visakhapatnam l tuesday l november 12, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Vistara makes its last flight ahead of merger with Air India The airline operated its last international and domestic flights as an independent airline on Monday night ahead of its merger with Air India Delhi-singapore flight was airline’s last Vistara’s last domestic flight departed Mumbai for Delhi around 11.40 pm on Monday. Minutes later, its last international flight, bound for Singapore, took to the skies from the Delhi airport. Vistara commenced its flight operations in January 2015. The airline, a joint venture between Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, will merge with Air India on Tuesday ■ 208 Vistara’s ‘UK’ code gives way to ‘AI2’ ■ Post the merger, the airline’s ‘UK’ code will be replaced with a special four-digit Air India code — ‘AI2XXX’. Vistara has a fleet of 70 airplanes The merger marks the second major consolidation wave in the country’s fast-growing civil aviation space after Indian Airlines merged with Air India and Air Sahara merged with Jet Airways in 2006-2007 The size of air india’s aircraft fleet post the merger with vistara 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  Keshav presents `2.94 lakh cr budget with focus on welfare & development  Says Amaravati is taking shape as a dream capital city ‘reviving economy is govt priority’ STATE S G u r u S r i k a n t h @ Vijayawada The State government on Monday presented the annual budget for financial year 2024-25 with an outlay of `2.94 lakh crore.   Presenting the TDP-led NDA government’s maiden budget in the State Legislative Assembly Finance Minister Payyavu, la Keshav asserted that the budget was aimed at kickstarting the economy with a focus on balancing welfare and development. While the proposed revenue expenditure is `2,35,916.99 crore, the capital expenditure has been pegged at `32,712.84 crore. The estimated revenue deficit is around `34,743.38 crore and fiscal deficit is nearly `68,742.65 crore, which is 2.12% and 4.19 % of the GSDP respectively . As per the revised estimates for FY 2023-24, revenue expenditure stood at `2,12,450 crore, and capital expenditure at `23,330 crore. The revenue deficit and fiscal deficit for the period were 2.65% and 4.3% of GSDP respectively . In his 37-page budget speech, Keshav elaborated on how the p r ev i o u s a d m i n i s t r at i o n pushed the State economy to the brink of collapse. Particulars BE 2024-25 RE 2023-24 Total Outlay `2,94,427.25 2024-25 `2,53,542.86 Capital expenditure `32,712.84 Revenue Expenditure `2,35,916.99 Revenue Deficit `34,743.38 Fiscal Deficit `68,742.65 Public debt `5,60,094.25 Central govt loans `18,249.77 TEN militants were killed and a CRPF jawan was injured in a gunfight in restive Manipur’s Jiribam district on Monday. Manipur police said in a statement that the incident occurred at around 3 pm when armed militants attacked the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) post located at the Jakuradhor and Borobekra Police Station, located nearby . “The security forces retaliated strongly Due to the attack, . one CRPF constable namely Sanjeev Kumar sustained bullet injury and has been evacuated to Silchar Medical College, Assam and is under treatment,” `2,12,449.56 `38,682.55 `62,719 `4,91,734.11 `5,011.15 (in crore) Highlighting the State government’s mission to achieve pothole-free roads by Sankranti, the Finance Minister announced that J9,554 crore was allocated to the Department of Transport, Roads, and Buildings allocations for key sectors 12,534.66 Agriculture & Allied Services 17,438.90 Rural Development BE 2024-25 (J in Crore) 3,127.53 Industry & Minerals 32,722.53 General Education Finance minister Payyavula Keshav with Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan before introducing the Budget for FY 2024-25 in the State Legislative Assembly on Monday | Express He remarked, “Challenging times being faced today by the State are a result of mismanagement of its finances, erosion of its revenues by looting of natural resources and flawed policies in excise and sand mining, discounting 25 years of future income by diverting the taxes of the government, exor- bitant debt level and borrowing at high interest rates.” Pointing out that the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) negative remarks on the 47,631.40 Welfare 18,421.15 Medical State finance reflect the extent of the ‘financial mess’, Keshav said, “The budget I am presenting has been prepared against this financial background with Challenging times being faced today by the State are a result of mismanagement of its finances, erosion of its revenues by looting of natural resources, discounting 25 years of future income by diverting the taxes of the government — Payyavula Keshav, Finance Minister the statement said. It added that the CRPF and civil police personnel fiercely retaliated and the situation was brought under control after 40-45 minutes of heavy exchange of fire. Police said they searched the whole area after the firing ceased and found the bodies of 10 militants along with arms and ammunition. The weapons recovered included three AK series rifles, four SLRs, two INSAS rifles, one RPG, one Pump Action Gun besides bullet-proof helmets and magazines. “Accordingly a criminal case , has been registered and is being investigated into. Operations in and around Jakurad- hor, under Borobekra Police Station, Jiribam District continued to flush out armed militants. Reinforcement teams consisting of Assam Rifles, CRPF and Civil Police have been rushed there,” the Manipur Police statement added. Reacting to the gunfight, the Kuki-Zo Council said its ‘volunteers’ were killed and announced a total shutdown on Tuesday – from 5 am to 6 pm. It said the protest is “in honor of the victims and to express our collective grief and solidarity who were brutally shot dead”. In its statement, the Council demanded an immediate and thorough investigation “to bring the per petrators to justice”. CURFEW IMPOSED IN Jiribam Prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the BNSS were imposed. An order issued by the district magistrate said curfew was clamped due to “apprehension of widespread disturbance to peace and public tranquillity or a riot or any affray in the area” express read YSRC social media activist, 2 others held for social media abuse Kadapa: YSRC social media activist Varra Ravindra Reddy (38) was arrested on charges of positing offensive content on social media platforms against Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Deputy Chief Minister K Pawan Kalyan, and Home Minister Vangalapudi Anitha and their family members. Two others, who provided shelter to him were also taken into custody, Kurnool Range DIG Koya Praveen told mediapersons on Monday | P5 New CJI sworn in President Droupadi Murmu administers the oath of office to Justice Sanjiv Khanna as the 51st Chief Justice of India, at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Monday | PTI India must adopt more robust Met system SV Krishna Chaitanya EXPRESS IN BA K U I `23,330.48 Grant-in aid `30,33,379.08 `34,70,180.26 Ten militants killed, CRPF jawan injured in fierce Manipur gunfight PRA S ANTA M A Z U M D AR @ Guwahati 9,000 crore towards better roads in State budget overview ndia has to enhance its meteorological infrastructure and adopt a more robust multi-hazard early warning system to avoid loss of lives and minimise the impact of climate change, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Secretary-General Celeste Saulo told this newspaper on Monday . The WMO State of the Climate 2024 was released during the United National Climate Conference (COP29), which began in Baku, Azerbaijan, earlier in the day The report issued a . red alert as 2024 is on the track to be the warmest year on record. From January to September this year, the average global temperature was 1.54°C above pre-industrial level. However, seen from a long-term perspective, the average warming is below 1.5°C. Saulo said WMO works very closely with the IMD, whose Director General of Meteorology Mrutyunjay Mohapatra is one of the three vice-presidents of WMO. “India is very active and making good investments to enhance meteorological services. But, India being such a large country, there is a lot of scope for improveP9 ment,” she told TNIE.  an intention to restart the development cycle by focusing on economic revival, leading to wealth creation. It is in the hands of this generation now to restart and rebuild Andhra Pradesh.” “‘Turn every crisis into an opportunity with dedication, innovation, commitment, and hard work,’ is Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s mantra that drives us to work towards reviving the State economy he ,” added. On Amaravati, Keshav said, “After being abandoned for five years, the dream capital city of Amaravati is taking shape. Amaravati has been envisioned to have the world’s best infrastructure and a global destination for people, investments and jobs. The planning principles of Amaravati have ensured to make it the most liveable, efficient, sustainable blue and green city .” He pointed out that the State government has secured `15,000 crore financial assistance from multilateral funding agencies through the Centre for developing Amaravati. Emphasising that development of agriculture sector and welfare of farmers is of utmost importance to the NDA government, the Finance Minister said `11,855 crore has been allocated for agriculture and allied sectors for 2024-25. He explained, “As part of the Super Six guarantees, our government has announced investment support to eligible farmers through Annadata S u k h i b h ava - P M K i s a n P4 scheme.”  cracker ban Clean air a fundamental right, says SC S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi The Supreme Court said on Monday that it is a fundamental right of every citizen to live in a pollution-free atmosphere, adding no religion encourages any activity that creates pollution. Pulling up the Delhi authorities over their failure to enforce firecracker ban during Diwali, a bench of justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih said if firecrackers are burnt in this fashion, it will also affect the fundamental right to health of the citizens. “The right to live in a pollution-free atmosphere is a fundamental right of every citizen which is protected by Article 21 of the Constitution. Prima facie we are of the view that no religion encourages any activity that creates pollution or compromises with the health of the people,” the bench observed. The Delhi government issued an order banning the use of firecrackers on October 14. “We wonder why the Delhi government delayed the promulgation of order till October 14. It is quite possible users by that time must have acquired the stock of firecrackers.”