hyderabad l THURSday l AUGUST 14, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION Indian refinery ships diesel to China for first time since 2021 Indian refiner Nayara Energy, backed by Russian oil giant Rosneft, has shipped diesel to China amid European Union sanctions over its Russia link Cargo loaded from Vadinar, Gujarat India-China relations on the mend? According to reports, Nayara Energy loaded the cargo at Vadinar terminal on July 18 and the shipment departed hours before the European Union announced new restrictions on the refinery. The vessel was initially bound for Malaysia but made a U-turn in the Strait of Malacca and was anchored for 12 days. It has since updated its destination to Zhoushan, China ■ ■ After facing backlash from the US and European Union, India has taken various steps toward re-engagement with China. It has resumed issuing tourist visas to Chinese nationals after a five-year suspension, and is set to resume direct flights between the two countries soon For its part, China has eased curbs on urea shipments to India | P10 4,96,000 Barrels Of ultra-low sulfur diesel in Nayara’s cargo bound for China 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 100 STREET DOGS relocated: MCD The Municipal Corporation of Delhi said it has picked up 100 stray dogs so far and converted 20 animal birth control centres into shelters Amid pushback, spl bench to hear stray dogs issue Matter to be heard today; CJI B R Gavai acts after uproar against two-judge bench order SU C H I TRA K ALYAN MOHANTY @ New Delhi CHIEF Justice of India B R Gavai on Wednesday evening constituted a special bench comprising justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and N V Anjaria to hear the stray dogs issue, after a two-judge bench’s order for blanket removal of stray dogs from Delhi-NCR led to a nationwide uproar. The larger, three-judge bench will hear the matter on Thursday . Earlier in the day the , CJI said he would look into it after a pending Special Leave Petition that also dealt with the stray dogs issue was mentioned before him by lawyer Nanita Sharma. Referring to a May 2024 order passed by an SC bench relegating petitions relating to stray dogs to the respective high courts, the lawyer said the stray dogs issue needs clarity because two benches of the apex court passed conflicting orders in the matter. “There is an earlier judgment of this court, of a bench of Justices J K Maheshwari and Sanjay Karol, which says there cannot be indiscriminate killing of canines and that compassion for all living beings has to be there,” Sharma, appearing for the Conference for Human Rights (India), told the CJI-led bench, also comprising Justice K Vinod Chandran. The lawyer brought to the court’s attention the overlapping nature of these matters and the possibility of conflicting directions. The recent order to permanently relocate all stray from streets to shelters was passed by a bench comprising Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan on August 11 on a suo-motu case. The order said dog shelters would have to be augmented over time and directed civic authorities in Delhi and NCR to start with creating shelters of around 5,000 canines within six to eight weeks. The two-judge bench also warned of strict action against individuals and organisations that may try to create any obstruction in the relocation drive. It said contempt proceedings would be initiated against those concerned, in case of any move to defy the order. commonwealth games set for india return ioa approves 2030 bid E x p r e s s n e w s s e r v ic e @ Chennai The 2026 Glasgow CWG is a scaled down Games because of circumstances. If we get 2030 CWG, it will be full fledged one just like we did in 2010 PT Usha, IOA president The Special General Meeting was short but very fruitful. Now that we have the go ahead of the General Body, we will be putting in the proposals R Iyer, IOA CEO Twenty years after 2010, India is set to host the Commonwealth Games in 2030. The Indian Olympic Association formally approved the bid during its Special General Meeting on Wednesday . With Canada, the other contender, backing out, the possibility of India hosting the event brightens. This will also help elevate its image as a capable host for multi-discipline events and improve its chances of hosting Olympic Games in 2036. The nod from the IOA general body was required because IOA is the governing body of the Commonwealth Games Association in India with IOA president PT Usha as its chief. As reported by this newspaper in March, the CGA president had sent a formal letter of intent showcasing India’s strong ancient cultural and historical heritage and technology-driven future to reimagine the Games for a new generation. The expression of interest was supported by letters from various ministries of the Gujarat government. Usha confirmed the news after the meeting at the IOA Bhavan in New Delhi and said that the house approved the bid unanimously at the SGM which met after the CEO’s appointment was ratified last month. However, unlike the letter of intent that said Ahmedabad would be the host city she said that there are , places like Bhubaneswar and Delhi. August 31 is another deadline by which India should submit various documents for bidding. The letter of intent submitted in March specified Ahmedabad as the host city and a delegation from the Commonwealth Sport had visited Gujarat last month where the IOA Chief Executive Officer too was present. If India gets to host the CWG, it will be bigger than the Glasgow Games next year. IOA CEO Raghuram Iyer said that SGM was very cordial and decision unanimous. ICICIdown minimum balance bank blinks, scales Amid massive pushback, ICICI Bank on Wednesday reduced the minimum balance to `15,000 from `50,000 for new customers in urban areas | P10 casts Poll rolls can’t be static, says SC bench SC orderon 2 shadow SU C H I TRA K ALYAN MOHANTY @ New Delhi T h e S u p re m e C o u r t o n Wednesday said the electoral rolls cannot be static and were bound to be revised periodically disagreeing with the sub, mission of a petitioner that it had no basis in law, while hearing challenges to the validity of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, in his submission, said the Election Commission of India (ECI) had surprisingly invented a new document requirement for eight crore voters. “Even if I’m in jail, I can’t be removed from the roll without due process. Here, 65 lakh removed voters Residual powers of ECI on special roll revision The bench pointed to the ECI’s residual power to conduct any exercise as it deemed fit. It referred to Section 21(3) of the RP Act, which says “the EC may at any time, for reasons to be recorded, direct a special revision of the electoral roll for any constituency or part of a constituency in such manner as it may think fit.” were not disqualified on any such grounds. The ECI has carried out mass exclusions. Who gave the ECI the authority to do this?” he asked. A bench comprising justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, said, “But the electoral list cannot remain static. A one-time exercise is only for preparing the original list and it must be revised.” Sankaranarayanan added that the ECI has begun the process in West Bengal, too, without consultation. “I appear for the state and for main petitioner ADR. Four constitutional provisions on electoral rolls haven’t been addressed yet. The right to be on the roll is sacrosanct.” To this, the court observed that the expansion of the number of documents by the ECI is voter-friendly “Look at . the number of documents by which you can prove your citi- zenship — up from seven to 11,” the bench said. The bench added that despite arguments that non-acceptance of Aadhaar was exclusionary, it appeared the large number of documents was “actually inclusionary”. Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for a petitioner, alleged malafide intent on the part of the ECI, alleging it removed the searchable feature of draft rolls just a day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s press conference on Karnataka elections. But the court refused to entertain it saying it was not aware of any such press conference. The arguments were inconclusive and would continue on Thursday . 2 dead as rain batters rural Fresh flashpoint: Lifting of NSP gates TG; Hyd escapes heavy spell VV B a l a k r i s h n a @ Hyderabad E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v ic e @ Hyderabad Relentless rains pounded large parts of Telangana for the third straight day on Wednesday leaving two people dead, disrupt, ing road and rail traffic, and cutting off several villages. However, Hyderabad was largely spared the worst, recording only light to moderate showers till late evening. In stark contrast, districts in the state’s north faced widespread flooding as local streams and rivulets overflowed, submerging low-lying areas and halting movement on multiple routes. Heavy inflows into reservoirs saw all 26 gates of Nagarjunasagar lifted, while Srisailam also reached full capacity, prompting hydel power generation in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The rains, triggered by a low-pressure system over the Bay of Bengal, intensified from Tuesday night, lashing erstwhile Adilabad, Nalgonda, Warangal and Sangareddy districts. In Vikarabad, downpours continued into Wednesday night. In Khammam district, water was seen flowing over the Kattaleru check dam in Yerrupalem mandal, while residents of low-lying Kodad areas were moved to shelters. Continued on P2 RAINFALL & FORECAST Heaviest rainfall (Aug 13) n  Kannepalli (Mancherial) 233.5 mm n  Bheemini (Mancherial): 226.8 mm n  Tandur (Mancherial): 182.8 mm n  Rebbena (Komaram Bheem Asifabad): 220.8 mm n  Chityal (Jayashankar Bhupalpally): 180 mm Hyderabad rainfall Rajendranagar 50.5 mm Gachibowli 40.5 mm Holiday declared for schools in Medak, Sangareddy and Vikarabad districts IMD Forecast Red alert n  Medak, Sangareddy, Vikarabad (very heavy to extremely heavy rain) Orange alert n  Bhadradri Kothagudem, Jayashankar Bhupalpally, Kamareddy, Mahabubabad, Medchal-Malkajgiri, Mulugu, Nirmal, Nizamabad, Suryapet (heavy to very heavy rain) Grounded! n  weather in Hyd forces cancellation Bad of 8 flights, diversion of 11 others AP has kicked off a fresh row over the Nag ar junasag ar Project (NSP), this time regarding the operation of its gates. AP contends that the operation of NSP gates by Telangana is not being carried out in a planned manner, posing a threat to projects downstream in AP. However, Telangana officials refute this, stating that the operation of the NSP gates depends entirely on discharges from Srisailam. Telangana officials said the sudden operation of the gates at Srisailam and the failure of AP officials to maintain a flood cushion were the real causes of the problem. Refuting AP’s allegations, a Telangana official told TNIE that “outflows from NSP have been higher than the discharges from Srisailam” for the last few days. It may be recalled that AP operates the Srisailam gates while Telangana operates the NSP gates. The row began on Tuesday night, when AP officials con- Project Gross capacity Capacity (tmcft) at 6 pm Srisailam 215.81 202.05 Nagarjunasagar 312.05 308.76 Pulichintala 45.77 39.60 Sriramsagar 80.5 45.16 tacted Telangana officials, requesting the release of water from NSP . On Wednesday AP Irrigation , Engineer-in-Chief K Narasimha Murthy in a letter to Telan, gana officials, wrote: “It is to inform you that the Chief Engineer, Na g ar juna Sa g ar Project, Guntur, reported that sufficient flood cushion in the NSP dam is not being maintained and the crest gates of 26 crest gates of Nagarjunasagar lifted to release water downstream the spillway are not being operated while duly monitoring the inflows from upstream. The reservoir level in NSP at 11 am on Wednesday was +589.20 feet and the capacity is 309.6546 tmcft; the flood cushion is only 2.4 tmcft. Based on the weather forecast, inflows are further expected to increase in the coming days due to heavy rainfall in the upstream catchment areas. If the crest gates of the spillway are not operated in a planned manner while duly monitoring inflows from upstream, it may lead to untoward incidents in the projects downstream in AP Continued on P4 .” MLCs’ status E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v ic e @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued an order modifying its earlier interim directive on the nomination of Prof M Kodandaram Reddy and Amer Ali Khan to the Telangana Legislative Council under the Governor’s quota. A bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta deleted the stay that had previously suspended the Telangana High Court’s decision to quash their nomination. “ Any action taken subsequently to the interim order shall stand annulled…They will have to reroute their entry Let it be rec. ommended again,” it said. The earlier stay issued by the , Supreme Court on August 14, 2024, had led to Prof Kodandaram and Amer Ali taking oath as MLCs. This was despite the fact that the High Court had nullified both the BRS nominees’ rejection and the succeeding appointments. The top court on Wednesday acknowledged that the inclusion of the stay on the High Court’s decision had been a mistake. It clarified that it had intended only that any fresh nominations would remain subject to the outcome of the pending petitions and not that the high court’s earlier judgment should remain suspended. Consequentially, all actions taken after that interim order were declared null and void. The Supreme Court has scheduled the next hearing in the matter for September 17, 2025, when a final decision on the legality of both the Governor’s rejection of the BRS nominees (Dasoju Sravan Kumar and Kurra Satyanarayana) and the subsequent appointments will be delivered. c o s t l y r id e Shell out over 21% tax on luxury vehicles as TG raises life tax on all types E x p r e s s N e w s S e r v ic e @ Hyderabad The state gover nment on Wednesday issued a GO raising life tax rates on all types of vehicles (transport and nontransport). From August 14 onward, the new rates at the time of registration range from 9% for two- wheelers costing below `50,000 to 18% for those above `2 lakh. Tax rates on older two-wheelers will reduce progressively with age, starting from 8% for those less than two years old to 1% for vehicles more than 11 years old in the lowest cost bracket. For non-transport cars, jeeps, omnibuses with up to 10 seats, and certain motor cabs, the tax at the time of registration will be 13% for vehicles costing below `5 lakh and 21% for those above `50 lakh. Rates for already registered vehicles decline with age but remain higher for more expensive vehicles. A separate slab has been introduced for non-transport vehicles owned by companies, institutions, and societies, as well as for second or subsequent personal vehicles. Here, registration-time taxes start at 15% for vehicles below `5 lakh and go up to 25% for those above `50 lakh, with an additional 2% applied to rates in the Third and Sixth Schedules. The GO claims that this was being done under the Telangana Motor Vehicles Taxation Act, 1963, with the aim of improving road infrastructure, enhance road safety and strengthen enforcement. “The amendment replaces the existing Third, Sixth and Seventh Schedules of the Act, increasing tax rates for various categories based on the cost and age of the vehicle,” the GO says. sridhar listed among 100 Most influential People in AI-2025 by Analytics India. Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy extends his congratulations | P4