Andhranews

Hyderabad/Guntur, Aug. 20: After offering cash incentives to encourage gram panchayats to elect their representatives unanimously, the State government now appears to be backing out by changing the rules. The government had announced that if they were elected unanimously, major panchayats (more than 5,000 population) would be given Rs 15 lakhs, and minor panchayats (less than 5,000 population) would be given of Rs 5 lakhs.

The villages were to elect ward members and sarpanch for the gram panchayat. The elections were held in the last week of July and the first week of August. Encouraged by the offer, about 12 per cent of all gram panchayats, major and minor, opted to elect the bodies unanimously. Of 22,000-odd gram panchayats, about 2,800 were elected unanimously. In Guntur district, where the figures are available, 256 out of 995 panchayats were elected unanimously.

According to these estimates, the government will have to pay out about Rs 500 crores to the panchayats. “Guntur district alone requires at least Rs 25 crores,” district panchayat officer M. Radhakrishna said. To avoid this, the panchayat raj department is now shifting the goalposts. “The incentive is for panchayats which elect the sarpanch and all ward members unanimously,” an official said.

“In many cases, sarpanches were elected unanimously, while ward members are elected through contest. In other cases, there was a contest for sarpanch posts, while the ward members were elected unanimously. There is confusion whether such gram panchayats are eligible for the incentives,” he said.

“As per the rules, even if one ward member is elected through contest, such gram panchayat will be ineligible for the incentive,” panchayat raj commissioner S.E. Sekhar Babu told this correspondent. Mr Babu said that as per the State Election Commission (SEC) figures, about 2,800 gram panchayats are elected unanimously, it was not clear how many gram panchayats among them had unanimously elected all ward members and sarpanches.

“The election process was over only a couple of weeks ago. The particulars of such unanimously elected gram panchayats are yet to be compiled. But the number may not be as big as 2,800,” Mr Babu said. Moreover, the State government is yet to prepare the guidelines for paying the money. “We are told that the file in this regard is under circulation. Once the GO (government order) is issued and guidelines are prepared, we will implement the decision, whatever it is,” he said.

The incentive scheme was in vogue during the previous panchayat elections too but the incentive was smaller: Rs 5,000 for minor panchayats and Rs 15,000 for major panchayats. At that time, the amount was credited to the panchayat account to be used for developmental activities in the village. An official in Guntur district, on the condition of anonymity, said the government may not pay incentives to villages selected for the Indiramma programme, setting off the cash against the project funds. However, there are not more than 50 villages which fit the incentive scheme under the Indiramma project.

Hyderabad, Aug. 20: Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) will quit the UPA government on August 22 and revive the agitation for separate Telangana all over again, senior TRS leader and Union minister A. Narendra said here on Sunday. “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be hosting a dinner for all UPA partners on August 22. We will submit our resignations to him at the dinner. We will distribute the copies of our resignation letters to all MPs present,” he said.

Mr Narendra demanded that the Congress come out with a clear statement that it would grant Statehood to Telangana and the Telangana Bill be introduced in the Winter Session of Parliament. “If the Congress concedes to our demand, we will withdraw the resignation proposal,” he said.

On August 23, TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao will sit on an indefinite fast at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, while Mr Narendra will take up the issue in the Lok Sabha along with other TRS MPs. “The TRS will expose the great Congress betrayal. Our MLAs will launch simultaneous hunger strikes in the Telangana districts,” he said.

“We will also seek cooperation from the Bharatiya Janata Party members to stall the Lok Sabha. In Hyderabad, TRS MLAs will stall the State legislative Assembly,” he said, revealing the party’s plan of action. Mr Narendra said the moment the TRS came out of the UPA, the whole of Telangana would get into an agitational mode. As part of the agitational programmes, the TRS has planned a meeting at Siddipet in Medak district in the first week of September, followed by another meeting at Parkal in Warangal.

“We will relaunch the movement with people’s support and bring pressure on Parliament to grant us a separate Telangana State,” he said. He denied the reports that Dommat MLA S. Ramalinga Reddy had joined hands with rebel TRS legislators. To another question, he said the TRS would definitely accept support extended by actress-turned-Telangana leader Vijayashanti.

Hyderabad, Aug. 20: Five nearly-empty coaches of the Chennai-Hyderabad Express were gutted just after the train left Secunderabad for Hyderabad on Sunday morning. No one was injured in the fire that experts suspect was sparked by an electric short circuit. The train, running late by about an hour, was detained for about 40 minutes at Secunderabad because of a derailment at Hussainsagar. Because of this, most Hyderabad-bound passengers had detrained.

The almost-empty train left Secunderabad at 6.45 am and caught fire about 100 metres afterwards, near the mortuary of the Gandhi Hospital. The fire started in coach S9 and spread to coach S6 on one side and S10 on the other side. Passenger Ashok Jain, a cloth merchant from Chennai, noticed the fire and pulled the chain. Mr Jain and the remaining few passengers got down, though most of them left their luggage behind. Guard Balaji Srinivas alerted the station superintendent who called up fire and ambulance services.

Three fire vehicles reached the spot by 7.30 am after breaking through fencing around a playground at Audiahnagar. They doused the fire by 9.30 am. Eight ambulances reached the spot but were not needed. Investigations so far have not turned up any sign of sabotage or malicious attack. Experts from the AP Forensics Science Laboratory and the Railway Protection Force said there was no sign of an explosion, though they have kept open the possibility that inflammable material may have caused the fire.

Surveillance cameras on platform 10 at Secunderabad, where the train was parked for about an hour, found no smoke coming from the train. South Central Railway general manager D.N. Mathur traced the origin of the fire to coach S9. “Due to wind velocity the fire spread to other coaches,” he said. The train staff quickly detached the train from coach S10.

Mr Mathur wore a gas mask and personally went inside the coaches to confirm that no one had been left behind. Mr Jain, who stopped the train, said, “I saw the smoke from the toilets near between S9 and S10. Immediately I pulled the chain.” Six members of his family were in the train, they did not get down at Secunderabad as a relative was waiting for them at Hyderabad.

They got down as soon as the train stopped, leaving the baggage behind. “I lost gold ornaments worth Rs 70,000. All our clothes are gutted,” Mr Jain said. Passenger Surya Rama Devi of Nellurupadu near Ongole said she could collect some luggage. But a bag containing Rs 20,000 cash, a mixer, a cooker and other articles were gutted in fire.

Passenger A. Ranjit said got down at Secunderabad but said he went running towards the train to help. Shankar Babu of Audiahnagar said he had also alerted the fire control after spotting the fire. General manager Mathur said: “We can’t guess at the cause of mishap. We are waiting for the forensic report.” He added: “We can’t rule out sabotage. It can be any one of these (reasons): someone carrying inflammable material, a burning cigarette butt thrown on the floor or short circuit.” Mr Mathur put the cost of damage at about Rs 90 lakhs.

SCR circle commissioner of railway safety R.P. Agarwal will hold an inquiry into the incident on August 23 at 10.30 am at Divisional Railway Managers Conference Hall at Sanchalan Bhavan in Secunderabad. Public having knowledge of the incident can depose before the commissioner or can contact him on phone 040-27820104.

Islamabad, Aug. 20: The Pakistani authorities are not sure whether Rashid Rauf, allegedly the mastermind of the UK airliner plot, is British or Pakistani or holds dual nationality. Investigators probing this key suspect are trying to examine his travel documents to establish his identity. Officials said: “We are still in the process of establishing his identity.”

They said Pakistan would allow consular access only if Rashid Rauf turned out to be a British national. “In case of his being a dual national, we are not bound to provide UK diplomats access,” the official said. The key suspect was arrested in Pakistan a day before the airport alert was issued in Britain. “Such people usually travel on forged documents. They possess more than one passport in order to keep their identity hidden,” security officials said. More than one passport had been found on Rauf.

A spokesman for the British high commission in Islamabad had also been reported as saying: “We are still at the stage of establishing whether there are any British nationals involved.” The spokesperson of the Pakistani foreign office, Ms Tasnim Aslam, also denied having any knowledge of whether or not Rashid Rauf was a dual national. “He was born in Pakistan and later went to the UK. I am not sure whether he has UK nationality. Investigations are in progress.” She added that British diplomats had so far not made any request for consular access.

Under international law, a country’s diplomatic mission can demand access to its citizens caught in connection with a crime in a foreign country to make sure that they are being looked after properly and to rule out inhumane treatment. The officials said Rauf’s birth in Pakistan had sparked confusion about his identity as he reportedly also acquired UK citizenship. About the question of his extradition to the UK, the officials said it would be more unlikely if Rauf turned out to be a dual national. Since there is no extradition treaty between the two countries, Pakistan cannot be forced to hand him over to the UK authorities.

Sources here said that an extradition treaty was getting delayed due to British reservations about the continuance of the death penalty in Pakistan. Once such a treaty is signed, the UK would be bound to hand over all Pakistani citizens who may have fled there after committing crimes, including murders, in Pakistan. Negotiations on the extradition treaty had started a couple of years back. Pakistani officials said that Rashid Rauf was now the third member of his family in custody.

Abdul Rauf, 52, had met his son shortly before Rauf, 25, was arrested in early August. It was not clear whether Pakistan-born Abdul, who has lived in Britain for decades, was in custody for questioning over his son’s alleged role in the conspiracy to blow up trans-Atlantic jets or if he was a suspect himself. Another of Abdul Rauf’s sons, Tayib, 22, is reportedly among two dozen people arrested in Britain on August 10 after the alleged plan to blow up planes flying from Britain to the United States was busted.

One intelligence source said that Abdul was picked up by Pakistani intelligence agents from Islamabad international airport soon after the arrest of Rashid earlier this month. “He was taken into custody from the airport when he was leaving the country,” the official said. Pakistan interior minister Aftab Sherpao has said that he was not aware of Abdul Rauf being in custody. “It is not to my knowledge,” he said.

Hyderabad, Aug. 20: While former US President Bill Clinton has said that he’s not loving turning 60, it is as yet unclear how N.R. Narayana Murthy feels about the 60 factor, and what he intends to do with the lots of free time now available to him, having retired as executive chairman of Infosys Technologies, the software bellweather, on Sunday.

Mr Murthy, son of a schoolteacher in Mysore, co-founded Infosys in Mumbai back in 1981, using his bedroom as the company’s first office. The past quarter-century has seen Infosys evolve from a grouping of seven individuals, all co-founders of the company, into a $2 billion software services giant with 58,000 employees and counting.

Along the way, in 1999, Infosys became the first Indian software company to list on the Nasdaq exchange in the United States. Nasdaq returned the favour last month, allowing Infosys to ring its ceremonial “opening bell” online from Mysore.

While Mr Murthy, who along with other co-founders — all of whom have been described as “terrifyingly clever men” by The Economist in a recent profile of Mr Murthy — has amassed a staggering fortune, the key driving factor for making Infosys into a global software powerhouse is his need for respect. “When we started Infosys from my flat in Mumbai, all of us were always clear about one thing: whatever we do must earn us the respect of our customers, our employees and the communities we work in.

That’s something we have constantly worked for in the last 25 years. We want to be the most respected software in all the countries we operate in,” Mr Murthy had told this newspaper in an interview last year. Though Mr Murthy has retired as executive chairman of Infosys, which in itself is a first for an Indian corporation where founders hang around long after their sell-by date, he will continue as non-executive chairman and chief mentor of the company, mentoring senior executives.

The Infosys co-founder, who some argue is angling to become President of India, has denied that he has any political ambitions. “I have no desire to enter politics... because I am not suited for that,” he has said. Will Mr Murthy be spending some of his fabled fortune now? “Money is important, too. But there are only so many luxuries you can buy with money. But you continue to be what you are in terms of your lifestyle. I sleep on the floor of all the five-star hotels I check into because I sometimes find the bed too soft,” he had said in the interview, adding: “The best thing you can do with money is give it away.”

Erragadda road to be widened

Hyderabad, Aug. 20: The Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad is set to complete road-widening work on heavily used roads including the Punjagutta-Erragadda route by the end of this year. It has identified 32 roads for expansion and allocated Rs 65 crore for the task. Apart from the Punjagutta-Erragadda road, MCH will also take up Charminar-Falaknuma road where the widening work is pending for two decades. Corporation officials said that the widening of 11 roads that come under the Charminar Pedestrians Project would be taken up along the with Charminar-Falaknuma road work. The MCH is now convincing property owners and offering sops like additional Floor Space Index (FSI) to those who offer their lands for road widening work. The MCH will also speedily process new building plans of such owners, officials said. MCH had identified 230 properties in Punjagutta-Erragadda road for bottlenecks and got consent from 65 owners. In the Charminar-Falak-numa area, 102 compensation awards have been made to owners. “In the last two decades, the MCH could acquire only 4,500 properties. In the last three months, we are able to convince the 2,300 owners. It is a major achievement,” said additional commissioner (planning and projects) K. Dhanunjaya Reddy. The MCH is cautious while seeking lands belonging to temples and mosques, officials said. It ensures that the process does not get entangled in religious tension. By taking the support of local religious and political leaders, the sensitive lands are also being acquired to pave the way for road widening works. MCH officials hope the widening of roads will reduce the traffic jams and slash the journey time between destinations. Out of 450 km length of the main corridors in the twin cities, so far nearly 60 km stretch was taken up for widening work this year, officials said.

Maintain buses, avoid jams: Police to RTC

Hyderabad, Aug. 20: Frequent breakdown of RTC buses on city roads is one of the major causes of traffic jams in the city. At least 40 breakdowns are reported every month on major roads leading to traffic jams. The traffic police alleges that the RTC does not remove stalled vehicles quickly. RTC officials disagree with the traffic police contention and say that the statistics provided by traffic police are unscientific. Additional commissioner of police, traffic, A.K. Khan said, “Many RTC buses are failing on roads due to lack of mechanical fitness. In the past 15 days there were four instances where buses broke down on the road and were not attended for at least three hours. In major traffic areas like Greenlands, you can imagine the result of a bus breakdown.” He said RTC repair teams should reach the spot quickly. Mr Khan said that the 80 traffic guides appointed by the RTC to regulate buses at bus bays were not doing their work properly. “Traffic guides who are usually retired RTC staff are seldom seen,” Mr Khan said. Figures with the traffic police says that rate of RTC buses involved in road mishaps has increased. Till July 2006, at least 40 persons were killed in 199 accidents involving RTC buses as against 69 deaths in 304 road accidents for all of 2005. Even on the issue of payment of challan fee, RTC is at loggerheads with city traffic police department. “We have been issuing challans to RTC drivers violating traffic rules. Only 10 per cent of the challan amount was paid.” To the allegations, RTC Hyderabad regional manager C. Panduranga Murthy said, “The number of buses and the distance covered have increased. That has increased the vulnerability to accidents. We are being blamed for the rash driving of others.” He added that their buses were roadworthy, and RTC runs only vehicles certified by the RTA.

RTC bus crushes 12-yr-old to death

Hyderabad, Aug. 20: A 12-year-old boy was knocked down by an RTC bus at Koheda crossroads in Hayatnagar police station limits on Sunday evening. The boy was identified as E. Srikanth, son of Srisailam of Koheda. The family was celebrating Bonalu when it heard of his death. Hayatnagar inspector Ghouse Mohiuddin said, “Srikanth was pillion-riding on a scooter that his brother was riding. The scooter skidded while trying to avoid an RTC bus coming from the opposite direction,” he said. “Both of them fell on the road and Srikanth under the front wheel of the bus,” Mr Mohiuddin said.Police has registered a case of rash and negligent act leading to death under Section 304A of the IPC against the bus driver. In a separate incident, a 20-year-old-woman was crushed under an out-of-control water tanker on Sunday morning in Borabanda under Sanjeeva Reddy Nagar police station limits. The driver had parked the tanker on a slope and got down to talk to someone. The tanker rolled down the slope and crushed Jameela Bhanu, wife of Mohammed Miya of Karnataka. Jameela had come to Borabanda to see her ailing father, police said.

No entry to fuel tankers in city

Hyderabad, Aug. 20: Police has banned the passage of fuel tankers through city to the neighbouring districts. The order will be implemented from September 1. Only tankers carrying fuel to gas stations located within the city will be allowed into the city limits. Police said that out of the 600 petrol tankers that run within the city daily, half are not meant for the city. Traffic police also stated that heavy vehicles were causing the highest number fatal accidents. Additional commissioner of police, traffic, A.K. Khan said, “Out of every three accidents involving heavy vehicles, one is fatal. This is not the case with four wheelers like cars where only one out of 19 accidents gets fatal. Due to this, we have decided to make regulations in the entry of heavy vehicles into the city.” “We have decided that more than 10 tonnes lorries will not be considered local. We have held discussions on the issue with the lorry owners associations, Mr Khan said. At present non-local lorries are allowed into the city from 9 pm to 7 am. All local lorries can enter the city from 12 noon to 5 pm.

TRS gets isolated in UPA on T-State

New Delhi, Aug. 20: The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) appears to be getting isolated in the ruling UPA. None of the Congress allies or its supporting parties have urged the Pranab Mukherjee Committee to submit its report on Statehood for Telangana due to division amongst the parties on the issue. The 13-party Congress-led ruling coalition consists of the RJD, DMK, NCP, PMK, JMM, LJP, MDMK and one-member parties like PDP, RPI(A), Kerala Congress and Muslim League, apart from the Congress and the TRS. The TRS does not seem to have been able create a pressure group within the UPA on this core issue in last two years and thereby has been gradually marginalised in the ruling alliance. Earlier, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP had supported the demand for separate Statehood. In fact, the NCP chief had even addressed some meetings with the TRS in Telangana. However, Mr Pawar is not pressing the issue beyond a point, after realising that it could strengthen the demand for a separate Vidarbha State in Maharashtra. The Congress supported the demand for formation of a separate Telangana after suggesting that a second State reorganisation commission be set up. However, the Congress Working Committee remained silent. After supporting the demand, the Congress appears to be in no hurry to either bifurcate AP or ask the Centre to set up a second SRC. Congress president Sonia Gandhi constituted a three-member UPA sub-committee to look into the issue. It is headed by defence minister Pranab Mukherjee and includes Union ministers Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Dayanidhi Maran. “The committee met two-three times, but could not arrive at any decision because of the lack of consensus among political parties on this issue,” authoritative sources conceded on Sunday. If the RJD, NCP and the BSP are supporting the demand, the Left, especially the CPI(M), has been opposing it and the Shiv Sena and the Biju Janata Dal are neutral. The Shiv Sena cannot support it for obvious reasons. The BJP reportedly has not given its views to the Mukherjee committee on this issue in writing, however, publicly it supports the TRS demand. According to the UPA’s national common minimum programme, “The UPA government will consider the demand for the formation of a Telangana state at an appropriate time after due consultations and consensus.” In an apparent bid to mount pressure on the Central government, the TRS is said to be planning to pull out of the UPA on August 22 and launch a sit-in to press its demand for a separate Telangana. TRS chief K. Chandrashekhar Rao, who is holding a series of meetings with party MPs and MLAs for the last two days, favours quitting the Manmohan government on August 22 and launch the sit-in at Jantar Mantar, TRS sources said.

BJP slams YSR on flood relief

Hyderabad, Aug. 20: The State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to mobilise people against the State government’s failure on various fronts, including safeguarding the sanctity of Tirumala. The BJP’s State executive on Sunday condemned the Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy’s indifference towards providing relief in flood-hit areas and controlling preachings by non-Hindu religions in Tirumala. With regard to separate Telangana, the party decided to organise programmes on September 17 to commemorate the liberation of the region from the Nizam rule. The party chose to continue its wait-and-watch policy over Telangana. “Let the Congress and TRS decide over the separate Statehood,” BJP senior leader M. Venkaiah Naidu said, adding that the BJP was ready to support a bill on the formation of a Telangana State. Mr Naidu said Congress and TRS leaders are making a mockery of democracy by leaving the issue of creating Telangana State to discretion of an individual. Former BJP president also took exception to the dual standards adopted by the UPA government on the office of profit issue. On denying the entry to women in Sabarimala temple, he said both men and women should be given equal opportunity to worship, but he was quick to add that an in-depth study was required to comment on certain issues.

AP seeks Rs 3,616 crores as flood aid

Hyderabad, Aug. 20: The State government has put the flood damage at Rs 3,616 crores and sought Centre to release the assistance as early as possible. The government on Sunday submitted a detailed report on flood damage to the visiting Central team, which met Chief Minister Y.S. Raja-sekhar Reddy after touring the flood-hit areas in the past two days. Speaking to mediapersons after the meeting, revenue minister Dharmana Prasada Rao said the government had proposed Rs 1,000 crores for strengthening of flood banks, Rs 588 crores for constructing four lakh houses, Rs 132 crores for urban areas and Rs 227 crores for roads and buildings department. He said the Central team had understood the severity of the damage and assur-ed to provide assistance. Vipin Kumar Saxena, joint secretary of Union home ministry who headed the Central team, said the State witnessed severe floods and damage was very high. “We will reflect the situation in our report which would be ready in another 15 days,” he said. He complimented the State official machinery for its effective handling of the crisis.

No place for children at State fete for kids

Hyderabad, Aug. 20: A programme planned to ho-nour children on the 62nd birth anniversary event of late Rajiv Gandhi turned sour as many invited children and their parents were not allowed to enter the venue, Ravindra Bharati, because of overcrowding. Non-Conventional Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (NEDCAP) had organised competitions in three events — quiz, drawing and essay writing — on renewable sources of energy to mark the occasion. The winners from among 180 schools were supposed to be honoured on Sunday which had been declared as Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Divas. Though the programme was to start at 9.30 am, the participants had been asked to come early, supposedly to avoid inconvenience. Several of them turned up at the venue at 7.30 am. But lack of proper management of the event coupled with the concerns related to the security of the Chief Minister became hurdles in the way of invitees to enter the hall. While the entire hall was brimming with people, hundreds of them were seen waiting outside fuming at the organisers. The frustration of the stranded children and their parents was directed at the organisers as they were left clueless about the show. Some of the parents did not know how to find their children who were inside the auditorium. Veena of Class IX and Vaishali of Class X of the New Paramount School were seen fanning themselves furiously and lamenting at the lack of seating space. Geeta, the mother of a prize winner, said she would discourage her child from participating in any such future competition. “The children are being ill-treated by the organisers. The felicitation has turned into a traumatising event,” she said. Unaware of what was going on outside, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy asked the officials to study the Brazilian model of using bio-fuel as a substitute for petrol. The target of his speech was young students. He wanted them to use their talents in finding alternative sources of energy.

TD asks Rs 1,000 cr as interim relief

Hyderabad, Aug. 20: Telugu Desam, the main Opp-osition party, on Sunday demanded a Central assistance of Rs 1,000 crores as interim relief to take up reh-abilitation works in flood affected areas of the State. A delegation of TD leaders called on the Central team and submitted a memorandum seeking increase in the Central assistance. The State has thus far been promised Rs 400 cror-es under National Calamity Fund and National Contingency Fund. The damage suffered in the State is estimated to be around Rs 5,000 crores. The Telugu Desam demanded that the Centre should immediately release Rs 1,000 crores pending finalisation of the grant to the State. The party has also demanded increase in compensation from Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 for damaged houses and Rs 2,000 for partially damaged houses as also 40 kgs of rice and 10 litres of kerosene. It wanted bravery awards to be given to three persons who had lost their lives while rescuing people stranded in floods. The kin of these victims should be given Rs 5 lakhs as ex gratia. One of their family members should be given government jobs.