MADURAI l friday l july 05, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l LATE city EDITION Sunak govt stares at crushing defeat at U.K. general elections Voting was underway across the UK on Thursday in a general election widely expected to hand the opposition Labour party a landslide victory Labour set for its biggest victory: survey Tories may lose more than 200 seats Voting began at 7.00 am (local time) in over 40,000 polling booths. Labour is projected to win its first general election since 2005, with a slew of election-eve polls all forecasting its biggest-ever win. The vote comes as the Tory government is facing public anger over the cost-of-living crisis and its own chaotic rule that has seen five PMs hold office in 14 years | P11 ■ ■ Of the 650 seats in the fray, the winning party needs to get at least 326 seats. The Tories had 365 seats in the outgoing Parliament. But they are projected to win record low of less than 150 seats this time Labour’s Keir Starmer promised a “decade of national renewal” if his party wins. Sunak urged people not to vote for “tax-raising” Labour 430 The number of seats the labour party is expected to win as per multiple polls 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 Hooch case: Bunk sealed with 2K litres of methanol E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Cuddalore Rohit Sharma and Co travelled on a open top bus during a victory parade and reached Wankhede Stadium where the final celebration was held on Thursday night | PTI when india came together India team meets PM before heading to Mumbai for a victory parade Rohit and Co celebrate the T20 WC victory with fans at Wankhede e x p r e ss n e w s s e r v i c e Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday | PTI This is the first time in 15 years that I have seen Rohit (Sharma) show so much emotion (after the win) — Virat Kohli after victory parade A mass of humanity poured into the streets of Mumbai before converging at the Wankhede to give a welcome befitting kings and queens. The victorious Indian team, who had landed in the city in the evening after sharing stories of how they won the World Cup with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi in the morning, went on an open top bus parade from Nariman Point to the stadium in Indian cricket’s headquarters. After reaching the stadium, they made their way inside the playing field to rapturous applause as the venue eschewed every sinew to convey their thanks to a team that had won the T20 World Cup in Barbados on Saturday . Celebrating a sporting victory is always special and pure. India Champions were written on the jerseys. The 15 men who did it wore them with pride. Back in India, ‘India Champions’ were etched in the hearts of 1.4 billion people since Saturday. Mumbai, like its name, saw the maximum of sports celebration, immersed in the feeling of euphoria and excitement almost resembling hysteria (in the positive sense), fans forgot about daily strife for a while. Mobile phones were out and captured every angle possible. The Marine Drive had hardly any space to stand. It was surreal. It was magical. The journey from the West Indies had its share of drama too. India managed to reach New Delhi through a chartered flight after hurricanes disrupted their travel plans. The non-stop Air India flight that brought the team Hemant Soren back as CM after 5 months Naidu meets Modi, pitches for financial handholding MUKE S H RAN J AN @ Ranchi @ Vijayawada Hours after getting an invite from Governor C P Radhakrishnan to take his oath of office and secrecy Hemant Soren was sworn in , as the thirteenth chief minister of Jharkhand on Thursday . Hemant replaced Champai Soren, who put in his papers as CM on Wednesday. Hament had installed Champai as the stopgap CM on February 2 following his arrest in a land grab case by the Enforcement Directorate. Interestingly, Hament became the third CM of the state to take the oath of office for the third time. His father Shibu Soren and BJP leader Arjun Munda had in the past held the post of CM thrice. Before heading for the ceremony at Raj Bhawan, Hemant posted a video on X, calling it the defeat of the BJP’s conspiracy to keep him out of power. “People intoxicated with power tried to silence me, but now the voice of Jharkhand’s residents will be strengthened... Jharkhand jhukega nahin…. Jharkhand rukega nahin, (Jharkhand will never bow down, Jharkhand will never stop),” he asserted. After the ceremony, Hemant said Champai took the development agenda of the coalition forward amidst political upheaval following his arrest. “Developmental works will continue with fresh impetus,” he added. Initially it was said that swear, ing in will take place on July 7, but later the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha informed that Hemant will take oath on Thursday . E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e NDA ally and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and sought the Centre’s handholding to pull the state out of the financial black hole it was pushed into by the previous government. Drawing Modi’s attention to the precarious financial situation, Naidu said indiscriminate borrowing, hypothecation of future excise revenues and pledging of government buildings, combined with large-scale diversion of money had resulted in acute , scarcity of resources amidst high public expectation. Growth has plummeted, revenue receipts have tapered and liabilities have peaked because of the unproductive expenditure and fiscal hara-kiri, marked by the exploitation of natural resources for personal use by the previous government, and lack of focus on the development of human resources, Naidu told Modi. He sought support for development and completion of crucial projects, including the Polavaram Irrigation Project and Amaravati capital city . Naidu also met six Union ministers. The meetings are significant since the Union Budget is in the process of finalisation. home was rechristened AIC24WC — Air India Champions 24 World Cup. The Vistara flight that flew the team from New Delhi to Mumbai was called UK1845 (jersey number of Rohit and Virat Kohli). The victory parade started late. But that did not deter thousands who thronged the Wankhede where the team congregated for one final show. Rahul Dravid delivered his final speech as coach; Virat wore his T20 jersey for India one last time and Rohit Sharma was eloquent. Along with them were the India’s, nay the world’s finest T20 players including that national treasure Jasprit Bumrah, marauding Suryakumar Yadav and all others as well as the support staff. Months after booing him, Wankhede chanted Hardik, Hardik too. Sport is after all a great leveler. More on p13 express read Trouble in Pondy govt: BJP MLAs plan to meet Shah Puducherry: Amid growing trouble within the AINRC-BJP coalition government in Puducherry, a faction of BJP and independent MLAs from the union territory has planned to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi after June 8 to voice its grievance against Chief Minister N Rangasamy | P4 Jaishankar, Wang agree to work on border issues Astana: Keeping the border dispute unresolved is not in the interest of India or China, the foreign ministers of both countries agreed during their meeting on the sidelines of the SCO summit here on Thursday. “Agreed to redouble efforts through diplomatic and military channels,” said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar | P9 game is up Foul play: Edu department issues order to cut number of PE teachers in govt schools S UBA S HINI VI J AYAKUMAR @ Chennai In a surprise move that may significantly affect sports and physical activities in gover nment schools, the Tamil Nadu school education department has decided to increase the number of students per Physical Education Teachers (PETs) in schools to 700 from the existing ratio of one teacher for every 250 to 400 students. The decision taken to avoid hiring of new teachers has come amid calls to prioritise physical education in government schools, which was also reiterated in the State Education Policy committee report submitted recently . As per the GO dated July 2, 2024, there are 2,864 government high schools and 2,914 higher secondary schools (totaling 5,777) functioning across the state. According to a government order issued in 1997, which has been followed so far, one PET is appointed when the student strength exceeds 250 in high school (Classes 6 to 10). For every additional 300 students, one more PET is appointed up to a maximum of three teachers. In higher secondary schools, a PE director is appointed for every 400 students in Classes 11 and 12. The department has created 4,571 PET posts, 93 physical education director (grade II) posts, and 406 physical education director (grade I) posts in these schools. It is also to be noted that 477 higher secondary schools with more than 250 students do not have a sanctioned post for a PET while 1,957 of them don’t have the post of physical education director. This is due to various reasons including variation in students’ strength in schools over the years. As per the new order, PETs will be redeployed as per the new norm and additional posts will be created wherever needed. P7 The CB-CID team probing the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy case has sealed an unused petrol bunk at Veeraperumanallur in Cuddalore district after 2,000 litres of methanol was found stored in the underground sump of the fuel station. According to sources, the probe team initiated the action after M Madesh of Madukarai of Puducherry , a key figure suspected to have been involved in the supply of methanol to hooch sellers in the Kallakurichi case, spilled the beans about the concealment. Police sources alleged that Madesh purchased methanol from a chemical company in Chennai and supplied it to various people in Kallakurichi district. According to sources, the CB-CID team took custody of 11 of the accused for interrogation on Monday in the Kallakurichi case, and Madesh revealed the details about the methanol stash during the interrogation. Continued on p7 Man in coma after drinking arrack dies A 65-year-old worker of Villupuram who was in coma in ICU at Mundiyambakkam GH for four days after allegedly consuming arrack died on Thursday. R Jayaraman had consumed arrack allegedly brought from Puducherry on Saturday evening and lost consciousness on Sunday | P4 Six arrested over Hathras mishap NAMITA BA J PAI @ Lucknow THE Uttar Pradesh police on Thursday said they have arrested six sevadars (volunteers) of preacher Bhole Baba alias Narayan Sakar Hari alias Suraj Pal Jatav, in connection with the stampede at a prayer meet at Hathras that killed 121 people on Tuesday “Four men and two women . have been arrested in connection with the unfortunate incident. They are all members of the organising committee and worked as sevadars,” IG Aligarh range Shalabh Mathur said during a press meeting. The officer said the arrested persons were responsible for crowd management. “They used to manage the crowd control independently and would not allow the administration to tackle the situation,” he added. The arrested persons are Ram Ladaite Yadav, Upendra Yadav, Megh Singh, Manju Yadav, Manju Devi, and Mukesh Kumar. However, the main accused in the FIR, mukhya sevadar (chief volunteer) Dev Prakash Madhukar — an engineer with UP Panchayati Raj department — is still at large. Police have announced `1 lakh reward any information about him. Sources said his residence in Hathras is locked and his family members, too, are untraceable. While the FIR doesn’t name the baba, sources said police have raided his eight suspected hideouts in Mainpuri, Gwalior, Kanpur, and Hathras, but to no avail.
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