Andhranews

Hyderabad, Aug. 17: Waking up to the indiscriminate payments being made to contractors by the engineers without the completion of works as was done in the case of Deva-dula project, the irrigation department has ordered the engineers to regulate “intermediary payments” to the contractors and ensure that payments are made based on the actual progress and quality of works only.

In a memo to the engineers vide Memo No. 22918 dated August 14, 2006, irrigation secretary Rajiv Ranjan Mishra observed that in certain cases, payments in the EPC contracts are not being regulated as per agreement. In Devadula phase-II project, the engineers paid Rs 300 crores to the contractors (a consortium of Hindustan Constructions Co. and Nagarjuna Constructions Co. Ltd.) for fabrication of pi-pes, though they were supposed to lay the pipelines.

Mr Mishra said all such payments should be regulated as per the schedule of payments, which stipulates the percentage of bid price that each component has. Accordingly, superintending engineer (SE) must calculate the unit rate for the part of work done under each component, from the total amount payable for that particular component, but not the entire project cost. “This will determine the amount to be paid to the contractor as intermediary payments,” he pointed out.

However, certain SEs, as in the case of Devadula project, are under the impression that there is no need to regulate the payments, because these are only intermediary payments and not the final payments. Moreover, the engineers were of the view that they were holding back 30 per cent of the total amount and releasing only 70 per cent of the payments to the contractors and would safeguard any excess payments made.

The irrigation secretary clarified that mere deduction of percentage is not a safeguard. Mr Mishra also instructed that the SEs must ensure that the required quality standards are fully met with before making payments. He asked them to make payments only after the specifications are achieved by the contractors as per the agreements.

Hyderabad, Aug. 17: Kitchen smoke is killing many children in Andhra Pradesh, a new study has found out. The World Bank-sponsored study on the impact of solid biomass fuel pointed out that some of the highest-ever recorded indoor pollution was detected in the village kitchens of the State and this contributed to infant mortality. Andhra Pradesh has a child mortality rate of 62 per 1000 and infant mortality rate of 70 per 1,000 live births. As many as 44 infants die in the State within a month of being born. If the study is to be believed, some of these kids are dying because of the use of biomass fuels such as wood, dung and crop residues in kitchens with low ventilation. The conventional kitchen is literally a death trap.

Not only the children, but their mothers are also suffering. “Women are exposed to this pollution daily for many hours,” said the study, which was carried out by a host of agencies including the city-based Institute of Health Systems. It was found during the course of the study that over 80 per cent of people in villages depended on biomass fuels and did not use non-polluting fossil fuels.

Strangely enough, 24 per cent of households in urban areas too depended on wood, dung and waste from crops. Added to this was lack of adequate ventilation. It was noted that children under the age of five are especially vulnerable to high levels of indoor air pollution, especially when exposed to it daily. Children in households using fossil fuels did not have this problem. Indoor air pollution is the third most significant risk factor threatening human health in the country.

It contributes to about 20 lakh premature deaths every year in the country and majority of the victims are children. “There is also strong evidence of the impact on women, with up to 34,000 deaths resulting from chronic obstructive disorders,” the report pointed out. Researchers surveyed 412 households as part of the study. Of them 270 families used wood and 97 families used cow dung as fuel. Only a few families in rural areas used fossil fuels such as LPG and kerosene. Even older women, who did not spent much time in the kitchen, were found to be suffering from the ill effects of indoor pollution. “Indoor air pollution punishes young children twice,” said the report.

Hyderabad, Aug. 17: A fist fight broke out between the police and an accused in a cheating case, Mohammed Maodood Ahmed Khan, at Asifnagar police station on Wednesday night in which a constable and the suspect were injured. The accused, who claims to be the final avatar of Shiva and Jesus, is a resident of Moghal Residency in Tolichowki.

Police said that a cheating complaint was lodged against Ahmed by Srinivas who alleged Ahmed refused to deliver him a computer even after he paid the amount. Asifnagar Inspector of Police Mohammed Khan said, “Srinivas, who went to Ahmed’s office at Rethibowli to buy a computer on Wednesday morning paid Rs 25,000 cash to Ahmed. But Ahmed did not deliver the system and instead gave a cheque for Rs 26,700 to Srinivas. When Srinivas insisted on the computer Ahmed left the office.”

“As he did not return Srinivas came to the police station and lodged a complaint. Around 10.30 pm Ahmed along with his assistant Wasim came to the police station and tried to attack the complainant in front of the police. We were also attacked when we tried to stop him. Constable Rajappa was injured. During the scuffle Ahmed also fell down,” Mr Khan said. In his complaint Ahmed said, “Police irritated me. I am Shiva and Jesus. How can they speak foul language to final avatar? So I had to do Rudra Tandavam.” Police said Ahmed was also involved in earlier attacks on police in 1998 and 2004.

Hyderabad, Aug. 17: Suspended IAS officer K. Mangapati Rao is in trouble again with another of his former colleagues alle-ging abuse in the name of his caste. Arun Kumar, assistant director, Directorate of Employment and Training, has lodged a complaint against the suspended official with the SC and ST Commission. The Commission forwarded the complaint to Saifabad police station.

When contacted, Saifa-bad assistant police commissioner K. Uma Mahes-war Rao said, “We have received the complaint from SC and ST Commission against Mangapati Rao.” Late on Thursday night, police registered a case against Mangapati Rao under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. While, Mangapati Rao was not available for comment. Earlier in July, the State government placed him under suspension on a complaint by a woman employee that he had beh-aved indecently with her. Mangapati Rao was the commissioner of Employment and Training when he was suspended.

Hyderabad, Aug. 17: A team of Central government officials arrived in the city on Thursday on a three-day visit to the flood affected areas of the State to make an assessment of the extent of damage caused to the crops and properties. The officials formed the-mselves into three teams to visit different flood ravaged areas between August 18 to 20. The Team-A led by Vipin Kumar Saxena, joint secretary, Union home ministry, will visit East and West Godavari districts. The Team-B will visit Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts.

The Team-C will tour Khammam. Before leaving for their respective designated areas, the Central teams would get a briefing from commissioner for disaster management Debabratha Kantha at the Lake View Guest House. They would also go through a photo exhibition of the damages. The Central teams would conduct aerial survey in the affected area and inspect the damages, interact with district administration and return to Hyderabad by August 20.

Hyderabad, Aug. 17: Fake bomb threats spread panic in the twin cities and Visakhapatnam on Thursday. A bomb threat to the Secunderabad Court Complex at Marredpally stalled work for almost two hours. Bomb disposal squads combed the area but found nothing. Tension prevailed in Visakhapatnam after anonymous callers threatened that bombs had been planted at two schools and the district collectorate. The threats turned out to be false.

There was panic in the Secunderabad court complex after a man claiming to be a Naxal told the police over phone on Thursday morning that a bomb would explode there any minute. Judges, lawyers and petitioners rushed out of the court as bomb squads got to work. Interestingly, the ‘Naxal’ dared Task Force Additional Deputy Commissioner K.V. Venkat Reddy to prevent the explosion.

It may be recalled that the suicide bombing at the Task Force building in Begumpet last October was meant to target Mr Venkat Reddy, who has arrested many ISI-sponsored terrorists. Marredpally Inspector B. Karunakar Reddy said that the caller rang up the North Zone police control room around 10.20 am. After a while, he called up the court superintendent and repeated the threat. Police were unable to trace the caller’s number.

Meanwhile, in Visakhapatnam, the police control room received two different calls in the morning threatening blasts in Sivananda School near Town Kotharoad area, Government School in Relliveedhi and the district collectorate. Police teams quickly moved to the schools and collectorate employees trooped out of their offices. A bomb disposal squad along with sniffer dogs searched every nook and corner of the collectorate but found nothing. After news of the bomb threat got out, there was panic in most schools of the city. Parents also panicked after TV channels splashed the news of the bomb threat without mentioning the name of the schools. They rushed to schools to take back their children and got into arguments with flustered managements. “We traced the calls and are tracking down the offenders,’’ said Commissioner of Police Kaumudi.

Hyderabad, Aug. 17: Doctors of government hospitals in the city will be agitating from Friday, protesting against the arrest of one of their colleagues for alleged negligence. They would conduct dharnas seeking immunity from police arrests. Doctors belonging to the AP Vaidya Vidhan Parishad decided to embark on the path of agitation following the arrest of Dr Haris Ibrahim, medical superintendent of Surajbhan Government Maternity Hospital in Mughalpura on Friday.

Dr Ibrahim was arrested under section 304 A (rash and negligent act leading to death) after a 23-year-old patient, Surekha, whom he was treating, died in the hospital. Nearly 150 doctors working in five area hospitals in the city would participate in the agitation from Friday. A resolution to this effect was passed by the peripheral wing of the AP Government Doctors Association after an emergency meeting held in Malakpet Area Hospital on Thursday.

“If the Government does not accept our demands we will stop emergency services from Tuesday,” said Dr C. Purushottam Prasad, general secretary of the peripheral wing. The parishad on Thursday appointed a committee with three senior doctors to probe into the matter. “We are taking legal opinion since there is a Supreme Court order which prevents the arrest of doctors,” said Dr. N S Rao of the parishad.