Andhranews

State plans to tackle drought


Anantapur, Sept. 30: The State government chalked out a strategy to check the drought conditions in over 16 districts in the State, said minister for agriculture N. Raghuveera Reddy. Talking to newsmen here on Saturday, he said that the Centre had already announced a special package with Rs 9,650 crores for these 16 drought-hit districts in the State. In addition, the State government had decided to implement another long-term plan with Rs 82,000 crores, Mr Reddy added.

These funds would be allocated in addition to the regular budget allocations every year, the minister said. He said that these funds would be spent in the next three years in 16 districts, where there were a number of farmers’ suicides. Of the allocation, a majority percentage of funds would be provided in the form of loans to farmers through banks, Mr Reddy said.

The scheme would be implemented equally to those farmers who possess lands and also to those who did not have land. Moreover the scheme continues even if there was no drought situation in those districts, he added. The scheme was mainly designed to prevent the farmers from going to private money lenders and the funds would be utilised to benefit the farmers on a large scale, the minister said.

At a separate programme, Mr Raghuveera Reddy explained the distribution of Rs 9,650 crores funds sanctioned by the Centre under various heads. Of the total funds, Rs 1,436 crores are being spent for the rebate in interest, Rs 640 crores are for drip and sprinklers utilisation, Rs 960 crores for the development of groundwater development and watersheds, Rs 479 crores for cent per cent seed exchange, Rs 3,233 crores for major irrigation, Rs 2,231 crores for minor irrigation, Rs 325 crores are being spent for medium irrigation system, he said.

The respective collectors were directed to send reports on drought situation immediately to identify the drought-hit districts and they have already received reports from 10 collectors and the remaining are awaited. Besides the drought-hit mandals, the government had decided to identify dro-ught-affected villages, so that the drought relief package could be implemented from grass roots level.

He explained that there were some loopholes in the guidelines for identifying the drought and the government is planning to undertake a study and plug them. Especially, the guidelines with regard to rainfall are hampering the farmers. Though unseasonal rainfall takes place it is being taken into account, even though it is of no use to the farmers.The government is now planning to amend those guidelines to benefit the farmers, he added.




TG water reaches Sagileru project


Porumamilla, Sept. 30: Water from the Telugu Ga-nga project finally reached the Sagileru project on Friday evening, fulfilling the long-pending dreams of the people of the region. It may be mentioned here that All-India Congress Co-mmittee president Sonia Gandhi had released water from the Brahmamsagar project, constructed as part of the Telugu Ganga scheme. The Telugu Ganga water after traversing several kilometers reached the Lower Sagileru project on Friday.

The people of the region are eagerly awaiting the Krishna waters to reach them for the past two decades. The Left parties and several leaders of the region took up many agitations for the diversion of Krishna waters to Rayalaseema, which was perennially hit by drought.

In 1978, the then MLA Sivaramakrishna Rao appealed to the then major irrigation minister Baga Reddy to divert Krishna waters to Badwel taluq. But the minister dismissed the appeal saying that there was no such chance. However, the late NT Rama Rao gave the boon to the people of the region.

It was during his regime the Brahmamsagar project took shape. A canal was also laid from Pothireddypadu head regulator to Brahmamsagar. But the project was shelved during Chandrababu Naidu regime. As a result, the water that was supposed to reach the region in 1995 failed to take its course.

After NT Rama Rao, it was Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, who chalked out the Jala Yagnam scheme and granted funds for the Telugu Ganga project. Once the funds were released, the canal works were hastened and with the dedication of the project to the nation by Mrs Gandhi, the water started flowing towards Sagileru project, through Bokkeneru rivulet.

If the irrigation officials release water from the left canal of Sagileru project, it would irrigate over 10,000 acres in B Koduru and Badwel mandals as 34 tanks in the region would get adequate water.






Venkaiah ridicules package


Nellore, Sept. 30: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national leader M. Venkaiah Naidu ridiculed the Central package announced for Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala. Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, he said, “The package is too late and too little.” It is only a token package and the figures are too big and the relief is too small, Mr Venkaiah said.

Mr Venkaiah Naidu alleged that the package is part of the Budget proposal while asserting that Rs 12,303 crores of the total Rs 16,978 crores pertains to the ongoing schemes, Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) and Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP).

Referring to the Centre’s claim on interest waiver to the tune of Rs 1,400 crores to the farmers of the AP, he reminded that the fund-starved State government had to bear 50 per cent of the waiver that comes to Rs 700 crored.

“How can the State bear the requisite amount?” Mr Venkaiah Naidu said. He said that rescheduling of loans left cooperative banks and farmers high and dry while referring to Rs 1,662 crores worth of loans rescheduled during 2004 due to severe drought.

He said that waiver of principal is better than rescheduling while referring to former prime minister V.P. Singh decision to waive loans up to Rs 10,000 during his tenure. He said that Karnataka is not happy with the package. Mr Venkaiah Naidu alleg-ed that farmers are in dire straits due to lack of godown facilities, minimum support price for farm produces, power cuts and debts.

“The Centre should go for realistic and massive package it is really interested in addressing the farmers woes,” he said. He criticised the Central government for taking two-and-a-half years to announce a package. “It is not a national package but a notional package,” he quipped and demanded timely and cheap credit and wavier of interest in all the banks, including cooperative banks.

He suggested for an integrated crop insurance sch-eme and sanction of fresh loans to the farmers besides supply of quality seed. Reacting to a question on alliance with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in Karimnagar by-election, he said that the BJP State unit is in favour of contest and the high command will take the final decision.
He criticised Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad for seeking mercy to Mohd Afzal in Parliament attack case. He said that a terrorist should be treated as terrorist without giving credence to his religion.




Pregnant woman knocked down by train


Ongole, Sept. 30: A 23-year-old physically-challenged woman, who was in an advanced stage of pregnancy died when Tamil Nadu Express bound for New Delhi hit her while she was crossing the railway track at Ongole railway station during the wee hours of Saturday.

The victim, Mamatha was heading to her hometown, Kanigiri in Prakasam district, alo-ng with her mother for delivery from Bhimav-aram in West Godavari district. Her mother decided to cross the track since it was difficult for Mamatha to climb the over-bridge.
The train hit her before the mother who was on the platform tried to pull her daughter on to the platform.

Mamatha was killed on the spot and the nine-month foetus came out of her stomach due to the impact and fell hundred feet away from her. The foetus also died after a while.






Survivors of attack speak out


Mamidikuduru, Sept. 30: Three women, who survived a terrorist attack while on a pilgrimage to Karbala in Iraq, condemned the violence being perpetrated by the terrorists. It may be mentioned that three Indians and 11 Pakistanis were killed by the terrorists near Karbala on September 2.

Jafer Mashiddi hailing from Mogalikuduru village was one of the Indians who was killed. Mashiddi’s wife Masuma Khathun, mother-in-law Abedunnisa and his sister Taherunnisa returned home on Saturday. Recalling their bitter experience, the women told newsmen that they started their pilgrimage on August 19 and reached Syria on August 30.

They said that they started their journey by a bus to Karbala via Syria and Jordan. When their bus reached Amman, it broke down. They stayed for the night in a masjid. They resumed their journey the next day. When the bus was on its way to Karbala, the driver stopped the bus and went to a hotel.

Meanwhile, four unidentified men broke the window panes of the bus and threatened that they would take them away. However, they ran away after some time. When they resumed their journey and were nearing Karbala, four masked men stopped their vehicle and asked the men to get down and the women were asked to continue their journey.

The women said that after reaching Karbala, they were informed by the clergy that their men were killed. They alleged that the terrorists in the guise of jihadis were killing innocent people and bringing disrepute to Islam.




Health units flout HC norm


Rajahmundry, Sept. 30: Flouting the Andhra Prad-esh High Court directions on safe disposal of bio-medical waste (BMW), several health centres are disposing of the waste in a very dangerous manner by dumping them in open dustbins.

This is exposing the sanitation workers and rag-pickers to health hazards in East and West Godavari districts. Reliable sources maintain that the Pollution Control Board (PCB) authorities have given authorisation to the health institutions which applied for licence as well authorisation subject to a condition. The condition is that the health institutions should hand over the bio-medical waste to the common waste treatment plant promptly.

As the health institutions have got authorisation from the PCB to generate the bio-medical waste, some of them started ignoring the condition that they should hand over the waste to the common treatment plant. They are disposing the bio-medical waste like blood-soaked cotton, used syringes and other medical waste in a very casual manner.

East Godavari Pollution Control Board environmental engineer R. Lakshmi Narayana said, “Out of 440 health institutions, with an exception of 100, all the others got registered with the PCB to comply with BMW norms. We are asking the remaining health centres to get registered with the PCB immediately.”

Similarly, West Godavari PCB environmental engineer Osman Ali Khan said, “Of the identified 412 health centres, with an exception of few ones, there are no major defaulters in the district.” But the crux of the issue is that as these institutions have got authorisation on a condition that they should hand over waste to the common treatment plant, only a few of them were complying with it while a majority were ignoring it.

In East Godavari district, a Common Bio-Medical Waste Treatment plant was set up by EVB Technologies at Kanavaram village near Rajanagaram. To treat the waste it fixed a tariff of Rs 2 per bed a day as a concessional package to Rajahmundry alone while its general tariff varies between Rs 2.50 and Rs 3.

The common facility near Rajanagaram has to handle waste from both the Goda-vari districts as it is yet to become operational in West Godavari. EVB Technologies managing director Bhupaiah Choudhary said, “The PCB should have insisted on a tie-up with the common treatment facility by the health institutions at the first instance.”






Civic notice to Saap director


Warangal, Sept. 30: Municipal commissioner Smita Sabharwal issued notice to local Congress leader and Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (Saap) director Rajanala Srihari for violating the Warangal Municipal Corporation (WMC) rules.

The notice was issued as Mr Srihari got the Chief Minister’s Cup sports meet posters pasted on almost all the walls of the government offices in the city which were recently whitewashed. Posters were also pasted on private establishments. Ms Sabharwal also directed the corporation staff to remove all the posters.

The WMC, which took up the Clean and Green City project, had issued orders not to deface any public wall with writings or pasting of posters and warned of stringent action against the erring. Several organisations which defaced the walls by writing on them and by pasting posters complied with the orders of the WMC and whitewashed the walls.

“There are clear rules not to deface the public walls. We have issued notices to all those who violated the rules. I want all the concerned to respect the rules of the civic body and ensure that this city turns out to be a clean and green one,” the commissioner said.

However, Mr Srihari refused to accept the notices issued by the corporation and staged a protest against the removal of posters. Justifying his action in ordering pasting of posters all over the city, he said: “I am surprised at the WMC’s action in removing the CM Cup sports meet posters. It is an official programme and in order to create awareness among the public about the event, the posters were pasted.”

The Saap director pointed out whereas the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad was extending all possible support for the CM Cup sports meet, the WMC was removing the posters. Ever since she assumed charge, Ms Sabharwal has worked for the beautification of the city. Among other initiatives taken by her were road-widening at Kazipet junction and Venkatrama Crossroads, clearing the encroachments on public drains and beautifying the city under the Fund Your City programme.

Even her predecessor Neetu Prasad was responsible for giving a facelift to the city. She erected central lighting on all the main roads, completed the long-pending road-widening at Kumarpally, Reddy Colo-ny, constructed a bus bay at Enugulagadda and brought discipline among the corporation staff.




Congress plans YSR’s visit to reap benefits in by-election


Karimnagar, Sept. 30: In a bid to gain advantage in the ensuing by-election to the Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat, the Congress campaign managers have planned Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy’s visit to the town in the second week of October.

Dr Rajasekhar Reddy is likely to lay the foundation stone for the Mid Manair Reservoir and review the progress of the ongoing irrigation project works in the district during his forthcoming visit. The campaign managers have scheduled the Chief Minister’s visit to the district to virtually kick off the party’s pre-election campaign to counter the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), the Telugu Desam (TD) and the BJP.

The District Review Committee meet has also been convened on October 5 to hasten the process of implementation of various development schemes. The State Congress leadership has reportedly decided to organise frequent tours by the MLAs, MPs and the ministers besides the corporation chairmen throughout the constituency in October to popularise the development works being taken up by the government in the region in general and the Karimnagar constituency in particular.

The party has already drawn up a plan to appoint at least two MLAs of the region as in-charges for each mandal in the constituency and entrust the task of coordinating the campaign to the MPs in the major towns in the constituency.

Speaking to this newspaper, government whip and Manthani MLA D. Sridhar Babu said that the government has accorded top priority to the speedy execution of the irrigation projects including the Sripadasagar Project to rejuvenate the agriculture sector and uphold the cause of farmers.

“We would highlight the true commitment of the Congress for Telangana and expose the anti-development stand of the opposition parties and their misinformation campaign against the government,” he said.






Vacant land tax opposed


Vijayawada, Sept. 30: The Tax Payers Association has criticised the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) for imposing vacant land tax and insisting the land owners to pay the tax with arrears. Association secretary M.V. Anjaneyulu on Saturday said that the VMC had served notices to the owners of the vacant lands asking them to pay the tax with arrears from the year 2000.

Moreover, Mr Anjaneyulu said that the VMC was insisting that the owners pay the tax on the basis of the land registration value of 0.5 per cent along with six years arrears. The registration value for the lands in the city was Rs 7,000 a square yard and that way the total tax that the land owner would have to pay with six years arrears would be around Rs 42,000.

Mr Anjaneyulu pointed out that this amount would be a heavy burden on the land owners. The association leader said that the land owners who wish to construct houses on these vacant lands would be forced to pay the tax with arrears, besides the developmental charges and fees which would be on the higher side.

“The common man would have to sell the land rather than construct a home if the tax is imposed on him,” he said. The association secretary asked the municipal officials to calculate the tax for the vacant lands based on the rental value in the area which is also being considered for imposing property taxes in the zonal system.

The association secretary asked the State government to intervene in the issue and reduce the vacant land tax to help the land owners pay the tax and not look for ways to evade it.




Paddy centres from today


Vijayawada, Sept. 30: The State government will formally launch the kharif marketing season (KMS) on October 1. Though active procurement of paddy is likely to begin a couple of weeks later, the process will start on Sunday, a day before Vijayadasami, giving the much needed relief to the farmers.

According to sources, the Central government has communicated to the States to start the KMS process with the minimum support price of Rs 580 a quintal. The States of Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttaranchal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan too would start the KMS the same day along with Andhra Pradesh.

The central ministry of food processing industries, through the department of food and public distribution has directed the States to start the KMS for the current season with a procurement target of 270 lakh tonnes against the 279 lakh tonnes procured during the last season. The officials from the department of agriculture, department of marketing and the Food Corporation of India (FCI) have started the procedure of establishing procurement centres.

The officials from Krishna district would soon launch a campaign on the minimum support price announced by the Central government and would also publish the lists of procurement centres to be set up in the district. The eastern part of the district, with Machilipatnam and Gudivada revenue divisions would have more procurement centres as they produce a major portion of the district’s total output.

The procurement centres would be set up near the fields reducing the transportation cost of the farmers. The officials from the revenue, agriculture, marketing and the FCI would identify the procurement centres taking into consideration the volume of paddy produced in the area.

The State would get around 1,000 procurement centres of which the coastal districts would have a major share. The FCI and the department of food and public distribution would establish over 10,000 procurement centres across the country with the major centres going for Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, while over 600 centres each would come up in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal and Maharashtra.






Citizens to intensify fight for water


Plan to hold a series of protests

Visakhapatnam, Sept. 30: The ongoing tussle between the residents of around 40 apartments in the city and the Greater Visakha Municipal Corporation (GVMC) over the disconnection of water supply from September 26 due to non-payment of pending bills took a new turn on Saturday with the residents deciding to intensify their stir.

The residents have threatened to launch a series of agitations if the authorities failed to resume water supply for Dasara which falls on October 2. They plan to hoist black flags on their apartments, hold a ballot on the corporation’s move, organise a round-table with all the political parties and take out a rally in which all the family members living in the the affected apartments will take part.

Disclosing this, secretary of the Visakhapatnam Apartment Residents Welfare Association (Varwa) A. Suresh said that they would also appeal all the apartment dwellers in the State to support their cause. On the other hand, GVMC commissioner N. Srikanth insisted that the apartments clear the outstanding bills for getting water connections restored.

Taking the corporation officials to task, Mr Suresh said: “A rich person staying in a bungalow pays around Rs 100 to 150 as water charges under domestic category but each apartment having a single tap connection is charged between Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,400 per month.”

The dispute arose with the non-payment of the pending bills, which the residents say comes to Rs 1,200 to 1,400 per flat per month.
Mr Suresh said that when a few of them approached the GVMC they were informed that the water bills were sent under the semi-bulk category as per the resolution passed at the council meeting.

The apartments, group houses and commercial establishments come under the semi-bulk category. An amount of Rs 10 per kilolitre is collected between 1-10 kilolitres, Rs 15 between 11-25, Rs 20 between 26-100, Rs 25 above 100 kls. And the kilolitres are counted through a water meter fixed.

“The authorities must keep the bills in abeyance till a new council is elected. Meanwhile, we are ready to pay nominal charges,” Mr Suresh said. Pusapati Kumar, a member of Varwa, alleged that neither district collector A.K. Singhal who is also the special officer of the GVMC nor commissioner Srikanth showed any interest in resolving the issue.

Mr Srikanth said that water charges which are being collected by GVMC are the lowest in the country and they were being collected since the year 2001. “Why are they (apartment owners) raising this issue now. Why didn’t they question when these charges were introduced in 2001? The recent bills we issued to some apartments were pending for more than four years. They did not pay the pending bills and we withdrew the water supply. Let them pay the bills and we will resume the supply,” he said.

When asked about the disparities in the water charges of independent houses and apartments, the commissioner said that he would look into the issue. Some residents are using the groundwater after filtering it for drinking purposes and some are relying on private water tankers.




35 villages affected by floods


Srikakulam, Sept. 30: Fresh floods to Vamsadhara and Nagavali rivers due to heavy rains in Orissa destroyed crops in about 5,000 acres in eight mandals Kotthuru, Hiramandalam, Bhamini, Jalumuru, Palakonda, Burja, Veeraghattam and LNPeta in the district on Saturday.

At least 35 villages were also marooned due to the floods. Crops in vast areas were inundated at some places as the flood banks were breached by the gushing waters of the two rivers. The flood discharge at Gotta barrage on Vamsadhara river came down to about 95,000 cusecs from 1.06 lakhs cusecs on Saturday afternoon and the discharge is expected to reduce further.

However, Nagavali is continuing to be in spate. Discharge at the district headquarters is persistent at 81,000 cusecs. The river water entered some low-lying areas of the district headquarters. Meanwhile, traffic on Burja-Palakonda road came to a halt as more than knee-deep water flowed on to the road due to breaches to the major canal at Allena village near the mandal headquarters of Burja.
Several villages in Kotthuru, Veeraghattam, Palakonda, Bhamini and Jalumuru were badly affected due to the floods.

District collector V.N. Vishnu and other district officials visited Gotta barrage and reviewed the situation. Mr Vishnu instructed the mandal revenue officers concerned to take necessary measures to prevent any eventuality.