Andhranews

Actress and model Amrita Arora is one excited person. She reveals, “Jewellery brand D’damas was looking out for a new face and they thought I was apt for the new brand of jewellery that they are about to launch.” D’damas has had popular celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Suneil Shetty, Lara Dutta and Amrita Rao endorsing their brand.

Besides the ad, the gorgeous younger sister of Malaika Arora-Khan is excited about playing a judge in the reality show Superstar to be aired on Sahara One. The show is an attempt to give talented individuals an opportunity to showcase their dexterity and thus get an entry in the film industry. “Urmila Matondkar and Shiamak Davar were already part of the show, to judge the contestants. It is my honour that I am now included as a judge,” says Amrita.

The actress, who is currently in Bulgaria, says, “I am shooting for a song for Hriday Shetty’s Godfather. For the first time I will be doing a song for a Pakistani film.” Amrita said that Hriday had approached her long ago and was

Since his fantastic performance in Iqbal, producers have been queuing up to sign Shreyas Talpade for their films. He is now all set to make his mark once again with his role of a bahrupiya in Nagesh Kukunoor’s Dor. Ask him about his role and Shreyas says, “It’s a simple role unlike Iqbal, and at the same time, challenging. The role is that of a tribal boy who travels to entertain people. These tribal people are rare to find since they are always travelling. But Nagesh had developed my character. At times, I had to go overboard or underplay the character. It was like treading on a thin line. In Iqbal, I was a deaf and mute boy and I played with expressions. Here, I had to develop on the dialogues, dialect and body language, and also take care of my moustache and costume.”

About Nagesh Kukunoor, he says, “Working with Nagesh is a different experience. In Iqbal, he never gave me the chance to improvise. Here, he gave me a free hand. This film has song and dance sequences too. There were times when he asked me to tone down and that was very difficult. When you watch the film, it seems like a cakewalk.” He says about his role, “My character has a lot of depth. He is very mature, he talks sensibly, he makes you laugh, but is also very serious.”

Shreyas has been pitted against two glamorous heroines for the first time in this film. Shreyas says, “These two beautiful girls kept me going. In Rajasthan, when you are shooting at 45 degree celcius temperatures, these two good looking women were so cool. They had a lot of energy and never complained. They had very well-balanced scenes which instigated me to perform well. I remember one particular dance shoot at 12 in the afternoon when the sun was really high. We were dancing in mojadis. The sand used to enter the mojadis and we used to take them off. The sand was so hot. It was maddening, but the girls were fantastic.”

So what’s next for the actor? “Well, I am looking for roles which are different and which have depth. For me, both the role and money has to appeal. It’s not that I was not offered films before, but I refused many films because the roles didn’t appeal to me. I don’t mind doing even special appearances like the way I did in Aankhen because I wanted to share screen space with Amitabh Bachchan. It was my dream. I just don’t want to be a been-here-done-that kind of a hero. My next film is Subhash Ghai’s Apna Sapna Money Money which is being directed by Santosh Sivan,” reveals Shreyas.

When it comes to taking a challenge and doing something different, Sophie Chaudhary surely is different. In an industry where the script, the production banner and the director are given prime consideration, Sophie lets these aspects take a backseat. Why? “Just because I wanted to play this other hot woman in Rahul Bose’s life,” she laughs. Yes, Sophie Chaudhary will be seen playing a rather unconventional role in Pritish Nandy’s Pyaar Ke Side Effects.

“Initially, I had doubts about my character, but they were put to rest when I began shooting for the film,” says Sophie. She said that Rahul Bose was one of the best co-stars she has ever worked with. “He is supremely talented, funny and warm. We found ourselves chatting away non-stop about everything from films and music, to world affairs. I didn’t realise that we have so much to share.” says the ex-VJ and singer.

Kylie Minogue has no plans to marry long-term boyfriend Olivier Martinez yet. The singer was helped through her life-threatening breast cancer battle by the French actor and admits the experience has brought them closer together. Despite constant rumours claiming the pair are engaged, Kylie insists they are not betrothed to one another. She said in an interview with BBC America, “Are there any rings on these fingers? We haven’t gone down that road.”

The 38-year-old pop superstar also revealed she still wants to start a family, despite the reduced chances of her conceiving because of the chemotherapy treatment she underwent to fight her cancer. When quizzed on whether she and Olivier want to have children, she said, “Yeah, I would love them. We have to wait and see.” Kylie also insists that she didn’t mind having to shave all her hair off when it started to drop out because of the chemotherapy.

During her gruelling battle, Kylie was pictured wearing headscarves to cover up her shaved head, but admits she could handle the drastic look because she would have done anything to beat the disease. She explained, “First I had it cut a little longer than it is at the moment and then I had a buzz-cut. If I could have done a one-armed push-up I would have. That really wasn’t such an issue for me. I don’t know if it’s because I’m used to different looks, but when it starts to grow back it’s so thrilling.”

The Fardeen Khan-Shahid Kapur-Kareena Kapoor starrer Fida was the last film that Ken Ghosh had directed, two years ago. It has been rumoured that the director’s next film will be a sci-fi thriller. When asked about it, Ken confirmed the news, “Yes, I have been writing a sci-fi thriller. I have been working on it since the past two years. That’s the reason why I have not been seen in the ‘filmi’ scene,” he laughs.

Ghosh said that he was apprehensive about making this sci-fi earlier because of the huge budget the venture requires. “But times have changed since the past two years. There are guaranteed returns in films today. So finding a producer to pump finance in the film is not a problem,” he says. Ghosh said it is only after the script is completely ready that he will decide on the star cast. “I should embark on the film by the yearend,” he said.

Katie Holmes has confessed that she has found all the speculation surrounding her daughter Suri “heartbreaking”. Since Suri was born on April 17 this year Katie and fiancé Tom Cruise have kept her out of the public eye sparking endless outlandish rumours about the baby. Katie, 27, admits the stories, some of which even suggested that the tot didn’t really exist, have been very upsetting for her.

Speaking to the Vanity Fair magazine, which has published the first photos of Suri, the actress said, “Those stories eat away at me because it’s just not okay. And the stuff they say about Suri? You shouldn’t say that about us, and you can’t say that about my child. All the craziness began. This ‘Where is Suri?’ controversy. Tom and I looked at each other and said, ‘What’s going on?’ We weren’t trying to hide anything.”

Despite finding the gossip about her relationship with Tom and daughter hurtful, Katie insists she has to read it all for her family. Katie explained, “This is my future. This is my family, and I care so much about them. I was overjoyed to be pregnant, and then had to withstand ridicule about my pregnancy when it was the most normal, non-controversial thing imaginable.” Meanwhile, Top Gun actor Tom thinks Suri looks like her mum. He said, “She has Kate’s lips and eyes.”

Mariah Carey is developing a new fake tan made with 24-karat gold dust. The singer is insisting that she is beautifully bronzed on every night on her current Emancipation of Mimi tour and has hired a personal tanning assistant, Jenny Phillips, to spay her before going on stage. Mariah and Jenny, of Beverly Hills’ exclusive Portofino Sun Center and Spa, have now teamed up to create an extravagant new fake tan made with real gold.

Mariah’s representative said, “She is on tour with Mariah and they are developing an exclusive line of bronzer containing real 24-karat gold dust.” The We Belong Together singer is famous for her outrageous diva demands and extravagant tastes. In the past, Mariah has paid for her Jack Russell dog, named Jack, to fly first class.

New Delhi, Sept. 8: Finance minister P. Chidambaram said on Friday that from April 1, 2008, a new simpler Income-Tax Act can be expected. This will replace the existing Income-Tax Act,1961. The finance minister was presented with a report by the CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes) officials which was a simplification of the Income-Tax laws.

The finance minister said that the report is an exercise for the future. “This report is about a brand new Income-Tax Act, which if all goes well, will come into force from April 1, 2008,” he said. In the meantime, he said, the existing Income-Tax Act, 1961, will continue and whatever amendments have to be done will have to come through the finance bill each year.

Mr Chidambaram had announced in his Budget speech of 2005 that the Income-tax Act, 1961, would be simplified and a new bill would be introduced in Parliament. Accordingly, a group of officials from the CBDT was constituted to simplify and rationalise the law relating to income-tax. An extensive review of the existing provisions in the income-tax and wealth-tax codes has been done for the report, which was presented to the finance minister.

The report has taken into consideration the inputs received from various sources. Titled as the “Report on simplification of the Income-Ttax Act, 1961”, a prime feature of the report is that it combines all existing direct taxes like income-tax, wealth-tax, fringe benefit tax, etc, into one code known as the “Direct Taxes Code Bill, 2006”.

A finance ministry statement said that the language of the law is simple and does away with complicated legalese to provide for an easy reading and understanding of the law. All provisions and explanations in the existing law have been done away with and wherever necessary, suitably incorporated in the main provision.
Redundant provisions of law have been removed from the statute.

Similar provisions have been regrouped and placed at one place in a chapter-wise manner. Efforts have been made to remove existing anomalies and inconsistencies to enable easy implementation and to ensure better compliance. The concepts of “previous year” and “assessment year” have been replaced with the concept of “financial year”.

Also, the provisions relating to tax administration and procedures have been kept common for all direct taxes. Mr Chidambaram also said that the government intends to keep the country’s inflation rate below 5.0 per cent, and would consider steps if needed to keep it in check.

New Delhi, Sept. 8: Petroleum minister Murli Deora on Friday said that the blending process in the ethanol-blended programme (EBP) will commence from November 1. Mr Deora said that oil marketing companies had been directed for early implementation of the EBP programme on a national scale.

“In this connection, the process of procurement of ethanol by the OMCs through national competitive bidding has commenced as OMCs has begun issuing public notice for procurement of indigenous anhydrous ethanol in different states,” Mr Deora added. With this, the stage is set for taking up the national programme for blending 5 per cent ethanol with petrol countrywide except the Northeast, J&K, Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

Earlier, the 5 per cent ethanol-blended programme (EBP) was started in nine sugarcane growing states and contiguous Union Territories in 2003. This, however, did not make substantial headway for a number of reasons like decline in sugarcane production, restrictions on interstate movement of ethanol and the suppliers backing out.

The procurement of ethanol from the domestic market would help the sugarcane-growing farmers with better returns and supplement the availability of petroleum products in the country. A series of meetings have been held with the stakeholders such as ethanol suppliers, Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) and the OMCs.

The petroleum ministry had earlier directed that open bidding process should be commenced forthwith by the OMCs for purchasing ethanol in which all suppliers can participate and the price discovery is achieved in an open and fair manner. Petroleum ministry did not favour the suggestion for direct purchase as it was felt that this method is non-transparent and thus has potential of embroiling the EBP programme in controversy.

Mumbai, Sept. 8: A consortium of Videocon Industries Ltd. and US fund Ripplewood Holdings was selected on Friday as the primary bidder to buy South Korean appliances maker Daewoo Electronics. The creditors of Daewoo Electronics, including Wo-ori Bank and Korea Asset Management Corp., a State-run restructuring agency, have been offered $700 million for their 97.5 per cent stake in the company by the consortium.

If successful, it will be the largest foreign capital takeover of a Korean manufacturing firm and Videocon’s third major acquisition in less than two years. “Videocon can become the new owner of Daewoo as early as December after two months of due diligence,” said Mr Park Ki-hoon of Woori Bank, one of Daewoo’s main creditors. Moreover, Korean equity firm MBK Partners was named as the reserve bidder.

Initially, five companies had made offers to the creditors, with the Malaysian fund company Neo Equity making the highest bid. However, the creditors tu-rned down the offer due to doubts about the firm’s ability to raise funds. Daewoo Electronics posted losses in 2005 and its earnings forecasts were not available. A creditor source had said banks wanted to sell the former unit of the failed Daewoo Group for more than $1 billion, considering its assets and business outlook.

Mumbai, Sept. 8: Indiabulls Financial Services Limited (IBFSL) has submitted an Expression of Interest (EoI) to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) proposing merger of United Western Bank (UWB) with IBFSL. It also sent details of its proposals to the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday. The proposal is subject to the approval of RBI and other requisite regulatory and statutory approvals.

The terms of the proposed merger, according to the note sent to the BSE by the company secretary Amit Jain, the offer has a merger ratio of 1 share of Indiabulls Financial Services Limited, post-demerger of the real estate business, for every 6 shares of the United Western Bank. The share price of Indiabulls is around Rs 50. The offer is based on 53.77 million shares of United Western Bank as per its June 30, 2006 filings with the exchanges and will result in the issuance of approximately 9 million additional IBFSL shares in exchange for United Western Bank shares.

The company said that IBFSL currently has 161.4 million shares outstanding. It is demerging its real estate business to its shareholders through a scheme of demerger which has already received in-principle approval of the stock exchanges and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of current fiscal year subject to the final approval from the high court of Delhi.

The board of Indiabulls Financial Services is proposing the merger as it strongly believes that the proposed merger would provide the best outcome for all the stakeholders of United Western Bank and would create an extremely competitive universal bank. It is also learnt Indiabulls had approached investor and stock broker Pradeep Bhavnani, who has mopped up next to 17 per cent of the equity of UWB since last Saturday when the bank came under a moratorium. But, Mr Bhavnani said that he has already promised his shares to Balaji Industries, which has also made a bid to take over the management of the bank.

New Delhi, Sept. 8: India’s biggest drug manufacturer Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, which has decided to put its manufacturing unit in Ireland on the block, may sell it for 25-35 million euros.
Sources familiar with the development said the Gurgaon-based company has roped in Merrill Lynch International to find a suitor for its Ireland unit, which has been valued at 25-35 million euros.

Company officials decli-ned comment saying: “We have decided to divest the facility in Ireland and cannot comment on specifics.” Ranbaxy’s Ireland unit has two blocks where it produces general solid dose products and semi-synthetic penicillin for the Irish and the UK markets besides serving as a gateway to the EU.

Hyderabad, Sept. 8: Godrej & Boyce will double its existing capacity once its new plant near Pune is ready, even as it eyes revenues increasing from the South and cashing on the upcoming festive season with new offerings. Once the Rs 100-crore plant is up and running, capacity for the frost-free refrigerators is expected to touch seven lakh units by 2007 from the current 3.5 lakh units, a senior company executive said here on Friday.

“We have acquired land at Sewri near Pune for the new plant and trial production at the facility will begin by mid-2007 before the plant goes commercial by the third quarter of the year,” Mr George Menezes, COO of Godrej’s appliance division, said after the launch of EON range of frost-free refrigerators.

Godrej & Boyce has consolidated its position in the South, where it enjoys a 22 per cent market share in the refrigerator segment, Mr Menezes said. The company expects southern India to contribute 30 per cent to the overall turnover with the launch of EON range of refrigerators. At its existing manufacturing unit in Mohali, Godrej & Boyce produces one million compressors and 6.5 lakh direct cool refrigerators, which account for 80 per cent of its refrigerator business.
The company posted Rs 750 crores in revenues in the home appliance segment in 2005-2006 and has now lined up 13 AC and seven microwave oven models to its product base to take the business to Rs 1,000 crores in the current year, Mr Menezes said.

Hyderabad, Sept. 8: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy assured the MLAs of Kurnool district that the State government would take effective steps to protect the standing crops in the district. He addressed the Kurnool district MLAs here on Friday on issues relating to drought and drinking water needs of the district. Minister for commercial taxes Konathala Ramakrishna, minister for irrigation Ponnala Lakshmaiah, minister for agriculture N. Raghuveera Reddy and minister for rain shadow area development M. Mareppa were present.

The MLAs brought to the notice of the Chief Minister that the water flows in Low Level Canal of Tungabhadra received during the period from July last week to first week of September is only 245 cusecs as against the average indented discharge of 600 cusecs, because of which, there is lot of uproar from farmers.

They also said that transplantation has been made only in 6,000 acres as again-st 34,600 acres due to the meagre realisation of water at AP border. This is becau-se of the drawing of water illegally by Karnataka farmers, they alleged and propo-sed to examine bringing of water from TB Dam thro-ugh pipelines to arrest misuse of water by Karnataka.

The Chief Minister directed the engineer-in-chief to examine the proposal and prepare a feasibility study to take up the issue. He also directed the minister for irrigation to meet the Karnataka irrigation minister and apprise him of the situation especially on the misuse of water by Karnataka farmers. Mr Lakshmaiah is slated to attend the TB Board meeting on September 14.

The Chief Minister questioned TBB chairman Jyothi about what action the TB Board is taking when the water is being illegally drawn and due share of the State is not being released. The Chief Minister also briefly spoke with his Karnataka counterpart H.D. Kumaraswamy over phone and urged him to take appropriate action. He also directed the officials to examine the feasibility of enhancing the capacity of Sunkesula reservoir. The Chief Minister assured the Kurnool representatives that the government would take every step to protect the standing crops in the district under K.C. Canal.

When the leaders brought to the notice of the Chief Minister about the severe drought situation in the district, he directed collector Dana Kishore to take up rural employment guarantee programme though it is not covered under NREG programme.

The State could take up the programme on its own in the district in view of the prevailing situation there, the Chief Minister assured. He directed the officials to study the drinking water requirement in the district.

Adoni (Kurnool), Sept. 8: Demanding release of water to the Tungabhadra Lower Level Canal (LLC), former MLA Prakash Jain began an indefinite hunger strike here on Friday. He reached the Ambedkar statue, in a procession along with leaders of various people’s organisations.

After launching the hunger strike, a meeting was held at the camp under the chairmanship of CPI (M) leader Radhakrishna. Addressing the meeting, former MLA and Telugu Desam constituency in-charge Meenakshi Naidu criticised the Congress MLAs of lobbying for berths in Cabinet instead of looking after the welfare of the farmers in the region.

He attacked the policies adopted by Adoni MLA Sai Prasad Reddy. Mr Naidu sa-id that he and other party le-aders went to meet Mr Red-dy to lodge a complaint ov-er the misuse of LLC water by the Karnataka farmers, when the DDRC meeting was in progress.

Instead of giving a positive reply, Mr Reddy made a sarcastic comment that water could not be released through mere agitations. Such a comment from an MLA was uncalled for, he added. Though there was adequate water in the Tungabh-adra dam, the Congress MPs and MLAs utterly fail-ed in getting the water rele-ased to the LLC.

The farmers are suffering a lot due to the closure of RDS sluice as water failed to reach KC Canal. This has resulted in shortage of drinking water to 226 villages, he added.

Kurnool, Sept. 8: Three senior medicos — Srinivas, Muralikrishna Reddy and Sudhirkumar Reddy — who resorted to ragging were arrested by the police in the early hours of Friday. The three had already been suspended from the Kurnool Medical College a week ago.

The police laid a trap and arrested the accused in front of their hostel building. They were produced before the local munsif magistrate, who remanded them to 27 days. On August 30, the three seniors forced three juniors to stay half-naked. Following a complaint by Principal Dr M.S.R.K. Prasad, the II Town police registered a case, said circle inspector P.N. Babu. In protest against the arrest, senior students staged a rasta roko in front of the district collectorate. Traffic was disrupted for an hour following the protest.

Ongole, Sept. 8: To prevent further exodus of farmers and labourers to cities in search of livelihood, the State government is contemplating to implement the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in the drought-hit Prakasam district. So far, more than 50,000 people have migrated to the cities in the last three months due to the continuous dry spell.

Under the NREGS, the government would provide 100 days of work to each family every year. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched the programme in Anantapur district in February this year. Almost all Telangana districts are covered under NREGS.

Leaders of the Telugu Desam, Left parties and farmers in the district have been demanding that the government declare the district a drought-hit area and implement the scheme. The government recently sent a three-member team to study the drought in the district.

Based on its report and keeping in view the drought conditions, the government is considering to implement the scheme in the district and is likely to issue a GO in this regard within a month. It is estimated that farmers suffered a crop loss worth Rs 12 crores due to low rainfall. Crops dried up at early stages in the district.

More than 50 per cent of land in the district depends on monsoon in kharif. In the last three months, the district registered 107.1 mm rainfall against the average rainfall of 147.7 mm. In July, 60.2 mm rainfall was registered against the average rainfall of 130.3 mm.

The situation is similar in August. The UPA government selected more than 200 districts across the country for the implementation of NREGS.
Only Kandukur MLA Mahidhara Reddy raised the issue in the recent Assembly session.

Kandukur, Sept. 8: Telugu Desam (TD) district unit president and Addanki legislator Karanam Balaram alleged on Friday that Congress MLAs, including mi-nister for finance K. Rosai-ah, failed to persuade the government in declaring Pr-akasam a drought-hit region though a large number of people were migrating to other regions.

Mr Balaram visited Kandukur to take part in the TD activists meeting. Speaking to reporters, he said that although four MPs, including a Union minister represented the district, they failed to persuade the government to declare it a drought-hit. He said that the district registered below average rainfall in kharif.

He questioned the government on the reason for not implementing the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in the district. The Centre annou-nced Rs 10 crore package for districts where the sche-me was sanctioned. He criticised the government for tacitly promoting migration by providing RTC buses to Hyderabad and Bangalore.

The TD leader said that Prakasam was in the third place among the severely drought-hit districts in the State. The team, which was deputed by the government to assess the drought in the district, did not visit all dro-ught affected regions and submitted a false report to the government, he alleged.

Former minister Damach-arla Anjaneyulu, former Zi-lla Parishad chairman Muk-ku Kasireddy, former legislators Sai Kalapana Reddy, Divi Sivaram, David Raju and other TD leaders were present. The leaders held a meeting with leaders of the four Assembly segments of Darsi, Kandukur, Kondepi and Kanigiri and discussed various issues.

Rajahmundry, Sept. 8: The Union health ministry proposed to make it compulsory for doctors to serve in rural areas for two years after completing their internship. Disclosing this here on Friday, Union Minister of State for Health Panabaka Lakshmi said that this move would help solve the shorage of doctors, especially in primary health centres to cater to the medical needs of villagers.

The minister said that in order to transport patients in need of emergency medical assistance, an ambulance would be provided in a radius of villages covering 1.5 lakh people and added that the responsibility for maintaining the ambulances would be given to non-governmental organisations.

Ms Lakshmi said that as part of the National Rural Health Mission, four lakh health workers under the AIDS Awareness and Sustained Holistic Action programme, popularly known as Aasha, were going to be appointed. She said that each health volunteer would get Rs 1,000 per month and added that though a pass in Class X was the minimum eligibility for becoming a health volunteer, there would be no regulations for volunteers working in hilly areas.

The minister said that under the programme, two lakh health volunteers have already been appointed. The health volunteers would be trained on administering first aid besides giving health tips to pregnant women. She also said that efforts were on to appoint a doctor either from homoeo, ayurveda or unani categories in each PHC.

Bhimavaram, Sept. 8: At a time when the world is celebrating the 40th International Literacy Day, villagers launched an agitation by locking the mandal pari-shad special primary school, seeking appointment of a permanent teacher in the school at Kovvada Annavaram village of this mandal on the second day.

A large number of villagers locked the mandal parishad special primary school on Thursday as they were fed up with education authorities for their failure to appoint a full time teacher at the school despite repeated reminders. Villagers did not allow the school to function on Friday too. Mandal educational officer M. Satyavardhan rushed to the school and tried to convince the villagers, but in vain.

The villagers contended that unless higher officials of the education department visit the school and give an assurance on the appointment of a teacher, they will not allow the school to function. The MEO informed the villagers that a teacher, Nageswara Rao, currently working at Komatitippa North and another teacher, Venkatippa were appointed to teach at the school for the time being.

He also said that the appointment of Mr Rao was informed to higher officials in the department and added that until further orders, Mr Rao would continue to work as a teacher in the school. The villagers told the MEO that earlier Potti Babji used to work in the school as a secondary grade assistant but he was shifted to the municipal school on deputation some two years ago.

They said that since then no teacher was appointed to the school on a permanent basis. Meanwhile, some students who arrived at the school had to stay outside as their school was locked for the second day too.

Warangal, Sept. 8: The district authorities have initiated steps to develop the city as the State-level industrial hub with a special emphasis on the development of information technology parks. District collector K. Damayanti, who took the initiative in organising a joint meeting of various departments including IT, BSNL, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), revenue and other educational institutions in the district, said that soon the city would be turned into a major IT hub in the State.

She said that there was a great scope to develop the city as an industrial hub with its infrastructure and strategic location. “The lands at Madikonda in survey numbers 23, 24 were identified as ideal for setting up of the IT parks and a detailed report on the land availability will be made in a week,” Ms Damayanti said.

The revenue department would carry out a survey at the identified survey numbers and would submit the detailed land availability report in order to facilitate the setting up of the IT Parks. National Institute of Technology (NIT) representative Prof. Jaya Kumar said that 3,500 square feet was available for setting up of the IT parks in the sprawling campus of the NIT, which is now hosting the STPI.

Assuring the potential entrepreneurs of IT parks, BSNL general manager Prof. K.K. Thakur said that the BSNL was ready to offer broadband Internet connectivity and optical fibre cable network wherever required. The Kakatiya University and the Kakatiya University of Technology and Sciences have offered to supply the qualified and trained human resources to the companies through their Jawahar Knowledge Centres.

Information Technology department additional secretary Raghuveer, who was present at the coordinated meet, said that the government was ready to provide all the facilities and infrastructure to the IT companies. He directed the concerned departments to conduct joint meetings regularly in order to speed up the process.

Warangal/Karimnagar, Sept. 8: Thousands of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) activists from Warangal and Karimnagar took part in the party’s meet at Siddipet on Friday. Scores of vehicles were arranged by the party leaders in the Warangal district to transport the activists.

A huge convoy of vehicles was flagged off at the Azam Jahi Mills grounds in Warangal where TRS leader and former MLA Donepudi Ramesh Babu and Mr Karimilla Babu Rao flagged off the convoy. A total of 100 vehicles proceeded to Siddipet amidst the slogans of Jai Telangana.

The city wore a festive look with the party’s pink banners and posters were put up all over the city. Addressing at the meet, Mr Ramesh Babu said that the Siddipet meeting would be a turning point in the movement for separate Telangana and exhorted the people to join the movement in large numbers.

Earlier, massive rallies were organised in the city and mock funeral of the Congress leaders was also taken out by the TRS activists. In some areas, the TRS activists enforced bandh in schools and colleges. All educational institutions in Karimnagar district observed a bandh to enable students attend the meet.

Managements of private educational institutions also declared a holiday on Friday. People, mainly from Kamalapur, Huzurabad, Sircilla, Nerella and Karimnagar constituencies, went for the TRS meet. About 100 TRS activists started a cycle yatra to Siddipet from the Tower Circle in Karimnagar. District TRS president E. Rajender and former minister Capt. Lakshmikanta Rao launched the yatra.

Mr Rajender said that over 75,000 people from the district went to the meet. Meanwhile, TRS activists staged a rasta roko on Hyderabad Road near Kaman Chowk in protest against the removal of party flags by traffic police.They alleged that police had kept quiet when activists of other parties put up their flags.

Siddipet (Medak), Sept. 8: “Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy would meet a fate worse than even N. Chandrababu Naidu,” saying this Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao launched a scathing attack on the Congress and the Chief Minister at a meeting in Siddipet here on Friday.

Called Samara Shankaravam, the first public meeting by the TRS chief after resigning from the UPA was a very well-attended one. Appealing to people to re-ignite the flames of the movement for a separate State, Mr Rao likened the Telangana-cause to the first war of Independence.

“It is time we emulate the acts of our great freedom fighters of 1857 who had carried forward their freedom struggle against the colonial rulers with valour,” Mr Rao said. Stating that the TRS MLAs and MPs are ready to quit their posts for the cause of Telangana, he dared the Congress MLAs and MPs of the region to follow suit to demonstrate their sincerity.

Continuing his attack on the Congress Mr Rao peppered his speech with popular Telangana proverbs, verses and historical accounts. However, he spared the Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Mr Rao said, “The Congress breached the trust of the people of Telangana. It made its own Prime Minister lie. We had mustered the requisite support from major parties for Telangana in Delhi, but the Congress backtracked on its commitment. Even their president had made a commitment to Telangana. Take the Congress leaders to task and corner them in the villages democratically.”

Congress Variki Shankaragiri Manyale Gathi, he remarked to thunderous applause from the audience. “They will not be allowed into their houses by their own family members because of their deception,” he said and added that the TRS would expose the video clippings which show several Congress leaders assuring the TRS on separate Telangana. Not believing the government claims of development in Telangana, Mr Rao said the Jala Yagnam project benefits Andhra and Rayalaseema at the cost of Telangana.

Siddipet turns pink

Siddipet (Medak), Sept. 8: The Siddipet town virtually turned pink as thousands of Telangana activists and supporters arrived from all over the region. A strong contingent of advocates, clad in black coats, hogged the limelight as they vociferously raised slogans in favour of Telangana.

Earlier, the TRS chief arrived in a convoy of cars and four wheelers comprising about 1,000 vehicles to the venue near the cotton market yard in Siddipet. The party has put up huge hoardings at the public meet venue to expose the “Deception of the Congress” on Telangana issue.

“Jai Telangana – 60+60 = 120 and Congress = 420” read one hoarding near the dais. In an apparent bid to lift the morale of the cadres, the organisers put up banners – Apajayalu Kalginachote Gelupu Pilupu Vinipisthundi (Sound of victory is being heard in places where we lost battle).

Vijayawada, Sept. 8: An all-party meeting here on Friday warned the district administration against continuing the ban on the movement of heavy vehicles into the city following the shifting of the wholesale market to Gollapudi on the outskirts. Urban Telugu Desam general secretary K. Nagul Meera, city Congress president Pyla Sominaidu, CPI city secretary Palla Surya Rao, CPI(M) city secretary R. Raghu, Hardware Merchants Association leader C.L. Kantha Rao and several others participated in a round-table conference.

Extending support to the trading community, the leaders of various political parties, including the TD and the Congress, opposed the administration’s move to shift the market totally to the outskirts and restrict the movement of heavy vehicles into the city.
Ironically, it was the TD which had initially proposed to shift the wholesale market to the outskirts and constructed the massive complex at Gollapudi.

Similarly, the Congress which came to power in 2004 had completed the market and Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy had inaugurated it. However, the two parties are now opposing the move by claiming that larger interests of the trading community and the city development.

They warned the district administration against its move to shift the trade to the outskirts and ban the heavy vehicles into the city. The leaders also threatened to observe city bandh on September 11 if the officials failed to withdraw the orders. Meanwhile, police commissioner Umesh Sharraf said that the police would allow heavy vehicles into the city during night time. However, he said that they would not allow any vehicle into the One Town area as the wholesale market has been shifted to Gollapudi.

Vijayawada, Sept. 8: With only one month left for mayor Tadi Sakuntala to vacate her seat fulfilling the understanding between the Congress and the CPI, the Congress leadership has began the search for a suitable replacement.

Ms Sakuntala was sworn in on October 7 last year as the Congress allocated the seat to the CPI in the first year of the five-year tenure. While speculation is rife over the continuation of Ms Sakuntala for another term, the Congress leaders are lobbying to take over the post as they were having a tough time with the Left parties in the council and would need their own mayor in the chair.

Local MP Lagadapati Rajagopal is backing the candidature of Mallika Beg-um, while Vijayawada East MLA V. Radhakrishna is sponsoring the candidature of B. Rathna Bindu. Though Kankipadu MLA and former minister Devineni Rajasekhar Nehru did not stake claim for the post for his supporter, senior corporator and former deputy mayor Anne Prasanna’s chances of becoming mayor are brighter.

Keeping this controversy in mind, the Congress high command has called for a report on the status of the senior woman corporators. The high command is believed to have asked the leaders to check the candidate’s seniority in the council, their ability to handle the council meetings, their political understanding to face challenges from the Left and their availability to the party.

The party would require a strong support in the council now, particularly to face the increasing onslaught of the Left. The CPI(M) is leaving no stone unturned to target the Congress on various issues and Congress corporators feel that mayor Sakuntala was not helping the party from the CPI(M) criticism. Taking all these aspects into consideration, a senior Congress leader said that the crown may go to Ms Prasanna.

Mandasa (Srikakulam), Sept. 8: Tension prevailed in the town when the Telugu Desam (TD) organised a bandh and Sompeta MLA Gouth Sivaji staged a dharna in protest against the beating up of two party activists by the police on Thursday night.The police personnel led by sub-inspector (SI) B.S.S. Prakash and constable Mastan beat up TD activists Prakash Panigrahi and Regu Krishna Rao at market complex.

Condemning the incident, the party gave a bandh call on Friday and took out a huge rally. According to eyewitnesses, Prakash Panigrahi and Krishna Rao were talking at the complex when the SI came to them and asked about their identity. Even as they were replying, the SI pulled out a stick from a paan shop and beat them up.

“I pleaded with the police not to beat Panigrahi as he was suffering from heart disease. But the SI did not heed to our pleas,” Krishna Rao told reporters. Later, both were dragged to the police station and kicked in the belly, he alleged. Panigrahi was later admitted to Sompeta hospital.

Sompeta circle-inspector K. Srinivasa Rao, who came to know of the incident through MLA Sivaji, rushed to Mr Panigrahi to render medical aid. The news spread like a wildfire and TD activists immediately called for a bandh on Friday. All the shops and establishments downed their shutters. The party workers then took out the rally raising slogans against the police.

MLA Sivaji also joined the rally and later staged a dharna at the bus complex. The CI reached the spot and tried to pacify the MLA and the party workers. “We probed the incident and found the SI had beaten up Mr Panigrahi and Mr Krishna Rao. A report is being sent to higher officials to initiate action against him,” the CI told the reporters.

Mr Panigrahi’s daughters Vandana and Archana told the CI that their mother died a month ago and the father suffered a heart attack. “I never saw such a cruel police officer in my life,” said MLA Sivaji. Refuting the allegations against him, the SI said both were found drinking and he had sent them to hospital for a medical check up.

Visakhapatnam, Sept. 8: Andhra University (AU) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to carry out research and development work related to science, technology and engineering here on Friday.

The documents were exchanged between university vice-chancellor Prof. L. Venugopal Reddy and DRDO chief controller A. Sivathanu Pillai. As per the MoU, the post-graduates, research scholars and faculty of the varsity will undertake various research projects for Naval Science and Technological Laboratory under DRDO in such a way that both are benefitted.

Addressing the gathering after the signing ceremony, Mr Pillai said universities should become incubators for technology. However due to lack of funds, they were not able to play their role properly, he said. It was the duty of research institutes to provide the funds and expertise to bring out the talents from the universities, he added.

Mumbai, Sept. 8: Maharashtra is on high alert after at least 30 people died and over 190 were injured in twin blasts which took place in Malegaon on Friday afternoon. According to the police, the first blast took place at around 1.50 pm near Mushara Chowk and minutes later, another blast occurred outside a Muslim cemetery, which is a kilometre away from Mushara Chowk.

Soon after the blasts took place, large crowds gathered at the spot, an area that was already crowded due to Friday namaz. Bomb disposal and detection squads and dog squads also reached the spot soon after the incident. “The police was not able to reach the spot quickly as a large number of people had gathered at the spot and mobile services were also jammed,” director-general of police (Maharashtra) P.S. Pasricha told mediapersons on Friday evening.

“The situation in Malegaon is tense but under control. Curfew had been imposed in Malegaon area after the incident and the State is on high alert. The injured had been rushed to the civil hospital for treatment. Companies of the State Reserve Police and local police have been deployed in Malegaon,” said Dr Pasricha.
He said that in a fit of anger, a mob of around 500 pelted stones at the Azad Nagar police station in Malegaon, due to which seven policemen were injured.

The police party then fired at the mob to disperse them, though nobody sustained any injuries in the firing. When asked how the blasts took place, Dr Pasricha said, “There were some shops outside the Muslim cemetery and a cycle was also found in a damaged condition at the blast spot near Mushara Chowk. It seems that the blast material could have been kept in the one of the shops and the cycle.” When asked what could be the materials used for the blasts, Dr Pasricha said, “It would be too early to comment about the material. Samples are being taken and sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory for testing.”

New Delhi, Sept. 8: The government so far has no clue as to who is responsible for the twin bomb blasts in Malegaon in which 30 have died so far and over 190 injured. Briefing newspersons a couple of hours after the incident, Union home secretary V.K. Duggal said in New Delhi on Friday that, so far, no body or individual has come forward to claim responsibility for the incident.

Meanwhile, Union home minister Shivraj Patil, who belongs to Maharashtra, is likely to go to Malegaon on Saturday, possibly accompanied by the home secretary and other senior officers of the ministry. He said that the two blasts occurred around 1350 hours, one at Mushara Chowk outside a mosque and the other in the vicinity of the city’s graveyard. He admitted that the situation in the town is very tense “but it is totally under control”.

He said that he has been informed by the Maharashtra chief secretary that the State government has despatched four companies of the Special Reserve Police to Malegaon. Be-sides, the Centre has placed 26 companies of the CRPF and six of the RAF at the disposal of the Maharashtra government, Mr Duggal said. He conceded that the picture of both the number of casualties and injured as well as the source of the trouble is very sketchy.

The home secretary said that there are certain festivals which are considered “sensitive”, and Shab-e-Baraat is one of them and, therefore, the State government had already been sensitised. But he added that those out to target innocent people sometimes manage to circumvent all precautions. Asked who could be responsible for the blasts, he said, “There is no exact information. Nobody has said who has done it.”

The Union home secretary said that the usual advisory from the Central government to the State governments in such an event has already been sent, asking them to remain extra alert. Mr Duggal conceded that there was an incident of stones being pelted at the Azad Nagar police station after the bomb blasts, but said that in such a situation people do get agitated and need to be calmed. The administration, has been asked to contact community leaders and utilise their services to bring peace and calm, he said.

New Delhi, Sept. 8: Sri Lankan leaders on Friday rallied to the defence of Indian high commissioner Nirupama Rao, denouncing a minister who had accused her of interfering in the island’s internal affairs. Politicians from the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the Opposition United National Party (UNP) and Tamil and Muslim groups expressed outrage over Anura Bandaranaike’s unexpected outburst on Wednesday.

An informed source said from Colombo that President Mahinda Rajapakse was “furious and angry” over the attack on Ms Rao made in Parliament by the minister, a bachelor brother of former President Chandrika Kumaratunga. The source said the President felt that the remarks were aimed at embarrassing him (Mr Rajapakse) because the minister was upset that Mr Rajapakse had taken over the leadership of SLFP, ending the decades of dominance by the Bandaranaike family.

A UNP leader who agreed with the assessment said: “I would say that Rao is playing a very helpful role in trying to resolve our problems, and all of us are surprised by what he said.” The UNP leader, who has good personal equations with both the Indian envoy and the minister, said that Mr Bandaranaike’s remarks were “very characteristic of him ... he does these things from time to time.”

An SLFP leader who did not want to be quoted by name — “for the sake of decency” — echoed the sentiment. “It is shocking that a minister from our party has made baseless allegations against your high commissioner.” Basheer Segu Dawood, chairman of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), said he was in Parliament when Mr Bandaranaike, in the course of a “good speech” on the Sri Lanka situation, suddenly referred to the “pretty” Indian envoy who he said should “look after her embassy and we will look after our own internal affairs.”

None of the MPs in the 225-seat house reacted though many looked at one another in visible surprise since the Bandaranaike family has always prided itself as close friends of India.
“We don’t agree at all with the observations,” Mr Basheer said. “The fact is India is closely linked to our problem and is trying to apply medicines to our wounds. Rao’s role in such difficult times cannot be called interference in Sri Lankan affairs.”

The SLMC leader described Ms Rao as “a soft lady who never meddles in our affairs” and who “is always concerned about the welfare of Sri Lankan people and the country’s unity.” Incidentally, in the course of the same speech, Mr Bandaranaike hit out at Pakistani charges blaming Indian intelligence agencies for the August 14 attempt to assassinate Islamabad’s then envoy in Colombo.

The Sri Lankan government has disassociated itself from the remarks. Mr Rajapakse telephoned Ms Rao and expressed regrets. Late on Thursday, the Indian government credited Ms Rao “with highest professional standards” and said that Indian diplomats never interfered in the affairs of the countries where they were posted.

New Delhi, Sept. 8: The US Senate has still to fix a schedule for taking up the bill on the Indo-US civilian nuclear energy deal for a vote. The Senate will adjourn in the first week of October for the elections to the US Congress and a delay will effectively postpone the bill and the final reconciliation between the Senate and the House of Representatives to January next when the new legislators are in place.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s first detailed assurance to Parliament that Indian interests will not be compromised has not evoked a formal response from the US State department, although influential non-proliferation lobbyists, have started questioning the Indian approach as spelt out in the Parliament. The American media has quoted unidentified State department officials as maintaining that they would not like to “disturb” the US Senators at this stage about the provisions in the bill that the Indians are not favourably disposed towards, but that a delay in the vote and a possible change in the complexion of the Congress could present a major hurdle in the final clearance of this nuclear legislation.

Dr Singh had made an exceptionally detailed suo motu statement in the Parliament, under pressure from the Left parties and the Opposition, to avoid a sense of the House resolution that his government feared could acquire the potential of a censure motion. The statement that did not satisfy the Indian parliamentarians completely has, however, created ripples in the US with the first substantive attack coming from the executive director of the Non-proliferation Policy Education Centre in Washington, Mr Henry Sokolski.

The difference between the respective legislators of the two countries about the proposed legislation arises from the US insistence on perceiving it as a non-proliferation law and the Indian argument that the focus should remain nuclear energy without determining strategic shifts in Indian policy. Mr Sokolski, in an article for the Weekly Standard that has been pasted on the Institute’s website, pits Dr Singh against American non-proliferation interests maintaining that instead of being happy with the US offer, he had treated it with “imperious contempt”.

The article titled “Civilian Nuclear Cooperation, New Delhi’s message to Washington: Drop Dead” is indicative of the anti-nuclear deal lobby in the US that has been pressuring the legislators to ensure that anti-proliferation concerns are addressed in the proposed legislation.
His article sought to make it clear to the US legislators that on all matters of concern — such as nuclear safeguards in perpetuity, annual review by the US President of the Indian nuclear programme, IAEA inspections, foreign policy including relations with Iran — Dr Singh was now insistent that the decision rested with India alone.

“Certainly, trimming our legislative sails for India any more than we already have or curtailing debate over possible amendments to clarify the nuclear deal would be a major mistake,” Mr Sokolski said. He further pointed out that in the past 20 months, the US State department had placed seven separate Indian entities under sanctions for “transferring strategic weapons related technology of goods to Iran.”

Mr Sokolski pointed out that the Bush administration officials had warned that continuing strategic relations with Iran would be a “deal breaker” but even so Dr Singh had gone on to say in Parliament, “any prescriptive suggestions in this regard are not acceptable to us.”

New Delhi, Sept. 8: The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) intercepted a Hyderabad-bound passenger at the Delhi airport on Thursday evening with a bag containing Rs 10 lakh in cash which had allegedly not gone through a security check. According to the CISF, the bag had been handed over to the passenger unauthorisedly by the airport duty manager of low cost carrier SpiceJet. The airline has denied the charge while an income-tax notice has reportedly been slapped on the passenger who was to board the SpiceJet flight (SG-219) from Delhi to Hyderabad.

“The duty manager of SpiceJet was seen picking up the bag from the registered baggage area and handing it over unauthorisedly to the passenger as he was about to board the bus taking him from the airport building to the aircraft. On further examination, it was found that the bag did not even have the security labels, indicating that it was neither check-in baggage nor hand-baggage,” a CISF official explained.

“The passenger could not explain the source of the money. The airline official claimed that the bag had been given to him from someone in the airline to be forwarded to the passenger. This is a security breach and it was extremely irresponsible of the SpiceJet official to act in this way. The bag could have contained anything,” the CISF official further said.

When contacted, a SpiceJet official said, “The passenger came to us and said that his bag contained valuables. As per our procedure, we sent an official to escort the passenger. The bag was cleared by security but the security label was unfortunately lost.” The airline also stated that the passenger had missed his flight to Hyderabad but left later by another flight.

New Delhi, Sept. 8: Three Jharkhand MLAs, who wit-hdrew their support to the Arjun Munda government, on Friday moved the Supre-me Court seeking to restr-ain Assembly Speaker Inder Singh Namdhari from deci-ding on their disqualification issue.

Enos Ekka, Stephen Marandi and Kamlesh Kumar Singh moved their petitions during the mentioning time (the time earmarked to take up urgent matters) before a bench of Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Justice C.K. Thakker, which decided to hear them on Monday, the day the Speaker had directed them to appear before him to decide on the petitions seeking their disqualification from the House.

While seeking to restrain the Speaker from taking action pursuant to the September 6 notice served by him, the MLAs sought that status quo be maintained with regard to the number of members in the House till the Arjun Munda government proves its majority in the Assembly.

Advocate K.V. Vishwana-than, who mentioned the petition for the MLAs, said adequate security should be provided to them to ensure that they can attend the Assembly without any hindrance when the Munda go-vernment’s strength is tested on the floor of the House on or before September 15 as fixed by the Governor.He alleged that there was a threat to the lives of the MLAs and referred to the incident of September 5 when four MLAs, who withdrew support from the government, were attacked at the Ranchi Airport.

New Delhi, Sept. 8: Julia De Quadros first fell in love with India at the age of 16, when she travelled to the subcontinent for the first time and volunteered in New Delhi with the Missionaries of Charity orphanage and with the World Health Organisation polio surveillance campaign. She is back in Delhi, this time as one of 26 “Service Corps Fellows” sponsored by the American India Foundation, an international development organisation that has former US president Bill Clinton as a patron and is funded by non-resident Indians and persons of Indian origin.

Like Julia, Rushabh Kapashi and Subarna Mukerjee too have decided to take a year off from their academic or professional pursuits to spend time as volunteers in India. Rushabh says he was born in India and left for the US when he was 16. Ask him why he wants to quit pursuing an M.Phil in development studies at the University of Cambridge and he shoots back that he is willing to take that risk. “Volunteerism is a virtue of American life and society, it is a part of American culture. We have done well for ourselves, why not do something for others.”

New Delhi, Sept. 8: The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre to inform the court within four weeks on the steps taken by it for the implementation of laws for regulating slaughter houses across the country.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Justice C.K. Thakker said the Centre’s affidavit would list the steps taken by it to implement various environmental laws, rules and statutes for the regulation of the environment in a slaughter house. The bench expressed its displeasure that the Centre, the Central Pollution Control Board or the State Pollution Control Boards were in a position to assist the court on the nature of scheme to be implemented for the slaughter houses.

Lucknow, Sept. 8: A peon in a girls’ college in Kanpur was at the receiving end of students’ fury on Thursday when over 2,000 girls slapped and kicked him around till he managed to run out of the college premises, screaming for help. The peon had scribbled an objectionable comment on the admission form of a girl student and the girls decided to teach him a lesson.

According to reports reaching here, over 2,000 girl students of the S.N. Sena Girls College in Kanpur had gathered in the school hall to fill up their admission forms. Suddenly, one of the girls began to cry and ran out of the hall. The girl student, who was clad in jeans and a T-shirt, went to the former students’ union president, Shaheena Parveen, and showed her the form on which the peon Hari Narain had scribbled, “Kripya apna ling parikshan karaye (Please get your sex determination test done).”

Enraged at this, the student leader called out to others and informed them of the peon’s audacity. Without bothering to inform the school authorities or waiting for their intervention, the girls summoned the peon and began beating him with slippers and kicked him around. The teachers present in the hall trying to pacify the girls, but the students refused to listen and continued to beat the peon. Other school employees and the non-teaching staff also could not muster up the courage to intervene. The principal, Dr Madhulekha Vidyarthi, said on Friday that appropriate action would be taken against the peon.

Teachers of the S.N. Sen College, on the other hand, say that the violence on the campus on Thursday is actually reflective of the growing indiscipline among girls. “This began two years ago when the students reacted to the imposition of a dress code in the college which put a ban on jeans and T-shirts. The girls’ refused to obey the order and the school administration succumbed to pressure and withdrew the order. Ever since, the girls have made it a habit of reacting violently to every incident and bulldozing their way,” a senior teacher said.

New Delhi, Sept. 8: US Army Chief Gen. Peter Sc-hoomaker, who is currently on a visit to India, met Army Chief Gen. J.J. Singh here on Friday. Army officials were tight-lipped about the details of the discussion. The US Ge-neral is also scheduled to meet defence minister Pr-anab Mukherjee, who just returned from Germany.

Hyderabad, Sept. 8: A division bench of AP High Court comprising Chief Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice G.V. Seethapathy on Friday directed the State government to close down mineral water manufacturing units which do not possess requisite permission and the certificate of the Bureau of Indian Standards.

The bench directed secretary, municipal administration, S.P. Singh to appear before the court for appraising the court about the steps taken by the government to initiate action against these units. The bench passed the orders in a taken up writ petition responding to a letter written by Bhaskar Rao, the chairman of Machlipatnam Consumer Forum. The court was informed by the Central government that a law was enacted to curb the manufacture and sale of spurious water. The bench directed to notify the same within two weeks and adjourned the matter to September 18.

Jail cops differ with judges

A division bench of AP High Court on Friday directed director-general of prisons R.P. Singh to depute officers to interact with the concerned district judges and to submit a true report in regard to the number of prisoners languishing in jails even after securing bail from the courts.
The bench was dealing with the petition wherein several persons who secu-red bail were languishing in jail as they could not furnish necessary security.

The bench adjourned the matter to September 11. Mr Singh, who appeared before the court, informed that only 375 persons languishing in the jails despite securing bail. However, the report submitted by various district courts reflected that more than 918 persons who secured bail were languishing in jails.

Hyderabad, Sept. 8: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy on Friday expressed unhappiness at the silence of ministers from Telangana on allegations by Telangana Rashtra Samiti that his government had neglected the region. While chairing a cabinet meeting here, the chief minister reminded the ministers that people would believe the TRS propaganda if they did not speak out in defence of the government.

He pulled up Major irrigation minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah for not clarifying the government stand on Pothireddypadu to counter opposition allegations. “There is nothing for the government to hide on Pothireddypadu and we have made it clear that we are taking 44,000 cusecs of flood waters,” he said. “Why should there be a controversy?”

Following this, Lakshmaiah called a press meet to announce that the old head regulatory with a carrying capacity of 11,000 cusecs would be abandoned. Dr Reddy wanted the ministers to counter the TRS offensive by explaining to people the development initiatives taken out by the government. He directed the irrigation minister to hold a presentation for other ministers on irrigation projects and funds flow into Telangana.

Hyderabad, Sept. 8: For the first time, the State government has decided to give power incentives to tourism projects along with several tax incentives. According to the new tourism policy, which the cabinet approved on Friday, power cost would be reimbursed at 75 paise per unit during the first year of policy and for the remaining four years, the rate of reimbursement would be regulated on yearly basis keeping in view the changes in power tariff.

“The power cost of the project, will however, be pegged down to the first year’s level,” the policy statement said. Information minister Md Ali Shabber said focus wou-ld be on promoting rural tourism. To benefit small investors, the government decided to give 20 per cent rebate in the project cost.

Hyderabad, Sept. 8: The Housing department officials resorting to statistical jugglery on “Indiramma houses” got a rap from Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy at the cabinet meet on Friday. According to sources, the Chief Minister told housing secretary A.K. Parida not to give statistics to project that large number of houses were built under Indiramma programme.
He was sharply reacting to complaints from ministers on tardy implementation of housing schemes.

Warning the officials against presenting a wrong picture, the Chief Minister said he would hold a comprehensive review through video conference on either September 13 or 15. He also asked his cabinet colleagues to get details from respective districts. When the officials explained about shortage of staff, the Chief Minister gave his approval for recruiting 1100 work inspectors through outsourcing and 200 Assistant Engineers on regular basis. Minister after Minister was belived to have complained against the officials delaying the grounding of houses.

They brought to the notice of the Chief Minister the plight of villagers who demolished their houses and moved to rented houses in anticipation of new ones under the scheme. Later, Information Minister Shabbir Ali told mediapersons that the government had also taken a decision to increase the financial assistance for basement to Rs 5000 to the applicants living in low lying areas of all the coastal districts except Vizianagaram.

Hyderabad, Sept. 8: The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre has developed a technology to safely irradiate mangoes to extend their shelf life to boost exports from the country. An irradiating unit has been planned at Visakhapatnam to treat mangoes and other horticultural produce for round-the-year availability in the market and to improve the export potential.

Andhra Pradesh, being one of the major exporters of mangoes in the world, stands to benefit the most from the BARC technology, which will be available for local entrepreneurs by next year. Irradiation cost ranges from 25 paise to 50 paise per kg of vegetables or fruits for low dose application as sprout inhibitor and from Rs 1 to Rs 3 per kg for disinfestations in cereals and pulses and high dose application such as treatment of spices for microbial decontamination.

According to BARC director Dr Srikumar Banerjee, only 200 tonnes of agricultural produce is irradiated in India. The Netherlands processes 30,000 tonnes, China 1.40 lakh tonnes and the USA 40,000 tonnes. He said irradiated foods don’t have any health risk and there will be no loss of nutrients.

Andhra Pradesh produces 130 lakh tonnes of vegetables and fruits every year and of this 35 lakh tonnes go waste because of lack of post-harvest technology. The benefits accrued to consumers are in terms of availability, prolonged shelf life, ensuring improved hygiene of foods which is expected to have a stabilising effect on the market prices of foods by significant reduction of storage losses.

BARC has already established a facility for radiation processing of spices at Navi Mumbai besides setting up first demonstration plant for radiation processing of onions and potatoes at Lasalgaon in Nasik district.

Hyderabad, Sept. 8: The State cabinet on Friday passed a resolution thanking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for appointing a one-man commission to decide on classification of Scheduled Castes.

Announcing this at a press conference, ministers belonging to sub-castes of SCs said they would abide by the decision taken by the commission. State Ministers K. Ranga Rao, G. Surya Rao, G. Vinod, M. Mareppa and J. Geetha Reddy addressed the meet. The rare show of unity came after the Chief Minister’s displeasure over the ministers of sub-castes airing their views.

Hyderabad, Sept. 8: A recent survey by World Health Organisation reports that every year one lakh people commit suicides in India and every 40 seconds, one suicide takes place in the world. Estimates suggest that fatalities may rise to 1.5 million by 2020. Poverty, unemployment, love failure, arguments and work-related problems have been reported to be the main reasons for suicides in India.

Based on the report of WHO, Osmania Medical College Doctors’ Forum and Institute of Medical Health conducted a study, which has revealed the rate of suicides to be highest in Kerala, while Andhra Pradesh stands in ninth place. In Kerala, in one lakh people 30 end their lives whereas in Andhra Pradesh 14 commit suicides in a population of one lakh.

Forum president Dr K. Suresh and Dr Madhusudan and Dr K. Ashok Reddy, professors of psychiatry on Friday said that the society had to address the problem immediately. According to them, the self-employed (24 percent), housewives (21), farmers (15), salaried class (13), unemployed (9) students (5) and others (13) are committing suicides.

A family history of suicide, alcohol, drug abuse, child abuse, social isolation, mental disorders and depression are the main reasons for suicides. Dr Suresh said “every suicide is preventable. Members of the family and friends have to build confidence among people who are depressed.”

Hyderabad, Sept. 8: In a minor reshuffle before the imminent cabinet expansion, the government on Friday gave new postings to 10 IAS officers. Mr P.K. Agarwal, back from Central deputation, has been appointed Principal Secretary, Health, Medical and Family Welfare Department replacing Dr I. V. Subba Rao. Dr Rao has been posted as Principal Secretary, Revenue Department.

Mr Rajiv Sharma has been appointed Director General and Executive Director, Centre for Good Governance, Hyderabad relieving Mr A. Sreenivas Kumar, Director from the full additional charge. Mr K. V. Ramanachary, former Commissioner, Information and Public Relations Department, has been posted as Secretary, School Education Department in the ex-cadre post to be created.
Mrs A. Santi Kumari, Additional Chief Executive Officer, Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty, is now Commissioner, Rural Development, Hyderabad.

Mr S. Narsing Rao has been appointed Chairman and Managing Director, Singareni Collieries Company Limited, Hyderabad replacing Mr R. H. Khwaja. Mr. Khwaja has been posted as Principal Secretary to Government, Public Enterprises Department. Mr. Prabhakar D. Thomas has been posted as Principal Secretary to Government (Accommodation), General Administration Department.

Mr Mukesh Kumar Meena, Executive Assistant to Chief Secretary and E.O. Deputy Secretary to Government (Coordination), General Administration Department is posted as Project Director, Integrated Land Information System (ILIS) Project. Mr Rallabandi Kavitha Prasad, Joint Director, Social Welfare Department is now Director of Culture.

Hyderabad, Sept. 8: A notorious conman who had been cheating upcoming models and television artistes by taking money after promising to cast them in his forthcoming feature film was arrested by the Gopalpuram police on Thursday.

Mohammed Meiraj Rahman alias Sameer Oberoi, 25, of Asifnagar had cheated budding models and TV artistes including the complainant, Madhubala Agarwal whose daughter was promised a role opposite Abhishek Bachan, by showing them his photographs with celebrities like Mohammed Azharuddin, Sangeeta Bijlani and Shah Rukh Khan.

Police said he would introduce himself as the owner of a production firm “Heaven and Art” and then would invite the girls to a hotel where he would show them his photographs with celebrities. Later, he would ask for their passport in the pretext of procuring visas to a foreign countries to facilitate shooting abroad. Ultimately, he would take money from them and escape. North Zone DCP Shikha Goel said that he was also involved in cases of kidnap and criminal intimidation. He was also arrested in Mumbai for sending indecent text messages to several actresses.

Hyderabad, Sept. 8: The city police has sounded an alert in the city following the serial blasts in Malegaon in Maharashtra and recovery of huge dump of rockets in Mahbubnagar. City Police Commissioner A.K. Mohanty said security has also been beefed up at places of religious worship particularly on the occasion of Shab-e-Baraat, he said.

Meanwhile, special teams of police have started raiding the offices and godowns of Kranti Transport, from whose godowns the rockets were recovered. However, the police refused to provide any information whether they seized anything from the godowns during the raid.