MANGALURU  SATURDAY  JANUARY 13, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 14  CITY EDITION MODI OPENS INDIA’S LONGEST BRIDGE LINKING MUMBAI TO NAVI MUMBAI Built at a cost of `17,840 crore, the bridge will cut travel time between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai from two hours to 20 minutes IT’S 21.8 KM LONG WITH A 16.5 KM SEA LINK FOUNDATION LAID FOR NEXT MEGA PROJECT The six-lane trans-harbour bridge is 21.8 km long with a 16.5 km long sea link and will also reduce the travel time between Mumbai and Pune. The project’s foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016. “The sea bridge is a reflection of Viksit Bharat. It shows India’s infrastructural prowess and march towards being a developed nation,” Modi said on Friday ■ ■ With months left for Lok Sabha elections, Modi attacked the Opposition saying, “Before 2014, mega scams used to be the topic of discussion. But (now), mega projects getting completed is the talk” He laid the foundation stone for another mega project on Friday — an `8,000 crore tunnel that links east and south Mumbai `375 IS THE TWO-WAY TOLL FOR CARS ON ATAL SETU. IT IS `1,245 FOR BUSES 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 FAKE MASTERS DEGREE HELPED HIM BECOME DIRECTOR OF DGCA S L A L I T H A @ Bengaluru British Royal Air Force’s Typhoon FGR4 conducting precision strikes in Yemen | X US, UK walk the talk as missiles hit Houthi sites Y E S H I S E L I @ New Delhi BLINKEN, JAISHANKAR DISCUSS SITUATION Hours before strike began, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken dialled India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to gave him a heads-up about the impending strike. The two “discussed the US’s and India’s shared concerns over the reckless Houthi attacks in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” the US State Dept said in a statement THE US and the UK on Friday launched their first military response to Yemen-based Houthi rebels’ persistent drone and missile attacks on commercial ships passing through the Red Sea, striking over 60 targets at 16 sites of the Iranbacked militant group. US officials said warship- and submarinelaunched Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets were used to hit Houthi targets deep inside Yemen. While both the US and the UK claimed the massive strike crippled Houthis’ ability to threaten ships, the battle-hardened militant group vowed to avenge the attack on their assets. They said five of their fighters were killed and six others injured in the strikes. According to a post-strike assessment by the US Air Force’s Mideast command, the rebels’ command-and-control nodes, munitions depots, launching systems, production facilities, and air defence radar systems were destroyed in the strikes. US President Joe Biden said the strikes were meant as a message to the rebels to stop disrupting trade, while British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said they were in self defence. Meanwhile, oil prices surged over fears that the regional conflict may escalate to become a much wider conflict. Brent futures were up 4% at $80.52 a barrel on Friday while US West Tex, as Intermediate crude rose 4.1% to $74.99. The Houthis have launched 27 attacks on commercial vessels passing through the Red Sea since mid-November. The US had issued multiple warnings over several days before it P11 retaliated on Friday . ONE of the directors of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had allegedly produced a fake masters degree certificate from a university in Sikkim to appear for the UPSC exam to rise up the ranks in his profession, according to sources. The Directorate of Higher Education in Sikkim wrote to DGCA a month ago stating that the certificate produced by Ravinder Singh Jamwal was not genuine and EIILM University offers no such course. However, the official continues in his position undisturbed, taking crucial decisions, the sources said. The sources said Jamwal’s experience as a Naval ATC in Goa helped him join DGCA. Documents with TNIE reveal that Jamwal had 11 years’ experience (July 3, 2000, to July 3, 2011) at INS Hansa Dabolim Airport, Goa. After that, he worked as general manager (operations), Reliance Commercial Dealers Ltd. He then joined DGCA as assistant director (operations) on Octo- ber 1, 2012. After some years, he applied for the post of deputy director (operations). The selection for this post is through UPSC and applicants should have a degree in Aeronautical/Electrical or Electronics or a MSc degree in electronics or physics. He got selected for it in March 2016. After working for five years as deputy director, Jamwal was appointed as director in 2021. He now heads the Air Space and Air Navigation Services Standards (ANSS) and the Flights P5 Standards Directorate. Twin blows as industrial output down, inflation up M O N I K A YA D A V @ New Delhi IN a double whammy to the economy India’s industrial out, put growth plummeted to an eight-month low of 2.4% in November 2023 — down from the previous month’s 16-month high of 11.6% — while retail inflation rose to a four-month high at 5.69% in December. The fall in industrial output was largely due to the poor performance of the manufacturing sector, whose output growth dropped to a seven-month low of 1.2% in November. In the same month, consumer durables production saw a sharp decline of 5.4%, marking its lowest output since the peak of the second Covid wave in June 2021. Similarly electricity gen, eration in November 2023 dwindled to its lowest level since February, a stark contrast to the 20.4% surge registered in October. Of the 23 manufacturing segments, only six experienced growth in November. Among the segments that showed notable growth were ‘SLOWDOWN IN FACTORY OUTPUT TO CONTINUE’ The slowdown in factory output was broad-based across all sectors, with consumer goods and capital goods recording the weakest growth, said Dipti Deshpande, principal economist at CRISIL. The latest data for manufacturing indicates further slowdown in December, she added coke and refined petroleum products (14.2%), other transport equipment (9.8%), and motor vehicles (9.2%). However, fur niture output dropped by 30.5%. Computers and electronics fell by 25% exceeding their 15.2% cumulative decline thus far in Actor Darshan, 7 others appear before police EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru EXPRESS READ Suspected terrorists fire at Army vehicles in J&K JAMMU: Suspected terrorists fired upon a convoy of vehicles carrying security personnel in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, prompting security forces to launch a search operation, officials said. No security personnel was injured in the attack, they said. Israel defends itself at the UN’s top court THE HAGUE (NETHERLANDS): Accused of committing genocide against Palestinians, Israel insisted at the United Nations’ highest court on Friday that its war in Gaza was a legitimate defence of its people and that it was Hamas militants who were guilty of genocide. GUARANTEES GALORE Chief Minister Siddaramaiah launches ‘Yuva Nidhi’, the Congress’ fifth guarantee announced in its election manifesto, by handing out cheques to beneficiaries, in Shivamogga on Friday. Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar is seen | EXPRESS | P4 IAF An-32 debris found 7 yrs after crash M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi Over seven years after an Indian Air Force An-32 aircraft with 29 defence personnel on board went missing during an operational mission, its debris appear to have been spotted on the sea bed 3.1 km off the coast of Chennai. The debris was found last month by scientists at the Chennai-based National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), which had recently deployed an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) equipped with multi- ple payloads, including a multibeam SONAR (Sound Navigation and Ranging) and high-resolution cameras, at the last-known location of the aircraft. The AUV picked up strong SONAR reflections from the seabed at a depth of 3,400 metres. The team at NIOT clicked pictures of the debris and sent them to the Air Force, which studied them and concluded that the debris belonged to an An-32 aircraft. “This discovery at the probable crash site, with no other recorded history of any other missing aircraft report in the same area, points to the debris as possibly belonging to the crashed An-32,” a statement said. The An-32 aircraft took off from Chennai’s Tambaram Air Force Station on July 22, 2016, and was en route to Andaman and Nicobar Islands when it went missing over the Bay of Bengal. 12% TO `2,694 CR The IT major on Friday posted a nearly 12% decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,694.2 crore in the third quarter ended December 2023 amid a “cautious” demand environment and clients making conservative investments. Consolidated revenue from operations also fell 4.4% to Rs 22,205.1 crore during the quarter | P12 World-class sports museum to come up in B’luru THE state government is planning to set up a world-class sports museum in the city on the lines of Qatar Sports Museum. The museum will showcase international and desi sports and games. The government’s aim is to inspire youngsters to take up sports through this initiative. The proposed museum is likely to be set up at the Kanteerava Stadium off Vittal Mallya road. Infact, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced the setting up of the museum in his last budget and set aside Rs 5 crore for it. However, no progress was made in that direction. Recently, the Department of Sports and Youth Services invited tenders for project management and consultancy services for the establishment of the museum. This initiative is said to be the brainchild of Congress MLC K Govindaraju, who heads the Karnataka Olympic Association and the PHIBA Asia-India Basketball Federation. Terming it a first of its kind in the country Manjunath Pras, ad, Additional Chief Secretary (Sports and Youth Services), told The New Indian Express that everything related to sports, including desi games, ACTOR Darshan Thoogudeepa along with actors Abhishek Ambareesh, Chikkanna, Ninasam Satish and Dolly Dhananjay, producer Rockline Venkatesh, ‘Kaatera’ film director Tharun Sudhir and music director Harikrishna appeared before the investigating officer at the Subramanyanagar police station around 4.30 pm on Friday . The police had issued notices to them over a late-night party at Jetlag Bar and Grill restobar in Rajaji Nagar, opposite Orion Mall. They celebrated the success of ‘Kaatera’ at the restobar on January 4. The police had also registered an FIR against Shashirekha Jagadish, owner of the restobar, and manager Prashanth under Sections 36B and 41 of the Karnataka Excise Act and Sections 103 and 109 of the Karnataka Police Act. Darshan had sought time to appear before the IO as he was in Dubai. The names of eight persons cropped up during the questioning of those present in the restobar on the day of the party . As the celebrities were inside the restobar, alcohol was served till 3.15 am on January 4, according to the police. The restobar was closed only after the police asked the partygoers to leave the place. Rockline Venkatesh said it must be the first time where the police had issued notices to the customers of a bar. WIPRO Goa case: Extremely guilty, frustrated, NET PROFIT FALLS GLORIOUS GAMES A S H W I N I M S R I PA D @ Bengaluru 2023-24. Wearing apparel production continued its downward trend, dropping 20.5%. Meanwhile, the mining sector exhibited a growth of 6.8%, reaching its highest production levels since April 2023. And, consumer non-durables output hit its highest level since January 2023. Notably, though retail inflation was high in December 2023, it remained within the Reserve Bank’s upper limit of 6% for the fourth straight month. The rise in retail inflation was primarily driven by food articles, despite a deceleration in prices of cereals and vegetables compared to the previous month. While cereals and vegetables experienced price reductions, the overall food prices continued to rise. Food price inflation spiked to 9.53% in December, up from 8.70% in the previous month. will be seen here. We also have plans to showcase sports gear used by renowned sportspersons from Karnataka. There will be a gallery, library and many more, he said. Prasad said, “We want to give it an international look. We want people, especially young children, to visit the museum and get inspired. Hence, we are developing it on the lines of the Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum.” says accused CEO mother’s note NAUSHAD BIJAPUR @ Panaji/Belagavi POLICE achieved a breakthrough in the sensational Goa murder case where a four-yearold boy was smothered to death by his mother Suchana Seth, CEO of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) start-up in Bengaluru, on Friday . A tissue paper on which it was written with an eyeliner, “I am extremely guilty and frustrated. I love my son, but I did not want to see him meeting his father’,’ was recovered from the bag of Suchana. According to sources, Suchana confessed to writing it, but continues to maintain that she did not kill her son. The Goa police sent the note to the forensic laboratory for tests. The note hinted at her strained relationship with her husband and how she was unhappy with the court order allowing him to meet their son. The sources said Suchana has been consistently boasting of her AI profession and skills while denying her involvement in the crime. She blames her estranged husband Venkat Ra- Suchana Seth, CEO of Bengaluru-based The Mindful AI Lab, accused of killing her son, being brought to Mapusa Court in North Goa on January 9 | PTI FILE PHOTO I am extremely guilty and frustrated. I love my son, but I did not want to see him meeting his father Suchana Seth in a note that was found in her bag man for the crime. “Surprisingly she shows no remorse for , her son’s death,” they added. The latest revelation indicates that Suchana allegedly wished for her son’s peaceful death. Having misled her hus- band about meeting his son in Bengaluru on January 7, Suchana flew to Goa with the alleged intention of committing the crime. On Friday afternoon, the police team took Suchana to the hotel room and made her recreate the events that led to the death of her son. Although Suchana was unwilling to cooperate with the police, she had agreed to do it. The driver of the car hired by Suchana is yet to be paid Rs 30,000 rent. The sources said the police have seized the car as part of their investigation.