Andhranews

Kurnool, Aug. 10: With the floods to Tungabhadra, the Krishna river is also brimming with floodwater. The officials were releasing 25,800 cusecs of floodwater from Tungabhadra dam at Hospet into Tungabhadra river on Thursday. Meanwhile, the floodwater force went up at Sunkesula barrage and the officials were releasing 45,655 cusecs of water into Krishna river. Official sources in the irrigation department said that the release of water would go up further.

As the floodwater inflows have gone up, there was every possibility of floods to Krishna river. At least 4.51 lakh cusecs of water reached Srisailam reservoir by Thursday evening, while 5.56 lakh cusecs of water was released into Nagarjunasagar. The irrigation authorities lifted seven gates of Srisailam reservoir to a height of 33 feet and releasing water downstream.

Meanwhile, around 2.50 lakh cusecs of water is reaching Krishna river from Bhima river, which further increased the flood threat to Krishna. With the water level in Krishna river is likely to touch 6 lakh cusecs, several low-lying areas in Kurnool district headquarters, which are near to Krishna river are likely to be submerged.

It may be recalled here that last year also, same situation prevailed and several low-lying areas were submerged with floodwaters. The water that reached Krishna river from Narayanpur, Almati and Jurala reservoirs resulted in floods to the river submerging several low-lying areas in Kurnool city. A similar threat pervades the city now. In order to avoid the submergence, the authorities are planning to release more water into Nagarjunasagar from Srisailam reservoir. The Srisailam reservoir has a capacity to store 280.20 tmc ft of water, while it has 236.60 tmc ft of water presently.

Railwaykodur, Aug. 10: The forest officials on Wednesday evening seized 18 red sander logs weighing 507 kg being transported in a car at Balupalle Checkpost in the mandal and arrested the smuggler. Forest ranger M. Krishnaiah said that the seized red sanders were worth Rs 1.5 lakhs. He said that the car was seized and Sheikh Rahim Basha of Venkatagiri in Chittoor district, who was transporting the red sanders was arrested.

Mr Krishnaiah said that the forest officials have been conducting combing at Kangumadugu, Desettipalle, Balapalle Checkpost, Papanasanam and other areas under the Balupalle forest range to prevent smuggling of red sanders. An iron watch tower was established at the Balupalle Checkpost to prevent red sander smuggling. He urged people to inform forest officials on phone Nos. 9440810305, 08566-245777 about red sander smuggling and promised that informants names would be kept secret. Balupalle Checkpost forest section officer V. Durgaiah, Balupalle section officer K. Sudhakar and others were present.

Warangal/Karimnagar, Aug. 10: After the rain havoc, people are under the threat of viral fevers and chickungunya. Three persons, including two children, died of viral fevers in separate incidents in Mahadevpur mandal in Karimnagar district on Wednesday night. According to officials, the moist weather conditions are also contributing to the outbreak of the viral fevers on an epidemic proportion.

The viral fevers are also spreading due to unhygienic conditions and contamination of drinking water. Rampant absenteeism among medical staff is adding to the woes. The statistics released by the district authorities in Warangal have indicated that a total of 1.4 lakh people in the district were affected by viral fevers.

Though the official figures reveal that more than one lakh people were affected by viral fevers, the actual number of sufferers would be more than three lakh in the district. The district and city authorities, who were concentrating on viral fevers including suspected chickungunya till recently, had shifted their focus to flood relief aggravating the outbreak. The death of an 11-year-old boy due to the encephalitis at Somidi area in Kazipet also exposed the poor sanitation in and around Warangal city.

The officials and medical staff were quick to blame poor hygienic surroundings, but reluctant to take up responsibility. In Nizamabad, the officials have instructed to take precautionary measures to contain outbreak of viral epidemic.

Adilabad/Nizamabad, Aug. 10: Flood-affected villages in 14 mandals in Adilabad district are facing drinking water problems as drinking water sources such as borewells and open wells were submerged in the recent floods. There is a possibility of communicable diseases spreading due to possible water contamination.

According to official sources, water sources were affected due to floods in 50 villages in the district. More villages were affected in Jainad, Bela, Khanapur, Tiryani, Rebbena, Kagaznagar, Wankidi, Nirmal and Thamsi mandals. Open defecation is the general practice in villages and floodwater gets contaminated due to this leading to spread of communicable diseases.

Supply of safe drinking water by the Rural Water Supply (RWS) Department has not been reached to most flood-affected villages in the district, but the RWS officials claim that they have been supplying drinking water in packets. With road links to many villages cut off, there is little possibility for supply through tankers. Power supply is worst hit in flood-affected villages as electricity poles have fallen down and lines have snapped. People can also get electrocuted if they come into contact with live wires lying in the water or on the earth.

District collector Ravala Subbarao said that their first priority was supply of safe drinking water and restoration of power supply in flood-affected villages. In Nizamabad, district panchayat officer Zameer Ahmed directed village secretaries in the district to keep villages dirt-free as there was a danger of spread of viral fevers and waterborne diseases in flood-affected areas.

The DPO also directed the extension officers to frequently visit flood-hit areas and arrest leakages at drinking water sources and clean drainages. He said that the village secretaries should ensure chlorination of all drinking water sources, removal of garbage, spraying of DDT at drainages and alerting hoteliers in the villages on the need to maintain clealiness at their places to prevent diseases.

Nizamabad, Aug. 10: Farmers killed a robber who tried to steal an electric transformer from Chandrayanpally of Dichpally mandal in the wee hours of Thursday. The incident came to light when Chandrayanpally villagers informed this to the Dichpally police on Thursday morning. Dichpally SI G. Srinivas told this correspondent that one Azeez, 25, a native of Nirmal, along with 10 others had gone to the village to steal the transformer near the NH No. 7. Azeej tried to remove the iron bolts of the transformer while his accomplices were waiting in a jeep on the highway.

Farmers, who were sleeping near the transformer, awoke after they heard sounds and caught Azeez red-handed. His accomplices fled. The farmers tied Azeez to the window of the village panchayat office and severely assaulted him with sticks. Later, they informed the matter to the Dichpally police. Azeez died while being shifted to the Nizamabad Government hospital by the police.

The farmers had been guarding the two transformers in shifts after thieves had stolen them two months ago from the same place.
The SI said that a case was registered and investigation was on.

Khammam, Aug. 10: Floodwaters from various rivulets and tributaries of the Godavari damaged cro-ps in 48,000 acres in Khammam district. Preliminary estimates ha-ve put crop damage at Rs 25 crore. Crop damage was reported from 12 mandals in the district and the heaviest losses occurred in Veli-erpad, Kukkunoor, Charla, V R Puram, Chintoor, Kun-avaram, Venkatapuram, Dammapet and Aswar-aopet.

About 23,000 farmers have suffered losses in the floods and the government has promised to give them assistance. Agriculture joint director J. Balaiah said that the government was planning to give seeds to the farmers on subsidised rates. Farmers who had lost 50 per cent of their crops wou-ld be given compensation, he added. Crops such as cotton, chilli, maize, paddy, banana, watermelon, red gram, green gram and palm olive were damaged in the floods.

Chilli and cotton fields in Kunavaram, Chintoor and VR Puram mandals were submerged in flood waters and banana and watermelon farms of Dammapet, Veli-erpad and Aswaraopet mandals were also badly damaged. Revenue and agricultural officials are now conducting a survey to assess the crop loss which occurred in the floods. However, they are still un-able to enter many villages because of water logging. Meanwhile, water level in Godavari at Bhadrachalam has touched 53 feet and has been termed stable.

Vijayawada, Aug. 10: The district administration is ge-ared up to face the increasing floods to river Krishna from Thursday. Basing on the discharges at Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar reservoirs, the officials here are expecting an inflow of over seven lakh cusecs of water in the next two days which would ma-roon several villages both in the upstream and downstream of Prakasam Barrage. The officials have discharged over 4.28 lakh cusecs of water from the barrage on Thursday.

Further, they are expecting nearly seven lakh cusecs of water by Friday evening as 5.46 lakh cusecs was discharged at Srisailam in addition to 5.18 lakh cusecs of water discharged at Nagarjunasagar. The officials of the irrigation department lifted 70 gates at Prakasam Barrage and were discharging 4.28 lakh cusecs of water which would go into the sea passing through the Diviseema. If the discharge crosses 6.50 lakh cusecs of water by Friday, several habitations would have to be cleared in the downstream, particularly in Challapalli, Mopidevi, Avanigadda, Koduru and Nagayalanka mandals.

In the upstream too, people from the low-lying habitations of Chandarlapadu, Nandigama, Ibrahimpatnam and Jaggaiahpet would have to be shifted to the relief camps if the inflows from Srisailam and Nagarjuna-sagar join the river. The ad-ministration opened relief camps in these mandals for the flood-hit areas. District collector Navin Mittal, who reviewed the flood situation with the officials on Thursday asked them not to allow people to go back to their houses or venture into the river.

Meanwhile, speaking to mediapersons, the collector said that the administration would require Rs 16.70 cro-res to take up relief works on permanent basis in the district. He said that they have sought Rs 4 crores for immediate repairs and relief operations.

He said that Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy had promised to provide 15,000 houses for the flood victims. The administration had already acquired 90 acres at Gollapudi and Jak-kampudi villages for these houses, besides constructing over 2,000 houses at the Vambay Colony. Joint collector S. Suresh Kumar and municipal commissioner N. Gulzar were also present.

Visakhapatnam, Aug. 10: A victim of a dubious software company allegedly ran away with more than Rs 2 crore. A complaint in this regard was lodged with the Fourth Town police station on August 8 and on August 9 against D. Ravi Kumar, honorary president of Software and Data Entry Entrepreneurs Association, who ran the entire show.

Fourth Town Station House Officer D. Ravi Prakash told this correspondent that one of the victims V. Ramkoti Bhaskara Rao, in his complaint, on August 8, said Ravi Kumar took Rs 20,000 from him offering work and did not return the amount.

He mentioned in his complaint that Ravi Kumar might have fled with more than Rs 1.5 crores. Another complaint was lodged by B. Kiran Babu that Ravi Kumar owed him Rs 20,000. Other victims requesting anonymity said Ravi Kumar himself became victim of a dubious software company Log Sanchar and lost good amount of money. Perhaps taking cue from the Tamil Nadu-based cheat, who ran Log Sanchar and currently languishing in Vizag jail, Ravi Kumar himself started an organisation with the help of software professionals. Initially, it was a unregistered organisation but in April 2005 the association was registered as SADEEA.

He was getting works from abroad and distributing am-ong the members. The profits accrued from the project works was to be distributed equally among members. But projects were completed and the members were never paid the money.

There were about 1,200 members and 50 employees in the Association. “A major work was obtained from Singapore-based Vertix Infrastructure and it was uploaded as per the schedule. But when the members demanded the money, Ravi Kumar replied that the work was delayed and hence the company refused to pay the money,’’ a victim told this correspondent. SHO Ravi Prakash said no arrests were made and the case was still under preliminary investigation. Meanwhile, Ravi Kumar gave an advertisement in local newspapers stating that he was staying in Hyderabad and did not runway with money.

Visakhapatnam, Aug. 10: The Vizag range police changed the tack to contain the strength of the Maoist movement in north coastal Andhra. More than arrests and encounters, the police now focus on surrender and rehabilitation of the cadre ranging from commanders to grassroot workers.

“Our idea is reduce their numbers and bring them back to mainstream,” Visakha range deputy inspector general Govind Singh said. The arrest of woman Maoist M. Ramani at Pal-asa on Wednesday which was later shown as surrender was first of its kind in north coastal Andhra. Talking to reporters here on Thursday, Govind Singh said the new policy would run parallel to the operations.

He said the arrests involved cumbersome process of prosecution, trial and imprisonment which ultimately served no purpose. In case of surrender, the Maoists would get benefits accrued to them under the government policy which could establish them in the mainstream. It was not necessary that the rehabilitation process would change their attitudes.

“In many cases they would be having contacts with the Maoist groups but never dare to go underground,” Govind Singh said, and, assured that the surrendered Maoists would not be harassed by the police for information on activists and hideouts. The DIG paraded eight Maoists who surrendered on Thursday.

They include deputy commander of Korukonda special squad Korra Krishna Rao alias Mohan, 20, deputy commander Palakajeedi Muvvala Ranga, 20, Murla Laxmi, 30, Korra Saduno alias Rajanna, 27, Sendu Pangi, 15, Chikkudu Laxmana Rao, 22, Vanthala Lakku, 38, and Dure Rama Rao, 28.