kannur l Sunday l october 05, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l city edition fILE pHOTO Non-fastag vehicles to be charged twice the toll fee if paid via cash Vehicles entering a toll plaza without a valid, functional FASTag will be charged twice the regular amount if users pay via cash Those paying with UPI to be charged 1.25X Part of govt’s digital payments push Under the new rule, non-FASTag users who choose to pay the fee via the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) will be charged only 1.25 times the applicable user fee for that category of vehicle, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) said. For instance, if the fee is C100 with a valid FASTag, it will be C125 if paid via UPI and C200 if paid in cash | P7 ■ ■ “To incentivise digital payments and eliminate cash transactions at the user fee plazas, the Government of India has amended National Highways Fee Rules, 2008,” the ministry said in a press release The goal is to enhance transparency in toll operations and improve the overall experience of those travelling on national highways, it said Nov 15 when the new rules will come into effect 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 makes U-turn on cough syrup; MP, Kerala & TN ban it k a v i ta b a je l i d at t @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi honouring a youth in New Delhi | PTI Bihar is one of the states with the highest proportion of youth... compared to the Oppn govt in the past, Bihar’s education budget has been increased manifold Modi assails ‘theft’ of Jan Nayak honour Karpoori Thakur lauded that way; Cong ‘bestows’ it on Rahul HOURS after denying that controversial cough syrup Coldrif, which led to deaths of children in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan did not contain industrial chemical diethylene glycol (DEG), the Union Health Ministry on Saturday made a U-turn and confirmed its presence based on a report of Tamil Nadu’s Food and Drug Administration department. The Ministry’s earlier denial followed a clearance from the Madhya Pradesh Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA), which had then stated that no DEG was found in the syrup. After the confirmation on Saturday, Tamil Nadu was the An official inspects Coldrif syrup in Jabalpur on Saturday | PTI first to ban the sale of the syrup, followed by MP and Kerala. Coldrif cough syrup were being manufactured at Sresan Pharma’s Kanchipuram unit. The controversy snowballed after nine children died in MP’s Chindwara district, seven from the cough syrup, while two kids died in Rajasthan. The cough syrup stocks were distributed to Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. In a statement, the Union Health Ministry said, “On the request of the MP Govt, Tamil Nadu FDA had taken samples of Coldrif Cough Syrup from the manufacturing premises of M/s Sresan Pharma in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu. The results of testing these samples were shared with us late on October 3. They contained DEG beyond the permissible limit.” The Tamil Nadu Drugs Control Department on Friday issued an immediate stop-production order to the manufacturer of Coldrif after the samples were found to be “adulterated with DEG.” RA J E SH K UMAR THA K UR @ New Delhi L1K dole to Bihar grads One of the schemes launched was to give 5 lakh grads in Bihar a monthly allowance of D1,000 each for two years Plan to upgrade 1K ITIs PM-SETU to upgrade 1,000 govt ITIs in a hub-andspoke model comprising 200 hub ITIs and 800 spoke ITIs Kerala’s pride Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan presenting a memento to Dadasaheb Phalke awardee Mohanlal at the ‘Malayalam Vanolam, Lal Salam’ event held to honour the actor, at Central Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday. Cultural Affairs Minister Saji Cherian, General Education Minister V Sivankutty and filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan look on | Vincent Pulickal gold plate row Out of Office PLUS 12 PAGES SHUBMAN Gill was named as the men’s ODI captain of the national team, a post previously held by Rohit Sharma. Sharma, whose last act as ODI skipper saw him leading the side to Champions Trophy glory in February-March, was also named in the side scheduled to tour Australia for a threematch 50-over series later this month. Virat Kohli, whose last India tie was that Champions Trophy final against New Zealand, has been included too. However, Ajit Agarkar, the chairperson of the men’s selection committee panel, was noncommittal when asked about Sharma and Kohli’s long-term Shubman Gill & Rohit Sharma (R) futures in the format. “As far as the 2027 World Cup is concerned, I don’t think we need to talk about it today,” he said in reference to their futures. But Gill’s elevation to the top in the 50-over game is a direct consequence of the upcoming tournament in South Africa. Agarkar conceded that removing Sharma was tough. “You have got to sometimes look at what’s coming ahead, Sabarimala Karma Samithi lodges theft complaint E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i c e @ Kochi Gill new ODI captain; Rohit, Virat in but no long-term guarantees @ Ahmedabad T’Puram: In what could boost Kerala’s infrastructure development, five more roads will soon be developed into national highways. Ramanattukara- Kozhikode Airport road, Kannur Airport Road (Chovva-Mattannur) and Kodungallur-Angamaly stretch are among the roads that will be upgraded to NH status. P2 Israel prepares for US-brokered peace Tel Aviv: Israeli bombing of Gaza City has “significantly subsided” though at least five Palestinians were killed, an official said on Saturday. Israel army said the country’s leaders had instructed it to prepare for the first phase of the US plan to end the war in Gaza. P9 P r a s a n ta m a z u m d a r @ Guwahati changing times S w a r o o p S w a m i n at h a n State to get five new national highways Zubeen was poisoned, claims singer’s bandmate Narendra Modi Launching skilling projects for the youth worth `62,000 crore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday lit into poll-bound Bihar’s Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), blaming it for ruining the state’s education and economy during its rule, alleging it opened the floodgates of mass migration out of the state. He also mocked Rahul Gandhi, whom the Congress has been trying to project as a ‘Jan Nayak’ (leader of the masses), accusing the party of ‘stealing’ the honorific associated with respected OBC leader and former Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur. It was the love and respect of the people that gave Thakur the moniker, he quipped, not social media. “The new generation might not know how the RJD rule had wreaked havoc in Bihar, as the state has since been brought back on the track of development,” Modi said. He complimented the Nitish Kumar government for a major turnaround in the state. Modi launched PM-SETU (Pradhan Mantri Skilling and Employability Transformation through Upgraded ITIs), a centrally sponsored scheme with an investment of `60,000 crore. India’s ITIs are not only an important centre for industrial education but also serve as workshops for ‘aatmanirbhar Bharat’, he said. The youth-centric projects, he emphasised, would play a vital role in development and empowerment. The PM commended Nitish for providing nearly 10 lakh permanent government jobs to Bihar’s youth, saying the idea is to ensure youngsters of the state get employment in Bihar itself so as to stop migration. E X P R ESS R EA D where you stand as a team and eventually look at what’s in the best interest of the team, whether now or six months later. Like I said, it’s tough with one-day cricket at this point. Because if you are going to make that call, you want to try and make it reasonably early and give the other guy enough chances.” When asked what selectors are looking for from Sharma and Kohli from a long-term perspective, Agarkar said: “What they have been doing for years... runs. They are still leaders. But eventually it’s the runs (...) You , don’t have to think too far. At this point, the team is picked for Australia. We need them to score runs like they have been through their career.” The Sabarimala Karma Samithi has lodged a police complaint alleging that the loss of gold cladding at the hill shrine amounts to theft, criminal breach of trust and organised looting. In the complaint lodged with the Sannidhanam police, Samithi general convenor S J R Kumar said the police should register a criminal case and probe the role of the Travancore Devaswom Board, its officials, Smart Creations, Chennai, and the people who received the stolen goods. Vishva Hindu Parishad state general secretary Anil Vilayil has also filed a similar complaint with the Sannidhanam police. “It is well evidenced that gold cladding was done at the temple under the sponsorship of Vijay Mallya in 1999. However, the devaswom board handed over the goldcladded copper plates to Unnikrishnan Potti for repair in violation of the established norms. Now, it has come to light that there was a reduction of 4.541 kg from the original weight of 42.800 kg when the claddings were returned,” said the complaint. “It is evident that the decision to repair the gold-cladded plates at Smart Creations, Chennai, was taken without inviting a tender and the material was handed over to Unnikrishnan Potti without following the ● More on P7 procedure,” it said. In a startling claim, late singer Zubeen Garg’s bandmate Shekhar Jyoti Goswami has alleged that the singer was poisoned by his manager Siddharth Sharma and the organiser of the 4th edition of the North East India Festival Shyamkanu Mahanta. Garg died under mysterious circumstances in Singapore on September 19 while swimming in the sea. According to the ‘Detailed Grounds of Arrest’ or remand note for the singer’s manager, Goswami stated that during the critical moment when Garg was gasping for air and nearly drowning, Sharma was heard shouting, “jabo de, jabo de” (let him go, let him go). When Garg began frothing at the mouth and nose, Sharma reportedly dismissed it as “acid reflux” and assured others there was no cause for concern. Rather than seeking urgent medical assistance, Sharma allegedly facilitated Garg’s death, Goswami claimed. In another development, Zubeen’s wife Garima on Saturday returned the postmortem report of her husband to the police, saying that it is not her “personal document”.