HYDERABAD l sunday l october 05, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l LATE City EDITION Non-fastag vehicles to be charged twice the toll fee if paid via cash fILE pHOTO Those paying with UPI to be charged 1.25X Under the new rule, non-FASTag users who choose to pay the fee via the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) will be charged only 1.25 times the applicable user fee for that category of vehicle, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) said. For instance, if the fee is `100 with a valid FASTag, it will be `125 if paid via UPI and `200 if paid in cash | P7 Vehicles entering a toll plaza without a valid, functional FASTag will be charged twice the regular amount if users pay via cash Part of govt’s digital payments push ■ ■ “To incentivise digital payments and eliminate cash transactions at the user fee plazas, the Government of India has amended National Highways Fee Rules, 2008,” the ministry said in a press release The goal is to enhance transparency in toll operations and improve the overall experience of those travelling on national highways, it said Nov 15 when the new rules will come into effect 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 broken dreams Talluri Pallavi from Khammam district receives an award from Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Kaushal Convocation ceremony held at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on Saturday | P2 City youth shot dead at gas station in US c h i t h a lu r i r eva n t h @ Hyderabad A 28-year-old man from Hyderabad was shot dead by an assailant at a gas station in Dallas, US, on Friday. The deceased, Pole Chandrasekhar, a resident of LB Nagar, went to the US for higher studies in July 2023 after completing his Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) in the city, according to his brother Damodar. After completing his MS six months ago, he applied for a full-time job. In the meantime, he was working at the gas station to meet his personal expenses. Speaking to TNIE, his distraught mother recalled her conversation with Chandrasekhar through a video call on the day of Dasara. She said her son told her that he would celebrate the next Dasara with the family . “But fate P Chandrasekhar s n at ch e d my son from me,” said the inconsolable woman. The victim’s parents have urged the Indian Embassy in the US and the state government to bring back their son’s mortal remains to Hyderabad for the last rites. In a post on X, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said he was deeply shocked by the death of the youth. “I pray to God that his soul may find peace and express my profound condolences to his family members. We will provide all possible assistance to bring his mortal remains to his hometown,” he said. Former minister T Harish Rao visited Chandrasekhar’s house and consoled his parents. Later, in a post on his social media account, he described the death of Chandrasekhar, a Dalit student, as tragic. Modi assails ‘theft’ of Jan Nayak honour Karpoori Thakur lauded that way; Cong ‘bestows’ it on Rahul Bihar is one of the states with the highest proportion of youth... compared to the Oppn govt in the past, Bihar’s education budget has been increased manifold Narendra Modi RA J ESH K UMAR THA K UR @ New Delhi Launching skilling projects for the youth worth `62,000 crore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday lit into poll-bound Bihar’s Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), blaming it for ruining the state’s education and economy during its rule, alleging it opened the floodgates of mass migration out of the state. He also mocked Rahul Gandhi, whom the Congress has been trying to project as a ‘Jan Nayak’ (leader of the masses), accusing the party of ‘stealing’ the honorific associated with respected OBC leader and former Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur. It was the love and respect of the people that gave Thakur the moniker, he quipped, not social media. “The new generation might not know how the RJD rule had wreaked havoc in Bihar, as the state has since been brought back on the track of development,” Modi said. He complimented the Nitish Kumar government for a major turnaround in the state. Modi launched PM-SETU (Pradhan Mantri Skilling and Employability Transformation through Upgraded ITIs), a centrally sponsored scheme with an investment of `60,000 crore. India’s ITIs are not only an important centre for industrial education but also serve as workshops for ‘aatmanirbhar Bharat’, he said. The youth-centric projects, he emphasised, would play a vital role in development and empowerment. The PM commended Nitish for providing nearly 10 lakh permanent government jobs to Bihar’s youth, saying the idea is to ensure youngsters of the state get employment in Bihar itself so as to stop migration. Centre makes U-turn on cough syrup; MP, Rajasthan, TN ban it k a v i ta b a j e l i d at t @ New Delhi HOURS after denying that controversial cough syrup Coldrif, which led to deaths of children in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, did not contain industrial chemical diethylene glycol (DEG), the Union Health Ministry on Saturday made a U-turn and confirmed its presence based on a report of Tamil Nadu’s Food and Drug Administration department. The Ministry’s earlier denial followed a clearance from the Madhya Pradesh Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which had then stated that no DEG was found in the syrup. After the confirmation on Saturday, Tamil Nadu was the @ Hyderabad One of the schemes launched was to give 5 lakh grads in Bihar a monthly allowance of `1,000 each for two years Plan to upgrade 1K ITIs first to ban Coldrif cough syrup, followed by MP and Kerala. Coldrif was being manufactured at Sresan Pharma’s Kanchipuram unit. The controversy snowballed after nine children died in MP’s Chhindwara district, seven from the cough syrup, while two kids died in Rajasthan. The cough syrup stocks RTC hikes fares in Hyd to fund e-bus infra Express News Service `1K dole to Bihar grads An official inspects Coldrif syrup in Jabalpur on Saturday | PTI Starting Monday the Telan, gana State Road Transport Corporation (TGSRTC) will hike fares of all city bus services operating in Hyderabad and Secunderabad. The move is aimed at funding the expansion of electric bus infrastructure in the city . Under the new fare structure, passengers travelling by City Ordinary, Metro Express, E-Ordinary and E-Express services will pay an additional `5 for the first three stages and `10 from the fourth stage onwards. For Metro Deluxe and move to curb pollution n Ordinary, Metro Express, City E-Ordinary, E-Express: `5 for first three stages and `10 from fourth stage onwards n Deluxe and E-Metro AC: Metro `5 for first stage and `10 from the second stage onwards n TGSRTC plans to induct 2,800 electric buses by 2027 E-Metro AC services, the additional charge will be `5 for the first stage and `10 from the second stage onwards. The move follows the state government’s approval of the Express News Service @ Hyderabad Bandmate claims Zubeen was poisoned PLUS 12 PAGES Guwahati: In a startling claim, late singer Zubeen Garg’s bandmate Shekhar Jyoti Goswami has alleged that the singer was poisoned by his manager Siddharth Sharma and the organiser of the 4th edition of the North East India Festival Shyamkanu Mahanta. Garg died under mysterious circumstances in Singapore on September 19 while swimming in the sea | P8 TGSRTC’s proposal on September 23 to introduce a small surcharge to support the transition towards eco-friendly public transport. As part of the government’s broader initiative to make Hyderabad’s public transport system clean and sustainable, TGSRTC plans to induct 2,800 electric buses by 2027, replacing diesel buses within the Outer Ring Road (ORR) limits. Officials said the initiative aims to reduce air pollution, curb traffic congestion and promote environmentally responsible urban mobility . Currently, 265 electric buses are operating across six depots in Greater Hyderabad, and another 275 will be added later this year. To accommodate the upcoming fleet, TGSRTC is developing charging infrastructure, including high-tension (HT) connections at each depot at a cost of `8 crore, with suppor t from TGSPDCL and Transco. In the next phase, the corporation will establish HT charging connections in 19 depots and build 10 new depots and 10 charging stations across the city, with an estimated infrastructure cost of `392 crore.   continued on p5 HYDRAA reclaims prime land worth `3.6K crore PM-SETU to upgrade 1,000 govt ITIs in a hub-andspoke model comprising 200 hub ITIs and 800 spoke ITIs express read Out of Office had been distributed to Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. In a statement, the Union Health Ministry on Saturday said, “On the request of the MP Govt, Tamil Nadu FDA had taken samples of Coldrif Cough Syrup from the manufacturing premises of M/s Sresan Pharma in Kanchipuram, TN. The results of testing these samples were shared with us late on October 3. They contained DEG beyond the permissible limit.” The Tamil Nadu Drugs Control Department on Friday issued an immediate stop-production order to the manufacturer of Coldrif after the samples were found to be “adulterated with DEG.” Bulldozer justice back A banquet hall owned by one of those arrested in connection with the recent clashes linked to the ‘I love Muhammad’ campaign, being demolished by the Bareilly Development Authority in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly on Saturday | PTI The Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency reclaimed 36 acres of prime government land valued at approximately `3,600 crore at Bikshapathi Nagar in Kondapur, Serilingampally mandal, by removing unauthorised structures early on Saturday amid heavy police deployment. The operation was carried out following a directive from the high court. The land, situated near the Kondapur RTA office, had been under illegal occupation for several years. Denying that they had encroached upon the land, local residents claimed they had been living there for several years and that the government had distributed pattas to them. A heated argument ensued between HYDRAA teams and the occupants, who attempted to obstruct the demolitions. However, the police stepped in and cleared the way for the demolition of temporary sheds and small commercial establishments that had sprung up in the encroached area. P4 changing times Gill new ODI captain; Rohit, Virat in but no long-term guarantees S w a r o o p S w a m i n at h a n @ Ahmedabad SHUBMAN Gill was named as the men’s ODI captain of the national team, a post previously held by Rohit Sharma. Sharma, whose last act as ODI skipper saw him leading the side to Champions Trophy glory in February-March, was also named in the side scheduled to tour Australia for a threematch 50-over series later this month. Virat Kohli, whose last India tie was that Champions Trophy final against New Zealand, has been included too. However, Ajit Agarkar, the chairperson of the men’s selection committee panel, was noncommittal when asked about Sharma and Kohli’s long-term futures in the format. “As far as Shubman Gill & Rohit Sharma (R) the 2027 World Cup is concerned, I don’t think we need to talk about it today,” he said in reference to their futures. But Gill’s elevation to the top in the 50-over game is a direct consequence of the upcoming tournament in South Africa. Agarkar conceded that removing Sharma was tough. “You have got to sometimes look at what’s coming ahead, where you stand as a team and eventually look at what’s in the best interest of the team, whether now or six months later. Like I said, it’s tough with one-day cricket at this point. Because if you are going to make that call, you big meet India-Pak aga in, this time at Women’s WC want to try and make it reasonably early and give the other guy enough chances.” When asked what the selectors are Amidst the off-field tension & drama, two nations face each other in Colombo today. However, there is a high chance of rain | P11 looking for from Sharma and Kohli from a long-term pers p e c t ive, A g a rk a r s a i d : “What they have been doing for years... runs. They are still leaders. But eventually it’s the , runs (...) You don’t have to think too far. At this point, the team is picked for Australia. We need them to score runs like they have been through their career.”