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 ■ ■ tirupati l FRIday l MARCH 27, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION India domestically producing over 60% of the daily LPG requirement, says petroleum ministry An LPG vessel from Qatar, carrying 17,600 MT cargo, at the Mangalore port on Thursday | PTI Modi’s meet with CMs today Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Friday chair a meeting with chief ministers of all states, except those heading into elections, to discuss the West Asia situation. He is expected to engage separately with chief secretaries of poll-bound states | P7 Hormuz safe passage for ‘friendly’ India, says Iran R a k e s h K u m a r a n d U s h a Pe r i @ New Delhi/Visakhapatnam In a major relief for energy supply, Iran on Thursday said the Strait of Hormuz will remain open for India and four other countries amid the conflict in West Asia. Speaking to Iranian state TV , Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi clarified that the strait, contrary to Western media claims, is not completely closed. “For some countries that we consider friendly, or in cases where we decided to do so for other reasons, our armed forces have provided safe passage,” said Araghchi. The other nations on the safe passage list are Russia, China, Iraq and Pakistan. Before the day 27 conflict began, 20% of the world’s crude oil supply passed through the strait. Meanwhile, the petroleum ministry said India is producing much more LPG than it needs to import. India is now producing 50 TMT (50,000 metric tonnes) of LPG a day as against a total daily requirement of around 80 TMT. Besides, 800 TMT of assured inbound LPG cargoes have already been secured and are en route from the US, Russia, Australia and elsewhere. Two Indiaflagged LPG tankers — Pine Gas and Jag Vasant — crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Monday and are on their way to India. The Visakhapatnam Port is set to receive 72 TMT of LPG in three separate shipments beginning Friday. LPG carrier BW Birch is expected on March 27 with 24 TMT of cargo, transshipped from within India. Two additional vessels, Hellas Gladiator and Gas Jupiter, are scheduled to arrive on March 30, each carrying 24 TMT. While Hellas Gladiator loaded its cargo from the Netherlands, Gas Jupiter is transporting LPG sourced from the US. Substantial volumes of crude oil are also expected at Vizag. About 99,898 MT of blended crude oil will be brought in by MT Desh Gaurav, which is scheduled to arrive on April 5. Israel says it killed Iran’s navy chief A g en c i e s @ Dubai A day after Iran dismissed the US’s 15-point de-escalation proposal as “excessive and one-sided”, Israel said it has killed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy chief Alireza Tangsiri and naval intelligence chief Behnam Rezaei. “Last night, we eliminated IRGC Navy commander. This individual was responsible for the closure of the Strait of Hormuz,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said Tangsiri oversaw the Strait of Hor muz blockade, while Rezai supported the naval operations with maritime intelligence. Iran did not immediately confir m the killings. The conflict appeared to escalate further on ThursAlireza Tangsiri day with both Washington and Tehran hardening their stance. US President Donald Trump doubled down on his threat saying Iran must “get serious” on negotiating with the US before it’s too late, or be prepared to face its “worst nightmare”. Iran continued to pummel Israel and Gulf nations on Thursday. An Indian national was among two killed in Abu Dhabi after debris from intercepted P9 missiles fell on a street.  express read Cabinet clears draft resolution on Amaravati Flames billow from a private travel bus after it collided with a tipper at Rayavaram in Markapuram district on Thursday | pti 14 burnt alive in bus-tipper collision E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Ongole In a ghastly road mishap, 14 people were burnt alive when a private travel bus collided with a gravel-laden tipper near Rayavaram in Markapuram district on Thursday morning and caught fire. In all, 42 passengers were travelling in the ill-fated sleeper coach bus from Jagtial in Telangana to Pamuru-Kanigiri in Prakasam district when the mishap occurred. The other 28 passengers escaped with injuries. According to sources, the driver lost control when the bus reached Rayavaram slate quarry area, and the bus collided head-on with the gravel-laden tipper. The diesel tank of the bus burst due to the impact of the collision, engulfing the vehicle in flames. The drivers and cleaners of the bus and the tipper escaped with injuries. Having learnt about the mishap, Markapuram police along with fire tenders rushed to the spot and extinguished the flames. The injured passengers were shifted to Markapuram government hospital. Later, three of the injured were shifted to Ongole RIMS for better treatment. The police established the identity of all the victims, and the bodies were shifted to government hosP4 pital for postmortem. Transgender women athletes banned from Olympic events The IOC aligned itself with US President Donald Trump’s policy on transgenders, saying such athletes will be excluded from women’s events at the 2028 LA Olympics Vijayawada: The State Cabinet meeting held at the Secretariat on Thursday, approved passing a resolution in the AP Legislative Assembly requesting the Centre to amend Section 5 of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, to provide legal sanctity to Amaravati as the capital city of Andhra Pradesh. The resolution will be introduced in the special session of Assembly on March 28, and will be sent to the Union Government after its passage | P4 1 lakh PNG connections in a month: Nadendla Vijayawada: The State government has intensified its push for Piped Natural Gas (PNG) connections, targeting over one lakh new connections within a month, Civil Supplies Minister Nadendla Manohar announced on Thursday. Speaking to the media at the State Secretariat, the Civil Supplies Minister said approvals for PNG connections will be issued within 24 hours to apartments, commercial establishments, and industrial units | P4 DGGI busts fake ITC syndicate of `217 cr Visakhapatnam: The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI), Visakhapatnam Zonal Unit, has unearthed a major organised fake Input Tax Credit (ITC) syndicate of `217 crore and 72 shell entities case of fraudulent availment and passing of Input Tax Credit linked to an estimated `1,472 crore worth of invoice transactions across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. DGGI arrested two key operatives in connection with the fraud | P4