NGT’s water notice to six cricket stadiums National Green Tribunal has sent notices to 6 stadiums on non-compliance of its order on using treated water instead of fresh water or groundwater. The stadiums are at Delhi, Raipur, Jaipur, Mumbai, Lucknow and Cuttack HYDERABAD l friday l april 24, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 36 l LATE CITY EDITION l ce ti Lucknow, Delhi, Jaipur and Raipur no IPL are hosting matches this IPL GT matches season and NGT is asking N that may why activity should el ic t take hit not be stopped no T NG e ic ot n GT N 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 Tamil Nadu, Bengal register record voter turnout Trump’s hell-hole jibe on India ‘in poor taste’: Govt E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Chennai/Kolkata The Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal saw unusually high voter participation on Thursday, with both states recording their highest tur nout in recent years. Tamil Nadu registered an unprecedented 85.14% turnout, a sharp rise from 73.6% in 2021 while West Bengal recorded a historic 91.78% turnout in the first phase, surpassing its previous high of 84.72% in 2021. While part of the increase in Tamil Nadu was attributed to the reduction of the electorate by about 68 lakh from 6.41 crore to 5.73 crore due to the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, poll- ing stations reported strong enthusiasm, par ticularly among younger voters. All districts crossed 75%, with around 20 districts exceeding 85%. Of the 234 constituencies, only seven recorded bel ow 7 5 % , wh i l e 4 2 crossed 90%. In absolute terms, voter participation in Tamil Nadu rose by about 24 lakh, from 4.63 crore in 2021 to roughly 4.87 crore. The entry of actor C Joseph Vijay through Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam has added interest to the contest, with results due on May 4 expected to indicate whether voting patterns will alter the state’s political landscape. Meanwhile, polling was held in 152 of 294 seats in West Bengal, with the second phase scheduled for April 29. Women voters (92.69%) outnumbered men (90.92%). Despite the deletion of around 91 lakh names from electoral rolls, voter participation remained high. Polling was largely peaceful, with only stray incidents reported. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the state had witnessed elections with fewer incidents of violence in decades. CM, Uttam to take up KLIS probe with CBI chief E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Hyderabad Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy will soon meet the CBI director to press for a probe into alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme. At a Cabinet meeting chaired by the chief minister at the Secretariat on Thursday, ministers reviewed the Wednesday’s order of the Telangana High Court and discussed steps to push for a CBI inquiry The . Advocate General briefed the Cabinet on the ruling and outlined a legal course of action. Briefing the media on the Cabinet decisions alongside ministers Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy and Vakiti Srihari, Uttam said the decision had been taken for both him and the chief minister to meet the CBI director. He said the state had urged the CBI to initiate an investigation based on findings of the NDSA, Vigilance and the CAG, but no Other decisions n  to complete land Nod acquisition for the Chinna n  Approval for nomination-based Kaleshwaram project, which governing bodies for Primary Agricultural will benefit about 45,000 acres Cooperative Societies (PACS) where tenure across 63 villages in Mahadevpur, has expired Kataram, Malhar Rao and n  Approval to develop Gachibowli Stadium Mahamutharam mandals. Of the required 2,427 acres, 1,020 acres under a PPP model. Of 76 acres, 64 acres will be developed for 21 sports disciplines, have been acquired. The Cabinet with outdoor stadium capacity raised from approved `166.67 crore for the 20,000 to 50,000. Plans include expansion remaining land of the swimming pool, a Sports University, n  Integrated Aqua Park to be set and athlete accommodation and training up near the Sripada Yellampalli facilities. The remaining 12 acres will be Project at Hajipur, with 85.10 acres used for commercial activity to support of Irrigation land to be allocated maintenance and programmes to the Fisheries department action had followed despite nine months having passed. Explaining the high court ruling on the Justice PC Ghose Commission, Uttam said that the order was not in favour of former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, T Harish Rao and others. He said: “They challenged the appointment of the Commission, stating that the government had not followed the provisions of the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952. But the high court has made it clear that the constitution of the Commission was not illegal and is not arbitrary They also . sought to revoke the Commission’s report, which the court rejected. With this, the report remains in existence. Only on small technical grounds did the high court direct the government not to take action based on this report. Nowhere in the order did the court say they are not guilty  continued on p4 .” RTC strike takes a shocking turn with 3 suicide attempts burn injuries. He was later shifted to a private facility in Hyderabad where his condition was deThe indefinite strike by Telan- scribed as “very critical”. gana State Road Transport CorTransport Minister Ponnam poration (TGSRTC) employees Prabhakar spoke to Shankar took a turn for the worse Goud’s family and on Thursday when three said that the govstaffers attempted suicide ernment has made at separate locations. One arrangements for of the three employees, a his specialised med55-year-old K Shankar ical treatment. Goud, suffered 60–80% Linga Reddy was burn injuries and another admitted to a priRTC driver, Linga Reddy K Shankar Goud vate hospital, where from the Bhadrachalam his condition too depot, allegedly consumed pes- was reported to be critical. ticide at his residence. Meanwhile, chairing a CabiAccording to sources, Shankar net meeting, Chief Minister Goud set himself on fire during A Revanth Reddy appealed to a protest at the Narsampet bus RTC employees not to take drasdepot. Colleagues doused the tic steps. He directed Deputy flames before shifting him to the Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti hospital. Doctors at MGM Hos- Vikramarka to hold talks with pital said he suffered 60–80% the workers.  continued on P4 Ex p r ess N e ws Serv i ce @ Warangal/ Khammam/ Nalgonda/ Hyderabad ‘Shoot and kill’ order Trump on Thursday issued shoot-at-sight orders on Iranian boats laying mines to choke traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. “I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be... that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait,” he said Not safe to travel to Iran now: India Indian embassy, Tehran cautioned against travelling to Iran in view of resumption of flights. “Airspace restrictions and operational uncertainties due to regional tensions continue to affect flight operations to and from Iran,” it said WITH THIS ISSUE PR E E T H A N AIR @ New Delhi in a sharp response to US President Donald Trump’s repost of a derogatory comment against India on social media, New Delhi on Thursday said that the comments are “uninformed, inappropriate and in poor taste”. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the remarks do not reflect the reality of the India-US relationship, which has long been based on mutual respect and shared interests. “We have seen the comments, as also the subsequent statement issued by the US Embassy in response. The remarks are obviously uninformed, inappropriate and in poor taste,” said Jaiswal. Hours after Trump reposted American political commentator and radio host Michael Savage’s podcast, the US went into day a damage control. Responding to queries from Indian media, a US embassy spokesperson said: “The President has said ‘India is a great country with a very good friend of mine at the top’.” The podcast also termed Indian and Chinese immigrants as “gangsters with laptops” who have “stepped on our flag”. Trump shared the transcript and video of the podcast, calling for changes in the US’ birthright citizenship law. “A baby here becomes an instant citizen, and then they bring in their entire family from China, or India, or some other hell-hole,” it said. The post drew sharp criticism from Opposition parties. “Modiji’s dear friend... has shared a note abusing India and using an extremely disparaging term,” said Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge. 55 CITY’S BEST WEEKEND GUIDE 36 PAGES, INCLUDING 24 OF INDULGE (TABLOID)