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 ■ ■ HYDERABAD l wednesday l december 31, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 18 l LATE CITY EDITION As the year draws to a close, we take a deep dive into the events, stories, and faces that mattered TELANGANA RISING, TO THE SUMMIT Rising Global Summit By all accounts, the Telangana the state government with 2025 was a major success, lakh proposals worth `5.75 receiving fresh investment event was held at the crore over two days. The saw several companies A proposed Future City and the presence of Chief Minister signing agreements in also marked the unveiling Revanth Reddy. The summit policy document outlining of Vision 2047, a long-term development, education plans for infrastructure ideas is growth. Among its core reforms, and sectoral framework: the Core Urban a three-region economic the Peri Urban Region Region Economy (CURE), the Rural Agriculture Region Economy (PURE), and to align urban The framework seeks Economy (RARE). and agricultural activity expansion, industrial growth, Former British Prime model. within a single planning summit and spoke Tony Blair attended the Minister model and reform-led about Telangana’s governance the government projected development path. The effort to position the summit as part of a broader and policy destination. state as an investment 04 WEDNESDAY HYDERABAD TELANGANA 31 12 2025   LENS KALESHWARAM UNDER seeking a CBI probe into passed a resolution project. The move The Telangana Assembly the Kaleshwaram irrigation alleged irregularities in which examined structural PC Ghose Commission, followed findings of the K Chandrasekhar Rao, Former chief minister and administrative lapses. Rao, along with senior Rajender and T Harish former ministers Eatala granted general consent The state government officials, faced scrutiny. to the Home Ministry. and forwarded the proposal ‘ ’ FLUID, YET CONSTANT FORMULA E: KTR IN A TAILSPIN GHMC BECOMES CITY INDIA’S LARGEST saw a major Hyderabad Rama Rao and former minister KT BRS working president in 2025. the Formula E race case faced legal scrutiny in registered a case alleging The Anti-Corruption Bureau in organising the event, pro quo irregularities and quid Kumar as senior IAS officer Arvind naming him as A-1 and under Varma granted sanction A-2. Governor Jishnu Dev Act to file a chargesheet. the Prevention of Corruption also initiated by the Enforcement Parallel inquiries were FEMA and money-laundering Directorate over alleged violations. civic reorganisation in December 2025 with the expansion of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. Wards doubled from 150 to 300 GHMC’s 27 urban local bodies. following the merger of 2,053 sq km, with the area expanded to about zones 1.34 crore. Administrative population exceeding 60. A and circles from 30 to increased from six to 12, approved crore for 2026-27 was draft budget of `11,460 by the Standing Committee. SAFRAN COMES TO the year, public institutions dominated within shifts olitics, governance and court interventions and investigations to marked by controversies, rows and high-profile parties. From ministerial defections and administrative local from student-led protests, saw issues move quickly reorganisation, the year these were moments political debate. Alongside flashpoints to wider decisions and cultural roles, resignations, policy aerospace and of transition — new developments in industry, changes — as well as power, protest and policy episodes trace how political and civic cinema. Together, these in 2025, shaping the played out across Telangana closely watched turns series of landscape through a P E IES: INSEPARABL KONDA & CONTROVERS in the public eye through 2025 over a series of which factory managements, Konda Surekha remained of threatening cement Endowments Minister Sumanth, faced allegations was that Surekha’s daughter controversies. Her OSD, residence. The fallout dispute entered the minister’s were involved in land escalated after police Reddy and his brothers parties to target Chief Minister A Revanth and were used by opposition Susmitha alleged that The remarks went viral Nagarjuna over suit filed by actor Akkineni settlements to make money. issued an apology. A civil Revanth before Susmitha later withdrawn. Samantha episode was comments linked to the AZHAR’S NEW INNING HYD a LEAP Services India opened Safran Aircraft Engine GMR Aerospace Park, engine MRO facility at Minister inaugurated by Prime Hyderabad. The unit, with an investment of Narendra Modi, was built fully operational, it will about `1,300 crore. Once annually and create over service up to 300 engines India’s aviation 1,000 jobs, strengthening maintenance ecosystem. SKYROOT MILESTONE its footprint in 2025 Skyroot Aerospace expanded the of its Infinity campus and with the inauguration India’s first private orbital unveiling of Vikram-I, company aims to build rocket. The Hyderabad-based per month. Founded by one orbital launch vehicle Skyroot had earlier become former ISRO scientists, a suborbital rocket — the first to build and launch key step in Vikram-S — marking a India’s private space sector. KAVITHA ENDS TIES WITH BRS Rao and J Santosh Kumar Alleging that T Harish and BRS founder K were the reason her father facing allegations of Chandrasekhar Rao was resigned from the corruption, MLC K Kavitha Council post. While party and her Legislative her brother KT Rama parting, she also accused her and driving a Rao and cousins of sidelining After quitting, she KCR. wedge between her and and held protests revived Telangana Jagruthi BJP. Kavitha also against the Congress and a new political party announced plans to launch elections. before the next Assembly HYDERABAD SCORES Former India captain and ex-MP Mohammad Azharuddin entered the Telangana Cabinet in 2025, a move that influenced the Jubilee Hills byelection. Although Azharuddin had lost the 2023 Assembly election from the segment, his induction strengthened the Congress campaign, helping Naveen Yadav secure a comfortable win. However, uncertainty persisted within his circle over a nominated MLC proposal sent to Raj Bhavan months earlier, which remained pending by the end of the year. GADDAR AWARDS REPLACE NANDIS Telangana Rising, to the Summit | P4 : BOWLI A GACHI KANCH NT POWER 400 STUDE sale of about The proposed Gachibowli Kancha and legal acres at a major politicalStudents . triggered y in mid-2025 controvers d Central University to the of Hyderaba land belonged the state claimed , while the institution said it had reclaimed nt governme earlier Supreme based on ntal groups the land Environme tree cover Court orders. , citing dense limited tree protested suo terrain. After and rocky Supreme Court took its felling, the e. Following n work motu cognisanc on, restoratio interventi the matter remaining began, with sub judice. launched The Telangana government Film Awards in the Gaddar Telangana Awards. 2025, replacing the Nandi released The awards covered films along with between 2013 and 2023, was 2024 releases. The ceremony Hyderabad. held on June 14 at HITEX, for Allu Arjun won Best Actor received Pushpa-2, Nivetha Thomas Katha Best Actress for 35 Chinna Best won Kaadu, and Nag Ashwin for Kalki 2898 Director and Best Film received the AD. Vijay Deverakonda Kanta Rao Memorial Award. TG LOSES ITS CULTURAL VOICE 10 Sri passed away on November Poet and writer Ande the loss of a key at the age of 64, marking movement. He cultural voice of the Telangana Jayahe “Jaya authored the state anthem, Kethanam”, Telangana, Janani Jaya Chief Minister adopted in February 2024. the funeral at A Revanth Reddy attended Ghatkesar. The state governmentin his memorial announced plans for a include the honour and decided to school textbooks. Telangana anthem in A tapestry of thought | P5 Tilak Varma times it right for India | P6 Nation Migration, mobility and elections| P7 Federalism at crossroads | P9 business Top trends that shaped the economy | P12 Sports How the year panned out for India in sports | P13 Assam STF arrests 11 for ties with Jamaat radicals ‘All were working under direct orders from Bangladesh groups’ e x p r e ss n e w s s e r v i c e @ Guwahati ELEVEN people were arrested in Assam and Tripura for their alleged links with Bangladeshbased fundamentalist groups that were aiming to destabilise the Northeast, police said on Tuesday . Assam’s Special Task Force said the arrests were made for alleged links with Imam Mahmuder Kafila (IMK), an offshoot of Bangladeshi terror group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), which is banned in India. Ten among those arrested were nabbed from Assam’s Baksa, Barpeta, Chirang and Darrang districts while one was arrested from Tripura’s West Tripura district on December 29 and 30. The IMK was founded in 2018 by Jewel Mahmud alias Sohail, a former JMB member. The STF dossier said senior leaders of JMB, Ansarullah Bangla Nasim Uddin, the kingpin, and Junab Ali Another Hindu man killed in Mymensingh A Hindu security guard, Bajendra Biswas, was fatally shot at a garment factory in Mymensingh on Monday, marking the third such incident targeting minorities in the country in two weeks Team (ABT), and Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) had issued directions to IMK leadership to activate its Indian modules. Bangladeshi nationals Umar and Khalid were assigned to coordinate Assam-based activities. One Nasim Uddin alias Tamim of Assam’s Barpeta Road is the head of the outfit’s Assam cell. After the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh in August last year, cadres of JMB, ABT and AQIS were activated, resulting in revival of their ideological influence and Indian networks, including through IMK-linked platforms, the STF said. “These elements were working under the direct orders from Bangladesh-based groups. Their main aim was to destabilise Assam and the rest of the Northeast,” STF chief Partha Sarathi Mahanta said. Those arrested from Assam were identified as Nasim Uddin alias Tamim (24), Junab Ali (38), Afrahim Hussain (24), Mizanur Rehman (46), Sultan Mehmud (40), Md Siddique Ali (46), Rasidul Aalam (28), Mahibul Khan (25), Sharuk Hussain (22) and Md Dilbar Razak (26), he added. Jagir Miah (33) was nabbed from Tripura. Khaleda Zia: 15 Aug 1945 – 30 Dec 2025 the reluctant politician who shaped B’desh Jaishankar to attend funeral Reflecting the importance New Delhi attaches to Khaleda Zia’s legacy, foreign minister S Jaishankar will represent India at her funeral. He will travel to Dhaka on Wednesday Pushed education reforms Khaleda Zia’s tenure as PM restored the parliamentary system and introduced compulsory, free primary education J AYANTH J AC O B @ New Delhi K haleda Zia, Bangladesh’s first female prime minister, died in Dhaka on Tuesday at the age of 80. For more than three decades, her fierce rivalry with Sheikh Hasina shaped Bangladesh’s politics, dividing the nation between two dominant leaders whose personal animosity often mirrored the country’s deeper political fault lines. Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid rich tributes to Khaleda Zia, recalling her contribution to strengthening bilateral ties. Born on August 15, 1945 in Dinajpur, then part of British India, Zia entered public life reluctantly At 15, she married Ziaur Rah. man, who would go on to become a central figure in Bangladesh’s 1971 liberation struggle and become President in 1977. His assassination in 1981 pushed Zia into politics. During the nine-year military dictatorship that followed a 1982 coup, she emerged as a prominent face of resistance, boycotting army-backed elections and enduring repeated house arrests. Her uncompromising stance earned her a loyal following. Following the fall of military rule in 1990, the BNP won the general election, and Zia was sworn in as PM in 1991, becoming one of the few elected women in the Muslim world. express read Crime rate declines in TG Hyderabad: Though the crime rate declined in Telangana by 2.33% in the first 11 months of 2025, NDPS cases in the state rose by 39% in 2025, with police seizing 25% more contraband compared to the previous year | P3 Another bronze for Arjun India’s Arjun Erigaisi clinched the bronze medal at the World Blitz Chess Championship in Doha on Tuesday. He finished clear first in the qualification stage, registering victories over eventual champion Magnus Carlsen and runner-up Nodirbek Abdusattorov. However, he lost to the Uzbek grandmaster in the knockout stage. Arjun had earlier won a bronze medal at the World Rapid as well. Air quality worsens in Hyderabad as AQI breaches 350 mark at several locations K h yat i S h a h @ Hyderabad Air quality in Hyderabad worsened sharply in December, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) crossing 350 at several locations, prompting experts to warn that the city could face a Delhi-like pollution crisis within five years if urgent correc- tive steps are not taken. At Teachers Colony in Secunderabad, the AQI touched 367 on December 23, which is equivalent to smoking about 19 cigarettes a day, according to health estimates. Experts cautioned that the winter spike is not an isolated event but an early signal of a worsening trend driven by rising vehicular numbers, construction activity and regional emissions. Dr Gufran Beig, founder and project director of SAFAR and chair professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, IISc, said Hyderabad’s peninsular location and relatively warmer winters currently offer some protection, as temperature inversions are weaker than in north India. However, he warned that this advantage is rapidly shrinking. Environmentalist Purushotham Reddy noted that Delhi’s pollution is worsened by polluted air masses getting trapped by the Himalayas and strong inversion layers, a chamber-like effect not seen in Hyderabad. Environmental exper ts stressed that while Hyderabad’s geography differs from Delhi’s, the health risks nevertheless remain severe.  continued on p2 city to be pollution-free: CM Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy declared that there would be a comprehensive overhaul to make Hyderabad pollution-free. Speaking at a review with MAUD officials on Tuesday, he emphasised the need for effective measures to maintain cleanliness. A complete ban on plastic use in the city was also decided upon | P2