tirupati l saturday l june 22, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION 98 Indians died during annual Haj pilgrimage this year: MEA Most of the deaths were due to chronic illnesses and old age, apart from possible heat stroke, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday 40,000 out of 1.75 Lakh pilgrims elderly Speaking to media persons during a press briefing, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said this year’s casualties are lower than the total number of deaths of Indians in the entire Haj period last year — 187. As many as 1,75,025 Indian pilgrims visited Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, for Haj this year. According to Union healthy ministry, 40,000 of them were above 60 years 2 lakh Better medical care this time: Health min ■ In view of the harsh weather conditions this year, round-the-clock health services were arranged for the pilgrims, the health ministry said, adding that 356 doctors and paramedics were deputed for Haj pilgrims’ medical care ■ Oral health and dental care services have also been added learning from the past experiences, Union Health Secretary Apurva Chandra said outpatient consultations conducted by govt doctors for Haj pilgrims 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 HC stays trial court’s order on Kejri’s bail wORLD SEES yOGA AS AGENT OF GOOD: PM F aya z W a n i @ Srinagar tHE world is looking at yoga as a powerful agent of global good, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday on the occasion of the 10th International Yoga Day Choosing the Sher-i-Kash. mir International Conference Centre on the picturesque banks of Dal Lake in Srinagar to lead the nation in celebrating, Modi said the ‘yoga economy’ has immense potential for employment generation as there is a growing global demand to learn authentic yoga from India. “Yoga helps us live in the present moment without the baggage of the past,” he noted, while observing that Jammu ex-gratia given 21-yr-old raped and murdered in Bapatla E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Guntur A 21-year-old woman was allegedly raped and murdered at Epurupalem village in Chirala mandal of Bapatla district on Friday According to police, the . woman left her house between 5.30 am and 5.45 am to relieve herself in the field. When she did not return home, her family members began searching for her in the neighbourhood and found her dead near the railway track. They immediately informed the police. The woman, a tailor by profession, was the sole breadwinner of the family She was not . married. Bapatla SP Vakul Jindal rushed to the spot and inspected the crime scene. He said the clues team had recovered footwear, a water bottle and the woman’s clothes from the spot. Five teams were formed to investigate the case and nab the accused. Taking a serious note of the incident, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu expressed his ire over the rape and murder of the young woman. He spoke to DGP Dwaraka Tirumala Rao and enquired about the incident. Further, he instructed the police officer to expedite the investigation and take stern action against the accused. On the directions of the Chief Minister, Home Minister Vangalapudi Anitha visited the crime scene and later interacted with the family members of the deceased. She assured them of complete support on behalf of the State government and also announced an ex-gratia of `10 lakh. She handed over the cheque to local MLA M Malakondaiah Yadav to give it to the P4 kin of deceased. and Kashmir can benefit by attracting more yoga tourists. The PM took part in a yoga session, which was delayed by over an hour due to rains. The event was scheduled to be held in the open but had to be shifted indoors due to incessant showers. Unmindful of the rain, scores of students joined the PM in performing various asanas on the occasion. He expressed gratitude for being present in Jammu and Kashmir, the land of Yog and Sadhna, on International Yoga Day. “The atmosphere, energy and experience from yoga can be felt in Jammu & Kashmir today,” he said. After the event, PM Modi interacted with the yoga practitioners. Reserves verdict; asks all parties to file submissions by Monday S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi performs yoga during celebration of Int’l Day of Yoga, in Srinagar | PTI As vowed, Naidu re-enters Assembly as CM after 2 years jagan may skip proceedings today ayyanna Patrudu elected as speaker YSRC president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy took oath as MLA and left the Assembly soon after. He is unlikely to attend the proceedings on Saturday as he will be leaving for Pulivendula. During his 5-day trip, he will meet YSRC leaders of Rayalaseema TDP senior leader and Narsipatnam MLA Chintakayala Ayyanna Patrudu was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the AP Legislative Assembly on Friday. The seven-time legislator will formally take charge on Saturday CM Naidu, Dy CM Pawan Kalyan & Minister Nara Lokesh take oath as MLAs | Express E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada On November 19, 2021, TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu had vowed to re-enter the Assembly only after becoming the Chief Minister of the State. On Friday the , 74-year-old stepped in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly as Chief Minister with the support of 135 TDP, 21 JSP and 8 BJP MLAs. Naidu, who bowed down and touched the threshold before entering the House after two-and-a-half-years, had walked out of the Assembly in 2021 in protest against the alleged objectionable remarks made by the then ruling YSRC leaders against his family members. Terming the house a ‘Kourava Sabha’, he had vowed to return to the Assembly only as Chief Minister. Pro-tem Speaker Gorantla Butchaiah Chowdary administered the oath to 172 of the total 175 legislators. The remaining three MLAs (all from TDP) -- Pithani Satya n a r ay a n a ( A c h a n t a ) , Va n a m a d i Venkateswara Rao (Kakinada City), GV Anjaneyulu (Vinukonda) -- will take oath on Saturday . While the Assembly session began at 9.46 am, YSRC president and former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy arrived around 10.17 am. Within a few minutes, he was administered the oath as a member of the House. Following this, he greeted his fellow legislators and the Leader of the House Chandrababu Naidu with a ‘Namaste’. They responded in the same manner. Jagan, who seemed to be emotional while taking the oath, read out his name as Jagan Mohan. However, he corrected himself and read his full name as YS Jagan Mohan Reddy Soon after, he greeted the Pro-tem Speak. er and left the House. Earlier, the former chief minister held a meeting with YSRC P4 MLAs in his chamber. With the Delhi High Court on Friday staying a trial court’s order to release AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal on bail, the chief minister will have to stay in Tihar jail till the judge pronounces his order. Staying the trial court’s order, a vacation bench of Justice Sudhir Kumar Jain, reserved his judgment on the Enforcement Directorate’s appeal, adding he would pass the order in twothree days, possibly Tuesday. “Till the pronouncement of this order, the operation of the impugned order shall remain stayed,” Justice Jain said and asked the parties to file written submissions by June 24. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) S V Raju, for the ED, argued that the trial court’s bail order was perverse as it was contrary to the mandate of Section 45 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. “We are not given an opportunity to represent our case in the trial court. When I tried to submit, the trial court said I have to deliver judgment. Be brief,” he said. Senior advocate Vikram Chaudhari, appearing for Kejriwal, raised a preliminary objection to the listing of the matter during vacation because the trial judge had granted bail through a resend order. “What is the justification of approaching the HC,” he asked. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singvhi described the ED’s approach as deplorable. “The accused cannot be kept indefinitely in jail... It is very unfortunate that the ASG is maligning the judge merely because an adverse order was passed,” he said. Opposing the ASG’s argument that he was not given an opportunity to argue, Singhvi said the hearing in the trial court lasted five hours out of which ED took 3.45 hours. “Where is the question of the ED being denied the opportunity to present its case,” Singhvi argued. Poll season EC to update voter list in J-K, 3 other states M U K E SH RA N JA N @ New Delhi A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi indicated that preparations for Jammu and Kashmir elections were underway, the Election Commission on Friday set the ball rolling for holding the electoral exercise by ordering a special summary revision (SSR) of the electoral rolls in the Union Territory . The poll panel has also ordered updation of electoral rolls in Maharashtra, Haryana, and Jharkhand, where Assembly elections are due this year. SSR involves reviewing the voter list and unveiling a draft electoral roll. It is usually held prior to polls to ensure the list is as updated as possible. The process involves adding newly eligible voters and removing duplicate and deceased voters, and those who have moved out of the constituency . In identical official communications to the chief electoral officers of the three states and Jammu and Kashmir, the poll panel said the revision exercise would start from July 25 and culminate on August 20. July 1 will be the qualifying date for roll updation. Before the revision exercise, the poll panel would carry out pre-revision activities in the poll-bound states from June 25 to July 24. The draft rolls would be published on July 25, after which electors can file claims and objections till August 9. The publication of the final electoral roll will be done by August 20. The Supreme Court had in December last year directed the Election Commission of India to hold assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir by September 30. e x p r e ss r e a d Defer new criminal laws: Mamata Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to defer the implementation of the three “hurriedly passed” criminal laws that are set to be rolled out on July 1. Banerjee stressed having a fresh review of the laws by Parliament India flays Canada for honouring Nijjar New Delhi: India on Friday strongly objected to Canadian parliament observing ‘one minute silence’ in memory of Canada-based Khalistan extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was killed last year. Canada must act against antiIndia elements, said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal celestial ride Devotees offer prayers to Lord Venkateswara Swamy during Teppostavam in Vizag | G Satyanarayana BJP MP seeks CBI probe into sale Most centres for NEET-UG retest on Sunday changed of substandard liquor by YSRC govt Ex press News Se rvice @ New Delhi With the embattled National Testing Agency (NTA) preparing to conduct the NEET-UG retest for 1,563 students on Sunday it became known that it has , changed six of the total seven centres and issued admit cards to the candidates. These students were beneficiaries of grace marks because of loss of time. After it created a national uproar, the compensatory marks were scrapped and a retest window opened with the proviso that the score in the fresh test alone will be considered for those who take it. The only exam centre that was not changed is in Chandi- garh, where only two students will sit for the retest. Officers of the NTA and the education ministry will be present at the new centres to ensure fairness amidst concerns of paper leak. When asked about the expected turnout for Sunday’s retest, an official responded, “Admit cards have been issued Joint CSIR-UGC-NET exam postponed The NTA on Friday announced the postponement of the Joint CSIRUGC-NET, scheduled to be held between June 25 and June 27, citing unavoidable circumstances and logistic issues to all. We will only know the turnout only on Sunday .” Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court refused to defer the NEET-UG counselling, scheduled to begin on July 6, saying it is not an “open and shut” exercise. The Opposition continued to put the government on the mat with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi saying he will personally raise the NEETUG issue in Parliament demand justice for students. Meanwhile, Sanjeev Mukhiya alias Lutan, the kingpin of the NEET-UG paper leak in Bihar, is still on the run. The Economic Offences Unit of the Bihar Police has intensified raids to arrest him. E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Police detain Congress workers who were staging a protest against the NEET-UG, in Mumbai on Friday | PTI I had reviewed the registry of births & deaths and found that an additional one lakh people are dying every year. This implies that 5 lakh people could have died due to consumption of dangerous liquor during YSRC’s term D Purandeswari, MP BJP State Unit chief and Rajahmundry MP Daggubati Purandeswari shot off a letter to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and sought a CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) inquiry into alleged supply of substandard liquor, potential use of synthetic alcohol, and other illegal practices by the previous YSRC government. She urged Naidu to take steps to provide safe and quality liquor to the people and ensure 100% supply through digital payments. Raising concerns over the sale of liquor during the previ- ous regime, she wrote, “It is with deep pain and anguish that I bring the following issues to your kind notice. The manufacture and supply of non-qualitative liquor in the State has resulted in the deaths of many innocent citizens, widowing their wives, and orphaning many children.” She said her study revealed that manufacturers used substandard raw materials and synthetic alcohol, not meant for consumption, due to its lower cost compared to bio-ethanol. She also alleged that outdated distillation and purification equipment, and synthetic chemicals were used in the process of making alcoP4 hol.
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