Andhranews

Hyderabad, Aug. 15: The State government has kept its options open on persisting with the Implementation Secretariat, a wing of the public enterprises department that carries out reforms in State-level public enterprises. The Implementation Secretariat has been “technically discontinued” following Monday’s withdrawal of the controversial GO Ms No. 5 on State public sector reforms.

The GO 7 which revoked GO 5 did not mention the Implementation Secretariat.
“The term of the Implementation Secretariat ended on March 31, 2006. With GO 5, the State government had extended its term and that of the consultants who work out the restructuring plans for a period of three years. Since the extension of the Implementation Secretariat is part of GO 5, technically it stands abolished with the withdrawal of the GO,” official sources in the Secretariat said. “The internal consultants — technical and legal adviser G. Sriram Murthy and transaction and financial adviser T. Krishna Murthy — are still continuing in their jobs,” sources said.

Sources said for the time being, the public sector enterprises department would take care of the reforms process. “Otherwise, the government would have to issue a separate GO on the continuance of the Implementation Secretariat,” they said.
CPI-M State Secretary B.V. Raghavulu expressed apprehensions that the government might adopt a backdoor method to implement public enterprises reforms, since the agreement with the World Bank is still in vogue. “The World Bank loan comprises a grant component of the DFID, which has to be utilised for public sector reforms. So, the threat still hangs over the employees,” he said.
The Implementation Secretariat was functioning since April 1 though the government issued orders extending its term only on July 18. “There is still uncertainty over its existence,” sources said.

The Implementation Secretariat does option studies on an enterprise: whether to wind it up, disinvest in it or retain it with restruturing. Based on the study, the government chalks out an action plan, followed by evaluation of options. Then, as per the decision, it advertises the sale or restructuring of the enterprise. The exercise is to be completed within three years.

The Implementation Secretariat takes the help of external consultants: One of the World Bank pre-conditions is the appointment of external consultants. They would be assisted by internal consultants in technical, financial, legal, IT, media and labour sectors.

Hyderabad, Aug. 15: Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy on Tuesday directed the Collectors of the flood affected districts to conduct an indepth inquiry into the allegations being levelled by Opposition leader N Chandrababu Naidu on the flood relief operations. Dr Reddy, who reviewed the progress of relief works through video conference, also asked the Collectors to take seriously all the media reports on the lapses on the part of the respective district adminsitrations.

“The opposition parties and a section of media are trying to demoralise the officials and denigrate the State government by making allegations. Don’t get disheartened and put in more efforts to see that there is no scope for such allegations,” he said.
While complimenting the ministers, MLAs, other public representatives and the officials for their effective contribution in the flood relief operations, the Chief Minister sought point-by-point explanation from the Collectors of Khammam, East Godavari and West Godavari districts on the allegations made by Mr Chandrababu Naidu.
He asked Khammam Collector as to whether there was any truth in Mr Naidu’s allegation that the victims were supplied with damaged rice.

The Collector said he had toured the areas visited by Mr Naidu and ensured that as many as 50,370 families were provided with 20 kg of quality rice each. “Make an inquiry again, so as to disprove the Opposition leader’s charges,” the Chief Minister said. On the reported distribution of spoiled lemon rice and biryani to the victims in East Godavari district, Dr Reddy sought an explanation from the Collector. He also enquired about the discontinuation of relief camps in West Godavari district, despite the floods.

The Chief Minister asked the Collectors to send a detailed report on the crop and property damages to the Relief department by Wednesday, so that a comprehensive report could be submitted to the Central team visiting the flood hit areas on August 18 and 19.

Hyderabad, Aug. 15: The South Central Railway took forcible possession of the bus bay in front of the Secunderabad Railway Station on Monday night and refused to allow APSRTC buses to ply from there. SCR officials justified the move by saying that the bus bay was their property and that RTC had not vacated it despite several reminders.

The move created hardship for thousands of passengers. Nearly 200 buses make about 700 trips from the bus bay, carrying 40,000-odd passengers. To prevent RTC officials and passengers from entering the bus bay, Railway Protection Force personnel were posted there. “RPF constables are threatening us and are not providing any information,” said Ashok and Srinvas, passengers from Bowenpally.
Regular passengers from Bowenpally, Green Fields, Samata Nagar, Mehdipatnam, Vijaya Nagar Colony, Punjagutta, Raj Bhavan, Khairatabad, Nampally and nearby areas were turned back by RPF personnel.

RTC officials were caught off-guard by the SCR act. “We have requested the railway officials to reconsider their decision,” said RTC Regional Manager C. Panduranga Murthy. RPF officers said that they had been instructed by Secunderabad divisional railway manager Sharad V. Ingale to take over the bus bay to avoid congestion near railway station. The presence of the bus bay was creating much trouble for rail passengers who wanted to park their vehicles near the station, they added.

Apart from vehicles of passengers, the vehicles of the military, CISF, CRPF, RMS, and Air Force also have to find space in the congested area. “We have no option but to take back our land,” said RPF circle inspector B. Satish Prabhu. SCR officials added that as per the earlier agreement RTC had to hand over the bay in April 1982. Though SCR provided another piece of land to the RTC which constructed its Rathifile Bus Station there, it did not hand over the bus bay. “We sent several reminders to RTC but there was no response. We were forced to do this,” said an SCR official.

Hyderabad, Aug. 15: Four friends who were on a sight-seeing trip to Nagarjuna Sagar dam died in a car crash in the wee hours of Tuesday at Vanasthalipuram in the city outskirts. Another youth, travelling along with them, in the Tata Indica car was injured after the speeding vehicle rammed into a tree on the side of the road between Injapur and Gurramguda.

B. Chandrashekar, N. Rakesh Kumar and Ch Rajesh, all aged 22 and residents of J. J. Nagar Colony in Neredmet, died on the spot. Dayanand, a courier employee, succumbed to injuries at Osmania Hospital. Chandrashekar was a hardware engineer, Rajesh, a hardware technician, and Rakesh Kumar, a driver. The injured youth, Ajay Kumar, a B-Tech student , was shifted to intensive care unit in Medicare Hospital. They were all school mates and reside in the same locality.

Dayanand’s mother told police that her son died while he was being shifted to Gandhi Hospital. “She said that she had got her son discharged from Osmania and took him to NIMS, where they refused to accept the case. Later, she took her son to Gandhi Hospital where the doctors asked for certificates from Osmania,” Vanasthalipuram SI Ravindra Prasad said.

When contacted Gandhi Hospital authorities said that Dayanand was brought dead to the hospital. Ajay Kumar, who is undergoing treatment, said that they had started from home at around 12.30 am and were crossing Injapur at around 1.10 am when the mishap occurred. “A Tata Sumo came in the opposite direction and Rakesh swerved the car to avoid hitting it,” he said. “But we hit the tree. It happened in a matter of seconds”. Police said the youth were travelling at high speed as they wanted to return by Tuesday afternoon.

Hyderabad, Aug. 15: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy awarded medals to Greyhounds personnel, the anti-naxal wing of the State police, and other officers for their service on the occasion of the 60th Independence Day celebrations here on Tuesday. Two of the awards were presented posthumously.

The winners are:

President’s Police Medal for distinguished service, Republic Day 2006:
T.P. Das, IG, department of atomic energy; B. Prasada Rao, additional DGP, Hyd-erabad; K.V. Venkat Reddy, additional DCP, Task Force, Hyderabad; D.V.S. Satyanarayana Murthy, additional SP Nellore (retired); A.K. Vajpayee, DSP, Intelligence, Hyderabad.

Police medals for meritorious service, Independence Day 2003:
Mohammed Rajjab Sayed Ali, additional SP (retired); V.K. Singh, joint commissioner of police.

Police medals for meritorious service, Republic Day 2006:
P. Harikumar, chief vigilance and security officer, TTD, Tirupati; Mohammed Azmath Hussain, commandant, Home Guards, Telangana region; K. Yadav Reddy, additional DCP, CAR HQ; G. Mohan Reddy, DSP Toopran, Medak; K. Raja, assistant commandant, 10th battalion, APSP, Beechpalli, Mahabubnagar; D. Narahari, circle inspector, DSB, Ongole, Praka-sam; R. Ravinder Reddy, inspector, ACB, Hyerabad; M. Rajasekhar, RI, security wing, Hyderabad; V. Pra-kash Rao, inspector, SIB, Hyderabad; Zorawar Khan, SI, railways, Kachiguda, Hyderabad; Z.J.P. Jayaraj, SI, CID, Hyderabad; C. Jamman Reddy, SI, TS cell (intelligence), Hyderabad.

President’s police medal for gallantry, Independence Day 2005:
K. Subramanyam, DAC, Greyhounds, Hyderabad; K. Devender Reddy, SI, Pasra PS, Warangal; A. Naresh Kumar, circle inspector, CID, Warangal; late D. Rajasekhar Reddy, Greyhounds and A.V. Ramanaiah, Greyhounds, Hyderabad.

Police medal for gallantry, Independence Day 2004.
R. Srinivas Rao of GreyhHounds, Hyderabad.

Independence Day 2005: M. Stephen Ravindra, SP, Warangal; Manish Kumar Sinha, SP, Srikakulam; V.S. Padmanabha Raju, DAC, Greyhounds, Hyderabad; V. Sivaram Prasad, DAC, Greyhounds, Hyderabad; J. Rama Rao, circle inspector, Godavarikhani, 1 Town PS Karimnagar; P. Shobhan Kumar, inspector, Bhoopa-lapalli, Warangal; G. Rajakishore Babu, inspector, SIB, Hyderabad; V. Balu Jadav, SI, Chennur, Adilabad; K Vamseedhar, SI, Guntur; A. Acheswara Rao, SI, Indravelli, Adilabad; Mohammed Tajuddin, SI, SIB, Hyderabad; S. Muragesan, SI, SIB, Hyderabad; B. Murali, Greyhounds, Hyderabad; L. Laxminarayana, armed reserve, Bellampalli; Moha-mmed Sirajuddin, armed reserve, Bellampalli, Adilabad and K. Srinivas Reddy, SIB, Hyderabad.

Jeevan Raksha Padak 2005
Janardhan Reddy, 12th battalion, APSP, Nalgonda; Nerella Anand (civilian), Armoor, Nizamabad.
The 3rd APS. battalion, Kakinada, and NCC girls won the best contingent awards at the Independence Day parade at Parade Grounds. The culture department’s tableau won the first prize, forest and rural development departments came next.

Hyderabad, Aug. 15: A conman posing as a doctor cheated an equipment dealer and made off with Rs 2 lakh worth LCD projectors. A ‘Dr Rao’ called up Actis Technologies and asked the company to send the projectors to a corporate hospital. To authenticate his identity, he asked the dealer to call the hospital on its landline and ask for him. At the hospital, he misrepresented himself as a doctor with another hospital and told the receptionist of the corporate hospital that he was expecting a call on their landline.

When the Actis personnel called the hospital, the unsuspecting receptionist forwarded the call to °Dr Rao’. Actis manager Charles d’Silva said that he duly took the projectors to ‘Dr Rao’. “He told me that another doctor had to see the demo and took me to the first floor” Mr d’Silva said. “When I tried to walk into the cabin of the doctor ‘Dr Rao’ asked me to keep the projectors outside. When I returned, I found the man and the machines missing,” he said. Panjagutta sub-inspector D.V. Ranga Reddy said said police was looking for the conman.