thrissur l saturday l September 28, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION SC blasts dELHI Air Quality PANEL FOR failure to curb POLLUTION The Supreme Court noted that the Commission for Air Quality Management has not taken steps to stop stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana No penal action, orders remain on paper A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih observed that no punitive action has been taken against those who burn crop stubble. “There has been total non-compliance of the Act,” the bench said, expressing its dissatisfaction. “If there is no penal action, the prohibitive directions against farm fires will remain only on paper”, Justice Oka orally observed ■ 82 Panel directed to file compliance report ■ The panel must immediately ensure the equipment given by the Centre for avoiding stubble burning are actually used by farmers, the bench said “We are of the view that though the Commission has taken steps, it needs to be more active,” the bench said while directing the panel to file a better compliance report and posted the matter for October 3 No. of directions issued by the panel, but no action taken against violators 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 Haryana gang’s ‘money heist’ in Thrissur ends in shootout in TN Theft, chase and shootout Friday: 2.30am,ATM inpeople Four arrive at the SBI Mapranam in a white Hyundai Creta. Two of them, clad in black shirts and with their faces covered, enter the ATM and spray paint on CCTV cameras. They break open the cash tray using gas cutters, and take L33.9 lakh The gang reaches the SBI ATM at Shoranur, repeat the process and decamp with L9.86 lakh They hit the SBI ATM at Kolazhy, and make away with L25.65 lakh 3.02am 3.35am The robbers hide the car inside a container truck of SK Logistics. The truck is tracked down by Tamil Nadu police near Namakkal. A chase ensues and the truck is intercepted after it rams a car and two bikes Cops said the gang used Google Maps to identify the ATMs they would hit. It chose SBI ATMs due to their frequent money refills Driver and four others are arrested. A noise from the containers leads to detention of two more. Two of them, including the driver, try to escape after stabbing police officers. The driver is gunned down, and the other is shot in the leg The entire bounty is reportedly recovered from the truck R Kirubakaran & Gopika V a r r i e r @Coimbatore/Thrissur A gang from Haryana that hit three ATMs across Thrissur and stole over `69 lakh was apprehended hours later at Namakkal in Tamil Nadu following a joint operation by the TN and Kerala police, after a cinema-style chase and shootout that left one suspect dead. Another burglar and two cops were also wounded. The incident unfolded on Friday as the gang attempted to escape in a container truck, ramming a car and a couple of two-wheelers in the process, at Kumarapalayam in TN’s Namakkal. The gang had loaded the getaway car used in the Kerala heist into the container after the robbery to mislead the police, sources said. The burglaries took place in quick succession after 2.30am. A few members of the sevenmember gang, their faces covered, hit the SBI ATM at Mapranam. They arrived in a white Hyundai Creta and sprayed paint on the CCTV camera in the ATM and made away with nearly `33.9 lakh. They then hit the SBI ATM on Shoranur Road in Thrissur town and decamped with nearly `9.86 lakh. The third target was an SBI ATM at Kolazhy from where the gang stole about `25.65 lakh. Thrissur City Police Commissioner R Ilango told TNIE that the ATM kiosks were unmanned but equipped with Police seize the container truck carrying a car and cash at Veppadai near Kumarapalayam in Namakkal in Tamil Nadu on Friday | Express alar m systems. The gang sprayed paint on the cameras inside and used gas cutters to access cash trays. “Soon after the alarm went off, the police launched a search and traced their car (a white Hyundai Creta),” Ilango said. Ilango said the car, having fake number plates, was seen at several points on the Thrissur-Coimbatore highway before vanishing suddenly , . “As it turned out, the gang hid the car inside a container truck that was passing through adjacent Ernakulam and Palakkad districts. Their modus operandi became clear to us by 6am,” Ilango said. The Kerala police then alerted their counterparts in TN and Karnataka to monitor container trucks on the route. The TN police intensified vehicle checks across the western districts of Coimbatore, Tiruppur, Erode and Namakkal. The gang managed to escape from Coimbatore and Tirupur, and were entering Namakkal around 8.45am, when a team led by Namakkal SP S Rajesh Kannan was alerted about its MO (hiding a car in a container truck) by the Kerala police. The Kumarapalayam and Pallipalayam police jointly launched a search and tracked down the container truck. After an hour-long chase and a shootout, the police apprehended the gang. The deceased suspect is Zumadin Hameed, 40, of Palwal in Haryana, while the injured burglar, Azar Ali, 30, is from Nuh district. The body was sent to Sangagiri Government Hospital and the injured gang members were admitted to Coimbatore MCH. ● More on P5 Sharif plays K-card, claims Mutual separation: After Anvar, India altering demography P V Anvar has become an axe in the hands of right wing forces, says M V Govindan CPM declares end of relationship E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ T’Puram It’s official. After an eight-year-long camaraderie, the CPM has finally severed all ties with its independent MLA P V Anvar. A day after Anvar’s blistering attack against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, CPM state chief M V Govindan on Friday came down heavily on the Nilambur MLA, alleging that he has become an axe in the hands of right wing forces. Earlier in the day, Pinarayi too dismissed Anvar’s allegations, terming them part of an attempt to tarnish the CPM and the Left government. Indirectly indicating that Anvar has been moving close to anti-Left forces, Pinarayi said his suspicions about the MLA’s true intentions have now been confirmed. “The relationship between Anvar and the CPM has ended. The party has called upon its members and supporters to come out to defend the misinformation campaign against the LDF government and the CPM,” Govindan told reporters during a press conference in New Delhi on Friday . The CPM leadership decided to give a fitting reply to Anvar after the latter declared an all-out war against its top most leader - Pinarayi Vijayan. Taking a cue from the party chief, an array of CPM leaders, includ- ing several central committee members, also came out targeting Anvar. Giving clean chit to Pinarayi and his political secretary P Sasi, Govindan alleged that Anvar has become an axe in the hands of the right wing. He also dismissed Anvar’s allegation that Pinarayi is the sole leader taking decisions in the CPM. “Pinarayi is one of the top leaders of the party and a member of the politburo. One individual is not the party It . is a collective leadership and consists of lakhs of people. Hence, Anvar cannot destroy the CPM,” he said. Reiterating Anvar’s Congress legacy , Govindan said even after becoming an MLA twice, Anvar has not become a part of the Leftist movement, its mass and class organisations. “He is not a member of the CPM. I personally contacted Anvar and fixed a meeting on October 3. However, he breached all limits and backed out from his earlier decision not to meet the media. His statements are beyond the limit of any individual who keeps discipline in public life. Three PB members including CM, A Vijayaraghavan and I had assured him that his petition, though he is not a CPM member, would be considered,” he said. Govindan said the chief minister had constituted a high-level investigation team led by DGP to look into the allegations raised by Anvar in his peti● More on P4 tion. The relationship between Anvar and CPM ends. The party called upon members and supporters to come out to defend the misinformation campaign against the govt and CPM — M V Govindan Centre’s debt shoots up to `176 lakh crore D IPA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi THE Central government’s total debt at the end of June 2024 quarter has reached `176 lakh crore, up 25% from the previous year’s `141 lakh crore. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the debt rose 1.2%, much lower than 4.6% growth witnessed in the same period last year. As for the composition of the Centre’s total debt, external debt accounted for `9.78 lakh crore, up from `8.50 lakh crore in the same period last year. Of the `149 lakh crore internal loans, market loans (raised through government bonds) accounted for `104.5 lakh crore, `27 lakh was raised through securities against small savings, `10.5 lakh crore through T-bills, and `78,500 crore through gold bonds. It must be noted that the government has maintained the borrowing target in the current financial year at `14.1 lakh crore. The finance ministry on Thursday announced `6.61 lakh crore borrowing plan in the second half of the current financial year. Though the Centre has maintained its FY25 borrowing target of `14.01 lakh crore, analysts expect the government to cut down on borrowing this fiscal. Nomura said spending does not appear to have picked up after the initial boost. “It is possible that the GOI will underspend this year and therefore IGB issuance can be reduced,” it says. Gaura Sen Gupta, chief economist at IDFC First Bank, feels there is scope for the fiscal deficit to undershoot the FY25 target of 4.9%, as this is a truncated year (due to the general election). She says the Centre has refrained from reducing G-Sec supply due to additional demand from index inclusion. CPM Nilambur area committee members take out a protest march against MLA P V Anvar on Friday Ye s h i Sel i @ New Delhi A day ahead of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s address at the UN General Assembly, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday raked up the Kashmir issue and sought to draw similarities between the situation in Kashmir and Palestine. India normally uses its right to reply to give it back to Pakistan, adding Kashmir is an inalienable part of India. “Like the people of Palestine, the people of J&K, too, struggled for a century for their freedom and right to self-determination,” said Sharif in his UNGA address. He accused India of reneging on its commitments to implement the U N S e cu r i t y protests against anvar Malappuram: Various area committees of the CPM in Malappuram took out protest marches against P V Anvar on Friday. During the protest in Edavanna, protestors threatened Anvar, warning that “the hands and legs of those who unnecessarily attack the party will be chopped off.” MLA for court-monitored probe Malappuram: P V Anvar said he would soon approach the HC, seeking a court-monitored probe into his allegations involving certain police officers and the CMO in gold smuggling through airport, as well as criminal activities led by a group within the police department. EXPRESS READ Kerala confirms second mpox case T’Puram: Kerala has confirmed the second mpox case, with a 26-year-old man who returned to the state from the UAE recently testing positive for the disease on Friday. The patient is under treatment at a private hospital in Ernakulam district. The strain of the mpox case has not been identified yet. P4 H C q u ashes case Relief for Australian woman who tore down pro-Palestine posters E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Kochi The Kerala High Court has quashed the case registered against Zara Michele Shilansky, an Australian tourist, for allegedly tearing down pro-Palestine banners and boards at Fort Kochi in April. The court noted since the posters did not carry the name of any organisation and no organisation had obtained permission to put them up, tearing them down could not be termed illegal. “Since the posters were concededly put up without any legal authority and also since they did not contain the name of any organisation that had put it up, the act of removing the posters or tearing them down cannot be termed an illegal act or as one capable of provoking the commission of riot. Hence, the prosecution of the petitioner for an offence under IPC Section 153 is an Zara Michele Shilansky seen tearing down pro-Palestine posters at Fort Kochi in April | file photo abuse of the process of law and the proceedings are liable to be quashed,” Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas said. The court issued the order while allowing the petition filed by Shilansky seeking to quash the case. Advocate Blaze K Jose, her counsel, argued the proceedings of the case were nothing but an abuse of the process of the court. The allegation was that the posters and boards installed by the Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO), the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, at Jankar Jetty Kamalakkada, vu, were torn down by two foreign female tourists. Residents questioned their act and an argument ensued. The petitioner submitted that as a tourist, she had to undergo tremendous anguish following the registration of the crime. The court said the final report does not even allege the posters were torn to provoke or with the knowledge that it would provoke a person to commit rioting. The final report is silent as to whether the petitioner was aware that tearing of the poster would cause the offence of rioting or provoke people to indulge in rioting, the court said. Council resolutions there. “India’s policy of brutal coercion and oppression in Kashmir has ensured that Burhan Wani’s legacy continues to inspire the struggle and sacrifices of millions of Kashmiris. Inspired by the legitimacy of their epic struggle, they remain defiant,’’ claimed Sharif. “In a classic settler-colonial project, India is seizing Kashmiri lands and properties and settling outsiders in J&K in their nefarious design to transform the Muslim majority into a minority he charged. ,” Sharif also alleged that India was expanding its military capabilities. He went on to accuse India of threatening to cross the Line of Control to seize Pakistan occupied Kashmir. The Pakistani PM said while the escalation of Islamophobia is a troubling global development, its “most alarming manifestation of Islamophobia is the Hindu supremacist agenda in India.” On the ongoing Gaza war, Sharif said, “This is not just a conflict. This is systematic slaughter of innocent people of Palestine...we must act now and demand an immediate end to this bloodshed.” He said humanity was diminished when the endless suffering of Palestinians was ignored. Significantly, Turkiye President Recap Tayyip Erdogan did not mention Kashmir in his UNGA address this year, the first time he has skipped it since Article 370 was read down in 2019. The focus of his speech this year was the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Zelenskyy says some peace merchants have a Nobel dream y e s h i Sel i @ New Delhi AS efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict continue, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has remarked that some are attempting to broker peace with an eye on Nobel Prize and not real peace. A comprehensive peace formula is already in place but some countries are proposing alternative settlement plans aimed at pausing, not ending, the war; such a move will only give Russian president Vladimir Putin more room to continue the war and bring more damage to Ukraine, Zelenskyy said while addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday . “As a global initiative, the peace formula has already existed for the past two years. And maybe somebody wants a Nobel Prize for their political biography for frozen truce instead of real peace, but the only prizes Putin will give you in return are more suffering and disasters,’’ said Zelenskyy . While the Ukrainian leader did not name any country while making this remark, in his speech, he mentioned: “When the Chinese-Brazilian duo tries to grow into a choir of voices – with someone in Europe, with someone in Africa, saying something alternative to a full and just peace, the question arises – what is the true interest? Everyone must understand – you won’t boost your power at Ukraine’s expense.” The war between Russia and Ukraine began on February 24, 2022. Many world leaders including PM Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jingping and French President Emmanuel Macron have tried to impress upon Ukraine and Russia to end the conflict. When some propose half-hearted plans, it not only ignores Ukrainians’ interest but also helps Putin Volodymyr Zelenskyy Meets Trump Zelenskyy met Donald Trump on Friday in New York. ‘I think we have a common view that the war in Ukraine has to be stopped and Putin can’t win,’ Zelenskyy said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin Will end war: Don Trump said he will end the war if elected as US prez. “it’s a shame... This is a war that should have never happened... Too many people dead,” he said after meeting Zelenskyy
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