Monday, July 31, 2006
Hyderabad City News july 31,2006
State hikes land cost in urban areas
Hyderabad, July 31: Flats and land will cost more from August 1, 2006, with the government jacking up registration charges for lands in urban areas by 10 per cent. The registration and stamps department has also revised construction rates of multi-storied RCC buildings by Rs 40 per square feet in urban areas and notified gram panchayats.
Construction cost for ground floor, first floor and second floor of RCC buildings has gone up from Rs 410 per sqft to Rs 450 per sqft.For structures from third floor onwards the rate has been hiked from Rs 440 to Rs 480 per sqft. The revised cost of construction of parking space is Rs 330 per square feet as against the existing Rs 300.
“If you are buying a flat of 1,000 square feet, it will cost Rs 15,000 more in the city and Rs 11,000 more on the outskirts,” explained G. Yoganand, secretary of the Builders’ Forum. In another major decision, the government has also revised the basic register value of land in areas where property prices shot up abnormally in the recent past. These areas include Kokapet, Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy district besides major towns such as Rajahmundry, Visakhapatnam, Machilipatnam, Vijayawada, Bhimavaram, Kakinada, Eluru and Narasaraopet among others.
The revised basic register value was hiked from a minimum of 100 per cent to 130 per cent in some areas of Hyderabad, 11 per cent to 150 per cent in Ranga Reddy district and 13 per cent to 132 per cent in Machilipatnam. This was done to bridge the gap between market value and register value.
For example, if the open market value of land in Hyderabad is Rs 2,000 per square yard and maximum of Rs 45,000, the stamps and registration department value for the same land is Rs 500 to Rs 13,000.
The government has now proposed to hike the same by minimum of Rs 1,000 and maximum of Rs 30,000. Rural gram panchayats have been spared from the hike. “These revised charges will come into affect from August 1,” said Lal Rosem, commissioner and inspector general of registration and stamps.
State has drawn up VRS list too
Hyderabad, July 31: Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC), Singareni Collieries and AP State Trading Corporation are among the 30 public sector enterprises selected for restructuring by the State government.
Also on the list are AP State Cooperative Bank, AP Beverages Corporation, AP Tourism Development Corporation and AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited. These PSEs are listed in the controversial GO Ms No. 5 which was brought to light by CPI(M) secretary B.V. Raghavulu in New Delhi the other day.
Mr Raghavulu had alleged that the State government was planning to render jobless about 65,000 employees of PSEs through the GO which he termed a “shameless attempt to implement World Bank diktats on structural reforms.”
In fact, the GO is specifically meant to implement phase-III of the action plan for PSE reforms in 30 enterprises and cooperatives. It also covers a backlog 13 enterprises belonging to the phase-II action plan.
According to the action plan, PSEsthat are not viable would be closed down. In the case of PSEs requiring capital investment in modernisation and diversification, strategies such as financial restructuring, downsizing and joint venture options would be considered.Viable PSEs will be retained but with financial restructuring which would include downsizing of the work force.
To facilitate the reform process, the State government has also extended the term of the Implementation Secretariat for three years. Interestingly, the Congress, when it was in the Opposition, had demanded closure of the Implementation Secretariat alleging that it was meant solely to close down PSEs. In the phase-III reforms, the Implementation Secretariat will first conduct option studies— whether to wind up, disinvest or retain with restruturing.
After this, the government will chalk out an action plan and then takes steps for restructuring or sale. The entire exercise would be completed within three years. The government has also drawn up lists of employees who are thought to be surplus in each PSE and has estimated how much it would cost to remove them through voluntary retirement scheme (VRS).
During 2006-07, the State government is planning to restructure nine PSEs including AP State Trading Corporation, AP State Housing Corporation, APSRTC, APCOB, APMDC and AP State Minorities Finance Corporation. As per government estimates, there are 36,283 surplus employees in these PSEs (of which 34,784 are in APSRTC) and they would be “removed” through VRS at a total cost of Rs 725.66 crores.
During 2007-08, another nine units, including AP IIC, AP Tourism Development Corporation, AP State Civil Supplies Corporation, AP SC Finance Corporation and AP BC Cooperative Finance
Corporation would be restructured by ejecting 1,327 surplus employees. In the third year, AP Beverages Corporation, Singareni Collieries, AP Vikalangula Cooperative Corporation and dairy development cooperatives would be restructured by removing 26,597 employees. In short, 64,207 employees would lose their jobs in three years at an estimated cost of Rs 1,218.14 crores for the government.
* Non-viable PSEs would be closed down.
* Viable PSEs to be retained with financial restructuring
* Downsizing to be considered for PSEs requiring investment
Losers want booze, bucks back
Hyderabad, July 31: Tension prevailed in the villages of Sheriguda and Malshettyguda of Ibrahimpatnam after defeated candidates demanded back the liquor and money they distributed to voters before the panchayat polls.Two peeved losers of the local bodies’ polls went around the village with their henchmen asking people to give back the money and liquor since they did not vote for them.
After the goons went on a rampage, terrified voters returned the money and heaped the liquor bottles on a road in the centre of the village. The victory of independent candidate G. Narasimha Reddy from Sheriguda angered Congress candidate A. Jagal Reddy and Telugu Desam candidate E. Janga Reddy.Both of them had distributed money and liquor to the voters. The voters took the gifts happily but ditched them in the hustings.
Sheriguda sub-inspector Lakshmikanth Reddy said that police had taken Mr Janga Reddy and one Mr Narayanan Reddy, a follower of Mr Jagal Reddy, into custody as a preventive measure. “Others escaped when we entered the village,” he said.Police said that each candidate had distributed Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 per voter. There are only 2,332 voters in the panchayat. “We are investigating and will register a case soon,” he said.
“It is true that we took money from both the candidates,” said G. Yashoda a resident of Sheriguda. “But it is not fair to demand it back after the polls.” Lakshmamma, a resident of Malshettyguda, said that she had to borrow from a moneylender to pay back the candidate. Meanwhile, Mr Jagal Reddy and Mr Janga Reddy denied that they ever paid money to the candidates or took it back. “These are false allegations,” they said.
Ranga Reddy (east division) RDO John Wesley visited the village and recorded statements of villagers who agreed to having taken the money and being forced by the candidates to return it. Police will move the court on Tuesday to book criminal cases under Election Act against both the candidates.
State may postpone cloud seeding
Hyderabad, July 31: Cloud seeding experiments in the State which are scheduled to start on August 15 could be delayed by a few days with the officials from Rain Shadow Areas Development (RSAD) still finding it difficult to finalise the nitty gritties needed to launch the project in full scale.
Already, RSAD officials are late, considering that last year the cloud seeding experiments had started in June while this year the cloud seeding experiments are yet to take off. Moreover, till now the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research has not agreed to fund the project which means the Centre still stays away from the cloud seeding projects taken up by the State.
Last year, the officials had planned to seed clouds for about 120 days but got only around 86 ideal days to carry out the experiments. This year, they are planning to seed the clouds for about 90 days. However, it all depends on the availability of seedable clouds and there is no guarantee that all the 90 days will be favourable.
AP seeks more Krishna water
Hyderabad, July 31: The State government will give “environmental” and “humanitarian” angle to the allocation of Krishna waters during its arguments before the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal in its hearing next month.
The State government is planning to argue that the State requires a greater share in the Krishna river waters because of high salinity of groundwater in Krishna delta, high fluoride problem in districts in the Krishna basin and drought-prone land in the basin.
The arguments would be explained to the representatives of all political parties at an all-party meeting to be conducted by irrigation minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah on Tuesday.
According to official sources, the State requires 2,083.24 thousand million cubic feet (tmc), as against 811 tmc of assured water allocated to it by the previous Bachawat Tribunal.
Of the total requirement, 130 tmc would be for domestic water needs, 1,569.64 tmc (including 303.30 tmc under ongoing and new projects) for irrigation, 7 tmc for power generation, 168 tmc for the preservation of environment, 157 tmc for industry, 1.60 tmc for navigation and 50 tmc for other miscellaneous purposes.
The government said that a survey conducted by the Central Ground Water Board in Krishna delta had said fresh water from canal system could contribute significantly to refresh the saline ground water.
Wine shop licence to be valid for 2 yrs
Hyderabad, July 31: Panchayat polls have proved to be beneficial for both guzzlers who enjoyed free drinks from candidates and the State government. While guzzlers drove a deep hole in the candidates’ pockets, government has earned a cool Rs 100 crore revenue during the poll period.
“There has been a slight improvement in the excise department’s revenues during the panchayat polls. However, the increase has not been as significant as expected. But the department did earn about Rs 80 to Rs 100 crore during the election period,” minister for commercial taxes and excise Kontala Ramakrishna said here on Monday.
Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhar Reddy revi-ewed the functioning of the excise department and inspected the revenue collected in the first quarter of the year with excise minister and other department officials at the Secretariat.The State government, meanwhile, has decided to increase the wine shop licence for a two-year period from this year as against the present one year licensing system.
However, the licence for bars will continue to be for one year subject to renewal. “This is being done basically for sustainability. There have been recommendations from wine shop dealers that one year period was too short for establishment of business and they requested for an increase in the licence period for at least two years,” Mr Ramakrishna said.
According to the excise minister, excise department has earned Rs 700 crore revenue during the first quarter of the year. The minister said that 107 wine shops which remained unauctioned for various reasons like Maoists threats, would be auctioned through short notice tenders soon.
At present there are about 5,500 wine shops in the State. “The excise department has also decided to recruit 1,600 constables to increase surveillance on illicit liquor and related issues,” he added.In reply to a query, Mr Ramakrishna assured that the State would not allow wine shops to be located near educational institutions.
Srisailam gates to be opened today
Hyderabad, July 31: The flood gates of Srisailam reservoir will be opened on Tuesday with the dam receiving an inflow of 2,38,840 cusecs of water from the upstream Nara-yanpur and Thungabhadra projects in Karnataka. As the southwest monsoon was active in the catchment areas of the river in Maharashtra, Almatti and Narayanpur received increased inflows.
As against the full reservoir level of 885 ft, the present water level in the dam is 878.40 ft. As much as 228 tmc of water is available in the reservoir at present as against the gross storage capacity of 263.63 tmc. Over 70,000 cusecs of water is being released into Nagarjunasagar reservoir.
PSE staff need not worry, says Rosaiah
Hyderabad, July 31: Fi-nance minister K. Rosaiah on Monday tried to put up a weak defence on the government’s decision to restructure 30 State-level public enterprises (SLPEs) and downsizing 30 per cent of the staff by offering voluntary retirement scheme (VRS).
Mr Rosaiah told mediapersons that the GO No. 5 was issued only to keep the employees of the said SLPEs on alert, with a caution that if they didn’t perform, there was every possibility that the enterprises would be restructured. The intention of the government was not to close down or privatise the public enterprises nor was there any intention to prune the staff strength.
When asked why the government had to issue a GO, which is nothing but an implementation order, if it had no intention to restructure the public enterprises, the minister said issuance of GO did not mean that the government would implement it in letter and spirit. “A number of GOs were issued in the past, but they were not implemented,” he pointed out.
He, however, said the government would examine making amendments to the GO, if required, to allay apprehensions among employees of the said SLPEs. He also refuted the allegations that the government would remove the surplus staff through VRS.
Vegetables all water, chaff
Hyderabad, July 31: Ever wondered why tomatoes are not as sour and karela (bitter gourd) as bitter as they used to be a couple of decades ago? Or why many Indians continue to suffer from nutritional disorders despite consuming wheat and rice in adequate quantities?
The answer is that Indian fruits, vegetables and food grains have lost their original nutritional values with agricultural scientists indiscriminately developing hybrid varieties. In their anxiety to develop crops that give high yields, scientists have been overlooking the importance of nutrient contents in the farm produce.
“Take the example of tomato and karela. Both of them have lost their original nutritional and medicinal values because of hybridisation. These and other vegetables and fruits as also food grains like wheat now have nothing more than high water content and chaff,” argues Sompal, an economist and former member of Planning Commission. Mr Sompal was here to deliver a keynote address at a national seminar on agriculture at Osmania University on Monday.
To support his argument, Mr Sompal, who also worked as Union minister of State for agriculture in the Vajpayee regime, says he had grown 13 varieties of wheat including six desi varieties in his farm. The wheat grains from all the varieties, both hybrid and non-hybrid, were sent to the laboratory of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research for an analysis of their nutritional values.
“The lab report showed that the natural wheat varieties had more vitamins, minerals, proteins and gluten content as against the hybrid varieties which had more water content and chaff,” Mr Sompal said.
Student kills his seniors
Hyderabad, July 31: Irritated over unwanted advice, a hotel management student stabbed two of his seniors to death when they tried to counsel him not to consume beer. The double murder took place at TRT Quarters in Nallakunta at around 7.30 pm on Monday.Naveen Kumar of Delhi, a first year student, stabbed his seniors — Sanjay Pill of Meerut and Sanay Sherian of Ludhiana — with a knife.
According to East Zone deputy commissioner of police B. Balakrishna, “All the students involved in the incident were pursuing hotel management course at a college in Amberpet and were residing in rooms in Durgabai Deshmukh Colony. On Monday, Naveen Kumar and another first year student went out to buy books. While returning, Naveen reportedly stopped at a wine shop and was consuming liquor.
Two seniors, who later became his victims, brought him to their room and tried to counsel him on the ill-effects of alcohol. Naveen Kumar, who was in an intoxicated condition by then, stabbed them. They were shifted to Life Hospital where they were declared dead.”
Manik, an eyewitness to the incident, stated that the senior students had threatened to inform his parents about his alcohol habits when Naveen took out a knife and stabbed them.A case of murder was registered with Nallakunta police, which has formed four special parties to nab Naveen, who is absconding.
Deputy mayor may be sacked
Hyderabad, July 31: Over enthusiasm of deputy mayor Subhash Chanderjii in donning the role of mayor may lead to a no-confidence motion being moved against him in the MCH general body. Ramgopalpet corporator and member of MCH standing committee Seelam Prabhakar of Telugu Desam on Monday has written a letter to mayor Teegala Krishna Reddy to convene a special meeting and take up a no-confidence motion against the deputy Mayor and sack him from his duties.
It may be recalled that Mr Chanderjii had tried to convene a standing committee meeting since one week in the absence of Mr Krishna Reddy who was in Japan till Monday.
However, much to his disappointment almost all the members of the standing committee had abstained from the meetings citing various reasons.
Miffed with this, the deputy mayor had complained to the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Secretary Mr S P Singh over the “politics” being played by MIM and TD corporators.He also recommended that the members who were absent should be sacked because they did not attend the meetings continuously for three times.
Seelam Prabhakar says,” He has lost his mental stability because he is unable to sit on the mayor’s chair since past four years. Last week, there were heavy rains and we had to reach out to the public in various colonies because rain water inundated several colonies. Instead of attending to the needs of the public during the times of distress, he called us for a meeting.
We are very much hopeful that MIM will give us adequate support to unseat the Deputy Mayor. The mayor has to convene a special meeting and we will introduce no-confidence motion against deputy mayor”. Meanwhile, Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) coporators point out that in a day or two they would decide their stand on the issue.
Talking to this correspondent MIM corporator and member of standing committee Md. Naseeruddin says,”We are discussing the issue with our high command and we will come out with a strategy of our own. Infact, we were the first to think about a no-confidence motion against the deputy mayor”.
Mayor Teegala Krishna Reddy who came to twin cities from his Japan trip on Sunday night says,” Yes I have received the letter from the TDP corporator. Iam in the process of referring to the rules and regulations and will definitely take some decision on this issue in two days”.
Task Force sleuths arrest two pseudo-Naxals in city
Hyderabad, July 31: Two pseudo-Naxals, who were allegedly extorting money from officials, realtors and builders in the city, were arrested by West Zone Task Force sleuths on Monday. The arrested were identified as Mohammed Jahangir alias Suresh, 37, son of Mohammad Ghani of Borabanda and B. Anand, 37, son of Rajamouli of Goutampura in Sanjeeva Reddy Nagar.
The duo were trapped by the Task Force sleuths based on a complaint lodged by V. Kishore, son of V. Venkateswara Rao. The accused were allegedly extorting money in the name of North Telangana Maoist leader Jampanna. Kukatpally municipal commissioner Shiva Parvati and employees of Malkajgiri and Qutbullapur municipalities had reportedly fallen prey to the gang and paid some amount to the ‘Maoist party fund.’ But the victims did not complain to the police.
According to Task Force additional deputy commissioner of police K.V. Ven-kat Reddy, “The accused used to call their targets from a public telephone booth in Warangal and ask the officials to pay the money towards party fund.” West Zone inspector B. Limba Reddy said the victims were officials of the departments of R&B, Huda and municipalities.
Jahangir was earlier arrested in 2000 by Saroornagar police in a similar case. In 2001, both Anand and Jahangir were arrested related to several cases and were convicted for two years. Jahangir said, “An advocate asked Rs 1 lakh as fee for an appeal to the High Court. So we decided to earn money by extortion.”
Kukatpally municipal commissioner paid Rs 10,000 and Shiva Prasad, executive engineer of Qutbullapur municipality, paid Rs 3,000. Jagapati, the town planning officer of Malkajgiri municipality, paid Rs 10,000, police said. The accused reportedly called 20 officials of Malkajgiri, Kapra, Serilingampally and Gaddiannaram municipalities, demanding money from them. Police seized the list of 18 officials along with their phone numbers. At least 12 officials either expressed their inability or refused to pay, police said.
State told to list immersion steps by August 3
Hyderabad July 31: A division bench of the Andh-ra Pradesh High Court comprising Chief Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice G.V. Seethapathy on Monday gave time till August 3 to the State government with regard to the steps proposed to be taken to prevent immersion of Ganesh idols in Hussainsagar.
The bench earlier directed the State government to come out with a concrete proposal to prevent immersion of Ganesh idols in Hussainsagar. The State government failed to come out with any proposal in this regard and the court did not appreciate the same. The bench was dealing with a suo motu writ, complaining pollution in the water bodies in the entire State.
The bench also observed that it is the duty of the State and its functionaries to implement the law in its true spirit, unless the Act is scrapped. A division bench of the AP High Court directed the State government and the transport department to submit to the court the exact figures of vehicles which are 15 years old and the steps taken to phase out them.
The bench was informed by the government that 15-year-old vehicles at present were not being allowed to ply in the city. The bench made it clear that the vehicles which are phased out from the city should not be allowed to operate in the rural areas of the State as well.The bench also called for information as to how many 15-year-old school buses and the government vehicles were being operated in the city.
Buffalo shot dead
Hyderabad, July 31: A stray he-buffalo which terrorised people of three villages in Ranga Reddy district forcing students skip school besides killing two women, was shot dead by Shankarpally police on Monday.
Shankarpally sub-inspector G. Narasimha Reddy, who fired two rounds at the buffalo, said, “It looked like a small elephant. It was so violent that it was attacking anyone in his way. Even a mob attack with knives couldn’t tame the animal. We had no option but to open fire. It has been creating havoc in the area for two weeks.” The women who died were B. Sangamma, 60, wife of Venkaiah and B. Kistamma, 61, wife of Yellaiah, both residents of Kanchireddyguda.
Hyderabad, July 31: Flats and land will cost more from August 1, 2006, with the government jacking up registration charges for lands in urban areas by 10 per cent. The registration and stamps department has also revised construction rates of multi-storied RCC buildings by Rs 40 per square feet in urban areas and notified gram panchayats.
Construction cost for ground floor, first floor and second floor of RCC buildings has gone up from Rs 410 per sqft to Rs 450 per sqft.For structures from third floor onwards the rate has been hiked from Rs 440 to Rs 480 per sqft. The revised cost of construction of parking space is Rs 330 per square feet as against the existing Rs 300.
“If you are buying a flat of 1,000 square feet, it will cost Rs 15,000 more in the city and Rs 11,000 more on the outskirts,” explained G. Yoganand, secretary of the Builders’ Forum. In another major decision, the government has also revised the basic register value of land in areas where property prices shot up abnormally in the recent past. These areas include Kokapet, Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy district besides major towns such as Rajahmundry, Visakhapatnam, Machilipatnam, Vijayawada, Bhimavaram, Kakinada, Eluru and Narasaraopet among others.
The revised basic register value was hiked from a minimum of 100 per cent to 130 per cent in some areas of Hyderabad, 11 per cent to 150 per cent in Ranga Reddy district and 13 per cent to 132 per cent in Machilipatnam. This was done to bridge the gap between market value and register value.
For example, if the open market value of land in Hyderabad is Rs 2,000 per square yard and maximum of Rs 45,000, the stamps and registration department value for the same land is Rs 500 to Rs 13,000.
The government has now proposed to hike the same by minimum of Rs 1,000 and maximum of Rs 30,000. Rural gram panchayats have been spared from the hike. “These revised charges will come into affect from August 1,” said Lal Rosem, commissioner and inspector general of registration and stamps.
State has drawn up VRS list too
Hyderabad, July 31: Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC), Singareni Collieries and AP State Trading Corporation are among the 30 public sector enterprises selected for restructuring by the State government.
Also on the list are AP State Cooperative Bank, AP Beverages Corporation, AP Tourism Development Corporation and AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited. These PSEs are listed in the controversial GO Ms No. 5 which was brought to light by CPI(M) secretary B.V. Raghavulu in New Delhi the other day.
Mr Raghavulu had alleged that the State government was planning to render jobless about 65,000 employees of PSEs through the GO which he termed a “shameless attempt to implement World Bank diktats on structural reforms.”
In fact, the GO is specifically meant to implement phase-III of the action plan for PSE reforms in 30 enterprises and cooperatives. It also covers a backlog 13 enterprises belonging to the phase-II action plan.
According to the action plan, PSEsthat are not viable would be closed down. In the case of PSEs requiring capital investment in modernisation and diversification, strategies such as financial restructuring, downsizing and joint venture options would be considered.Viable PSEs will be retained but with financial restructuring which would include downsizing of the work force.
To facilitate the reform process, the State government has also extended the term of the Implementation Secretariat for three years. Interestingly, the Congress, when it was in the Opposition, had demanded closure of the Implementation Secretariat alleging that it was meant solely to close down PSEs. In the phase-III reforms, the Implementation Secretariat will first conduct option studies— whether to wind up, disinvest or retain with restruturing.
After this, the government will chalk out an action plan and then takes steps for restructuring or sale. The entire exercise would be completed within three years. The government has also drawn up lists of employees who are thought to be surplus in each PSE and has estimated how much it would cost to remove them through voluntary retirement scheme (VRS).
During 2006-07, the State government is planning to restructure nine PSEs including AP State Trading Corporation, AP State Housing Corporation, APSRTC, APCOB, APMDC and AP State Minorities Finance Corporation. As per government estimates, there are 36,283 surplus employees in these PSEs (of which 34,784 are in APSRTC) and they would be “removed” through VRS at a total cost of Rs 725.66 crores.
During 2007-08, another nine units, including AP IIC, AP Tourism Development Corporation, AP State Civil Supplies Corporation, AP SC Finance Corporation and AP BC Cooperative Finance
Corporation would be restructured by ejecting 1,327 surplus employees. In the third year, AP Beverages Corporation, Singareni Collieries, AP Vikalangula Cooperative Corporation and dairy development cooperatives would be restructured by removing 26,597 employees. In short, 64,207 employees would lose their jobs in three years at an estimated cost of Rs 1,218.14 crores for the government.
* Non-viable PSEs would be closed down.
* Viable PSEs to be retained with financial restructuring
* Downsizing to be considered for PSEs requiring investment
Losers want booze, bucks back
Hyderabad, July 31: Tension prevailed in the villages of Sheriguda and Malshettyguda of Ibrahimpatnam after defeated candidates demanded back the liquor and money they distributed to voters before the panchayat polls.Two peeved losers of the local bodies’ polls went around the village with their henchmen asking people to give back the money and liquor since they did not vote for them.
After the goons went on a rampage, terrified voters returned the money and heaped the liquor bottles on a road in the centre of the village. The victory of independent candidate G. Narasimha Reddy from Sheriguda angered Congress candidate A. Jagal Reddy and Telugu Desam candidate E. Janga Reddy.Both of them had distributed money and liquor to the voters. The voters took the gifts happily but ditched them in the hustings.
Sheriguda sub-inspector Lakshmikanth Reddy said that police had taken Mr Janga Reddy and one Mr Narayanan Reddy, a follower of Mr Jagal Reddy, into custody as a preventive measure. “Others escaped when we entered the village,” he said.Police said that each candidate had distributed Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,000 per voter. There are only 2,332 voters in the panchayat. “We are investigating and will register a case soon,” he said.
“It is true that we took money from both the candidates,” said G. Yashoda a resident of Sheriguda. “But it is not fair to demand it back after the polls.” Lakshmamma, a resident of Malshettyguda, said that she had to borrow from a moneylender to pay back the candidate. Meanwhile, Mr Jagal Reddy and Mr Janga Reddy denied that they ever paid money to the candidates or took it back. “These are false allegations,” they said.
Ranga Reddy (east division) RDO John Wesley visited the village and recorded statements of villagers who agreed to having taken the money and being forced by the candidates to return it. Police will move the court on Tuesday to book criminal cases under Election Act against both the candidates.
State may postpone cloud seeding
Hyderabad, July 31: Cloud seeding experiments in the State which are scheduled to start on August 15 could be delayed by a few days with the officials from Rain Shadow Areas Development (RSAD) still finding it difficult to finalise the nitty gritties needed to launch the project in full scale.
Already, RSAD officials are late, considering that last year the cloud seeding experiments had started in June while this year the cloud seeding experiments are yet to take off. Moreover, till now the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research has not agreed to fund the project which means the Centre still stays away from the cloud seeding projects taken up by the State.
Last year, the officials had planned to seed clouds for about 120 days but got only around 86 ideal days to carry out the experiments. This year, they are planning to seed the clouds for about 90 days. However, it all depends on the availability of seedable clouds and there is no guarantee that all the 90 days will be favourable.
AP seeks more Krishna water
Hyderabad, July 31: The State government will give “environmental” and “humanitarian” angle to the allocation of Krishna waters during its arguments before the Krishna Water Disputes Tribunal in its hearing next month.
The State government is planning to argue that the State requires a greater share in the Krishna river waters because of high salinity of groundwater in Krishna delta, high fluoride problem in districts in the Krishna basin and drought-prone land in the basin.
The arguments would be explained to the representatives of all political parties at an all-party meeting to be conducted by irrigation minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah on Tuesday.
According to official sources, the State requires 2,083.24 thousand million cubic feet (tmc), as against 811 tmc of assured water allocated to it by the previous Bachawat Tribunal.
Of the total requirement, 130 tmc would be for domestic water needs, 1,569.64 tmc (including 303.30 tmc under ongoing and new projects) for irrigation, 7 tmc for power generation, 168 tmc for the preservation of environment, 157 tmc for industry, 1.60 tmc for navigation and 50 tmc for other miscellaneous purposes.
The government said that a survey conducted by the Central Ground Water Board in Krishna delta had said fresh water from canal system could contribute significantly to refresh the saline ground water.
Wine shop licence to be valid for 2 yrs
Hyderabad, July 31: Panchayat polls have proved to be beneficial for both guzzlers who enjoyed free drinks from candidates and the State government. While guzzlers drove a deep hole in the candidates’ pockets, government has earned a cool Rs 100 crore revenue during the poll period.
“There has been a slight improvement in the excise department’s revenues during the panchayat polls. However, the increase has not been as significant as expected. But the department did earn about Rs 80 to Rs 100 crore during the election period,” minister for commercial taxes and excise Kontala Ramakrishna said here on Monday.
Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhar Reddy revi-ewed the functioning of the excise department and inspected the revenue collected in the first quarter of the year with excise minister and other department officials at the Secretariat.The State government, meanwhile, has decided to increase the wine shop licence for a two-year period from this year as against the present one year licensing system.
However, the licence for bars will continue to be for one year subject to renewal. “This is being done basically for sustainability. There have been recommendations from wine shop dealers that one year period was too short for establishment of business and they requested for an increase in the licence period for at least two years,” Mr Ramakrishna said.
According to the excise minister, excise department has earned Rs 700 crore revenue during the first quarter of the year. The minister said that 107 wine shops which remained unauctioned for various reasons like Maoists threats, would be auctioned through short notice tenders soon.
At present there are about 5,500 wine shops in the State. “The excise department has also decided to recruit 1,600 constables to increase surveillance on illicit liquor and related issues,” he added.In reply to a query, Mr Ramakrishna assured that the State would not allow wine shops to be located near educational institutions.
Srisailam gates to be opened today
Hyderabad, July 31: The flood gates of Srisailam reservoir will be opened on Tuesday with the dam receiving an inflow of 2,38,840 cusecs of water from the upstream Nara-yanpur and Thungabhadra projects in Karnataka. As the southwest monsoon was active in the catchment areas of the river in Maharashtra, Almatti and Narayanpur received increased inflows.
As against the full reservoir level of 885 ft, the present water level in the dam is 878.40 ft. As much as 228 tmc of water is available in the reservoir at present as against the gross storage capacity of 263.63 tmc. Over 70,000 cusecs of water is being released into Nagarjunasagar reservoir.
PSE staff need not worry, says Rosaiah
Hyderabad, July 31: Fi-nance minister K. Rosaiah on Monday tried to put up a weak defence on the government’s decision to restructure 30 State-level public enterprises (SLPEs) and downsizing 30 per cent of the staff by offering voluntary retirement scheme (VRS).
Mr Rosaiah told mediapersons that the GO No. 5 was issued only to keep the employees of the said SLPEs on alert, with a caution that if they didn’t perform, there was every possibility that the enterprises would be restructured. The intention of the government was not to close down or privatise the public enterprises nor was there any intention to prune the staff strength.
When asked why the government had to issue a GO, which is nothing but an implementation order, if it had no intention to restructure the public enterprises, the minister said issuance of GO did not mean that the government would implement it in letter and spirit. “A number of GOs were issued in the past, but they were not implemented,” he pointed out.
He, however, said the government would examine making amendments to the GO, if required, to allay apprehensions among employees of the said SLPEs. He also refuted the allegations that the government would remove the surplus staff through VRS.
Vegetables all water, chaff
Hyderabad, July 31: Ever wondered why tomatoes are not as sour and karela (bitter gourd) as bitter as they used to be a couple of decades ago? Or why many Indians continue to suffer from nutritional disorders despite consuming wheat and rice in adequate quantities?
The answer is that Indian fruits, vegetables and food grains have lost their original nutritional values with agricultural scientists indiscriminately developing hybrid varieties. In their anxiety to develop crops that give high yields, scientists have been overlooking the importance of nutrient contents in the farm produce.
“Take the example of tomato and karela. Both of them have lost their original nutritional and medicinal values because of hybridisation. These and other vegetables and fruits as also food grains like wheat now have nothing more than high water content and chaff,” argues Sompal, an economist and former member of Planning Commission. Mr Sompal was here to deliver a keynote address at a national seminar on agriculture at Osmania University on Monday.
To support his argument, Mr Sompal, who also worked as Union minister of State for agriculture in the Vajpayee regime, says he had grown 13 varieties of wheat including six desi varieties in his farm. The wheat grains from all the varieties, both hybrid and non-hybrid, were sent to the laboratory of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research for an analysis of their nutritional values.
“The lab report showed that the natural wheat varieties had more vitamins, minerals, proteins and gluten content as against the hybrid varieties which had more water content and chaff,” Mr Sompal said.
Student kills his seniors
Hyderabad, July 31: Irritated over unwanted advice, a hotel management student stabbed two of his seniors to death when they tried to counsel him not to consume beer. The double murder took place at TRT Quarters in Nallakunta at around 7.30 pm on Monday.Naveen Kumar of Delhi, a first year student, stabbed his seniors — Sanjay Pill of Meerut and Sanay Sherian of Ludhiana — with a knife.
According to East Zone deputy commissioner of police B. Balakrishna, “All the students involved in the incident were pursuing hotel management course at a college in Amberpet and were residing in rooms in Durgabai Deshmukh Colony. On Monday, Naveen Kumar and another first year student went out to buy books. While returning, Naveen reportedly stopped at a wine shop and was consuming liquor.
Two seniors, who later became his victims, brought him to their room and tried to counsel him on the ill-effects of alcohol. Naveen Kumar, who was in an intoxicated condition by then, stabbed them. They were shifted to Life Hospital where they were declared dead.”
Manik, an eyewitness to the incident, stated that the senior students had threatened to inform his parents about his alcohol habits when Naveen took out a knife and stabbed them.A case of murder was registered with Nallakunta police, which has formed four special parties to nab Naveen, who is absconding.
Deputy mayor may be sacked
Hyderabad, July 31: Over enthusiasm of deputy mayor Subhash Chanderjii in donning the role of mayor may lead to a no-confidence motion being moved against him in the MCH general body. Ramgopalpet corporator and member of MCH standing committee Seelam Prabhakar of Telugu Desam on Monday has written a letter to mayor Teegala Krishna Reddy to convene a special meeting and take up a no-confidence motion against the deputy Mayor and sack him from his duties.
It may be recalled that Mr Chanderjii had tried to convene a standing committee meeting since one week in the absence of Mr Krishna Reddy who was in Japan till Monday.
However, much to his disappointment almost all the members of the standing committee had abstained from the meetings citing various reasons.
Miffed with this, the deputy mayor had complained to the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Secretary Mr S P Singh over the “politics” being played by MIM and TD corporators.He also recommended that the members who were absent should be sacked because they did not attend the meetings continuously for three times.
Seelam Prabhakar says,” He has lost his mental stability because he is unable to sit on the mayor’s chair since past four years. Last week, there were heavy rains and we had to reach out to the public in various colonies because rain water inundated several colonies. Instead of attending to the needs of the public during the times of distress, he called us for a meeting.
We are very much hopeful that MIM will give us adequate support to unseat the Deputy Mayor. The mayor has to convene a special meeting and we will introduce no-confidence motion against deputy mayor”. Meanwhile, Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) coporators point out that in a day or two they would decide their stand on the issue.
Talking to this correspondent MIM corporator and member of standing committee Md. Naseeruddin says,”We are discussing the issue with our high command and we will come out with a strategy of our own. Infact, we were the first to think about a no-confidence motion against the deputy mayor”.
Mayor Teegala Krishna Reddy who came to twin cities from his Japan trip on Sunday night says,” Yes I have received the letter from the TDP corporator. Iam in the process of referring to the rules and regulations and will definitely take some decision on this issue in two days”.
Task Force sleuths arrest two pseudo-Naxals in city
Hyderabad, July 31: Two pseudo-Naxals, who were allegedly extorting money from officials, realtors and builders in the city, were arrested by West Zone Task Force sleuths on Monday. The arrested were identified as Mohammed Jahangir alias Suresh, 37, son of Mohammad Ghani of Borabanda and B. Anand, 37, son of Rajamouli of Goutampura in Sanjeeva Reddy Nagar.
The duo were trapped by the Task Force sleuths based on a complaint lodged by V. Kishore, son of V. Venkateswara Rao. The accused were allegedly extorting money in the name of North Telangana Maoist leader Jampanna. Kukatpally municipal commissioner Shiva Parvati and employees of Malkajgiri and Qutbullapur municipalities had reportedly fallen prey to the gang and paid some amount to the ‘Maoist party fund.’ But the victims did not complain to the police.
According to Task Force additional deputy commissioner of police K.V. Ven-kat Reddy, “The accused used to call their targets from a public telephone booth in Warangal and ask the officials to pay the money towards party fund.” West Zone inspector B. Limba Reddy said the victims were officials of the departments of R&B, Huda and municipalities.
Jahangir was earlier arrested in 2000 by Saroornagar police in a similar case. In 2001, both Anand and Jahangir were arrested related to several cases and were convicted for two years. Jahangir said, “An advocate asked Rs 1 lakh as fee for an appeal to the High Court. So we decided to earn money by extortion.”
Kukatpally municipal commissioner paid Rs 10,000 and Shiva Prasad, executive engineer of Qutbullapur municipality, paid Rs 3,000. Jagapati, the town planning officer of Malkajgiri municipality, paid Rs 10,000, police said. The accused reportedly called 20 officials of Malkajgiri, Kapra, Serilingampally and Gaddiannaram municipalities, demanding money from them. Police seized the list of 18 officials along with their phone numbers. At least 12 officials either expressed their inability or refused to pay, police said.
State told to list immersion steps by August 3
Hyderabad July 31: A division bench of the Andh-ra Pradesh High Court comprising Chief Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice G.V. Seethapathy on Monday gave time till August 3 to the State government with regard to the steps proposed to be taken to prevent immersion of Ganesh idols in Hussainsagar.
The bench earlier directed the State government to come out with a concrete proposal to prevent immersion of Ganesh idols in Hussainsagar. The State government failed to come out with any proposal in this regard and the court did not appreciate the same. The bench was dealing with a suo motu writ, complaining pollution in the water bodies in the entire State.
The bench also observed that it is the duty of the State and its functionaries to implement the law in its true spirit, unless the Act is scrapped. A division bench of the AP High Court directed the State government and the transport department to submit to the court the exact figures of vehicles which are 15 years old and the steps taken to phase out them.
The bench was informed by the government that 15-year-old vehicles at present were not being allowed to ply in the city. The bench made it clear that the vehicles which are phased out from the city should not be allowed to operate in the rural areas of the State as well.The bench also called for information as to how many 15-year-old school buses and the government vehicles were being operated in the city.
Buffalo shot dead
Hyderabad, July 31: A stray he-buffalo which terrorised people of three villages in Ranga Reddy district forcing students skip school besides killing two women, was shot dead by Shankarpally police on Monday.
Shankarpally sub-inspector G. Narasimha Reddy, who fired two rounds at the buffalo, said, “It looked like a small elephant. It was so violent that it was attacking anyone in his way. Even a mob attack with knives couldn’t tame the animal. We had no option but to open fire. It has been creating havoc in the area for two weeks.” The women who died were B. Sangamma, 60, wife of Venkaiah and B. Kistamma, 61, wife of Yellaiah, both residents of Kanchireddyguda.
