tadepalligudem l monday l april 21, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION Two south african cheetahs get new home in mp sanctuary Two South African cheetahs shfited to Kuno National Park two years ago were released into Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary in MP on Sunday Four more cheetahs in m.p. soon: cm Kuno nat’l park shows the way ahead Prabhash and Pavak, the six-year-old male cheetahs, originally brought from South Africa’s Waterberg Biosphere Reserve to Kuno in February 2023, arrived at Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary, abutting Neemuch and Mandsaur districts, after a road journey. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said four more cheetahs from Botswana will arrive shortly ■ ■ Eight Namibian cheetahs — five females and three males — were released into Kuno National Park on September 17, 2022, marking the first-ever intercontinental translocation of these big cats Currently, Kuno National Park, a significant site for cheetah conservation in India, houses 24 cheetahs, including 14 cubs 250 kilometres is the distance between kuno and gandhi sagar sanctuary 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 Munambam in focus on BJP’s Easter outreach Harsh tariff will trigger major slowdown in the US economy this year and next, says economists A new Boeing 737 MAX meant for China’s Xiamen Airlines returned to the US due to tit-for-tat tariffs. More planes are at Boeing’s Zhoushan center for final work and delivery, Reuters reported Says resolution after SC’s order on Waqf Act Express News Service @ T’Puram Amid the raging waqf land row in Kochi’s Munambam and apprehensions whether the recent Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 would resolve their woes, top Kerala BJP leaders did an Easter Sunday outreach by visiting churches and meeting prominent Christian leaders across the state. While BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar called on Cardinal George Alencherry in Thiruvananthapuram, Union Minister Suresh Gopi met Thrissur Archbishop Andrews Thazhath and later Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church head Baselios Joseph I in Kochi. The Easter outreach that began a couple of years ago, assumes significance in the wake of criticism on Union minister Kiren Rijiju’s statement last week that the 2025 Act might not directly address the Munambam land dispute. The party’s renewed efforts appear aimed at mending fences and strengthening ties with the Christian community . During his meeting with Alencherry, Chandrasekhar conveyed Easter greetings and belated birthday wishes to the cardinal. He expressed the hope that the Waqf Act would help resolve the Munambam issue, and backed Rijiju’s remarks that the amended Act provides a legal pathway for resolution by enabling parties to approach the Supreme Court. “His (Rijiju’s) remarks were well-intentioned, and I believe the Munambam issue will be resolved once the Act is implemented following the SC ruling,” Chandrasekhar said. He also pointed fingers at parties in Kerala for failing to address the issue in the past. “Let’s see who actually resolves the Munambam issue,” he said. Cardinal Alencherry described the meeting with Chandrasekhar as informal. He noted that both the Union and state US V-P comes calling in bilateral talks push Stuck in muck Vehicles stuck in the debris after heavy rains triggered flash floods in Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday. At least three people were killed and more than 100 rescued. The incessant rains also led to landslides and mudslides | PTI Now, 74% of rural homes in AP get tap water under Jal Jeevan Mission U s h a P e r i @ Visakhapatnam BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar calls on Cardinal George Alencherry in T’Puram in Sunday | Express governments appear keen on resolving the Munambam row. “They say people will benefit once the practical aspects of the law are implemented.” As for Suresh Gopi, he attended special Easter prayers at churches in Thrissur and the Holy Mass at Ollur Mary Matha Church and Puthanpally Mary Matha Catholic Church. He also met Archbishop Andrews Thazhath at Bishop’s House and Baselios Joseph I at his residence in Mulanthuruthy . As many as 70,51,976 rural households in Andhra Pradesh now have access to tap water connections under the Jal Jeevan Mission - Har Ghar Jal programme. According to official data, the State has a total of 95,53,169 rural households, and the current coverage stands at 73.82%. When the programme was launched by the Central government in 2019, only 30,74,310 households (32.18%) had access to tap water. As of now, 25,01,193 households (26.18%) still await connections. The initiative has seen 5,253 villages achieve 100% tap connections. Among the districts, Former K’taka DGP murdered at house, wife taken for questioning Express news service @ Bengaluru FORMER Karnataka Director General of Police (DGP) Om Prakash was found dead under mysterious circumstances at his residence here on Sunday evening. His wife Pallavi, who is the prime suspect, has been taken in for questioning. The 68-year-old 1981-batch IPS officer retired from service in 2017 and was staying with Pallavi, his son and daughter at HSR Layout in Bengaluru. “A property dispute within the family is suspected to be the reason behind the murder. The retired officer had told his close associates that his life was under threat. There was a marital dispute too,” said a police of- three-storey house, with multificer investigating the case. ple stab injuries. Pallavi and “Around 4.30 on Sunday his daughter were present in evening, Pallavi called one of the house at the time of the inher friends — the wife of an- cident, police said. “Pallavi was other ex-IPS officer taken in for question— saying she killed a ing as she is the prime monster. She later disuspect. There were alled 112 and inno signs of forced enfor med the police try into the house,” control room about he added. The body the incident,” said a was sent to St John’s police officer attached Hospital for to the HSR Layout popostmortem. lice station in SouthDG & IGP Alok Moeast Bengaluru. Pohan, Police CommisOm Prakash lice filed an FIR based sioner B Dayananda on a complaint from Om Pra- were present. kash’s son. Originally from Champaran A police team visited the in Bihar, Om Prakash served as house and found Prakash lying DGP of Karnataka between dead on the ground floor of the 2015-2017. YSR district has emerged as the top performer with 100% tap water connections, reaching all 3,29,890 rural households while Palnadu stands last with the lowest coverage of 35.55%, covering 1,53,564 of the total 2,80,835 households. Tap water for r ural households district-wise data: YSR - 100%, Annamayya and Chittoor - 99%, Tirupati - 99.82%, East Godavari - 92.27%, Eluru - 86.73%, Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore86.70%, Sri Sathya Sai 84.55%, West Godavari - 83.96%, Ananthapuram - 83.13%, Kakinada - 81.25%, Dr B R Ambedkar Konaseema - 75.32%, N a n d y a l - 7 5 . 3 1 % , P a rvathipuram Manyam - 74.21%, Prakasam - 67.76%, Guntur - 67.73%, Vizianagaram - 67.68%, Visakhapatnam - 66.94%, Kurnool - 66.20, Anakapalle - 63.31, Alluri Sitarama Raju - 61.55%, NTR - 60%, Krishna - 59.35%, Srikakulam - 41.45%, Bapatla 40.84%, Palnadu - 35.35%. Total: 73.83%. Jal Jeevan Mission-Har Ghar Jal programme was launched to address the issue of water scarcity in rural areas with an aim to provide piped water supply to every rural household by 2024. The programme focuses on the importance of safe and acc e s s i bl e d r i n k i n g w at e r. The mission adopts a community-based approach, involving local communities in the planning, implementation, and maintenance of water supply P4 systems.  Illegal explosives busted in Bapatla E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v i c e @ Guntur Martur Police busted a major illegal explosives network on Saturday and seized over five tonnes of materials worth nearly ` 20 lakh. The raid, based on credible intelligence, was conducted near Nagarajupalli village in Martur Mandal, Bapatla district. It was led by Martur Inspector M Seshagiri Rao and his team, who found explosives stored illegally in agricultural land belonging to Midala Naga Venugopal, a licensed explosives magazine holder whose permit expired in March 2025. The primary accused, Dasam Hanumantharao (58), was caught at the site. He confessed to subleasing the magazine and running the operation for several years. Hanumantharao sourced explosives from M/s Salvo Industries Pvt. Ltd. in Telangana, using licensed vehicles like an Ashok Leyland truck and a Bolero for transport.  P4 GAME-CHANGER-II Rasheed’s story — Courage, grit and papa’s sacrifices F i r o z M IRZA @ Mumbai SHAIK Balisha Vali speaks only Telugu. It took him more than five hours to find a translator to speak to this daily but the moment he started talking, he opened his heart out on what it took to make his son, Rasheed, a cricketer. From working in a recovery team for a bank in Hyderabad to relocating the entire family to Guntur, Andhra Pradesh to selling fruits, he did it all for the sake of his son. More importantly for him, his childhood friends chipped in to extend financial support to ensure Rasheed’s dreams became his reality . “He was selected for a cricket academy in Hyderabad when he was eight. Two years later, he was picked up in the U-14 Andhra team. Then, I decided to shift to Guntur,” Balisha told this daily . Initially he took a pay cut but found it difficult to continue. “I was finding it difficult to manage my job and Rasheed’s sessions so I quit the job. It was not an easy decision but I had to take it. I did odd jobs including selling fruits in the market to keep the family afloat,” said the father. Hundreds of protest rallies held across the US against Trump’s deportations and mindless tariffs After Andhra Cricket Association’s Mangalagiri Cricket Academy adopting Rasheed, the journey became better for the Shaik household. Post that, he was appointed as the vice-captain of the India team for the U19 World Cup in 2022. Next year, he made his debut for the senior Andhra side in all formats and was picked up by the Chennai Super Kings. After warming the bench for two years, Rasheed made his debut in the yellow jersey against Lucknow Super Giants a few days back and opened the innings again versus Mumbai at the Wankhede on Sunday after doing so against Lucknow. Shaik Rasheed’s father sacrificed a lot to ensure his son dreams became a reality | AFP The vice president’s delegation includes senior officials UNITED States Vice President from the Pentagon and the US James David Vance, accompa- State Department. nied by his wife Usha and their Prime Minister Narendra three children, will arrive in Modi is scheduled to host Vance India on Monday for a four-day for talks at 6.30 pm on Monday , official visit aimed at strength- followed by a formal dinner. ening bilateral relations. The discussions are expected to The Vance family is sched- centre on trade negotiations uled to land at the Palam air and broader strategic cooperabase in Delhi at 10 am and will t i o n b e t w e e n t h e t w o be accorded a grand welcome. countries. This will be Vance’s first visDuring their stay in Delhi, it to India since asthe Vance family is suming office, and expected to visit the comes at a crucial Swaminarayan Aktime as India and the shardham temple and US work toward finala local shopping comising a comprehenplex known for tradisive trade agreement, tional Indian expected to be conhandicrafts. cluded by fall. The The delegation will v i s i t t a ke s p l a c e travel to Jaipur to J D Vance against the backdrop tour historical sites, of escalating trade tensions be- including the UNESCO-listed tween the US and China, follow- Amer Fort on April 22. Vice ing President Donald Trump’s President Vance is also schedimposition of tariffs as high as uled to address a gathering at 145% on Chinese imports. In- the Rajasthan International dia, too, was recently affected Centre in the afternoon. by US tariffs of 27%, though a The next day the Vance fam, 90-day pause is now in effect. ily will visit the Taj Mahal in Usha Vance, whose parents Agra and explore Shilpgram, are originally from Andhra an open-air marketplace for InPradesh, and the couple’s chil- dian handicrafts. They will dren — Ewan, Vivek, and Mi- conclude their visit and depart rabel — will accompany him for the US from Jaipur on the throughout the trip. evening of April 24. J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi