HYDERABAD THURSDAY APRIL 25, 2024 `9.00 PAGES 18 LATE CITY EDITION AUTOMATIC CASH REFUND IF FLIGHT DELAYED BY 3 HOURS OR MORE IN U.S. The White House issued new rules on Wednesday requiring airlines to provide automatic refunds in case of flight cancellations or significant delays NEW RULES SPECIFY LENGTH OF DELAY President Joe Biden’s administration defined ‘a significant delay’ as one lasting at least three hours for domestic and six hours for international flights. Under current regulations, airlines decide how long a delay must last for them to issue refunds. Also, airlines must automatically issue refunds without passengers having to explicitly request them ■ $43 bn CONSUMERS CAN INSIST ON CASH REFUNDS ■ Airlines can still offer a seat on another flight or travel credit, but consumers can reject such offers and insist on a cash refund New rules also cover checked-in bags. Airlines must automatically refund checked-in bag fees if the bag isn’t delivered within 12 hours of the flight landing for domestic and 15-30 hours for international THE SIZE OF REFUNDS ISSUED BY TOP U.S. AIRLINES BETWEEN 2020 AND 2023 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 WEAK I.T. INFRA RBI curbs on Kotak against adding online customers B E N N K O C H U V E E D A N @ Mumbai IN a major blow to prominent private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday barred it from onboarding new customers through its online portal and mobile app. The RBI also ordered the bank to stop issuing fresh credit cards, citing “serious deficiencies” in the Mumbai-based lender’s IT risk management. RBI had earlier taken similar actions on others in the lending/payments space. However, this is by far the biggest punitive action on a large commercial bank. “These actions are necessitated based on significant concerns arising out of Reserve Bank’s IT examination of the bank for the years 2022 and 2023 and the continued failure on its part to address these concerns in a comprehensive and timely manner. Serious deficiencies and non-compliances were observed in the areas of IT inventory management, patch and change management, user access management, vendor risk management, data security and data leak prevention strategy, business continuity and disaster recovery rigour and drill etc” the regulator said. The curbs are only on onboarding new customers via online and mobile modes. The bank can continue to serve its existing customers, RBI clarified. “Our branches continue to welcome new customers, providing them with all services, apart from issuance of new credit cards,” Kotak Mahindra Bank said. It added that it has taken steps to adopt new technologies to strengthen its IT systems and is working with RBI to resolve the pending issues. CIVIL SERVANTS SHOULDN’T BE PUBLICISTS: EX-RBI GUV | P4 CM challenges KCR to debate on KLIS B K A R T H E E K @ Hyderabad WONDERING if the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) was an engineering marvel as claimed by the previous BRS government, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Wednesday challenged his predecessor K Chandrasekhar Rao to a debate on the irrigation project at the Medigadda barrage in the presence of experts, public intellectuals and people of Telangana. Addressing his second meeting of the day at Warangal, he said, “The Kaleshwaram project, which you (KCR) built by investing your brain, has collapsed. Did you design the Kaleshwaram project while you were intoxicated? If you have guts and honesty come for a debate.” , The TPCC chief also criticised the BRS supremo for not PANEL TO PROBE KLIS FROM TODAY CONG ANNOUNCES TICKETS FOR 3 SEATS Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, heading a judicial commission that will probe into the irregularities and corruption allegations in KLIS construction, will start from Thursday. The one-man panel will first interact with Irrigation officials. Ghose has sought more information from officials on KLIS. He is set to visit Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla barrages on Friday The Congress announced the candidates for the pending three Lok Sabha segments on Wednesday. The party has nominated Velichala Rajender Rao from Karimnagar, Mohammad Waliullah from Hyderabad and Raghurama Reddy from Khammam. It also nominated Chinthapandu Naveen (Teenmar Mallanna) for Warangal-KhammamNalgonda Graduates constituency bypoll | P5 Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy gestures while speaking during the election campaign in Warangal on Wednesday attending the Assembly session and alleged that the latter does not have the courage to face the truth. “The Leader of Opposition, who has 10 years’ experience of serving as chief minis- ter, chose not to attend the session and forgo the chance to speak on people’s issues as he was afraid of the Congress government questioning his loot for 10 years. KCR does not have Attacks party over Pitroda’s remarks on inheritance tax Cong’s loot won’t stop even after you die: Modi EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Raipur/Bhopal/Bengaluru CONGRESS leader Sam Pitroda’s faux pas on inheritance tax in the US gave Prime Minister Narendra Modi fresh ammunition on Wednesday to attack the party over its proposed wealth redistribution. Indian Overseas Congress chairman Pitroda, in an interview, said that in the US, 55% of a person’s wealth is “grabbed” by the government when he or she dies and only 45% goes to children. He called it “an interesting law”. Addressing a campaign rally in Chhattisgarh, Modi cited Pitroda’s comment and said the Congress will loot people during their lifetime and even after death. “Congress ka mantra hei Congress ki loot ‘zindagi ke saath bhi, zindagi ke baad bhi,” Modi said borrowing the Life Insurance Corporation’s famous tagline. To control the damage, the Congress distanced itself from Pitroda’s comments. Party leader Jairam Ramesh said Pitro- da’s comment on inheritance tax does not reflect the party’s views on the subject. “I would like to categorically state that Congress has no plan on the inheritance tax,” Ramesh said. In Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar and Betul, both reserved constituencies for tribals, Modi recalled a three-decade-old Congress decision in Karnataka to add all Muslim castes to the backward caste basket. “Congress has always been working at snatching the rights of SCs, STs and OBCs to bolster its vote bank,” he charged. In his sharp riposte, K a r n at a k a C h i e f Minister Siddaramaiah described it as an irresponsible statement. Siddaramaiah said based on the Chinnappa Reddy Commission report and taking consideration of the social and economic status, Muslims were brought under ‘2B’ of the OBC category in the state. “But this has been there for the past three decades. During this period, the BJP in the state or Centre never questioned it,” he P9 pointed out. ‘MY OWN VIEWS’ Congress leader Sam Pitroda said his views on inheritance has nothing to do with the Congress party. “I mentioned US inheritance tax in the US only as an example in my normal conversation on TV. Can I not mention facts?” he asked Till you are alive, the Congress will impose more tax and after your life ends, it will impose the burden of inheritance tax on you Narendra Modi Left, BJP hope to prick Rahul’s ‘balloon’ C I T H A R A PA U L @ Kochi WAYANAD offers an interesting paradox. It is probably the only constituency in India where one cannot see Congress flags flutter at any party convention even though its candidate is none other than Rahul Gandhi. It is also one constituency in Kerala where nobody is unsure of who the winner would be. And in this paradox lies the story of this picturesque constituency considered the “safest Con, gress seat” in the country . Clearly, bitter lessons the party learnt in 2019, when Rahul contested from Wayanad for the first time, prompted the Congress to avoid its own, as well as ally IUML’s, flags this time. That Rahul took refuge in Wayanad, where the Muslim League calls the shots, was something the BJP had gone to town with in 2019. Visuals of Rahul campaigning amid a sea of League flags went viral. And that had seriously impacted the Congress’ fortunes in north India. The Congress, hence, has been extremely careful this time. Instead of flags, it has been using balloons – in shades of saffron, green and white. It is the demography of Wayanad constituency – Muslims form 35% of population and Christians 13% – that makes it a safe bet for the Congress. Rahul had won with a margin of 4,31,770 votes in 2019, a record in Kerala. Despite the desperate efforts of the Congress to underplay the ‘Muslim connection’, the BJP has not allowed it to go unnoticed. Every top BJP leader who came to Wayanad made it a point to take a dig at Rahul for contesting from a place “where the majority is in minority”. Though there is no hype around Rahul’s candidature this time compared with 2019, ironically, it is this same factor, which the BJP has been harping on, that will help him this time as well. If there was someone who had ardently hoped that Rahul would not be contesting from Wayanad this time, it would be Annie Raja. A feisty face of the CPI – and also a close friend of Rahul – Annie was the first to hit the campaign trail. Her name was announced at a time when there was speculation that Rahul would not be contesting from Wayanad, as there was stiff opposition from the CPM and the CPI against him running against an INDIA bloc ally . However, the state Congress unit relentlessly pleaded with Rahul to contest a g ain from the same constituency Moreover, the . lack of such a sure-shot ‘safe seat’ elsewhere in the country also may have prompted Rahul to choose Wayanad yet again. ILLUSTRATION: MANDAR PARDIKAR the courage to come to the Assembly and look into my face. However, he leisurely goes to a TV channel and sits there for four hours,” Revanth said. CONTINUED ON P6 FIVE INTER STUDENTS DIE BY SUICIDE AFTER RESULT ANNOUNCEMENT Hours after the TSBIE declared the results for Intermediate examinations on Wednesday, five students were reported to have killed themselves across the state. They reportedly took their lives because they had failed in one or more subjects. Police have registered separate cases and launched probe | P2 Yadadri thermal power plant gets green signal from Union government E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Hyderabad PARTICULARS IN a move that is likely to help Telangana overcome the power deficit and become a power surplus state, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has accorded permission for the construction of Yadadri thermal power plant in the erstwhile Nalgonda district. This decision was taken during the eighth meeting of the expert appraisal committee (EAC) on thermal power projects held on April 5. The minutes of the meeting were made available to the public on Wednesday . The TS Genco proposed to establish a 4,000 MW (5X800 MW) coal-based supercritical Yadadri thermal power station at Veerlapalem village in Damercherla mandal on 1,133.14 hectares of land. The MoEF&CC granted the environmental clearance on June 29, 2017, while the TSPCB gave consent for the establishment of the project on July 25, 2017. The construction works were commenced by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) on October 17, 2017. However, the clearance was challenged in the National Green Tribunal (Southern Zone), which disposed of the case by giving certain observations and directions. Subsequently TS Genco sought addi, tional terms of reference from the MoEF&CC, which were granted on November 8, 2023. Following this, the EAC has approved the proposal for an amendment to the clearance, aligning with NGT directives and the additional TOR issued CONTINUED ON P6 by the MoEF&CC. Estimated cost: `34,542.95 crore Aim: To bridge the power deficit in TG Employment: 2,000 persons (direct) and another 2,000 persons (indirect) 100% indigenous coal link with SCCL mines for 14 MTPA TS Genco built a 400-acre ash pond on-site With a fly ash production of 3.19 MTPA, TS Genco aims for full utilisation of fly ash within 4 years. 14 cement plants and two brick-making units within a 50-km radius of plant have been approached for uptake. Letters of willingness have been received. Cement plants in the area require 3.84 MTPA of fly ash, with additional demand of 0.21 MTPA from other agencies
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