eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE Notes From Miraj AHMEDABAD,LATECITY JUNE22,2025 A town that handcrafted string instruments hopes to redefine its legacy FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT 16+4PAGES,`6.00 DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA HC asks Vadodara police to redress grievance of petitioner seeking to ‘enjoy property’ bought in 2020 ADITI RAJA VADODARA, JUNE 21 STATING THAT “it is the duty of the state to maintain law and order”, the Gujarat High Court has directedtheVadodaracitypolice to remedy the grievance of a petitioner seeking police protection to “enjoy their property” — four years after it ruled in favour of the petitioners following a controversyundertheDisturbed Areas Act. In an oral order on June 19, Justice HD Suthar stated, “Considering the orders passed in Special Criminal Application, Review Application as well as in Letters Patent Appeal, it appears that as the petitioners are owners of the property in question and they want to enjoy their property, (they) have approached the authority, more particularly the Police Inspector, Vadodara City, on July 7, 2024... till date, nothing has been done...” According to the order, “In view of the facts of the case and looking to the grievance of the petitioner, the respondent authority concerned is hereby directed to redress the grievance of the petitioner in accordance with law as it is the duty of the Statetomaintainthelawandorder. If any adverse outcome is there, the petitioners are at liberty to file appropriate proceedings before the appropriate forum.” The owners of the property, Onali Ezazuddin Dholkawal and Iqbal Hussain Asgarali Tinwala, had moved the court in 2024 seeking directions against the Vadodaracitypolice,particularly Vadodara City police station, “to facilitate and effectuate the petitioners to enter and use their commercial property and repair andrehabilitateit”.Thepetitioners cited notices received from the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) with warning of the property being in a dilapidated condition and ordered it to be repaired during the period of the long-drawn litigation under the Disturbed Areas Act with multiple petitions. “Thepetitionerswerereceiving notices dated July 1, 2019, September24,2021,andJune26, 2023, along with undated notices affixed on the premises by VMCasthepropertyisinadilapidated condition and is dangerousfortheneighbours.Butsince the petitioners were not CONTINUEDONPAGE2 GUJARAT A-I CRASH: AT LEAST 20 GROUND DEATHS LIKELY; 232 BODIES HANDED OVER P8 CONGRESS NAMES CHIEFS OF ITS 40 DISTRICT, CITY UNITS IN STATE PAGE 4 WAR ENTERS 2ND WEEK, TEL AVIV PREPARES FOR ‘PROLONGED CAMPAIGN’ Israel strikes Iranian nuclear facility in Isfahan, kills three Guard commanders Iran launches new wave of drones and missiles at Israel, hits building in north DAVID RISING & SAM MEDNICK TEL AVIV, JUNE 21 ISRAEL’SMILITARYsaidSaturday it was preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war, and announced it struck an Iranian nuclear research facility overnight and killed three senior Iranian commandersintargetedattacks. The prospect of a wider war threatened, too. Iranian-backed HouthirebelsinYemensaidthey wouldresumeattacksonUSvessels and warships in the Red Sea if the Trump administration joins Israel’s military campaign againstIran.TheHouthispaused such attacks in May under a deal with the US. THE WORLD PAGE 14 AVIATION SAFETY watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation(DGCA)hasissuedastern warning to Tata group airline Air India over repeated and serious lapsesinflightcrewrostering,and has asked the carrier to remove three of its officials from crew schedulingandrosteringrolesand initiate internal disciplinary proceedingsagainstthem,TheIndian Express has learnt. The regulator has also cautioned the airline that any future Tehran Natanz Isfahan IRAQ KUWAIT I R A N The US ambassador to Israel announced the US has begun “assisted departure flights,” the firstsuchflightsfromIsraelsince the Hamas-led attack on October7,2023,thatsparkedthe ongoing war in Gaza. Inside Iran, smoke rose from an area near a mountain in Isfahan, where the province’s CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Indian nationals evacuated by the government from Iran under Operation Sindhu arrive at the Delhi airport on Saturday. Abhinav Saha Neighbourhood policy at work: India to fly home Nepal, Lanka citizens too SHUBHAJIT ROY B-2 BOMBERS MOVING TO GUAM, U.S. OFFICIALS SAY TALKS BETWEEN EUROPEANS, IRAN TO SPEED UP: MACRON NEW DELHI, JUNE 21 KEY NUCLEAR SITE Fordow NEW DELHI, JUNE 21 IN A major diplomatic outreach to its neighbours, India said Saturday it will evacuate nationals of Nepal and Sri Lanka who are stranded in Iran and want to leave the country. Officials in Delhi framed it as an example of India’s “neigh- DGCA warns A-I over lapses in crew rostering, orders removal of 3 officials SUKALP SHARMA bourhood first policy” — of helpingitsneighboursintimesof crisis,beitconflict,naturalcalamity or pandemic. Thisannouncementcameon the day two more flights, operated by the Iranian Mahan Air, landed in Delhi. The Indian embassy in Tehran, in a post on X, said, “On request of the Governments of Nepal and Sri Lanka, the Indian Embassy’s evacuation efforts in Iran will also cover citizens of Nepal and Sri Lanka.” “The citizens of Nepal and Sri Lanka may urgently reach out to the Embassy, either on the Telegram channel or over the emergency contact numbers: +989010144557;+98912810911 5; +989128109109,” it stated. Nepal’s Foreign Minister CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E EXPLAINED DISTURBED AREAS ACT WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM ● As it did in Ukraine THIS IS not the first time that Delhi has stepped in to evacuate citizens of its neighbours. In the early days of the Ukraine war, India evacuated nationals of neighbouring countries along with its own. Further violation will lead to action including licence suspension, warns DGCA violation of crew scheduling norms, licensing, or flight duty time limitations detected in audits or inspections will lead to CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Advance tax collection growth slows to 3.9%, income tax mop-up lower than FY25 level AANCHAL MAGAZINE NEW DELHI, JUNE 21 ADVANCEDIRECTtaxcollections from the first installment in the current financial year 2025-26 grew by 3.87 per cent to Rs 1.56 lakhcroreasonJune19thisyear, slower than the growth of 27.34 per cent seen in the same period a year ago, data released Saturday by the Income Tax Department showed. While advance tax collections during April 1-June 19 for corporate tax grew 5.86 per cent toRs1.22lakhcrore,personalincome tax or non-corporate tax collections recorded a slowdown, with advance collections falling by 2.68 per cent to Rs 33,928.32 crore. The advance tax collections for personal income at Rs33,928.32crorearelowerthan the first installment collections CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PM LEADS YOGA DAY CELEBRATIONS Prime Minister Narendra Modi leads a yoga session on the 11th International Day of Yoga, in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, on Saturday. ANI REPORT,PAGE4,11 ISRO readies SpaDeX-2 mission to dock satellites in elliptical orbit ANONNA DUTT NEW DELHI, JUNE 21 AFTER SUCCESSFULLY bringing together two satellites in space, scientists at the Indian Space ResearchOrganisation(ISRO)are drawing up plans for a second SpaDeX mission — this time to dock two satellites in an ellipti- cal orbit. The ability to join two satellites in space, known as docking, is critical for India’s upcoming Chandrayaan-4 mission and the proposed Bharatiya Antariksh Station, the country’s planned space station. In the first SpaDeX mission, two 220-kg satellites were launched into a 470-km circular orbit.Withasmallrelativevelocity introduced between them, the satellites were allowed to drift apart before being progressivelybroughtcloser.OnJanuary 16,theysuccessfullydocked.The experiment also demonstrated power sharing between the satellites and their ability to receive commands as a single CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 On board AI 171: Proud parents headed to the UK to attend convocations PAGE 1 ANCHOR RITU SHARMA AHMEDABAD, JUNE 21 THRILLED THAT they would be part of her convocation ceremony on June 23, Dhwani Patel couldn’t wait to see her parents — and the graduation dress they had picked out for her — in London. Rajni Patel (51) and his wife, Rajni Patel, Divyaben (right) and Hemangi Patel (second from left) were among those killed in the June 12 crash. Express Divyaben (47), from Gujarat’s Vasad town, had also packed local snacks, new shoes and a watch to surprise the 21-yearold. Travelling with them was Dhwani’s aunt, Hemangi Patel (57). “They had scheduled a flight for June 20 but advanced it to June 16, and finally to June 12, as theywantedtospendmoretime with me since I was to sit for placements after my convocation. This was the first time someone from our family was CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Ahmedabad