dharmapuri l saturday l september 13, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l city EDITION sc: firecracker ban can’t be applicable for delhi-ncr only same rule should be used for pan-india A bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran was hearing pleas on regulation of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR. “If NCR is entitled for clean air, why not people of other cities?... I was in Amritsar last winter and pollution there was worse than in Delhi. If firecrackers are to be banned, they should be banned throughout India,” the CJI said The Supreme Court on Thursday said if clean air was a right for “elite” residents of the capital, the same must extend to citizens across the country eye on air quality commission report ■ ■ The two-judge bench asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, to get a detailed report on the issue from the Commission for Air Quality Management The bench remarked that there would be status quo with regard to the cancellation of firecrackers’ licences by the authorities Sept 22 is when the matter will be heard next by the supreme court 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 Retired Supreme Court Chief Justice’s demand to dissolve Nepal’s parliament accepted Gen Z pick Sushila Karki sworn in as interim PM N epal has made his- pose decades of corruption. tory once again. The Born on 7 June 1952 in Biratcountry’s first female nagar, Karki is no stranger to Chief Justice, Sushi- challenges. She became Nepal’s la Karki, has now be- first female Chief Justice in come its first female July 2016 and served until June Prime Minister. She 2017. During her tenure, she was sworn in by President Ram faced a no-confidence motion Chandra Poudyal at his office, from the Nepali Congress but Sheetal Niwas, on Friday It fol- remained steadfast in her com. lowed the dissolution of the m i t m e n t t o j u s t i c e a n d elected government headed by transparency . K P Sharma Oli. Throughout her career, she Karki and the Gen Z protest- refused to bow to political presers had made it clear sure or corruption — that she would step in a reputation that only after Parliament made her the natural was dissolved — a dechoice to lead the mand that has now country through this been fulfilled. Former transitional period. PM Baburam BhattaThe Gen Z protest, rai and a clutch of dipwhich began on Seplomats, including from Namrata Sharma tember 8, quickly esIndia, China and the calated into a nationSenior journalist and US, attended the swearwide uprising. Streets ing-in event. The first women rights advocate. across Nepal saw cabinet is expected to Sharma can be reached at widespread vandalnamrata1964@yahoo.com meet later in the day . ism, with both public @NamrataSharmaP September 12, the and private property fifth day of the Gen Z damaged. Daily life protest, will be remembered as came to a standstill, hitting daia defining moment in Nepal’s ly wage earners particularly political history — a day when hard. In the process, the hidden the youth, united and resolute, wealth of top political leaders toppled a government, dis- was exposed. Reports of sacks solved parliament, and helped of cash found in the homes of elevate a woman known for her Nepali Congress president anti-corruption crusade to the Sher Bahadur Deuba and Forhighest executive office. eign Minister Arzoo Rana DeuThis unprecedented move- ba have shocked the nation. Enment inspired young people raged citizens — not just Gen Z globally, proving that when protesters — vandalised the youth unite, they can disman- residences of several accused tle entrenched regimes and ex- leaders.  Continued on: P7 Withdraw OM on mineral mining, Stalin urges Modi Express News Service @ Chennai Chief Minister M K Stalin has urged PM Narendra Modi to immediately withdraw the recent Office Memorandum, issued by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, which exempts the requirement of public consultation for mining projects involving atomic and strategic minerals notified in the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act. The CM has pointed out that CM Stalin the OM directs all such projects be henceforth be appraised at the central level, irrespective of lease area. “The present OM, by dispensing with public consultations, has gone for an impermissible executive amendment of a statute and is unsustainable,” he said. P7 Karki is the eldest of seven siblings She grew up in a simple farming family in Biratnagar Karki married Durga Prasad Subedi, an erstwhile popular leader of Nepali Congress. They had met during her days at the BHU Subedi was a youth revolutionary member of Nepali Congress during the 1970s Nepal’s President Ramchandra Paudel administers the oath of office to Sushila Karki as prime minister on Friday; and people celebrate outside the president’s residence | PTI/AP Snap polls in six months President Ramchandra Paudel said the new caretaker government is mandated to hold fresh parliamentary elections within six months TN nod to set up scrapping centres to discard old vehicles Nuts and bolts press clusive B ANBUSELVAN @ Chennai The Tamil Nadu government has approved the implementation of the centre’s vehicle scrapping policy, paving the way for the establishment of registered vehicle scrapping facilities (RVSF) across the state. T he Commissionerate of Transport and Road Safety has invited applications from companies and individuals to set up these centres, in line with the union government’s directive that mandates the deregistration and scrapping of government vehicles older than 15 years. The maximum age limit for private and commercial vehicles is yet to be determined, and vehicles with valid emission certificates will be allowed to operate. The state government’s decision assumes sig- 1 nificance as the union governm e n t h a s m a d e RV S F s mandatory for implementing its 2022 directive. As per the policy fitness cer, tificates (FC) for heavy vehicles over 15 years old must be issued only through automated testing stations (ATS). Heavy vehicles that fail the FC test at ATS are required to be scrapped at RVSFs. However, this directive is yet to be implemented in Tamil Nadu and several other states.The scrapping centres will serve as collection hubs for vehicles without valid fitness certificates.  P7 As per new norms, FCs for heavy vehicles over 15 years must be issued only through ATS 2 Vehicle owners must apply for junking only via Vahan portal 3 TN has six lakh trucks, 40,000 school and college buses, and 7,000 private buses, all HVs India vs Pak At `12 L/10s, marquee tie tops advertisers’ bill Swa r o o p Swa m i n at h a n @ Bengaluru THE Indian cricketing economy continues to remain recession proof. Post the ban on real money gaming, it was looking at a hole but it’s on course to pass its first big test — ad rates for the group-stage encounter between India and Pakistan on Sunday as well as selling all available ad slots for the said game. Over the last few years, advertisements around live coverage of cricket’s marquee properties were fronted by real money gaming firms. But their exit hasn’t af- India captain Suryakumar Yadav and Pakistan skipper Salman Agha | file pics fected the market. Media planners have told this daily that the broadcaster, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI), have sold ‘all ad inventory for the India Pakistan match’. Ad inventory is basically the total space made available by the broadcaster to Married a revolutionary the advertisers to purchase. It’s expected that ad rates for the Sunday encounter has been sold for well over `12 lakh for a 10 second slot. With there being the potential of two more matches between the rivals, the interest may only rise. It also kind of paints a picture as there has been calls of boycotting the game (some Indian brands did actively become part of this post the Pahalgam tragedy in April). But that hasn’t translated into reality “It’s all a . question of visibility,” says Prahlad Kakkar, an advertising guru. Tickets available for Sunday contest While the ad inventory might have been sold off, ticket sales for the India vs Pakistan clash to be played on Sunday do not reflect the same. Only two classes of tickets have been sold He was part of the group that hijacked a Royal Nepal Airlines aircraft to get INR 3 million to fund the party’s armed revolution against King Birendra Shah in 1973 Modi in Manipur today Yearning for justice, political solution on eve of PM’s visit P r a s a n ta M a z u m d a r @ Imphal Manipur’s Imphal and Churachandpur have been decked up with the posters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his visit on Saturday—the PM’s first trip to the state since ethnic violence broke out two years ago. One of the posters put up overnight by `71,850 the state government, captioned Viksit cr worth Bharat Viksit Manipur, says the PM will projects in lay the foundation stone for development 5 states projects worth over `7,300 crore in ChuApart from rachandpur and inaugurate projects of Manipur, the `1,200 crore in Imphal. Officials said the PM will also `8,500 crore worth of projects are for the visit Mizoram, entire state. Assam, Bengal, On the ground, though, not many and Bihar from seem bothered about any development Sept 13-15, package. They are interested in other and will unveil pressing issues — peace, normalcy secu, projects worth rity and resettlement. , a total of Ask anyone in Churachandpur and `71,850 crore they will say the Kukis expect the PM to offer a political solution to their problem — a separate administration in the form of a Union Territory . “We don’t consider it (development package) as something important. Separate administration is the people’s voice. We hope that the PM delivers justice,” said Kenedy Haokip, a Churachandpur-based civil society leader. There is a subdued excitement about the PM’s visit but it is more among Kukis than Meiteis. Reason: it’s after 4 decades that a PM is visiting the Kuki-dominated Churachandpur. Plane with 75 onboard but minus a wheel lands safely e x p r e s s n e w s s e r v i c e @ Mumbai A SpiceJet Q400 aircraft carrying 75 passengers made a safe emergency landing in Mumbai on Friday after losing a wheel shortly after takeoff from Kandla airport in Gujarat. The aircraft landed at Mumbai airport’s Runway 27 at 3.51 pm with all passengers and crew safe, Mumbai airport operator MIAL said. Operations at the airport were briefly impacted. The flight departed at 2.38 pm against the scheduled time of 1.25 pm from Kandla and landed in Mumbai at 3.51 pm, as per information available on flight tracking website Flightradar24.com. “On September 12, an outer wheel of a SpiceJet Q400 aircraft operating from Kandla to Mumbai was found at the runway after take-off. The aircraft continued its journey to Mumbai and landed safely the air,” line said in a statement. There were 75 passengers onboard the Bombardier Q400 plane, which is used for operating regional flights, officials said. One of the officials said that one rear right wheel of the aircraft was missing.