Andhranews

Kadapa, Oct. 5: The kharif season was severely affected due to drought. The officials had already forwarded proposals to the State government to declare the entire district as drought-hit. There was not even a drop of rain right from the beginning of kharif season and the farmers fail to raise crops.

While the normal rainfall was 69 mm in the district during June, only 54.4 mm rainfall occurred this year. In July it was 44 mm out of 97 mm, 59.4 mm rainfall out of 114 mm in August this year. Though there was 121 mm rainfall as against the 114 mm normal rainfall in September this year, that rain was limited to only 21 mandals. Almost eight mandals did not witness even a drop of rain during this month.

When the condition of some lands under KC Canal ayacut were able to survive the onslaught of the drought, the condition of all the other mandals was in deep crisis. The agriculture department had estimated the extent of crop loss and sent proposals to the State government to declare the entire district as drought affected.

A mere 43 per cent of land remained cultivable and in other areas all the lands had a barren look. Keeping the rain in view that occurred in June, some farmers raised groundnut crop in Rayachoti, Lakkireddipalle, Kamalapuram and Jammalamadugu regions and the crop withered away in the absence of adequate rainfall later. The farmers suffered loss in crores of rupees.

The State government has taken up distribution of seeds on subsidy for alternative crops with a view to the drought situation prevailing in the region and that yield from these crops was also in a quandary as there were no rains till date.

The groundnut crop, which was a prominent crop in these parts of the State, the extent of land where the crop is being raised was also declined considerably. The normal extent of the crop was 1,40,585 hectares but the farmers were able to raise groundnut crop in 45,392 hectares only. It may be recalled that the crop was raised in 1,82,200 hectares last year.

Ongole, Oct. 4: Soft drinks, which are being sold in the district, contain bacteria that cause vomiting, diarrhea, gastric and digestive problems to consumers. Tests recently conducted by the State Food Laboratory, Nacharam, near Hyderabad, has proved this. The reports say that branded soft drinks contained yeast mould bacteria which cause health problems to consumers.

The district food department collected 18 samples of branded soft drinks in Martur, Darsi, Podili, Ongole, Kandukur and Ulavapadu and sent them to the State Food Laboratory, on instructions given by the Director of Medical and Health. District officials received the results of nine samples. These prove that the samples contain yeast mould bacteria that causes health hazards like vomiting, diarrhoea, digestive and gastric problems.

Speaking to this correspondent, district food inspector Viswanadha Reddy said that the department would take permission from the director, Institute of Preventive Medicine, Hyderabad to file cases on offenders for selling soft drinks containing bacteria.

He said that the cases would be filed in the local courts against retail traders and nominees of companies which sold the drinks. Mr Reddy disclosed that some soft drinks contained chemicals, which were not added in the labels of the bottle.

A senior doctor of the government hospital, Ongole revealed that the bacteria would definitely harm consumers. He said that the soft drinks were generally stored in airtight bottles and hence few chances of bacteria entering the bottles. He opined that use of contaminated water for manufacturing soft drinks could be the reason for the presence of bacteria .

Karimnagar, Oct. 5: Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president K. Keshava Rao predicted that Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao will be relegated to third position in the ensuing by-election to the Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat. Mr Keshava Rao participated in a series of meetings organised by the party district unit in Karimnagar on Thursday as part of a pre-poll exercise.

Addressing the party workers meet in the evening, he exuded confidence that the party would register a landslide victory in the ensuing bypoll. Better the TRS leaders realise that Telangana will not come by shedding blood and abusing others, he said and charged Mr Chandrasekhar Rao with leaving the people of his constituency to their fate during natural calamities in the last two-and-a-half years.

Taking a dig at the BJP, he alleged that the party deceived the people with ‘One Vote and Two States’ slogan in the past. It has no moral right to seek vote on Telangana plank, he remarked. “Telugu De-sam(TD) leader T. Devender Goud was trying to politicise the issues like Pothireddypadu project with narrow political de-signs. He had not uttered a single word on the issues concerning Telangana in the past,” the PCC chief alleged. Mr Keshava Rao lamented that Mr Chandrasekhar Rao unleashed a misinformation campaign against the Congress.

Nizamabad, Oct. 5: Life returned to normal in Nizamabad and Bodhan, where communal tension prevailed. Around 500 police personnel were deployed in the two towns to prevent any untoward incident. Superintendent of police (SP) Mahesh Chandra Laddha told this correspondent that 40 persons were arrested for the violence in Nizamabad, Bodhan, Kotgiri and Varni areas.

On Thursday, Nizamabad range deputy inspector general (DIG) Anjani Kumar, the SP, district collector Srinivas Srinaresh, mayor D. Sanjay, district revenue officer Sriram Reddy toured Nizamabad. Similarly, State BJP president N. Indrasena Reddy visited Nizamabad and Bodhan areas along with senior leaders Baddam Linga Reddy and Yendla Lakshminarayana and consoled the victims. District Telugu Desam president Pocharam Srinivas Reddy also visited Nizamabad and Bodhan.

Guntur, Oct. 5: The chilli trade in the Guntur market yard has crossed Rs 10 crores a day but the farmers are not benefiting from this. Agriculture Market Yard secretary M. Sivaramaiah told this correspondent that there was an unprecedented rise in the price of chilli and one quintal was purchased at Rs 7,900 on Wednesday. But, the irony is that the seller and the purchaser both belong to the trading community and farmers are still at the receiving end.
The chilli crop, which has been kept in cold storages for about three months, has now been taken out and is being sold on yard platforms at record rates.

In all 24 lakh tikkies were stored in nearly 60 cold storages in and around Guntur. Yard officials said that traders had purchased chilli from farmers and had stored them in cold storages using fake names. This also enabled them to get loans under the Rythu Bandhu scheme.

During 2005-06, chilli was cultivated in 60,000 hectares and with the climate turning favourable, the yield touched 45 quintals per hectare. The price was also good, comparatively. Consequently, nearly 80 per cent of the farmers, most of them debt-ridden, sold off the crop without waiting for the prices to go up further.

Interestingly, Markfed, which is meant to bring bu-oyancy in the market, also ended up helping the trading community.After pro-curing the stocks from the farmers, traders strategically controlled the price for last three months. "They are earning a profit of Rs 3,000 per quintal," said a yard off-icial. "The spate of ordersfrom Bangladesh, Burma and Sri Lanka also led to the rise in prices," he added.

Khammam, Oct. 5: The people of Kuigurru village under Chintoor mandal who agreed to shift their habitation under Polavaram project package are expressing concern over the delay in the construction of the new colony for them and payment of compensation to their lands.

The locals of Kuigurru accepted to shift from their village in the presence of revenue divisional officer C.H. Badarinarayana six months ago. An agreement was made between the locals and the officials in the presense of a non-governmental organisation on the payment of compensation for their lands. The officials agreed to pay Rs 1.5 lakh as compensation on each acre of dry and wet lands.

Kuigurru village elder Karam Ramaiah said that they asked the officials to pay the compensation as early as possible and build the new colony. But, the government did not pay the compensation so far and had not started theconstruction of the colony, he said and added that the locals were unhappy over the attitude of the officials on the issue. Kuigurru on the banks of Sabari river used to get submerge every year during the monsoon.

Mantri Surya Rao, a local farmer, said that they have been insisting for the past 10 years that the government shift their habitation and save them from regular floods. He said that they have been losing crops every year and incurring heavy losses.
The case of Kaller village is different from that of Kuigurru. The people of the village urged the government not to build the Polavaram Project. Village sarpanch Narakonda Soma-mma is organising agitations against the project. Somamma said that they would not allow the officials to enter in their village.

But the government is completing the new colony for the village on a war-footing. Sub-collector Yog-ita Rana is monitoring the work of the colony daily. When asked about not taking up any new colony at Kuigurru though the people accepted to shift their habitation, Chintoor mandal revenue officer P. Nage-swara Rao said that he was not aware about it and that he was looking after the new colony at Kaller.

Visakhapatnam, Oct. 5: Minister for lift irrigation M. Mareppa said that around 55 lift irrigation schemes would be grounded at a cost of Rs 200 crores in the State by June 2007. Around 65,000 acres of ayacut would be benefited due to the proposed schemes, the minister said.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, he said that out of these schemes 13 would come up in three districts of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam in north coastal Andhra at a cost of Rs 23.11 crores to provide irrigation water to 9,600 acres.

Mr Mareppa said that the government had taken up around 154 new schemes at a cost of Rs 626 crores in two years after the Congress came to power in the State. The schemes would provide irrigation water to 2,19,263 acres. “Apart from this, the government proposed 313 more lift irrigation schemes at a cost Rs 900 crores. Our government is committed for the welfare of farmers. We paid around Rs 19 crores to APTransco for leased power lines for uninterrupted power supply to 240 LI schemes,” he added.

He pointed out that 45 per cent of the proposed schemes are planned in Telangana region. The minister ruled out rumours of downsizing the AP State Irrigation Development Corporation Ltd (APIDC) and reminded that it was the Telugu Desam (TD) government which introduced VRS in APSIDC. “When I assumed charge as the lift irrigation minister I was surprised to see that there is no sufficient staff in APSIDC. The government issued GO 139 to strengthen the APSIDC,” Mr Mareppa said.

Visakhapatnam, Oct. 5: Water tariff charged by the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation is the highest in the country, followed by Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Kolkata and New Delhi, according to the city committee of CPI(M). All these cities were charging domestic rates while Visakhapatnam was charging under semi-bulk category, it said.

General-secretary of the city unit K. Lokanadham said commissioner N. Srikanth was misleading the public, stating the rates were cheaper compared to cities like Hyderabad and Vijayawada.

Mr Lokanadham said the Vijayawada Corporation was charging Rs 8.25 per kilo litre and there was no slab or telescopic system followed. Each flat in an apartment complex is charged flat rates of only Rs 50 per month. Hyderabad Corporation charges Rs 6 per kilo litre, Kolkata Rs 5 and New Delhi Rs 2.