HYDERABAD l tuesday l november 03, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 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 S U C H I T R A K A LYAN MOHAN T Y @ New Delhi (Top) Union Minister Amit Shah waves at the public at MJ Market; thousands gather for the Maha Padayatra in Hyderabad on Monday | Vinay Madapu ‘Oppn stir to save infiltrators’ At Maha Padayatra, Amit Shah alleges 3 crore ‘infiltrators’ among 13 crore deleted voters G R a m M o h a n @ Hyderabad Accusing the Opposition of protecting Bangladeshi infiltrators, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday dubbed the INDIA bloc’s ‘Vote Bachao’ rally held in Delhi on Sunday a ‘Save Infiltrators’ rally . The BJP-organised Maha Padayatra in Hyderabad, in support of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), drew thousands of people, with party cadre raising slogans of “Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao”. Shah began with a visit to the Bhagyalakshmi temple before joining the march from Basheerbagh to Moazzam Jahi Market. Addressing a public meeting in the evening, Shah paid tributes to the Iron Man of India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and revolutionaries Komaram Bheem and Ramji Gond. He said Hyderabad would not have become part of the country had Patel not ensured the Nizam’s surrender. The Union minister then took a swipe at the Leader of the Opposition, saying Rahul Gandhi could become Prime Minister only in a mock Parliament. express read CM orders cleaner roads in Hyderabad Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy directed civic officials to tighten sanitation, expand treated wastewater use and prepare plans to ease traffic congestion. He warned of stringent action for lapses in garbage collection. Midterms put Trump’s grip to test Washington: Donald Trump and his Republican Party will make last-gasp pitches to midterm voters to hold back a Democrat wave that could sweep Congress and impose political constraints on the president for the first time in two years | P9 BJP won the polls in Maharashtra, Haryana, Delhi, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam even before the SIR exercise was launched. Modi became the prime minister with popular backing — Union Home Minister Amit Shah Dismissing allegations that 13 crore voters had been removed from the electoral rolls, Shah stated that six crore were people who had shifted their place of residence, while three crore were deceased persons. “There are three crore persons who have entered India illegally. Should their votes not be removed? The BJP won the polls in Maharashtra, Haryana, Delhi, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam even before the SIR exercise was launched. Modi became PM with popular backing from the people. How can the Congress blame EVMs when it loses and rejoice when it wins? The party is on a ventilator,” he said. Questioning whether the votes of those who had died should not be removed, Shah accused the Congress of indulging in vote-bank politics. Also accusing the Congress and the INDIA bloc of conspiring to halt the SIR exercise, the Union minister alleged that the Congress wanted to use infiltrators as its vote bank. He questioned how Rahul Gandhi could extend his support to them. He recalled that Modi had won the 2014 and 2019 elections with thumping majorities, even before the SIR exercise. Challenging the Congress to a debate in Parliament on SIR and EVMs, he asked whether the party was ready . Questioning the allegations of EVM misuse, Shah asked how the Congress had won Telangana if that was the case. He also asked how non-BJP parties had come to power in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Accusing the Congress of indulging in corruption, he alleged that taxes were being collected by Rahul Gandhi and Revanth Reddy and that the state had become an ATM for the party He said only the BJP . could stop the Congress from indulging in corruption. Asking whether the BRS and MIM could stop it, he urged people to ponder the question. Shah said the Congress had failed to keep its promises in the states ruled by it and urged party cadre to work with conviction to bring the BJP to power in Telangana. Union Minister for Mines G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar, BJP state president N Ramachander Rao, parliamentary board member Dr K Laxman, MPs Raghunandan Rao, Eatala Rajender, Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, DK Aruna, Dharmapuri Arvind and Goddam Nagesh participated in the rally . Later, Ramachander Rao thanked the party cadre and others who had actively participated in the padayatra. 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 crackers certified by NEERI and PESO short of adequate data to will be allowed in Delhi-NCR on the perdecide whether mitted days and time slot. Observing that bursting firecrackers would certainly or not a cause pollution, the bench said the right complete ban of an individual to engage in a particular would be the practice, which may have a religious colbest solution to our, is only a qualified one and cannot go solve the beyond the constitutional restrictions. problem of “Though imposition of a blanket ban pollution caused seems to be the ideal solution, we are of by firecrackers the opinion that this court, at this point in time, is short of adequate data to deSupreme Court cide 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. HC directs govt to stick to radar project afforestation deadline | p4 Cyclone Murasu: Parts of ‘Nobody will trust you’: SC rejects govt Telangana on red alert plea against Vedanta arbitration awards E x p ress Ne w s S er v ice @ Hyderabad With Cyclone Murasu closing in on the south Andhra Pradesh coast, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert for two Telangana districts, warning of extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places. Nalgonda and Nagarkurnool are likely to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall on Tuesday with isolated extremely , heavy spells. Suryapet, Mahbubnagar and Wanaparthy have been placed under an orange alert, with heavy to very heavy rainfall forecast at isolated places, according to the IMD. Thunderstorms accompa- nied by lightning and gusty winds of 50-60 kmph, reaching up to 70 kmph, are also likely in Nalgonda, Suryapet, Mahbubnag ar, Nag arkur nool and Wanaparthy . A yellow alert has been issued for Mulugu, Bhadradri Kotha gudem, Khammam, Mahbubabad, Warangal, Hanmakonda, Jangaon, Yadadri Bhuvana giri, Ran gareddy, Vikarabad, Narayanpet and Jogulamba Gadwal. These areas may experience heavy rainfall, thunderstorms and winds of 40-50 kmph, gusting to 60 kmph. The remaining districts may see thunderstorms accompanied by winds of 3040 kmph.  continued on p5 S U C H I T R A K A LYAN MOHAN T Y @ 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 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. 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 L A L I T HA @ 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: “ T h e D GC A 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. India’s first full solar village 141 homes, 282 kW, zero rupees in electricity bill E J A Z K A I S E R @ Raipur FOR as long as anyone in Khaira can remember, the monthly power bill sat on the kitchen shelf next to rice, medicines and groceries, 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 through 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 bills, 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 the electricity bill,” said Shohgil Gond, a widow. Chhattisgarh hamlet Khaira is India’s first 100% solar village | Express