THIRUVANANTHAPURAM l friday l april 17, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l LATE city EDITION Akasa Air, SpiceJet PLANES with 300 passengers collide at Delhi airport Narrow escape for passengers after incoming SpiceJet flight came in contact with a stationary Akasa aircraft waiting to depart. None was hurt Both aircraft belonged to Boeing 737 series Both aircraft were damaged in the collision and were grounded. The bizarre incident happened in the apron area of Terminal 1 at 2.15 pm. The right winglet of the SpiceJet flight (Boeing 737-700) was damaged while the left hand horizontal stabiliser of Akasa Air (Boeing 737 MAX 8) suffered damage, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said ■ DGCA Passengers disembark safely, none hurt ■ Akasa Air’s plane was to operate flight QP 1406 from Delhi to Hyderabad, while the SpiceJet aircraft had arrived from Leh after operating the flight SG 124, officials said After the incident, all passengers disembarked safely. Akasa Air said it would make arrangements to fly its passengers to Hyderabad The aviation watchdog Has begun its probe into the Delhi airport incident 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 At 6,012 MW, state’s peak power demand touches record high No change in LS seat share in the South, clarifies Shah M a n o j V i s w a n atha n @ Kochi Jaya n th Ja c o b @ New Delhi As summer peaks and mercury crosses the 40-degrees Celsius mark in several parts of the state, the KSEB is facing a tough situation, with peak-hour power consumption shattering previous records. On April 14, the daily power consumption reached 112.161 million units while the peak-hour demand touched 6,012 MW, the highest ever in the state. While consumers in certain rural areas have complained of unscheduled load shedding, the state electricity board has clarified that there is no need to impose load shedding to manage peak demand this year. However, the board said certain load restrictions are imposed to handle transmission system constraints in some areas. “These curbs are not meant to manage the peak load. There is no specific discrimination in rural or urban areas. The reason for such restrictions is transmission line limitations,” said a top official. Traditionally the KSEB con, siders the hours between 6.30pm and 10.30pm as the peak hour period, when domestic consumption peaks. However, during summer, the peak hour period often extends until 2am due to the spike in use of air conditioners. This year, peak-time demand crossed 5,000 MW in the first week of March and has remained above 5,500 MW over the past three weeks. Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday asserted in the Lok Sabha that the number of seats in the southern states will not be reduced as he sought to counter what he described as a “manufactured narrative” that delimitation and related legislative changes would weaken the region’s political influence. During the debate on women’s reservation and delimitation, Shah said: “The biggest narrative being created is that these three bills — the Constitution Amendment Bill, two laws on delimitation, and changes to the constituency election law — will harm the power of the South.” Putting the initiative in context, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his intervention, highlighted women’s rising “political leadership” at the grassroots level, adding the quota bill is important for every political party if they want to succeed in future. Shah backed his argument with state-wise projections to demonstrate how South’s representation would increase both in absolute numbers and in the overall share. Karnataka has 28 seats, and 5.15% Peak-time consumption April 13, 2026 5,933 MW April 14 6,012 MW April 15 5,855 MW Peak-hour consumption previous record: 5,797 MW on May 2, 2024 Daily power consumption April 14 112.161 million units Record consumption: 115.94 million units on May 3, 2024 Despite the unprecedented surge in demand, there have been no frequent outages, voltage fluctuations or incidents of transformers blowing up this time. In the summer of 2024, the KSEB faced a crisis as hundreds of distribution transformers blew up due to power surge. However, the board said no such incident has been reported this season as the distribution network has been revamped. “In 2024, we issued an order to procure 1,700 transformers from the Kerala Electrical & Allied Engineering Co Ltd. They were unable to supply the transformers on time, and we were struggling to replace the damaged transformers,” ● More on P4 said an official.  Women’s bill important for all parties that want to succeed in future: PM Home Minister Amit Shah speaks in the Lok Sabha on the first day of the special session of Parliament on Thursday | PTI of the 543 seats in the House. After delimitation, the number of MPs will increase to 42, and the percentage in the Lok Sabha will increase to 5.44. Karnataka will not suffer any loss, he said. Andhra Pradesh has 25 seats, which is 4.60% of the total. After the bill passes, the number of MPs will increase to 38, representing 4.65%. In Telangana, which has 17 seats, accounting for 3.13%, after delimitation, the number of MPs will increase to 26, representing 3.18%. Tamil Nadu has 49 seats, which is 7.18% of the total. After delimitation, the number of MPs will be 59, and their percentage in the new House 7.23%. Tamil Nadu will also suffer no loss. express read CBSE T’Puram region tops Class X again with 99.79% T’Puram: The Thiruvananthapuram region of the Central Board of Secondary Education, which includes schools in Kerala and Lakshadweep, has once again topped in the Class X examinations. The region recorded a pass percentage of 99.79. P4 16 pages, including 4 pages of THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Express Israel-Lebanon truce amid Pakistan diplomacy A g e n c i e s @ Tehran pAKISTAN on Thursday stepped up its diplomatic efforts for a second round of peace talks between Iran and the US that could end the ongoing West Asia war with Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir meeting Iran’s Parliaday ment Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. Munir, who is camping 48 in Tehran to persuade the Iranians to reach a deal with the US, also visited the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and held talks with its commander. Parallelly Pakistan Prime Minister , Shehbaz Sharif is touring the Gulf c o u n t r i e s. S h e h b a z Sharif ’s office said the premier had discussed w i t h Q at a r ’s E m i r Sheikh Tamim bin Ha- mad Al Thani “the latest regional and international developments, particularly in the Middle East”. Hours after Munir’s meetings in Tehran, US President Donald Trump announced a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon starting Thursday 21:00 GMT (05:30 IST). One of Iran’s major demands was that Israel end its strikes on Lebanon targeting Tehran-backed Hezbollah milP9 itants.  SC relief for eligible voters deleted from rolls in Bengal S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi in a big relief to legitimate voters whose names were struck off electoral rolls, the Supreme Court has directed the Election Commission to allow them to vote if their appeals are accepted by the appellate tribunals at least two days before the polls. The court directed the EC to issue a supplementary electoral roll to include the names of those whose appeals against deletion are allowed by appellate tribunals before April 21 (1st phase) and April 27 (2nd phase). The court clarified that only those whose appeals are accepted by the tribunals before the cut-off dates are eligible to vote, it said. The court passed the directions after hearing a batch of pleas challenging the SIR in West Bengal, where the names of several eligible voters were deleted forcing them to move court. Kerala now has 20 seats, which is 3.68%. After the passage of the bill, the number of MPs will be 30, and their percentage in the new House will be 3.67. “Of the total 543 seats, 129 MPs currently sit in this House, which is 23.76%. In the new House, 195 MPs will be sitting here, and their share will be 23.97%.” Shah also addressed concerns over the caste census, saying, “Modi cabinet has decided to conduct a caste census. The ongoing census is being conducted on the basis of caste enumeration. There is no need to spread confusion.” On the legal framework governing delimitation, Shah emphasised continuity with existing provisions. “The Delimitation Commission law is strictly in accordance with the existing (old) law. There is no change. It will not impact the ongoing elections.” Responding to criticism from Opposition leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra, Shah said: “I want to tell Priyanka Gandhi that we have not made any changes to the Delimitation Commission. We have replicated your Delimitation Commission Act. If you have tampered with it, I can say that we will P7 not do so.”  quote hanger Together, we are going to give India a new direction. Through women’s quota, we are going to make a meaningful effort to infuse sensitivity in our governance system Neither men nor any state will suffer any loss after the implementation of the women’s quota. The main objective of the bill is to give women their due rights Narendra Modi, PM Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister The talk of delimitation seems fine on the surface but the real meaning comes to the fore when one carefully reads it. It smells of politics Priyanka Gandhi, Cong State Karnataka Andhra Pradesh Telangana Tamil Nadu Kerala Total strength of South Please withdraw this bill. Call an all-party meeting. We will give good suggestions...We are ready to cooperate with the government. Don’t try to sabotage Indian democracy BJP has made ‘nari’ (women) into a ‘nara’ (slogan) ... How many BJP MLAs or MPs are women?... The Samajwadi Party is for women’s quota, but is against BJP’s trickery K C Venugopal, Cong Akhilesh Yadav, SP Current % of 543 After LS seats LS seats delimitation 28 5.15% 42 25 4.60% 38 17 3.13% 26 39 7.18% 59 20 3.68% 30 129/543 23.76% 195/816 % After delimitation 5.14% 4.65% 3.18% 7.23% 3.67% 23.87%