Andhranews

Karimnagar, Aug. 26: To counter the anti-Congress campaign of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), the Congress has pressed into action its MLAs and senior leaders to explain the people the contribution of the government for the development of the region.
Government whip D. Sridhar Babu and PCC general secretary K. Satyanarayana Goud and several other senior leaders addressed separate press conferences in the district on Saturday and released statistical data to support their claims.

Speaking to newsmen in Karimnagar, Mr Sridhar Babu charged the TRS leaders with unleashing a misinformation campaign against the Congress for narrow political gains. “It is the TRS leaders who misled the people by issuing self-contradictory statements and setting deadlines on Telangana for all these days,” he alleged. He asserted that the Congress sincerely strived for evolving a consensus on Telangana by establishing a sub-committee headed by defence minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Even as the process was underway, TRS leaders K. Chandrasekhar Rao and A. Narendra resigned from the Union Cabinet to meet their selfish political ends, Mr Sridhar Babu added. Rebutting the TRS leaders allegations on Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, he said that Dr Rajasekhar Reddy has accorded top priority to the speedy development of the region.

The government has embarked on construction of about 176 irrigation projects at an estimated cost of Rs 46,443 crores in the region. The works worth Rs 2,400 crores are going on at a brisk pace to create an additional ayacut of two lakh acres in Karimnagar district alone, he said. He demanded that the TRS leaders make public their contribution to the development of the region.

Nellore, Aug. 26: Succumbing to the pressure from the United Electricity Employees Union, the State government and APTransco agreed to fill 7,114 vacant posts in the electricity department with contract workers. Union State president D. Suribabu disclosed this at a press conference here on Saturday.

He said that the government also conceded to their demand not to retrench any contract workers. Referring to their State-level agitation to realise their demands and lay siege to the Vidyut Soudha at Hyderabad on Friday, he said that their seven demands have been considered during a meeting between minister for power Muhammed Shabber Ali, APTransco, Discom officials and CPI(M) leaders Nomula Narasimhaiah and M.A. Gafoor on Saturday.

According to Mr Suribabu, all the contract workers with ITI qualification would be posted as contract junior lineman as per seniority. Apart from electrical trade, workers who have other trade certificates will also be considered for the posts. Nativity clause is extended to mandal-level and PF, ESI, insurance or LIC details would be taken as criteria to identify nativity in case workers do not have nativity certificate.

The last date for applying to the posts has been extended till September 9. Mr Suribabu said that the government assured to consult their association before taking any decision related to contract workers. Thanking the contract workers for supporting the agitation to realise the demands, he appealed them not to fall prey to the touts who are assuring jobs for a price.

He advised the contract workers to avoid producing fake certificates since it would lead to serious problems. Expressing hope in getting postings to all the contract workers in future, he reminded the workers that there are about 30,000 vacancies in the department and only 7,114 are being filled now.

“On our part we have agreed to stay in the place of work and also accepted for the test on climbing the pole to become eligible for the lineman post,” Mr Suribabu noted.

Chittoor, Aug. 26: Elected members of Chittoor municipality criticised the municipal officials for their laxity in resolving various issues brought to their notice in the general body meeting here on Saturday.

Municipal chairperson P. Sarala Mary directed the municipal officials to pay special attention to the problems highlighted by the councillors. Councillor S.S.K. Raja questioned the rationale behind tardiness of the officials in sanctioning pension to an old woman Munthaj and her physically challenged daughter.

He brought both the women to the meeting hall to justify his point. Moved by their plight, the chairperson summoned the official concerned and directed him to sanction pension to the women in a week. She rea-cted strongly against the officials when Ward No. 14 representative Suhasini poi-nted to the danger to the liv-es of children due to uncovered trenches in her ward.

Rajahmundry, Aug. 26: The State government has released Rs 34.98 crores as an interim flood relief to the East Godavari district.
District collector M. Subrahmaniam said that based on the report sent by the district administration, the government had released funds for taking up relief works in the flood-affected parts of the district.

The break-up of sanctioned amount department- wise as follows: Agriculture was given Rs 16.12 crores, panchayat raj Rs 8.52 crores, municipalities Rs 5.08 crores, Roads and Buildings Rs 1.54 crores, Rural Water Supply Rs 1.10 crores, Animal Husbandry Rs 1.36 crores, APTransco Rs 1 crore and Fisheries got Rs 26 lakhs.

The collector said that the government has enhanced the assistance by 25 per cent in the form of input subsidy to the crops affected due to the recent incessant rains and floods. Small, marginal and other farmers can avail the aid if their crops suffered 50 per cent damages subject to a limit of five acre.

The farmers will be getting revised assistance at an enhanced rate to the tune of 25 per cent. If banana plantations are affected in a hectare land, the farmer will be getting Rs 5,000 as relief against the earlier norm of Rs 4,000. Similarly, if the farmers raising mango, citrus, cashew nut, guava, pomegranate and other crops, they will get relief of Rs 3,750 per hectare against the earlier scale of Rs 3,000 only. Farmers raising paddy, groundnut, cotton, sugarcane, turmeric, chilli, vegetables, onion, flowers, papaya and watermelon will get Rs 1,875 per hectare as relief against Rs 1,500.

For damaged crops like jowar, bajra, ragi, castor, sesamum and others Rs 1,250 will be given per hectare as relief against Rs 1,000. For tobacco (Natu variety), as per revised scale of relief, Rs 2,500 will be given per hectare against Rs 2,000 and for coriander Rs 1,875 against Rs 1,500 per hectare as revised relief.

Farmers raising maize, pulses, sunflower, soyabeen, wheat and others will also get a relief of Rs 1,575 against Rs 1,250 per hectare. The district administration has enumerated that 18,185 houses were fully damaged while 20,862 houses were partially damaged. A total of 25,974 houses were inundated with floodwaters in the affected villages. The government will be sanctioning houses to those who suffered full damage to their houses under Indira Awas Yojana.

Kakinada, Aug. 26: Minister for endowments J.C. Diwakar Reddy said that safeguarding the endowment lands and properties will be given top priority. Speaking to mediapersons at G. Mamidada under Pedapudi mandal on Saturday, the minister warned that even people’s representatives would not be spared if it was found that they were encouraging encro-achment.

The minister was here to participate in some locally-arranged programmes. With reference to the alleged encroachment of endowment properties by local MLA, the minister replied that the issue has not come to his notice.

He promised to take action if some complaint was made in this regard. On the issue of separate Telangana State, the minister asked the mediamen not to drag him into it. Earlier, Mr Diwakar Reddy declared open the renovated temple of Goddess Nerelama at the village. He also distributed aid to the people who lost their houses in the recent floods. Minister Gollapalli Surya Rao also participated.

Adilabad, Aug. 26: The Telangana agitation has come as a blessing in disguise for all the pending projects in the region. The UPA government is positively responding to all the demands pertaining to development of the region after TRS leaders K. Chandrasekhar Rao and A. Narendra resigned from the Union Cabinet.

The chances for the revival of the Adilabad unit of the Cement Corporation of India (CCI) brightened in the wake of the ongoing separate Telangana movement. Union heavy industries minister Santosh Mohandev responded positively for the revival of the CCI unit in a meeting organised at Udyog Bhavan, New Delhi, on August 24.

The positive response from the Union minister surprised the Adilabad CCI unit employees, who have been agitating for the unit revival from 2000. Mr Mohandev positively responded to the CCI unit revival after CPI MPs Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy and Gurudas Dasgupta said that the demands for separate States like Telangana were cropping up due to the backwardness of the regions.

It was high time the Adilabad CCI unit was revived, they added. The minister was convinced with the arguments put forth by the CPI leaders and asked the secretary of the ministry to submit a report on the revival of the CCI unit.

Trade union leaders of six other CCI units in the country accepted the closure of their units by the government. If the Adilabad CCI unit is revived 320 employees of the six CCI units can be accommodate in the unit.

Adilabad CCI unit employees union general secretary S. Vilas told this correspondent that the cogent arguments put forth by the CPI leaders convinced the minister.

Mahbubnagar, Aug. 26: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy on Saturday said that the Central government is ready to form Second States Reorganisation Committee (SRC) and the Congress has no objection to it.

“But the Telangana Rashtra Samiti is opposing the second SRC and demanding formation of Telangana immediately,” Dr Reddy said. The Chief Minister unveiled the statues of former legislator Chittem Narsi Reddy and his son Chittem Venkateswara Reddy, who were gunned down by the Maoists on August 15, 2005 at Narayanpet town of this district.

Later, addressing a public meeting, Dr Reddy said that one had to think whether separate Telangana State would bring more benefit to the region or the developmental works taken up for the region. “It is for AICC president Sonia Gandhi to decide whether to give separate Telangana State and her decision will be final on the issue,” the Chief Minister said.

The Congress leaders from the region have raised the separate Telangana State plank as they thought it right for the progress of the region as rural areas had been completely neglected by the Telugu Desam government in its nine-year rule, Dr Reddy said.

He said the Congress promised to remove backwardness in the region if it came to power and as promised has been striving to develop the region. He advised people to be aware of those who work for their own benefits. He said that the government is providing free electricity to 15 lakh pumpsets in the Telangana region alone out of the 24 lakh pumpsets in the State.

Later, the Chief Minister inaugurated the municipal office building, mandal parishad office and an eSeva centre. Meanwhile, TRS cadre raised ‘Jai Telangana’ slogans in the middle of Chief Minister’s speech. TRS State secretary Satish Madiga and other activists waved Telangana banners and raised ‘Jai Telangana’ slogans.

However, the Chief Minister remained calm and unmoved and went through his speech. Police, who were at the meeting, arrested the slogan-shouting Telangana activists and released them later on personal bond.

Mylavaram, Aug. 26: Poor rainfall and improper arrivals from Tungabhadra reservoir resulted in the deprival of water to Mylavaram reservoir, which was meant to irrigate over 75,000 acres in Kadapa and Kurnool districts. The farming community is eagerly awaiting the arrival of four tmc ft water as per the Krishna Waters Tribunal Award from the Tungabhadra reservoir to raise crop for kharif season. But the water is not reaching in full to the reservoir due to various reasons.

The reservoir which has a capacity to store 9.96 tmc ft of water and is expected to provide water to 75,000 acres failed to supply water to even 55,000 acres during the past three decades. However, no leader question the government about the water that was due to the reservoir.

The only way to get the Tungabhadra water to Mylavaram reservoir is the High Level Canal. However, some point out that the canal route is improper and the water failed to reach the reservoir. It is quite surprising that hundreds of tmc ft of water is flowing into the sea, while the justified share of water is not reaching the reservoir.

The partisan attitude of the successive governments, lackadaisical attitude of officials and local leaders’ inefficiency resulted in the present state of affairs. As of now, there is only 0.857 tmc ft of water in the reservoir. Only one tmc ft of water reached the reservoir due to rains last year taking the water level to 1.5 tmc ft. The construction of Gandikota project at the upper riparian area has become an obstacle for the backwaters.

In order to construct that project, 0.5 tmc ft of water is being released into Penna river. As a result, water in the reservoir reached to the dead storage level. Works in the Rayalaseema Thermal Power Project (RTPP) were also hit due to the insufficient water in the reservoir. The available water would be sufficient only for two months and after that the RTPP has to close down.

Already one unit in the RTPP stopped working. Water problem would invariably hamper the work in the RTPP, the officials said. Meanwhile, the government had taken up modernisation of Mylavaram project, to provide irrigation to the last ayacut at a cost of Rs 155 crores. These works were started on May 18 last year and it would take another two years to complete these works. Till then the farmers had to wait for water to quench the thirst of their agricultural fields.

Vijayawada, Aug. 26: Dr Chadalavada Sudha of Vijayawada was re-appointed as the member of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Board of trustees. Dr Sudha, a specialist in general medicine, gynaecology and obstetrics, served as the faculty member of Harvard Medical School, Boston for 10 years.

Dr Sudha is also a diplomat of Association of American Body of Gynaecologists and Obstretricians. She would be taking oath along with other members on August 30 at Tirumala. She, along with her husband Ch. Nageswara Rao, are running a polyclinic in Vijayawada for the last 25 years and are actively involved in charitable and spiritual activities.

“I thank Lord Venkateswara for providing me a chance to serve Him and pilgrims for another time,” said Dr Sudha. She said the TTD was effectively working to popularise Hindu dharma in remote places of the State by organising spiritual programmes.

“The TTD has taken up a project during the last meeting to identify 100 temples in each district that have no patronage and would be extending financial support of Rs 2,000 each, every month. We are aiming at bringing back the glory of the age-old temples,” she said.
Dr Sudha said that the TTD has also taken up the construction of kalyana mandapams in a big way in the State.

Khammam, Aug. 26: With water bodies and tanks getting filled up because of heavy rains, the government is encouraging farmers to take up fish farming in real earnest.

There are 2,800 water sources, including tanks and reservoirs such as Palair, Wyra, Kinnerasani, Bayya-ram, Lankasagar, Pedavagu and Taliperu in the district. All of them are brimming with water, thanks to the heavy rains in the recent weeks. There are 293 tanks which are above 100 acres in extent and they are all fit for fish farming.

The district usually produces aqua products worth Rs 100 crores every year from various water sources. The production is expected to go up by 150 per cent this year. So far, the government has issued licences to 781 fishermen for aquaculture. The earlier target was 600 farmers.

To make the venture profitable, the government also formed 176 fishermen societies comprising 12,900 members. All the societies have started the farming process by introducing fish in the water sources. They are also adding feed.

“The situation is very encouraging and we are hopeful of a good crop,” said K. Mutyam, a fisherman of Palair reservoir. “We will grow all varieties of fish this year,” he added. Palair and Wyra reservoirs are the major water sources for aquaculture and the fish being produced from these places is being exported to Kolkata, Chennai and Delhi.

Fisheries department assistant director B. Suryanarayana said that the government was providing ice boxes and other material to fishermen. “We have also linked them to banks and will provide them marketing facilties,” Mr Suryanarayana added.

Vijayawada, Aug. 26: The Vijayawada police produced Katragadda Srinu alias Musunuri Srinivas, the prime accused in the murder attempt on Vangaveeti Santhan Kumar, at the third additional chief metropolitan magistrate’s court on Saturday morning.

He was sent on remand till September 9 by magistrate K. Chidananda. Srinu, who surrendered in the AP High Court on Friday, was brought to the city amidst tight security. Sources said, while he was produced at the office of the commissioner of police Umesh Sharaff, he refused to say anything.

“We are investigating how the accused got the pistol, how he got money to execute the plot and also about the others behind the murder attempt,” said assistant commissioner of police Shaik Mastan Vali. The police filed a petition in the court asking for 14 days custody. The proceedings on the petition were postponed to Monday.

Visakhapatnam, Aug. 26: Minister for commercial taxes Konatala Ramakrishna on Saturday said that the King George Hospital (KGH) here would be developed at a cost of Rs 23 crores in three phases.
Speaking to reporters after reviewing the facilities at the KGH, the minister said the hospital not only serves the people in the three north Andhra districts but also some neighbouring districts of Chhattisgarh and Orissa.

“The government is preparing an action plan to develop the hospital in a phased manner and the plan would be put into action very soon. Since the Congress came to power the government released huge funds for the KGH’s development. The government had already sanctioned Rs 5 crores for the development,” Mr Ramakrishna said.

Adding that they will take help from all the MLAs and MPs of the three north coastal Andhra districts to improve facilities at the hospital, Mr Ramakrishna said that he would ask them to sanction at least Rs 5 lakhs from their funds for KGH’s development.

KGH was in news recently when its casualty medical officer Dr P. Bangariah was beaten up by relatives of a patient who died last Sunday. Doctors all over the State went on a strike and called it off after police arrested six persons for assaulting the doctor.

Visakhapatnam, Aug. 26: The National Academy of Construction (NAC) is all set to train the youth of north coastal Andhra Pradesh in the fields of masonry, carpentry, electrical and house wiring. The NAC is doing so with an objective to impart construction skills to the youth from the rural and semi-urban areas to make them meet the demands of construction industry.

Explaining the idea behind this move, NAC director, training, K.A.N. Prasad said, “There is a lot of demand for the construction workers in India and abroad. Many construction giants are approaching us and are asking us to provide trained workers. But very few skilled workers are available here and the demand for them is increasing.”

Mr Prasad pointed out that the construction industry is the second largest employment-providing sector next to the agriculture in the country. The academy will soon start five to six centres in the district to extend their training to more rural youth. “After Hyderabad we are now concentrating more on Vizag and surrounding areas as it is a happening city,” said Mr Prasad.

The NAC, which started training activities in 2002, has so far trained 10,000 skilled workers. It provided jobs to almost all those who underwent the training. For the first time, the academy will be providing residential training to the workers in the north Andhra starting from mid-September in the fields of masonry and carpentry.

The District Rural Development Agency would select the workers to take part in the training programme of three months which is free of cost, said officer incharge of the Regional Training Centre of NAC, S.N. Rao.

The NAC is also contemplating to start post-diploma certificate courses jointly with the Andhra University College of Engineering in subjects like highway technology, general works supervisor, land surveying, digital architecture, etc, Mr Rao said.