pic: Sayantan Ghosh visakhapatnam l monday l june 30, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION red alert in many states as monsoon covers entire India Southwest monsoon has covered entire country 9 days earlier than usual, bringing rain in Delhi and other northern states cloudburst in uttarakhand kills two Shimla-kalka rail line suspended The IMD has issued a red alert for heavy rainfall on June 29 and 30 in Uttarakhand, including Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Dehradun, Tehri, Pauri, Haridwar and Nainital. Authorities have put the Chardham yatra on hold for a day for the safety of pilgrims. A cloudburst in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi early Sunday left two construction workers dead ■ Services on the Shimla-Kalka rail line — a UNESCO world heritage — were suspended on Sunday after boulders and trees fell on the tracks following overnight rains in Solan. A bridge was also washed away ■ Jharkhand’s capital Ranchi, which has been experiencing rainfall since Sunday morning, is likely to receive heavy rain till July 2 June 26 in 2020 was the last time monsoon had arrived earlier than usual 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 Maharashtra govt rescinds orders on 3-language policy S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i @ Mumbai THE Maharashtra government on Sunday decided to rescind the decision to introduce Hindi as a third language in primary schools, a move that was panned by opposition parties as part of ‘Hindi imposition’. Announcing the decision on Sunday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said: “The state cabinet has decided to withdraw the Government Resolutions issued in April and June regarding the implementation of the threelanguage policy from Class 1.” Following the announcement, the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirm a n S e n a a n d U d d h av Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) cancelled their protest march planned on July 5 against the earlier government orders on teaching Hindi in primary schools. Fadnavis said a committee headed by economist and writer Narendra Jadhav will be formed to study the three-language formula and submit a detailed report on whether it can be implemented in primary schools. Till then, the government orders about introducing Hindi as a third language stand cancelled, he said. “The decision of third language policy was accepted by former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray as it was recommended by scientist Raghunath Mashelkar. One Shiv Sena (UBT) member even said that Marathi, English, and Hindi should be made mandatory up to graduation level,” Fadnavis said, adding Uddhav wanted to implement the recommendations but later took a U-turn. Uddhav dismissed the claim, saying he had appointed a study group on Mashelkar panel suggestions, but the group did not hold even a single meeting Meanwhile, political observers said the move might dent Fadnavis’ image as he would now been seen as buckling under pressure. Rly reservation chart to be out 8 hours ahead of departure RA J E S H KUMAR THAKUR @ New Delhi Relatives of the deceased mourn the deaths in Puri; people gather near chariots of Lord Jagannath during the annual ‘Rath Yatra’ in Puri, Odisha, on Sunday | PTI Three crushed in stampede at Puri Several injured in incident near Gundicha temple; tragedy when trucks entered crowded area Raj Kumar Mohanty & As i s h Me h ta @ Puri/Bhubaneshwwar THREE devotees, including two women, were killed and six others suffered injuries when a stampede-like situation broke out in front of Gundicha Temple in Puri here in the wee hours on Sunday After chariot. pulling was completed as part of Rath Yatra, all three chariots were parked in front of the temple when the tragedy took place around 4.20 am. The temple is significant for being the destination of the annual Rath Yatra. Two of the victims died on the spot while the third succumbed in a hospital. Six more injured have been admitted to the district headquarters hospital, Puri collector Sidharth Shankar Swain said. The deceased were identified as Basanti Sahu (36) of Bolagarh, Pravati Das (45) from Balipatna and Prema Kant Mohanty (78) from Khurda. The Collector, SP shunted Guv condoles deaths Just after the tragedy, Puri collector Siddharth Shankar Swain and SP Vinit Agrawal were transferred, while DCP Bishnu Pati and Commandant Ajay Padhi were suspended for the serious lapses Odisha Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati on Sunday expressed grief over the death of three persons in the crush. Kambhampati said on X: “Saddened by tragic loss of lives in the unfortunate stampede at Saradhabali” If you don’t perform, I will say goodbye, warns Naidu S G u r u S r i k a n t h @ Vijayawada Aiming for a splendid performance in the 2029 general elections, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo and Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has warned that underperforming leaders will be shown the door. Robbery bid on Visakha Exp foiled B a n d h a v i A n n a m @ Guntur A robbery attempt on the Visakha Express was foiled by the alert escort police, who opened fire in the air to scare away a gang near Tummalacheruvu village in Palnadu district in the early hours of Sunday . According to the Railway Police, two unidentified miscreants pulled the alarm chain around 3.30 am, bringing the train to an unscheduled halt. When the escort police personnel got down from the train to look into the cause, the gang hurled stones at them, and fled into the nearby fields. In response, the police fired five rounds with a 9 mm pistol, and four with a 303 rifle in the air to scare away the gang. The train resumed its journey after a 10minute halt, Guntur Railway DSP P Akkeshwara Rao told TNIE. It is suspected that the miscreants might belong to a seven-member robber gang operating from the BiharP4 Maharashtra belt.  express read Congress to oppose Bihar’s voter revision New Delhi: As the Election Commission began revision of Bihar’s electoral rolls, Congress leader Praveen Chakravarty on Sunday said the party will oppose it. Congress is also questioning method adopted by EC for the revision | P7   He said preparations for the upcoming elections are in full swing, with a meticulous countdown of years, months, days and even hours. He also cautioned against unnecessary foreign visits by TDP leaders, warning that such actions will lead to swift removal. Though it was said in a lighter vein, the message was loud and clear. Marking the completion of the first year of the TDP-led NDA government, and the start of the second year, Naidu directed party leaders to actively take part in the door-to-door outreach programme for a month to better connect with P4 the people. incident took place when the morning ‘pahada’ lifting (opening for darshan) rituals had just begun leading to a sudden rush of devotees to catch a glimpse of the deities on the chariots. The gathering in front of Lord Jagannath’s chariot Nandighosa swelled and amid One-on-one meets soon CM Chandrababu Naidu announced one-on-one meetings with MLAs to review performance, and offer corrective suggestions the push and pull, people started falling over each other. Eyewitness accounts said two trucks entered the area to unload the ladder parts for fixing the chariots to facilitate pahandi of the deities to the Gundicha temple. Devotees had to squeeze themselves to pave the way for the vehicles and the tragedy occurred. Expressing anguish over the incident, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi sought forgiveness from devotees of Lord Jagannath for the loss of lives. He also directed a probe by Development Commissioner Anu Garg and announced a compensation of `25 lakh each for kin of the deceased persons. AS part of its efforts to ease passenger comfort, the rail ministry is planning to release reservation charts eight hours prior to a train’s departure. Currently, the charts are released four hours before the scheduled departure. The new system is expected to come into effect from next month. Early preparation and release of charts will help passengers on waitlisted tickets know their status early enough to make alternative arrangements in case of nonconfirmation. The decision follows a series of meetings between railway officials and Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on how to improve ticket booking and t r av e l c o nv e n i e n c e f o r passengers. “To improve travel uncertainty, the rail ministry has proposed the new time frame to release the reservation chart, most likely to be implemented by July 1 or a few days late as it requires some technical modification in the system,” said a senior official, adding OTPbased authentication for Tatkal bookings will start on July 1.