chennai l sunday l june 15, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 26 l late city EDITION J&K to reopen Destinations closed after Pahalgam attack in phases Jammu & Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha on Saturday said closed parks at tourist places will be reopened in a phased manner starting June 17 8 parks in jammu to reopen in first phase Sinha said the tourist spots that would be reopened include Beetab Valley and the parks near Pahalgam market. In Srinagar, Badamwari Park, Duck Park and Taqdeer Park will be reopened. Sarthal and Dhaggar in Kathua, Devipindi, Siyad Baba, and Sula Park in Reasi, Guldanda and Jai valley in Doda, and Pancheri in Udhampur—all in Jammu—will also be reopened reports from districts and then some more places will be reopened in consultation with the tourism department, the L-G said | P10 ■ Security has been beefed up for the Amarnath Yatra starting July 3, the L-G said, adding that he expects a large number of pilgrims 48 Tight security for Amarnath yatra ■ The committee comprising divisional commissioners and IGPs will take out of 87 tourist spots in Kashmir closed after April 22 Pahalgam attack 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 Dangerous escalation Iran threatens to hit US, UK bases in West Asia; Israel vows to destroy Tehran’s nuclear infra AGENCIES @ Jerusalem / Dubai Cranes clearing the debris of the crashed plane in Ahmedabad on Saturday | PTI Toll 270, probe panel formed D i l i p S i n g h K s h at r i ya @ Ahmedabad The death toll in the Air India flight tragedy here went up to 270, even as a body was extracted from the tail of the crashed aircraft on Saturday The Lon. don-bound flight had rammed into the BJ Medical College hostel moments after takeoff on Thursday . As of Saturday night, DNA matches of 19 crash victims with their families have been established. Since many bodies were charred beyond recognition, authorities are depending almost entirely on DNA testing for accurate identification. “This isn’t something we can afford to rush. Every case must be verified with clinical precision,” said Dr Rajnish Patel, surgery professor at B J Medical College. Gujarat Revenue Secretary Alok Pandey said many of the victims hailed from 18 of the state’s 33 districts. He said 230 teams have been formed to coordinate with families of the victims. “A grief counsellor `25L interim relief Air India will make interim payment of `25 lakh to the families of the deceased and survivors of the plane crash — in addition to its `1 crore compensation has been assigned to every family to deal with mental trauma,” Pandey added. Gandhinagar Forensic Science Lab (FSL) Director H P Sanghvi said, “We’ve begun profile matching. Tests are ongoing in batches, each taking 36–48 hours. A team of 36 experts is working round-the-clock with the National Forensic Lab to expedite the process.” In a related development, the Centre constituted a multi-disciplinary panel headed by the Union home secretary to probe the cause of the air crash. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge urged the government to fix accountability “Let . the black box reveal the truth. The government must then fix accountability,” he said after visiting the crash site. P10 IRAN and Israel on Saturday carried out waves of deadly attacks at each other, ignoring pleas from various countries including India for an immediate de-escalation of hostilities. Reports said Israeli drones struck the South Pars—the world’s largest natural gas oil field co-owned by Qatar—forcing Iran to halt production. Israel’s attacks on Iran’s military and nuclear sites on Friday and Saturday killed 78 people. Israel said it eliminated 20 army and Revolutionary Guard commanders. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s top advisor Ali Shamkhani was also killed, according to reports. Iran’s retaliatory strikes in the wee hours on Saturday killed three persons and injured 80 others in Israel. The developments come amid talks between Iran and the US seeking to reach a deal on Tehran’s nuclear programme. A sixth round of negotiations scheduled in Oman on Sunday was cancelled after Destroyed residential buildings in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, Israel, hit by a missile fired from Iran on Saturday | ap/pti India on Saturday sought to distance itself from the statement of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization criticising Israel’s strikes, saying the conflict can be sorted out only through dialogue and diplomacy | P9 Iran said it was ‘meaningless’. Israel said it has destroyed Iran’s air defence systems claiming its jets flew for nearly two hours over Iranian airspace, hitting targets. “Tehran is no longer immune; the capital is exposed to strikes,” an IDF spokesperson said, adding Israel plans to dismantle Iran’s nuclear capabilities. As for Iran, it threatened to S u b a s h i n i V i j aya k u m a r @ Chennai The number of students who had qualified in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET)-UG in Tamil Nadu recorded a marginal dip of 2.2 percentage points in the results declared by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Saturday . Of the 1.36 lakh TN students who had appeared for the test this year, 76,181 have qualified Shaken & Stirred PLUS 12 P AGES (56.1%), a tad lower than the tongues wagging as all the TN last year’s 58.3%. Since there is political parties, except the a drop in score across BJP, have opposed the the country, with the test saying that it puts top mark being 686, the poor, rural students at a lowest since 2019, the disadvantage and the cut-off for MBBS adcentre must give exempmission may drop by tion to TN students from 60 to 70 marks. the test.The topper from The drop in number Tamil Nadu, S Soorya of qualifying candi- Soorya Narayanan Narayanan of Tiruneldates and failure of veli district, secured an Tamil Nadu students to make it All India Rank (AIR) of 27. Last to the top 25 ranks, may set year, P Rajaneesh from the state was among the 17 students who secured first rank by scoring a perfect 720 out of 720. In 2023, J Prabanjan from TN shared AIR 1 with another student from Andhra Pradesh by scoring 720.Moreover, five students from Tamil Nadu secured a spot among the top 25 in 2023. Besides Soorya Narayanan, five more students made it to the top 100 AIR this year, compared to 10 students in 2024. P7 Raj aspirant nat’l topper, 55.96% clear NEET-UG New Delhi: A total of 12,36,531 candidates, majority of them women, have cleared NEET-UG. Rajasthan’s Mahesh Kumar has emerged national topper with a percentile of 99.9999547. Of the 22,09,318 who took the test, 55.96% have cleared it Inside 3 Tribal students get NIT seats | P4 e x p r ess r ea d Tension grips Tiruvallur as cops attempt to question MLA CHENNAI: Andersonpet in Tiruvallur district witnessed high drama on Saturday as a group of policemen arrived at the residence of MLA ‘Poovai’ M Jaganmoorthi to question him in an abduction case. The MLA fled from the spot | P4 Baga l ava n P e r i e r B @ Cuddalore J Chandra receives the house key from her former students on Friday | Express WITH THIS ISSUE Marginal dip in TN NEET show; MBBS cut-off may fall 35 years on, TN teacher gets new home as ‘guru dakshina’ For J Chandra, a 75-year-old retired private schoolteacher of Chidambaram whose entire life was spent in illuminating the lives of thousands of students, help came at her darkest hour from her own students — in the form a new home. As the teacher landed in bad times after the death of her husband and relatives, and poor health affected her ability to teach, she had to wage a lonely battle for survival inside a crumbling hut. All this changed when N Manikandan, one of her former students from 35 years ago who couldn’t bear to see her troubles, reached out to his classmates to give their history teacher a helping hand. On Friday (June 13) morning, Chandra stepped into the new home built by her students at a cost of `3.5 lakh at Kavarappalayam Street in Bhuvanagiri. It took six months to finish the construction work but the smile on Chandra’s face, when her former students handed over the key to their beloved teacher, made it all worthwhile.  P7 attack the regional military bases of Israel’s allies US, UK, and France if they helped Tel Aviv. The warning came after reports said US shot down Iranian missiles. With Israel and Iran hardening their positions, it could become a protracted, full-fledged war that could disrupt global economy by making the Red Sea more unsafe. P11 India distances itself from sco statement History-sheeter locks up cop in police station in Madurai Madurai: A history-sheeter locked up a head constable in a room inside V Chatrapatti police station in Madurai and vandalised the station early on Saturday after cops picked up his father for inquiry. Search is on to nab him | P4 TAKE YOUR FIRST STEP TOWARDS TRANSFORMATION GITAM ADMISSION TEST (GAT) Leak fixed, Axiom-4 mission expected to be launched soon united by cricket South Africa captain Temba Bavuma with the World Test Championship mace after beating Australia in the final. This is SA’s first ICC trophy in 27 years | AP | P13 Bengaluru: ISRO on Saturday stated that the postponed Axiom-4 mission to ISS will be launched on June 19. Later, it withdrew the date and said it will be launched soon. The rocket’s liquid oxygen leak issue has been fixed | P7 LAST DATE TO REGISTER 19 June th 2025 su n d a y spe c ia l EXAM DATE 22 June nd A peek into where Gill’s journey began G o m e s h S @ Chennai Chak Khere Wala in Punjab, close to the Pakistan border, is not even a speck on the map. It would have remained a nondescript village of India’s vast hinterland if not for one man — Shubman Gill. When the newly anointed India captain walks in the India blazer to toss the coin against England in the first Test at Leeds on Friday (June 20), the village would enter into the folklore of Indian cricket. This is where Gill’s cricketing journey began as a threeyear-old with a wooden bat carved out of a tree trunk. Gill’s grandparents—Sardar Didar Singh Gill and Gurmail—still live in the house surrounded by acres of farm land. The small stretch of concrete built to make Gill bat and the kitchen walls still stand as a testimony to his early toil as a batter. Didar, who is nearing 90, showed the house where Gill’s mementos and plaques hold pride of place. Gill and his father may have shifted to Mohali when he was seven but the cricketer has not forgotten the village. A small distance away from the Gills’ is the Jaimal Wala Academy. Coach Gurpreet Singh says Gill’s father trains kids whenever he is in village. Gill donat- 2025 Architecture ed `3.5 lakh, which was used to set up the nets and buy equipment. The construction got over on Friday The district au. thorities are building a new stadium to honour him. “Since Shubman, a lot of academies have come up in the area,” says Surinder Chindi, Fazilka Cricket Association Secretary  P13 . The patch of concrete where Shubman Gill used to practise as a child. The kitchen is on the right I Gomesh S Engineering Humanities Law Management Medicine Nursing Paramedical Pharmacy Physiotherapy Public Policy Sciences MERIT SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE UP TO 100% THAT ALSO COVER FOOD AND ACCOMMODATION BENGALURU | HYDERABAD | VISAKHAPATNAM 8884984000 www.gitam.edu Scan the code to schedule your test