NAGAPATTINAM l friday l december 27, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION China to build world’s largest dam close to Indian border China on Thursday approved the construction of the world’s largest dam on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet, close to its border with India $137 billion project at himalayan gorge Worry over china flooding northeast Costing $137 billion, it is set to be the world’s biggest infra project till date. The dam is to be built at a huge gorge in the Himalayan reaches where the Brahmaputra makes a huge U-turn to flow into Arunachal Pradesh. Construction poses huge challenges as the project site is located along a tectonic plate boundary where earthquakes regularly occur ■ ■ An official statement on Wednesday sought to allay concerns about earthquakes, saying “a solid foundation has been laid for the sciencebased, secure, and high-quality development” of the project There are worries in India, given the massive size of the dam, that China could weaponise it and flood areas in the northeast during war 300 bn kWh of power to be generated each year, enough for annual needs 30 cr houses 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 CWC commits to revamp party Congress Working Committee also firm on campaign against attack on the Constitution Party pushback against barb on distorted map E x p ress N e w s S er v i ce @ Belagavi Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge with Rahul Gandhi and others during the Congress Working Committee meeting to mark the 100th anniversary of its Belgaum session presided over by Mahatma Gandhi, in Belagavi, on Thursday | Nagaraja Gadekal N ausha d B i ja p ur & S ubhash C han d ra N S @ Belagavi The extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) at Belagavi on Thursday sealed its commitment to revamp the party organisation in the coming months and fight “antiConstitutional” sentiments taking sway across India. The CWC resolved to commit to protecting the Indian Constitution and the ideals of the Indian Independence Movement. Accordingly the CWC resolved , to launch the “Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, Jai Samvidhan Abhiyan”, beginning with a rally in Belagavi on Friday (December 27) and culminating in a rally at Mhow on January 26, 2025, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Constitution coming into force and the founding of our Republic. During this month, rallies and marches will be organised in every block, district, and state as well. The CWC met on Thursday Samvidhan Bachao Padayatra The Congress said it will launch a year-long public outreach from January 26, 2025 called the Samvidhan Bachao Rashtriya Padayatra in which all leaders will participate to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s historic taking over of the Presidency of Indian National Congress at its 39th Session in 1924. It expressed concerns over alleged state-sponsored increase in communal and ethnic hatred, particularly targeted against minority communities. Manipur, which has been on the boil since May 2023, continues to be met with indifference by the prime minister and his government, it said. Communal tension, it alleged, has deliberately been stoked in Sambhal and other places for the RSS-BJP’s nar- row political gain. The Places of Worship Act, 1991 to which the Congress is firmly committed in letter and spirit has also come under needless and reckless debate, the CWC opined. The CWC also condemned in the strongest terms, the manner in which peaceful protests by Congress were dealt with by the governments in BJP-ruled states like Assam and UP. A number of Congress workers lost their lives. This is totally unacceptable, and it only reflects the anti-democratic mindset of the BJP. The meeting demanded a socio-economic caste census be conducted at the earliest. The 50% ceiling on quota for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs must be increased so as to further enhance the benefits to these three disadvantaged groups. Reservations must be on the basis of social, economic, or educational backwardness determined through appropriate means, the CWC said. Congress leaders on Thursday downplayed the controversy over party posters with “distorted” India map put up here for the centenary celebrations of the 1924 Congress session and said BJP was needlessly spreading false information. Reacting to BJP’s allegations that some posters had the distorted map, Congress leader Priyank Kharge said they were put up by some private companies. Those posters have already been removed. BJP is making baseless allegations in this regard, he added. Meanwhile, KPCC president D K Shivakumar said the party has taken measures to hold the event successfully and meaningfully . ‘Pvt firms to blame’ Congress leader Priyank Kharge said the posters with distorted India map was put up by private companies. They have been removed, he added Anna univ rape: FIR with girl’s details leaked E x p ress N e w s S er v i ce @ Chennai boy wonder Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacts with Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar awardee Anish Sarkar, a chess prodigy, at Bharat Mandapam, in New Delhi on Thursday. At 3, he is the youngest FIDE-ranked player in the world | PTI New app to help ‘108’ reach patients quicker S i n d uja J an E @ Chennai To reduce the response time of the 108 ambulance service, EMRI Green Health Services, GVK Enterprise — service operator for the state health department — is currently testing a pilot application which would allow users to track the movement of 108 ambulances in real time. Once an ambulance is assigned to a caller, the latter will receive an SMS containing the phone number of the ambulance driver, a live tracking link and other details. According to official sources, the live tracking feature will also in- form the caller of the ambulance’s Expected Time of Arrival (ETA). On the other hand, the driver can also track the exact location of the caller and reach them, without the caller having to provide details such as district and taluk. EMRI Green Health Services along with the health department has been testing the application across the state for over a month now, officials said. M Selvakumar, state head of operations, EMRI Green Health Services said, “The application will soon be launched officially.” P5 Amid outrage over the sexual assault of the student on Anna University campus and protests by students and opposition parties, in a shocking lapse on Thursday the FIR filed on , Tuesday by the Kotturpuram All Women Police Station (AWPS) in the case landed in public domain. The FIR had graphic details about the ordeal suffered by the student and her name, address and phone number, sources said. While the AIADMK and BJP hit the streets AIADMK cadre attempt protest, on Thursday, and the saffron party alleged Annamalai to that the accused was a go barefoot DMK of fice-bearer, Condemning the L aw M i n i s t e r S rape, AIADMK cadre Regupathi rejected the led by ex-minister D allegations as untrue. Jayakumar tried to The accused, Gnanhold protest in front asekaran (37), a local of Anna University biryani vendor, was but were detained. booked under sections Meanwhile, BJP 63, 64 and 75 of the leader Annamalai Bharatiya Nyay Sansaid he would flog hita (BNS), 2023. himself six times on Though it’s unclear Friday and walk if the FIR was downbarefoot until the loaded from the Tamil DMK regime is Nadu police’s Crime dislodged | P4 and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) portal, a message on the police webs i t e l a t e r o n T h u r s d ay s a i d t h e FIR was blocked by a competent authority . Speaking to reporters on Thursday evening, Greater Chennai Police Commissioner A Arun said a possible software glitch may have allowed the FIR to be downloaded. A separate FIR has been registered to probe the leak, he added. Meanwhile, NCW chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar wrote to DGP Shankar Jiwal stating that the leak of the FIR was a violation under guidelines issued by the Supreme Court.  P5 Manmohan Singh, India’s PM from 2004 to 2014, passes away E x p ress N e w s S er v i ce @ New Delhi FORMER prime minister and renowned economist Dr Manmohan Singh passed away on Thursday night. He was 92. Singh was rushed to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi around 8 pm in a critical condition after “sudden loss of consciousness”. A hospital statement said he died due to age-related medical conditions. “Resuscitative measures were started immediately at home. He was brought to medical emergency at AIIMS Delhi at 8.06 pm. Despite all efforts, he could not be revived and was declared dead at 9.51 pm,” said the bulletin. He is survived by Manmohan Singh 26 Sept 1932 - 26 Dec 2024 wife Gurcharan Singh and three daughters. The government declared national mourning of seven days and cancelled all programmes scheduled Friday . Singh, who was finance minister under the then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao, was the architect and the brainchild of economic reforms in 1991 that pulled India from the brink of bankruptcy and ushered in an era of economic liberalisation. T he refor ms changed the course of India’s economic trajectory . Singh served as PM from 2004 to 2014 and was credited for shaping the nation’s growth path. He retired from the Rajya Sabha in April after a 33-yearlong stint. In his final speech in Parliament, he had strongly criticised demonetisation, describing it as “organised loot and legalised plunder.” EC unveils ‘world’s largest datasets’ M U K E S H R A N J A n @ New Delhi tHE Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday released the world’s largest electoral dataset unveiling 42 statistical reports on the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and 14 reports each on four state assembly elections— Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Officials said these reports—98 in all —have been put out in the public domain for the sake of transparency as well as to promote research. According to the statistical datasets, as many as 64.64 crore voters exercised their franchise in the Lok Sabha polls held earlier this year with women voters outnumbering men. The female voter turnout stood at 65.78% compared to 65.55% for male electors, data showed. Female contesting candidates were 800, as against 726 in 2019.