hyderabad l thursday l july 17, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l LATE City EDITION Kharge, Rahul write to PM, seek law to restore statehood of J&k ‘Include Ladakh under 6th Schedule’ The leaders of opposition in the two houses of Parliament—Kharge in Rajya Sabha and Gandhi in Lok Sabha—also called on the government to bring a legislation to include the Union Territory of Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. The Sixth Schedule is constitutionally protected, ensuring greater autonomy and security for local governance In their letter, Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi said the legislation should be brought in Parliament’s Monsoon session All-party meeting likely on Saturday ■ ■ The upcoming session is likely to be stormy as Opposition members are gearing up to raise the Pahalgam attack, leak of the interim report on the Ahmedabad air crash in the international media etc Sources said the government may convene an all-party meeting on July 19, two days before the Monsoon session’s commencement July 21 First day of the Monsoon session, will go on till August 21 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 Centre to set up committee to solve TG, AP water issues Meeting with AP CM, Jal Shakti Min cordial, Banakacherla not discussed: Revanth express news service @ Hyderabad/Delhi Describing Wednesday’s meeting in Delhi with Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu as “informal” and a “success” for Telangana, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy stated the proposed Godavari-Banakacherla link project was not discussed. He said that four key decisions were taken during the high-level meeting convened by Patil with the chief ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. These included the constitution of a committee comprising officials, engineers and experts from both states to identify issues related to the sharing of Godavari and Krishna river waters; installation of telemetry systems at all water take-off points along the Krishna river canals; shifting of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) office to Andhra Pradesh and retaining the Godavari River Management B o a rd ( G R M B ) o f f i c e i n Hyderabad. The Union government will fund the KRMB for the purchase and installation of telemetry instruments. Speaking after the meeting, Revanth said, “This is a success for Telangana. All these days, there have been allegations that AP has been drawing water in excess of its allocation. We have succeeded in getting AP to agree to install a telemetry system and to repair This is a success for Telangana. We have succeeded in getting AP to agree to install a telemetry system and to repair and restore the Srisailam dam Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy meets his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu ahead of a meeting convened by Union Jal Shakti Minister CR Patil (right) to address water-sharing disputes in Delhi on Wednesday Key decisions taken at meeting n Constitution of committee to identify issues pertaining to sharing of Krishna and Godavari waters n Installation of telemetry system at water take-off points along Krishna river canals n Shifting of KRMB office to Andhra Pradesh and retaining GRMB in Hyderabad n Repair and restoration of Srisailam dam to be taken up by AP and restore the Srisailam dam, which is currently being maintained by the neighbouring state.” “We are here to resolve issues, not complicate them,” he said, adding that the meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere. Reiterating that the Banakacherla proposal was not discussed, Revanth said, “If AP had raised the proposal, we would have demanded an immediate halt.” He added that the Telangana government had already lodged objections with ‘SIT misdirected itself’ in Ashoka prof case: SC Kant and Joymalya Bagchi wondered why the SIT was expanding the scope of the probe. Questioning the line of It said its direction was to conprobe by a Haryana police Spe- fine the investigation to the two cial Investigation Team (SIT) FIRs against Mahmudabad into social media posts by over his contentious social meAshoka University professor dia posts. Ali Khan Mahmudabad on Op“We are asking why SIT is, eration Sindoor, the Suon the face of it, misdipreme Court on Wednesrecting itself ? They day observed “it had were supposed to exammisdirected itself.” ine the contents of the The court had ordered posts,” Justice Kant the setting up of the SIT said. to examine if there was “It is open for the SIT anything incriminating A K Mahmudabad to say that the contents in the social media posts of the FIRs does not disby Mahmudabad. close any offence. Then In its interim report, the SIT this case can be closed. It can said it had seized Mahmuda- always say that during the bad’s mobile phones and sent course of investigation, they them for forensic analysis. It have come across certain infurther revealed that he had ap- criminating materials, which peared before the SIT for ques- constitute separate offences tioning four times. and the law will take its own A bench of justices Surya course,” the bench said. the Central Water Commission (CWC) and the GRMB regarding the Banakacherla project. However, AP Irrigation Minister Nimmala Ramanaidu said the meeting primarily focused on three items. He stated that AP’s agenda on the Banakacherla project and the issues raised by Telangana on the Krishna and Godavari rivers would be referred to a technical committee. But the Jal Shakti Ministry press note did not mention Banakacherla. continued on p4 Revanth Reddy, chief minister AP’s agenda on the Banakacherla project and the issues raised by Telangana on the Krishna and Godavari rivers would be referred to a technical and administrative committee N Ramanaidu, AP Irrigation minister CM LET DOWN TG: HARISH BRS leader T Harish Rao on Wednesday alleged that Revanth Reddy compromised on the state's interests by agreeing to formation of a committee on Banakacherla project | P4 PANCHAYAT RAJ EnC held for TAKING `50k bribe SUCHITRA K A LYAN MOHANTY Express News Service @ New Delhi @ Hyderabad The Telangana Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Wednesday arrested engineer-in-chief of the Panchayat Raj department, Veeravalli Kanakaratnam, for allegedly demanding V Kanakaratnam, and accepting a bribe of engineer-in-chief `50,000. According to ACB officials, the bribe was taken from a complainant in exchange for facilitating a transfer and posting. Searches were conducted at the Panchayat Raj office at Irrum Manzil and at Kanakaratnam’s residence. Kanakaratnam retired in March this year but was granted a one-year extension. He took charge as Engineer-in-Chief on March 13, 2024. He had earlier served in key positions in Mahbubnagar, Karimnagar and Nizamabad districts. The investigation is ongoing. ED may ask ACB to share info on Kaleshwaram | p4 Bright moves Indian women challenge Chinese dominance s w a r o o p s w a m i n at h a n @ Chennai THE Chinese women’s dominance of the 64 squares faces an existential threat from an upcoming force. India. At the ongoing women’s World Cup in Batumi, there are four from China in the last 16, including two World Championship runners-up. The reigning world champion, Ju Wenjun, declined to take part but they are still well represented. India, though, aren’t too far back. The gold medallists from last year’s Olympiad also have four players in the pre-quarterfinals. In the only direct con- frontation between the two nations in the last-16, Divya Deshmukh took down Zhu Jiner (a GM) in the first tie (Deshmukh, an IM, is one of the country’s brightest prospects). In a queen-centric endgame versus Jiner, Deshmukh, an age-group world champion, completely asserted her position as her pieces had better co-ordination and were very active. After building up an imposing advantage, she played the decisive 49. Qf7+ and Jiner resigned on the spot. If the 19-year-old draws with black pieces on Thursday she will ad, vance to the quarterfinals. The teen was joined by young Divya Deshmukh against Zhu Jiner at the event I FIDE/ Anna Shtourman Candidates calling R Vaishali, seasoned D Harika and Koneru Humpy in the last 16 after the first three rounds in Georgia. The other three drew their opening ties and they will all advance if they win on Thursday The women’s World Cup is . important as it carries with it as many as three qualification places for next year’s women’s Candidates. World Cup carries three qualification spots. Vaishali and Humpy played in 2024 but qualified through other pathways. If players qualify through World Cup, they can have 7-8 months to prepare Trump at it again on India deal D IPA K MON D A L @ New Delhi US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said a trade deal with India would soon be sealed under which American firms would get greater access to Indian markets. According to Trump, the trade pact with India will be on the lines of the US-Indonesia deal announced early in the day . “They are going to pay 19% and we are going to pay nothing … we will have full access into Indonesia, and we have a couple of those deals that are going to be announced,” Trump said, adding that the deal with India will be on the same line. India has not formally reacted to Trump’s claims, but officials say that the US president has the habit of making tall claims in public, which are far from reality . They cite the example of the Vietnam deal; Trump had claimed the South East Asian country had agreed to a 20% tariff, but Hanoi rejected the claim. India has maintained that it will not sign any deal that is against the country’s interest. New Delhi and Washington are in talks to finalise a trade deal before August 1, the new deadline for imposing the reciprocal tariff. The US has announced a 26% tariff on India, but has put on hold the tariff for now. Currently , only a 10% basic tariff is in place. An Indian team is in the US for carrying out the fifth round of negotiations on the bilateral trade agreement. Chief negotiator and commerce secretary-designate Rajesh Agrawal on Tuesday said that the Indo-US trade deal was progressing as per the terms of reference decided between the two countries agreed in February . The US has already announced reciprocal tariff between 25-40% against two dozen nations. Relative rejects blood money offer J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi Nimisha Priya Efforts are in full throttle to convince the family of Talal Abdo Mahdi, the Yemeni national murdered in 2017, to accept blood money in return for sparing Indian nurse Nimisha Priya from execution. This comes even as one of Mahdi’s family members publicly rejected reconciliation. “We are making all efforts to get Nimisha spared from the death sentence, and negotiators are working on getting the immediate family to collectively accept the blood money offer. This mandatory process could be long and we need to have patience,” her lawyer Subhash Chandran told this paper. Her execution, originally scheduled for Wednesday was postponed following interventions from various quarters.