VIJAYAWADA  WEDNESDAY  DECEMBER 24, 2025  `9.00  PAGES 14  LATE CITY EDITION CHINNASWAMY STADIUM FAILS TO GET APPROVAL TO HOST MATCHES The Vijay Hazare Trophy matches, supposed to be held at M Chinnaswamy in Bengaluru, moved elsewhere after government denied permission COMMITTEE TO SUBMIT REPORT TO GOVT Following the stampede during RCB’s IPL celebrations on June 4, the stadium has not hosted any games. The Karnataka State Association sought permission to host without any crowd. The state home minister had constituted a committee that visited the venue to review on Monday and denied their request. They will submit the findings to the government ■ May 3 GAMES MOVED TO BCCI CoE, SAYS KSCA ■ With no permission to host the 50-over matches, KSCA said in a statement that the fixtures have been moved to BCCI Centre of Excellence for the time being Both Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant, who were supposed to play at the venue, will now turn up for Delhi against Andhra at BCCI CoE | P13 WAS WHEN THE LAST OFFICIAL IPL MATCH WAS HELD AT THE VENUE 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 Court rejects UP govt plea to nix charges in Akhlaq case Jaishankar announces aid, builds on First Responder role, commitment to reconstruction N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi A fast-track court in Surajpur on Tuesday rejected the Uttar Pradesh government’s application to withdraw charges in the 2015 Mohammad Akhlaq lynching case, while directing that the trial be fast-tracked with daily hearings. Additional District Judge Saurabh Dwivedi ruled that the case be categorised as “most important” and directed police authorities, including the Gautam Buddha Nagar Police Commissioner, to ensure protection of crucial evidence. The court scheduled the next hearing for January 6. Akhlaq, 50, was lynched by a mob in Dadri’s Bisada village on September 28, 2015, following rumours of cow slaughter. Mohammad Akhlaq He died from injuries sustained in the attack, while his son Danish, who tried to intervene, narrowly survived. The state government had moved the court to withdraw charges on October 15, citing inconsistent witness statements, absence of recovered weapons, and lack of prior enmity between the accused and the victim. Noida Police had registered an FIR at Jarcha police station under IPC sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder),148 (rioting with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 323 (assault), 504 (intent to disturb peace) on the basis of a complaint by Akhlaq’s wife. INDIA on Tuesday pledged a $450 million reconstruction and recovery package to Sri Lanka following the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah, Exter nal Affairs Minister S Jaishankar announced during his visit to Colombo as a special envoy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking after talks with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath, Jaishankar said he carried a personal message from Prime Minister Modi to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, whom he met earlier in the day . “The letter from Prime Minister Modi builds on our First Responder role and commits a reconstruction package of USD 450 million.” Jaishankar said the package would comprise $350 million in concessional lines of credit and $100 million in grants. The assistance will focus on rebuilding roads, railways and bridges; housing; health and education facilities; agriculture; and strengthening disaster preparedness. “We are conscious that work $450 mn relief package for cyclone-hit Sri Lanka ASSAM’S KARBI ANGLONG ON FIRE Flames billow from an area after an arson attack following demands for eviction of encroachers in Karbi Anglong district on Tuesday; and security personnel try to control the situation | ANI | P10 India, Bangladesh summon envoys amid protests J AYA N T H J A C O B @ New Delhi INDIA and Bangladesh summoned each other’s envoys on Tuesday to lodge formal protests over developments straining bilateral ties, as widespread demonstrations erupted across India following the lynching of a Hindu man in Bangladesh. Dhaka summoned Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma on Tuesday morning, expressing concern over an “unsatisfactory security situation” at Bangladesh’s missions in India. Foreign Secretary Asad Alam Siam raised issues related to protests outside diplomatic premises in New Delhi, Kolkata and Agartala. “The foreign secretary conveyed Bangladesh’s serious concern and emphasised the host country’s responsibility under the Vienna Convention to ensure full protection of diplomatic premises,” a source said. Hours later, India summoned Bangladesh High Commissioner Riaz Hamidullah for the second time in a week over security concerns for Indian missions in Bangladesh. India urged a thorough probe into student leader Hadi’s death rather than blaming India, noting that unverified claims sparked anti-India protests, including an attempt to storm the Indian Assistant High Commission in Chittagong. The exchanges followed protests by Hindu rightwing groups across New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and J a m m u , a m o n g m a n y, against the December 18 lynching of Dipu Chandra Das, 25, in Mymensingh, allegedly over blasphemy charges. In New Delhi, VHP and Bajrang Dal cadres broke barricades and attempted to march towards the Bangladesh High Commission. CM: NEW E-BUSES INCLUDING ‘PALLE VELUGU’ MUST HAVE AC S V I S W A N AT H @ Vijayawada CHIEF Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has said all the new electric buses to be introduced by APSRTC should have AC facility “Be it ‘Palle Velugu’ serv. i c e, AC i s a m u s t , ” h e asserted. Holding a meeting with the APSRTC officials at the State Secretariat on Tuesday, Naidu reviewed the roadmap related to the introduction of electric buses in the RTC. The 1,450 buses to be purchased by the RTC in the next financial year should also be electric buses, Naidu said. In view of Godavari Pushkarams in 2027, Naidu said EV charging stations should be set up in Godavari districts first, and directed the officials to invite tenders at the earliest. Besides giving nod to intro- duce 8,819 electric buses replacing the existing diesel vehicles in the coming five years, Naidu said steps should be taken to convert the existing buses having more than eight years lifespan as electric buses. Top priority should be given to passenger comfort, he averred. The Chief Minister stressed the need for introducing more buses to meet the growing demand for the Stree Shakti free travel scheme for women. Naidu said the RTC should operate all electric and CNG buses replacing diesel vehicles by 2030 to protect the environP4 ment. A Bailey Bridge built by the Indian Army in Lanka’s Kilinochchi; and (inset) S Jaishankar hands over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s letter to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake | PTI towards mitigating the impact of Cyclone Ditwah must be done in the quickest time possible,” he said and added that India and Sri Lanka were finalising coordination mechanisms for rapid delivery . Jaishankar also pointed to longer-term support, including boosting Indian tourism and foreign direct investment. “India stands firmly with Sri Lanka more than ever before,” he said, expressing confidence in the island nation’s resilience as it recovers from the disaster. We are conscious that work towards mitigating the impact of Cyclone Ditwah must be done in the quickest time possible. India stands firmly with Sri Lanka more than ever before — S Jaishankar SERVICE DELIVERY HOLIDAY mood dampened for lakhs of taxpayers ahead of the Christmas and New Year with the tax department seeking clarification on the discrepancies in their returns for assessment year 2025-26. Sources said the income tax department’s automated risk management framework flagged a high volume of cases where refund claims are substantially high and do not align with official data. Such refunds have been put on hold pending verification. Tax professionals noted a surge in alerts targeting taxpayers who may be misreporting information. Key triggers for these investigations include Form 16 mismatches, suspicious deductions, and non-disclosures of assets. According to the income tax department, ‘identified’ Govt to take up family survey in Dec last week E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Vijayawada THE Government of Andhra Pradesh has announced the conduct of the Unified Family Survey (UFS), an initiative aimed at ensuring that details of every household in the State is accurately entered in records. The survey is intended to enable the government to reach out to all eligible families with welfare schemes and services in a timely manner, while improving the overall efficiency of service delivery . According to a release, the UFS will begin in the last week of December, and will be carried out through door-to-door visits by staff of secretariats in rural and urban areas. The staff will visit each household to verify, and update family details so that records reflect the current situation of every family in the State correctly . The key objective of the survey is to ensure that no eligible family or individual is left out of government welfare schemes. Accurate and updated family records will also reduce the time required for issuing government certificates and approvals, as it will eliminate the need for repeated or redundant verification of the same inforP4 mation across departments. BLUEBIRD MISSION COUNTDOWN BEGINS ISRO will launch the Bluebird Block-2 spacecraft on board launch vehicle LVM3-M6 at 8.54 am on Wednesday from Sriharikota taxpayers are being contacted through SMS and email under the Non-intrusive Usage of Data to Guide and Enable (NUDGE) campaign to correct errors. The due date for filing revised ITRs is December 31. Sources said 5-10 lakh taxpayers have been contacted under NUDGE campaign so far. Force team carried out rescue and relief work. The Indian Army also set up a field hospital near Kandy with 85 medical personnel, providing emergency care to over 8,000 people. Besides, army engineers erected a Bailey bridge at Kilinochchi using equipment transported by C-17 aircraft, while another bridge at Chilaw is currently under construction. According to a World Bank Group Global Rapid Post-Disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE) report, the cyclone caused an estimated $4.1 billion in damage, which is around 4 percent of Sri Lanka’s GDP . EXPRESS READ Assessees sore over taxman’s ‘nudge’ to rectify ITR D I PA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi Detailing India’s emergency response, Jaishankar said relief operations under Operation Sagar Bandhu began on the day Cyclone Ditwah made landfall. “Our Aircraft Carrier INS Vikrant and INS Udayagiri were present at Colombo and delivered relief material, after which helicopters were deployed,” he said. Indian Air Force Mi-17 helicopters operated in Sri Lanka for more than two weeks, while an 80-member National Disaster Response Certain taxpayers have claimed ineligible refunds — Tax dept ACB searches at 14 houses of SRO staff Token-only darshan on 3 key days: TTD PPP med colleges’ plan hits roadblock Visakhapatnam: Sleuths of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) conducted searches at 14 residential premises of Sub-Registrar Office (SRO) employees in various parts of the State on Tuesday | P5 Tirumala: Devotees have been advised not to venture to Tirumala for Vaikuntha Dwara Darshan on Ekadasi, Dwadasi and Trayodasi unless they hold valid darshan tokens | P4 Vijayawada: The State government’s plan to set up four new government medical colleges under the PPP model has hit a major roadblock, following a poor response from bidders | P4