hyderabad l wednesday l june 25, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION five hundreds to india, 1st test match to England Despite Indian batters scoring five hundreds in the two innings, they lost the first Test against England by five wickets at Leeds Ben Duckett (left) and Joe Root help England beat India on Tuesday | AP Duckett, Root guide England home India prefer batting depth to bowling As he ever so often does, Ben Duckett came to the fore for England with a sensational second innings hundred. He smashed a stellar 149 and, along with Zak Crawley, set up the chase before Joe Root took over. Even as wickets kept falling at other end, Root held fort (53 n.o from 84 balls) to take England over 371-run target with five wickets in hand ■ ■ In what was one of the driest springs in England, India’s team management decided to go with Shardul Thakur as their fifth bowler instead of adding one more spinner — Kuldeep Yadav It backfired and India did not use Thakur enough in both the innings. The second Test will be begin on June 2 | More on P11 Seven india have now lost seven of their last nine test matches 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 July, rail fares may go up r a j e s h k u m a r t h a k u r @ New Delhi Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy greets the public after attending the Rythu Bharosa Vijayotsava Sabha programme near the Secretariat in Hyderabad on Tuesday Naidu diverted water as KCR was silent: Revanth mation that he was supporting Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in Chief Minister A Revanth the construction of the GodaReddy has challenged former vari-Banakacherla project. ch i e f m i n i s t e r K C h a n “If I had wanted to stay with drasekhar Rao to a deChandrababu Naidu, I bate in the Assembly Naidu: address would have done so. I on the sharing of Gojoined the Congress to TG’s Concerns davari and Krishna support Sonia Gandhi Vijayawada: AP river waters. “If you and bring a governChief Minister N have the courage, Chandrababu Naidu ment that serves the come for a debate in has asked his Cabinet people. Is it not true the Assembly on this to clarify Telangana’s that in 2016, Chanmatter. Write to the concerns regarding drababu issued a GO Speaker to convene a to divert 400 tmcft of the Banakacharla project | P5 special session on any Godavari water to date you choose. Let Handri-Neeva through us debate and discuss,” Revanth Banakacherla? This was besaid while addressing the cause KCR claimed there was ‘Rythu Bharosa Vijayotsava 3,000 tmcft in the Godavari. Let Sabha’ near the Secretariat on us discuss Godavari and KrishTuesday . na waters in the Assembly. I Revanth also accused BRS challenge you to this debate,” leaders of spreading misinfor- he said.  CONTINUED ON P4 E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Hyderabad flying high Safran to maintain Rafale engines in Hyd E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Hyderabad French aerospace company Safran has announced plans to establish a new Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in Hyderabad. The facility, Safran Aircraft Engine Services India, will be dedicated exclusively to servicing the M88 military engines used in Dassault Rafale fighter jets. This will be the first such facility for the M88 engine outside France. The announcement was made by Safran general manager Pierre Fernandez in the presence of IT and Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu during a high-level roundtable organised by the Indo-French Chamber of Commerce & Industry (IFCCI) at the Secretariat on Tuesday . The facility is expected to create around 150 new jobs by the end of next year, with the possibility of adding a further 750 jobs in later phases. Safran’s Hyderabad operations are set to become a central hub for the production and export of critical components for Rafale engines. Support from the state government has positioned Hyderabad as a developing aerospace hub. Safran is expanding its operations in Telangana with a major investment in Hyderabad. The company has already established two production facilities in the city . The roundtable saw participation from senior state government officials and a delegation of French business representatives. Discussions focused on investment opportunities in sectors such as engineering, AI, clean energy and manufacturing. On the occasion, Sridhar Babu spoke of the importance of Indo-French collaborations and urged IFCCI to explore opportunities in the Future City project. THE Railway Ministry is considering increasing fares of non-AC class in Mail/Express trains by 1 paisa and AC classes by 2 paise per kilometre from July 1, 2025, officials said on Tuesday . There is no fare hike being planned for suburban trains and monthly season tickets in the interest of daily commuters. “There is a strong chance of no fare hike for ordinary second class tickets for journeys up to 500 km... after crossing 500 km, the railways may charge half-paisa per km,” a well-placed source said. He added that the slight in- crease of 1 paisa per kilometre being considered for non-AC classes, and 2 paisa per kilometre for all AC classes is being done keeping in mind passenger interests. This hike, if implemented, would be the first since the pandemic and could generate additional annual revenue of around `10,000 to `12,000 crore. According to sources, the hike is being planned to ensure it does not cause a burden to passengers. “The revision for the slightest addition in the fare is likely to come as part of the Railways’ ongoing efforts to manage operation- al costs without burdening passengers, especially re gular commuters and those travelling short distance,” said the senior official, suggesting an formal notification may be issued soon. On average, 2.5 crore passengers travel daily on more than 13,000 trains, including 4,111 Mail and Express trains, covering 69,000 kilometres, managed under 17 zones and 69 divisions. “Railways is leaving no stone unturned to provide infrastructure, safety and comfort. For all these, the revenue rise is needed,” said a source. Explosions in Tehran as Israel hits radar station Trump bristles at violation of peace pact Shaky start to Trump ceasefire as Iran, Israel hold off for now Agencies The dramatic ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump on Tuesday got off to a rocky start as both Iran and Israel continued air strikes and accused each other of flouting the truce pact. Trump later claimed the ceasefire became fully operational. T r ump’s unilateral announcement came a day after Iran fired a handful of interceptable missiles at a US military base in Qatar, without harming anyone or damaging anything, in retaliation for the US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites on Sunday . Shortly after Trump announced the peace deal through his social media platfor m Truth Social, Israel’s air defence systems were activated to intercept missiles from Iran. The Israel Defense Forces said two missiles were shot at the country’s north around 10.30 am, over three hours after the ceasefire ought to have begun. Israel retaliated by striking an Iranian radar installation near Tehran but backed out from further attacks after Trump expressed displeasure at the ceasefire violation. An angry Trump used an expletive on live television when reporters asked him about the fresh flare-ups. “We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f**k they’re doing,” he said during a press gaggle at the White House before leaving for The Hague to attend the NATO summit. Castigating both Iran and Israel for violating the ceasefire, Trump said he is even more unhappy with Israel for its reckless behaviour. Later, he spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin I’ve got to get Israel to calm down... as soon as we made the deal, Israel dropped a load of bombs the likes of which I’ve never seen before Israel “refrained” from further strikes after a call between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu If the Zionist regime (Israel) does not violate the ceasefire, then Iran will not violate the peace agreement either US President Donald Trump Netanyahu’s office Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian Israeli soldiers from the Home Front Command unit work at the site struck by an Iranian missile, in Beersheba on Tuesday | ap Netanyahu to ask him to fall in line. Following this, Trump stated: “ISRAEL is not going to attack Iran. All planes will turn around and head home... Nobody will be hurt.” As for Israel, Netanyahu said all of his country’s war goals have been achieved. These include removing the threat of Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, taking out Iran’s military leadership, and having control over Tehran’s skies. He categorically added that Israel will “respond forcefully to any violation of the ceasefire”. Rejecting Israel’s accusa- tions, Iran said it did not launch any attack after the ceasefire was announced, adding that it will stand down as long as Tel Aviv respects the peace pact. Iranian officials said their immediately priority is rebuilding the residential areas and public infrastructure damaged in the air strikes. “We witnessed attacks on residential areas, as well as on scientific centres, research institutes, healthcare facilities and civilians... We are facing a major task ahead in terms of reconstruction,” government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani told state TV . Meanwhile, there are concerns that the ceasefire may not hold for long due to trust deficit between Tehran and Tel Aviv. It took hours for Israel and Iran to even acknowledge they had accepted the ceasefire that Trump claimed to have brokered. Also, Israel has only promised to scale down their air strikes against Iran, not wind up the operation. Trump said he is not interested in toppling the regime in Iran. “Regime change takes chaos and ideally we don’t want to see chaos,” he told reporters on board Air Force One heading to the NATO summit. P9 No alternative to talks, India ready to play its part: Govt J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi India on Tuesday welcomed the ceasefire between Iran and Israel, expressing deep concern over recent hostilities and reiterating its readiness to “play its part” in promoting dialogue and long-term stability in the region. Acknowledging the role of the US and Qatar in securing the truce, the External Affairs Ministry emphasised that diplomacy remains the only viable solution to the multiple conflicts that confront West Asia. “We have been following developments overnight relating to the conflict between Iran and Israel, including the US action against Iran’s nuclear facilities and Iranian retaliation against US military bases in Qatar,” a statement issued by the MEA said. “While we remain deeply concerned about the prospects for overall and sustained regional security and stability we , welcome reports of a ceasefire between Iran and Israel and the role played by the US and Qatar in bringing it about,” it added. India also stressed the importance of diplomatic engagement over military escalation. “We wish to reiterate that there is no alternative to dialogue and diplomacy in order to address and resolve the multiple conflicts in the region.” Meanwhile, 594 Indian nationals have been safely evacuated from Israel so far under Operation Sindhu, amid escalating tensions in the region. Indian Air Force C-17 aircraft played a key role in the evacuation ef forts, transporting stranded citizens via Jordan and Egypt. These Indian nationals had crossed over from Israel into these neighbouring countries by land before being airlifted. Two flights from Iran too landed in Delhi today . New lease of life express read Trafficked by a cop, saved by a card: A tribal woman’s ordeal It’s ‘ghar wapsi’ for Now, book sand Amrapali Kata through MeeSeva S R a j a R e d d y @ Vadgondi (Asifabad) “Penda daya te tirisi vaathom” (Thank God, she came back safely), said Siva (name changed) in Gondi, with a sigh of relief. “No other girl should face such trauma, such hardship, such agony he added. ,” Siva was referring to his daughter Asha (name changed) who was finally home, having been rescued from the clutches of traffickers after a year. She was last seen at the Jainoor bus stand, after visiting her sister for Holi in March last year. Her disappearance remained a mystery until recent- The bamboo house of the trafficking victim in Vadgondi village ly when a chance phone call led , to her rescue from Madhya Pradesh. According to her family, Asha was trafficked by a man trusted in the village — 60-yearold police constable Kameri Haridas. Known locally for offering farming loans and sup- plies, Haridas allegedly took Asha to his room in Asifabad, confiscated her phone and jewellery and confined her. She was then sold through a network of brokers operating between Kumurambheem Asifabad district and Madhya Pradesh for `1.3 lakh. From Asifabad, Asha was passed between several handlers before ending up in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh. There, she was forcibly married to Ghanshyam Prajapat, a mason. With no means of communication, she was unable to contact her family, who began to fear the worst.  continued on P5 ‘I never thought I would see my parents again’ n  that you have returned home, how do you feel? Now Asha: I thought I would never see my home again. I could not understand their language. I was alone and afraid. n  you meet any other women from the erstwhile Adilabad Did district there? Asha: I saw another trafficked woman from Kudtha village during my stay in Mandsaur. But she disappeared the next day, and I never saw her again. n  What happened after the marriage in Madhya Pradesh? Asha: My ‘husband’ was a mason. He made me work as a construction labourer. I worked as a daily wage worker for almost a year. n  did you go along with constable Haridas? Why Asha: He is known to all the villagers and used to help us. That was why I went with him. Hyderabad: The Central Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad bench, has allowed the petition of 2010-batch IAS officer Amrapali Kata to allot her to the Telangana cadre. The tribunal pulled up the govt for a selective approach in applying the Pratyush Sinha Committee guidelines | P4 Hyderabad: Citizens now have the option of booking sand delivery online or through MeeSeva. Payment can be made online, with sand delivered to the address specified at the time of making the booking. The new system will make sand booking fully digitised, minimising scope for irregularities and delays. No ‘Sindoor’ immunity: SC in dowry case New Delhi: Noting that serving in ‘Operation Sindoor’ does not give him immunity, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed a Black Cat Commando to surrender in a case relating to dowry death linked to the killing of wife over 20 years ago. He was convicted in the case under Section 304B of the IPC (dowry death) and approached court with an exemption plea that he had served in Operation Sindoor.