visakhapatnam l thursday l november 27, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Officially india’s, amdavad to host 2030 C’wealth Games Amdavad (aka Ahmedabad) has been formally ratified by the Commonwealth Sports general body for the Centenary CWG on Wednesday 74 15-17 The number of sports Commonwealth Sport has confirmed for 2030 Delegates of the 74 Commonwealth member nations and territories ratified the only bid after its executive committee forwarded the recommendation last month sports that are confirmed Athletics & para athletics, swimming & para swimming, table tennis & para table tennis, bowls & para bowls, netball and boxing are among confirmed names, said CS Commonwealth Sports chief Donald Rukare and CGA president PT Usha more disciplines to be added soon ■ ■ ■ Though sports like cricket, badminton, archery, shooting are not yet confirmed, there is all likelihood that they will be included later Presently, archery, badminton, 3x3 basketball and 3x3 wheelchair basketball, beach volleyball, cricket T20, cycling, diving, hockey, judo, rhythmic gymnastics, rugby sevens, shooting, squash, triathlon and wrestling are being considered for 2030 Two new traditional sports can be added. Yoga likely to be added new look Local resonance & global appeal The 2030 team will work closely with CS and the International Federations to shape a dynamic and exciting sport programme that will have a strong local resonance and global appeal 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 Could defer date of post-SIR draft roll in TN, WB: SC Hearing on pleas challenging nationwide SIR; political parties creating a scare, alleges ECI don’t have any power now? Court can always say the CJI said. ,” THE Supreme Court on WednesFor its part, the ECI told the day said it would not hesitate to court that some political parties extend the deadline for the pub- are creating a ‘scare’ about the lication of the draft electoral SIR being undertaken Tamil rolls in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Kerala. Nadu if the petitioners make a “Political parties are creating strong case, while the Election unnecessary scare,” the poll Commission of India panel said. (ECI) claimed that some Advocate Prashant political parties were Bhushan said the SIR trying to create “a was being conducted in scare” about the Special a “great hurry”. Intensive Revision (SIR) The bench asked the of electoral rolls. ECI to file its counter‘Reason to A bench of Chief Jusaffidavit to the petitions challenge tice Surya Kant and relating to Tamil Nadu not good Justice Joymalya and West Bengal by Deenough’ Bagchi made the oral cember 4 and December observation while hear9, respectively . That the SIR ing petitions challengThe bench also posted was never ing the SIR exercise in the pleas seeking deferconducted the two states. ment of the Kerala SIR before is not a The remark about exto December 2, while ground to tending the deadline for asking the ECI and State challenge the publication of the draft Election Commission to Election rolls came after the parfile their responses by Commission’s ties appearing in the December 1. SIR in decision to SIR for West Bengal Tamil Nadu has been carry out this raised concerns about challenged by DMK, exercise in the court fixing the next CPI(M), and actor Viseveral states, date of hearing to Dejay’s TVK. The AlADthe SC said cember 9, which they MK, on the other hand, claimed was the date for publica- has filed an application supporttion of the draft roll as per the ing the SIR. SIR schedule. During the hearing, the bench “So what? If you make out a observed that the EC has “inhercase, then we can direct them to ent power to determine correctextend the date. Can that date ness of entry in Form 6”. (publication of draft roll) be a The hearing will continue on ground for the court to say we Thursday . U DAYA N K ISH O R E @ New Delhi Towering inferno Smoke and flames rise as a fire engulfs apartment blocks at the Wang Fuk Court residential estate in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district, killing at least 36 people. Over 250 others are missing. The fire, which broke out in the afternoon, continued till late night | AFP | P9 CM declines KWDT II review, insists water rights intact S V i s w a n at h @ Vijayawada Making it clear that there is no question of losing the rights of Andhra Pradesh State on the Krishna river waters, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu directed officials to place strong arguments before the Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal (KWDT II). Asserting that there is no possibility of any change in the water allocations made to the State, the Chief Minister insisted that the water share allocated to the State by law should continue as usual. Chairing a review meeting with officials of the Water Resources Department at the State Secretariat on Wednesday, Naidu recalled that the erstwhile combined Andhra Pradesh had received 811 TMC of Krishna river water, which was redistributed between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana after the State’s bifurcation. While 512 TMC of water was awarded to Andhra Pradesh, KWDT II allocated 299 TMC of K r i s h n a r ive r w at e r t o Telangana. Stating that it would not be fair to reopen the sharing of Krishna river water on grounds of State bifurcation, the Chief Minister suggested that of ficials act cordially with neighbouring States in the use of flood waters, as thousands of TMC of water flow into the sea P4 each year.  Lost empire: Gambhir times for India s w a r oo p s w a m i n at h a n @ Guwahati India: Hasina extradition plea under scrutiny J aya n t h J a c o b @ New Delhi India on Wednesday confirmed it has received a request from Bangladesh to extradite former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and said the matter is under examination through “ongoing judicial and internal legal processes”. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: “The request is being examined as part of ongoing judicial and internal legal processes. We remain committed to the best interests of the people of Bangladesh, including peace, democracy in, clusion and stability in that country and will continue to engage constructively in this regard with all stakeholders.” Hasina has been living in exile in India since August 5 last year following the collapse of her government after violent student-led protests. Last week, the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Dhaka sentenced her to death in absentia for “crimes against humanity” linked to her government’s handling of the unrest. Following the verdict, the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry had requested Hasina’s return in a formal letter to New Delhi, calling her a “fugitive accused” and citing the bilateral extradition agreement. AS soon as Marco Jansen ran behind and took the catch to condemn India to their worst Test defeat in history (in terms of runs), attention and the focus had turned towards multiple things. What seems astonishing is that India allowed a proud home record to be smashed to bits. For a side that had lost four home Tests from the beginning of 2013 to the end of 2023, they have now endured a run of five losses in seven Tests in 13 months. By any measure, this makes for grim reading. Coach Gautam Gambhir, one of the few constants in all of those losses, offered transition but he was categorical in saying he wasn’t using that as an excuse. Sure, this team has had a South Africa team celebrates with the trophy after winning the Test series | PTI significant amount of churn over the last year in terms of retirements, new non-playing staff and some injuries. But the top management legislate for this in all elite teams. This team either clearly hasn’t or thought the ones who were coming in as replacements were readymade. The team management including the coach seemed confused with what kind of pitch the team wanted and what kind of combination would succeed. Gambhir said: “That is why it is called transition. That is why AP signs `98k cr mou Reliance JV to build world class data centre in Vizag E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada The Government of Andhra Pradesh announced that Digital Connexion — the joint venture of Reliance Industries, Brookfield and Digital Realty — has signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board (APEDB) to establish a world class, AI native data centre campus in Visakhapatnam. The planned investment is `98,000 crore by 2030 to develop 1 gigawatt (GW) of data centre capacity across approximately 400 acres of land, making it one of the largest infrastructure commitments in the state’s digital roadmap. “Vizag rises as India’s Data Capital! Reliance JV Digital Connexion will set up a `98,000 crore, 1 GW AI Data Centre — driving jobs, innovation and global tech investment,” Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu posted on ‘X’ on Wednesday . “Vizag emerges as the Data Capital of India,” Minister for P4 HRD and IT Nara Lokesh said.  these guys need time. Whether it’s the batting unit or the bowling unit. I don’t think ever in Indian cricket something like this has happened where the transition is happening in the spinbowling department and in the batting department as well... in both skillsets.” Going forward, the coach wants the BCCI to prioritise Test — something they have already been doing to a vast extent. He also questioned the logic of ending a full white-ball tour of Australia days before the first Test. A question he should ask his employers, BCCI. With India playing no home WTC Test in all of 2026, this gives all stakeholders a chance to reassess and reset. An empire is over, the fortress is in ruins. The BCCI needs to rebuild the team with P11 focus on future.  Palle Panduga 2.0 Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan launches 8,571 km of new roads E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Amalapuram Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan stated that under Palle Panduga 2.0, 8,571 km of new roads are being laid at an estimated cost of `5,838 crore. In addition, 25,000 mini Gokulas are being set up at a cost of `375 crore, and 157 community Gokulas are being established at a cost of `16 crore. Plans have also been made to construct 58 km of “magic drains” at a cost of `4 crore and to initiate 15,000 new development works in Gram Panchayats at a cost of `406 crore. He inaugurated the Palle Pandaga 2.0 program from Sivakodu, Razole constituency of Ambedkar Konaseema district on Wednesday . The Deputy Chief Minister added that DPRC and Gram Panchayat buildings will be constructed at a cost of `148 crore, while another `100 Dy CM Pawan Kalyan during crore has been sanctioned for the launch of Palle Panduga development works in Kona- 2.0 on Wednesday | Express seema district. Financial assistance has been sourced from NABARD, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and from schemes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the 15th Finance Commission, and the Pradhan Mantri Gram P4 Sadak Yojana.  express read AP ranked 8th in road accident deaths Vijayawada: CM Chandrababu Naidu expressed concern that 6,433 people had died in 15,462 road accidents so far this year. He also expressed worry that the state ranks eighth in road accidents in the country. He directed officials to conduct third party audits of road accidents | P4 Students’ mock Assembly sparks praise Vijayawada: The Education Department’s first of its kind “AP School Assembly” mock session saw 175 students from all constituencies, virtually watched by lakhs. Chief Minister Naidu, Speaker Ayyanna Patrudu and Minister Nara Lokesh praised the pupils’ spirited performances | P4 c r iti c a l e l e m e n t s `7,300 cr push for rare earth atmanirbharta M U K E SH RA N J A N @ New Delhi Amid a shortage of rare earth magnets blamed on China’s export restrictions, the Centre on Wednesday approved a `7,280crore scheme to boost domestic manufacturing of these critical materials. Minister for Information & Broadcasting Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters that the ‘Scheme to Promote Manufacturing of Sintered Rare Earth Permanent Magnets (REPM) has been approved with a financial outlay of `7,280 crore. The aim is to establish 6,000 metric tonnes per annum (MTPA) of integrated man- Ashwini Vaishnaw | PTI ufacturing in the country, Vaishnaw added. “This first-of-its-kind initiative aims to establish 6,000 metric tonnes per annum of integrated rare earth manufacturing in India, thereby enhancing self-reliance and positioning India as a key player in the global market,” a government statement noted. “The total financial outlay of the scheme is `7,280 crore, comprising a sales-linked incentives of `6,450 crore on REPM sales for five years and capital subsidy of `750 crore for setting up an aggregate of 6,000 MTPA of REPM manufacturing facilities,” the statement said. China controls about 60% of global rare earth mining and nearly 90% of refining and processing capacity. In April, it imposed restrictions on Sintered REPM exports, tightening supply to India’s automobile and electronics sectors. Supports govt’s ‘Net Zero 2070’ goal The scheme will not only secure the REPM supply chain for domestic industries but also support the nation’s Net Zero 2070 commitment, the government said. It envisions allocating the total capacity to five beneficiaries through a global competitive bidding process