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 ■ ■ HYDERABAD SUNDAY MAY 26, 2024 `12.00 PAGES 24 LATE CITY EDITION 4 KIDS AMONG 27 KILLED IN RAJKOT FIRE DILIP SINGH KSHATRIYA @ Ahmedabad AT least 27 people, including four children under 12 year, were killed in a massive fire at a gaming zone in Gujarat’s Rajkot city on Saturday, police said. The death toll is likely to go up further. When the fire broke out, over 30 children and their parents were believed to be trapped inside TRP game zone on Kalavad Road in the city ac, cording to eyewitnesses. The source of the blaze was an explosion in the air conditioning unit possibly triggered by a short circuit, they said. “So far we have confirmed the death of 27 persons in the fire incident. The bodies are charred beyond recognition and hence their identification is difficult,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police Radhika Bharai. Most bodies were completely charred making it difficult to identify them.. Police Commissioner Raju Bhargav said, “I cannot confirm the cause of the fire; it requires probe.” Rajkot Collector Prabhav Joshi said the Fire Control Room received a call around 4.30 pm regarding the blaze. Fire safety personnel faced difficulty in dousing it as it was windy, said a Rajkot Fire Officer. Besides, a temporary structure inside the gaming zone collapsed, compounding the difficulty in the rescue effort, the fire official added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief at the loss of lives in the incident and said the local administration is working to provide help to those affected. GUJARAT GOVT ORDERS FIRE SAFETY AUDIT The TRP game zone in Rajkot on fire | X BODIES CHARRED BEYOND RECOGNITION ■ ■ “The fire caused the collapse of the structure. Debris is being cleared,” Rajkot Collector Prabhav Joshi said Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel said a Special Investigation Team will probe the fire accident. The state government announced an ex-gratia of `4 lakh for the dead and `50,000 for injured people Following the tragedy, the Gujarat government directed all gaming zones across the state to cease operations. Comprehensive inspections, encompassing fire safety equipment and protocol, will be conducted at all game zones. Likewise, the Maharashtra Congress demanded that its state government conduct a fire safety audit of gaming zones and malls Kangana sweats it out against royal scion H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Mandi (From left) President Droupadi Murmu, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, Union minister S Jaishankar, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi show their inked fingers after casting their ballots in the sixth and penultimate phase of the general elections, in New Delhi on Saturday | PTI 62% turnout in crucial sixth phase LOADS OF VIPs EXERCISE FRANCHISE IN DELHI ANANTNAG-RAJOURI SEAT RECORD P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi TACKLING RAIN WOES CM calls for disaster mgmt system in Hyderabad EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad CHIEF Minister A Revanth Reddy on Saturday instructed officials to create a Disaster Management System for Hyderabad city by bringing various departments under one umbrella. “Create a disaster management system taking the area inside the Outer Ring Road as a unit,” he advised officials. The system should be designed in such a way that it works 365 days, not just during the rainy season. He said that each official from every department should be made accountable and the plan should be prepared by June 4. On Saturday he visited the , Command and Control Centre, where he was welcomed by DGP Ravi Gupta and Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari. As monsoon is approaching, he held a review meeting on preparedness of emergency services with officials of Police, Traffic, GHMC, Electricity Meteoro, logical and other departments. The CM warned that after lifting of model code of conducte (MCC), he would undertake surprise inspections and would not tolerate any negligence on the part of officials. “ Ta ke p re c a u t i o n a r y measures at open cellars and barricade them. Learn from past experiences and take steps to prevent accidents. Prepare plans for permanent solution in flood prone areas,” he said. He also instructed electricity officials to take steps to prevent power outages. CONTINUED ON P5 WITH THIS ISSUE WE ARE THE WORLD PLUS 12 PAGES CLOSE to 62% voter turnout was recorded for the sixth and penultimate phase of the Lok Sabha elections held on Saturday As many as 58 seats across . eight states and Union Territories (UTs), including all 10 seats of Haryana and seven of Delhi, voted in this round of polling. Several politicians and prominent personalities, including President Droupadi Murmu, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, Union minister S Jaishankar, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were among others who cast their votes in the national capital. Following the pattern of Mumbai, Delhi too registered a low turnout of 58.03% despite the Election Commission of India urging the voters to shun the apathy and exercise their voting rights. Stakes are high for the BJP-led NDA as it won 40 seats out of the 58 in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Though the other INDIA bloc partners won five seats in 2019, the Congress scored a duck. The contest in Delhi and Haryana is crucial for the Opposition parties as they hope to increase the tally in these states. The contest in the national capital is being keenly watched as the INDIA bloc parties — the Congress and the AAP are taking on the BJP. While the BJP swept all seven seats of Delhi in 2014 and 2019 and is looking for a hat-trick, the Opposition is fighting tooth and nail. The AAP is contesting four seats while the Congress has fielded candidates in three seats as per their seat-sharing agreement. EXPRESS READ Israel strikes Rafah day after ICJ orders it to halt offensive Academic calendar: Schools to reopen on June 12 in Telangana Jerusalem: Israeli air strikes and artillery pounded Rafah on Saturday, as the government dismissed a UN top court’s order to immediately halt its military offensive in the Gazan city. At the same time, renewed international efforts were underway aimed at securing a ceasefire in the war sparked by Hamas | P9 Hyderabad: The Department of School Education announced the academic calendar for the year 2024-25 for Class 1 to Class 10. The department stated that schools will reopen from June 12 after the summer vacation and end on April 23, 2025, with 229 working days in the annual calendar for the new session | P3 While the BJP won all 10 seats in Haryana in 2019, the Congress is hoping to make a dent this time due to factors such as anti-incumbency and the anger among the farmers and wrestlers against the BJP. Voting was also held on 14 seats of UP eight seats each of Bihar , and West Bengal, six in Odisha, four in Jharkhand and one in J&K. While Bengal recorded the highest turnout at 79.96%, that for the J&K’s AnantnagRajouri stood at 54.46%, its highest in 40 years. UP’s turnout was 54.03% and Haryana 61.63%, according to the EC’s app at 1 am on Sunday . AMONG the most watched duels this poll season is the one at Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi where Bollywood ‘Queen’ Kangana Ranaut is cutting her electoral teeth on behalf of the BJP against Vikramaditya Singh of the Congress. It’s like an open air theater where an ebullient but inexperience candidate is sweating it out against a seasoned neta. Kangana’s glam quotient is high but so is her tendency for loose talk by straying off the script, making headlines for all the wrong reasons. The party is lear ning to manage the impulsive actor and trying keep her away from harm’s way . Her opponent is a pedigreed minister in the Sukhvinder Singh ‘Sukhu’ government, as he is a scion of the erstwhile Rampur royal family . The son of late six-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh, he was the face of intraparty rebellion in the state till Sonia Gandhi personally requested him to enter the fray. That gave him an opportunity to prove his leadership credentials. CONTINUED ON: P5 Kangana Ranaut(R) and Vikramaditya Singh ILLUSTRATION: MANDAR PARDIKAR
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