Andhranews

Aap ki khatir

Cast: Akshaye Khanna, Priyanka Chopra, Amisha Patel, Dino Morea, Suniel Shetty
Director: Dharmesh Darshan
Rating:**

So far, Dharmesh Darshan had been ripping off old Hindi films, at least he knew where he was coming from. But when it comes to lifting an inane Hollywood rom-com almost frame by frame, he gets lost in scene one — when the character played by Priyanka Chopra has these ‘life-altering’ thoughts while brushing her teeth.

Anu (Chopra) is supposed to be a rich girl from London, nursing her broken heart in Mumbai, but she looks like a bird-brained flake dressed in candy floss colours. Aman (Akshaye Khanna) is an accountant, doubling up as professional escort, who accompanies Anu to her sister’s wedding in London, so that she can make her former boyfriend Danny (Dino Morea) jealous.

Which is such a juvenile ambition anyway — it’s not hard to see why Danny dumped this immature gal. She is the kind of idiot who takes a fake boyfriend with her to a family function, gets drunk, falls all over him, and in the tradition of a long line of Hindi film heroines before her, is worried that “something” happened when they spent the night together.

Her sister Shirani (Amisha Patel) is to marry a Gujarati (Sunil Shetty) from New York, and in the three-day period leading up to the wedding, some dreary humour involving the army of relatives is packed in. There’s this skeleton about to tumble out too, but from the glum face of the bride-to-be, anyone can guess what, or who, is the unpleasant secret.

As can be expected, Aman is a charmer, he can dance as well as he can play chess and hold his drink — so Anu’s parents (Anupam Kher and Lillete Dubey overacting) approve of him. And of course the “Dilwala from Lokhandwala” as he describes himself, gets the girl. But what’s with the Lokhandwala jibes? Who but a few Mumbai suburbanites would get the joke?

Most characters are underdeveloped and remain that way, for instance, why does Aman work as an escort? Why did Danny dump Anu “at the altar” and why does she want the cad back? Why did Shirani hook up with the same creep and then with his best friend? Akshaye Khanna is not the best comic actor around, but has a easy, pleasant, presence, that makes up for the shrieky hysterics of the leading ladies. Himesh Reshammiya’s music is alright, but at least two songs come at a time when the pace of the film had already flagged to yawning point. Comedy is evidently not Dharmesh Darshan’s forte, maybe this genre is best left to the other DD.

World trade center

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Michael Peña, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Maria Bello, Brad William Henke, Patti D'Arbanville, Donna Murphy, William Mapother, Michael Shannon, Stephen Dorff
Director: Oliver Stone
rating:*

How will Hollywood respond? This question began to surface not long after the Sept. 11 attacks. It was impossible to banish the thought, even in the midst of that day’s horror and confusion, that the attacks themselves represented a movie scenario made grotesquely literal.

And now, as the fifth anniversary approaches, it is. Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center, rather than digging for meanings and metaphors, represents a return to the literal.
Ms. Berloff’s script is composed in the key of strong, simple feeling, and brought to life with vivid clarity by Seamus McGarvey’s cinematography. World Trade Center is, from the first frame to last, almost unbearably moving. It could hardly be otherwise, given the facts of the story and the memories it will stir up.

The movie concentrates on two Port Authority police officers, John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno, who were trapped deep in the rubble of the collapsed towers, where they had gone to help with the evacuation after the first plane hit. Starting before dawn on Sept. 11 and covering roughly the next 24 hours, the narrative switches back and forth from the men to their families, in particular the wives, who spend agonized hours waiting for news of their husbands’ fates.

Sergeant McLoughlin, played by Nicolas Cage, has a quiet, watchful air. A veteran of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, he rushes into the breach on 9/11 knowing that no adequate plan exists to deal with a catastrophe of this magnitude. Jimeno (Michael Peña), a rookie, is eager and a little anxious; his face registers his desire to prove himself on the job and also distinct shadings of fear — both worry that he’ll mess up and, as the hours go by, a much deeper terror.

Pinned under tons of smashed masonry, they keep talking to each other to keep despair at bay, and you get the sense that it’s their first real conversation, an exchange of commonplaces in the face of death.

Sandwich – double trouble

Cast: Govinda, Raveena Tandon, Mahima Chaudhary
Director: Anees Bazmee
Rating:*

There was a time when the Govinda-David Dhawan combo had captured the comedy market. Even now, on a good day, very few actors can beat Govinda at comedy. But Anees Bazmee’s Sandwich was clearly not made during those good days. Long in the making, full of continuity glitches and looking somewhat incomplete, it’s a miracle that Sandwich got released, though it hasn’t a chance in hell of making a dent at the box-office.

Just how long it took to reach the screen is evident from the changing appearance of the stars, and the fact that both Shammi Kapoor and Raveena Tandon have retired from films.
The character played by Govinda, is forced to marry two women (Mahima Chaudhary-Raveena Tandon). With some clever time management he keeps the secret from both of them, till his lookalike sons by the two wives meet in school, and catch on that they have the same father. But when it’s time for the wives to find out, another Govinda arrives to claim the richer wife as his own. Now when the bigamous husband screams and shouts that the other man is an imposter, nobody believes him.

If anyone has the patience to stay till the end, they will know what happened and how — it’s not as if the film has you dying of curiosity. But what is really puzzling is why Govinda speaks in a parody of Dharmendra’s voice!

Beyoncé Knowles and Jay-Z are reportedly set to marry in a lavish $3 million ceremony in late November. The wedding will allegedly take place on the Caribbean island of Anguilla. A source is quoted on website MSNBC as saying, “Beyoncé has been telling friends it will be ‘the wedding to end all weddings.’ She feels like she’s living a fairy tale so why shouldn’t her wedding be equally magical?”

One tenth of the massive cost will be spent on $300,000 worth of Beluga caviar alone. Beyoncé, who went on a liquid-only diet for her latest film role, also plans to feast on lobster. The bride and groom and their guests will only drink Dom Perignon champagne, as rapper Jay-Z has boycotted Cristal because of remarks made against the hip-hop community by the company’s managing director Federic Rouzard.

Oprah Winfrey and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan are said to be among the stars on the guest list. However, it is rumoured that Beyoncé’s father and manager, Matthew Knowles, has not given his blessing to the wedding. He allegedly does not approve of his daughter’s relationship with the rap mogul and does not think it is good for her image. (Bang Showbiz)

Lindsay Lohan has been blasted by actor William H. Macy for turning up late for work. The actor, who co-stars with the 20-year-old in upcoming movie Bobby, says her lax attitude is disrespectful. He fumed, “You can’t show up late. I think what an actor has to realise is that when you show up an hour late, 150 people have been scrambling to cover for you. There is not an apology big enough in the world to have to make 150 people scramble. It’s nothing but disrespect.”

Lindsay was recently branded “irresponsible and unprofessional” by James G. Robinson, the CEO of Morgan Creek Productions, after she didn’t turn up for work on her new movie Georgia Rule. However, 56-year-old Macy, who is married to Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman, says Lindsay is not the only star who takes liberties on set. He revealed, “A lot of actors show up late as if they’re God’s gift to the film. It’s inexcusable, and they should have their butts kicked. I worry about these young kids who in the span of one year become millionaires and powerhouses. It’s too much power for a kid that age to handle.”

Bruce Springsteen has separated from his wife. According to reports, the rocker’s marriage to his wife of 15 years, Patti Scialfa, collapsed after he developed a close friendship with a widow he met while organising a 9/11 charity event. Friends of the singer, known in the music industry as The Boss, claim the couple’s relationship has become so bad, Bruce has partially moved into the guest house on his nearby farm.

A source said, “Bruce and Patti are separated, but everyone has been sworn to secrecy.” Rumours of the couple’s marriage crisis surfaced after Bruce, who has three children with Patti, was spotted in the company of the flame-haired widow on several occasions. Patti is Bruce’s second wife. Their marriage shocked the showbiz world, after the singer famously vowed to never walk down the aisle again after his marriage to first wife Julianne Philips collapsed in 1989.

Cindy Crawford has confessed to having Botox and collagen injections. The model, who turned 40 this year, has admitted she owes her flawless skin to a cosmetic surgeon she has been seeing since she was 29. Crawford told Gala magazine, “I owe the quality of my skin to my cosmetic surgeon. I’m not going to lie to myself, past a certain age, creams work on the texture of your skin but, in order to restore elasticity, all I can really count on is vitamin injections, Botox and collagen.”

The supermodel once claimed she kept her skin in good condition with a “miracle mixture” of ground coffee and olive oil. She now claims that she has a different beauty regime. She revealed, “I have a very simple, healthy life, which works miracles. I drink a lot of water, watch what I eat and exercise.”

New Delhi, Aug. 25: The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) for the year ended March 2005, on the performance audit of disinvestment of government shareholdings in selected PSU undertakings during 1999-2003, reveal that “no clear accountability regime had been in place for the disinvestment process.”

The report points out that in the case of four PSUs namely — BALCO (Bharat Aluminium Company Limited), VSNL ( Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited), PPL (Paradeep Phosphates Limited and IPCL (Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited) — the effforts made by the PSUs, the administrative ministry and the department of disinvestment (DOD) to get title deeds to the land and buildings and to remove encumbrances, before taking up disinvestment were not adequate.

The report, which was placed in the Parliament on Friday, says that government had no mechanism in place to verify that post-disinvestment, the strategic partners had in fact brought in the technology and the finance for turning around and improving the performance of the disinvested PSUs. To substantiate its observation, the report says that in fact, the units were made sick by the new owners as three of the PSUs-MFIL, HTL (Hindustan Teleprinter Limited) and PPL (Paradeep Phosphates Limited) had been referred to the BIFR (Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction) after disinvestment.

It observes that government had been saddled with litigations and uncertainties after disinvestment. In the case of HTL and PPL, the strategic partners have made claims on government of the same order of magnitude as the sale values. The report further says that in the case of IPCL (Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited), there is a substantial claim on the government from the strategic partner on grounds of non-disclosure of financial statements.

As far as telecom PSU VSNL is concerned, the report says that “the government has not been able to derive any benefit from the surplus land in the possession of the company.” Reacting sharply to the CAG report, the Left parties have demanded a thorough probe for such ordeals for national wealth. CPM politbureau member Sitaram Yechuri has said, “A thorough probe is needed for such loot of national wealth.”

Hyderabad, Aug. 25: DaimlerChrysler India, which makes the Mercedes-Benz cars, has been in talks with Sutlej Motors of Punjab, for an entry into the luxury buses market in the country. Confirming this here on Friday, DaimlerChrysler India managing director and CEO Wilfried Aulbur said, “Sutlej Motors and DaimlerChrysler are in talks for a partnership to tap the luxury buses segment. However, nothing has been finalised yet.”

Dr Aulbur did not touch upon a timeframe or the contours of the partnership but it is widely expected that DaimlerChrysler would roll out its buses in India next year. With the entry of high-end numberplates like BMW, Lamborghini and Volvo cars in the months to come, Dr Aulbur believes DaimlerChrysler still has an edge as it has a presence network of 26 and its sales and distribution system is well-entrenched. “Entry of rivals will obviously expand the market of high-end cars,” he said.

Dr Aulbur’s optimism evolves from the fact that 2,010 Mercedes cars were sold in 2005, and in the first seven months of 2006, 1,214 cars have rolled out of its plant in Pune. Declining to discuss DaimlerChrysler’s numbers in detail, Dr Aulbur maintained that the outlook for 2006 remained “positive”. With the festival season set to kick-off in a month’s time Daimler is on track to better last year’s sales figures.

On changes in the Mercedes-Benz fleet in India, Dr Aulbur without being specific hinted that “the C-class at some point in time would be replaced” with another numberplate. DaimlerChrysler India, meanwhile, has emerged as the second largest OEM for the worldwide operations of the company. “Sourcing from India for our operations elsewhere is growing at a CAGR of 20 per cent,” Dr Aulbur said.

Additionally, the company is testing the economic viability of jatropha, source for bio-diesel, as an alternative fuel. Dr Aulbur said it would take atleast 2-5 years for commercial use of jatropha in Mercedes cars. Dr Aulbur was in the city to inaugurate the second show-window of Adishwar Motors, a Mercedes-Benz dealer.

Mumbai, Aug. 25: India’s leading automobile manufacturer, Tata Motors Limited (TML), on Friday announced that the company has set up a new subsidiary to support and enhance the company’s vehicle financing operations. The new entity, TML Financial Services Limited (TMLFSL), would function as a non-banking finance company (NBFC), for which it has received the necessary approval from the RBI, the company said in its statement.

The company further informed that the new entity, TMLFSL, is a 100 per cent subsidiary and would support the vehicle financing activities of Tata Motorfinance. The overall vehicle financing, conducted by Tata Motors’ auto financing arm (Tata Motorfinance) in the year 2005-06, was about Rs 5,500 crores, a 60 per cent increase over Rs 3,400 crores in the previous fiscal.

Tata Motorfinance also accounted for 23.8 per cent of the company’s domestic sales in 2005-06. A total of about 1,13,000 contracts were booked, including refinance and Construction Equipment (CEQ), while 96,247 new vehicles were financed, a 43 per cent inc-rease compared to 67,356 vehicles in 2004-05. Refinance business grew by 110 per cent, while CEQ business grew by 165 per cent in 2005-06, the company informed.

San Francisco, Aug. 25: Apple Computer said on Thursday that it was recalling 1.8 million batteries from some models of its laptop computers because of a risk that they could overheat and catch fire. The batteries were made by a unit of Sony, which also made the 4.1 million laptop batteries that Dell recalled last week.

The Apple recall is the second-largest safety recall in the consumer electronics industry, after Dell’s. Though it is smaller than the Dell recall, the percentage of Apple’s customers affected is greater than the percentage of Dell customers. Apple is recalling batteries from some iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 laptops, representing a third of the notebook computers it sold between October 2003 and this month.

For some customers, it will be the second recall for the same problem. Replacement batteries sent as part of an earlier recall should themselves be replaced, the company advised. Apple said 700,000 of the batteries were in computers sold outside the United States. Sony said it was shouldering much of the cost of the Dell and Apple recalls, which it estimated would cost as much as 30 billion yen, or $258 million.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which announced the voluntary recall along with Apple, said the company had reported nine incidents of batteries overheating, including two that resulted in minor burns and others that caused some property damage. The agency said no serious injuries or deaths were reported. Apple would not give any details about when it began receiving reports of problems or when it began to investigate.

“We discovered that some Sony batteries in previous models of PowerPC-based iBooks and PowerBooks do not meet Apple’s standards for safety and performance,” said Ms Katie Cotton, Apple’s vice-president of corporate communications. As was the case with the Dell batteries, the problem is contamination by metal particles inside the lithium-ion battery cells. The microscopic particles are able to bridge a porous separator between the positively and negatively charged parts of the cell and cause a short circuit. This sets off a chemical chain reaction that can lead to the release of hot gases and liquids, smoke or fire.

The Internet browser market is looking set to witness some action in the weeks ahead, with two of the biggest players, Micro-soft and Mozilla, giving final touches to the Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) and the Firefox 2.0. Microsoft has unveiled Release Candidate 1 of IE7, which you can download from the Microsoft website. RC1 is the last version Microsoft is expected to hand over before IE7 goes into final development later this year. Microsoft had released Beta 3 of IE7 in June. Microsoft says that while many users did not see any radical changes in the browser, its performance has been souped up substantially.
“Users should definitely see a difference in performance,” Margaret Cobb, group product manager for IE, was quoted as saying by TechWeb.

According to Ms Cobb, other changes to the browser include the completion of changes to IE CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) support, additional language selections, and an auto-uninstall feature in RC1’s setup that automatically removes earlier betas (betas formerly required users to manually uninstall older versions of IE 7 before installing the newest). Earlier this week, an IE7 programme manager said in a blog that the browser was “a stepping stone in our effort to improve our standards compliance, especially around CSS.”
In the past, TechWeb says, Microsoft has taken heat from website designers for bugs in Internet Explorer’s support for CSS, and for developer’s hesitancy in supporting the newest version of the standard.

Although Ms Cobb said that Microsoft expects RC1 to be the last publicly-released preview of the browser before the code gets the final stamp of approval (or in the company’s parlance, “release to manufacturing,” or RTC), she wouldn’t rule out another update. “That depends on what the feedback is. If the developer or IT communities create a reason for us to come up with another release, we would,” she told TechWeb.
Meanwhile, Mozilla will be releasing the next version of its browser, Firefox 2.0, dubbed Beta 2, next week. Microsoft has been fighting an increasingly ferocious battle with Firefox since the latter launched in November 2004.

According to some estimates, Firefox has captured over 15 per cent of the Internet browser market since its launch, while Microsoft’s IE has seen its market share decline from over 90 per cent to under 80 per cent in the past two years. Mozilla had said that Firefox 2.0’s Beta 2 was to be ready for download on August 23, but as it’s been forced to do several times already this summer, Mozilla again revised its schedule.

New Delhi, Aug. 25: The United States on Friday said it has a proposal to raise the H1B visa quota for Indians by 25 per cent and is taking steps to reduce the waiting period for visa applications, particularly students, of this country. It also denied that religion was any criteria for issuance or denial of visa to anybody. Efforts are underway to raise the quota for H1B (short duration stay) visas for Indians and there is a proposal to hike it by 25 per cent, Peter G. Kaestner, newly-appointed minister for consular affairs at the US Embassy, said here.

At present, the limit of such visas meant for those employed temporarily is 80,000. Last year, the cap was one lakh. The issue is political in nature and US Congress has to decide on it finally, the official said.Mr Kaestner, who has served at the US Embassy here earlier also, said he felt the number would remain inadequate even after the hike. The US H1B visa ia non-immigrant visa, which allows a US company to employ a foreign individual for up to six years.

The H1B visa-seekers could be those employed temporarily in a speciality occupation or as a fashion model of distinguished merit and ability. Mr Kaestner said the number of Indian students in the US was growing, recording an increase of 30 per cent from last year.

New Delhi, Aug. 25: Finance minister P. Chidambaram on Friday said the government was trying to keep the interest rates down by providing ample liquidity in the banking system. “Hardening international interest rates is not entirely in our control. What we are doing is providing ample liquidity so that the impact of high interest rates is softened,” Mr Chidambaram told reporters.

The finance minister said the proposal to convert bank recapitalisation bonds into tradeable government securities will pump in more liquidity. These bonds will also be eligible for statutory liquidity ratio investments of banks. The government had last week approved conversion of bank recapitalisation bonds worth Rs 208 billion into tradeable securities.

The recapitalisation bonds were issued to nationalised banks in the past to spruce up their capital base. Mr Chidambaram said the government was trying to keep inflation rate below 5 per cent. In the week to August 12, the headline inflation rate based on the Wholesale Price Index was 4.92 per cent, up from 4.82 per cent a week ago.

The Reserve Bank of India is targeting a headline inflation rate of 5-5.5 per cent by end March. The finance minister said the tolerance for inflation has come down, which was a good sign. The current inflation was driven by higher crude oil, pulses and wheat, he said. “Internationally, prices of pulses are high due to poor production. We are trying to ensure adequate supply through imports,” Mr Chidambaram said.

Mumbai, Aug. 25: The Sensex had a roller coaster ride on Friday, opening on a strong note then going into the red and perking up in the latter part of the day. It closed 40.25 points up at 11,572.2, after seeing a swing of nearly 200 points between 11,542.10 and 11,635.25. The Nifty closed at 3385.95, up 15.55 points, after seeing a high of 3402.70 and a low 3368.55.

The turnover at both the exchanges had improved at Rs 36,953.87 crores with the F&O sector accounting for Rs 27,309.66 crores. There were 557 stocks that ended positive and 348 in the red. The Asian markets were marginally up with the Hang Seng gaining 62.41 points and the Kospi 13.62. The Nikkei was down 21.96 points. There were fears that oil would hit new highs.

Among the big gainers was SBI, on the news that the Union Cabinet had permitted the RBI to reduce its stake in the bank from 55 per cent to 51 per cent. The bank could also tap the market for funds. UTI Bank and Corporation Bank were also up Rs 13.40 and Rs 12.40 respectively, though several other bank scrips ended in the red. The other gainers were Tisco up Rs 9.05, TCS Rs 7.15 and Grasim Rs 5.40.

Karimnagar, Aug. 26: To counter the anti-Congress campaign of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), the Congress has pressed into action its MLAs and senior leaders to explain the people the contribution of the government for the development of the region.
Government whip D. Sridhar Babu and PCC general secretary K. Satyanarayana Goud and several other senior leaders addressed separate press conferences in the district on Saturday and released statistical data to support their claims.

Speaking to newsmen in Karimnagar, Mr Sridhar Babu charged the TRS leaders with unleashing a misinformation campaign against the Congress for narrow political gains. “It is the TRS leaders who misled the people by issuing self-contradictory statements and setting deadlines on Telangana for all these days,” he alleged. He asserted that the Congress sincerely strived for evolving a consensus on Telangana by establishing a sub-committee headed by defence minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Even as the process was underway, TRS leaders K. Chandrasekhar Rao and A. Narendra resigned from the Union Cabinet to meet their selfish political ends, Mr Sridhar Babu added. Rebutting the TRS leaders allegations on Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, he said that Dr Rajasekhar Reddy has accorded top priority to the speedy development of the region.

The government has embarked on construction of about 176 irrigation projects at an estimated cost of Rs 46,443 crores in the region. The works worth Rs 2,400 crores are going on at a brisk pace to create an additional ayacut of two lakh acres in Karimnagar district alone, he said. He demanded that the TRS leaders make public their contribution to the development of the region.

Nellore, Aug. 26: Succumbing to the pressure from the United Electricity Employees Union, the State government and APTransco agreed to fill 7,114 vacant posts in the electricity department with contract workers. Union State president D. Suribabu disclosed this at a press conference here on Saturday.

He said that the government also conceded to their demand not to retrench any contract workers. Referring to their State-level agitation to realise their demands and lay siege to the Vidyut Soudha at Hyderabad on Friday, he said that their seven demands have been considered during a meeting between minister for power Muhammed Shabber Ali, APTransco, Discom officials and CPI(M) leaders Nomula Narasimhaiah and M.A. Gafoor on Saturday.

According to Mr Suribabu, all the contract workers with ITI qualification would be posted as contract junior lineman as per seniority. Apart from electrical trade, workers who have other trade certificates will also be considered for the posts. Nativity clause is extended to mandal-level and PF, ESI, insurance or LIC details would be taken as criteria to identify nativity in case workers do not have nativity certificate.

The last date for applying to the posts has been extended till September 9. Mr Suribabu said that the government assured to consult their association before taking any decision related to contract workers. Thanking the contract workers for supporting the agitation to realise the demands, he appealed them not to fall prey to the touts who are assuring jobs for a price.

He advised the contract workers to avoid producing fake certificates since it would lead to serious problems. Expressing hope in getting postings to all the contract workers in future, he reminded the workers that there are about 30,000 vacancies in the department and only 7,114 are being filled now.

“On our part we have agreed to stay in the place of work and also accepted for the test on climbing the pole to become eligible for the lineman post,” Mr Suribabu noted.

Chittoor, Aug. 26: Elected members of Chittoor municipality criticised the municipal officials for their laxity in resolving various issues brought to their notice in the general body meeting here on Saturday.

Municipal chairperson P. Sarala Mary directed the municipal officials to pay special attention to the problems highlighted by the councillors. Councillor S.S.K. Raja questioned the rationale behind tardiness of the officials in sanctioning pension to an old woman Munthaj and her physically challenged daughter.

He brought both the women to the meeting hall to justify his point. Moved by their plight, the chairperson summoned the official concerned and directed him to sanction pension to the women in a week. She rea-cted strongly against the officials when Ward No. 14 representative Suhasini poi-nted to the danger to the liv-es of children due to uncovered trenches in her ward.

Rajahmundry, Aug. 26: The State government has released Rs 34.98 crores as an interim flood relief to the East Godavari district.
District collector M. Subrahmaniam said that based on the report sent by the district administration, the government had released funds for taking up relief works in the flood-affected parts of the district.

The break-up of sanctioned amount department- wise as follows: Agriculture was given Rs 16.12 crores, panchayat raj Rs 8.52 crores, municipalities Rs 5.08 crores, Roads and Buildings Rs 1.54 crores, Rural Water Supply Rs 1.10 crores, Animal Husbandry Rs 1.36 crores, APTransco Rs 1 crore and Fisheries got Rs 26 lakhs.

The collector said that the government has enhanced the assistance by 25 per cent in the form of input subsidy to the crops affected due to the recent incessant rains and floods. Small, marginal and other farmers can avail the aid if their crops suffered 50 per cent damages subject to a limit of five acre.

The farmers will be getting revised assistance at an enhanced rate to the tune of 25 per cent. If banana plantations are affected in a hectare land, the farmer will be getting Rs 5,000 as relief against the earlier norm of Rs 4,000. Similarly, if the farmers raising mango, citrus, cashew nut, guava, pomegranate and other crops, they will get relief of Rs 3,750 per hectare against the earlier scale of Rs 3,000 only. Farmers raising paddy, groundnut, cotton, sugarcane, turmeric, chilli, vegetables, onion, flowers, papaya and watermelon will get Rs 1,875 per hectare as relief against Rs 1,500.

For damaged crops like jowar, bajra, ragi, castor, sesamum and others Rs 1,250 will be given per hectare as relief against Rs 1,000. For tobacco (Natu variety), as per revised scale of relief, Rs 2,500 will be given per hectare against Rs 2,000 and for coriander Rs 1,875 against Rs 1,500 per hectare as revised relief.

Farmers raising maize, pulses, sunflower, soyabeen, wheat and others will also get a relief of Rs 1,575 against Rs 1,250 per hectare. The district administration has enumerated that 18,185 houses were fully damaged while 20,862 houses were partially damaged. A total of 25,974 houses were inundated with floodwaters in the affected villages. The government will be sanctioning houses to those who suffered full damage to their houses under Indira Awas Yojana.

Kakinada, Aug. 26: Minister for endowments J.C. Diwakar Reddy said that safeguarding the endowment lands and properties will be given top priority. Speaking to mediapersons at G. Mamidada under Pedapudi mandal on Saturday, the minister warned that even people’s representatives would not be spared if it was found that they were encouraging encro-achment.

The minister was here to participate in some locally-arranged programmes. With reference to the alleged encroachment of endowment properties by local MLA, the minister replied that the issue has not come to his notice.

He promised to take action if some complaint was made in this regard. On the issue of separate Telangana State, the minister asked the mediamen not to drag him into it. Earlier, Mr Diwakar Reddy declared open the renovated temple of Goddess Nerelama at the village. He also distributed aid to the people who lost their houses in the recent floods. Minister Gollapalli Surya Rao also participated.

Adilabad, Aug. 26: The Telangana agitation has come as a blessing in disguise for all the pending projects in the region. The UPA government is positively responding to all the demands pertaining to development of the region after TRS leaders K. Chandrasekhar Rao and A. Narendra resigned from the Union Cabinet.

The chances for the revival of the Adilabad unit of the Cement Corporation of India (CCI) brightened in the wake of the ongoing separate Telangana movement. Union heavy industries minister Santosh Mohandev responded positively for the revival of the CCI unit in a meeting organised at Udyog Bhavan, New Delhi, on August 24.

The positive response from the Union minister surprised the Adilabad CCI unit employees, who have been agitating for the unit revival from 2000. Mr Mohandev positively responded to the CCI unit revival after CPI MPs Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy and Gurudas Dasgupta said that the demands for separate States like Telangana were cropping up due to the backwardness of the regions.

It was high time the Adilabad CCI unit was revived, they added. The minister was convinced with the arguments put forth by the CPI leaders and asked the secretary of the ministry to submit a report on the revival of the CCI unit.

Trade union leaders of six other CCI units in the country accepted the closure of their units by the government. If the Adilabad CCI unit is revived 320 employees of the six CCI units can be accommodate in the unit.

Adilabad CCI unit employees union general secretary S. Vilas told this correspondent that the cogent arguments put forth by the CPI leaders convinced the minister.

Mahbubnagar, Aug. 26: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy on Saturday said that the Central government is ready to form Second States Reorganisation Committee (SRC) and the Congress has no objection to it.

“But the Telangana Rashtra Samiti is opposing the second SRC and demanding formation of Telangana immediately,” Dr Reddy said. The Chief Minister unveiled the statues of former legislator Chittem Narsi Reddy and his son Chittem Venkateswara Reddy, who were gunned down by the Maoists on August 15, 2005 at Narayanpet town of this district.

Later, addressing a public meeting, Dr Reddy said that one had to think whether separate Telangana State would bring more benefit to the region or the developmental works taken up for the region. “It is for AICC president Sonia Gandhi to decide whether to give separate Telangana State and her decision will be final on the issue,” the Chief Minister said.

The Congress leaders from the region have raised the separate Telangana State plank as they thought it right for the progress of the region as rural areas had been completely neglected by the Telugu Desam government in its nine-year rule, Dr Reddy said.

He said the Congress promised to remove backwardness in the region if it came to power and as promised has been striving to develop the region. He advised people to be aware of those who work for their own benefits. He said that the government is providing free electricity to 15 lakh pumpsets in the Telangana region alone out of the 24 lakh pumpsets in the State.

Later, the Chief Minister inaugurated the municipal office building, mandal parishad office and an eSeva centre. Meanwhile, TRS cadre raised ‘Jai Telangana’ slogans in the middle of Chief Minister’s speech. TRS State secretary Satish Madiga and other activists waved Telangana banners and raised ‘Jai Telangana’ slogans.

However, the Chief Minister remained calm and unmoved and went through his speech. Police, who were at the meeting, arrested the slogan-shouting Telangana activists and released them later on personal bond.

Mylavaram, Aug. 26: Poor rainfall and improper arrivals from Tungabhadra reservoir resulted in the deprival of water to Mylavaram reservoir, which was meant to irrigate over 75,000 acres in Kadapa and Kurnool districts. The farming community is eagerly awaiting the arrival of four tmc ft water as per the Krishna Waters Tribunal Award from the Tungabhadra reservoir to raise crop for kharif season. But the water is not reaching in full to the reservoir due to various reasons.

The reservoir which has a capacity to store 9.96 tmc ft of water and is expected to provide water to 75,000 acres failed to supply water to even 55,000 acres during the past three decades. However, no leader question the government about the water that was due to the reservoir.

The only way to get the Tungabhadra water to Mylavaram reservoir is the High Level Canal. However, some point out that the canal route is improper and the water failed to reach the reservoir. It is quite surprising that hundreds of tmc ft of water is flowing into the sea, while the justified share of water is not reaching the reservoir.

The partisan attitude of the successive governments, lackadaisical attitude of officials and local leaders’ inefficiency resulted in the present state of affairs. As of now, there is only 0.857 tmc ft of water in the reservoir. Only one tmc ft of water reached the reservoir due to rains last year taking the water level to 1.5 tmc ft. The construction of Gandikota project at the upper riparian area has become an obstacle for the backwaters.

In order to construct that project, 0.5 tmc ft of water is being released into Penna river. As a result, water in the reservoir reached to the dead storage level. Works in the Rayalaseema Thermal Power Project (RTPP) were also hit due to the insufficient water in the reservoir. The available water would be sufficient only for two months and after that the RTPP has to close down.

Already one unit in the RTPP stopped working. Water problem would invariably hamper the work in the RTPP, the officials said. Meanwhile, the government had taken up modernisation of Mylavaram project, to provide irrigation to the last ayacut at a cost of Rs 155 crores. These works were started on May 18 last year and it would take another two years to complete these works. Till then the farmers had to wait for water to quench the thirst of their agricultural fields.

Vijayawada, Aug. 26: Dr Chadalavada Sudha of Vijayawada was re-appointed as the member of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Board of trustees. Dr Sudha, a specialist in general medicine, gynaecology and obstetrics, served as the faculty member of Harvard Medical School, Boston for 10 years.

Dr Sudha is also a diplomat of Association of American Body of Gynaecologists and Obstretricians. She would be taking oath along with other members on August 30 at Tirumala. She, along with her husband Ch. Nageswara Rao, are running a polyclinic in Vijayawada for the last 25 years and are actively involved in charitable and spiritual activities.

“I thank Lord Venkateswara for providing me a chance to serve Him and pilgrims for another time,” said Dr Sudha. She said the TTD was effectively working to popularise Hindu dharma in remote places of the State by organising spiritual programmes.

“The TTD has taken up a project during the last meeting to identify 100 temples in each district that have no patronage and would be extending financial support of Rs 2,000 each, every month. We are aiming at bringing back the glory of the age-old temples,” she said.
Dr Sudha said that the TTD has also taken up the construction of kalyana mandapams in a big way in the State.

Khammam, Aug. 26: With water bodies and tanks getting filled up because of heavy rains, the government is encouraging farmers to take up fish farming in real earnest.

There are 2,800 water sources, including tanks and reservoirs such as Palair, Wyra, Kinnerasani, Bayya-ram, Lankasagar, Pedavagu and Taliperu in the district. All of them are brimming with water, thanks to the heavy rains in the recent weeks. There are 293 tanks which are above 100 acres in extent and they are all fit for fish farming.

The district usually produces aqua products worth Rs 100 crores every year from various water sources. The production is expected to go up by 150 per cent this year. So far, the government has issued licences to 781 fishermen for aquaculture. The earlier target was 600 farmers.

To make the venture profitable, the government also formed 176 fishermen societies comprising 12,900 members. All the societies have started the farming process by introducing fish in the water sources. They are also adding feed.

“The situation is very encouraging and we are hopeful of a good crop,” said K. Mutyam, a fisherman of Palair reservoir. “We will grow all varieties of fish this year,” he added. Palair and Wyra reservoirs are the major water sources for aquaculture and the fish being produced from these places is being exported to Kolkata, Chennai and Delhi.

Fisheries department assistant director B. Suryanarayana said that the government was providing ice boxes and other material to fishermen. “We have also linked them to banks and will provide them marketing facilties,” Mr Suryanarayana added.

Vijayawada, Aug. 26: The Vijayawada police produced Katragadda Srinu alias Musunuri Srinivas, the prime accused in the murder attempt on Vangaveeti Santhan Kumar, at the third additional chief metropolitan magistrate’s court on Saturday morning.

He was sent on remand till September 9 by magistrate K. Chidananda. Srinu, who surrendered in the AP High Court on Friday, was brought to the city amidst tight security. Sources said, while he was produced at the office of the commissioner of police Umesh Sharaff, he refused to say anything.

“We are investigating how the accused got the pistol, how he got money to execute the plot and also about the others behind the murder attempt,” said assistant commissioner of police Shaik Mastan Vali. The police filed a petition in the court asking for 14 days custody. The proceedings on the petition were postponed to Monday.

Visakhapatnam, Aug. 26: Minister for commercial taxes Konatala Ramakrishna on Saturday said that the King George Hospital (KGH) here would be developed at a cost of Rs 23 crores in three phases.
Speaking to reporters after reviewing the facilities at the KGH, the minister said the hospital not only serves the people in the three north Andhra districts but also some neighbouring districts of Chhattisgarh and Orissa.

“The government is preparing an action plan to develop the hospital in a phased manner and the plan would be put into action very soon. Since the Congress came to power the government released huge funds for the KGH’s development. The government had already sanctioned Rs 5 crores for the development,” Mr Ramakrishna said.

Adding that they will take help from all the MLAs and MPs of the three north coastal Andhra districts to improve facilities at the hospital, Mr Ramakrishna said that he would ask them to sanction at least Rs 5 lakhs from their funds for KGH’s development.

KGH was in news recently when its casualty medical officer Dr P. Bangariah was beaten up by relatives of a patient who died last Sunday. Doctors all over the State went on a strike and called it off after police arrested six persons for assaulting the doctor.

Visakhapatnam, Aug. 26: The National Academy of Construction (NAC) is all set to train the youth of north coastal Andhra Pradesh in the fields of masonry, carpentry, electrical and house wiring. The NAC is doing so with an objective to impart construction skills to the youth from the rural and semi-urban areas to make them meet the demands of construction industry.

Explaining the idea behind this move, NAC director, training, K.A.N. Prasad said, “There is a lot of demand for the construction workers in India and abroad. Many construction giants are approaching us and are asking us to provide trained workers. But very few skilled workers are available here and the demand for them is increasing.”

Mr Prasad pointed out that the construction industry is the second largest employment-providing sector next to the agriculture in the country. The academy will soon start five to six centres in the district to extend their training to more rural youth. “After Hyderabad we are now concentrating more on Vizag and surrounding areas as it is a happening city,” said Mr Prasad.

The NAC, which started training activities in 2002, has so far trained 10,000 skilled workers. It provided jobs to almost all those who underwent the training. For the first time, the academy will be providing residential training to the workers in the north Andhra starting from mid-September in the fields of masonry and carpentry.

The District Rural Development Agency would select the workers to take part in the training programme of three months which is free of cost, said officer incharge of the Regional Training Centre of NAC, S.N. Rao.

The NAC is also contemplating to start post-diploma certificate courses jointly with the Andhra University College of Engineering in subjects like highway technology, general works supervisor, land surveying, digital architecture, etc, Mr Rao said.