power outage shuts heathrow airport London’s Heathrow Airport shuttered on Friday after a fire broke out at a substation serving the aviation hub, leading to the cancellation of at least 1,350 flights. The impact is likely to last several days. London’s Metropolitan Police force said there was no indication of foul play. The airline industry trade association said the shutdown was a planning failure | AP | P9 tadepalligudem l saturday l march 22, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION 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 From Dec, all MHA missives in mother tongue of recipient Aims to stymie the ongoing language row rajesh kumar thakur @ New Delhi IN a fillip to linguistic diversity , Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said his office will begin official correspondence with Chief Ministers, Members of Parliament (MPs), and citizens in their respective state languages starting December this year. The move aims to promote inclusivity and quell allegations of language imposition. Shah made this statement in the Rajya Sabha during a discussion on the Ministry of Home Affairs’ functioning. He informed the House that a new department for Indian languages has been established under the Raajbhasha Vibhaag (Department of Official Language) in the home ministry . “I want to say this so that those who want to divide the country in the name of language do not get an agenda. The Modi government has established a department for Indian languages, which is working on promoting all Indian languages. Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi... every language has been included. There will be apps for translation too,” he said. Pharmacies raided under ‘Operation Garuda’ E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada In a move to curb the growing menace of ganja and drug abuse, and sale of medicines without doctor’s prescription, Elite Anti-Narcotic Group for Law Enforcement (EAGLE), along with Drug Control Administration (DCA), Vigilance and local police, carried out surprise inspections of pharmacies and other drug stores across the State on Friday, under the name ‘Operation Garuda’. As many as 100 teams inspected more than 500 pharmacies in the State, and found some of them were s e l l i n g banned and special medicines (which are sedative in nature) without doctor’s prescription. According to a press release issued by DGP Harish Kumar Gupta, 120 pharmacists were booked and six stores were seized. In Avanigadda, a case was registered against Bhargava Medical Stores, belonging to Konakalla Rammohan, under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, as he was found selling Tramadol tablets and injection, Alprazolam tablets and Codeine Phosphate drugs without permission for the last two years.  P4 Home minister Amit Shah said the need of the hour is development, and not to rake up the language row | PTI In a broadside on the Tamil N a d u g ove r n m e n t , S h a h claimed TN was diverting attention from issues of corruption by raising the language pitch. “We will expose you... To those who use language as a shield for their scams, let me make it clear now that every language is important. How can we be opposed to Southern languages when we ourselves belong to different states? Nirmala Sitharaman comes from Tamil Nadu and I come from Gujarat,” Shah said. His statement comes amid the raging dispute between the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government and the Centre over the implementation of the new National Education Policy and the three-language formula proposed under it. In-house inquiry against Delhi HC judge over ‘cash discovery’ S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi The Supreme Court Collegium is considering a proposa l t o t r a n s f e r Ju s t i c e Yashwant Varma of the Delhi High Court to the Allahabad High Court following allegations of discovery of cash from his official residence. According to reports, a huge pile of cash was spotted by fire and rescue personnel who were called to douse a fire at the judge’s house on March 14. The judge was not in the house then. In a statement issued late on Friday the Supreme Court , said upon receiving information, Delhi High Court chief justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya had initiated an in-house enquiry and the report would be submitted to the Chief Justice of India. It also sought to clarify that the proposal seeking transfer of the judge was separate from the in-house inquiry procedure. “The report will be examined and processed for further and necessary action,” it said. Meanwhile, Delhi Fire Service chief Atul Garg claimed on Friday night that his department had not found any cash at the judge’s residence. According to the fire department’s report, some stationery and domestic articles caught fire and there were no casualties. “The call regarding the blaze at 30, Tughlak Road, also the Judge’s residence was received at 11.35 pm on March 14 and two fire tenders were immediately rushed to the spot. The DFS team arrived at the spot at 11.43 pm,” said the report reviewed by this newspaper. The report added that the fire tenders left at 1.56 am on March 15 after dousing the flames. A Supreme Court official said the Collegium will take action “if and as required”, adding that judges are expected to be totally above board. Terming the matter very serious, former additional solicitor general Vikas Singh said the judge should be asked to resign. nO DECISION YET ON transfer, SAYS sc The Supreme Court said it has examined a proposal for transfer of Justice Varma from Delhi HC to Allahabad HC, but is yet to make a recommendation. A resolution will be passed after examining the responses of the two HC chief justices and Justice Verma, it said ipl turns 18 the 2025 edition of the biggest t20 league gets underway on saturday The ten-team franchise league has come a long way over the past 17 years. In the opening game of the 18th season, which will see 74 games played across 64 days, defending champs Kolkata Knight Riders take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Eden Gardens | P11 Mumtaz & 2 other hotel projects at Tirumala cancelled E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Tirumala Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has categorically stated that no commercial activities will be allowed in the vicinity of the sacred Seven Hills. “We are taking back the allotted site of 35.32 acres from three hotel groups, including Mumtaz Group, and there will be no projects other than that of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) from Zoo Park to Alipiri and Kapila Theertham.”    Speaking to the media here on Friday, he said those companies would be allotted alternative sites opposite side of the Zoo Park road. “Emaar Group, Mumtaz Hotels and Devlok are the three companies, and we are going to take back the land from them,” he said. Naidu made it clear that only Hindus should be employed in the TTD, the governing body of Tirumala temple. Individuals from other religions would be provided opportunities elsewhere, asserting that religious institutions should be staffed by people of their respective faiths. In February the TTD had taken discipli, nary action against 18 employees for allegedly practising non-Hindu faiths while P4 working under the temple body . press Intake Govt to set up 125 Autism Support Centres under Bhavitha | P3 MRPS chief hails Naidu’s role in categorisation of SCs | P4 Govt to set up Action Plan Units to track Vision@2047 | P4 MEA says India, US working on trade pact ahead of April deadline | P7 Want CBI investigation, not Punjab probe: Col’s family | P8 US senator Steve Daines visits Beijing amid tariff woes | P9 Indian markets log biggest weekly gain in 4 years | P10