bengaluru l wednesday l july 16, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 20 l late city EDITION DGCA data shows 641 bird/animal hits at 20 airports in 5 months A whopping 2,000 bird and animal hits on aircraft have been recorded annually in last two years across 20 busiest airports in the country delhi airport most hit, ahmedabad second consistency in reporting hazards needed DGCA data shows 1,633 bird/animal strikes in 2022 in these airports. It soared to 2,269 in 2023 and dipped to 2,066 in 2024. Delhi bore the brunt and averaged 400-plus incidents annually in the last three years. It had 442 strikes in 2022, 616 in 2023 and 419 in 2024, data shows. In 2025, it has recorded 95 hits. Ahmedabad is the second most affected airport | P9 ■ ■ To tackle the menace, the first meeting of the National Wildlife Hazard Management Committee was recently held in New Delhi where representatives from all airports and airlines took part The meeting called for enhancing efforts to identify wildlife species and urged operators and ATCs to consistently report wildlife hazards 201 cases of bird hits were recorded at ahmedabad airport last year 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 Splashdown after 5-minute ‘blackout’ From left: Parachutes of the Dragon Grace spacecraft carrying crew members of the Axiom-4 mission deploy before splashing down off California; the Dragon Grace spacecraft; Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla greets as he reaches Earth | PTI Splashdown Axiom-4 Space Mission successful, pilot Shubhanshu Shukla back after 20 days B o s k y K h a nn a @ Bengaluru The Axiom-4 Space Mission’s Dragon spacecraft, Grace, with Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla (call sign Shux) as its mission pilot, made a textbook splashdown at 3.02 pm (IST) off the US’ Pacific coast of California near San Diego, marking the end of a 20-day space sojourn, of which 18 were spent on board the International Space Station (ISS). The Ax-4 mission crew traversed 12 million km while making 282 orbits around Earth while aboard the ISS. With the Ax-4 Space Mission, Shux is the first Indian to visit and safely return from the ISS and the second to go to space after Sqdn Ldr Rakesh Sharma, 41 years ago as a part of Soyuz T-11 crew in April 1984. The splashdown happened after Grace’s Earth-orbiting free flight lasting nearly 22 hours and 30 minutes. Grace had undocked from the ISS at 4.50 pm IST on Monday, before the crew embarked on the de-orbiting procedures to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere on Tuesday afternoon to position itself for a safe splash- Time to check out the Tesla down at the predetermined location. The capsule was recovered by SpaceX’s recovery teams, and Shux and his three crewmates – mission commander Peggy Whitson from the USA, a former NASA astronaut and director of human spaceflight at Axiom Space, and the two mission specialists, European Space Agency (ESA) project astronaut Sławosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary – were extracted in stable condition.  CONTINUED ON P5, More P10 Around seven minutes before splashdown, there were a few tense moments during ‘blackout’ —a fiveminute period during which the spacecraft loses communication with the command centre due to intense heat and high velocity re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere Moment of pride and joy: Family Shubhanshu Shukla’s mother Asha Shukla and father Shabhu Dayal Shukla said they were happy and relieved that their son returned safely. They are now eagerly awaiting his return to India I am speechless. My son has safely returned. I thank God —Asha Shukla, mother of Shukla Shubhanshu’s parents Shambhu Shukla and Asha | pti Tesla makes India debut with mid-sized electric SUV Model Y at its first experience centre in Mumbai Model Y was once the world’s bestselling car base price of two variants `59.89L Rear-wheel drive (500 km range on single charge) Comes as a completely built car from its Shanghai unit in China express read Odisha student who set herself afire succumbs Bhubaneswar: The 20-year-old Odisha college student, who set herself ablaze following alleged sexual harassment by a professor, died at AIIMS on Monday night. The second-year Integrated BEd student of Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College, Balasore, had been fighting for her life for three days | P5 TDP tells EC to give time for electoral roll revision New Delhi: The TDP on Tuesday urged the Election Commission not to hold the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Andhra Pradesh within six months of a major poll and to communicate explicitly that the exercise is not related to citizenship verification | P5 `67.89L long-range rear wheel drive (622 km range) Deliveries to start in the third and fourth quarter of 2025 respectively for the two variants Initial registration, delivery at Delhi, Mumbai, Gurugram @Bengaluru Medico went missing in Dharmasthala in ’03, mother seeks justice A 60-year-old woman on Tuesday filed a complaint with the Dharmasthala police, seeking help in locating the skeletal remains of her daughter, Ananya Bhat, who went missing under mysterious circumstances at Dharmasthala in 2003. Her plea comes after the recent revelations by a former sanitation worker at the Dharmasthala temple who claimed to have buried and bur nt m u l t i p l e bodies in Dharmasthala. In her complaint, Sujatha Bhat, a resident of Padmanabhanagar in Bengaluru and a retired stenographer at Sujatha Bhat, mother of the Central Bureau of Ananya, at DK SP’s office Investigation (CBI), re- in Mangaluru on Tuesday counted the events leading up to her daughter’s disappearance. In 2003, Ananya, a first-year MBBS student at Manipal Medical College, had travelled with her friends to the Dharmasthala temple. Sujatha received a distress call from Ananya’s classmate, Rashmi, that Ananya had gone missing at the temple town. When Sujatha contacted the college hostel, she was told that Ananya had not been seen for two to three days. CONTINUED ON P5 A series of clinical studies conducted at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) have revealed significant neurological problems associated with both Covid-19 infection and Covid vaccination. Led by Dr Netravathi M, Professor of Neurology at NIMHANS, the studies span both the first wave of the pandemic and the subsequent vaccination drive, offering insights into how the virus and the global response to it has affected the central and peripheral nervous system. Between March and September 2020, NIMHANS reviewed hospi- tal records of 3,200 patients with neurological illnesses. Among them, 120 patients (3.75%) had confirmed Covid infections accompanied by neurological disorders. The median age of these patients was 49 years, with a range from 3 to 84 years. Common symptoms included altered consciousness (47%), seizures (21%), and anosmia (14.2%). Many patients (49%) had a preceding fever, a press release issued from the office of the state Medical Education Minister on Tuesday stated. Researchers noted that Covid can cause neurological symptoms through direct viral involvement, hypoxia, thrombotic complications, or autoimmune mechanisms. CONTINUED ON P5 @ Bengaluru After intense and 1,200 days of protest by farmers and other organisations, the state government on Tuesday dropped its decision to acquire 1,777 acres for a defence and aerospace park at Channarayapatna hobli in Devanahalli taluk near Bengaluru. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced that the government has decided to step back and withdraw the notification. But, he added, if farmers from the region come forward to give up their land, the government will purchase it at suitable amount. He clarified that the decision to withdraw land acquisition is restricted to only this region and is not applicable to any other parts of the state where the government is trying to acquire land for industrial purposes. After meeting farmers, he told reporters that the state government had issued both preliminary and final notifications for acquiring the land. tickets in K’taka NIMHANS study reveals neuro problems associated with Covid E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e `200 Cap on movie E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Mangaluru Tesla drove into India via the import route on Tuesday with its Model Y ready to compete against high-end EVs from Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi | P13 Govt scraps plan to acquire D’halli land COMPLICATIONS Major central nervous system complications included Stroke in 43 patients, Encephalopathy (23 cases), Meningoencephalitis (5), Seizures (5), Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis (ADEM) (1), Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) (10). But farmers had refused to give up land, saying it was the source of their livelihood. “This land is close to Bengaluru and Kempegowda International Airport, and it also falls under the Green belt. Farmers not only opposed our decision, but were also protesting against it,” he said. The government held six meetings with farmers and those associated with them. Farmers were joined by profarmer activists, communist party leaders, writers, artists, Dalit organisations and others. The government discussed pros and cons of acquiring the land with them and and decided to scrap the notification, he said. “No one can stop acquisition if farmers come forward to give up their land. We will use such land for industrial purposes. Once developed, a certain percentage of the land will be given back to farmers. We will not acquire from those who do not agree,” he added. “We cannot say how much land we will get. It’s too early ,’’ he said. P2 A draft notification on Tuesday stated that the cost of tickets in all theatres, including multiplexes, should not exceed Rs 200, inclusive of entertainment tax | P4 A flicker of hope for nurse in Yemen j aya n t h j a c o b @ New Delhi THE execution of Indian nurse Nimisha Priya, scheduled for July 16 in Yemen, has been temporarily halted, providing a crucial lifeline for the 37-yearold Kerala resident. The reprieve comes after intense behind-the-scenes efforts involving humanitarian activists, legal representatives, and a timely intervent i o n by S u n n i Muslim cleric Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musl i y a r. O f f i c i a l sources confirmed the postponement, saying: “Local authorities in Yemen have postponed the execution scheduled for July 16, 2025.” Nimisha Priya, a trained nurse, was convicted in 2017 for the murder of her Yemeni business partner, Mohammed Mehdi, whom she allegedly injected with a sedative. Her family insists she acted in self-defense, citing abuse and confinement during Yemen’s civil unrest. The stay of execution also follows Musliyar’s efforts to reach out to the victim’s family a nec, essary step under Yemeni Sharia law, which allows clemency through the payment of blood money, a legally-sanctioned form of restitution.