KOTTAYAM l SATURDAY l september 13, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l city EDITION sc: firecracker ban can’t be applicable for delhi-ncr only The Supreme Court on Thursday said if clean air was a right for “elite” residents of the capital, the same must extend to citizens across the country same rule should APPLY pan-india eye on air quality commission report A bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran was hearing pleas on regulation of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR. “If NCR is entitled for clean air, why not people of other cities?... I was in Amritsar last winter and pollution there was worse than in Delhi. If firecrackers are to be banned, they should be banned throughout India,” the CJI said ■ ■ The two-judge bench asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, to get a detailed report on the issue from the Commission for Air Quality Management The bench remarked that there would be status quo with regard to the cancellation of firecrackers’ licences by the authorities Sept 22 is when the matter will be heard next by the supreme court 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 Retired SC Chief Justice’s demand to dissolve Nepal’s parliament accepted Gen Z pick Sushila Karki sworn in as interim PM N epal has made his- pose decades of corruption. tory once again. The Born on 7 June 1952 in Biratcountry’s first female nagar, Karki is no stranger to Chief Justice, Sushi- challenges. She became Nepal’s la Karki, has now be- first female Chief Justice in come its first female July 2016 and served until June Prime Minister. She 2017. During her tenure, she was sworn in by President Ram faced a no-confidence motion Chandra Poudel at his office, from the Nepali Congress but Sheetal Niwas, on Friday It fol- remained steadfast in her com. lowed the dissolution of the m i t m e n t t o j u s t i c e a n d elected government headed by transparency . K P Sharma Oli. Throughout her career, she Karki and the Gen Z protest- refused to bow to political presers had made it clear sure or corruption — that she would step in a reputation that only after Parliament made her the natural was dissolved — a dechoice to lead the mand that has now country through this been fulfilled. Former transitional period. PM Baburam BhattaThe Gen Z protest, rai and a clutch of dipwhich began on Seplomats, including from Namrata Sharma tember 8, quickly esIndia, China and the calated into a nationSenior journalist and US, attended the swearwide uprising. Streets women rights advocate. ing-in event. The first across Nepal saw cabinet is expected to Sharma can be reached at widespread vandalnamrata1964@yahoo.com meet later in the day . ism, with both public @NamrataSharmaP September 12, the and private property fifth day of the Gen Z damaged. Daily life protest, will be remembered as came to a standstill, hitting daia defining moment in Nepal’s ly wage earners particularly political history — a day when hard. In the process, the hidden the youth, united and resolute, wealth of top political leaders toppled a government, dis- was exposed. Reports of sacks solved parliament, and helped of cash found in the homes of elevate a woman known for her Nepali Congress president anti-corruption crusade to the Sher Bahadur Deuba and Forhighest executive office. eign Minister Arzoo Rana DeuThis unprecedented move- ba have shocked the nation. Enment inspired young people raged citizens — not just Gen Z globally, proving that when protesters — vandalised the youth unite, they can disman- residences of several accused Continued on: P9 tle entrenched regimes and ex- leaders.  asia cup cricket At `12 L per 10 secs, India-Pakistan match tops advertisers’ bill S w a r o o p S w a m i n at h a n @ Bengaluru THE Indian cricketing economy continues to remain recession proof. Post the ban on real money gaming, it was looking at a hole but it’s on course to pass its first big test — ad rates for the group-stage encounter between India and Pakistan on Sunday as well as selling all available ad slots for the said game. Over the last few years, advertisements around live coverage of cricket’s marquee properties were fronted by real money gaming firms. But their exit hasn’t affected the market. Media planners have told this daily that the broadcaster, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI), have sold ‘all ad inventory for the India - Pakistan match’. Ad inventory is basically the total space made available by the broadcaster to the advertisers to purchase. It’s expected that ad rates for the Sunday encounter has been sold for well over `12 lakh for a 10 second slot. With there being the potential of two more matches be- India captain Suryakumar Yadav and Pakistan skipper Salman Agha | file pic tween the rivals, the interest may only rise. It also kind of paints a picture as there has been intermittent calls of boycotting the game (some Indian brands did actively become part of this post the Pahalgam tragedy in April). But that hasn’t translated into reality as some big companies have come on board. “It’s all a question of visibility,” says Prahlad Kakkar, an advertising guru, whose commercials came to dominate the cricketing ad space in the nineties and naughts. “It’s worth to pay `20 lakh for a 10 second slot for a game between India and Pakistan because everybody is watching it,” he says. “Even your personal cabbie will take time off to watch it.” Nepal’s President Ram Chandra Paudel administers the oath of office to Sushila Karki as prime minister on Friday; and people celebrate outside the president’s residence | PTI/AP Snap polls in six months President Ramchandra Paudel said the new caretaker government is mandated to hold fresh parliamentary elections within six months Modi in Manipur today Yearning for justice, political solution on eve of PM’s visit P r a s a n ta M a z u m d a r @ Imphal Manipur’s Imphal and Churachandpur have been decked up with the posters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his visit on Saturday—the PM’s first trip to the state since ethnic violence broke out two years ago. One of the posters put up overnight by the state gover nment, captioned Viksit Bharat Viksit Manipur, says the PM will lay the foundation stone for development projects worth over `7,300 crore L71,850 crore worth in Churachandprojects in 5 states pur and inaugurate projects of Apart from Manipur, the `1,200 crore in PM will also visit Mizoram, Imphal. Of fiAssam, Bengal, and Bihar cials said the from Sept 13-15, and will `8,500 crore unveil projects worth a worth of total of D71,850 crore projects are for the entire state. On the ground, though, not many seem bothered about any development package. They are interested in other pressing issues — peace, normalcy security and resettlement. , , Ask anyone in Churachandpur and they will say the Kukis expect the PM to offer a political solution to their problem — a separate administration in the form of a Union Territory . “We hope that the PM delivers justice,” said Kenedy Haokip, a Churachandpur-based civil society leader. Sabarimala: HC orders seizure of all gold plating records E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Kochi Hardening its stance against the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) for sending gold-plated sheets of ‘dwarapalaka idols’ of the Sabarimala temple to Chennai for repair without following proper procedure, the Kerala High Court on Friday directed the TDB’s chief vigilance and security officer (SP) to seize all the records related to the gold plating of the idols and other items since the date of original cladding. It also impleaded Unnikrishnan Potty of Bengaluru, who is sponsoring the repair, and Smart Creations of Chennai, which is undertaking it, in the case and asked the registry to issue “urgent notice of the proceedings.” A bench of Justice Raja Vijayaraghavan V and Justice K V Jayakumar direct- ed the TDB security officer to “seize entire records concerning the goldplating/gold-cladding of the dwarapalakas, the door lintel, the door panel, the Lakshmi Roopam and Kamanam, commencing from the date of the original cladding.” The officer should also ensure the file relating to the other set of ‘dwarapalaka idols’ and kept in the strongroom are placed before the court. Meanwhile, the TDB filed an affidavit tendering unconditional apology for failing to obtain prior permission before detaching the gold-plated coverings and for the subsequent delay in communicating this action to the special commissioner. It was on the special commissioner’s report highlighting this lapse by the TDB that the HC initiated suo motu proceedings and issued the directive. Major scare as plane loses rear wheel, lands safely e x p r e s s ne w s s e r v i c e @ Mumbai A SpiceJet Q400 aircraft carrying 75 passengers made a safe emergency landing in Mumbai on Friday after losing a wheel shortly after takeoff from Kandla airport in Gujarat. The aircraft landed at Mumbai airport’s Runway 27 at 3.51 pm with all passengers and crew safe, Mumbai airport operator MIAL said. Operations at the airport were briefly impacted. The flight departed at 2.38 pm against the scheduled time of 1.25 pm from Kandla and landed in Mumbai at 3.51 pm, as per information available on flight tracking website Flightradar24.com. “On September 12, an outer wheel of a SpiceJet Q400 aircraft operating from Kandla to Mumbai was found at the runway after take-off. The aircraft continued its journey to Mumbai and landed safely the airline said in a statement. ,”