HYDERABAD  THURSDAY  NOVEMBER 14, 2024  `9.00  PAGES 16  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 Lays down strict guidelines for demolishing property; says executive can’t act as judiciary Accused B Suresh is a BRS worker. He never attacked the officials. As his land was going to be acquired, Suresh interacted with the district collector and explained the problems of the farmers KTR and Harish Rao will never succeed in destabilising the govt. As a responsible Opposition leader, KCR should speak. What message do you want to give through these attacks? KT Rama Rao, BRS working president S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ 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. 39 held, notices slapped on 67 over abusive social media posts in Andhra GOODS TRAIN DERAILS NEAR PEDDAPALLI affecting movement of trains on the key railway link between south and north India. Work to restore the tracks continued through Wednesday. The South Central Railway announced partial cancellation and diversion of many trains following the derailment. Apart from cancellations of 56 trains, there are 11 partial cancellations, 64 diversions, nine trains rescheduled and three regulated | P2 P H A N I N D R A PA PA S A N I @ Vijayawada IN what appears to be a step to keep social media platforms free of abusive language, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP)-led NDA government has launched a major crackdown on those posting such content against political leaders, their family members and individuals. Speaking to this newspaper, a senior official from Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department (APCID) said 67 notices under Section 35(3) of BNSS have been served to various people for posting abusive, defamatory , promoting enmity between g roups and castes, obscene morphed photos of various political leaders. In all, 39 people have been arrested G77, China agree on new NCQG draft text as basis for finance negotiations 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 GUTTER MENTALITY Over 80% of the offensive posts targeted minister Anitha, actor N Balakrishna’s wife Vasundhara, CM’s wife, Dy CM’s daughters, YS Sharmila, CID officials said and around 100 cases booked, CID officials said. However, the opposition YSRCP alleged that more than 650 notices were served to its party activists, 147 cases filed and 49 people arrested over social media posts in a week. CID officials urged the public to lodge complaints if they were subjected to slander and abuse on social media. Expressing serious concern over the growing malicious propaganda and personal abuse, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had several times in the past warned YSRCP leaders and its social media team not to cross the line. He also advised his own party leaders as also ally Janasena and social media activists, to respond to abusive posts in a dignified manner. “YSRC activists resorted to posting offensive comments against Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan and his family, home minister Vangalapudi Anitha, Balakrishna’s wife Vasundhara. They even did not spare APCC president YS Sharmila Reddy, her mother Vijayamma and cousin N Sunitha Reddy A new legisla. tion is needed to prevent such post under the pretext of freedom of speech,” Naidu opined. Ex-MLA arrested for Lagcherla attack, remand report links KTR IAS ASSN, EMPLOYEES CONDEMN ATTACK Hyderabad: The Telangana IAS Association, in a statement on Wednesday, condemned the attack on Vikarabad district collector Prateek Jain. The statement was issued by Association president Shashank Goel and secretary Jayesh Ranjan. Meanwhile, the Telangana Employees JAC has decided to organise protests across the state on Thursday against the attack on officials in Dudyal mandal. In a statement, TEJAC chairman M Jagdeeswar and secretary-general Eluri Srinivas Rao condemned the attack on Jain, additional collector Lingaiah Naik, Kodangal Urban Development Authority special officer Venkat Reddy and other officers on November 11. The employees will stage demonstrations during lunch break at all government offices on Thursday, they said. ATTEMPT TO MURDER CASE REGISTERED The police have registered a case of attempt to murder by assaulting public servants with criminal conspiracy under Sections 61 (2), 191 (2) (3), 132, 109, 121 (1), 126 (6), 324 (4) of BNS and Section 3 of PDPP Act. TAPGATE: COURT REFUSES TO EXTEND BHUJANGA RAO BAIL | P4 BRISK POLLING IN JHARKHAND AS VOTERS DEFY MAOIST THREAT M U K E S H R A N J A N @ 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 com- Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Deputy CM muniqué 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. collector and claimed that he only interacted with the official as seven acres belonging to BRS leader and former MLA him were proposed to be acPatnam Narender Reddy, who quired for the pharma unit. was named as A-1 in the However, top police officials Lagcherla attack case, has con- reportedly submitted a report fessed to the police to having to the government stating that committed the offence (the at- Suresh and his brother do not tack on Vikarabad collector own any land in the village. Prateek Jain and his team) The report also said that outwith a criminal conspiracy in siders were involved in the atorder to defame and destabilise tack on the officials. the government to deIGP Multi Zone-II rive political mileage, V Satyanarayana said as directed by their that among the 42 susleader KT Rama Rao, pects identified by the the BRS working police for the attack, president, according 19 do not own any to the remand report land in the village. accessed by TNIE. It may be recalled Narender Reddy, that the villagers in who unsuccessfully Lagcherla attacked contested ag ainst P Narender Reddy Jain and other offiChief Minister A cials with sticks, stones Revanth Reddy for the Kodan- and also chilli powder when gal Assembly seat in 2023, was they went to the village to conarrested by the police on duct a public hearing on the Wednesday morning from his proposed pharma unit. residence in Filmnagar in HyThe police arrested five more derabad and taken to Pargi po- persons on Wednesday in conlice station. His arrest was nection with the case, taking based on 48 calls he made or re- the total number of people arceived from BRS activist B rested so far to 21. Based on the Suresh, one of the other ac- confessional statements of the cused, who is absconding. accused arrested on Tuesday, Meanwhile, BRS leaders said the police arrested Narender CONTINUED ON P4 that Suresh never attacked the Reddy . C H I T H A LU R I R EVA N T H @ Hyderabad Six Hyd U19 players out hit-wicket for age fraud F I R O Z M I R Z A @ Chennai COMPLAINTS, forged birth certificates and investigation by police leading to suspension of six players from a team once again exposed the murky world of age-fraud in the country If . one takes into consideration that four of the six were part of the core group things only get more complicated. As many as six Hyderabad players including the one selected to lead the state team in the prestigious Vinoo Mankad Trophy (Men’s U19) were banned by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for age fudging. It is learnt that a few parents mailed the BCCI after the Hyderabad Cricket Association picked up the squad of 15 apart from five standbys for the tournament in September. In their mail which was also sent to the HCA, the parents alleged that a few players selected in the squad had submitted fake age certificates. The BCCI then instructed the HCA to investigate the matter following which Hyderabad police was tasked with the job. “We informed the police. They investigated the issue and found six players had submitted forged birth certificates. On receiving the report, the HCA forwarded it to the BCCI a few days back. The BCCI has slapped a two-year ban on these players and subsequently they were banned by the state association as well,” a HCA source told TNIE requesting anonymity . The HCA website mentions the incident. In its press releases, notifications and announcements section, it says the U-19 team announced on September 24 had to be changed due to age verification of some of the selected players. “The Chairman and members of the Junior Selection Committee met today (30-09-2024) to select replacements for certain players who have been withheld due to ongoing enquiry of age verification,” CONTINUED ON P5 it reads. TESTING THE WATERS TG govt seeks Centre’s nod to tap World Bank for Musi loan M A N DA RAV I N D E R R E D DY @ Hyderabad THE state government has intensified efforts to mobilise funds for the Musi Riverfront Development Project. Recently , the state government sent proposals to the Department of Economic Affairs under the Ministry of Finance for its approval to tap the World Bank for a loan for the project. The Preliminary Project Report (PPR), accessed by TNIE, proposes a loan of `4,100 crore from the World Bank once cleared by the Centre. Apart from this, the state government would spend `1,763 crore while remaining funds re- PRESS CLUSIVE quired would be mobilised from the private sector and state and Central sector schemes. According to the PPR, the project will leverage private sector financing through Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) with companies in tourism and hospitality and real estate sectors alongside CSR funding. Green bonds would be issued for environmentally sustainable components, while revenue generation includes naming rights, sponsorships and tourism activities. The project will also align with the state and centrally sponsored urban schemes and programmes along with domestic financial markets. YEAR-WISE PROJECTIONS OF FUND UTILISATION Year 1 `500 cr Year 2 `1,000 cr Year 3 `1,000 cr Year 4 `1,000 cr Year 5 `1,000 cr Year 6 `1,363 cr Total `5,863 cr FOUR MAJOR ACTIVITIES INVOLVED  Water management with enhancement of sewage treatment, flood mitigation systems and stormwater management  Landscape development, including restoring rivers traditional ecology and creating public spaces along the riverfront  Enhancing mobility and access along the river corridor through introduction of roads and enhancement of transport hubs  Commercialisation by tapping into existing cultural resources and identifying growth areas while incorporating energy-efficient designs and ecofriendly technologies