Andhranews

Kurnool, Sept. 2: The medicos of Kurnool medical college obstructed the arrest of three senior students who ragged their juniors here on Saturday. As a result, tension prevailed at the medical college campus. The medicos took to violence demanding the lifting of suspension on the students. They attacked the principal chambers and destroyed furniture there. The medicos also gheraoed the principal Dr M.S.R.K. Prasad for about an hour.

The agitating students raised slogans against the principal and demanded that the suspension on the three students be lifted immediately and warned the police not to resort to arrests. The principal and students entered into a verbal duel and the situation was brou-ght under control with the intervention of the police.

Kurnool DSP Ammireddy, CIs Rajasekhar Reddy, P.N. Babu, Venkatanarayana and SIs Ravikumar and Pulla Reddy reached the college to arrest N. Srinivasulu, Muralikrishna Reddy and Sandeep Kumar Red-dy, who allegedly ragged Karthik, Pramod, and Siddhaiah of first year medicine course.

As the situation was going out of hand, the principal convinced the police and asked them to go back without arresting the accused. As the principal cooperated with the students from avoiding the arrest of medicos, the agitators apologized to him and assured the principal that they would bear the loss due to the ransacking of the furniture.

Chittoor, Sept. 2: District collector S.S. Rawath advised the revenue officials not to leave any room for doubts among the farming community over the land acquisition drive at Varadayyapalem and Sathyavedu mandals. The district administration is planning to acquire 7,000 acres for the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in these two mandals.

In this backdrop, the collector was addressing revenue, forest and other concerned officials at Ambedkar Bhavan here on Saturday to gear up for the drive. Reminding that any apprehension over the drive would lead to complications, the collector told the officials to clear all the doubts raised by the farmers.

He said that 49 survey teams have been formed to conduct survey between September 4 and 8 in nine revenue villages. According to the collector, he allotted 32 teams for survey at six villages in Sathyavedu mandal and 17 teams for survey in three villages located in Varadayyapalem mandal. He said that every team is headed by a district-level official and 18 district officials would monitor the operation.

The teams should verify and record the land holding of each farmer, details of buildings in the land, pattadar passbooks and type of crops being taken up in the land, the collector noted. He told them to seek the details of those cultivating the land as well as the original pattadar.

The officials were asked to complete patta lands survey and then proceed to DKT lands survey. Mr Rawath said that the government is committed to establish a mega industrial park in Chittoor district to ensure employment to the unemployed youth and to develop the district in a big way.

He assured suitable compensation to all those who are loosing their land. “There is no need for any apprehension on this issue,” he asserted. Joint collector G. Rajendra Prasad, Madanapalle sub collector Babu, RDOs Venkatasubbaiah and A. Babaiah were present apart from members of the 49 teams drafted for the survey duty.

Pulivendula, Sept. 2: Arrangements were completed for the establishment of uranium project in Pulivendula of Kadapa district. As a last step, the government had decided to conduct a public hearing on September 10 in the uranium-affected villages to complete the legal formalities.

This hearing would be the last step for the project clearance.
The Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) had already started all the groundwork for the setting up of the project at a cost of Rs 1,029.57 crores on an extent of 879 hectares in Vemula mandal. The State and Central governments have already given their nod for the excavation of uranium reserves at M. Tummalapalli hill region.

A factory would also be set up there to refine the raw uranium reserves. Union minister for mines and geology Saifuddin Soz gave a written reply to the Lok Sabha during the monsoon session about the sanctioning of the project in AP.

However, he mentioned that the clearance from forest and environment ministries is a must for the setting up of the project. In this backdrop, the government is holding a public hearing in Pulivendula constituency and will forward the opinions to the Centre.

The UCIL had made arrangements to record the details of the hearing in the form of a documentary as per the suggestions made by the Kadapa MP Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy. However, it is alleged that the hearing is being done for namesake. The State government is committed to set up the project at Pulivendula at any cost.

Rajahmundry, Sept. 2: The State government has decided to waive the interest on farm loans to the tune of Rs 7 crores for the benefit of the farmers who suffered crop loss during the recent floods in East Godavari district.

Disclosing this to newmen here on Saturday, minister for roads and buildings Jakkampudi Ramamohan Rao said that in order to help the farmers recoup from the loss, the government was waiving the interest on farm loans. He also said that the insurance cover of Rs 70 crores to the farmers who suffered crop loss during the kharif last year would be credited to their individual accounts.

The minister said that as the farmers were facing hardships to restart their agricultural activities, the release of insurance cover and the waiver of interest on farm loans will be of immense help to them. He said that East Godavari stood in the third place after Srikakulam and Vizianagaram in terms of loss due to floods in the State.

The minister said that Chief Minister Y.S. Rajas-ekhar Reddy will visit Rajahmundry on September 11 to take part in various programmes. His itinerary includes a visit to Iskcon temple, unveiling of bronze statue of social reformer Kandukuri Veeresalingam Panthulu, inauguration of Cheneta bazar and Vambay houses, taking part in centenary celebrations of Hithakarini Samajam and meeting the newly elected ZPTC and MPTC members, sarp-anches and others. The Chief Minister will also inaugurate a protected drin-king water scheme taken up at a cost of Rs 20 crores on Bommuru hillock.

Guntur, Sept. 2: The State government will establish urban police districts if the formation of commissionerates was not possible, said home minister K. Jana Reddy. Speaking to mediapersons on Saturday, Mr Jana Reddy said the government proposed the creation of police commissionerates in the cities.

However, they were not being created because of some technical problems. In such places, the government would set up urban police districts, he said. The home minister said that the government has received proposals for creation of police commissionerates at Guntur, Rajahmundry, Tirupati, Warangal and Kurnool.

As the commissionerates were not possible, he said that the government was considering the proposal of the creation of urban police districts in these cities. He said that they have asked the police to provide feasibility reports for the creation of the urban police districts in these cities. The urban districts would be formed once the reports are received from the department, he said.

Replying to a question on the encounters, the home minister said that they were part of the department’s duty in curbing the Naxal violence. However, he said that the government does not have any intention to eliminate the top leaders of the Naxal movement.

Adilabad, Sept. 2: For the first time in the State, services of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and mandal samakyas would be utilised to create an awareness on viral fevers and chikungunya among tribals under the aegis of the Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), Utnoor.
Thirteen ambulances given to mandal samakyas by Union minister of State for commerce Jairam Ramesh under the Giri Pragati scheme and also by the State government would be used for the purpose.

The ITDA, Utnoor prepared an action plan to control viral fevers and chikungunya in tribal areas in the district. The plan will be implemented in 20 mandals including five agency mandals under the Tribal Project Management Unit (TPMU) scheme as part of Indira Kranthi Patham programme.

Speaking to this correspondent ITDA, Utnoor, project officer Saurabh Gaur said that they had asked officials of the medical department to conduct medical camps in village affected by viral fevers and chikungunya.

He said that mega medical camps would be organised at weekly shandies and also on week-end days in agency mandals of Jainoor, Indravelli, Sirpur(U), Utnoor and other villages Meanwhile, the district medical and health department brought out special audio cassettes comprising songs in Gondi, Lambada and Marathi languages to educate tribals on viral fevers and chikungunya.

District medical and health officer Vignana Chary said the tribals would easily understand the message as the songs were in their mother tongues. Mr A.Y. Khan, mass media officer of the district medical and health department, said 200 audio cassettes were distributed to primary health centres to use them in medical camps and also during the campaigns in villages. The cassettes were also distributed to leaders of Gondi, Lambada and Marathi associations for use, he added.

Warangal, Sept. 2: The Ambedkar Circle Ganesh pandal is continuing the tradition of installing one of the best Ganesh idols in the city there and celebrating the Navratri fete on a grand scale for the last 25 years. ABVP leader Sama Jagan Mohan Reddy, who was killed by the Naxalites for opposing the dishonour to the national flag at the Kakatiya University in early 90s, started organising the celebrations.

He was killed on the same spot while he was returning from the court after giving the evidence in the case related to the dishonour to the national tri-colour. Ever since, Jagan Mohan Reddy’s death by the Naxals, his friends took the initiative to organise the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations in order to perpetuate his memory.

“It has become a sentimental reunion for our friends on every Ganesh immersion day. Friends who are now settled in Pune, Hyderabad, Mumbai and other places also make it a point to come and perform the homam during the celebrations,” said Mr Gurunath Reddy, who is now coordinating the celebrations.

Khammam, Sept. 2: The district administration has issued notices to residents of flood-affected villages near Godavari for acquiring their lands. Earlier, the State government had issued a notification saying that land was being acquired for ‘public purpose’.

However, farmers and other residents had expre-ssed doubts as to whether the government was trying to acquire lands for the Polavaram project in the guise of ‘public purpose’. It is learnt that some of the officials who visited the villages admitted to residents that the land acquirement was linked to the Polavaram project.

The officials faced incessant queries from worried farmers at Rudramkota village under Velierpad mandal and Vinjaram under Kukkunoor mandal. They wanted Paloncha re-venue divisional officer (RDO) C. Vinay Mohan to disclose the amount of compensation they would be paid and wh-en it would reach them.

“Since the notices are in English, we are unable to make out what they say,” said Mr D. Bhaskar, a resident of Rudramkota. Interestingly, the people of Rudramkota were not totally against the move to acq-uire their lands and were on-ly insistent on proper compensation. They asked the RDO to provide them alternate houses at sites with all basic facilities such as drin-king water, power and roads.

The officials told the villagers that they would be paid 75 per cent of the compensation immediately and the rest later. But villagers wanted the government to pay the amount in one go. “Some of us do want to stay on till the waters flood our lands,” said Mr A. Raja Rao, a farmer from Rudra-mkota.

Mr Vinay Mohan assured the villagers that the government was committed to implement the whole package and that the proposals made by the villagers would be placed before higher officials. He assured that notices would be issued in Telugu language henceforth. Meanwhile, the people of affected villages in other mandals are keen on the rehabilitation package.

Khammam, Sept. 2: Authorities of Sri Sithramachandra Swamy temple in Bhadrachalam have proposed to install iris cameras, metal detectors and alarm system as part of providing additional security to the temple.
The meeting of the Bhdrachalam Temple Trust had decided to step up security to the temple with the assistance of modern equipment.

Trust chairman I. Venka-teswara Reddy told this correspondent that the security measures are being stepped up in all the important temples in the country and the temple trust has also planned to provide foolproof security cover to the temple.

Mr Reddy said that the iris cameras will be set up at important places in the temple and metal detectors at the main entrance. He said a cloak room and three additional wooden doors will be arranged in the temple. The timings for darshan will be extended and the price of the laddu will be brought down for the benefit of the devotees.

Visakhapatnam, Sept. 2: Eight-year-old Addala Sainath of Visakhapatnam is in the mould of Budhia Singh of Orissa. He ran 65 km non-stop from S. Kota to Swarnabharathi Indoor Stadium and set a record of sorts on Saturday. A fourth standard student of Cambridge School in S. Kota, Sainath left S. Kota at 5.45 am and reached the stadium at 1 pm.

District Olympic Association president and former MLA P.V.G.R Naidu, AU Sports Board official M. Shyam Babu, AP Volleyball Association president S. Kodandaramaiah, district sport development officer K.V. Sankara Rao and several other sports personalities received him at the stadium. Naidu presented him a cheque for Rs 5,000.

The run was packed with suspense as Sainath disappeared at Kottavalasa at 8.20 am after covering a distance of 22 kilometres. The organisers suspected the run might have been stopped by women’s organisation who earlier had threatened against the run. The suspense ended when Sainath reached NAD Kotha Road at 12 noon. Sainath’s father is a private medical practitioner.

Visakhapatnam, Sept. 2: Chief of Naval Staff designate and Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command (ENC) Vice-Admiral Sureesh Mehta said that his brief stay in the city was most satisfactory.
Talking to reporters here on Saturday, the Vice-Admiral spoke of city development and the important role being played by the Indian Navy in the Eastern Coast.

Recollecting his experiences with the city, he said that working with smaller cities like Visakhapatnam gave him pleasure. “Programmes like President’s Fleet Review, held for the first time in the city, have given me immense satisfaction as more than five lakh people participated,” Vice-Admiral Mehta said.

He said the country was observing ‘Look East’ policy and the Navy was playing a proactive role in policing the sea, creating a defence against the enemy countries by increasing its capabilities and maintaining diplomatic relations with neighbours.

Having a good interface with neighbouring countries, the ENC was coordinating with Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, Bangladesh and Malaysia to control drug trafficking, piracy and promoting benign duties during peacetime such as relief and rescue operations during natural calamities, he said.

Answering questions on Gangavaram port coming close to the naval base, Vice-Admiral Mehta said that the privatisation was the order of the day and the new organisations were being asked to take measures so that the nation’s security was not threatened.

Regarding development of the city, more so in the coastal area, Mr Mehta said he was opposing violation of Coastal Zone Regulation Act. “The Act has been created to protect the environment and hence it should not be violated. The recent inundation of low lying areas in the city was due to unplanned development,” Vice-Admiral Mehta said.

To keep a tab on power supply

Visakhapatnam, Sept. 2: The Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (EPDCL) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Swayam Sahayaka Sanghala Samkshemam to facilitate speedy registration of complaints on power breakdown in rural areas through village organisation of zilla samakhya and ensure prompt restoration of power supply.

The MoU envisages to enhance power supply in the rural areas by centralised monitoring process and grassroot participation. EPDCL superintending engineer V. Samba Murty and zilla samakhya president K. Indira, joint secretary K. Nagamani and treasurer K. Sanyasamma signed the MoU in the presence of district collector A.K. Singhal and chairman and managing director of EPDCL Praveen Prakash here on Saturday.

The village organisation will lodge a complaint on power failure with the electricity call centre at Visakhapatnam by dialling 155333. The call centre registers the complaint and renders complaint registration number to the village organisations. The complaints are then forwarded to concerned section officers through SMS from the call centre. The section officials restore the supply and report to the call centre. The village organisation report to the call centre and the complaints are closed.

The MoU facilitates the involvement of village organisations to directly interact with the ECC at Visakhapatnam for prompt registration, processing and rectification of power supply complaints. In the process, every area power supply failure other than the scheduled power cuts in the rural areas as applicable could be registered. “This is a unique and novel facility which would benefit the rural population,” the collector said.
DRDA project director K. Kanna Babu, director, operations, EPDCL and others were present.