Andhranews

Hyderabad, Oct. 8: The State government has decided to amend the drought manual following erratic southwest monsoon this year. The drought rules stipulate that the State should record 50 per cent deficient rainfall by September 30 if it is to be declared drought-hit. Statistics for this season show that as on September 30 the State as a whole had recorded seven per cent deficient rainfall. In other words this means that farmers in the State are not eligible for input subsidy and other benefits extended to agriculturists in drought-hit areas.

However, the ground situation in the State is quite different. There were prolonged dry spells which led to drying up of or damage to standing crops. Moreover rainfall was not uniformly spread over the season from June to September. There were either spells of heavy rains or prolonged dry periods. This had affected crops to a large extent affecting overall productivity.

�We cannot take just rainfall as the criteria for drought. The rainfall figures say everything is well. But because of long gaps between two rainfalls, farmers had to suffer,� agriculture commissioner Poonam Malakondaiah said. �The Chief Minister has agreed to amend the drought manual so that affected farmers could get input subsidy,� she said.

The government will include categories like �drought gaps�, area not sown and reduction in yield as the criteria for declaration of an areas as drought hit. The agriculture department had targeted a production of 205 lakh tonnes of food grains during 2006-2007 agricultural seasons, but if the current scenario is any indication, it may not cross 190 lakh tonnes. Though this figure is 14 lakh tonnes more than that of last year, the department is worried over the shortfall in meeting the target. So far the government has paid Rs 493 crore towards insurance. As much as 7.38 lakh hectares has been hit by drought and 2.18 lakh hectares by heavy rains and floods.

Hyderabad, Oct. 8: The Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad (MCH) rejected NGOs� demand for taking up fogging operations to control the mosquito menace and vector-borne diseases. Speaking at a conference conducted to chalk out strategy for containing epidemics in the State on Sunday, MCH commissioner Sanjay Jaju said indiscriminate fogging may lead to cancer and respiratory problems among people.

However, NGOs led by Parirakshna insisted that fogging had yielded good results in controlling mosquito menace. Entering into an arguem-ent with Mr Jaju, Parirakshna president Dr A.V.Ratnam said most of the Western countries were getting good results with fogging operations. �Fogging is very important to contain dengue in the city,� he said.
Though Mr Jaju was not in favour of fogging, he proposed to involve 32 city-based NGOs in deal ing with dengue.

The conference, which was held in Jubilee Hall in Hyderabad, was attended by finance and health minister K. Rosaiah. Reacting his proposal, Red Cross expressed its willingness to take part in health awareness campaign in Hyderabad, Kris-hna and Adilabad districts.

Principle secretary for health P.K. Agarwal reque-sted all private nursing homes and corporate hospitals to intimate the dengue cases to epidemic cells constituted in all districts.Mr Rosaiah, in his concluding remarks, asked the transport department to paste posters on all vehicles on dengue to spread awareness among people.

Hyderabad, Oct. 8: Finance and health minister K. Rosaiah on Sunday refused to sanction funds to control dengue even as six cases including one death were reported in the State.�We will seek funds from the Central government for tackling dengue at health ministers� conference sche-duled to be held on October 11,� he said.

However, the minister has advised district authorities to divert funds from other departments to contain the dengue epidemics. According to the State government figures, two dengue cases were reported in Hyderabad, one in Srikakulam, West Godavari, Khammam and Anantapur districts.

�Six dengue cases were reported in private hospitals. One more unconfirmed case was suspected in Karminagar,� said Dr P. Ve-nkateswara Rao, the director of health department. The government has set up a control room in Hyderabad and epidemic cells in all districts to contain the spread of the deadly disease in the State.

The government has asked all collectors to head the district task force teams to control mosquito menace and vector borne diseases. Director-general of health services Dr P.K.Srivastava, who came to Hyderabad to assess the dengue situation in the State, has cautioned that the death toll might increase if the State government did not take adequate steps immediately.

Hyderabad, Oct. 8: Andhra Pradesh Congress Co-mmittee Legal Cell and Anti-Corruption Lawyers Forum on Sunday dema-nded a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities that occurred during the tenure of TD government.

They submitted a memorandum to State Congress president K. Keshava Rao asking him to pursue the matter with the State government. PCC legal cell convener N. Krishnakumar Goud said they have detected several irregularities in 26 schemes launched by the TD government. He accused TD leaders of siphoning off hundreds of crores of public money in the guise of developmental programmes.

Hyderabad, Oct. 8: As many as 13 apartments from West Maredpally on Sunday declared themselves as free from child labour. Another 25 apartments of the area have passed resolutions against child labour. This will gradually be extended to other parts of the city.

Laxmi Castle welfare association in West Maredpally passed a resolution three months ago to socially boycott occupants who employ children. The association has decided not to allow the violators to use lift and parking lot and fetch water. �Initially, we have faced a couple of problems. Some occupants refused to part with the child domestic servants. But we made them to fall in line by the way of social ostracise,� said Hariprasad, secretary of Laxmi Castle apartments.

They rescued four children from the apartments. Association president Joseph, who is a teacher, teaches them in the evening. Priyanka Apartments which has 40 families also became free from child labour.The ban on child labour will come into force on Tuesday. The fresh notification prohibits employment of children as domestic servants or servants in dhabas, restaurants, hotels, motels, teashops, resorts, spas and recreational centres.

Activists of M.V. Foundation obtained a letter from former Hyderabad Collector Arvind Kumar asking people to allow the activists to conduct survey. The campaign was started in July after the Centre issued a notification to include employment of children as domestic help in the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act 1986.

Secretary trustee of the M.V. Foundation Shanta Sinha expressed concern over people holding high ranks violating child labour laws. �MPs, MLAs, representatives of local bodies and top officials of government departments, banks and other private organisations should declare that they were not employing children,� she said.

B. Ajay Deputy Commissioner of Labour said as many as 16 teams have been constituted with revenue, police and labour officials, NGO representatives and mediapersons to inspect each house hold in 16 revenue mandals in the city.

Hyderabad, Oct. 8: A gang involved in kidnapping children was arrested by LB Nagar police with the help of locals. One of the two children kidnapped by the gang was traced in Nalgonda. The other child is suspected to be in Warangal. The boys, Shiva Kumar, 4, son of Lacchi Kumar, an LKG student of St Alphonsus Grammar School, and K. Harshavardhan, 5, an UKG student of the same school are both residents of Shivamma Nagar in LB Nagar.

LB Nagar police inspector V. Surender Reddy said, �We booked a case of missing as per the complaint. Our team traced one of the boys Shiva Kumar in Valigonda mandal of Nalgonda district. We are yet to get confirmation on the other boy. One of the accused Jangaiah, an autorickshaw driver, who kidnapped the boys was arrested.

We are questioning another one Vidyasagar for his involvement. We have sent teams to Nalgonda and Warangal. We are yet to find out for what purpose they are kidnapping the boys,� J. Pandu, maternal uncle of K. Harshavardhan said, �I returned from college around 3 pm on Saturday.

When I was in the house Harshvardhan and Shiva went out to play with cycle tyres. In the evening around 5 pm they didn�t return. We searched for him but could not find him. When we enquired we came to know that a week ago a girl was kidnapped at NTR Nagar by one of the gang members.

As he was beaten up by the locals he released the girl. On Sunday, around 9 pm as per the information given by locals we caught suspect Vidyasagar at Huda Colony Jaya Apartments and handed over him to police.� He said that Shiva was traced in Pochampally in Nalgonda and Harshavardhan was believed to be in Janagam of Warangal.

Hyderabad, Oct. 8: Tension prevailed at Jirrah of Asifnagar area as unidentified persons damaged part of a place of worship on Sunday night. As a group gathered at the spot, heavy police forces were deployed to avert any untoward incidents. Police said that the situation is under control and the crowd was pacified. West Zone police are probing into the incident. The entire force in the areas was rushed to spot.

Hyderabad, Oct. 8: Nearly 700 aided schools in the State face the risk of closure if the State government does not fill up the vacant posts of teachers. Even student enrolment in these schools has been coming down every year due to non-availability of teachers. Despite repeated pleas made to the government by the school managements to fill up the vacancies, not a single post has been filled up in the last nine years.

Recruitment of teachers and their salaries is done and released by the government in aided schools though the institutions are run by private managements. As a result, the number of vacancies in aided schools, over the years kept mounting due to retirements and presently the figure stands at more than 6,000 vacancies.

While some manage to run the show with teachers being hired on a contract basis and paying their salaries from its own pocket, as many as 700 schools are financially weak. The government is already spending nearly Rs 450 crore per annum towards the salaries of existing teachers in 3,300 aided schools all over the State.

Filling up of 6,000 vacancies would burden the government with an additional Rs 80 crore expenditure per annum. When contacted, school education director S. Balasubrahmanyam said the government is making every effort to ensure that quality education is offered to the students of aided schools.

�Schools with a strength of less than 10 students in each class will be merged with nearby schools which have similar situation,� he said. He said the State government has also ordered for the conduct of a survey to identify schools which have zero or less than 10 per cent of student enrolment.

Hyderabad, Oct. 8: The Abids police on Sunday launched a hunt for a fake �Indian Foreign Service� officer who duped a trader at Troop Bazaar. The imposter�s associate was arrested by police on Sunday after the traders caught him. The arrested was identified as K. Nageswara Rao, 32, of Gudimalkapur. Nageswara Rao is a postgraduate in business administration and is a tax consultant.

Police said six months ago, the prime accused P.S. Rao, 50, of Masab Tank, a native of Khammam claiming himself to be an IFS officer met Kiran M. Shah, manager of Sai Marketing Company at Reliance Complex in Troop Bazaar. Nageswara Rao accompanied P.S. Rao.

Abids police inspector A. Srinivas Reddy said, �P.S. Rao bought Rs 1 lakh worth electrical goods and gave a cheque to the shop manager Shah. The shop manager took the cheque and delivered the goods to the Masab Tank address. However, the cheque bounced. The second accused Nageswara Rao went to Troop Bazar and he was identified by the Shah who caught.� A cheating case under 420 IPC was booked against them. A team was sent to Khammam district to nab the prime accused P.S. Rao.

Hyderabad, Oct. 8: Three suspected pickpockets escaped from the custody of Asifnagar police on Sunday after digging a hole in the lockup, sources in the West Zone police said.
Asifnagar police picked up three suspects Khaleel, Mustafa and Raju all aged around 20 and were questioning them for their alleged involvement in various offences.

Police sources the youth escaped when the policemen were not paying attention. However, Asifnagar Inspector of police Mohammed Khan denied the escape of the suspects. �We are constructing a wall around the police station. We had asked one of the suspects to jump over the wall to test whether anyone can escape. He jumped over the wall. It is only a trial. No one escaped from the police station. There are no one in the custody.�

Uri, Oct. 8: Victims of the massive earthquake that hit Jammu and Kashmir exactly a year ago staged a protest here on Saturday against the slow pace of the rehabilitation of those affected by the disaster that devastated dozens of frontier villages.

Former chief minister and National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah and several party leaders joined the people in paying tribute to those who died in the quake and staging a protest against the government�s alleged failure to rebuild the township of Uri. Moulvi Mustafa, a local cleric, led the prayers and sought God�s blessings for rebuilding damaged houses and infrastructure.

The people gave vent to their frustration soon after the prayers, shouting slogans against the government and alleging that funds provided by the Centre were misappropriated as many of victims were yet to receive the first instalment of the relief package. Over 300 families had not received the first instalment of relief for rebuilding their homes, the people claimed.

Mr Abdullah said the aid provided by the Centre was enough for accelerating developmental activities. Lauding the Army�s role in rebuilding Charunda village near the Line of Control, Mr Abdullah said the State government had �miserably failed� on every front. �Go around Uri and the villages affected by the quake, and you will see what the government has done for the victims,� he said.

New Delhi, Oct. 8: Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh has expressed concern over the prospect of a fall in the number of fighter squadrons of the Indian Air Force (IAF). Known for his stellar role in the 1965 war with Pakistan, the man, who was conferred the supreme IAF rank of Marshal of the Air Force (equivalent to the rank of Field Marshal in the Army) a few years ago, was speaking to reporters on Sunday on the occasion of IAF Day at the Air Force airbase at Hindon in the Ghaziabad district of UP.

�I am concerned about the fall in number of fighter squadrons of the IAF. We must have the upper hand against Pakistan,� Air Marshal Singh said. This comes in the wake of a letter written by Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi to defence minister Pranab Mukherjee expressing concern over the declining number of IAF fighter squadrons which may result in the loss of the traditional military edge that India has enjoyed over Pakistan.

Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh also stressed the importance of technology for the IAF and said that technology used in fighter aircraft had evolved rapidly from his days in the IAF to the present times. �There is no point in making do with an ancient aircraft. We (the IAF) have to be backed technically,� he said. His words should come as yet another reminder for the defence ministry on the need to ensure adequate number of fighter aircraft for the IAF.

The ministry has yet to float the request for proposal (RFP) for the acquisition of 126 multi-role fighter aircrafts for the IAF. Meanwhile, in the presence of Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi and former chiefs of the IAF, the IAF put up its traditional spectacular display of aerobatics by both its helicopters (Mi-17 and Mi-35) as well as fighter aircraft (Sukhoi-30, MiG-29 and Mirage-2000), leaving the audience spell-bound.

The Air Force, entering its 75th year of existence, is gearing up to acquire Hawk aircraft from Britain along with 80 helicopters, Light Combat Aircraft and 126 multi-role combat aircrafts. It is also strengthening its air defence systems with the induction of the early earning system AWACS and aerostat radars.

New Delhi, Oct. 8: Former US President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn will visit India from October 29 to November 3. On the occasion, volunteers will join Mr Carter in constructing 100 houses in one week in partnership with families in a village near Lonavala, near Mumbai. The houses will be built as part of the Jimmy Carter Work Project (JCWP) in co-llaboration with Habitat for Humanity.

�President and Mrs Carter are Habitat for Humanity�s most notable volunteers and each year they spend one week building Habitat houses in partnership with families in need of a simple, decent place to live,� said an individual responsible for organising the event in India.

Since 1984, the Carters have personally helped to build houses and have to their credit over 2,700 houses worldwide. The Jimmy Carter Work Project will be made possible by individual volunteers, corporate sponsors and homeowners themselves. The houses, which will be dedicated on November 3, will �highlight the strength of the human spirit and the possibilities of accomplishment when people from different walks of life come together for a common goal,� the organiser said.

An estimated 2,000 volunteers from home and abroad will contribute to the construction of the houses. �The homeowner families selected for JCWP 2006 currently live in dwellings that are temporary, dilapidated or otherwise substandard. Poor quality bricks and cement are common. In rural areas shelters often rely on mud, grass, leaves, reeds and bamboo. But this reality will soon change for these grateful families,� according to the Jimmy Carter Work Project.

The JCWP organised an event last year at Detroit and Benton Harbour, Michigan.
JCWP 2007 will be held in Los Angeles during the week of October 28 to November 2, 2007.

ATS: He came only for that purpose

Mumbai, Oct. 8: One of the 11 Pakistanis involved in the July 11 serial train blasts had come here exclusively to offer his expertise for making bombs which were subsequently used to strike terror in suburban locals, investigations by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) have revealed.

The bomb expert assembled the bombs using RDX, ammonium nitrate and quartz-timer in pressure cookers at the residence of accused Mohammed Ali in Shivaji Nagar slum in north east Mumbai, ATS sources said here. Pressure cookers were used strategically in the blasts as they cause high intensity explosions and are compact in size, they further said.

The core of the cookers comprised a lump of RDX placed in the centre surrounded by ammonium nitrate. A detonator comprising a quartz-timer was placed over the explosives to trigger the explosions, sources maintained. Two-to-two-and-a-half kg of RDX, four-to-five kg of ammonium nitrate and a quartz-timer were kept in a five-litre pressure cooker to cause the seven explosions, which killed nearly 200 people and injured over 600, according to Mumbai police commissioner A.N. Roy.

�The compression of all these materials into a pressure cooker gave a high intensity to the explosions,� the sources said. Investigations have also revealed that the mastermind of the blasts, Faisal Sheikh, was an expert in radio sensitive, remote sensitive and light sensitive detonators. In a light sensitive device, the detonator is triggered off due to fluctuations in the intensity of light and the blast occurs in 19 minutes, sources claimed.

New Delhi, Oct. 8: The Border Security Force has decided to open a counter-insurgency school to train security personnel in key areas like jungle warfare and anti-sabotage operations. The Union home ministry has given in-principle approval for setting up the school, where personnel will be trained in commando operations, anti-guerrilla tactics and explosive detection and disposal.

New Delhi, Oct. 8: The CBI has questioned BSP chief Mayawati about some properties allegedly acquired by her as the agency gives the final touches to its report on a disproportionate assets case registered against the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister.
Sleuths of the agency�s anti-corruption unit quizzed Mayawati discreetly at her residence in Lucknow on October 5 and sought clarifications about properties allegedly acquired in her name and in the name of her family members, highly placed official sources said.

The CBI questioned Mayawati despite giving an assurance to the Supreme Court that its probe into the case against Mayawati had been completed. The sources said the questioning was �only to tie up loose ends� before the CBI took next step, which would be either chargesheeting her or filing a closure report.

Panchkula, Oct. 8: Punjabi pop singer Gursewak Mann was on Sunday accused by a girl of having taken her photograph with a mobile phone when she was in the toilet of a hotel here during a party. The girl has filed a complaint with the police, but no FIR had been registered so far, police sources said adding efforts were on for a compromise between the two parties.

A girl from Himachal Pradesh, who was attending a party on Saturday, came out of the toilet and alleged Mann and his friend barged in and took her photograph. She said that after she resisted the duo walked out.

The police later reached the hotel�s pub and recorded the statement of the girl. The girl, Neha Thakur, told Aaj Tak as she was coming out of the toilet she felt she was being photographed and there was flash light. �When I turned around, I saw Gursewak and a friend of his took a photograph�.

�I ran towards them and asked them to delete the photo, but they said they have not taken any photo. I told them to show if there is any photo of mine in camera for my personal satisfaction. I told them if you are not guilty, you should not have any difficulty to show,� she said.

New Delhi, Oct. 8: A group of air-hostesses has approached the Delhi High Court to challenge a move by the airline Indian to suspend them from duty for being overweight.
While the single judge be-nch of Justice J.M. Malik ordered the public sector airline to pay salaries to air-hostesses for the suspension period, Indian has filed an appeal before a division bench comprising Justices Mukul Mudgal and J.P. Singh against the direction. The matter will come up for hearing on October 18.

In a petition filed through their counsel Arvind Kumar Sharma, air-hostess Sheela Joshi and others have accused the airline of deliberately resorting to such tactics to get rid of air-hostesses aged 45 years and above. Accusing the airline Indian of indulging in such tactics to get rid of air-hostesses who have crossed 40-45 years, the petition argued that body weight cannot be the yardstick for judging an air-hostess� competence.

According to the petition, the airline had in June 1990 issued a circular in which it asked air-hostesses who are overweight by 10 kg above the prescribed weight to shed the same by one kg every month, but there was no threat of their being grounded. Subsequent circulars were issued fixing the maximum permissible overweight at five kg and later to three kg.

The immediate provocation for the petition was a circular issued by Indian�s executive director for in-flight services wherein it was stated that effective from June 15, 2006 the grace allowance of three kg overweight permitted for air-hostesses stood withdrawn. Mr Sharma has not only challenged the circular, but sought to assail the very rationale of the airline suspending the air-hostess from duty for being overweight. Competence cannot be judged on the mere weight of a person, he said.

However, the air-hostess-es who were unable to lose weight were suspended fr-om duties and denied their salaries. About 40 such air-hostesses have been suspended for being overweight over the years and reinstated only after they had reduced their weight. Mr Sharma told the court that grounding the air-hostesses for being overweight was illegal, arbitrary and irrational as no statutory rules have been framed in this regard, either by the airline or the government.