HYDERABAD l tuesday l november 18, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l LATE CITY EDITION 16th Finance commission submits report to President murmu The 16th Finance Commission on Monday submitted its report on devolution of taxes between the Centre and states to the President Fiscal roadmap for next five years Members of the commission, led by chairman Dr Arvind Panagariya, handed over the report to President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The 16th Finance Commission was constituted on December 31, 2023, with a mandate to determine the formula for the states’ share of central taxes and the grants-in-aid for five financial years from 2026–27 Report closely watched by states ■ A majority of states had asked the commission to increase their share of central taxes to 50% from the current 41% ■ The commission has also reviewed the present arrangements for financing disaster management initiatives with reference to the funds constituted under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 Four Members in the 16th finance commission 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 45 Umrah pilgrims dead in bus tragedy near Madinah disqualification petitions Decide where you want to celebrate NY Eve: SC to Speaker State announces `5 lakh ex gratia; to send relatives to Saudi Arabia E x p ress Ne w s S er v i c e @ Hyderabad saudi arabia Among crash victims, 18 members of a single family R A K E S H K U M A R @ New Delhi AMID pressure from the US to fix the imbalance in bilateral trade, India’s state-owned oil companies have finalised a oneyear contract to import 2.2 million tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from the US. Announcing the contract on Monday Union petroleum min, ister Hardeep Singh Puri said 10% of India’s annual LPG imports in 2026 will be sourced from the US Gulf Coast. This is the first structured contract for US LPG in the Indian market. The deal also comes at a time when India cut oil imports from Russia due to US sanctions on two largest Russian oil firms— Rosneft and Lukoil— which had been major suppliers to India. “One of the largest and the world’s fastest-growing LPG markets opens up to the United States. In our endeavour to provide secure and affordable supplies of LPG to the people of India, we have been diversifying our LPG sourcing,” Puri said in a social media post. India is one of the world’s largest LPG consumers, primarily used for household cooking. With domestic production covering just 35% of demand, India relies on imports. After the US imposed 50% tariffs on Indian goods, New Delhi diversified its crude oil purchases to West Asia and the US. In fact, India has substantially increased its energy imports from the US, including crude, LNG, and now LPG. @ New Delhi PM expresses grief Narendra Modi conveyed As many as 44 pilgrims condolences to the families of the Madinah from Hyderabad and deceased. “My thoughts are with one from Karnataka the families who have lost their Accident took place died when the bus they loved ones. I pray for the swift Makkah ~25 km were travelling in from recovery of all injured,” he wrote before Madinah Makkah to Madinah collidhelpline: 8002440003, 00966122614093, 00966126614276, 00966556122301 ed with a diesel tanker as it neared its destination in the early hours of Monday The col. lision triggered a major fire, engulfing the bus with passengers inside. Only one person survived, and several bodies were charred beyond recognition. The group had left Hyderabad for Jeddah on November 9. Of the S i d d h a r d h a G at t i m i @ Hyderabad the place where they spent their final moments. An uni54 travellers, four chose to drive separately to Madinah and an- Syed Abdul Rasheed stood in dentified person, perhaps a other four stayed back in Makkah. the crowded hall of Hajj House relative, tried to console Abdul The remaining 46 were on the bus on Monday after noon, his Rasheed, telling him that only when the collision occurred hands shaking as he tried to the very fortunate die and are around 1.30 am near Mufrihat, speak. Every few moments he laid to rest in the holy city of about 25 km from Madinah, stopped, as if searching for Madinah. At Hajj House in Nampally, shortly after completing their pil- breath. His wife, his elder daughter relatives gathered in scattered grimage rituals. Eighteen of the victims were from one extended and 16 other close relatives had groups. Some held photofamily spanning three genera- been on the bus that crashed in graphs. Others clutched passSaudi Arabia earlier in the day port copies or prayer beads. . tions, including nine children. Authorities in Saudi Arabia Nine of them were children. He The room filled with quiet sobs, long silences and quesare expected to conduct DNA kept repeating their names tions no one knew how tests to identify the charred bod- under his breath, as to answer. ies. All burials will take place in though saying them might keep their memMany had been movSaudi Arabia. ing between the travel The Indian Consulate in Jed- ories close. Abdul Rasheed said agency’s office and Hajj dah has opened a 24×7 control House throughout the room, with a toll-free helpline at he had spoken to them day, searching for clarity 8002440003. The Indian Embassy only the previous night. said on X that assistance was be- They had sounded relaxed and on the identification of bodies ing extended by the Embassy in ready to leave for the next part and procedures that might Riyadh and the Consulate in of their pilgrimage. “Around follow. 4 am, a call woke me up with One relative, too distraught Jeddah. Hyderabad Police Commis- the news. I am unable to think to share his name, said only the sioner VC Sajjanar said the bus of anything else since,” he said, eldest son of that side of the had left Makkah with 46 pil- his voice trembling. He has family is alive. He lives in the grims and was nearing Madi- been asking officials for per- United States. “He wanted to go nah when an oil tanker collided mission to travel to Saudi Ara- with them,” he said. “He stayed bia, hoping he can stand near back because he could not obwith it.  continued on P3 India to source 10% of annual LPG imports from America S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y Minority Welfare Minister Mohammad Azharuddin consoles a relative of one of the bus accident victims, in Hyderabad on Monday | PTI tain a ticket. His wife and two children travelled. None of them returned.” All eighteen had booked their jour ney through Baab Ul Har main agency . Another family member, Mohd Tahseen, said Shoaib, who had been travelling with seven members of his in-laws’ relatives, was the first to inform them about the accident. Shoaib survived after jumping out of the bus along with the driver moments after the crash. Each person had paid nearly `1 lakh for the pilgrimage. “The travel office told us they would make arrangements,” Tahseen said, still unsure what those arrangements might involve. The family had begun their journey on November 9. They spent a week in Makkah before leaving for Madinah. What was meant to be a shared act of faith for three generations ended in grief for those who waited at home. Warning the Telangana Assembly Speaker that he must rule on the disqualification pleas against 10 MLAs within two weeks or face contempt, Chief Justice of India BR Gavai on Monday remarked, without commenting on punishment, that the Speaker needed to decide “where he has to celebrate his New Year’s Eve”. The warning came after the Supreme Court noted that the Speaker had not complied with its July 31 direction to decide the disqualification pleas within three months. The petitions, filed by BRS MLA Padi Kaushik Reddy seek the disqualifica, tion of 10 legislators who joined the Congress after contesting on BRS tickets. “It is for him whether he wants to decide the matter or face contempt of court. This is gross contempt,” the bench led by CJI Gavai said. The court issued notices in all related matters, returnable in two and Kashmir on Monday . NIA officials found Red during investigations fort THE conspirators of that Jasir had allegattack the Red Fort blast in edly provided techniDelhi were planning to cal support for carryweaponise drones with ing out terror attacks explosives and rockets, officials by modifying drones and of the National Investigation attempting to make rockets Agency (NIA) said on Monday , ahead of the deadly blast near a day after arresting a key asRed Fort that killed 15 people in sociate of alleged suicide bombtotal, as of Monday . er Dr Umar un Nabi. “The accused, a resident of Jasir Bilal Wani aka Danish, Qazigund in Anantnag, was an a Kashmiri resident, was aractive co-conspirator behind rested from Srinagar in Jammu the attack and had worked New Delhi/Chandigarh/Srinagar closely with Umar un Nabi to plan the carnage,” NIA said. The agency told a Delhi court that another key accused, Amir Rashid Ali, arrested on Sunday , arranged a safe house and provided logistical support to the bomber. Meanwhile, Delhi Police summoned Javed Ahmad Siddiqui, chairman of Al Falah University for questioning. Sid, diqui’s statement is key to resolve inconsistencies in AlFa l a h ’s f u n c t i o n i n g a n d activities of those linked to it. Film pirate Ravi collected data of visitors to iBomma Hyderabad: Immadi Ravi, the man behind the iBomma/Bappam film piracy network, was found to have collected the personal data of nearly 50 lakh users and earned around `20 crore through illegal activities. With the proceeds, he purchased plots and flats and maintained a balance of `3.5 crore in his bank account, which has now been frozen by the police. He was arrested on November 15 upon his arrival in Hyderabad. Ravi’s website contained around 21,000 movies | P2 MP cops make arrest in Hyd The brother of the chancellor of Al Falah University was arrested by the MP police from Hyderabad | P8 Sheikh Hasina sentenced to death j aya n t h j a c o b @ New Delhi BANGLADESH’s deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina has been sentenced to death by the International Crimes Tribunal for crimes against humanity committed during last year’s July Uprising, a student-led revolt that culminated in her ouster. For mer home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, now a fugitive, received the same sentence, while former police chief Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, who turned approver was handed five years prison. The tribunal also ordered the confiscation of properties belonging to Hasina and Kamal. The three-member bench, led by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Mozumder, began delivering the 453-page judgement shortly after noon amid sweeping security measures across Dhaka. Hasina, 78, was tried in absentia. She is living in exile in India. Prosecutors filed five counts against the trio including failure to prevent murder and sought the maximum punishment. Hasina, represented by a law- Protesters outside Mujibur Rahman’s home in Dhaka after the verdict | PTI yer, denied all charges and earlier dismissed the proceedings as a “foregone conclusion.” Her son and adviser Sajeeb Wazed told news agency Reuters they would not appeal unless a democratically elected government took office with Awami League participation. The judgment is appealable in the Supreme Court, though Hasina’s absence might complicate the legal process ahead. In her first response to the sentence, Hasina dismissed the verdict and said the death sentence exposes the “murderous intent” of extremist elements within the interim government. “The verdicts announced against me have been made by a rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate. They are politically motivated ...” she said. continued on p4 express read Another Umar aide planned drone attacks e x p ress n e w s ser v i c e @ weeks, and directed the Speaker to complete the proceedings within the same period. It reiterated that the Speaker does not enjoy constitutional immunity when deciding disqualification cases under the Tenth Schedule. Earlier, while allowing petitions filed by BRS leaders KT Rama Rao, Kaushik Reddy and KP Vivekanand, the court had set aside the November 22, 2024 ruling of a bench of the Telangana High Court and restored the single judge’s direction that the Speaker must fix a schedule for hearing the petitions. The court stated that political defections, if left unchecked, could undermine democratic processes. “We are inclined to allow the present appeal. The disqualification proceedings are to be decided as expeditiously as possible and within three months. No MLA shall be allowed to protract the proceedings. If done so, the Speaker shall draw adverse inferences,” the court had ruled.  The trial in absentia is a farce orchestrated by a kangaroo court controlled by opponents – Sheikh Hasina Cabinet sets Dec timeline for GP elections E x p ress Ne w s S er v i c e @ Hyderabad The state Cabinet has decided to hold gram panchayat elections in December. Officials have been instructed to complete all arrangements within the month. Briefing reporters on the decisions taken during Monday’s Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, I&PR Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy said 42% reservations for BCs in gram panchayat polls would be provided on a party basis. He said the Cabinet adopted a resolution to conduct gram panchayat polls first. Srinivasa Reddy said a decision on ZPTC, MPTC and municipal corporation elections would be taken after the conclusion of court cases concerning 42% BC reservations. He recalled that the High Court had stayed GO 9, which proposed 42% reservations in local bodies, and pointed out that the state government challenged the stay in the Supreme Court, but “no relief came”. The minister added that the Union government had not cooperated with the state’s effort to implement the quota. “Due to the delay in elections, around `3,000 crore may lapse by the end of the financial year. Therefore, the Cabinet decided to conduct gram panchayat elections first,” Srinivasa Reddy said. To conduct the elections now, the state government will have to obtain from the dedicated commission a reservations list that stays within the 50% ceiling.  continued on p4