Andhranews

Anantapur, Oct. 8: The State government has launched an undeclared war to prevent the spread of chikungunyam, dengue and other viral fevers in the State, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy said. �The government will establish special committees under the supervision of district collectors to take effective measures to control the spread of viral fevers,� the Chief Minister said.

Speaking to reporters here on Sunday, Dr Rajasekhar Reddy said that officials belonging to panchayat raj, medical and health and municipal administration departments would be members in the committees. �Strict orders were issued to officials to control pollution to prevent the spread of diseases,� he said.

He said that services of village committees would be utilised for distribution of pensions released under Indiramma scheme. �Steps will be taken to distribute pensions directly to the beneficiaries at their homes,� Dr Rajasekhar Reddy said.

Similarly, a coordination committee with retired IPS officer Gopal Rao, and two senior IAS officers as members has been formed so as to involve voluntary organisations to speed up the construction of houses under Indiramma programme.

The Chief Minister said that a technical committee has been set up to implement the change in cropping pattern so as to protect crops in Tungabhadra upper canal ayacut regions.� Decisions would be taken as per the report submitted by the committee, he said.

Dr Rajasekhar Reddy said that an action plan is being drawn to improve educational standards in government hostels.� Vidya volunteers would be appointed in hostels to provide tuition and look after the well-being of the hostel inmates, he said. This system is being implemented in Chittoor district and would be taken up in all the districts soon, he said.

The Chief Minister said that the government is collecting details of all the tanks in the State and reviewing the steps taken to develop them so as to prevent irregularities in taking up repairs to the same tank twice.

From next year, the government would provide pre-metric scholarships to 100 per cent BC students, Dr Rajasekhar Reddy said.� He said that performance of collectors would be ascertained based on the implementation of the irrigation schemes, Indiramma and rural employment guarantee programmes.

He said that the Karnataka government agreed for modernisation and expansion of HLC canal located on borders of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The canal modernisation works would be completed in next two years, Dr Rajasekhar Reddy said.

Anantapur, Oct. 8: The State government is committed to the development of education in the State, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy said.� Addressing the programme organised to celebrate the silver jubilee celebrations of Sri Krishnadevaraya University here on Sunday, the Chief Minister said that credit goes to the Congress government for bringing engineering and medical education within the reach of students. He said the government would set up medical colleges in three backwards districts of Adilabad, Srikakulam and Prakasam districts which do not have medical colleges.

�The government is providing scholarships to students of backward and weaker sections. Efforts are on to provide scholarships to 100 per cent BC students in near future,� the Chief Minister said.� Dr Rajasekhar Reddy said that is a good sign that the university established in the name of great ruler Krishnadevaraya completed 25 years of its existence and is excelling in academic field. University vice-chancellor Rama Rao presided over the meeting.

Ministers N. Raghuveera Reddy, Gollapalli Surya Rao, Pinnamaneni Venkateswara Rao, collector Dasari Kadmial and others were present.� Earlier, the Chief Minister arrived in an helicopter at a special helipad arranged at the SKU campus at 10.40 am nearly three hours behind schedule due to cloudy weather. Ministers, district collector, MPs and legislators welcomed him.

Meanwhile, Congress leaders entered into arguments with the police when they prevented some Congress corporators from entering into the helipad premises. Police said that leaders who have passes only would be allowed.� Legislator Sailajanath intervened and took the corporator Palamalli inside.

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Anantapur, Oct. 8: Student activists of Sri Krishnadevaraya University on Sunday obstructed Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy�s speech demanding him to waive tuition fee for those in drought-hit areas and action aga-inst professors for their allegedly irregularities.

The Chief Minister was addressing a meeting organised as part of university�s silver jubilee celebrations when students belonging to Telugu Nadu Student Federation, All-India Student Federation raised slogans against the government.

Responding to their demands, Dr Reddy assured the students of releasing required scholarships. �I have special affection towards students. If they have any problem, they can bring the matter to my notice and I will solve them,� Dr Reddy said. However, with the students refusing to relent, police took the protestors out of the meeting hall.

Later, the Chief Minister found fault with students taking to streets over the problems, which could be solved very easily. �I have no objection over students being affiliated political parties. However, there is no need for them to take to streets to solve the problems,� he said adding that students politics are not good for society.

Ongole, Oct 8: Several thousands of farmers under the Nagarjunsagar (NSP) ayacut area in Prakasam district, are badly hit due to the slow flow and minimal irrigation water being supplied from the NSP canal. Farmers in the district allege that their counterparts in Guntur district are violating the accord by using excessive waters.

Guntur district is located in the upland area and so farmers in that district have access to more water. Prakasam farmers are unhappy with the apathy of peoples� representatives and district officials, who are not responding to their plight. Earlier, whenever the problem arose, peoples� representatives and officials from this district used to meet Guntur district officials to resolve the problem. But, this is not happening now.

Though farmers, under the aegis of the CPI(M) and Telugu Desam (TD), have been agitating for the past few days for more quantity of Sagar waters, there is no response from either officials or elected representatives. NSP canal was designed to supply water to 8.8 lakh acres in Guntur and Prakasam districts. Till eight years ago, farmers of the two districts used to get sufficient water.

Irrigation officials from Lingamgunta region of Guntur used to monitor the supply of water for both districts. However, during the TD rule, leaders bifurcated the powers of irrigation officials between Guntur and Prakasam districts. The superintending engineer (SE), irrigation, of Prakasam district has been entrusted with powers to monitor the supply of Sagar waters in the district.

Irrigation officials of Prakasam district have no powers to check the excessive usage of irrigation water by farmers in Guntur district. Prakasam farmers allege that irrigation officials in Guntur district are not preventing farmers from pilferage of Sagar waters.

As per the agreement, Prakasam farmers should get 5,240 cusecs of water in this season. However, during the past 10 days, the figure has not exceeded 3,732 cusecs.� Earlier, irrigation officials in Lingamguntla monitored the supply of water to both districts. But for the past few years, injustice has been done to Prakasam farmers, who are getting only 30 per cent of their share.

Farmers under the NSP ayacut in the district are demanding that MLAs and district officials speak to Guntur officials to get 46 per cent of water as per the accord. Every year, the district is losing about 15 per cent of its share due to the pilferage of farmers in Guntur district, farmers said.

Nellore, Oct. 8: CPI(M) State secretary B.V. Raghavulu termed the district review meetings proposed by Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy as �diversion bata� and assrted that it was a move to divert the attention of people from major scams like of the outer ring road(ORR).

Speaking to� reporters at the CPI(M) office here on Sunday, he questioned the rationale behind a review meeting in the district without the participation of people and Opposition parties. He demanded a probe into irregularities in the ORR issue by a sitting judge. Referring to the Chief Minister�s statement on a CBI probe, he alleged that the Chief Minister only wrote a letter to the Centre, and no concrete action was taken on probe.

Mr Raghavulu suggested that the government offer the APIIC share in the sale of lands to farmers whose lands were being acquired for industrial development and other purposes. �Land scams were used to be resroted to by anti-social elements before, but now the government itself is committing them,� Mr Raghavulu quipped.

He criticised the Chief Minister for keeping quiet on 350 irregularities related to the ring road even after CPI(M) submitted documentary evidence. Mr Raghavulu expressed concern over the plight of 10,000 people, including retired employees and middle class families who are losing small pieces of their land for the outer ring road in Hyderabad.

He took strong objection to the proposed changes in the Assignment of Lands Act. He said that the move was to take lands back from beneficiaries on some pretext or the other and sell them for higher rates.�

Pointing to special economic zones proposed at various parts of the State, he demanded a comprehensive uniform package for the displaced, adding that the land should be utilised only for industrial purposes. He advised that SEZs be set up at backward areas with an upper limit of 1,000 acres each.

Kakinada, Oct 8: The development of infrastructure facilities in government schools has been given top priority in East Godavari.
While the construction of school buildings was taken up by Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA), a wing in the education department, provision of other amenities like drinking water and toilet facilities was entrusted to the rural water supply department under the panchayat raj administration.

Top prioritry is being given to schools which are exclusively for girls in providing these facilities.� As part of the programme, the SSA has taken up construction of 1,160 school buildings in all 60 mandals including urban areas at a cost of Rs 29.50 crores in the present financial year of 2006-07.

The necessity for providing infrastructure facilities was in the agenda of the education department for quite sometime, but paucity of funds delayed the process. Things started moving after the SSA came into existence in 2000. In the first phase of programme from 2001 to 2006, 2,450 school buildings, additional classrooms, extension of existing facilities was taken up at a cost of Rs 33 crores.

The constructions were taken up in primary, secondary and high schools in both urban and rural areas. In order to provide permanent buildings in all government schools, including zilla parishad and mandal parishad schools, in addition to schools in municipal areas, the second phase programme was taken up in the present financial year.

Under this, five mandal resource centres were taken up at a cost of Rs 30 lakhs. In addition to this, 25 school complexes were built at a cost of Rs 50 lakhs.� The construction of 30 new primary school buildings with Rs 1.20 crores is under progress. In addition to this, the construction of 600 additional classrooms was taken up at a cost of Rs 15 crores.

The construction of 500 additional classrooms was taken up with a budget of Rs 12.50 crores in upper primary and high schools in the district. This facility is being extended to schools in Indiramma villages and towns in the district.

SSA additional project co-ordinator D.N. Murty said that the process of providing permanent buildings to all the government schools will be completed by March 2007.� No school will be left without its own building by next year, he added.

Guntur, Oct. 8: The Archeological Survey of India (ASI) is exploring the hidden Buddhist sites and renovating them to make tourist�friendly. As part of the programme, it is working on Gummadi Durru site, 15 km from Nandigama in Krishna district. Disclosing this to this correspondent, superintending archeologist of the ASI, Hyderabad circle, Dr Jitendar Das said the Buddhist stupa of Gummadi Durru is on a hill.

According to him, the site was first discovered during the excavations made by the East India Company. �Though it was enlisted as one among the prominent Buddhist sites with stupas, it has been unapproachable till date. At present, the thick forest strip on the hill has been cut,� Dr Das said.

The site is being spruced up, he added. Dr Das said an approach road will be laid soon. Moreover, the forest department was asked to plant saplings. A garden with a lounge will be developed in� collaboration with the forest department. Besides, sign boards will be installed explaining the historical importance of the site soon, he said.

Drinking water and seating facilities, toilets, a cloak room, a counter for antiques and a parking lot have also been planned at the site. While bringing out the� antiquity of the stupa, they would also make it a tourist site. A special budget has been allocated for the project, Dr Das said.

�This effort of enhancing its tourist potential is to make the public understand the historical significance and make them volunteer for preserving the cultural heritage,� he added.� Assistant superintending archeologist D. Kannababu, K. Veeranjaneyulu and K.V.V.N. Murthy were also present in the team.

Central aid to benefit farmers

Warangal, Oct. 8: The recent special package announced by the Centre for the State turned out to be a boon for the district, which is getting a major share of funds. The medium and minor irrigation sectors are getting an allocation of around Rs 6,000 crores and the district is bound to benefit mostly as the Sriram Sagar Project (SRSP) Stage-II and SRSP Flood Flow Canal are getting the lion�s share of budgetary allocation from it. This was disclosed by major irrigation minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah at a media conference at his residence here on Sunday.

Mr Lakshmaiah stated that the State got Rs 9,360 crores out of Rs 16,978 crores special package announced for the entire country.� Among the total 31 districts selected for the special package, 16 were from the State, he said. The minister explained that a total of Rs 100 crores were allocated for the district towards the waiver of interest on farm loans, while Rs 200 crores were allocated towards the minor irrigation and watershed projects in the district.

�The district and its farmers are going to be the best beneficiaries of the special package announced by the Centre,� Mr Lakshmaiah said. He stated that the medium and minor irrigation sectors from the district would get the boost from the package and watershed sector would witness unprecedented development under the package.

Besides this, the Centre had sanctioned Rs 113 crores to ensure the development of 100 extremist-affected villages in the district. The grant was given under the Interior Areas Development Fund scheme. As part of the scheme, the villages would get the roads, drinking water facilities, interior connectivity, tribal development with special emphasis on creating self-employment opportunities for the unemployed youth to wean them away from the extremists.

Mr Lakshmaiah explained that the district would continue to get the funds for the next three years under the IRDF scheme. City MLA Baswaraju Saraiah, mayor E. Swarna, senior leaders Banda Prakash, zilla grandhalaya samstha chairman Naini Rajender Reddy and others were present.

Warangal, Oct. 8: �Did you give dowry to your husband when you got married?� �Did you ever take bribe?� �What would you do if one of your relatives is an extremist and indulge in anti-national activities?� � these were some of the questions that some girls posed to the district superintendent of police (SP) Soumya Mishra here on Sunday.

The girls quizzed the SP at an interactive session organised during a talk on �Youth and self-confidence� at Hasanparthy.� Ms Mishra patiently answered all the queries of the girls and urged them to fight against social evils like dowry, eve-teasing and corruption.

Earlier, addressing the meeting in which around 300 girls took part, the SP exhorted the girls to �react on the spot� to fight the eve-teasers. �Fight them on the spot and raise an alarm and inform the police. One should be courageous and fight against the harassment,� the SP said.

The SP said that one should aim high and work sincerely to realise one�s goals. �Poverty, rural backwardness, being girls and no other obstacle is too big to overcome. What actually requires is will power to excel in life,� Ms Mishra added.

Citing her own example, she explained that she too was a housewife when she was preparing for the civil services examination and the family responsibilities did not hinder her from realising her IPS goal.
�You should not feel disheartened that you were not staying in big cities and do not have access to coaching facilities. One should strive hard with dedication and commitment to realise one�s goal in life,� Ms Mishra said.

Khammam, Oct. 8: The State government has been using the services of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for creating awareness among villages facing submersion under the Indirasagar (Polavaram) project on the need to shift to other places.

The NGOs which have been implementing various schemes in the Agency area with funds from the government and international agencies are convening meetings with the locals whose villages� will be submerged and are persuading them to shift. The government has planned to rehabilitate the people of 100 villages in the first phase out of 207 habitations that are going to be submerged under the project.

The 100 villages are prone to floods every year and the villageers have been facing huge crop loss.� According to sources, the government succeeded in convincing the people in 40 villages, including Vinjaram, Rudramkota, Kuigurru, Tondipaka, Velierpad, Koida and VR Puram in Bhadrachalam division so far with the help of the NGOs. The people of these villages have urged the government to pay compensation first and speed up the construction of the new colonies.

The people of Tondipaka panchayat under Kukkunur mandal passed a resolution in favour of the project six months ago.� Village sarpanch M. Rami Reddy said that they were waiting for the compensation to be paid for their lands. K. Sankara Rao, organiser of an NGO, said that they were extending help to the officials in approaching the locals there.

He said that the people of the villages which face regular floods are not hesitating to shift from their habitations.� With this assistance from the NGOs, the government officials are easily entering the villages and interacting with the locals on Polavaram project.

Vijayawada, Oct. 8: The agreement reached between the CPI and the Congress last year on sharing the post of mayor on rotation basis has become a major cause for worry for the people of Vijayawada.
While Tadi Sakuntala of the CPI has completed one year�s term as the mayor, it is now the turn of the Congress candidate M.V. Ratna Bindu to take over for the next two years.

After her, Mallika Begum of the Congress would be the first citizen of the city for the last two years.� The citizens from various walks of life have expressed their displeasure in changing three mayors in just five years as it would disturb the development works.

Former mayor Jandhyala Sankar said, �The post of mayor is highly respected and today�s politicians are making a mockery of it. It is not good to resort to this type of political tactics to appease particular sections of society and ultimately no concrete development would take place. The mayor should have considerable time to study the conditions of the city to work for the welfare of citizens. In this process, officials are being made powerful and citizens are confused as to whom they should address their problems.�

Ms Sakuntala too confessed that her tenure came to an end even before she could take up something concrete. With Vijayawada being sanctioned funds under Ja-waharlal Nehru Urban Ren-ewal Mission, the citizens are afraid that the works may lag behind due to the widening gap between the officials and the new mayors.

�Ms Sakuntala could not achieve success since she was mayor for one year only. Changing mayors is not good for the city at all,� said president of Vijayawada Chamber of Commerce Gaddam Subba Rao while speaking to this correspondent.

Khammam, Oct. 8: Union minister of State for commerce Jairam Ramesh on Sunday said that he had advised to the State government to appoint an independent commission for relief and rehabilitation package to the victims of Polavaram project.

Speaking to reporters at Bhadrachalam, Mr Ramesh said an independent commission on the lines of Human Rights Commission is required to protect the interests of the project evacuees and will help the government by advising it on the rehabilitation package.

He asked the State government to complete the Dummugudem lift irrigation project and provide land to the victims of the Polavaram project under it. The minister said that the mood of the people of affected villages has changed after the recent floods and that they are considering to relocate their villages.

Observing that cotton farmers are not getting good income by exporting raw materials, Mr Ramesh said that the State government has decided to build a micro spinning park at Punukula village under Paloncha mandal with the cost of Rs 40 lakh. He said that the farmers would get more income by exporting processed cotton to the foreign countries.

Mr Ramesh said that the Central government has sanctioned Rs 13 crores under the Giri Pragathi programme to be implemented in eight mandals in Warangal, Adilabad and Khammam. The minister said that the funds would be spent through women organisations to increase economic activities among the tribals.

Interacting with the tribals, he said the Central government will take all necessary steps to improve economic status of tribal communities. The minister has inaugurated marketing godowns at V.R. Puram, Chintoor and Kunavaram each cost of Rs 10 lakh, which was released from member of parliament local area development.

Visakhapatnam, Oct. 8: Minister for co-operation and transport Kanna Lakshminarayana said the State government was making serious efforts for the turnaround of the APSRTC and expressed confidence that there would not be any strike by the unions as all the issues would be settled by negotiation.

Speaking at the �meet-the-press� here on Sunday, the minister said the State government was committed to strengthen the RTC. �The earlier Telugu Desam government never bothered to reimburse the concessions to the RTC which amounted to Rs 370 crores per year.

But the moment Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy became the Chief Minister, he reimbursed Rs 370 crores and provided another Rs 500 crores to the RTC,� the minister added. He appealed to the unions to reconsider their demands and desist from going ahead with strike. �Unions are asking for 18 per cent increment. But the Chief Minister is ready for 5 per cent. We are confident of positive response from unions,� said Mr Lakshminarayana.

Explaining the efforts by the government to help the corporation, the minister stated that the Cabinet had decided to issue a GO to constitute a separate enforcement wing comprising 50 motor vehicle inspectors to curb illegal operations by private carriers and also to increase the occupancy ratio in RTC buses.

Mr Lakshminaryana termed the act of privatising some routes in the State as the one taken by the previous government in the year 2002.
On allotment of RTC lands to private people for constructing business establishments and multiplexes on lease, the minister justified the move by saying that only unused lands were being given for development on Built-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis. The government took this decision, in order to strengthen the corporation�s finances, the minister added.

Visakhapatnam, Oct. 8: District collector A.K. Singhal asked the officials concerned to create awareness among the general public about the Abolition of Child Labour Act and its implications, which would come into force from October 10 all over the country.

Speaking at a special meeting held on Saturday evening with the officials belonging to departments of labour, social welfare, education and others, the collector urged them to make best use of every medium to create awareness on the Act.

�Posters about the Act and its details should be pasted to all the buildings, shops, cinema halls in all the important junctions in the city. SMSs should also be sent to cellphones. Each and every person should know about the essence of the Act and consequences of violating it,� the collector said.

Mr Singhal said the new Act prohibits the employment of children below the age of 14 years at any work place. He noted that children below this age group are employed in hotels, shops, households, bars and restaurants.

The collector directed the officials to identify such children in all these places and hand over them to the nearby social welfare hostels or child welfare hostels in the district and also ordered the labour department personnel to conduct surprise raids at these places and book the employers.

�Persons convicted under this Act will undergo six months of imprisonment and pay a fine of Rs 10,000 to 20,000. The children traced during the raids would be first sent to various government hostels and later to schools,� said Mr Singhal. He told the mandal level officers, teachers, mandal education officers and staff of Panchayatra to conduct special programmes to create awareness about the Act in rural areas.

�The managements of the government hostels should try to develop interest among the children towards education,� added the collector. Joint collector Sandip Kumar Sultania and others took part.