pic: Sayantan Ghosh TIRUNELVELI l Monday l June 30, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l 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 the BJP’s ‘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 three-language policy from Class 1,” Fadnavis said. Following the announcement, the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and Uddhav 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 writ- er 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 that Uddhav wanted to implement the recommendations but now has taken a Uturn on the issue. 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 Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said the development is a victory of Marathi unity . Rly reservation chart to be out 8 hours ahead of departure RA J E S H K U M AR T HA K UR @ 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 M e 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) belonged to Khurda. 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” TN relaxes norms for `1K women honorarium scheme B AN B U S E LV AN @ Chennai In a major policy move aimed at supporting thousands of women from economically weaker sections, the Tamil Nadu government has relaxed the eligibility criteria for receiving the `1,000 monthly honorarium under the Kalaignar TN approves rates for land acquisition in Parandur S V K RI S HNA C HAI TANYA @ Chennai The Tamil Nadu government has approved land acquisition rates for the second Chennai airport proposed at Parandur in Kancheepuram district. The rates have been fixed from `35 lakh to `2.57 crore per acre based on the Guideline Value (GLV), sale value and private negotiations held at the district- and state-levels to arrive at a “fair” price. A Government Order was issued by V Arun Roy, secretary of the Industries, Investment Promotion and Commerce Department, on June 25. However, residents protesting a g ainst the project — since July 2022 — alleged that the state government, in its G.O., has “misleadingly” shown the GLV and sale value to be the same in a majority of cases in order to “deceive people”.  P5 express read Trump calls for a ceasefire deal in Gaza Tel Aviv:US President Donald Trump on Sunday urged progress in ceasefire talks in the 20-month war in Gaza, as Israel and Hamas appeared to move closer to a deal. “MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK” he said | P9 Magalir Urimai Thogai (KMUT) scheme. This decision will enable hundreds of eligible woman f amily members of the 13.23 lakh beneficiaries receiving pensions under four other social security schemes to qualify for the monthly honorarium. Currently, 1.14 crore woman family heads benefit from the KMUT scheme. Applications for new enrolment open on July 15. The Government Order to this effect was issued on Friday  . P5 The incident took place when the morning ‘pahada’ lifting (opening for darshan) rituals were started 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 Others who will qualify Women who have purchased four-wheelers with government subsidies will also qualify for the honorarium, as per the GO 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.