BHUBANESWAR  THURSDAY  JUNE 05, 2025  `9.00  PAGES 12  JEYPORE EDITION PLASTIC POLLUTION CHOKING THE PLANET, SAYS U.N. SECY-GENERAL Antonio Guterres said on the eve of World Environment Day (June 5) about an urgent need to control the menace of plastics SOUNDS AN ALARM OVER RISKS OF PLASTIC ARAVALLI GREEN WALL PROJECT Sounding an alarm over the risks of plastic pollution, Guterres said: “Plastic pollution is harming ecosystems, well-being, and climate. Plastic waste clogs rivers, pollutes oceans, and endangers wildlife. It infiltrates every corner of Earth: from the top of Mount Everest, to the depths of the ocean; from human brains; to human breastmilk... this needs to end” ■ ■ Closer home, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch a special initiative by planting saplings aimed at reforesting the 700-km Aravalli mountain range extending from Delhi to Gujarat The ‘Aravalli Green Wall Project’ aims to reforest the 700-km Aravallis; boost biodiversity by reforestation, restore water bodies 50% IS EXTENT TO WHICH PLASTIC LEAKAGE IN ENVIRONMENT WILL GROW BY 2040 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 Nationwide Census with caste data to start in March 2027 M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi Rescue operation on after the stampede at Chinnaswamy Stadium, the venue of RCB IPL victory celebration, in Bengaluru on Wednesday | NAGARAJA GADEKAL CATASTROPHE STRIKES ROYAL CELEBRATIONS 11 DEAD IN STAMPEDE Dozens injured as desperate fans try to enter Chinnaswamy Stadium for the grand function EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru NO one expected celebrations to turn into an unfathomable tragedy Chaos started building . up the moment Royal Challengers Bengaluru won their first Indian Premier League title in 18 years. The streets were filled with revellers until late at night. The next day, when the team was to land and attend functions commemorating their win, crowd swelled as things started to go worse. Fans started to pour into the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Finally when the lights were , switched off and the crowd headed home, the reality of the catastrophe settled in. Eleven fans were dead and at least 33 were injured in a stampede outside the stadium. The condition of some of the injured was reported to be serious. The stampede occurred when an estimated 3 lakh-strong crowd gathered at the stadium to gain entry into the premises that had a capacity of just 35,000. This was following an announcement put out on RCB’s official social media handle about free entry passes. Another crowd of about one lakh had gathered to witness the felicitation of the RCB team at the grand steps of Vidhana Soudha at 5pm where Governor Thawarchand Gehlot, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D K Fans try to climb a barricade at the stadium on Wednesday | X BCCI rues preparatory lapses in stadium BCCI rued preparatory lapses that marred RCB’s celebrations and led to the death of 11 fans. RCB management empathised with “vulnerability and emotions” of cricket lovers. K’taka CM announces `10 lakh compensation Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah announced `10 lakh compensation to the family of those killed and announced a magisterial probe, to be concluded in 15 days Shivakumar were present. Unfo r t u n at e ly, wh i l e ab o u t 5,000-strong number of policemen were positioned at Vidhana Soudha a few hundreds near the stadium were haplessly outnumbered to manage the crowds. Despite the tragedy, RCB went ahead with the celebrations inside the stadium in the evening from 6. 10 pm to 6.40pm. A majority of the crowd inside the stadium were said to be without tickets. Those with valid tickets were waiting outside gate number 12. Most of the fans near Vidhana too started rushing towards the stadium hoping to get a glimpse of their heroes. The fans started rushing towards gate numbers 3, 8, 12, and 15 and other gates hoping to get inside as news of limited free entry passes started circulating on social media. As they were d e n i e d e n t r y, they started climbing over gates and iron barricades. After a cement slab over a drain broke near gate 12, fans fell down. At least four died at that spot. The heavily outnumbered police had no option but to resort to mild lathi charge outside the stadium, which also contributed to the stampede. Fans even tried to scale the stadium’s compound wall. Following the tragedy Chief Minister Siddar, amaiah, deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar, Karnataka BJP Chief By Vijayendra and other leaders visited the inP11 jured at the hospitals. HOW IT ALL BEGAN AND ENDED 1 PM Deputy CM said that they were expecting a huge crowd and that care should be taken 2.30 PM RCB land at HAL Airport in Bengaluru, welcomed by Deputy CM DK Shivakumar 3.14 PM RCB said on social media posts to get free Victory Day Passes from website 3.45–4.15 PM Stampede reported at gates number 3, 8, 12 and 15 in stadium. leaving 11 dead 5 PM RCB reach Vidhana Soudha. Governor, CM, DCM, and others felicitated players 6.10 PM Victory Celebrations continue inside the stadium even as stampede toll rises MONSOON SESSION 6 die within hours in FROM JULY 21-AUG 12 Koraput med college, P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi A day after 16 opposition parties wrote to PM Modi urging him to convene a special session of Parliament to discuss Operation Sindoor, the Union government on Wednesday said the monsoon session of Parliament will be held from July 21 to August 12. Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, has recommended the dates. The recommendation will be sent to the President for convening the monsoon session, the minister said. Taking a dig at the government for announcing the Monsoon session of Parliament 47 days before it is due, the Congress alleged that the government is trying to run away from the demand of the party and INDIA bloc for an immediate special session to discuss the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor. In a post on X, Congress general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh, said, “This has been done to run away from the demand made by the Congress and INDIA parties for an immediate special session to discuss Pahalgam attack and failure to bring the terrorists to justice, the impacts of Operation Sindoor and its blatant politicisation, the revelations of the CDS in Singapore, the hyphenation of India and Pakistan, the embedding of China in Pakistan, the claims of President Trump on mediation... The PM will have to answer very tough questions six weeks from now.” govt orders probe A K S H AY M I S H R A / H E M A N T R O U T @ Jeypore/Bhubaneswar AT least six patients of Saheed Laxman Nayak Medical College and Hospital (SLN MCH) in Koraput perished in a span of hours late on Tuesday, prompting the state government to order an inquiry after kin of the deceased brought up allegations of medical negligence. Sources said five patients, aged 27 to 45, suffering from cancer, stab and head injuries, died during treatment on Tuesday night while another died on Wednesday morning. Four of the five were admitted to the ICU of surgery department and the remaining two were in the wards. Family members of the patients admitted to the ICU alleged that they developed serious complications minutes after a nursing staff administered an injection and died in a quick succession. The deceased were identified as Sukra Majhi (Semiliguda), Rukmi Penthia (Ambaguda), Phulamati Majhi (Kalahandi), Bhagaban Paraja and Jagannath Pujari (Borigumma), Bati Khara CONTINUED ON P5 (Koraput). THE Union home ministry on Wednesday said that the Population Census-2027 will be conducted in two phases along with the enumeration of castes. The first phase will begin on October 1, 2026 and be held in hilly and snow-hit areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. The second phase will cover the rest of the country beginning March 1, 2027, the home ministry notification said. The exercise is going to be conducted after a delay of seven years, as the decennial census was to be conducted in 2021 but was postponed due to the Covid outbreak besides technical and administrative issues. “It has been decided to conduct Population Census-2027 in two phases along with enumeration of castes. The reference date for Population Census - 2027 will be 00:00 hours of the first day of March, 2027,” the Ministry of Home Aff airs said in an of ficial release. It further said that for Ladakh and the non-synchronous snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, “the reference date will be 00.00 hours of the first day of October, 2026”. India’s population count has been conducted every 10 years since 1951. The last Census of India was conducted in 2011 in two phases – phase-1 of House Listing from April 1 to September 30, 2010 and Phase II of Population Enumeration from February 9-28, 2011. In April, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided that caste-based enumeration would be part of the next Census. According to the 2011 data, India’s total population was 121 crore, the sex ratio was 940 females per 1,000 males, the literacy rate was 74.04% and the population growth was 17.64% from 2001 to 2011. The Census of India is conducted under the provisions of the Census Act, 1948 and the Census Rules, 1990.