New Delhi Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday announced a threemember panel to probe charges against Justice Yashwant Varma after admitting a multi-party notice for his removal, setting in motion the process of impeachment of the Allahabad High Court judge. The inquiry committee includes Supreme Court judge Justice Aravind Kumar, Madras High Court Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava, and senior Karnataka High Court advocate B V Acharya. “The committee will submit its report as early as possible. The proposal (for removal of Justice Varma) will remain pending till the receipt of the report,” Birla said. The LS Speaker said he had received a proposal from 146 MPs, including Ravi Shankar Prasad and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, seeking removal of Justice Varma on July 21. The panel was set up in accordance From left: Justice Aravind, Justice Shrivastava, and senior advocate Acharya What happens next If the committee finds Justice Varma guilty, the inquiry report will be tabled in Parliament, followed by a discussion in both Houses after which there will be voting on the motion for the removal of the judge with Section 3(2) of the Judges (Inquiry) Act 1968, he added. A fire incident at Justice Varma’s residence in the national capital in March, when he was a judge at the Delhi High Court, had led to the discovery of sackfuls of burnt cash at the outhouse. Though the judge claimed ignorance about the cash, a Supreme Court-appointed committee indicted him after speaking to a number of witnesses and recording his statement. SC asks CBI to investigate lawyer-couple murder E x p r e s s N e w s SE r v i c e @ New Delhi/Peddapalli The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the CBI to investigate the 2021 killing of a lawyer couple in Peddapalli district. The murder of practising lawyers Gattu Vaman Rao and PV Nagamani took place on February 17, 2021, when two assailants intercepted their car near a village in Ramagiri mandal and attacked them with knives and other weapons. A two-judge bench comprising Justice MM Sundresh and Justice N Kotiswar Singh issued the order after hearing a Screengrab of the robbers barging into the Khazana Jewellery store at Chandanagar in Hyderabad on Tuesday Armed robbers target jewellers, shoot store staffer C h i t h a l u r i R e v a n t h @ Hyderabad Six unidentified men, their faces concealed with masks, handkerchiefs and even a helmet, barged into Khazana Jewellery’s Chandanagar branch around 10.30 am on Tuesday and fled with silver ornaments, after shooting the manager in the leg. Waving guns, the men ordered the staff to hand over the locker keys where the gold ornaments were kept. When deputy manager Satish Kumar hesitated, one of the attackers pulled the trigger and shot him in the leg. “We thought today would be our last day in the shop,” Suleman, an employee, told TNIE. The robbers, told that the key was not within the premises of the store, turned to the silver jewellery on display They grabbed . the ornaments after striking cashiers Samba and Dhanunjay, and threatening other employees. Police believe the group was armed with at least four weapons and may have had accomplices waiting outside. They fired two rounds in total, one captured on CCTV hitting Satish, who is now recovering in hospital. The gang fled within minutes. Cyberabad police’s clues team, along with CCS, SOT and local cops, arrived on the scene to collect evidence. Multiple teams have been deployed to track down the assailants. petition filed by Rao’s father, Gattu Kishan Rao, seeking a CBI probe into the murder of his son and daughter-in-law. The incident occurred at Kalvacherla on the Peddapalli– Manthani highway The couple . were attacked while returning after attending a court case in Manthani.  Continued on P5 Sc Decision most welcome: Sridhar IT and Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu welcomed the SC order, saying that the decision instils faith in the justice system. He criticised the previous BRS government for not taking the matter seriously