Andhranews

Anantapur, Aug. 19: Municipal commissioner K.V. Anjaneyulu on Saturday directed the police to book cases against two sanitary inspectors — Krishna Reddy and Surendra — who failed to submit unofficial attendance registers of contract workers.

The commissioner conducted a meeting with the public health officials here following an indefinite strike launched by contract workers demanding release of their pending salaries. Mr Anjaneyulu questioned the health officer Subba Raju the steps taken after issue of notices to sanitary inspectors for submission of attendance registers.

He questioned him for not taking any action against sanitary inspectors who failed to submit the registers. “The whole episode raises suspicion that the sanitary inspectors are hand in glove with contract workers,” the commissioner said.

Mr Anjaneyulu expressed his anger over the absence of Circle-II sanitary inspector Krishna Reddy at the meeting. He also directed the police to book cases against two sanitary inspectors of Circle II and VI Krishna Reddy and Surendra and search their houses and recover the attendance registers.

He directed the accountant to book cases against the Circle V sanitary inspector Jayachandra Chary for non-submission of attendance registers. Immediately after he came to know this, Mr Chary rushed to the office and submitted the registers.

Speaking on the occasion, the municipal commissioner said that the sanitary inspectors failed to submit attendance registers of contract workers for the last three months even after several reminders. Their negligence is responsible for delay in sanctioning salaries to contract workers, he said.

He said workers were paid salaries as per attendance registers. He said that salaries would be sanctioned to contract workers who work in their respective circles. Based on the registers inspected, 69 contract workers are working in Circle I, 68 persons in Circle III, 95 in Circle IV, 44 in Circle V. Sanitary inspectors of Circles II and VI told the commissioner that registers are with the workers.

After inspecting registers, the commissioner explained the facts to mayor Parashuram. The mayor said the delay in releasing pay for contract workers is due to no clarity on their strength.

Anantapur, Aug. 19: Once again farmers suicides are on the rise due to severe drought conditions in the district. Seven farmers died in the last one week in the district. While three farmers died due to heart stroke four others committed suicide. Most of the deaths were from the Bathalapalle mandal.

Officials said that the kin of the farmers who committed suicide would get compensation as per the government policy. However, farmers who died of heart stroke are not eligible for compensation, officials said. The deaths remind the acute drought conditions which prevailed in the district during 2004-05 where hundreds of farmers ended their lives due to successive failure of crops and massive accumulation of debts.

Farmers are worried over similar situation repeating this year as the district witnessed scanty rainfall. Meanwhile, the agriculture officials failed to guide the farmers in the dire situation. No official visited the severely-hit mandals in the district. Farmers say that the district officials and the government should take stock of the situation and come to their rescue.

Tirupati, Aug. 19: Chief Minister Y.S. Raja-sekhar Reddy said that entire State belonged to Lord Venkateswara and ridiculed the allegations over the jurisdiction of Tirumala.

The Chief Minister was speaking at a function organised on the occasion of laying foundation stone for the buildings meant for Veda Viswa Vidyalayam here on Saturday. Rebutting the allegations over the government’s role in limiting the area of Tirumala, Dr Rajasekhar Reddy asserted that the government had only converted the area mentioned in the British records to square kilometres.

He said that the then British government notified 12 square miles in a bid to prohibit political activities and meetings in Tirumala region and they have only converted the area into square kilometres. He also pointed to the government efforts to bring 332 square kilometres under Tirumala limits to protect the wild animals and the forest treasure.

He said that they have introduced an Act, which enabled registration of cases and two-year jail imprisonment for those propagating other faiths at Tirumala. Commending the move to establish Vedic university in Tirupati, he expressed the need to take the essence of Vedas with in the reach of the common man.

Nellore, Aug. 19: In a bid to provide education to the children of migrant labourers from Srikakulam, Vizinagaram, Prakasam and Nellore districts, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) would run residential bridge course camps and early childhood education centres at Chennai in association with an NGO Aide-et-Action (AET) soon.

Numerous labourer families have moved around to the neighbouring areas of Chennai to eke out a living and their children have no educational facilities as they are located near the worksites. The plight of the children is miserable and there is a danger that they might become child labourers.

State SSA director K. Chandramouli’s recent visit to about dozen worksites in and around Chennai prompted him to take the initiative.
The director noticed the appalling living conditions of the migrant workers and sad plight of their children who have no means for education.

In order to take care of the educational needs of these migrant children, the SSA the requested an NGO, AET, to submit proposals after taking up a survey. The AET conducted a survey on the conditions of the families and the children and submitted a proposal to the SSA on providing educational opportunities for them.

The SSA has sanctioned financial assistance to provide education for 440 children in the age group of 6 to 14 years through early education centres and residential bridge schools where they reside in and around Chennai.

Apart from this, the SSA has also sanctioned 34 pre-schools for the children below the age of 5 years to cover 666 children. The schools known as Early Childhood Education Centres would handle 20 to 25 children each. The districts concerned have been directed to meet the expenditure from the SSA funds to run the centres.

Total cost of the project for educating the migrant Telugu children would be around Rs 23,50,955 per annum. Each district would share Rs 5,87,738 at 1/4th of the total expenditure. The district collector and the additional project coordinators of the SSA received communication to this effect from the SSA State director. The SSA Tamil Nadu project director has been requested to monitor the implementation of the programme and provide necessary logistical support for opening the centres.

Tirupati, Aug. 19: Chief Minister Dr Y.S. Raja-sekhar Reddy had the darshan of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala on Saturday at about 2.15 pm. Dr Rajasekhar Reddy came to Tirupati to attend the marriage of the son of Piler MLA Peddireddy Rama-chandra Reddy. TTD EO A.P.V.N. Sarma, endowment minister J.C. Diwakar Reddy and TTD special officer A.V. Dharma Reddy received the Chief Minister with temple honours.

There was some confusion at the Mahadwaram when some people tried to enter the temple along with the Chief Minister. Agriculture minister Raghuveera Reddy and local MLA Venkataramana accompanied Dr Rajasekhar Reddy.

Meanwhile, Union minister Panabaka Lakshmi, State ministers, Sathrucherla Vijayaramaraju, Jakkampudi Rammohana Rao, Nedurumalli Rajyalakshmi, MP’s Nedurumalli Janardhan Reddy and Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy also had the darshan at Tirumala.

The Chief Minister promised to increase the number of milk collection centres in Chittoor district to procure 60,000 litres of milk. Speaking to the reporters at the helipad here on Saturday, he said that the government was already procuring 60,000 litres of milk through 20 centres by paying Rs 9 per litre.

He directed district collector S.S. Rawath to take steps to maintain cleanliness in the Dalit colonies to contain the spread of chikungunya.

Rajahmundry, Aug. 19: The district administration on Saturday sought Rs 529 crores for taking up restoration works for various structures and facilities ravaged during the recent incessant rains and Godavari floods.

In a presentation to the three-member Central government team led by Union home ministry’s joint secretary Vipin Kumar Saxena, district collector M. Subrahmaniam informed them about crop loss and damage to structures in the district.

Special officer for flood relief M.V.P.C. Sastry bri-efed the Central Committee about the extent of damage in the district. The committee members also visited several flood-hit villages during their one-day visit in the Konaseema region.

According to the officials crops in 68,982 hectares of land were affected incurring a loss to the tune of Rs 192 crore. The officials sought Rs 16.92 crores for providing input subsidy to the farmers.
Animal husbandry department suffered a loss to the tune of Rs 1.9 crores, which includes the damage to 35 veterinary hospitals. While, Rs 12 lakhs each was required for fodder and medical care to the affected livestock.

In a report submitted to the Central team, the district administration said that it required Rs 69.68 crores for carrying out repairs to rural water supply facilities, roads, culverts and buildings. For repairing to roads, buildings, culverts, minor bridges and others, the officials sought Rs 39.22 crores.

AP Transco, whose electric poles, transformers and sub stations were damaged in the floods, required Rs 13 crores for the repair works. Municipalities suffered a loss to the tune of Rs 10.57 crores while under major irrigation 326 works were proposed at a cost of Rs 22.85 crore, medium irrigation at Rs 25 lakh and 91 works were proposed under the minor irrigation at a cost of Rs 5.70 crores.

Mr Sastry said that based on the preliminary assessment, about 66,130 houses were damaged in the district requiring construction of permanent houses at a cost of Rs 165 crores. He said that several fishermen lost nets, boats and others and added that about Rs 2.45 crores was required to provide them relief.

Bhimavaram, Aug. 19: In order to take up restoration works to the damaged structures due to floods, the district administration would Need Rs 110 crores. The Central team led by Joint Secretary Vipin Ku-mar Saxena was apprised of the quantum of damage caused due to the floods and incessant rains in the district.

The team members expressed satisfaction over the relief operations taken up by the district administration. Speaking on the occasion, district collector Luv Agarwal said that horticulture crops suffered damages in 24,412 hectares and added that the crop loss was estimated to be Rs 37.43 crores.

The collector said that due to floods, about 170 villages in 13 mandals were affected and added that the district administration had given top prioirity for providing drinking water, medical supplies and food to the affected people.

Mr Agarwal also told the Central team that the district had witnessed the worst-ever floods in 20 years as the flood water from Godavari river and Kovvada canal inundated Polavaram mandal. He said that in 13 hours, the flood water rose to the third cautionary signal at the Dowleswaram barrage.

Karimnagar, Aug. 19: Poverty-stricken migrants from Myanmar and Sri Lanka living at Anthergao in Ramagundam are praying to local goddess Nalla Pochamma for a miracle.

Prayers are the last resort for these poor folk, whose pleas for jobs and rehabilitation have been consistently ignored by the state government. It was former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who brought the migrant families to Ramagundam in 1967. She set up spinning mills in the area to help them make a living.

The families revere Indira Gandhi as a goddess, but the Congress-led government which swears by Indiramma Raj has abandoned them to their fate. In sheer desperation, they have turned to Pochamma for help. It was the closure of the mills in 1985 and 1991 that worsened the condition of the migrants who were already living a hand-to-mouth existence.

About 120 people among them became jobless after the mills downed shutters. Sadly, several of them died after their health got impaired. Others have migrated to other towns to avoid starvation and have not been heard of since. Distraught and unhappy, the remaining 300 families are now seeking divine help since no assistance is forthcoming from the state government.

The migrants have assimilated the local culture even while sustaining their original beliefs. Nalla Pochamma is as dear a deity for them as the Buddha. “We pray to Buddha as well as Pochamma,” said president of the Burma-Sri Lanka Repatriates Association M. Shankaran.

Mr Shankaran recalled that “Indiramma” had saved them from a turbulent Rangoon in the 60s and had provided the families with jobs. “But our lives became miserable after the mills closed down,” he added.

Only a handful of the displaced employees got compensation and majority were left to fend for themselves. Many did not even get statutory benefits such as provident fund and gratuity.

Karimnagar, Aug. 19: Three Maoists, including a local guerrilla squad commander, surrendered before the police here on Saturday.
Maddimalla LGS commander P. Komuraiah alias Ramanna, 28, and Mahadevpur dalam members V. Ramesh alias Mallikarjun, 21, and B Laxmaiah alias Ranjeeth, 19, gave up before the SP Mr DS Chauhan.OSD S. Hari Krishna, Godavarikhani ASP Ch Srikanth and others were present.

Guntur, Aug. 19: Irrigation superintending engineer M. Vijaya Mohan on Saturday said that the administration would be able to save 20 tmc feet water if major canals were repaired.

Speaking to this correspondent, Mr Vijaya Mohan said that the State government had initiated a programme to repair the existing canals. The Nagarjunasagar right canal and the main canals in the Krishna delta would be repaired and restored to their original capacity at a cost of Rs 2,000 crores.

He said that the water saved would be sufficient for the farmers of Guntur, Prakasam, Krishna and West Godavari districts. Mr Vijaya Mohan said that the Krishna delta with 13.9 lakh acres gets over 161.3 tmcfeet water according to the Bachawat Award.

As on date, he said that they were utilising over 70.5 tmc feet water for 5.72 lakh acres in Krishna and Prakasam districts. The SE said that they were drawing over 8,440 cusecs of water from the Krishna western main canal of which 8,300 cusecs was being utilised for irrigation purposes.

He said that the farmers in Guntur and Prakasam were eligible to utilise over 70.5 tmc feet water, while they were utilising only 21 tmc feet due to weak canal bunds. The SE said that they were expecting full utilisation of share of water from the river.

Warangal, Aug. 19: The Warangal Municipal Corporation (WMC) has succeeded in carrying out demolitions at the Kazipet main road where it was widening the roads to at least 85 feet.It was a 35-year-long wait for the civic body to demolish the structures as per the Master Plan that came into force in 1971.

Though some of the earlier municipal commissioners tried to demolish all the structures in order to widen the road to 100 feet, it took two women municipal commissioners — Neetu Prasad and Smita Sabharwal, both IAS officers — to implement the plan.

Ms Prasad, who earlier worked as municipal commissioner, held negotiations with the local shop-keepers and succeeded in making them agree to 85 feet road-widening. It was her threat to carry out surprise demolitions that made them accept the road widening plan up to 85 feet.

Even as Ms Prasad commenced the demolition work, she was transferred by the State government. Her successor Smita Sabharwal is on the task for the last two days. “At least 50 per cent of the demolition work is over and by Monday the process would be completed,” Mr Sadanandam, the town planning officer, who is supervising the demolitions, said.

Though a couple of shopkeepers went to the court a majority of them have accepted the compromise formula of 85 feet road-widening.
The roads and buildings (R&B) department is supposed to maintain 100-feet roads on the national highways. But the R&B authorities had failed to take the initiative and the problem was pending for many years.

Every time the corporation took the decision to demolish the structures, some local politicians stepped in and thwarted the plans of the civic body from proceeding with their demolition plan. Citizens are happy lot with the road-widening process which was undertaken by the municipal authorities.

Karimnagar, Aug. 19: Chikungunya is fast spreading in the district due to the lackadaisical attitude of the official machinery and unhygienic conditions prevailing in several villages.

Even after about 50 persons in the district died due to chikungunya, health services continue to elude the patients in several villages. As a result, scores of villagers in mandals like Yellareddypet, Jammikunta, Bheemdevarapalli, Mahadevpur are suffering from chikungunya.

The situation in the coal belt has turned alarming. Even Medaram MLA K. Eshwar is suffering from chikungunya. Earlier, district Youth Congress president Kota Ravi was down with chikungunya for several days. The absence of medical officers in the primary he-alth centres across the district has further compounded the woes of the patients.

According to sources, 42 out of 141 medical officer posts are vacant in the district. Of the total 99 medical officers working in different primary health care centres (PHCs) of the district, 14 medical officers have gone on leave, the sources added.

On the other hand, rampant absenteeism of the para-medical staff in the PHCs has cast a shadow on the health services in remote areas.
Inspecting officials have failed to check the absenteeism among the health workers in the far-flung areas of Manthani division of this district.

Even though the opposition parties, mainly the Telugu Desam, demanded for pressing mobile health teams into action, no concrete steps have been initiated in this regard by the district administration.

The villagers staged a rasta roko at Nerella on Thursday in protest against the death of a 13-year-old who died due to chikungunya. They alleged that the boy died due to lack of medical treatment.

Nizamabad, Aug. 19: A 35-year-old housewife died under mysterious circumstances at Vallabhapur of Makloor mandal in the district in the wee hours of Saturday. Suspecting the role of her husband in the death, villagers attacked him. He was rescued by the police and taken into custody.

Makloor sub-inspector S. Lakshminarayana told this correspondent that Recharla Vijayalakshmi died and her husband Narsing Rao lodged a complaint that she had committed suicide. Mr Bhushan Rao, the brother of Vijayalakshmi, lodged another complaint stating that Narsing Rao and his father Bhoom Rao killed her for additional dowry. He alleged that they are misleading the police that it was a suicide.

The SI said that Narsing Rao married Vijayalakshmi 10 years ago and the couple has two children. He took Rs 1 lakh and five tolas of gold as dowry. The SI said Narsing Rao started harassing her for additional dowry for the last one year. Heated arguments took place between the couple on Friday night. The police is questioning Narsinga Rao and his father.

Vijayawada, Aug. 19: Noted social revolutionary, freedom fighter and co-founder of atheist movement, Saraswathi Gora, died of cardiac arrest at her residence here on Saturday. She was 94.

Born on September 28, 1912 to a traditional Hindu family of Vizianagaram district, she was married to Goparaju Ramachandra Rao alias Gora in 1922 at the age of 10. She joined Gora in 1927 and since then they were inseparable couple.

She was a life-long fighter for the cause of atheism, humanism and social change on the Gandhian lines and a crusader against untouchability and caste system.
As a humanist and social revolutionary, she had set an example before others by practising what she championed.

Along with Gora, she founded Atheist Centre in Vijayawada in 1940, first of its kind in the world. Since its inception, it had been in the forefront of social change activities. She was the founder of Vasavya Mahila Mandali, Arthik Samata Mandal and Samskar, which are involved in rural development of hundreds of villages. She played a crucial role in fighting against Jogini system and in reforming the dacoits of Stuvartpuram.

Vijayawada, Aug. 19: The Krishna district administration, in tune with its target of making the district a child labour-free district by 2007, has freed over 67 children working as domestic labourers in various towns across the State.

The administration also sent 26 children, who are from Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts, back to their respective districts. Over 18 people, who acted as brokers in turning these children into domestic workers on annual contract, were also arrested and are now assisting the administration in finding the remaining children who have been sent to various places, including Bangalore and Mumbai.

Speaking to mediapersons on Saturday, district collector Navin Mittal said special teams were formed by the women and child welfare department, the education department, the police and the NGOs to trace out children who have been engaged as domestic workers at BC Colony in Mantada village of Krishna district.

These teams have worked for several months and identified the brokers who play a crucial role in engaging children at work. He said that the brokers get Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 on each contract while the parents get Rs 8,000 to Rs 12,000 a year for sending their children as domestic workers.

The collector said that they have raided the houses of people who have engaged children in Vijayawada and Hyderabad and rescued 67 children, of whom 26 are from other districts, while 41 are from Mantada village. These children have beeen put in residential bridge course schools and also the child labour schools.

He said that they have also booked cases against those who have employed children as domestic workers and was set to proceed against them legally. The district administration sent the remaining children to the respective districts to be handed over to their parents. The collector congratulated the district women and child welfare department and the national child labour project officer for taking the initiative in rescuing the children from bonded labour.

Visakhapatnam, Aug. 19: Bobbili lost a great leader in the death of Kondapalle Paidithalli Naidu who passed away at Viziangaram in the early hours of Saturday.

Born in an agriculture family in Gantyada in 1921, Paidithalli entered politics in 1971 as a ward member of the local panchayat. He became director of Bhimsingi Sugar Factory in 1981 which laid the foundation steps for his long political career. He joined Telugu Desam in 1982 and became president of Gantyada Mandal Parishad in 1987.

Impressed with his dedicated work, the then party president N.T. Rama Rao made him president of the party for the district in 1994. Paidithalli won the 1994 elections when the party swept all the 12 assembly seats in the district.

For the first time he contested the general elections in 1996 and became a Member of Parliament, representing Bobbili Lok Sabha constituency. He defeated Botsa Satyanarayana of Congress by a margin of 20, 767 votes.

In the mid term elections held in 1998 he again defeated Satyanarayana, increasing the margin to 26,908 votes. He created a record by winning from the same constituency third time in a row in the 2004 general elections. He defeated Botsa Jhansi Lakshmi by 30,000 votes.

Visakhapatnam, Aug. 19: The villagers of Gangava-ram on Saturday rejected magisterial inquiry into the March 27 police firing, which left a fisherman dead, and sought a judicial probe by a High Court sitting judge.

The magisterial inquiry, which was supposed to be conducted at mandal revenue office at Pedagantyada, was shifted to the district collectorate in the last minute. Gangavaram All-Party Forum leaders Ch. Narasingarao, CPI(M), and Zaheer Ahmed, Telugu Desam, accused the State government of trying to suppress the facts by conducting the magisterial inquiry.

“The very officials, who ordered the police to open fire on the protesters, are conducting the inquiry, denying justice to the victims. Hence, we demand a judicial inqu-iry by a High Court sitting judge,” the leaders said. The State government had sent summons to 10 policemen and 18 Gangavaram villagers to attend the inq-uiry. However, none of the villagers attended the inquiry.

The representatives of Gangavaram Fisherfolk Aikyavedika criticised commercial taxes minister Konatala Ramakrishna for his indifferent attitude. They also criticised the officials for not inviting them to present their version before the magisterial inquiry. Later, they met the DRO Satyanarayana dema-nded a judicial inquiry.

Visakhapatnam, Aug. 19: The villagers of Gangava-ram on Saturday rejected magisterial inquiry into the March 27 police firing, which left a fisherman dead, and sought a judicial probe by a sitting judge of the High Court.

The magisterial inquiry, which was supposed to be conducted at mandal revenue office at Pedagantyada, was shifted to the district collectorate in the last minute. Gangavaram All-party Forum leaders Ch. Narasingarao of the CPI(M) and Zaheer Ahmed of the Telugu Desam accused the State government of trying to suppress the facts by conducting the magisterial inquiry.

“The very officials, who ordered the police to open fire on the protesters, are conducting the inquiry, denying justice to the victims. Hence, we demand a judicial inquiry by a High Court sitting judge,” the leaders said. The State government had sent summons to 10 policemen and 18 Gangavaram villagers to attend the inquiry. However, none of the villagers attended the inquiry.

The representatives of Gangavaram Fisherfolk Aikyavedika criticised co-mmercial taxes minister Konatala Ramakrishna for his indifferent attitude. They also criticised the officials for not inviting them to present their version before the magisterial inquiry. Later, they met the DRO Satyanarayana dema-nded a judicial inquiry.

Mr Narasinga Rao said, “The officials had tried to cover up the incident by recording 14 persons as injured as against the actual figure of 140. This shows the commitment of the officials in providing justice to the fishermen. We, hence, demand for a judicial inquiry.”

The All-Party Forum leaders also met district collector Anil Kumar Singhal and submitted a memorandum seeking a judicial inquiry. The collector said that he would forward their representations given by them to the higher authorities.

Visakhapatnam, Aug. 19: Two traffic police stations will come up in the rural areas of the district to curtail road accidents. This was disclosed by district superintendent of police J.G. Murali at the half-yearly crime review meeting held at district collectorate here on Saturday.He said that 687 road accidents took place in the rural areas of the district during this year.

The SP said the police would cooperate with the APSRTC in conducting a special drive in the agency areas to promote safe driving. Mr Murali also said that the police would book cases against those who excavate colour stones in Karaka quarries in the district under the Preventive Detention Act.

The district police officials said that they were always ready to work in coordination with various departments in maintaining law and order and taking up of developmental activities in the agency areas. DIG (Vizag range) Govind Singh, officer on special duty Vineet Brijlal, additional SP P Natarajan, district collector A.K. Singhal and others took part in the meeting.

Visakhapatnam, Aug. 19: The University Adalat conducted in Andhra University (AU), the first of its kind in the country, here on Saturday, evoked good response with the teaching and non-teaching staff and students participating in huge numbers to represent their problems.

AU vice-chancellor, Prof. L. Venugopal Reddy, who presided over the programme, said that the adalat system would help the teachers, non-teaching staff and students in solving their problems without having to approach the courts.

He said that the main objective of the adalat was to make the university litigation free. Issues relating to suspended staff, retirement benefits, seniority fixations, teaching scales came before the adalat. Prof. R. Venkat Rao, principal of AU College of Law, AP high court advocate and university standing counsel Lanka Jagannadham senior advocate Prof. Rokkam Sudarsana Rao and others took part in the programme.