tirupati l thursday l november 14, 2024 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION Musk, Ramaswamy to lead U.S. Department of govt Efficiency President-elect Donald Trump said on Tuesday Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Trump calls it the new manhattan project Trump said Musk and Ramaswamy will advise his incoming administration on ways to slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies to improve efficiency. Trump called it possibly the ‘The Manhattan Project’ of our times, referring to the World War 2-era US project to build the atomic bomb | P9 ■ 1st duo gets july 2026 deadline to finish work ■ Despite the name, DOGE is not a government agency and will work from outside the government. Also, it is a temporary organisation. Trump has given the two time till July 4, 2026 to finish their work In other appointments, Trump has picked ex-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe to head the Central Intelligence Agency ramaswamy is the first Indian-american to join trump 2.0 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 SC brakes on bulldozer justice IMA demands pr0active security measures at hospitals Junior doctor, female guard attacked at Indore hospital Lays down strict guidelines for demolishing property; says executive can’t act as judiciary S UCHITRA KALYAN MOHANTY @ New Delhi Authorities can’t demolish people’s homes in an arbitrary manner simply because the property owners are accused of crimes, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday. Invoking its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the court passed a slew of panIndia directions to stop the practice of ‘bulldozer justice’. A bench of justices Bhushan R Gavai and K V Viswanathan made it clear demolitions cannot be done without due notice and without giving time for the affected persons to appeal against the proposed action in an appropriate forum. The order of the bench came with a caveat that it will not be applicable on unauthorised What the court said Executive can’t decide an accused is guilty and punish him by demolishing his property No demolition without prior 15-day notice The notice shall be served by registered post and fixed on the building’s outer portion Demolition action should be videographed and report sent to the district collector structures in public places. Pronouncing the verdict after hearing a batch of petitions against what is known as bulldozer justice, the bench said that the executive cannot overstep its constitutional remit. “The executive cannot become a judge, decide that an accused is guilty and punish him by demolishing his properties as such an act would be transgressing its limits,” it said. Quoting the famous lines of popular Hindi poet Pradeep, the court said, it is the dream of every person to have his/her own home. “A house is an embodiment of the collective hopes of a family or individuals’ stability and security,” it said, suggesting that the authorities must be cognizant of the consequences of their arbitrary actions. In its verdict, the court laid down strict guidelines to be followed for demolition. It warned that in case of violations, the officers concerned will be responsible for restitution of property at personal cost, in addition to damages. During the hearing, the court made it amply clear that citizens’ voices cannot be throttled by a threat of destroying their properties, adding the state resorting to bulldozer justice is simply unacceptable under the rule of law. It said the law must be just and fair and should protect the human rights and dignity of all members of the society . An earlier bench headed by then Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud had also noted that the state must follow due process of law before taking action to remove illegal encroachments or unlawfully constructed structures. Nothing wrong with booking people for social media abuse, observes HC captain, 5 others banned for age fraud As many as six Hyderabad players including the one selected to captain the state team in the BCCI’s Vinoo Mankad Trophy (Men’s U19) were banned for age fudging. It is learnt that a few parents mailed the Indian cricket board after the Hyderabad Cricket Association picked up the squad (15 plus 5 standbys) for the event. Police investigated the case and found allegations true | P11 Non-disclosure of proposed OBBs flagged E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e E x p r ess Ne w s S e r v i c e @ Vijayawada While hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Pola Vijay Babu, a journalist, on cases being filed against social media activists, the Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday sought to know what was wrong with booking people posting offensive content on social media. Recalling the derogatory comments made against judges in the past, a division bench of Chief Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice C Ravi said the court cannot control police from registering cases. Further, the bench added that a PIL cannot be filed in such issues. People who have objections can file quash petitions, the court said. Social media cannot be used as a platform for posting objectionable comments. Police action cannot be stalled. A suitable ruling in the matter will be given later High Court Court, in the past, ruled against filing of cases under Section 153A (promotion of enmity between different groups on the basis of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, or other factors), the police were filing cases against social media activists under the same provision for criticising the government. Alleging that the police were acting indiscriminately to impress senior leaders in power, Sriram accused the government of attempting to suppress dissent. Intervening at this juncture, the Court suggested that those having objections in the matter can take up a legal fight. In response, the advocate mentioned that social media activists had filed Habeas Corpus petitions against the illegal arrests. Stating that rights of the social media activists were being violated, Sriram said false cases were being filed with an intention to create panic among people, thereby desisting them from criticising the government. G77, China agree on new NCQG draft text as basis for finance negotiations @ Vijayawada The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, in a report deemed to have been tabled in the Andhra Pradesh Le gislative Assembly on Wednesday, flagged that the State government had not disclosed the quantum of the source of proposed off-budget borrowing (OBBs) in its budget. The State government informed Union Ministry of Fin a n c e o f t h e o f f - bu d g e t liabilities of `89.58 crore during 2023-24 and to the tune of `32,903.84 crore to the end of March 31, 2024. In the year 2023-24, as per the scrutiny of vouchers, the State Government budgeted and expended an amount of `10,037.31 crore towards assistance/ grants on account of off-budget borrowing. It has been asked to confirm the same. In addition to the offbudget borrowing, implicit subsidies to the tune of `14,014.63 crore to the power utility on account of non-recovery of cost were also provided in the year 2023-24. The report also mentioned that the government did not transfer the interest on the delay in releasing matching grants for the funds received from the Central government within the stipulated time to the Single Nodal Agency (SNA) P4 as per norms.  Representing the petitioner, senior advocate Subrahmanya Sriram informed the Court that police were filing cases and arresting social media activists indiscriminately He ar. gued that even though the High S V Krishna Chaitanya EXPRESS IN BAKU T he first iteration of the draft New Collective Quantified Goal on Climate Finance (NCQG) released on Wednesday, found most of the G77 countries and China agreeing to use it as the basis for negotiations to achieve an ambitious climate finance goal. It’s a 34-page draft as against the nine-page pre-COP draft that was rejected by developing countries saying it does not represent their stance. While some observers called the new draft also “non-workable” as it simply put all the options in black and white, others saw some positives in it. The draft acknowledges that in line with the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities, the NCQG is the sole obligation of developed countries to provide and mobilise climate finance to developing countries and must accurately reflect the establishment of operational features in line with the needs and priorities of developing countries. However, it throws up six options on the quantum of NCQG with a lot of brackets. “It was decides to set an new collective quantified goal on climate finance [of USD X] [from a floor of USD 100 billion][of at least USD 1 trillion][of USD 1.1 trillion][of at least USD 1.3 trillion][of USD 2 trillion] per year [in grantequivalent terms] [from 2025 to 2029][from 2025 to 2030][from 2025 to 2035][from 2026 to 2035] [by 2030] provided and mobilised by developed country Continued on: P9 Parties.”  Who wants what Arab Group: Wants minimum $441bn delivered from 2025 US: “Entirely fair” new donors (China, Saudi) start delivering cash Pakistan: Grants should make up 70% of the target Turkey: Multi-layered approach an option but requires detail G77+China: Target must focus on funds going from developed to developing nations Alliance Of Small Island States: Overall goal $1 trillion-plus, small islands need specific support Japan: Target cannot be delivered just by developed countries UK: Goal could have ‘inner’ layer in billions and ‘outer’ layer in trillions Africa : $1.3 trillion target required by 2030 with overall $6.5 trillion goal EU: New goal can only be hit if all major polluters step up A n u r a a g s i n g h & K a v i ta B a je l i d at t @ Bhopal/New Delhi Dr J Balaji being rushed for treatment after attack on Wednesday | ashwin prasath Man stabs govt doc in spat over ‘poor treatment’ for mom S i n d u j a J a n e & G a u t h a m S e lva r a j a n @ Chennai Dr J Balaji (53), a medical oncologist at the Kalaignar Centenary Super Specialty Hospital (KCSSH) at Guindy in Chennai, was stabbed seven times on Wednesday allegedly by the son of a patient over grievances regarding the cancer treatment offered to his mother at the facility. The doctor is being treated at the intensive care unit, but his condition is stable, sources said. While the Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association has announced an indefinite suspension of all outpatient departments and elective surgeries in government hospitals in protest against the attack, Health Minister Ma Subramanian claimed that the protest has been called off. Doctor associations that TNIE spoke to, however, said that they would continue their protest till there is improvement in security . According to sources, the suspect, M Vignesh (26), entered the doctor’s room at the medical oncology OPD with a concealed knife and allegedly stabbed the doctor multiple times with the weapon, leaving him bleeding profusely . Police sources told TNIE that Vignesh had waited in line to meet the doctor and allegedly demanded `20,000 from him since he was forced to treat his cancer-stricken mother at a private hospital as the treatment offered at the government facility was “unsatisfactory”.  M Vignesh (26) from New Perungalathur | ashwin prasath attacker sought `20K from doc Police said, on Wednesday, Vignesh went to Dr Balaji’s room, told him that because of him, he had to spend more on his mother’s health and demanded `20,000. A spat broke out and Vignesh attacked him with the knife A resident junior doctor and a female security guard were attacked by attendants of a minor patient at a hospital in Indore late on Tuesday night. T h e i n c i d e n t h ap p e n e d around 11 pm at MY Hospital’s new chest ward that also houses the paediatric intensive care unit (ICU), where the child was undergoing treatment. A doctor working at the hospital said two children were being treated on the same ICU bed due to high patient load. Enraged over this, the attendants of a patient verbally abused Dr Shwetank Soni and attacked him and a security guard. “The on-duty doctors attended to him (patient) timely. But owing to high patient load at the ICU, two children were being treated on the same bed. Angered by this, the attendants of a patient confronted the doctor and attacked him,” said the doctor. The police filed an FIR and arrested two persons. Following the incident, a group of doctors met the dean of MGM Medical College and the hospital managment and raised their concerns over security . They threatened to boycott work if their concerns are not addressed within a week. MY Hospital is a teaching hospital of MGM Medical College. Reacting to the attacks on doctors, the Indian Medical Association called for a “comprehensive overhaul of the security atmosphere” at the hospitals. “Strong deterrent legislations, exemplary punishments, and proactive safety measures are required now and here,” it said. The IMA’s statement was in reaction to the brutal stabbing of an oncologist in Chennai by the son of a patient. Brisk polling in Jharkhand as Voters defy Maoist threat MUK E S H RAN J AN @ Ranchi An elderly voter being assisted in reaching a polling station in Khunti district of Jharkhand on Wednesday | PTI DESPITE Maoist threats, the first phase of voting for 43 Assembly seats in Jharkhand concluded peacefully with 64.86% voting turnout till 5 pm. Registering its presence after a gap, the People’s Liberation Front of India, an offshoot of the CPI (Maoist), had put up posters near Ranchi and Khunti districts calling for a boycott of Assembly polls in Jharkhand. However, it did not have any effect on voters, police said. “Voting, which commenced at 7 am, was held peacefully without any incidents of violence,” stated an official communiqué from the Election Commission of India. IG operations and Jharkhand Police spokesperson A V Homkar said that all the 15 districts in which the elections were held were Maoist-infested and it was a big challenge for the police to conduct peaceful polling. “But, the elections were held peacefully without even a single Maoist incident in all 43 Assembly seats. Out of the total 15, 334 polling booths during the first phase of polling, 2249 were identified as sensitive from a Naxal point of view for which huge deployment of forces were done to avoid any untoward situation,” said Homkar. 64.86% Voter turnout recorded, up from 63.9% in 2019 polls ROBUST PHASE 1 H ighest polling in Kharsawan, at 77.32% N o takers for boycott call by People’s Liberation Front of India, an offshoot of CPI (Maoist) 4 3 seats up for grabs (17 general seats, 20 ST, 6 SC) 6 83 candidates (609 men, 73 women, 1 third-gender) E x-CM Champai Soren, ex-MP Geeta Kora among candidates 1 .37 crore voters in first phase of voting R emaining 38 seats will vote in Phase-2 polling on Nov 20 Vizag metro rail works to begin after Centre’s nod S G u r u S r i k a n t h @ Vijayawada The State government will proceed with works for the Visakhapatnam metro rail once the Central government approves the proposal, Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) Minister P Narayana said during Question Hour in the State Legislative Assembly on Wednesday. He added the Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) for the Port City was also ready . Stating that feasibility reports for Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam metro rail projects Latest plan 76.90 km Total length 54 `17,232 cr Project cost No. of metro stations TWO Maintenance depots had been submitted by Delhi Metro Rail Cor poration (DMRC), the Minister said a 42.5-km metro rail with three 4 CORRIDORS PROPOSED     Steel Plant Junction Kommdai: 34.40 km Gurudwara Jn - RTC complex Old Post Office: 5.10 km Tadichetlapalem - Vizag Rly Stn Chinna Waltair: 6.7 km Kommdai - Bhogapuram Airport: 30.67 km corridors was proposed for Vizag and tenders for the same had been invited in April 2019. Further, Narayana pointed out that had the YSRC, which succeeded the TDP government, finalised the tenders, the metro rail project would have been completed already . “However, citing the excuse of extending the metro up to Bhogapuram, the project was kept pending. In March-2020, Gurgaon-based VMTC was entrusted with the task of preparing another DPR (detailed project report). A plan for 76.9km metro rail with four corridors was then proposed in 2021. Yet, no decision was taken till December 15, 2023,” he P4 recalled.