DHARMAPURI l sunday l march 30, 2025 l `12.00 l PAGES 24 l CITY EDITION Former Nepal king fined by civic body for inciting vandalism Former King Gyanendra Shah was issued a fine by Kathmandu’s civic body following damage to public property during pro-monarchy protests loss of public property on king’s call ‘agitation subverts nation-building’ Parts of Kathmandu witnessed a tense situation after pro-monarchy protesters pelted stones, attacked the office of a political party, set fire to vehicles and looted shops. As the protest was organised on the call of the deposed king, Kathmandu Metropolitan City’s mayor Balendra Shah asked him to pay Nepali Rupees 7,93,000 as ‘damage compensation’ ■ ■ Durga Prasai, who was the convener of Friday’s agitation, had met Gyanendra Shah a day before and received instructions to stage the agitation demanding reinstatement of monarchy and a Hindu state “Gyanendra Shah’s descent into political activism subverts nationbuilding efforts and weakens the country,” civil society leaders said 110 people have been injured and two died in the agitation in nepal 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 India rushes to Myanmar’s aid as earthquake toll tops 1,600 All eyes on NDA’s allies as Waqf Bill set for reintroduction mar in this difficult hour.” Two Indian naval ships, INS Satpura and INS Savitri, carryPRIME Minister Narendra ing 40 tonnes of humanitarian Modi on Saturday spoke to Min aid, have been dispatched to the Aung Hlaing, the leader of My- port of Yangon and two more anmar’s military-led govern- ships are set to sail shortly “If . ment, reaffirming India’s un- additional relief materials are wavering commitment to required, there are extra ships Myanmar in the wake of the stationed at Visakhapatnam, devastating 7.7-magnitude Sri Vijaya Puram, and Andaearthquake that has claimed man Islands ready to be deover 1,600 lives and left more ployed,” said Captain R Raghu than 3,400 injured. Nair of the Indian Navy , As a first responder, New A field hospital with 118 perDelhi ramped up sonnel, including relief and rescue doctors and medefforts under ‘Opics, is set to be aireration Brahma’, lifted from Agra launched in the late Saturday. Toearly hours of Sattal aid sent to Yanurday, with the gon by air sorties first aircraft carryand Naval ships ing 15 tonnes of re- Narendra Modi, Min Aung Hlaing equals 137 tonnes, lief material taksources said. ing off from Hindon Air Force NDRF personnel have also been Base at 3 am for Yangon. deployed. Commandant P K TiShortly thereafter, two air- wary of the 8th NDRF battalion craft carrying search and res- in Ghaziabad, near Delhi, is cue personnel, equipment, and leading the Urban Search and canines departed for Myanmar, Resue team, an official said. followed by additional shipNDRF Deputy Inspector Genments of relief material and eral (Operations) Mohsen personnel to support the exten- Shahedi said the next 24-48 sive operation. hours are crucial for the team After speaking to the Myan- to play an active role on the mar leader, Modi said on X: ground. The team is also bring“Spoke with Senior General ing rescue dogs for the colMin Aung Hlaing of Myan- lapsed structure search and mar... As a close friend and rescue operation, following Inneighbour, India stands in soli- ternational Search and Rescue darity with the people of Myan- Advisory Group guidelines. P r e e t h a N a i r @ New Delhi Modi speaks to junta govt head Min Aung Hlaing, rushes over 137 tonnes of relief material Express News Service @ New Delhi SC/ST cases fell by 6% in 2024, says CM S u ba s h i n i V i jaya k u m a r @ Chennai Effective awareness campaigns and proactive measures led to a decrease in the number of cases registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by 6% in 2024 compared to 2023, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Saturday . He was addressing a meeting of the state-level Vigilance and Monitoring Committee of the Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department constituted under his chairmanship, at the Secretariat here. However, a closer look at the data, accessed inde pendently by TNIE, reveals while overall number of cases have decreased, cases of heinous crimes — including murder, sexual abuse and Pocso cases — filed under the Act have increased since last year. According to the data presented at the meeting, 1,954 cases were registered under the Act in 2022 which increased to 2,068 in 2023 before dropping to 1,939 in 2024. This means that there was a 5.8% increase from 2022 to 2023, followed by a 6.24% decline in 2024. In the first two months of 2025 alone, 414 cases have been filed.  P5 Ye Aung (top) accompanies his wife on their way to a hospital after she was rescued from the rubble of an apartment building in Mandalay | AFP Why frequent quakes in SE Asia? Myanmar’s geographical position between the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates makes it a high-risk zone for seismic activity. Friday’s earthquake occurred due to the horizontal movement of these plates, a phenomenon known as “strike-slip faulting,” according to the US Geological Survey. The boundary between the two plates — the Saigang Fault— runs through Mandalay and Yangon, placing millions at risk Former HC judge Nirmal Yadav gets clean chit in ‘cash-at-judge-door’ case H a r p r e e t B a j w a @ Chandigarh A special CBI court on Friday acquitted former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge, Justice Nirmal Yadav, in the 17year-old ‘cash-at-judge’s -door’ corruption case, citing prosecution’s failure to prove charges against the accused. The verdict comes amid a raging controversy over the discovery of burnt cash at the residence of Delhi High Court judge Yashwant Varma on March 14. Three accused—Ravinder Singh Bhasin, Rajiv Gupta, and Nirmal Singh—were acquitted, while Sanjiv Bansal, a former Haryana AAG, passed away dur- ing the trial. The much-awaited journalists after the verdict, verdict in the 17-year-old case Justice Yadav said that she has centres on a `15 lakh cash pack- full faith in the judiciary and et misdelivered to Justice Nir- the verdict is the victory of the maljit Kaur, another judge of truth. The prosecution examthe same court, due to a ined 69 out of 84 witmix-up on August 13, 2008, nesses, with the high allegedly meant to bribe court later allowing 12 Justice Yadav for a propmore witnesses. erty deal. Justice Yadav went on The verdict was proleave in 2009 after being nounced by Additional named in the scandal Sessions Judge Alka Maand was later translik. Advocate Vishal Garg Nirmal Yadav ferred to the UttaraNarwana, representing khand High Court. Justice Yadav, said, “A false narThe CBI’s 2009 closure request rative was set that money was was rejected, leading to further sent as a bribe, but there was no investigation. In 2014, Justice such evidence, and the court ac- Yadav was charged under the quitted everyone.” Speaking to Prevention of Corruption Act. EmpurAAN to face 17 cuts Mohanlal-starrer L2:Empuraan’s producers opted to make some changes after RSS mouthpiece Organiser criticised it. They will remove a few scenes and mute certain dialogues. Sources said there will be 17 cuts | P5 standing ovation TT ace A Sharath Kamal soaks in the moment after his final match of his storied career, in Chennai on Saturday | martin louis With the government set to reintroduce the contentious Waqf Bill (amendment) in Parliament next week for passage, the focus has shifted to four NDA allies who have a strong support base among Muslims in their respective states. Amid protests by Muslim bodies, Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday asserted that the Waqf Bill will be introduced in the ongoing Budget session of Parliament, which concludes on April 4. The firm stance by several Muslim organisations against the Waqf Bill has put the NDA allies — Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Janata Dal (United), Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) — between a rock and a hard place. Muslim groups have told them to either ‘withdraw support to the bill or risk losing their support’. Significantly, Muslim organisations boycotted an Iftar party hosted by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over his support to the bill. However, the JD (U) maintained that the party held wide consultations with Muslim bodies, adding the changes suggested by it have been accepted by the JPC scrutinising the bill. Congress sources said that the Opposition is on a ‘wait and u s i l a m pa t t i c o p m u r d e r prime accused shot in cumbum forest, critical Express News Service @ Madurai The prime accused in the Usilampatti police constable murder case, B Ponvannan (27), was shot in the chest and back by police allegedly after he knifed a cop and attempted to escape in the Cumbum forests on Saturday Ponvannan has been ad. mitted at the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai for treatment and is in a critical condition, Madurai Superintendent of Police B K Aravind said. Three other suspects from his gang — Sivanesan, Prabhakaran and Baskaran — were also arrested, he added. Aravind told TNIE that Cumbum police arrested all four accused persons, including Ponvannan, from Kerala and handed them over to the Madurai police team. “When the Madurai police team took them to an area in Cumbum on the highway in the wester n ghats, Ponvannan took out a weapon he had concealed and assaulted a police con- Ponvannan is currently unconscious, said hospital sources | Express stable. He then attempted to assault an inspector who shot him in self-defence,” he said. Sources said that Ponvannan knifed constable Sundarapandian in the hand and Inspector Anand shot him in self-defense, once in the chest and twice in his back. Ponvannan was taken to the Government Medical College Hospital in Theni for first aid before being shifted to GRH in Madurai, police said. GRH sources said Ponvannan is unconscious. Sundarapandian is being treated in a government hospital in Cumbum.  P5 high tax & oversaturation Puducherry in low spirits as several restobars, microbreweries shut door D e b j a n i d u t ta @ Puducherry Puducherry’s restobar and microbrewery boom has finally burst with business dropping about 30% compared to last year. Insiders say that at least seven restobars are up for sale and two out of the four microbreweries in the town have shut shop. Oversaturation, de- cline in tourism, rising costs, and licensing and taxation policies are being blamed for the sharp slump faced by the businesses. C Elavazhagan, owner of Hoppers, one of the first restobars in the region, says the number of restobars surged post the Covid-19 pandemic thanks to the Puducherry gov- ernment’s liberal licensing policy “Before the pandemic, Pu. ducherry had just five or six resto bars. Now, there are 221 under the FL2 (tourism) category, in addition to 205 regular bars. The Puducherry region alone has 341 bars — 194 resto bars and 147 regular bars — spread across just 293 sq km,” Elavazhagan explains. Microbreweries, which require significant investment, have been hit the hardest. Two units — one on Mission Street and another in Anna Nagar — have shut. Rangaraju Narayanasamy partner at the Catama, r a n B r e w i n g C o m p a n y, Puducherry’s first microbrewery which opened in 2021, attributes the difficulties to outPhoto: SRIram R dated polices that don’t align with trends in neighbouring states or globally. The biggest hurdle is the excise duty structure, according to sources. “We have to pay excise on installed capacity, not actual sales. Even if we don’t sell, we still owe taxes,” laments Elavazhagan, who had to close down his microbrewery  . P5 Naidu promises to offer protection Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has promised to protect the Waqf properties in the state. “My govt is committed to do justice to Muslims,” he said at an Iftar party hosted in Vijayawada. watch mode’ on the stand of the NDA allies. “JD (U) and TDP will be exposed if they support the Bill in Parliament,” said a leader. In a sign of ‘all is not well’ is the NDA camp in poll-bound Bihar, Union minister and LJP chief C h i r a g Pa sw a n e x pressed dismay over ally BJP’s communal rhetoric. “I have always maintained that religion is a personal choice and we shouldn’t interfere in it. We are in alliance with the BJP , but I am against playing HinduMuslim politics,” he said. On Saturday, Paswan came down heavily on the UP police’s diktat of taking legal action and cancelling passports of those who offer Eid namaz on roads. His comments came a day after another Union minister and RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary described the UP government’s move as “policing towards Orwellian 1984”. 17 Maoists neutralised in Sukma encounter EJA Z KAISER @ Raipur Seventeen Maoists were killed in a fierce gun-battle with security forces along the inter-district border area of Sukma-Dantewada near Gogunda-Upampalli hilly terrain, about 480 km south of Raipur in Chhattisgarh on Saturday . Four security personnel, three from Sukma’s District Reserve Guards (DRG) and a CRPF jawan, were injured. The Indian Air Force evacuated them, and all are stable. “Seventeen Maoist bodies, including including those of 11 women cadres have been recovered. The encounter began at 8 am under the Kerlapal police station limits,” said state Home Minister Vijay Sharma. This marks the fifth Maoist encounter in Bastar this March. So far, 133 Maoists have been killed this year in Chhattisgarh, including 117 in Bastar. Based on intelligence, a joint team of Sukma DRG and CRPF’s 159th battalion launched the operation on Friday. Among the dead is Kuhdami Jagdish, a CPI (Maoist) State Zonal Committee Member, who carried a `25 lakh bounty. Security forces recovered arms, including an AK-47, INSAS rifle, and explosives. The Bastar police are identifying other bodies. Union home minister Amit Shah, set to visit Dantewada on April 3, has set a March 2026 deadline to eliminate Maoists. WITH THIS ISSUE The Great Visa Imbroglio PLUS 12 PAGES