vijayawada l saturday l september 05, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION SC asks 7 States to hike age of retirement of judicial officers The Supreme Court directed the states to amend the service rules and enhance the age of superannuation in the judicial service to 62 years Addressing attrition in lower courts covers those who retired in march too Noting that it is necessary to stop attrition of experienced and talented judicial officers and to ensure access to justice, the Supreme Court directed seven states to increase the retirement age of judicial officers in district judiciary from 60 to 62 years. Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, MP, Maharashtra, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have consented to the proposal ■ ■ A three-judge bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi passed the order in the All India Judges Association (AIJA) versus Union of India (UOI) case The order also covers officers who retired on or after March 31, 2026. They can exercise the option if they have not taken up another job 23 states/ut have been asked to share their viewpoint 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 CJP’s Saurav Das, Nagina MP Chandrasekhar Azad with the daughter of Sanjay Kumar | PTI Influencer held after CJP protest e x p r e s s ne w s s e r v i c e @ New Delhi DELHI Police detained selfproclaimed influencer Swatantra Bhardwaj in Uttar Pradesh on Friday hours af, ter the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) staged a protest outside the Parliament Street police station in Delhi demanding his arrest for assaulting a student’s father, a crime he bragged about in an interview. The detention came after CJP representatives including co-convenors Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, along with supporters, marched to the Parliament Street police station demanding Swatantra Bhardwaj’s Bhardwaj arrest. They were accompanied by Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) chief and Nagina MP Chandrashekhar Azad and MP Pappu Yadav, who met police officials and were assured that action would be taken against Bhardwaj within 72 hours. The protest followed a viral podcast clip in which Bhardwaj openly said he had orchestrated a violent assault on Sanjay Kumar, the father of minor student activist Nishu Azad during the Jantar Mantar protests. The CJP-led delegation sought addition of attemptto-murder, criminal intimidation and SC/ST Act provisions to the case and demanded a separate FIR over rape threats targeting Kumar’s daughter. Marijuana+ pilot 2 pulled alive from tunnel of Aug 4 Phuket nine days after Nepal floods AI flight sacked Preliminary AAIB report flags triple hydraulic systems failure in the Phuket-Delhi flight S L A L ITHA @ New Delhi AIR India on Friday terminated the services of the pilot-incommand of the Phuket-Delhi flight that experienced a series of technical failures on August 4, resulting in injuries to 24 people onboard. The airline’s action came hours after the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) released its preliminary probe report, expressing serious concern about the pilot’s drug use. Captain Sudeep Vashistha, 34, had tested positive for marijuana on August 12. “The Pilot-in-Command of the Phuket-Delhi flight tested positive for a psychoactive substance. In line with Air India’s zero-tolerance approach to violation of safety fitness or regu, latory requirements, the pilot’s employment has been terminated with immediate effect,” an Air India statement read. Sources said Captain Vashistha is planning to move court against the termination. According to the AAIB report, all three hydraulic systems of the flight failed within seconds of each other, triggering an autopilot disconnect, a brief ‘stall’ warning, and an altitude drop of 292 feet. TNIE broke the story on August 10 that the failure of all three hydraulic systems led to the accident. In its 10-page report, AAIB said its findings are after analysing the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder. It said the flight took off from Phuket on August 4 at 6.11 am IST. As it entered the Kolkata Flight Information Region, the air traffic control instructed the pilots to climb from 34,000 feet to 36,000 feet. The accident occurred while the aircraft was cruising at 36,000 feet. E x p r e s s Re a d Contract health staff get workload relief Vijayawada: In good news for contract healthcare employees, the AP government has issued key administrative orders addressing longpending service grievances, granting mandatory radiation safety leave, shift workload relief, and a share in surgical incentives across State medical facilities. The Health Department has dispatched binding guidelines to government teaching hospitals, Primary Health Centres, and Urban Primary Health Centres in this regard | P3 105 rural ponds in State to get `50-cr facelift Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh is set to modernise 105 rural ponds across the State at an estimated cost of `50 crore, with the initiative aimed at strengthening irrigation resources, improving groundwater levels, protecting the environment and creating better public spaces in villages. The programme is being taken up on the initiative of Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan (Panchayat Raj and Rural Development), with support from PM Krishi Sinchayee Yojana | P4 Ripped door of the overhead luggage compartment of the Aug 4 AI flight | File pic Damages to aircraft According to AAIB, the aircraft suffered some damages. The overhead ceiling panel was cracked at 5th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 18th, 19th and 20th row. The forward right hand emergency exit handle was broken. The passenger unit panels were found dislocated and bent Citing the post-flight report generated by aircraft maintenance personnel, the AAIB said loss of pressure in the green hydraulic system was detected at 09:32:43 am. Four seconds later, the blue and yellow hydraulic systems also failed. At 9:32:48 am, the autopilot got disconnected and a continuous chime alert was sounded. At 9:32:51 am, a ‘stall’ warning was triggered for two seconds. The co-pilot, who was flying the plane, tried to take control of the situation but could not. The captain then took over. At 9:32:52 am, the blue hydraulic system recovered, followed by the yellow and green systems. This resulted in recovery of the flight control systems and normal operating conditions were restored. S V KRISH N A CHAITA N YA S V i s w a n at h @ Vijayawada @ Kathmandu Two workers trapped inside a tunnel of the Trishuli-3A Hydroelectric Project in Rasuwa were rescued on Friday, nine days after a devastating flood tore through the Bhote Koshi river system, raising hopes that others missing inside underground hydropower structures could still be found alive. The rescued workers were identified as Sanjay Sah and Kabir Maharjan. Sah briefly said he was chanting ‘Hare Krishna mahamanta’ for the past nine days. Both were pulled out from the tunnel by a joint search and rescue team and airlifted to a hospital. The breakthrough came as rescue teams continued a race against time across several hydropower projects damaged by the August 26 disaster. One body was also recovered during the Trishuli-3A operation, while the search for others trapped inside the tunnel remains underway . Around 900 workers have been reported missing from hydropower sites. The scale of the underground rescue operation has been immense. Teams have had to clear col- Big data 275: Indian nationals missing 166: Indians rescued so far 1,907: Indians safely crossed into Nepal from China 95 tonnes: Relief material supplied to Nepal on 7 aircraft 54: Personnel sent to support relief and rescue efforts 30: Tunnel rescue experts deployed in Nepal 19: Forensic experts 5: Medical team members 21 tonnes: Relief material flown to Kathmandu on Thursday lapsed sections, remove huge quantities of mud and debris, drain flooded passages and create access routes into tun- Counter to PIL 34% quota for BCs based on Family Survey: Govt E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada The State government has informed the Andhra Pradesh High Court that the 34% reservation provided to Backward Classes (BCs) in local body elections was based on a contemporary BC population e nu m e r at i o n c o n d u c t e d through the ‘Unified Family Survey’ across the State. In its counter to a PIL filed in the High Court against 34% reservation for BCs in the local body polls, the govern- ment said the reservation was determined after taking into account the numerical strength, geographical spread and diversity of BC communities in the State. It maintained that adequate political reservation was necessary to ensure meaningful, and not merely symbolic, representation of BCs in local governance. The contemporary enumeration showed that BCs constitute around 50.42% of the total population in the State, the P4 government said.  Dy CM orders action against paper mill E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Deputy Chief Minister (Environment and Forest) on Saturday accused the management of Andhra Paper Limited of contributing nearly half of Rajamahendravaram’s liquid waste. In an official release, Pawan Kalyan alleged that the paper mill failed to pay local taxes amounting to `21.34 crore for nearly a decade. The company had not paid even a rupee as taxes to Katheru Gram Pancha- yat or the Rajamahendravaram Municipal Corporation since 2016, he said. The Deputy Chief Minister questioned whether the paper mill had “given itself a tax exemption” without government approval, and criticised it for approaching courts whenever tax notices were issued. Official figures indicated that the company accounted for around 35 million litres of the city’s nearly 70 million litres of liquid waste generated every day he said. , Pawan Kalyan also alleged that tests conducted on samples collected from the places where the mill discharges waste showed pollutants above P4 prescribed limits.  The paper mill accounts for around 35 million litres of RMC’s nearly 70 million litres of liquid waste generated every day. It has failed to pay local taxes amounting to `21.34 crore for nearly a decade Pawan Kalyan, Deputy Chief Minister Sonia memoir HarperCollins gets to be the publishing biggie of the year Pa r a m i ta G h o s h @ New Delhi IN 1980, Delhi publisher Vision Books published My Truth, the closest to an Indira Gandhi official autobiography Printed as . a series of interviews with a French journalist, it includes her childhood, Jawaharlal Nehru advising her to be physically active, touches upon her marriage and contextualises “her truths” of her momentous years— the Bangladesh Liberation War and Emergency — for all readers. It was also not a time known for high-voltage book launches and announcements. In comparison, the notice of her daughter-in-law Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, has gone out with a bang, a bump, and again a second blow of the trumpet. While it has generated excitement about its contents, the bigger excitement has been about a story of ‘refusal’. First came the announcement of Alfred A Knopf (an imprint of Penguin Random House) publishing it, then a clarification that Penguin India is not its India publisher, and finally the HarperCol- lins announcement. The publishing biggie of the year no doubt belongs to HarperCollins, which on Friday morning confirmed it was publishing Sonia’s memoir, one of the most anticipated political ‘autobiographies’ of our times. The book hits the stands in ‘A unique lens on India’ HarperCollins described the book as a “dramatic account, at once epic and intimate, [it] gives readers a unique lens on India ... offering an insider’s perspective on political, economic and social changes over 50 years. CM to hold talks with staff unions today India on November 10, 2026. Sonia, the chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party , has had both a ringside and an insider’s view of Indian politics, as a member of the NehruGandhi family which has been , at the helm of affairs for over 50 years at the Centre. In My Truth, Indira Gandhi’s interviews with a foreign journalist were aimed at shoring up her international reputation as well. Sonia has spoken directly to her home in her own words and without any mediation. A worker rescued from a tunnel at Trishuli 3A hydropower project | EXPRESS nels that were cut off by the disaster. Excavators, mud pumps, generators, cameras, rafts and other equipment are being used at different sites to reach workers who may still be trapped. At Trishuli-3A, the rescue operation involved 75 Nepali Army personnel and 18 personnel from the Armed Police Force and Nepal Police, along with technical experts.  Continued on: P9 halt at water drawals srisailam, tg told KRMB has stepped in to restrain Telangana from excessive water drawals at Srisailam, issuing a directive to safeguard drinking water supplies | P5 Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will hold a meeting on employees’ issues with representatives of the recognised service associations at his Camp Office in Undavalli at 11 am on Saturday . Intimation to this effect has been sent to 11 recognised service associations. It may be mentioned here that only the State president or the general secretary of a service association should attend the meeting. With the employees associations demanding the immediate announcement of the Interim Relief (IR), appointment of Pay Revision Commission (PRC) Commissioner, release of DA arrears, surrender of leaves and clearance of dues, the meeting to be chaired by the Chief Minister is expected to take some concrete decisions in the interests of employees. As employees under the banner of AP JAC Amaravati had already taken up lunch hour demonstrations demanding resolution of their long pending issues, the Chief Minister is expected to give some assurances, besides explaining the financial constraints of the State government. In a statement issued on Friday, AP JAC Amaravati Chairman Bopparaju Venkateswarlu and Secretary General Palisetti Damodara Rao said the government had understood the grievances of employees and invited them for discussions. However, they stressed that employees are primarily seeking resolution of their long-pending financial issues. The AP JAC said the agitation programme announced earlier would continue. “Demands Day” protests will be held on September 5 during lunch break, they said. ISRO launches ‘Eye in the Sky’ imaging sat BOSK Y KHA N N A @ Bengaluru THE Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Friday scripted history by successfully launching the advanced Earth Observation Satellite (EOS-05) into a geo-orbit, placing an imaging satellite in a high-altitude of 36,000 km above earth. This comes as a relief for the Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) programme following the unsuccessful EOS-03 (GSLV-F10) mission in 2021, and two failed missions of PSLV-C61/ EOS-09 in January 2026 and PSLVC62/EOS-N1 in May 2025. The EOS-05 satellite has been placed in a geosynchronous orbit above the South Asian landmass, which means it will remain stationary in relation to the location above which it has been parked in space, synchronising its revolution around Earth in tandem with the rotation of the planet. The 2,367-kg satellite—the heaviest that GSLV Mark II has put in space so far—was launched on board the GSLV Mk II-F17 mission (GSLV-F17) at 2.55 am from the second launchpad of Satish What does it do? Dhawan Space Centre at SrihaEOS-05 will provide realrikota amid light rainfall. time data for weather After the orbit-raising operamonitoring, cyclones, tions are completed, the satellite floods and cloudbursts. It is to be placed above the South carries multi-spectral and Asian land mass at an inclination hyper-spectral bands to of 19.28 degrees to the equator. capture field images Once operational, EOS-05 will every 5 minutes & entire become India’s first dedicated imcountry every 30 minutes. aging satellite from the geo-orbit, It will relay info to ground providing “strategic data” for the stations every 30 minutes country ISRO Chairman V Naray, anan said after the launch, while describing EOS-05 as a “strategic satellite”. He, however, dismissed speculations that it is a “spy satellite”. Narayanan said the satellite’s assured mission life is seven years. “But this will work effectively for more than nine years, with the type of performance that it has already given.”