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 ■ ■ SAMBALPUR  TUESDAY  JUNE 03, 2025  `9.00  PAGES 12  CITY EDITION Sikkim landslide kills 3 jawans, 6 others missing Tesla won’t make in India: HDK Only wants showrooms; but Merc, VW, Skoda, Hyundai, Kia interested in manufacturing EVs D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi The site of the landslide (above) that hit a military camp at Chaten in Sikkim; and rescue operations (left) in progress | PTI EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE THOUSANDS OF TOURISTS EVACUATED A landslide struck an Army camp at Chaten in Sikkim’s Lachen district, killing three personnel. Four individuals were rescued while six other personnel were reported missing, a defence ministry statement said. The incident occurred on Sunday evening. The deceased were identified as Havaldar Lakhwinder Singh, Lance Naik Munish Thakur and porter Abhishek Lakhada. All three bodies were recovered. “Rescue teams are relentlessly working around the clock under extremely challenging terrain and adverse weather conditions to locate and rescue the six personnel who remain m i s s i n g , ” t h e s t at e m e n t stated. “The Indian Army remains steadfast in its commitment to ensure the safety and well-be- Most of the over 18,000 tourists stranded in Sikkim’s Lachung and Chungthang towns following landslides were evacuated on Monday. Over 100 others are still stuck in Lachen @ Guwahati ing of all its personnel, demonstrating its unyielding spirit and dedication to duty even in the face of nature’s fury,” the statement added. With rainfall in recent days exceeding 130 mm, roads to key tourist destinations, including Lachen, Lachung, Gurudongmar, the Valley of Flowers and Zero Point, suffered major damages. As emergency work is underway following a sudden increase in river Teesta’s water level, the National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd restricted vehicular movement along National Highway 10. Upbeat Punjab Super Kings set to face Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s might in the IPL 2025 final in Ahmedabad today| P11 ELON Musk-promoted Tesla is not interested in manufacturing electric vehicles in India, Union heavy industries minister H D Kumaraswamy said here on Monday, adding that the US firm seems interested only in opening showrooms in India. However, other global players including Mercedes, Volkswagen, Skoda, Hyundai and Kia have shown interest in setting up manufacturing facilities in India, he added. The minister’s comments came while announcing the guidelines for the Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electric Passenger Cars in India (SMEC). He, however, added that the real intention of companies will be known only when the application window for the scheme opens. SMEC—meant for attracting investment from global EV manufacturers—will allow companies to import complete- NEW Union heavy industries ministry, the scheme EV SCHEME Notified by the aims to bring global investments and tech to India 10k crore Annual revenue plus `3,000 cr global asset base needed for cos to apply Lower import duty of 15% (down from 70%) for EVs priced above $35,000 25% domestic value addition must be achieved in 3 yrs, and 50% in 5 yrs 4,150 crore MUST BE INVESTED IN INDIA WITHIN 3 YEARS OF GETTING APPROVAL Import quota capped at 8,000 cars per year, for 5 yrs. Unused quota can be carried forward to next yr ly built units of EVs priced below $35,000 at 15% import duty against the currently applicable rate of 70%. Government officials said Tesla, which had initially shown interest in setting up manufacturing units in India, attended only the first stake- holders’ consultation meeting to discuss the details of the scheme. They skipped subsequent meetings. US president Donald Trump, who is against American firms setting up factories abroad, has very close links with Musk. When asked about Musk’s 2.5 tonne of looted explosives found in Saranda EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Rourkela THE ongoing search operation by security forces along Odisha-Jharkhand border on Monday led to the recovery of a fresh stockpile of around 2.5 tonne of explosives looted by the members of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) outfit on May 27. Most of the industrial explosive packets in form of gelatine sticks were found stacked around the paths used by Mao- ists in the hilly and treacherous terrains of the dense Saranda forest in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. Police sources informed that a few explosive packets were found lying in the forest in Sundargarh side of the border under the jurisdiction of Rourkela police district (RPD). Most of the packets were kept hidden in Saranda forest near Odisha border. It appeared that Maoists did get enough time to hide the explosive packets deep in- side the Saranda forest as security forces launched the search operation immediately after the loot incident. Personnel of the Special Operations Group and District Voluntary Force besides the CRPF, Jharkhand Jaguar and CoBRA are participating in the combing operation which is underway since the hijacking and loot of the truck carrying around four tonne of explosives from Banko forest in K Balang area on May CONTINUED ON P5 27 morning. plans to manufacture in India, Trump had said it would be “very unfair”. Meanwhile, India and the US are negotiating a trade deal under which India is expected to lower the import duty on American cars, which at present is in the range of 70-100%. Under the recently concluded India-UK trade deal, India has agreed to reduce the tariff on cars to 10% in 10 years. However, small EVs have been kept out of the purview of the deal. The application widow under SMEC will open next week, and won’t shut for 120 days. However, the Centre can reopen the window as and when required till March 15, 2026. On the likely chances of BYD applying under the scheme, officials said the Chinese EV maker is very keen but the Indian government has no plans to grant permission. The government estimates a revenue loss of `6,484 crore per applicant under the scheme. MUSK’S DAD TO GET STATE GUEST STATUS IN UP Errol Musk, South African businessman and father of billionaire Elon Musk, will visit Ram temple in Ayodhya on Wednesday. He is expected to be accorded the status of state guest by the UP government | P8 ‘Is it so difficult to be patriotic?’ Khurshid slams critics in party P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi DAYS after supporting the abrogation of Article 370, Congress leader and former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid on Monday fired another salvo, saying “it’s distressing that some at home focus on political allegiances instead of unity”. He wondered if it was so difficult to be patriotic. Khurshid, who is a part of the multi-party delegation to various countries, also expressed concern over political divisions amid India’s efforts to address terrorism. In a post on X, Khurshid wrote, “When on mission against terrorism, to carry India’s message to the world, it’s distressing that Salman Khurshid people at home are calculating political allegiances. Is it so difficult to be patriotic?” Later, speaking to the media, Khurshid said there was a need to speak in one voice irrespective of political differences. “I think when I say ‘Is it so difficult to be a patriot?’ — that is the question that has to be asked of those who are... saying things that I think I believe are not very encouraging when you want to do something for the nation,” he said. Party leader Jairam Ramesh had remarked recently that “terrorists were roaming and MPs were also roaming.”