SAMBALPUR l thursday l december 04, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l CITY EDITION Specialist team from UK examines ailing Khaleda Zia A four-member UK specialist medical team arrived in Bangladesh on Wednesday to assist in the treatment of the former prime minister Will help chart advanced treatment plan Chiefs of three forces pay rare joint visit The UK specialists led by Dr Richard Beale of King’s College London reviewed 80-year-old Zia’s condition and assessed the treatment by the local medical team. The foreign doctors will work with the local team to help formulate an advanced treatment plan. Zia was admitted to a private hospital in Dhaka on November 23 with infections of heart and lungs | p11 ■ ■ In a rare joint public visit, the chiefs of Bangladesh’s three armed services visited the ailing former prime minister at the hospital The interim government directed Army and Air Force helicopters to conduct test landings near the hospital on Thursday as part of a Special Security Force protocol, which it said was for Zia’s protection Three The number of times Zia has taken oath as Bangladesh Prime Minister 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 Assembly okays 10-hr workdays, night shifts for women in state E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar The Assembly on Wednesday gave its assent to the Odisha Shops and Commercial Establishments Bill, 2025, amending the original Act of 1956, for extending the maximum daily work hours in all categories of commercial establishments from existing nine to 10, and allowing women to work night shifts. The Bill introduced on Tuesday by Labour and Employment minister Ganesh Ram Singhkhuntia aims to maximise productivity create more employ, ment opportunities especially for women workforce, enhance economic activities and promote ease of doing business in the state. Initiating discussion on the Bill, the minister said the maximum daily work time will now be 10 hours subject to an Reforms will maximise upper-limit of 48 hours per productivity, week. The amended provisions create more will be applicable to shops and employment commercial establishments opportunities which have employed 20 or especially for more people. women He said the working hours workforce, per day length of uninterrupt, enhance ed period of work before maneconomic activities and datory interval for rest and promote ease maximum permissible overof doing time are proposed to be inbusiness creased in line with the best practices in the present times Ganesh Ram and suggestions made by NITI Singhkhuntia, Minister Aayog and Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry . He said the period of work of an employee will not exceed six hours without at least halfan-hour break. “Every establishment may remain open 24x7 subject to the condition that the employees shall be given overtime wages and one weekly off day There will be no wage . deduction for weekly off and this will also be applicable for people employed on daily wage Continued on P7 basis,” he said.  12 Maoists and 3 jawans killed in Bijapur gunfight Twelve Maoists and three security personnel were killed in a fierce encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Wednesday. Two jawans sustained injuries in the gunfight and their conditions were stated to stable | P10 Rupee breaches 90-mark for the first time B E N N K OCHUV E E DA N @ Mumbai The rupee’s freefall deepened on Wednesday, breaching the 90-per-dollar mark for the first time, hitting a new low of 90.29 in the morning trade after opening flat at 89.96. It closed the day’s session at an all-time low of 90.15. Wednesday marks the sixth consecutive day of fall for the rupee as traders bet the subdued trade and portfolio flows will keep Asia’s worst perform- ing currency under pressure, while analysts project the next level for rupee at 92-93. However, Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran sought to downplay the currency slide, saying the weakness has had no impact on inflation and the currency will recover in 2026. “Right now, it’s not hurting our exports or inflation. I am not losing my sleep over it. If it has to depreciate now probably Massive chaos as over 200 IndiGo flights cancelled Insiders attribute it to Emirates’ hiring spree L a l i t h a S @ New Delhi Thousands of fliers across airports in the country on Wednesday had a harrowing time as crew shortage at IndiGo resulted in cancellation of at least 200 flights besides delaying many others. This was the second consecutive day that IndiGo failed to operate a large number of flights. A massive recruitment drive by an international airline at Delhi and Mumbai this week is a key reason for it, said multiple sources. IndiGo attributed the disruption to multiple reasons, including unforeseen operational challenges. The shortage is of both the cockpit and cabin crew, the sources stressed. At Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport alone, 67 flights were cancelled, of which 37 were departures. Flights to Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkata and Srinagar were among those that were nixed. Over 70 flights were cancelled from Mumbai and Bengaluru air por t until Wednesday evening. The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Hyderabad witnessed irate scenes after 13 flights were cancelled to various cities apart from 18 incoming flights. Airline sources said, “Emirates has been having a recruit- Irate fliers at the Delhi airport | X ment roadshow in Mumbai and Delhi the last two days and IndiGo crew have been making a beeline for it.” An aviation source blamed it on IndiGo mismanagement, which, however, attributed part of the problem to the DGCA’s revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) that kicked in from November 1. Increased weekly rest for pilots from 36 hours to 48 hours and limiting night landings by pilots to two instead of six are part of the revised FDTL mandate. Later in the day, the DGCA said IndiGo had cancelled 1,232 flights in November, of which 755 were due to the FDTL, adding it is probing the current cancellations. The Federation of Indian Pilots blamed the ongoing disruption on “IndiGo’s prolonged and unorthodox lean manpower strategy across departments, particularly in flight operations.” Delhi who? Twin City AQI tops 300 this yr S u d a r s a n M a h a r a n a @ Bhubaneswar Even as Delhi pollution has hogged national headlines, Odisha is not far behind with rapid deterioration of air quality, and particulate matter (PM) 2.5 and other toxic pollutants surging to alarming levels. If the air quality monitoring data of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) are any indication, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Angul and Talcher are the worst-affected areas while pollution level in Balasore, Barbil, Rourkela, Rairangpur, Keonjhar and a few other places has also spiked dangerously . Air quality index (AQI) is divided into six sections in which a score between 0 and 50 is considered safe, 51100 satisfactory, 101-200 moderate, 201-300 poor, 301-400 very poor and above 400 severe. Till October, air quality in most of the urban areas was largely in the range of good to satisfactory. However, the pollution level has started deteriorating from November. As par the CPCB statistics, the air quality of the capital city which was , mostly ‘satisfactory’ or ‘moderate’ in October, stood in ‘poor’ category for around 17 days in November and ‘very poor’ for two days with the re- Alarming condition Commuters drive through smog on NH-16 with worsening air quality index in Bhubaneswar | DEBADATTA MALLLICK  Bhubaneswar recorded PM 2.5 level at 321 mg/m3 (very poor) on Nov 25  Cuttack witnessed 332 mg/m3 and 306 mg/m3 on Nov 25 and 26 respectively  Talcher recorded poor air quality for 20 days  Angul air quality remained very poor for 3 days  In Dec, pollution level of the affected cities and towns remained poor in the first 3 days maining days recording ‘moderately poor’ air quality. On November 25, the level of PM 2.5 touched 321 micrograms per cubic metre (mg/m3). Similarly, Cuttack experienced at least 14 days of ‘poor’ and two days of ‘very poor’ air quality apart from 11 , days of ‘moderately poor air’ in No- vember, with higher level of PM 2.5 being recorded at 332 mg/m3 and 306 mg/m3 on November 25 and 26. In industrial town Talcher, air quality was ‘poor’ for 20 days and ‘moderately poor’ for 10 days, while in Angul it remained ‘poor’ for 14 days and ‘very poor’ for at least three days. In Balasore, there was an increase in the pollution level with the air quality being in ‘poor’ category for around eight days and ‘moderately poor’ for around 17 days in November. The mining zone Keonjhar was ‘moderately poor’ for around 25 days in November compared to 15 days in October. As for December, the pollution level of the affected cities and towns continued to remain poor in the first three days. As per CPCB’s AQI bulletin, the level of PM 2.5 stood at around 286 mg/m3 in Bhubaneswar, 300 mg/m3 in Cuttack, 275 mg/m3 in Angul, 269 mg/m3 in Balasore and 257 mg/m3 in Talcher on Wednesday . An environment scientist from the Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) attributed the deteriorating air quality in the city to industrial pollution, vehicular emission, dust from relentless construction work and transport, and other unchecked urban activities, especially use of fossil fuel and burning of waste and Continued on P7 plastic etc.  is the right time,” he said at an event in Mumbai. With Wednesday’s fall, the rupee’s value eroded 5.7% so far this year, putting it on track for its steepest annual decline since 2022, and making it the worstperfor ming Asian currency . The fall also underscores a divergence in the domestic and external macroeconomic position of the nation. While GDP growth has been stronger-than-expected, punitive US tariffs and weak capital flows have piled pressure on the rupee. “Every day that we do not have a trade deal, the forex demand from trade deficit and outflows keep pushing the dollar, while forex supply is relatively thin and inconsistent,” HSBC said in a note. “We had one month of net inflows in October, but without any more trade deal headlines since then, net flows have become flat.” SU B H E N DU M AI T I @ Kolkata Now, it’s not hurting exports or inflation. I am not losing my sleep over it Anantha Nageswaran Govt blinks, rolls back Sanchar Saathi order ARSHAD K HA N @ New Delhi The government on Wednesday withdrew its order directing phone makers to pre-install the Sanchar Saathi app, following strong backlash from opposition parties, digital rights activists, and manufacturers including Apple and Google. The reversal came a day after the telecom ministry clarified that the state-run cybersecurity app is not mandatory and that users may activate or deactivate it. “Given Sanchar Saathi’s increasing acceptance, Government has decided not to make the pre-installation mandatory for mobile manufacturers,” a statement by the ministry read. Sources said this is the first time phone makers have been asked to pre-install a government-owned app. The mandate also meant operational difficulties for phone makers. Earlier in the day, communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia sought to dispel privacy concerns saying the Sanchar Saathi app neither enables nor allows snooping. HC sets aside its order sacking 32,000 teachers in West Bengal Russia’s MAX Russia is the only country where phone makers need to pre-install a state-run app. MAX, a state-backed messaging service, must be installed by default on all phones and tablets In a relief for the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal ahead of the assembly elections, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday set aside a singlejudge order that had cancelled the appointment of 32,000 primary school teachers. “After being in service for nine years, if they are removed now, there could be an adverse impact on their families,” observed the division bench of justices Tapobrata Chakraborty and Reetobroto Kumar Mitra. “For cancellation of the entire exam, there must be a finding on systemic malice as borne out by the evidence on record. That is not the case,” the bench said. It noted service cannot be terminated due to ongoing criminal proceeding. Following the Teachers’ Eligibility Test held in 2014, a total of 42,500 primary school teachers were appointed. The appointments of 32,000 of them were cancelled by a single bench of Justice Abhijit Ganguly over alleged manipulation in the recruitment process. Ganguly is now a BJP MP from Tamluk in East Midnapore.