SAMBALPUR l friday l august 28, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l CITY EDITION Sehwag and Dravid’s sons to play together for India U19 Anvay Dravid Maiden call-up for Aaryavir in blues Legendary batters Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag's sons, Anvay and Aaryavir respectively, are set to play for India U19 in the Australia series It is a maiden India call-up for 18-year-old Aaryavir, who is currently playing for West Delhi Lions in the Delhi Premier League. He will be joining Anvay in the one-day squad where India U19 will play three matches from September 18. The junior cricket committee picked separate squads for the three one-day matches and two multi-day games vs Australia Aaryavir Sehwag Second series with India U19 for Anvay ■ ■ Anvay, the younger son of former India captain and coach Dravid, retained his place in the ODI squad after being part of the U-19 side that toured Sri Lanka last month The 17-year-old wicketkeeper-batter had scored 14 and 87 in the two youth ODIs he played during the tour 14 Dravid and Sehwag last played together for India 14 years ago 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 10 from Odisha traced, safe; Odia NRI couple still missing Big haircut, but Chandra says it’s against `3.9k cr E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e D IPA K M O N D A L @ New Delhi Emergency contact numbers of Embassy of India in Kathmandu: +977 985 131 6807, +977 970 910 7500, +977 981 032 6117 @ Bhubaneswar As the government stepped up efforts to locate people from Odisha in disaster-hit Nepal, 10 from the state have been traced, while an Odia NRI couple is still missing. Kulsum Nigar of Baripada in Mayurbhanj district, who had been to Nepal with a trekking team and gone missing since Tuesday has contacted her fam, ily and informed them about being safe. However, Sandeep Mohapatra and Sidharthi Kumari, the couple from Khurda who have settled in Melbourne in Australia, continue to be untraceable. Pritish Panda, the nodal officer appointed by the state government to assist people from Odisha stranded in Nepal, said the couple’s last GPS location was traced near the immigration counter at Timure, in the Nepal-Tibet border which suffered the worst devastation. The tour guide accompanying the couple is also untraceable. The location is also where 77 members of the Isha Foundation, who were on Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage, have been reported missing. Panda said their family in Odisha informed the state authorities about their disappearance, following which the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) was alerted for swift follow-up. “There is no news so far. We are trying to establish contact with them but have failed,” he said. The couple had travelled to Nepal on August 22 and was reportedly scheduled to proceed to Kailash Mansarovar. Their family last spoke to them around 8 pm on Continued on P7 August 25.  An area covered in mud and silt washed along the flash flood, near Trishuli Dam in Nepal on Thursday | PTI Toll up, 290 Indians uncontactable so far E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi At least 290 Indian nationals remain uncontactable in Nepal’s flood-hit Rasuwa district even as rescue teams have brought more people to safety and authorities race to establish the whereabouts of those stranded in the disaster zone. The External Affairs Ministry (MEA) said on Thursday that 54 Indians had been rescued so far. The number of workers rescued from the Trishuli-1 hydropower project has also risen sharply, with 63 workers now safe, compared with 33 reported earlier. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said Indian authorities were coordinating with Nepalese officials, state governments, tour operators and project authorities to trace those out of contact. Among those still uncontactable are two large Tamil Nadu groups of 37 and 49 people, who were travelling for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra through separate travel opera- Pilgrimage activity With Raksha Bandhan and Shravan Purnima approaching, pilgrimage activity in highaltitude areas is particularly heavy. The absence of a comprehensive record of travellers moving through the remote region is making it harder for authorities to determine the full number of people affected tors, Samrat Travels and Fly Everest Travels. Another group of 32 Indians from West Bengal, travelling through Samrat Travels, was reportedly in Timure, one of the areas affected by the disaster. Authorities are also trying to contact 61 Indians travelling through Richa Tours and 33 people from Kerala whose whereabouts remain unconfirmed. The government has stressed that “uncontactable” does not mean that a person is necessarily missing, injured or dead. It indicates that officials have so far been unable to establish communication. The scale of the disaster is growing. The official death toll rose to 362, including three in Tibet, while Nepal authorities reported 910 people missing. A newly formed lake at the flood site is also reportedly rising after a river blockage, prompting Nepal’s disaster authorities to warn residents and rescuers to stay away from riverbanks amid fears of a possimore on: P9, 11 ble outburst.  ‘Retirement no shield from CJI invite row: NLSIU contempt’: HC tells ex-DGP cancels convocation Khurania to face proceedings E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bengaluru E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Cuttack Retirement from office will not protect an official from contempt proceedings for wilful disobedience of a court order, the Orissa High Court has ruled and directed former Odisha DGP Yogesh Bahadur Khurania to face proceedings over non-compliance with an order concerning reinstatement of a police sub-inspector (SI). The single judge bench of Justice Sanjay Kumar Mishra, while hearing the SI Sagarika Parida’s contempt petition on August 24, issued a show-cause notice to Khurania, asking why he should not be tried and punished under Section 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. Khurania has superannuated on August 16. The court also made it clear that pendency of a special leave petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court cannot stall contempt proceedings in the absence of an interim stay . Parida, appointed as a SI in 2017, was discharged from serv- ice on November 12, 2020, for allegedly suppressing information about criminal cases during pre-appointment verification. However, the high court had quashed the discharge order in September 2025 after finding that the three cases cited by the state had already ended in her acquittal. The order directing her reinstatement with consequential benefits was subsequently upheld by a division bench on June 22, 2026. The court had also directed that the period of her discharge be treated as “on duty” and the financial benefits calculated and released. When the state failed to comply, Parida filed the contempt petition on January 12, this year, naming Khurania as the sole contemnor. On August 24, instead of filing the promised compliance affidavit, the state produced instructions indicating that an SLP had been filed in the Supreme Court against the June 22 judgment and sought a halt to the contempt proceedings.  Continued on P7 Modi, Putin to meet on SCO sidelines National Law School of India University (NLSIU) on Thursday cancelled its 34th annual convocation, initially scheduled to be held on September 12, citing “unavoidable circumstances”. The development comes amid pushback from students against Chief Justice of India Surya Kant attending the event. “Despite our collective best efforts, due to unavoidable circumstances, we are unable to hold the 34th annual convocation,” read a circular issued by the NLSIU administration on Thursday morning. This is the first time after the Covid19 pandemic that the university has cancelled a convocation ceremony . Graduating students of the 2026 batch will be conferred their degrees ‘in absentia’ after due approvals by NLSIU’s governing bodies. The students were left with the choice of receiving their certificates via courier or collecting them at the NLSIU campus. On August 15, around 165 students from the graduating class of 2026, 409 current students, and 128 alumni had signed an open letter to the university administration, expressing ‘unconditional solidarity’ with National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR, Hyderabad) students, who had opposed the CJI’s presence at their convocation. This invited Bar Council of India chairman Manan Kumar Mishra’s short-lived wrath. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek. Modi will first visit Tashkent on August 29 and 30 at the invitation of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, before travelling to Bishkek for the 26th SCO Summit from August 31 to September 1 | P9 AFTER a major controversy erupted over the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Essel Group chairman Subhash Chandra’s `6.5-crore repayment plan against admitted creditor claims of `22,006 crore, the media baron on Thursday said that the claims against him as a personal guarantor were just `3,992 crore. In a statement, Chandra said he had not personally borrowed money from any lender and was only a personal guarantor for the loans raised by Vivek Infracon, Spirit Textiles and Churu Enterprises. Chandra further said that `620 crore of these claims had already been settled, while the borrowing entities had offered to pay `1,113 crore to multiple lenders. Discussions are continuing, he said. On Tuesday, the NCLT’s Delhi Bench had approved the repayment plan despite objections from Subhash Chandra financial creditors over the size of the proposed recovery the conduct , of the resolution professional and the participation of entities alleged to be associated with Chandra. The repayment plan was approved by 80.814% of the creditors. However, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Canara Bank, LIC Housing Finance and some other lenders voted against it. Creditors opposing the plan argued that the proposed recovery amounted to over 99% haircut. While approving the plan, the tribunal held that its role was to examine whether the plan complied with the law and whether there was any statutory infirmity warranting its rejection. 4 Nagas killed in alleged Kuki ambush Guwahati: Amid signs of normalcy returning to Manipur following the resumption of inter-state bus services, alleged Kuki rebels carried out an ambush on Thursday, killing four Naga civilians. One other Naga individual was injured in the ambush while a student leader was reported missing. The incident occurred at around 8.30 am at a place between Makui Ashang and Thanamba Naga villages on the IT Road in Kukimajority Kangpokpi district. The victims were travelling from Makui village to Senapati which is a Naga-majority district bordering Nagaland when they were attacked. Manipur’s apex Naga organisation, ‘United Naga Council’ (UNC), condemned the “barbaric and calculated” attack on the Liangmai Naga civilians. “It was reported that armed Kuki militants under Suspension of Operation…ambushed and attacked innocent Naga civilians in an area that serves as an important lifeline for Nagas living along the IT Road,” the UNC said in a statement. Chief Minister Yumnam Khemchand Singh chaired a high-level security meeting, where the government condemned the ambush. He instructed security officials to nab the culprits.