HYDERABAD l saturday l september 13, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 20 l LATE 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 be used for pan-india 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 ■ Sept 22 eye on air quality commission report ■ 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 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 Modi in Manipur today Retired Supreme Court Chief Justice’s demand to dissolve Nepal’s parliament accepted Gen Z pick Sushila Karki sworn in as interim PM N epal has made history trenched regimes and expose once again. The coun- decades of corruption. try’s first female Chief Born on 7 June 1952 in BiratJustice, Sushila Karki, nagar, Karki is no stranger to has now become its challenges. She became Nepal’s first female Prime Min- first female Chief Justice in ister. She was sworn in July 2016 and served until June by President Ramchandra Pau- 2017. During her tenure, she del at his office, Sheetal Niwas, faced a no-confidence motion on Friday It followed the dissolu- from the Nepali Congress but . tion of the elected govremained steadfast in ernment headed by K P her commitment to Sharma Oli. justice and Karki and the Gen Z transparency . protesters had made it Throughout her caclear that she would reer, she refused to step in only after Parbow to political presliament was dissolved sure or corruption — — a demand that has a reputation that now been fulfilled. The Namrata Sharma made her the natural House was dissolved choice to lead the Senior journalist and with effect from 11 pm, women rights advocate. country through this the President’s Office Sharma can be reached at transitional period. said. For mer PM namrata1964@yahoo.com The Gen Z protest, Baburam Bhattarai which began on Sep@NamrataSharmaP and a clutch of diplotember 8, quickly escamats, including from lated into a nationwide India, China and the US, attend- uprising. Streets across Nepal ed the swearing-in event. saw widespread vandalism, with September 12, the fifth day of both public and private property the Gen Z protest, will be re- damaged. Daily life came to a membered as a defining mo- standstill, hitting daily wage ment in Nepal’s political histo- earners particularly hard. In the ry — a day when the youth, process, the hidden wealth of top united and resolute, toppled a political leaders was exposed. government, dissolved parlia- Reports of sacks of cash found ment, and helped elevate a in the homes of Nepali Congress woman known for her anti-cor- president Sher Bahadur Deuba ruption crusade to the highest and Foreign Minister Arzoo executive office. Rana Deuba have shocked the This unprecedented move- nation. Enraged citizens — not ment inspired young people glo- just Gen Z protesters — vandalbally proving that when youth ised the houses of several ac, unite, they can dismantle en- cused leaders. Continued on P9 Nepal’s President Ramchandra Paudel administers the oath of office to Sushila Karki (top) as PM on Friday; and people celebrate outside the president’s residence | PTI/AP Snap polls on March 21 President Ramchandra Paudel fixed March 21, 2026, as the date for holding fresh Parliamentary elections, the President’s office said Married a revolutionary Karki is the eldest of seven siblings She grew up in a simple farming family in Biratnagar Karki married Durga Prasad Subedi, an erstwhile popular leader of Nepali Congress. They had met during her days at the BHU Subedi was a youth revolutionary member of Nepali Congress during the 1970s He was part of the group that hijacked a Royal Nepal Airlines aircraft to get INR 3 million to fund the party’s armed revolution against King Birendra Shah in 1973 The hijacked plane carrying Nepal Rastra Bank’s money landed at Forbesganj in India After retirement, Karki wrote two books, including ‘Nyay’, her biography express read Major scare as plane loses rear wheel Mumbai: A SpiceJet 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 at 3.51 pm with all passengers and crew safe, Mumbai airport operator MIAL said. 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. | P10 Fee delay: Pvt colleges to close from Monday Hyderabad: In view of the delay by the state government in releasing fee reimbursement arrears, private professional colleges in Telangana have announced an indefinite closure from September 15. Members of the Federation of Associations of Telangana Higher Education submitted a notice to Telangana Council of Higher Education Chairman Prof V Balakista Reddy on Friday, stating that reimbursement of tuition fees amounting to thousands of crores has been pending for a long time. They noted that most technical institutions are dependent on this amount for their survival | P2 rain lessons The Government Model School at Somaram in Saidapur mandal of Karimnagar district was flooded following heavy rain on Thursday night, forcing the students to leave for their homes on Friday | Express 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 government, captioned Viksit Bharat Viksit Manipur, says the PM will lay the foundation stone for development projects worth over `7,300 crore in Churachandpur and inaugurate projects of `1,200 crore in Imphal. Officials said the `8,500 crore worth of 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, norm a l c y, s e c u r i t y, a n d `71,850 crore worth projects in 5 states Apart from Manipur, the PM will also visit Mizoram, Assam, Bengal, and Bihar from Sept 13-15, and will unveil projects worth a total of `71,850 crore 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 for m of a Union Territory . “We don’t consider it (devel- Govt to acquire new coal blocks to keep SCCL afloat: Bhatti E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Hyderabad Cautioning that the very existence of Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) will be at stake if no new coal blocks are acquired, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka announced that the state government will participate in all auctions conducted by the Centre in the future. He pointed out that abstaining from auctions in the past has already caused a staggering loss of `60,000 crore. Speaking to reporters at the Secretariat on Friday, alongside SCCL Chairman and Managing Director Balaram Naik, the deputy CM said the government is determined to acquire coal blocks, even at higher bidding prices. Operations in 10 out of 38 existing coal blocks, he noted, will come to an end within the next 10 years. He revealed that a new entity , Singareni Global, will be set up to pursue mineral exploration worldwide. A consultant has been appointed to conduct a global study. He recalled that SCCL has already secured an exploration licence for gold and copper blocks in the Devadurga region of Karnataka, thereby foraying into critical mineral exploration. Singareni, he said, will secure a 37.7% royalty share throughout the mine’s lifespan, irrespective of who operates the mine in the future. Keeping in view the interests of thousands of workers, Bhatti said the company has now been permitted to participate in coal block auctions conducted by the Union Coal Ministry Secur. ing new blocks, he stressed, is essential to the company’s survival.  continued on p4 opment package) as something important. Separate administration is the people’s voice. We hope that the PM delivers justice,” said Kenedy Haokip, a Churachandpur-based civil society leader. There is subdued excitement about the PM’s visit but it is more among Kukis than Meiteis. Reason: it’s after 4 decades that a PM is visiting the Kuki-dominated Churachandpur. “Our foremost expectation is peace and a clear roadmap for the restoration of normalcy,” said Sonny Chungkham, an Imphal-based independent policy analyst. Robert Singh, also an internally-displaced person, is relying on the PM for resettlement. “Modi ji, please take us to our village,” said Singh, who had a drinking water plant in Moreh. “My life’s savings have got exhausted,” he added. road safety Reflective tapes on all vehicles must in state S i d d h a r d h a G at t i m i @ Hyderabad In a major move to curb road accidents during night-time, the state government has issued strict guidelines mandating the use of reflective tapes and rear marking plates on all categories of vehicles. The order, issued through GO Ms No 60 by the Transport, Roads & Buildings department on Friday, is aimed at improving vehicle visibility in poor lighting conditions and eliminating the use of fake or substandard safety products. According to the government, a significant number of road accidents occur at night due to parking of heavy vehicles on roads or slow movement in poor visibility conditions. To address this, the state has directed that all vehicles, ranging from twowheelers to trucks, must install reflective tapes and rear marking plates that comply with Automotive Industry Standards (AIS 057, AIS 089, AIS 090). Asked by TNIE about the rollout date for the new guidelines, transport department officials said they were awaiting instructions from higher-ups.   continued on p7 asia cup cricket At `12 lakh 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), has sold ‘all ad inventory for the India-Pakistan match’. Ad inventory is basically the total space made available by the broadcaster to the Tickets still available for Sunday match While the ad inventory might have been sold off, ticket sales for the India vs Pakistan clash to be played on Sunday do not reflect the same. Per platinumlist, the Asia Cup’s ticketing partner, tickets can still be bought with less than 48 hours to go. India captain Suryakumar Yadav and Pakistan skipper Salman Agha | file pic advertisers to purchase. It’s expected that ad rates for the Sunday encounter has been sold for well over `12 lakh for a 10 sec- ond slot. With there being the potential of two more matches between 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 nine- ties 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. People watch it because it becomes more than a game in their eyes.” Kakkar is of the opinion that this particular game has become bigger than the game because ‘of the sentiment involved’.