bhubaneswar l saturday l september 13, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l jeypore EDITION sc: firecracker ban can’t be applicable for delhi-ncr only 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 same rule should be used for pan-india eye on air quality commission report 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 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 Continued on: P9 tle entrenched regimes and ex- leaders.  express read @ Sambalpur Orem: US authorities said on Friday they had captured the man accused of killing prominent right-wing activist Charlie Kirk after a family member helped to turn him in, ending a frantic manhun. “We got him,” Utah Governor Spencer Cox told a press conference. Cox identified the suspect as Tyler Robinson and said the arrest was made after one of Robinson’s relatives turned him in | P11 Snap polls in six months President Ramchandra Paudel said the new caretaker government is mandated to hold fresh parliamentary elections within six months Celebrated as the topper of Odisha Civil Services Examination in 2019, Aswini Kumar Panda’s career has taken vicious turn in flat six years. On Friday, the 29-year-old tehsildar of Bamra in Sambalpur district, who had once vowed to dedicate himself to public service, was arrested for allegedly taking a bribe of `15,000 to convert kisam of a land in a mutation case. Vigilance officials who arrested Panda said, the state administrative officer had first asked the complainant for `20,000 to approve the conversion of land kisam from agriculture to homestead and issue the record of rights (RoR). When the complainant said he could not afford `20,000, Panda climbed down to `15,000 but with a warning that the case would not be cleared otherwise. The complainant reported the matter to the Vigilance which laid a trap. Panda was caught in his office receiving the money through his driver, P Praveen Kumar. The full bribe amount was recovered from them. Following a raid at his office, searches were also carried out at Panda’s official and residential premises in Sambalpur and Bhubaneswar. The anti-corruption team seized `4.73 lakh in cash from his Bhubaneswar home. Both Panda and his driver were arrested and produced File photo of Bamra tehsildar Aswini Panda released by Vigilance office before a court. A case under Section 7 of the Prevention of Cor ruption (Amendment) Act, 2018, has been registered and investiga- At `12 L per 10 secs, India-Pakistan match tops advertisers’ bill 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. Per platinumlist, the Asia Cup’s ticketing partner, tickets can still be bought with less than 48 hours to go. Only two classes of tickets have been sold and the premium seats were available at the time of press slot. With there being the potential of two more matches between the rivals, the interTHE Indian cricketing est may only rise. economy continues to reIt also kind of paints a picmain recession proof. ture as there has been interPost the ban on real monmittent calls of boycotting ey gaming, it was looking the game (some Indian at a hole but it’s on course brands did actively become to pass its first big test — India captain Suryakumar Yadav and Pakistan part of this post the Pahalad rates for the groupgam tragedy in April). But skipper Salman Agha | file pic stage encounter between that hasn’t translated into India and Pakistan on Sunday as well as selling reality as some big companies have come on all available ad slots for the said game. board. “It’s all a question of visibility,” says Over the last few years, advertisements Prahlad Kakkar, an advertising guru, whose around live coverage of cricket’s marquee commercials came to dominate the cricketing properties were fronted by real money gaming ad space in the nineties and naughts. firms. But their exit hasn’t affected the market. “It’s worth to pay `20 lakh for a 10 second slot Media planners have told this daily that the for a game between India and Pakistan because broadcaster, Sony Pictures Networks India everybody is watching it,” he says. “Even your (SPNI), have sold ‘all ad inventory for the India personal cabbie will take time off to watch it. - Pakistan match’. Ad inventory is basically the People watch it because it becomes more than total space made available by the broadcaster a game in their eyes.” Kakkar is of the opinion to the advertisers to purchase. It’s expected that this particular game has become bigger that ad rates for the Sunday encounter has than the game because ‘of the sentiment been sold for well over `12 lakh for a 10 second involved’. S w a r o o p S w a m i n at h a n @ Bengaluru 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 the state government, captioned Viksit Bharat Viksit Manipur, says the PM will lay the foundation stone for development projects worth over `7,300 crore in Churachandpur and inaugurate projects of `1,200 crore in Imphal. Officials said the `8,500 crore worth of projects are for the entire state. On the ground, though, not many seem bothered about any development package. They are interested in other pressing issues — peace, normalcy, security, and resettlement. Ask anyone in Churach`71,850 crore worth andpur and they will say the projects in 5 states Kukis expect the PM to offer a political solution to their Apart from Manipur, the problem — a separate adPM will also visit Mizoram, ministration in the form of Assam, Bengal, and Bihar a Union Territory . from Sept 13-15, and will “We don’t consider it (deunveil projects worth a velopment package) as sometotal of `71,850 crore thing 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 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. “Our foremost expectation is peace and a clear roadmap for the restoration of normalcy,” said Sonny Chungkham, an Imphal-based independent policy analyst. Robert Singh, also an internally-displaced person, is relying on the PM for resettlement. “Modi ji, please take us to our village,” said Singh, who had a drinking water plant in Moreh. “My life’s savings have got exhausted,” he added. Vigilance sources tion is underway . Panda’s arrest has come as a shock because his journey had once inspired many. An engineering graduate from Khetrapal village in Jajpur district, he had failed to clear the assistant section officer exam in 2018 only by half a mark. The next year, he cleared the state civil services exam in his very first attempt without any coaching and topped the list. Major scare as plane loses rear wheel, lands safely e x p r e ss n e w s s e r v i c e @ Mumbai P r a s a n ta M a z u m d a r @ Imphal Aswini Kumar Panda was arrested for taking a bribe of `15,000 to convert kisam of a land in a mutation case. He was caught in his office while receiving the money through his driver asia cup cricket Tickets still available for Sunday contest 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 * 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 The hijacked plane carrying Nepal Rastra Bank’s money landed at Forbesganj in India After retirement, Karki wrote two books, including ‘Nyay’, her biography Yearning for justice, political solution on eve of PM’s visit OAS-2019 topper, tehsildar nabbed by Vig taking `15,000 bribe MAYAN K B H U S AN PANI Suspect in Charlie Kirk’s shooting arrested 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 Married a revolutionary Modi in Manipur today At the time of his success, Panda had spoken of his big dreams. “My aim is to work for the overall development of the region and its people where I am posted. I am personally inclined towards education, health and women’s empowerment. I will try my best to deliver services to the lowest strata of the society,” he had said after the results were announced. He joined service in 2021 as a training reserve officer in Balasore, later worked as tehsildar in Mayurbhanj’s Shamakhunta in June 2023 before being transferred to Bamra in July. But within three months of his new posting, his bright career has come under clouds of corruption. 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 airline 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. Without naming the airline, MIAL said an aircraft from Kandla made an emergency landing at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport after a technical issue. “A full emergency was declared as a precaution. The aircraft landed safely on Runway 27, and all passengers and crew are safe. Normal operations resumed shortly after,” MIAL said. Only two months ago in July a window frame of , a SpiceJet aircraft to Pune from Goa came off mid-air. La Nina likely to trigger October cyclones in state Odisha may witness a cyclone in October with emergence of a moderate La Nina phenomenon by this month-end, weather experts have predicted | P2