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 ■ ■ 152 TIRUCHY l saturday l march 29, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late city EDITION dead & counting as 7.7 quake flattens myanmar, Thailand a g encies @ Bangkok A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighbouring Thailand on Friday, destroying scores of buildings, a bridge and a dam. At least 144 people were killed in Myanmar, where photos and video from two hard-hit cities showed extensive damage. At least eight died in the Thai capital, where a high-rise under construction collapsed. The 7.7 magnitude quake, with an epicentre near Mandalay Myanmar’s second largest , Money matters Polls in mind, Bihar gets added Cabinet attention 3,712.40 cr 6,282.32 cr Cost ( in L) Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approves construction of 4-lane greenfield and brownfield Patna-ArrahSasaram corridor in Bihar on hybrid annuity mode CCEA approves inclusion of Kosi Mechi Intra-State Link Project in Bihar under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana. Cost includes `3,652.56 crore Central assistance component `22,919 cr Cost Electronics component manufacturing scheme approved for making India Atmanirbhar in the electronics supply chain. Projected to attract investment of `59,350 crore; production of `4.5L crore worth of goods; generate 91,600 jobs cop murder Speaker evicts AIADMK MLAs from TN House Express News Service @ Chennai AIADMK MLAs, led by Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami, were evicted en masse from the Assembly on Friday after the legislators caused a commotion, insisting Speaker M Appavu to permit Palaniswami to raise an issue of “urgent public importance” during the zero hour at the House. Speaking to reporters outside the Assembly after being evicted, Palaniswami said he had wanted to draw the House’s attention to the murder of police constable, B Muthukumar (34), near Usilampatti in Madurai district on T h u r s d a y. However, the Speaker of the Assembly refused Edappadi him permisK Palaniswami sion to do so, Palaniswami said. During the zero hour at the Assembly Leader of the , House Duraimurugan said the speaker should only allow members to raise a specific issue if they had given notice in advance and if the respective minister was ready with a reply Allowing . the opposition leader to do so otherwise would set a bad precedent, he said. Palaniswami, in response, said there had been precedent of issues of urgent public importance being raised during zero hour. P7 city struck at midday and was , followed by a strong 6.4 magnitude aftershock. The full extent of deaths, injury and destruction was not immediately clear — particularly in Myanmar, one of the world’s poorest countries. It is embroiled in a civil war and infor mation is tightly controlled. The head of Myanmar’s military government said in the televised speech on Friday evening that at least 144 people were killed and 730 others were injured. Photos from Naypyidaw showed multiple buildings used to house civil servants destroyed, and rescue crew pulling victims from beneath the rubble. Myanmar has declared a state of emergency . Near Bangkok’s popular Chatuchak market, a 33-storey building under construction, with a crane on top, crumpled into a cloud of dust, with onlookers screaming and running in a video posted on social media. The sound of sirens echoed throughout central Bangkok and vehicles filled the streets, leaving some of the city’s already congested streets gridlocked. The elevated rapid transit system and subway shut down. While the area where the quake struck is prone to earthquakes, they are usually not so big and it is rare for them to be felt in the Thai capital, which sits on a river delta and is at moderate risk for quakes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “India stands ready to offer all possible assistance.” P11 1,500 earthquakes have hit myanmar since 1950 till the present day why are shallow quakes lethal? A videograb of onlookers near the 33-storey high-rise in Bangkok that collapsed on Friday after the earthquake | AP The earthquake that hit Myanmar and Thailand on Friday was shallow, as per the US Geological Survey. Shallow earthquakes are more dangerous than deeper ones due to their greater energy release closer to the Earth’s surface. Seismic waves from deeper quakes lose energy by the time they reach the surface. No FIR for now against Courts step up to save free speech quashes FIR interim bail Justice Varma, says SC Supreme CourtPratapgarhi HC grantsKunal Kamrato against Imran comedian Says CJI can take call after inquiry Bar body upset ews J Nedumpara, Hemali Suresh Kurne, Rajesh Vishnu Adrekar and Mansha Nimesh CALLING it “premature”, the Mehta had submitted that their Supreme Court on Friday re- plea pertained to a larger pubjected a PIL seeking Delhi Po- lic interest and sought a direclice to register an FIR against tion from the court for registraDelhi High Court’s Justice tion of an FIR. Yashwant Varma over the alA fire at Justice Varma’s ofleged discovery of burnt wads ficial residence on March 14 led of cash from his official resi- to the alleged discovery of dence on March 14. wads of burnt cash in A bench of Justices an outhouse of the Abhay S Oka and Ujjal judge’s residence. JusBhuyan said an intice Varma was not in house inquiry was in New Delhi at the time prog ress and there of the fire, and has dewould be several opnied all charges. tions open to the Chief Subsequently, CJI Justice of India after Sanjiv Khanna formed Yashwant Varma the probe’s conclusion. a three-member inThe bench, therefore, house panel, consistrefused to examine the plea of ing of Justice Sheel Nagu, advocate Mathews J Ne- Chief Justice of the High Court dumpara and three others. of Punjab and Haryana, Jus“We have seen the prayers. tice G S Sandhawalia, Chief After the in-house inquiry is Justice of the High Court of over, several options are open. Himachal Pradesh, and Anu SiIf the report indicates some- varaman, Judge of the High thing is wrong, the chief jus- Court of Karnataka. The panel tice (of India) can direct the has been mandated with an inregister of the FIR or refer the quiry into the allegations matter to the Parliament after against Justice Varma, the secexamining the report,” the ond senior-most Judge of the court said. Petitioners Math- HC of Delhi. suchitra kalyan mohanty @ New Delhi ‘Allahabad HC turned into dumping ground’ Allahabad HC Bar Association president Anil Tiwari said they will boycott Justice Varma’s swearing-in. “I don’t know what compelled the govet to issue this transfer notification.” Cash row: 1991 SC order back in focus The SC rejecting a plea for FIR brought into focus its 1991 verdict virtually granting immunity to judges. A bench in the K Veeraswami case directed no criminal case should be registered against a judge unless the CJI is consulted S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi R S I V A K U M A R @ Chennai THE Supreme Court on Friday quashed the FIR lodged by Gujarat police against Congress MP Imran Pratapgarhi over a poem in a video clip uploaded by him on social media. The 46-second video clip showed the Rajya Sabha MP being showered with flower petals as he walks, with the poem playing in the background. The FIR alleged it contained provocative lyrics that pitted communities against one another aside from hurting religious sentiments. A b e n c h o f j u s t i c e s A b h ay Imran S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said the poem Pratapgarhi had nothing to do with religion, caste, community, or any particular group, adding that the police must first understand the meaning of written or spoken words before lodging FIR in such cases. The court said it is important that people have the freedom to express through different forms of art including poetry drama, music, satire. , THE Madras High Court on Friday granted interim anticipatory bail till April 7 to comedian Kunal Kamra in a case registered against him by Khar police in Mumbai over his jokes on Maharashtra deputy CM Eknath Shinde. “The petitioner has satisfied this court as to why he is unable to approach the courts in Maharashtra immediately for protection,” Justice Sunder Mohan said in his order. In his petition, Kamra said he has been a resident of Tamil Nadu’s VilluKunal Kamra puram district since 2021 and that he fears physical harm if he travels to Maharashtra in response to the summons by Khar police. While granting interim protection, Justice Sunder Mohan directed Kamra to execute a bail bond before the judicial magistrate. Justice Mohan also issued notice to Khar police and posted the matter to April 7.