SAMBALPUR l friday l april 24, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l CITY EDITION NGT shoots notices to 6 cricket stadiums for non-compliance The National Green Tribunal has sent notices to six stadiums, including the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi for non-compliance of tribunal order PIC: Sayantan Ghosh in focus: groundwater to maintain stadia The plea was against use of groundwater or fresh water to maintain cricket grounds instead of the sewage treatment plant (STP)-treated water. And also against not installing rainwater harvesting systems. The NGT bench said seven stadiums failed to submit their replies despite repeated directions; only Hyderabad has sought time to reply ■ 2021 IPL matches may get affected ■ Notices sent to Arun Jaitley Stadium, Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh Stadium (Raipur), Sawai Mansingh (Jaipur), Dr DY Patil Stadium (Mumbai), Ekana Stadium (Lucknow), Barabati Stadium (Cuttack) Lucknow, Delhi, Jaipur and Raipur are hosting matches this IPL season and NGT is asking why activity should not be stopped I P11 year of order , mandating stp-treated water & rainwater harvesting 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 Transport chaos: Commuters endure massive traffic gridlock in Chennai Small & big: India’s smallest booth of 5 voters in Theni witnesses 100% polling Thousands heading out of Chennai to exercise their franchise in hometowns were caught in an unprecedented gridlock. The traffic jams on GST Road, Chennai Bypass, and other arterial stretches which began around 9 pm on Wednesday, persisted until 1 pm on Thursday The smallest polling booth in the country at Vellimalai in Theni recorded 100% voting with all its five registered voters exercising the franchise. A nine-member team of polling officials and policemen travelled nearly 80km through rugged hilly terrain to set up the booth Administrative mismatch: 2K voters of 6 villages boycott poll in Pudukkottai Aggrieved over access to govt services, 2,000 residents of six villages in R Palakuruchi panchayat boycotted poll. Though its revenue area comes under Pudukkottai, the panchayat is part of Tirupathur seat in Sivaganga, making it hard for residents to access services Super massive polling again TN sees unprecedented 85% turnout Bengal voting highest since Independence T M u r u g a n a n g h a m @ Chennai The high-stakes campaign of political parties for the Assembly poll in Tamil Nadu received an equally enthusiastic response from the electorate on the day of polling as the state recorded an unprecedented 85% voter turnout on Thursday . Though the sharp jump from 73.6% in 2021 Assembly polls is predominantly driven by the shrinking of the state’s electorate by about 67 lakh from 6.41 crore to 5.73 crore due to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the scenes at polling booths indicated palpable enthusiasm from voters, particularly from the younger population, in participating in the democratic process. The entry of actor C Joseph Vijay through his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam has already raised the expectations on the surprises the election results may throw up on May 4, when the final results are expected to reveal whether these numbers will translate into substantial realignment of the political order in Tamil Nadu. All districts registered above Hundreds of voters wait in queue to cast their vote at a polling booth in Kallikuppam in Ambattur, Chennai, on Thursday | P Jawahar 75% voter turnout, and around 20 districts registered above 85%. Significantly, of the 234 Assembly constituencies, only seven recorded a voter turnout below 75%, while 42 have recorded voter turnout above 90%, indicating that the participation was widespread. In absolute numbers, the total number of people who voted in the polls went up by 24 lakh from 4.63 crore in 2021 to roughly 4.87 crore in 2026. In 2024 Lok Sabha polls, 4.39 crore voters had exercised their franchise. While incumbent Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin is pitching his re-election as a high-stakes battle for state autonomy against central over- reach, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and the BJP were campaigning S U B H E NDU M A I T I @ Kolkata on the economic promise of a “double-engine government”. West Bengal on Thursday recorded its highest-ever voting perActor Vijay is riding on youth centage since Independence at 91.78 for the first phase of assemsupport to challenge the longbly elections, 7.06% mere than the previous best of 84.72% in standing DMK-AIADMK 2021. Voter enthusiasm was visible though the Election Commisduopoly . sion of India’s ongoing special intensive revision axed 91 lakh The high voter turnout is usunames from the electoral rolls citing various reasons. ally read as a signal of people What also stood out was the rather peaceful polling as no loss expecting change. In the 2011 Asof life was reported, though stray incidents of violence were sembly elections, the state witreported from a few districts. Prime Minister Narendra Modi nessed the highest voter turnout congratulated the Election Commission for the peaceful polling. of 78,29%. The incumbent DMK “For the first time in the last 50 years Bengal witnessed peaceful government lost, and the AIADelections with less incidents of violence in the first phase. I conMK came to power. However, gratulate the Election Commission…” he said. there is a need for caution Polling was held in 152 of the total 294 seats in the since 2016 witnessed a state in the first phase. The second phase for the higher tur nout of remaining 142 seats is scheduled for April 29. 74.8% than 73.6% in Women (92.69%) outnumbered men (90.92) at the 2021, but the incumpolling booths, which made it more difficult to bent AIADMK reread the mandate. tained power in Violence erupted in Nawda in Murshida2016 and it lost bad district after supporters of the power in 2021. Mamata-led Trinamool Congress and According Humayun Kabir’s Aam Janata Unnayto ECINET an Party clashed with each other, portal at 11 prompting the Central Armed Parapm, the military Force to resort to lathi charge. Veerapandi Kabir, an expelled Trinamool leader, Assembly is a candidate there. constituency In Kumarganj, BJP candidate Subpolled the highA newlywed couple after casting vote rata Sarkar was assaulted by goons. est (93.40%). in Pettai, Tirunelveli | v karthik alagu Trump’s hell-hole jibe on India ‘in poor taste’: Govt P R E E T HA NA I R @ 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 a damage control. Responding to queries from Indian media, a US em- day 55 bassy spokesperson said: “The President has said ‘India is a great country with a very good friend of mine at the top’.” In the podcast, Savage 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 Savage Nation, 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 on the planet,” it said. The social media post invited scathing criticism from Opposition parties. “Modiji’s dear friend, ‘Namaste Trump’ has shared a note abusing India and using an extremely disparaging term. Modi ji remains absolutely mum on these ridiculous utterances,” said Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge. ‘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: Indian embassy The Indian embassy in 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 in its advisory Worried over assaults, state directs police cover for Census staff Sudarsan Maharana @ Bhubaneswar As incidents of assault and harassment of Census officials during field duty reported from several areas have raised an alarm, the state government on Thursday issued a standard operating procedure (SOP) mandating police support for enumerators and supervisors undertaking doorto-door visits for house listing and housing operations. The Revenue and Disaster Management (R&DM) department has also advised field staff to engage with local community leaders prior to commencing work in any locality . This would help secure community support, facilitate smoother interactions and build trust for smooth conduct of Census activities, it emphasised. The month-long house listing exercise started on April 16. However, reports of Census personnel, particularly enumerators and supervisors, being attacked during field duty have surfaced from several districts like Dhenkanal and Mayurbhanj. The incidents have prompted teachers’ associations to demand adequate protection and insurance coverage for personnel engaged in the enumeration process. On Wednesday, three members of a family in Kamakhy- Any individual who obstructs or interferes with census work is liable for legal action and such offenses may result in penalties including fines and/or imprisonment for a term up to three years Arabinda Padhee, R&DM secy anagar of Dhenkanal were arrested for allegedly attacking four teachers, including two women, during Census work, leaving them injured. Additional chief secretary revenue and Disaster Management department Arabinda Kumar Padhee asked all district collectors, SPs and municipal commissioners and Census officers to strictly implement the directive. The SOP will ensure safety and security of officials, especially the enumerators and supervisors, and facilitate smooth and timely completion of the Census work in the state, Padhee said. As per the SOP the names and , contact details of all Census enumerators and supervisors will be shared with the respective police stations and field staff will also be provided with contact details of the nearest police station.  Continued on P5 express read Networked Army system to unify land strike assets Summer vacation to be advanced in view of heatwave: Pujari New Delhi: The Army has initiated the development of an indigenous, networkcentric fire control system that could fundamentally transform the way its artillery and missile units operate, plugging gaps in real-time battlefield integration. The Army’s Directorate General of Information Systems (DGIS) has issued a Request for Information, the first step in the tendering process, for the development of a Land Vectors Control & Coordination System (LVCCS). It is designed as a digital backbone to integrate all land-based strike assets into a single, automated grid | P7 Bhubaneswar: As Odisha is reeling under intense heatwave conditions, the state government has decided to prepone summer vacation for educational institutions across the state, said Revenue and Diaster Management minister Suresh Pujari on Thursday. Summer vacation for schools are usually announced in the fist week of May. However, the minister told mediapersons that a proposal to advance the summer vacation for schools and anganwadi centres have been submitted to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) and a decision on the matter will be taken shortly | P3