visakhapatnam l tuesday l november 03, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION bombay hc raps Imran khan for taking part in anti-cec protest The court said an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card holder cannot criticise the government as such persons are not on a par with Indian citizens Demands actor’s unconditional apology extends suspension of leave india notice A division bench of Chief Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Advait Sethna directed actor-director Imran Khan to furnish an unconditional apology for participating in protests demanding the resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar. Khan had approached the High Court challenging a notice that directed him to leave India by October 28 ■ ■ “If you want to protest, then go to the USA and participate in protests there, and you can even go and cast your vote, but protesting anything here won’t be tolerated,” the bench told Khan | P8 The HC extended operation of its earlier order suspending the Leave India Notice issued to Khan until he is given a chance to respond OCT 13 IS WHEN BJP leader Kirit Somaiya FILED A COMPLAINT AGAINST KHAN 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 diwali let-up Green crackers allowed in NCR only on Nov 7, 8 Seven fishermen rescued from stranded boat near Juvvaladinne off Kavali coast; (r) Road users face inconvenience as rain lashed Visakhapatnam | Express/G Satyanarayana AP geared up to face Murasu impact E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Vijayawada Severe cyclonic storm Murasu over the Bay of Bengal is likely to cross the Andhra Pradesh coast near Ongole between midnight on Monday and the early hours of Tuesday , bringing strong winds of 100120 kmph and heavy to ex- express read Fire breaks out at HPCL refinery Visakhapatnam: A fire broke out at the HPCL refinery in Visakhapatnam on Monday night, sending flames soaring into the air and billowing thick smoke over the surrounding areas, causing concern among residents. Fire tenders were pressed into service to contain the blaze, with firefighting teams working to bring the fire under contro I P5 Naidu seeks early Central assistance Vijayawada: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday urged the Centre to release financial assistance early to help AP recover from Cyclone Arnab, which caused estimated losses of `4,526 crore. Meeting the Central team assessing the damage, he sought speedy completion of its evaluation and recommendations I P4 Hourly Murasu alerts ordered Vijayawada: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday directed officials to issue hourly cyclone alerts, evacuate people from low-lying areas and complete restoration works within 48 hours. Though Murasu is expected to be less intense than Arnab, he stressed vigilance and water management in vulnerable districts I P4 tremely heavy rainfall across coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema districts. Andhra Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (APSDMA) Managing Director (MD) Prakhar Jain said on Monday that the cyclone was moving at a speed of 13 kmph during the past six hours. It was centred around 70 km from Kavali, 80 km from Nellore, 90 km from Ongole, 120 km from Bapatla and 170 km each from Tirupati and Machilipatnam. The cyclone is expected to cross the coast in the vicinity of central Ongole. Wind speeds are likely to reach 100-120 kmph during landfall. Authorities have warned of possible storm surges along the coastal areas of Bapatla and Krishna districts. Fishermen have been advised not to venture into the sea, while people have been urged to remain indoors. Heavy to extremely heavy rainfall is likely in parts of West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Bapatla, Palnadu, Prakasam, Markapuram and NelP4 lore districts. ‘Nobody will trust you’: SC rejects govt plea against Vedanta arbitration awards S U CHITRA KALYA N MOHA N TY @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the Centre’s appeal against the enforcement of two foreign arbitral awards in favour of mining major Vedanta and Ravva Oil (Singapore), questioning the government’s resistance and warning that prolonged litigation will undermine global trust in India’s arbitration framework. “Nobody will trust you,” a bench of justices J B Pardiwala and Manmohan said while rejecting the Centre’s appeal against the Delhi High Court’s July 1 order allowing the enforcement of the 2004 and 2016 Kuala Lumpur awards involving claims of $99 million. Criticising the Centre’s reluctance to accept the award, the bench asked: “What are these arguments? You are frustrating an arbitral award... at the stage of enforcement?” The bench said it found no error in the HC ruling, which had rejected the Centre’s objections to the awards. The dispute traces its origins to a 1994 production-sharing contract between the Union government and a consortium comprising ONGC, Videocon job traP 5 Vizag youths forced into Russian military N e e l i m a E at y @ Visakhapatnam Five youths from Visakhapatnam, who travelled to Russia in search of employment, have allegedly been forced into the Russian military after being promised jobs in food packing. Three of them have been sent to the Russia-Ukraine war zone, while the whereabouts of the other two remain unknown. One of the youths has released a video appealing to the Indian government and the Indian Embassy to intervene and bring them back home. He has also appealed to Prime Minister Modi to ensure their safe return. The youth in the video has been identified as Jettu Vamsi (19), a resident of Two of the five youths appeal to the Indian government for help I Express JN Number Colony in Duvvada. Another youth is identified as Satish. The remaining three are from Chodavaram (two) and Gajuwaka (one). In the video, Vamsi said the five had travelled to Russia for work. While working there, they met a person from Nepal who promised them jobs in food packing for the Russian army and helped them join. P4 Petroleum, Ravva Oil and Cairn Energy, whose interest passed to Cairn India and then to Vedanta for the development of Ravva oilfield in the Krishna-Godavari basin. Following disagreement between the government and the companies over the interpretation of the contract in determining how ONGC’s historic costs should be accounted for, the matter was referred to arbitration in Kuala Lumpur. The bench asked why the matter continued for so long when the first award was in 2004 and final award in 2016. Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee appeared for the Centre while Mukul Rohatgi and Akhil Sibal represented Vedanta and others. SC warns police officials of contempt action if its orders are not complied with S U CHITRA KALYA N MOHA N TY @ New Delhi HOLDING that a complete ban on firecrackers is not only facilitating illegal sale but also preventing people from purchasing legitimate green crackers, the Supreme Court on Monday allowed bursting of green firecrackers in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) from 6 am to 7 am and from 8 to 10 pm on November 7 and 8. Diwali falls on November 8 this year. A bench of justices M M Sundresh and Prasanna B Varale said the complete ban on firecrackers across Delhi-NCR will come back into force from November 9. “No firecrackers shall be burst within a 300-metre radius of hospitals, nursing homes, primary and district health centres, old-age homes and notified silence zones. These areas, along with educational institutions, will be declared No-Cracker Zones and appropriately marked and publicised,” the court said. The bench clarified that only green fireThis court is short crackers certified by NEERI and PESO of adequate data to decide whether will be allowed in Delhi-NCR on the peror not a complete mitted days and time slot. Observing that ban would be the bursting firecrackers would certainly best solution to cause pollution, the bench said the right solve the problem of an individual to engage in a particular of pollution caused practice, which may have a religious colby firecrackers our, is only a qualified one and cannot go Supreme Court beyond the constitutional restrictions. “Though imposition of a blanket ban seems to be the ideal solution, we are of the opinion that this court, at this point in time, is short of adequate data to decide whether or not a complete ban would be the best solution to solve the problem of environmental pollution, caused by bursting firecrackers,” the bench said in its October 29 order which was published on Monday . On the safety aspect, the court said boxes containing green crackers must be completely sealed to ensure that they are not mixed with any unauthorised or conventional firecrackers, and that there shall be no manufacture or sale of firecrackers joined in series (‘ladis’) and garlands. The court directed the Delhi Police, Uttar Pradesh Police, Haryana Police and district administrations in NCR to ensure strict compliance. It warned officials of contempt action if its directions are not complied with. Counting for 92 ULBs in AP today; 62.16% total voter turnout recorded S V i s w a n at h @ Vijayawada The counting of votes polled in 92 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) including 13 Municipal Corporations and 79 Municipalities / Nagar Panchayats across Andhra Pradesh will begin at 8 a.m. on Tuesday . According to the information shared by the State Election Commission (SEC) counting will be taken up for 3,186 wards, including 804 wards in 13 Municipal Corporations and 2,382 wards in 79 Municipalities and Nagar Panchayats. The Election Commission has made arrangements at 138 counting centres, with 556 counting halls and 6,831 counting tables to facilitate the process. A total of 47,817 personnel, Police personnel guard a strongroom on AU campus in Visakhapatnam | Express including counting supervisors, counting assistants and other counting staff, will be deployed for the exercise. Of these, 28,182 personnel will be engaged in counting for Municipal Corporations and 19,635 for Municipalities and Nagar Panchayats. The SEC has also arranged a total of 1,372 CC Cameras at strong rooms and counting halls to ensure transparency in the counting process. Meanwhile, an overall polling percentage of 62.16 was recorded in the elections to 92 urban local bodies (ULBs) held on Sunday According to the final . polling figures released by the State Election authorities, 60,22,411 votes were polled out o f a t o t a l e l e c t o r at e o f 96,89,061. Chimakurthy municipality in registered the highest voter turnout of 84.36 per cent, with 19,298 of the 22,876 voters exercising their franchise. Kanigiri in Markapuram district followed with 83.86 per cent, though polling was held in only P4 two wards. File photo Iran’s offer to reopen Strait, U.S. talks Iran moots two-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume nuclear talks with the US, shortening a process originally expected to take seven days | P9 Pilot rule: Char Dham chopper ops suspended S LALITHA @ New Delhi THE ongoing face-off between chartered flight operators in Uttarakhand and the aviation regulator over the co-pilot rule resulted in cancellation of all 40 Char Dham trips scheduled for Monday upsetting the travel , plans of 250 pilgrims. With no breakthrough emerging in the talks between the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the private operators on the new rule of two pilots per aircraft, the operators have decided to cancel chopper services for the rest of the season, which ends on November 7. A reputed operator, speaking on behalf of the 13 operators who run these trips, told TNIE: “The DGCA held a virtual meet with all of us on Monday We . reiterated what we had communicated to them earlier that it is not possible logistically or financially to operate every helicopter with two pilots. We made it clear that the operators’ view should have been sought before taking such a decision.” He added that a collective decision has been taken by all operators to suspend all Char Dham trips. An average of 40 trips are operated per day with six passengers accommodated per aircraft. “We will be cancelling all the trips and reimbursing the fare to the passengers though we will incur huge losses,” the operator said. The aerial pilgrim trip begins at the Sahastradhara helipad in Dehradun and covers Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath. It begins annually either in the last week of April or the first week of May and continues till June 25. After shutting down during the rainy season, it restarts by midSeptember and continues till the first week of November. In d i a ’ s f i r s t f u l l s o l a r v i l l a g e 141 homes, 282 kW, zero rupees in electricity bill E J A Z KAI S ER @ Raipur FOR as long as anyone in Khaira can remember, the monthly power bill sat on the kitchen shelf next to rice, medicines and grocery, competing for the same few rupees. This year, that bill lost its place. The tiny village in Chhattisgarh’s Rajnandgaon district is now India’s first to cover every household with rooftop solar under the ‘PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana’, officials said. All 141 homes now carry a 2 kW solar rooftop system, adding up to nearly 282 kW of clean energy capacity for its 889 residents. The villagers paid nothing. Central and state subsidies met the base cost, and corporate social responsibility funds covered the rest, ensuring zero out-of-pocket expenditure for the residents. “Khaira’s families have tran- How Khaira flipped the electricity playbook Khaira’s solar leap was not won through top-down mandates, but community trust. The breakthrough was driven by local mobilisers — known as PM Surya Sakhis — including local champion Sangeeta Sahu, working in tandem with self-help groups sitioned from passive, grid-dependent consumers into selfreliant urjadatas (energ y producers) who feed their surplus power back into the utility grid. The shift represents not just lower utility metres, but an empowering psychological pivot where clean technology is no longer an urban luxury but an , integral part of everyday rural domestic life,” Rajnandgaon Collector Jitendra Yadav told this newspaper. Sarpanch Bhupendra Yadav said rooftop solar has mostly reached city dwellers who can handle paperwork. Khaira, he said, put the most vulnerable households first. Of 141 homes, 93 are PMAY-G houses that got solar from day one. For those on fixed incomes, the change is personal. “I live alone and depend on my pension. Now I don’t have to worry about electricity bill,” said Shohgil Gond, a widow. Chhattisgarh hamlet Khaira is India’s first 100% solar village | Express