vijayawada l wednesday l april 03, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late city EDITION DGCA seeks daily report as vistara cancels more flights The directive comes as the Tata group airline cancelled over 50 flights for the second straight day on Tuesday due to non-availability of pilots Airline told to ease passenger woes Pilots report sick to protest pay cuts The airline’s daily report to the DGCA will have details of flights being cancelled and delayed. The aviation regulator said it is monitoring the situation to ensure the airline follows the norms and passengers are not inconvenienced. Pilots of Vistara, which is in the process of getting merged with Air India, have been protesting cuts to their fixed pay | p12 ■ Several commanders and first officers of the airline’s A320 fleet reported sick on Tuesday to protest the pay cuts. The cancellations come amid a surge in travel demand due to the onset of summer ■ The new salary structure has been introduced to bring parity between pilots of Vistara and Air India as part of the merger 51.4% Vistara’s On-Time Performance on Apr 1, the lowest among scheduled airlines 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 AAP ka Sanjay gets bail after ED green light Naidu blames Jagan’s ‘political conspiracy’ for delay in giving pensions would be distributed at secretariats instead of delivering at the doorstep of the beneficiarTDP supremo N Chandrababu ies without the permission of Naidu on Tuesday urged the the Chief Minister, what action people not to fall prey to the ‘po- have you taken against him? litical conspiracy’ of Chief Why did you not pass orders to Minister YS Jagan Mohan Red- the chief secretary that pendy on disbursal of pensions should be disbursed sions to the beneficiarat the doorstep of the ies at their doorstep. beneficiaries? Is it fair In an open letter to to create problems to the people of the State, the elderly persons by Naidu said, “It’s ridicdelaying pensions and ulous on the part of making them visit secgovernment to say that retariats?” Naidu it cannot disburse penasked. sions at the doorstep of He said in 2022 fiscal, the people on the funds had been withIn 2022, funds grounds that it cannot were withdrawn drawn before April 1 identify the beneficiarand pensions had been before April 1 & ies in villages.” disbursed on the first pensions were Naidu also shot off a of the month. “This given on the first. This time, letter to the Election time, the Jagan Mohan the govt has Commission of India Reddy government had to issue instructions to paid `13,000 cr paid `13,000 crore to the chief secretary to to contractors & contractors, who are also used the utilise the available `2,000 cr meant close to them, between staff of sachivalayams March 16 and March 30 for pensions and other departments and also utilised the Chandrababu for the doorstep distri`2,000 crore funds Naidu, TDP chief bution of pensions. meant for pensions,” In his letter to the Naidu alleged. people, Naidu asked Jagan why The former chief minister he did not issue orders for dis- said it’s possible to distribute tribution of pensions utilising pensions to the beneficiaries in 1.35 lakh secretariat staff on just one day utilising the servApril 1. ices of 1.35 lakh secretariat “If SERP CEO Muralidhar staff apart from revenue, SERP , Reddy issued a statement on MEPMA and Panchayat Raj deP4 March 28 stating that pensions partment employees. E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada SC says it shouldn’t be treated as precedent, gags lawmaker from speaking about case Su c h i t r a mohanty @ New Delhi Voting for Naidu means giving nod to scrap volunteer system: Jagan E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Vijayawada Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday said that TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, if voted to power, would put an end to the volunteer system, discontinue pensions and several other schemes his government is implementing. “Voting for Naidu is nothing but giving a green signal to scrap the volunteer system. Not just volunteer system, he will put an end to social security pensions and to all other schemes. You have to take this message to each and every household in the State,” Jagan called upon the gathering at the public meeting at Madana- palle. Jagan’s ‘Memanta Siddham’ yatra entered the undivided Chittoor district and received a grand welcome from the party cadre and locals. Jagan said Naidu must be kept out of power if the welfare schemes being implemented by his government for the past five years have to continue. “Every individual should In the past, Naidu has opposed English medium in government-run schools & giving house site pattas to women. Now, he is blocking the pension being given to elderly people YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, Chief Minister keep one thing in mind. I have pressed buttons 130 times (for depositing cash in the accounts of the beneficiaries). You have to press two buttons on Fan symbol. You are not electing just an MP or an MLA but your and your children’s future,” he said. Lashing out at Naidu, Jagan said the TDP chief and his aides have complained to the Election Commission of India (ECI) three days back and got delivery of pensions at the doorstep of the beneficiaries by the volunteers stopped. “The volunteers used to distribute pensions on the first of every month with a big smile on their face,” he pointed P4 out. ECI orders transfer of Guntur Range IG, 5 SPs, 3 collectors Yoga guru Ramdev after appearing before Supreme Court in connection with the Patanjali ads case | pti S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on Patanjali Ayurved for putting out misleading advertisements to promote its products by running down modern medicine. A bench headed by Justice Hima Kohli also refused to accept the apology tendered by the firm’s founder Baba Ramdev and MD Acharya Balkrishna but gave G Pala Raju Palnadu SP Y Ravi Sankar Reddy Prakasam SP Parameswar Reddy Chittoor SP P Joshua Anantapur SP KKN Anburajan Nellore SP K Tirumaleswar IAS officers Krishna P Raja Babu Anantapur M Gowthami Tirupati Dr Lakshmisha Confrontation in numbers Here’s a look at Data on Gun fights with maoists since the last five years Maoists killed 2019 2022 2020 2023 2021 2024 (Till 2 April) Maoists arrested Security personnel killed Civilians killed 10 Maoists killed in encounter e j a z ka i s e r @ Raipur AT least 10 members of the outlawed CPI (Maoist), including a female cadre, were on Tuesday killed in an exchange of fire with the security forces in Bijapur district, about 350 km south of Raipur. So far, 10 bodies have been recovered. Several other Maoists are suspected to have sustained injuries, said Sundarraj P, Bastar range IGP Intensive search operation . by the security forces continues in the region. One light machine gun, a Barrel Grenade Launcher (BGL), a .303 bore rifle, huge quantities of BGL shells and other ammunition were recov- ered from the spot. The exchange of fire took place around 6 am following a tip-off about the presence of senior Left-wing extremist leaders near Lendra-Korcholi forested terrain at Gangaloor police station limit of Bijapur. The operation was carried out by a joint team of the Bijapur District Reserve Guard, CRPF and its elite CoBRA unit, and Special Task Force. Most of those killed were likely from Platoon No. 2 of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army of the Maoists. Most attacks happen in March-June, when they carry out their ‘Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign’ to regain strength, recruit cadre and mount pressure on the security forces. Sanjay Singh No money has been recovered from his possession and the `2 crore bribe allegations can be tested in the trial. There is no trace of it. Maybe a lot of time has passed but all this can be examined in trial Supreme Court The ED arrested Singh in October. It had said Singh received proceeds of crime to the tune of `2 crore. During Tuesday’s hearing, the bench told Raju no money has been recovered from Singh’s possession and the bribe allegations can be tested in the trial. “Maybe a lot of time has passed but all this can be examined in trial and tested in a witness box,” it said. Reacting to the bail order, Singh’s wife Anita Singh said her happiness is incomplete with three of her “brothers”, Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia, and Satyendar Jain, still behind bars. express read Sharmila set to contest Kadapa Lok Sabha seat Vijayawada: APCC chief YS Sharmila Reddy, daughter of former Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, and sister of CM Jagan, will contest the Kadapa Lok Sabha seat. She will be locking horns with her cousin and YSRC MP YS Avinash Reddy. The Congress on Tuesday announced the candidates for 5 LS and 114 Assembly seats in the State | P6 Graphic 21 36 46 10 25 6 46 47 33 36 41 17 Encounters with Maoists Pala Raju and Palnadu SP Y Ravi Sankar Reddy . Sources said the ECI took action against them for the lapses in the security during the public meeting of the TDP-BJPJSP combine in which Narendra Modi participated in Chilakaluripet last month. The police could not control the crowd which damaged the public address system leading t o d i s r u p t i o n o f M o d i ’s speech. There were also allegations that the police had prevented several vehicles from reaching the public meeting venue at the behest of the ruling party . 494 291 428 Guntur Range IG 167 the company one last chance to file its response within a week and fixed the matter for further hearing on April 10. The duo were present before the bench on Tuesday, in compliance with an order for their personal presence in court. Ramdev tendered unconditional apology before the bench for violating the order restraining the firm from issuing misleading advertisements. But the court was annoyed by the phraseology of the affidavit submitted by Balkrishna. “This is all humbug. You say ‘if the court feels, etc’... We cannot look into your heart! This is not how contempt cases are dealt with,” the bench said. The bench also warned the duo that it would take note of ‘perjury’ as certain documents, which were said to be attached with other papers, were created later on. “This is a clear case of perjury it said. ,” Senior advocate Vipin Sanghi, appearing for Patanjali, said the firm’s media department was not aware of the court’s direction not to continue with ads. The bench asked how can the department be a standalone island within the company . IPS officers them as DEOs for the three districts and also a panel of three IPS officers for appointment as SPs to the five districts. The ECI has also asked for the Annual Performance Appraisal Report (APAR) grading for the last five years and also Vigilance Clearance to the Commission. According to sources, the ECI received complaints against these officials for alleged failure to maintain law and order and also in curbing irregularities in preparation of voters list. Among the officers transferred were Guntur Range IG G 499 Apex court refuses to accept Ramdev’s apology Officials transferred 438 The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday ordered the transfer of an IG rank officer, five Superintendents of Police, and three district election officers (Collectors) ahead of the general elections. The ECI said the officers stood transferred with immediate effect. There were complaints against some of the SPs for their failure to maintain law and order. The Guntur Range IG and Palnadu SP were reportedly transferred for their fail- ure to manage crowds during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election campaign last month. In the communication sent to the Chief Secretary on Tuesday, the ECI also directed that the cops should hand over the charge to the officer immediately below in rank. “These officers should not be assigned to any election related work till completion of simultaneous elections to the Legislative Assembly and the Lok Sabha,” the ECI said. The ECI asked the Chief Secretary to send a panel of three IAS officers for appointing 65 40 51 30 20 42 @ Vijayawada 107 109 82 69 69 28 E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering case linked to Delhi excise policy scam. During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General S V Raju appearing for the ED told the court that the probe agency has no objection if Singh is released on bail. “I am making the statement without going into the merits of the case and keeping all the rights and contentions open,” Raju said. The bench had asked Raju to take instructions on whether the ED needed further custody of Singh. “We allow the present appeal and direct that Sanjay Singh be released on bail during pendency of trial on terms and conditions set by the trial court,” a two-judge bench of the court, headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna said. The court directed Singh not to make any comments about the case while on bail. The bench further said the bail granted to Singh should not be treated as “precedent” and it will not be of much help to other jailed AAP leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal. BJP State chief serves notice on CM Jagan Vijayawada: State BJP chief Daggubati Purandeswari has served a legal notice on Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for his remarks that her son was involved in the Visakhapatnam narcotics haul. In the notice, Purandeswari demanded an unconditional apology from Jagan through a public statement within seven days | P6
Express Network Private Limited publishes thirty three E-paper editions of The New Indian Express newspaper , thirty two E-paper editions of Dinamani, one E-paper edition of The Morning Standard, one E-paper edition of Malayalam Vaarika magazine and one E-paper edition of the Indulge - The Morning Standard, Kolkatta.