visakhapatnam l monday l june 20, 2022 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION war in ukraine could go on for years, warns NATo chief Jens Stoltenberg’s warning comes as Ukrainian president vowed to retake areas that have fallen to Russian forces bad news for economies around the world Stoltenberg’s prediction suggests the world economy could suffer further and possibly plunge into a very deep recession, the likes of which has not been experienced so far. Poorest countries would take the biggest hit. On a positive note, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, visiting the Black Sea city of Mykolaiv on Sunday, vowed to restore all that was destroyed ■ 87 Italy joins Qatar’s natural gas project ■ The war that began on February 24 has led to record high inflation and crippling food shortages in many countries With Russia using gas supply as a weapon, Europe has turned to new energy sources. Italy’s Eni on Sunday signed up to expand production from Qatar’s largest natural gas field | P9 N.o. of Russian troops killed on Saturday, according to Ukraine 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 Narrow escape for 185 passengers as Delhi-bound plane catches fire R a m s h a n k a r @ Patna As many as 185 passengers of a Delhi-bound SpiceJet flight had a narrow escape on Sunday as one of the aircraft’s engines caught fire shortly after take-off following a suspected bird hit. Flight SG-723 took off from Patna airport at 12.04 pm. According to airport officials, “soon after the take-off, the pilot noticed there was an engine problem as the wing started emitting smoke and flames and loud noises.” The pilot promptly turned off the engine and contacted Air Traffic Control to make an emergency landing. The Boeing 737 landed in Patna at 12.22 pm, 18 minutes after it took off. “The flight landed safely and all 185 passengers, including two infants, de-boarded safely . A full emergency was declared Top def officers rebut criticism, say Agnipath on Army to hold 83 recruitment rallies across the country; draft notification on hires today MAYANK S IN G H @ New Delhi With the general situation across the nation easing a tad after days of violent protests, the government fielded senior tri-services officers as well as from the defence ministry to rebut criticism, convey that the short-term Agnipath recruitment scheme was very much on, and to indicate a broad timeline of its rollout. Fielding questions at a press conference on whether the government proposed to review or roll back the scheme, Lt Gen Puri, additional secretary in the Department of Military Affairs, shot back, “No, why should there be a rollback?” He said the whole objective was reduce the average age of the personnel in uniform. “I will give you an example. Do you know how many casualties are reported just for health purposes from high altitude areas? Do read about it, then you would come to know why young is important,” he said. Putting the protesters on notice, Lt Gen Puri warned that they will find no place in the Agnipath scheme. “The Army’s foundation is discipline. There is no space for arson or vandalism. Every individual will give a certificate that they were not part of the protest or vandalism. Police verification is 100%; no one can join without that. If any FIR is lodged against them, they can’t join,” he said. As for allowances, Agniveers will get them at par with regular soldiers. Also the family of any Agniveer sacrificing his/ her life in the service of the nation will get compensation of `1 crore. While many experts have wondered why the defence ministry did not see the need to run a pilot project to test the idea, Lt Gen Puri suggested the first batch of 46,000 hires was meant to do just that — analyse the outcome to tweak the scheme if needed. Lt General Anil Puri gestures as he addresses a tri-services press meet in New Delhi on Sunday | Parveen Negi at the airport and the situation was dealt with effectively air,” port director Atul Prakash informed. According to Patna district magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh, people living close to the airport alerted the district administration and the airport authorities after they noticed smoke coming out of the plane. The airport administration alerted the ATC, who radioed it to the pilot. The pilot, however, Viral vid shows fire beneath left wing Video grab of the engine on fire | PTI Compound wall at TDP leader’s home partially razed; party alleges vendetta E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Visakhapatnam Tension prevailed at Narsipatnam in Anakapalle district as the municipal and revenue officials partially demolished the compound wall at the residence of former minister and TDP politburo member Ch Ayyanna Patrudu, claiming that it was constructed on encroached land. Following heated arguments between the authorities and the followers of the TDP leader, the demolition drive was halted for the day. Another survey is set to be taken up on Monday . Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) Govinda Rao, municipal commissioner Kanaka Rao and ASP Manikanta Chandol along with other officials arrived at the TDP leader’s house with an excavator and started demolishing the compound wall at 4 am on Sunday . Ayyanna Patrudu is in Hyderabad for medical tests. Terming the act vendetta politics, the leader’s son, Chintakayala Rajesh, alleged that power supply was disconnected at 4 am and that they were not given any prior notice regarding the demolishment. However, officials maintained that the Narsipatnam Tahsildar had served a notice to the family on June 2, stating that 0.02 acres of irrigation land in survey number 276 was encroached. “Only the struc- tures built in the encroached land were being razed,” they said. On the other hand, Rajesh said they have been residing there for the last 30 years and constructed the building after obtaining all approvals. Ayyanna Patrudu’s wife Padmavati alleged that the YSRC government was trying to stifle her husband’s voice as it could not take criticism. Asserting that there were no violations in the construction, she said the family will approach the court for justice. Meanwhile, a large number of TDP workers gathered in front of Ayyanna’s house following rumours that his son P4 may be arrested.  “We want a mix of josh and hosh. That is why we want to reduce the age profile. The average age is 32 years at present and we want to reduce it as per the recommendations of the Kargil review committee and Arun Singh committee report,” Lt Gen Puri said E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ New Delhi Six high courts got new chief justices after the government accepted the recommendation of the Supreme Court collegium, the Department of Justice in the Union Law Ministry announced on Sunday . While five high court judges were elevated as chief justices, the chief justice of the Telangana High Court, Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, was transferred to the Delhi High Court in the same capacity . ONGC setting an example Prime Minister Narendra Modi picks up litter while inspecting the newly-opened Indian Trade Promotion Organisation tunnel built under Pragati Maidan Integrated Transit Corridor Project, in New Delhi on Sunday | PTI Jab-o-meter Take your shot June 18 11,61,176 doses June 19 2,73,256 doses Total: 1,96,06,74,860 NATIONWIDE June 18 June 19 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths 13,216 12,899 8,148 8,518 23 15 Chairperson to have shorter tenure? The oil ministry has proposed raising of the eligibility age as well as a shorter tenure for the top ONGC post, after it failed to find a suitable candidate even after a year of searching TS seeks AP’s help to check encroachment on Ramalayam land B S at ya n a r aya n a R e d d y @ Khammam The Telangana Endowments Commissioner has written to the Andhra Pradesh government, seeking intervention to save land worth hundreds of crores belonging to the famous Lord Rama temple in Bhadrachalam as it is being brazenly encroached. The temple administration has been running from pillar to post to stop permanent structures from coming up on 30 acres of the 889.5 acres belonging to the temple in Purushoth- apatnam village that became part of the residuary Andhra Pradesh after bifurcation of the State in 2014. A few days ago, officials and staff of the temple reached Purushothapatnam village to stop the illegal constructions, but had to return disappointed after a heated argument with the encroachers resulted in the latter telling the former to do what they could. Ramalayam officials then lodged several complaints with the police, revenue department officials, including the Collector and SP urging them to save , the land, but all the officials could do was express helplessness since the property was not in their jurisdiction. The Telangana Endowments Commissioner then shot off a series of letters to the AP government, but temple officials rued the lack of cooperation from lower level officials. “Before bifurcation, we at least had control and full cooperation from the police and revenue departments, but after the village was merged in Andhra Pradesh, we are helpless,” Ramalayam Executive Officer P5 B Sivaji told TNIE.  the airport and raised an alarm. But the cabin crew asked us to keep quiet,” another said. The post-landing flight inspection showed that three fan blades of the jet’s left engine were damaged in the suspected bird hit. The airport director said the airline made an alternative arrangement for stranded passengers to reach their destination. express read Jagan to lay stone for `700-cr Apache unit Tirupati: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will lay the foundation stone for the Apache manufacturing unit at Inagaluru village in Srikalahasti mandal on June 23, Minister for Industries Gudivada Amarnath said. Hilltop SEZ Development India Pvt Ltd (Apache) will set up its second footwear making unit with `700 crore and provide 10,000 jobs to the youth in Tirupati district | P4 No evidence found against ex-serviceman Vijayawada: Palnadu police, who detained an ex-serviceman, A Subba Rao, suspecting his role in the violence at Secunderabad railway station against the Agnipath scheme, reportedly could not find any incriminating evidence to confirm his role in incident. It was alleged that Rao, who runs defence academies, provoked his students to take up an agitation | P4 Pawan urges people to give him a chance, bless JSP Ongole: Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan urged the people to give his party one chance to rule the State. “Look towards Jana Sena Party this time. Bless us. We will change the direction of the State for good,’’ he said. YSRC Chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, too, during his campaign in 2019 had asked people for one chance. The JSP chief was addressing a gathering in Prakasam district on Sunday after handing over cheques of `1 lakh to 72 families of tenant farmers, who had ended their lives | P4 Telangana, 5 other HCs get new Chief Justices Mix of josh and hosh “In the next 4-5 years, our intake will be 50,000-60,000 and will increase to 90,000-1 lakh subsequently. We’ve started small at 46,000 to analyse the scheme...and to build up infra capacity. Our intake of Agniveers will go up to 1.25 lakh in the near future,” he said. Addressing the press meet, Air Marshal S K Jha said, “Agniveer batch 1 registration will start from June 24 and from July 24, phase 1 of the online examination process would start. Training would commence by December 30.” As for the Army Lt Gen Ban, si Ponappa said a draft notification on the hiring will be issued on Monday. In all, 83 recruitment rallies would be organised across the country . Vice Admiral Dinesh Tripathi said the first batch of naval recruits — both male and female — would join training by November 21. In the first batch, 3,000 Agniveers will be inducted into the Navy ofw whom 20% would , be women, said sources. A video shot from inside the aircraft shows sparks from under the left wing of the plane. A DGCA official confirmed the validity of the video. This is the second time in over a month that a SpiceJet aircraft had to turn back after a snag within minutes of its take off was aware of the situation by then. After receiving the clearance from Air Traffic Controller, the pilot landed the plane on one engine. The fire was doused soon after landing and there is no serious damage to the fuselage. After de-boarding, passengers shared their experiences. “I have never gotten so scared in my life,” one of them said. “We felt tremors inside the flight soon after it took off from The vacancy so created in the Telangana High Court has been filled by promoting Justice Ujjal Bhuyan of the same court as its chief justice. His parent high court is Gauhati. Delhi High Court judge Vipin Sanghi was appointed as the chief justice of the Uttarakhand High Court. He was functioning as the acting chief justice of the Delhi High Court after Justice D N Patel retired on March 13. Justice Amjad A Sayed of the Bombay High Court will be the new chief justice in Himachal Pradesh. transfers in the higher judiciary Name Vipin Sanghi, judge, Delhi HC HC where appointed as Chief Justice Uttarakhand Ujjal Bhuyan, judge, Telangana HC Telangana Amjad Ahtesham Sayed, judge, Bombay HC Himachal Pradesh Shinde Sambhaji Shiwaji, judge, Bombay HC Rajasthan Rashmin Manharbhai Chhaya, judge, Gujarat HC Name Satish Chandra Sharma, Chief Justice, Telangana HC Gauhati HC where transferred As Chief Justice, Delhi HC 2 Pak nationals among 4 terrorists killed in Valley forces in Damhal Hanjipora area of Kulgam in south KashFour terrorists, including two mir around 3.30 pm. “In the enPakistani nationals, were killed suing encounter, two local miliin two different encounters that tants were killed,” the police were ongoing in Kashmir official said. on Sunday . The slain militants The police and the were identified as Haris Army launched a joint Sharief of Srinagar search operation in the and Zakir Padder of forest area of ChandiKulgam. Haris, accordgam, Lolab in Kuping to the police, bewara district based on longed to Lashkar Operations while Zakir was assoinformation gleaned from an arrested ter- will continue ciated with Jaish. rorist Showkat Ahmad “By targeting “Both the killed milSheikh. innocent civilians itants were part of “During the search including women groups involved in sevof a hideout, terrorists and kids, eral militancy incifired indiscriminately unarmed dents, including aton the troops. The fire policemen and tacks on security was returned and in labourers, forces and civilians,” the ensuing heavy terrorists can’t the official said. Opergunfire, two Pakistani deter our efforts ation in that area was terrorists of Lashkar to bring peace in going on as well when were killed,” a police Valley,” Inspector reports last came in. officer said, adding General of Police, Meanwhile, the pothey suspect a few Kashmir, Vijay lice arrested three asmore terrorists are Kumar said sociates of Al-Badr trapped in the area. He outfit during checking said heavy exchange of gunfire in the Wangam area of Handwas continuing at the time of wara. The trio was identified as going to press. Nazim Ahmad Bhat, Siraj din Another encounter broke out Khan and Adil Gull, all resibetween militants and security dents of Kralgund, Kupwara. F aya z W a n i @ Srinagar