HYDERABAD SUNDAY OCTOBER 20, 2024 `12.00 PAGES 24 LATE CITY EDITION HEZBOLLAH DRONE EXPLODES NEAR NETANYAHU’S HOUSE IN CAESAREA Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the drone targeted the PM’s private residence; Netanyahu was not home at that time 1 DEAD, 4 HURT AS 180 ROCKETS FIRED AT ISRAEL In addition to the drone launched at Netanyahu’s private residence in the coastal town, Israel’s military said around 180 projectiles were fired in two separate barrages at northern Israel from Lebanon on Saturday. A 50-yearold man was killed after being hit by shrapnel while sitting in his car in northern Israel and four others were injured, Israel’s medical services said ■ 1,418 IDF POUNDS GAZA, AT LEAST 50 PEOPLE KILLED ■ ■ Hezbollah has not claimed responsibility for the drone attack but said it has launched several rockets at northern and central Israel | P9 Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Saturday continued to press ahead with its armed offensive against Hamas militants still operating from Gaza 50 people, including kids, were reportedly killed in Gaza in past 24 hours NUMBER OF PEOPLE KILLED IN LEBANON SINCE LATE SEPTEMBER, ACCORDING TO AFP 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 THREATS TO 30 MORE FLIGHTS, REGULATOR SHIFTED YESHI SELI & SHEKHAR SINGH @ New Delhi AMID waves after waves of hoax bomb threats shaking up the aviation industry the government Sat, urday shifted the regulator out of the civil aviation ministry . Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) chief Vikram Dev Dutt was appointed coal secretary as part of a top-level bureaucratic reshuffle. A joint secretary level official is likely to take his place at the earlier, according to sources. The transfers happened on a day when fresh bomb threats forced over 30 flights to make emergency landings. The affect- ADDING 1 Centre considers TEETH framing a punitive TO law to deal with LAW hoax bomb callers 2 Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) suggests five-year imprisonment for the culprits so as to act as a deterrent ed carriers included Air India, Vistara, IndiGo, SpiceJet, Alliance Air, and Akasa Air. “The IP addresses from the threats today and the ones earlier this week have been traced to London, Germany, Canada and US. However, it is possible the VPN were used to hide their real 3 Home ministry consults the law and civil aviation ministries to suitably amend the Aircraft Act locations,’’ a source said. In less than a week, hoax bomb threats have impacted close to 70 flights. On Saturday, officials from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) had a meeting with the CEOs of different airline operators and were briefed about the Standard Oper- ating Procedure (SOP) for tackling threats. The DGCA and the BCAS are expected to issue fresh guidelines to mana g e the situation. Sources said a note was found in the rest room of one of the airlines warning of a bomb in a flight. However, all the threats were fake. The civil aviation ministry is reviewing regulations to introduce harsher penalties. They are contemplating a five-year prison sentence and placing offenders on a no-fly list. At present, hoax bomb threats are dealt with under existing criminal laws. The government is exploring legal options to introduce a deterrent. No postponement, stay focused: CM to aspirants J&K statehood step closer with L-G nod @ Hyderabad Group-I aspirants protest in Hyderabad on Saturday Group-1 candidates protest, demand rescheduling of exam S W E T H AV I M A L A M @ Hyderabad FAYA Z W A N I @ Srinagar PAVING the way for the restoration of statehood for Jammu & Kashmir, the Union territory’s Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has cleared the resolution passed by the Omar Abdullah-led Cabinet in this regard. “The restoration of statehood will be the beginning of a healing process, reclaiming the constitutional rights and protecting the identity of people of J&K,” a statement issued on Saturday read. It noted that the J&K Cabinet has passed a resolution urging the Centre to restore the statehood. The Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of CM Omar Abdullahhad passed a unanimous resolution for restoration of statehood in its original form. The Centre had on August 5, 2019 scrapped J&K’s special status and bifurcated the erstwhile state into two UTnion territories—J&K (with legislature) and Ladakh (without legislature). “The Cabinet has authorised the CM to take up the matter with the PM and Government of India for restoration of statehood,” an official spokesman said. He said protection of Jammu and Kashmir’s unique identity and the constitutional rights of people remains the cornerstone of the newly elected government’s policy . According to the spokesperson, the CM would be proceeding to New Delhi in the coming days to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Union ministers in this regard. HUNDREDS of Group-I aspirants marched towards the Secretariat on Saturday demanding , the rescheduling of mains exams amid ongoing uncertainties. The protest, which marked its fourth day saw police detain, ing several protesters and politicians, including Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay . The protests intensified when the minister engaged with the candidates at Ashoknagar. He climbed onto a car to address the protesters, leading to his preventive custody by the police. With exams scheduled for Monday many protesters rallied , with placards, voicing concerns over GO 29. They argued that the GO undermines fair reservation rights of students from SC, ST and BC communities and urging the government to reschedule CONTINUED ON P4 the exam. ASSERTING that there was no intention of postponing the Group-I mains examination, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy urged candidates to not be misled by the Opposition parties, BRS and BJP, and emphasised the importance of taking the exam, failing which they would lose a golden opportunity . Speaking at the Police Duty Meet in Hyderabad on Saturday he accused certain individ, uals of creating obstacles for political gain by spreading misinformation to provoke candidates. Revanth asked the aspirants to not fall prey to these falsehoods. Revanth instructed the police not to file cases against unemployed youth participating in protests. He stated: “The government issued GO 29 when announcing the Group-I exam notification. We selected candidates THE Group of Ministers (GoM) constituted by the GST Council to look into the demand for lower rates on health and life insurance premium recommended a complete GST waiver on health insurance premium for senior citizens. Sources said the GoM, headed by the Bihar deputy chief minister Samrat Choudhary also recommended , that no GST be levied on health insurance premium where the sum insured is up to `5 lakh. For all other health insurance Those who failed to offer a single appointment letter now talking about unemployment. For a decade, they ignored the unemployed and are now provoking youth with falsehoods A Revanth Reddy, chief minister Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy shakes hand with a sniffer dog at the closing ceremony of Police Duty Meet-2024 at Telangana Police Academy on Saturday GOVT LIKELY TO MAKE A STATEMENT ON GROUP I Hyderabad: With concerns regarding Group-I exam being raised by various sections, the state government is likely to make a statement to address these issues on Sunday. Following protests by aspirants to postpone the exam, on Saturday, ministers Damodar Rajanarasimha, Konda Surekha and D Sridhar Babu convened a meeting with officials at Minister Ponnam Prabhakar’s residence. They discussed the concerns related to GO 29 and other requests. TPCC president B Mahesh Kumar Goud was also present. MURDER-FOR-HIRE U.S. CHARGES BOGUS, CLAIMS VIKASH YADAV’S COUNSEL U J W A L J A L A L I @ New Delhi STAR TAIL Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas captured near Lingaraj Temple in Bhubaneswar on Friday night. It’s considered the brightest in over a decade | RAKESH KUMAR ROUL GoM moots GST relief on health insurance premium D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi for the mains based on merit on a 1:50 ratio. There have been instances where courts have stayed the recruitment processes due to mid-process changes. GO 55 could lead to injustice for SC, ST and BC candidates, which is why the government introduced GO 29.” Revanth criticised previous administrations for not being concerned about recruitments, stating: “Those who failed to offer even a single appointment letter are now talking about unemployment. For a decade, they ignored the unemployed and are now provoking youth with falsehoods.” Meanwhile, the chief minister urged the police to tackle drug trafficking and to address the growing challenge of cybercrime through technological advancements. He announced plans to establish a Young India Police School on 50 acres of land for the children of police personnel, with classes expected to begin from next academic year. policies, the GoM has proposed 18% GST. As far as life insurance policies are concerned, most panel members favoured complete waiver of GST on term insurance premium. Term insurance policies offer a sum assured only at the death of the policyholder. These do not have any investment component attached to them. Separately, the GoM on GST rate rationalisation, too, met in Delhi on Saturday and recommended a three-slab structure instead of the existing four-tier tax structure—5%, 12%, 18%, and 28%. Sources said the slabs will be based on pricing with high-value items attracting GST at higher rates. The panel also decided to lower tax rates 28% GST FOR LUXURY WATCHES, SHOES The GoM also suggested hiking GST on shoes above `15,000 a pair and on wrist watches above `25,000 from 18% to 28%. Sources said some items currently in the 18% slab, such as hair dryers, hair curlers, and make-up preparations could be put in the 28% bracket on 20-litre packaged drinking water bottles, bicycles, and exercise notebooks to 5% from 18%. The proposals include cutting GST on bicycles costing under `10,000 to 5% from 12%. The panel has also suggested higher GST for some luxury items (see box). According to one of the members of the GoM, this would help the government mop up `22,000 crore more, thus making up for the revenue losses due to reduction in GST rates on health and life insurance premiums. The six-member GoM on rate rationalisation is also headed by the Bihar deputy CM. THE counsel of former Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) officer Vikash Yadav on Saturday termed the charges brought against his client by the US law enforcement agencies as bogus and part of an international ploy to defame India. “He (Vikash Yadav) is being deliberately framed. It appears that all this is an international plot to defame India and the country’s top intelligence agencies,” advocate R K Handoo told this newspaper. Yadav, a former government officer, was indicted by the US authorities for his alleged role in a foiled murder-forhire plot against Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on US soil. In a completely unrelated case of ex- CLEAN tortion, Yadav was arrested by the Delhi RECORD Police in December last year and lodged The interim bail in Tihar Jail for four months till he got order by a Delhi regular bail. The extortion-cum-kidnap- court referred to ping case was registered by the Special Yadav as “an Cell of the Delhi Police on the complaint ex-government of a businessman in Delhi’s Rohini. employee having The FIR said Yadav demanded money clean antecedents” in the name of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, forced the victim to sign a blank cheque, took `50,000 from his cafe and deleted all CCTV recordings there. As for the US indictment, advocate Handoo denied all allegations and said that if anyone reads the charges from a proper perspective, they would understand that all of them are fallacious. “As I understand being his lawyer, Vikash is a decent, well-read, and well-cultured man. I cannot fathom that he can be involved in any such activity Handoo said. ,” EXPRESS READ Thousands protest over idol desecration Cabinet meeting postponed to Oct 26 Hyderabad: Tension escalated in Secunderabad as over 3,000 people, including members of the VHP and Bajrang Dal, protested against the recent vandalism at a place of worship. Reportedly, the protesters did not obtain permission for the rally | P5 Hyderabad: The Cabinet meeting scheduled to be held on October 23 has been postponed to October 26. Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari issued orders to this effect Saturday. The Cabinet is expected to discuss crucial issues related to various departments. ED summons Sr IAS officer Amoy Kumar EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @Hyderabad THE Hyderabad Zonal Unit of Enforcement Directorate reportedly summoned senior IAS officer D Amoy Kumar to appear on October 22 or 23. Sources reported his alleged involvement in the allocation of government lands to certain real estate companies through the Dharani portal while serving as Rangareddy district collector during the BRS regime. Several complaints were filed against him over the Bhoodan lands allocated to private individuals, allegedly in exchange for substantial sums. In Abdhullapurmet area of Rangareddy district, individuals involved in grabbing Bhoodan lands reportedly received assistance from Amoy Kumar, despite tenant farmers raising complaints with the Revenue department, which reportedly took no action. Additionally he faces allega, tions of favouring a few infrastructure companies that have occupied government lands in Mokila, Sherilingampally and other areas, which are also under the ED radar. In light of ED summons, TNIE attempts to contact Amoy Kumar for clarification failed. WITH THIS ISSUE M A N DA RAV I N D E R R E D DY The Sound of Music PLUS 12 PAGES
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