Saturday, September 30, 2006

 

Business News Aug 30th,2006

Economy on a roll, GDP up 8.9% in Q1


New Delhi, Sept. 29: The Indian economy registered this decade’s highest first quarter growth during the current financial year at 8.9 per cent on impressive showing by manufacturing and services sectors.
“This is the highest first quarter growth since 2000-01,” finance minister P. Chidambaram said shortly after the GDP data was released and assured that credit to manufacturing sector, which grew by 11.3 per cent, would neither be ‘delayed nor denied’. However, Mr Chidambaram wanted players other than industrial houses to chip in for boosting manufacturing growth further to make India a leader in at least 12 areas of activity.

The finance minister attr-ibuted the robust Q1 GDP growth to 31 per cent rise in bank credit, 36.2 per cent growth in commercial vehicles, 32.2 per cent increase in passenger traffic by aviation industry and 48.9 per cent jump in telephone connections. “Without government intervention”, the services grew by 10.6 per cent in Q1 of the current fiscal, the finance minister said.

Agriculture grew by a flat 3.4 per cent, chipping in 19.1 per cent to the overall GDP growth. Except for electricity and construction, which slowed down to 5.4 per cent and 9.5 per cent from 7.4 per cent and 12.4 per cent respectively, every sector recorded positive growth. He said growth in construction sector was lower than last year but did not indicate poor performance of the sector.




Local bodies cleared to raise funds from market


New Delhi, Sept. 29: Municipal bodies will now be able to raise funds from the market to meet their investment needs on a sustainable basis with the centre on Friday giving its approval for setting up a ‘Pooled Finance Development Fund’ for urban local bodies (ULBs).

“The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved a proposal by the ministry of urban development for setting up a Pooled Finance Development Fund. This will enable ULBs, including small and medium sized municipalities, to raise funds from the market,” finance minister P. Chidambaram told reporters after a CCEA meeting.

Mr Chidambaram said although municipalities are at present allowed to issue municipal bonds to raise funds, the decision would help them to borrow from the market on a collective and sustainable basis. The bonds issued under the proposed fund, to be set up within a month, would enjoy a tax-free status, he said, adding that necessary cha-nges would be brought in the finance bill of the next financial year in 2007.

“This fund will address the financial gap faced by cities and municipal bodies. They will now be able to approach the market to finance their infrastructure projects,” he said. Under the new scheme, local bodies would be able to access market borrowings based on their credit worthiness through the State-level pooled finance mechanism such as a State pooled finance entity. The government has approved an allocation of Rs 400 crore in the 10th plan for the scheme.

The proposals under the new scheme would be sanctioned by a committee comprising representatives of ministry of urban development, Planning Commission, State Urban Development department and fina-nce ministry among others. Of the funds available with the central government for the fund, five per cent would be used for project development assistance.

The balance 95 per cent would be used for contribution to a credit rating enhancement fund for improving the credit rating of municipal bonds to investment grade. According to an official note released after the CCEA meeting, the centre would reimburse 75 per cent of the cost of project development for each municipality, while the State or the union territory government would refund 25 per cent.

The government has also fixed a ceiling for disbursal of amount to the cities according to population. For metro and big cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad, the ceiling has been fixed at Rs 1 crore. For cities with population of above ten lakh, the ceiling is Rs 50 lakh, while for cities with population of less than 10 lakh the ceiling stands at Rs 25 lakh.

While the bonds issued under the fund would be tax-free, interest and dividend income earned from investments made from the credit rating enhancement fund corpus will not be exempted from income tax, the official note said.

Other CCEA decisions

Centre awards CBM blocks: The government awarded four Coal Bed Methane (CBM) blocks to the Anil Ambani group while rejecting its claim for another two after considering a detailed evaluation of the bids by an empowered committee of secretaries. Besides, three blocks were awarded to Australia’s Arrow Energy, two blocks to CoalGas and one block to British Petroleum. “The CCEA has accepted the recommendations of the ECS without any change,” finance minister P. Chidambaram said.

FDI hike in telecom won’t be deferred: The Union cabinet on Friday turned down a proposal by the communications ministry to keep in abeyance the increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) limit to 74 per cent from 49 per cent in the telecom sector and directed resolution of inter-ministerial differences within three months. “Department of telecom had suggested suspension of Press Note 5 and the matter was discussed. The decision to increase FDI to 74 per cent stands,” Mr Chidambaram said.

Acquisition of 6 LR-1 tankers by SCI cleared: The government gave the go ahead to Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) to acquire six long range-1 (LR-1) product tankers at a cost of Rs 1,705.68 crore. The acquisition would replace SCI’s ageing product tanker tonnage and meet the increased demand for exports and coastal transportation in the coming years.




Battery recall spreads like wild fire


Washington/Tokyo, Sept. 29: Consumers are being asked to return 526,000 laptop batteries made by Sony because they could catch fire, the latest in a record-setting recall involving nearly 7 million computers. IBM and Lenovo Group, the world’s third largest computer maker, were seeking the recall of rechargeable, lithium-ion batteries purchased with ThinkPad computers. A laptop caught fire at Los Angeles airport this month.

Elsewhere, Japanese electronics makers Toshiba and Fujitsu are recalling Sony batteries for their laptops while PC-maker Dell exp-anded its earlier recall of Sony battery packs. The batteries can short-circuit and have been blamed for causing some computers to catch fire.

The latest announcements bring the tally of recalled Sony batteries to about 7 million worldwide, and are a major embarrassment for the Japanese electronics and entertainment powerhouse. Toshiba said it is recalling 8,30,000 batteries made by Sony for its laptops. Hours later, Fujitsu Ltd. recalled an undisclosed number of Sony batteries that are used in 19 of its laptop models, according to Fujitsu spokesman Masao Sakamoto.

Whereas Dell said it is increasing the recall of Sony battery packs used in its systems to 4.2 million units from 4.1 million units. It urged customers to visit www.dellbatteryprogram.com and to recheck their batteries to see if they are affected.
The recalls comes as Sony Corp is in the midst of a major overhaul of its operations, closing plants, shutting divisions and trimming jobs. Sony said earlier on Friday it had asked manufacturers using its problem batteries to carry out a recall.

“Other laptop makers are expected to follow suit and offer new batteries to their customers,” said Takashi Uehara, a Sony spokesman. Sony has said the batteries could catch fire in rare cases when microscopic metal particles came into contact with other parts of the battery cell, leading to a short circuit.

Typically a battery pack will shut off when there is a short circuit but on occasion the battery would catch fire instead. The Toshiba recall involves Dynabook, Qosmio, Satellite Portege and Tecra models, but regional breakdowns and dates of manufacturing weren’t immediately available, said Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Omori.

In all, these are the largest electronic-related recall involving the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The agency said there have been only 47 reports of battery catching fire.
“While the risk may be real, it is very small,” said Julie Vallese, a commission spokeswoman.

In the latest recall, Lenovo cited a potential risk after a report of a smoking laptop at the LA airport. IBM and Lenovo chose to pursue a broader recall, the commission said.
For IBM and Lenovo, the batteries believed to be at risk were sold between February 2005 and this month, separately or along with ThinkPad computers.

About 1,68,500 of the 5,26,000 batteries were sold in the US. The recalled batteries were sold with, or sold separately to be used with, the following ThinkPad notebook computers: T Series (T43, T43p, T60); R Series (R51e, R52, R60, R60e); and X Series (X60, X60s). The batteries have the following part or model numbers, found on the battery label: ASM P/N 92P1072, 92P1088, 92P1142 or 92P1170; or FRU P/N 92P1073, 92P1089, 92P1141, 92P1169 or 93P5028. Consumers have been advised to stop using the batteries and contact Lenovo for a free replacement or log on to lenovo.com/batteryprogram.




DCB plans to raise Rs 180cr via IPO


Hyderabad, Sept. 29: Development Credit Bank Ltd will be expanding its branch network, besides shoring up its CAR, using some of the proceeds from its IPO, which opened on Friday, Mr Amin Manekia, a director of the bank, said here on Friday. “We plan to improve our CAR from the current 9.66 per cent, strengthen our capital base, and expand our branch network to 100, besides investing in technology,” Mr Manekia said.

Post-IPO, the stakeholding of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development in DCB will be reduced to about 31 per cent from the current 58.43 per cent, he said. The bank is offering 7,15,00,000 shares of Rs 10 each, and the issue is through the book-building route. The price band for the issue is Rs 22-Rs 26. Mr Manekia said the bank will raise Rs 157 crores at the lower end of the price band and Rs 186 crores at the upper end.




Northgate plans $26.5m private placement


Hyderabad, Sept. 29: Northgate Technologies Ltd, a Hyderabad-based software products firm, said on Friday that it will be raising $26.50 million by way of prefere-ntial allotment to five foreign institutional investors. Proceeds from the private placement will be used to expand Northgate’s operations, including the setting up of a server farm in Hong Kong, at an estimated cost of $6 million, the company’s chairman and managing director Venkat S. Meenavalli said.

Mr Meenavalli told reporters here that the board had approved the allotment of 24,47,062 equity shares of Rs 10 each at a price of Rs 497.28 to the five FIIs. The FIIs include UBS Securities Asia Ltd, through its Mauritius subsidiary Swiss Finance Corporation, which will be allotted 6,33,700 shares. Macquarie Bank Ltd of Australia would also be allotted 6,33,700 share, while Copthall Mauritius Investments Ltd will be allotted 5,79,450 shares, India Capital Fund 4,61,700 shares and India Institutional Fund 1,35,512 shares.

The Northgate board on Friday had also decided to increase the authorised share capital of the company from Rs 18 crores to Rs 23 crores, Mr Meenavalli said. Mr Meenavalli said Northgate, which has a substantial presence in the online advertising market, was also planning to enter the mobile Voice over Internet Protocol space.




Megasoft seen as frontrunner for merger with VisualSoft Tech


Hyderabad, Sept. 29: Six months after its plan to merge AppLabs Technologies collapsed, VisualSoft Technologies, a software services firm here, has short-listed three suitors, including Megasoft Ltd., to merge itself with, sources familiar with the deal said late on Friday. All three companies, including Megasoft, are based in Chennai.
The sources said Spark Capital, an investment banker

engaged by VisualSoft Technologies, will be making a presentation to the company’s board on Saturday. “Megasoft is one of the three suitors who have been short-listed by Spark. The board of VisualSoft will take a decision based on the three merger offers, and we expect it to decide soon. The merger will be through a stock swap. VisualSoft needs to merge itself with another company to remain in business. The company has been drifting for a while after the AppLabs deal fell through,” the sources said.

According to market sources, Megasoft is seen as the strongest suitor, in terms of finances. “Megasoft is a major player in the telecom products space, and it needs a software services firm like VisualSoft to complement is software services portfolio,” the source, who is intimate with both VisualSoft and Megasoft, told this newspaper.

Megasoft posted a net profit of Rs 8.07 crore on revenues of Rs. 37.72 crore in the first quarter of 2006-07. In comparison, VisualSoft posted a net profit of Rs 25.84 lakh on revenues of 18.71 crore in the first quarter of 2006-07. “Large investors in VisualSoft have been concerned with the drift in the company, and it took Spark Capital more than six months to find the suitors. We believe that a merger is the only way to help VisualSoft grow,” the sources said.

 

Andhrapradesh Regional News, Sep 30th,2006

State plans to tackle drought


Anantapur, Sept. 30: The State government chalked out a strategy to check the drought conditions in over 16 districts in the State, said minister for agriculture N. Raghuveera Reddy. Talking to newsmen here on Saturday, he said that the Centre had already announced a special package with Rs 9,650 crores for these 16 drought-hit districts in the State. In addition, the State government had decided to implement another long-term plan with Rs 82,000 crores, Mr Reddy added.

These funds would be allocated in addition to the regular budget allocations every year, the minister said. He said that these funds would be spent in the next three years in 16 districts, where there were a number of farmers’ suicides. Of the allocation, a majority percentage of funds would be provided in the form of loans to farmers through banks, Mr Reddy said.

The scheme would be implemented equally to those farmers who possess lands and also to those who did not have land. Moreover the scheme continues even if there was no drought situation in those districts, he added. The scheme was mainly designed to prevent the farmers from going to private money lenders and the funds would be utilised to benefit the farmers on a large scale, the minister said.

At a separate programme, Mr Raghuveera Reddy explained the distribution of Rs 9,650 crores funds sanctioned by the Centre under various heads. Of the total funds, Rs 1,436 crores are being spent for the rebate in interest, Rs 640 crores are for drip and sprinklers utilisation, Rs 960 crores for the development of groundwater development and watersheds, Rs 479 crores for cent per cent seed exchange, Rs 3,233 crores for major irrigation, Rs 2,231 crores for minor irrigation, Rs 325 crores are being spent for medium irrigation system, he said.

The respective collectors were directed to send reports on drought situation immediately to identify the drought-hit districts and they have already received reports from 10 collectors and the remaining are awaited. Besides the drought-hit mandals, the government had decided to identify dro-ught-affected villages, so that the drought relief package could be implemented from grass roots level.

He explained that there were some loopholes in the guidelines for identifying the drought and the government is planning to undertake a study and plug them. Especially, the guidelines with regard to rainfall are hampering the farmers. Though unseasonal rainfall takes place it is being taken into account, even though it is of no use to the farmers.The government is now planning to amend those guidelines to benefit the farmers, he added.




TG water reaches Sagileru project


Porumamilla, Sept. 30: Water from the Telugu Ga-nga project finally reached the Sagileru project on Friday evening, fulfilling the long-pending dreams of the people of the region. It may be mentioned here that All-India Congress Co-mmittee president Sonia Gandhi had released water from the Brahmamsagar project, constructed as part of the Telugu Ganga scheme. The Telugu Ganga water after traversing several kilometers reached the Lower Sagileru project on Friday.

The people of the region are eagerly awaiting the Krishna waters to reach them for the past two decades. The Left parties and several leaders of the region took up many agitations for the diversion of Krishna waters to Rayalaseema, which was perennially hit by drought.

In 1978, the then MLA Sivaramakrishna Rao appealed to the then major irrigation minister Baga Reddy to divert Krishna waters to Badwel taluq. But the minister dismissed the appeal saying that there was no such chance. However, the late NT Rama Rao gave the boon to the people of the region.

It was during his regime the Brahmamsagar project took shape. A canal was also laid from Pothireddypadu head regulator to Brahmamsagar. But the project was shelved during Chandrababu Naidu regime. As a result, the water that was supposed to reach the region in 1995 failed to take its course.

After NT Rama Rao, it was Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, who chalked out the Jala Yagnam scheme and granted funds for the Telugu Ganga project. Once the funds were released, the canal works were hastened and with the dedication of the project to the nation by Mrs Gandhi, the water started flowing towards Sagileru project, through Bokkeneru rivulet.

If the irrigation officials release water from the left canal of Sagileru project, it would irrigate over 10,000 acres in B Koduru and Badwel mandals as 34 tanks in the region would get adequate water.






Venkaiah ridicules package


Nellore, Sept. 30: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national leader M. Venkaiah Naidu ridiculed the Central package announced for Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala. Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, he said, “The package is too late and too little.” It is only a token package and the figures are too big and the relief is too small, Mr Venkaiah said.

Mr Venkaiah Naidu alleged that the package is part of the Budget proposal while asserting that Rs 12,303 crores of the total Rs 16,978 crores pertains to the ongoing schemes, Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) and Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP).

Referring to the Centre’s claim on interest waiver to the tune of Rs 1,400 crores to the farmers of the AP, he reminded that the fund-starved State government had to bear 50 per cent of the waiver that comes to Rs 700 crored.

“How can the State bear the requisite amount?” Mr Venkaiah Naidu said. He said that rescheduling of loans left cooperative banks and farmers high and dry while referring to Rs 1,662 crores worth of loans rescheduled during 2004 due to severe drought.

He said that waiver of principal is better than rescheduling while referring to former prime minister V.P. Singh decision to waive loans up to Rs 10,000 during his tenure. He said that Karnataka is not happy with the package. Mr Venkaiah Naidu alleg-ed that farmers are in dire straits due to lack of godown facilities, minimum support price for farm produces, power cuts and debts.

“The Centre should go for realistic and massive package it is really interested in addressing the farmers woes,” he said. He criticised the Central government for taking two-and-a-half years to announce a package. “It is not a national package but a notional package,” he quipped and demanded timely and cheap credit and wavier of interest in all the banks, including cooperative banks.

He suggested for an integrated crop insurance sch-eme and sanction of fresh loans to the farmers besides supply of quality seed. Reacting to a question on alliance with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in Karimnagar by-election, he said that the BJP State unit is in favour of contest and the high command will take the final decision.
He criticised Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad for seeking mercy to Mohd Afzal in Parliament attack case. He said that a terrorist should be treated as terrorist without giving credence to his religion.




Pregnant woman knocked down by train


Ongole, Sept. 30: A 23-year-old physically-challenged woman, who was in an advanced stage of pregnancy died when Tamil Nadu Express bound for New Delhi hit her while she was crossing the railway track at Ongole railway station during the wee hours of Saturday.

The victim, Mamatha was heading to her hometown, Kanigiri in Prakasam district, alo-ng with her mother for delivery from Bhimav-aram in West Godavari district. Her mother decided to cross the track since it was difficult for Mamatha to climb the over-bridge.
The train hit her before the mother who was on the platform tried to pull her daughter on to the platform.

Mamatha was killed on the spot and the nine-month foetus came out of her stomach due to the impact and fell hundred feet away from her. The foetus also died after a while.






Survivors of attack speak out


Mamidikuduru, Sept. 30: Three women, who survived a terrorist attack while on a pilgrimage to Karbala in Iraq, condemned the violence being perpetrated by the terrorists. It may be mentioned that three Indians and 11 Pakistanis were killed by the terrorists near Karbala on September 2.

Jafer Mashiddi hailing from Mogalikuduru village was one of the Indians who was killed. Mashiddi’s wife Masuma Khathun, mother-in-law Abedunnisa and his sister Taherunnisa returned home on Saturday. Recalling their bitter experience, the women told newsmen that they started their pilgrimage on August 19 and reached Syria on August 30.

They said that they started their journey by a bus to Karbala via Syria and Jordan. When their bus reached Amman, it broke down. They stayed for the night in a masjid. They resumed their journey the next day. When the bus was on its way to Karbala, the driver stopped the bus and went to a hotel.

Meanwhile, four unidentified men broke the window panes of the bus and threatened that they would take them away. However, they ran away after some time. When they resumed their journey and were nearing Karbala, four masked men stopped their vehicle and asked the men to get down and the women were asked to continue their journey.

The women said that after reaching Karbala, they were informed by the clergy that their men were killed. They alleged that the terrorists in the guise of jihadis were killing innocent people and bringing disrepute to Islam.




Health units flout HC norm


Rajahmundry, Sept. 30: Flouting the Andhra Prad-esh High Court directions on safe disposal of bio-medical waste (BMW), several health centres are disposing of the waste in a very dangerous manner by dumping them in open dustbins.

This is exposing the sanitation workers and rag-pickers to health hazards in East and West Godavari districts. Reliable sources maintain that the Pollution Control Board (PCB) authorities have given authorisation to the health institutions which applied for licence as well authorisation subject to a condition. The condition is that the health institutions should hand over the bio-medical waste to the common waste treatment plant promptly.

As the health institutions have got authorisation from the PCB to generate the bio-medical waste, some of them started ignoring the condition that they should hand over the waste to the common treatment plant. They are disposing the bio-medical waste like blood-soaked cotton, used syringes and other medical waste in a very casual manner.

East Godavari Pollution Control Board environmental engineer R. Lakshmi Narayana said, “Out of 440 health institutions, with an exception of 100, all the others got registered with the PCB to comply with BMW norms. We are asking the remaining health centres to get registered with the PCB immediately.”

Similarly, West Godavari PCB environmental engineer Osman Ali Khan said, “Of the identified 412 health centres, with an exception of few ones, there are no major defaulters in the district.” But the crux of the issue is that as these institutions have got authorisation on a condition that they should hand over waste to the common treatment plant, only a few of them were complying with it while a majority were ignoring it.

In East Godavari district, a Common Bio-Medical Waste Treatment plant was set up by EVB Technologies at Kanavaram village near Rajanagaram. To treat the waste it fixed a tariff of Rs 2 per bed a day as a concessional package to Rajahmundry alone while its general tariff varies between Rs 2.50 and Rs 3.

The common facility near Rajanagaram has to handle waste from both the Goda-vari districts as it is yet to become operational in West Godavari. EVB Technologies managing director Bhupaiah Choudhary said, “The PCB should have insisted on a tie-up with the common treatment facility by the health institutions at the first instance.”






Civic notice to Saap director


Warangal, Sept. 30: Municipal commissioner Smita Sabharwal issued notice to local Congress leader and Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (Saap) director Rajanala Srihari for violating the Warangal Municipal Corporation (WMC) rules.

The notice was issued as Mr Srihari got the Chief Minister’s Cup sports meet posters pasted on almost all the walls of the government offices in the city which were recently whitewashed. Posters were also pasted on private establishments. Ms Sabharwal also directed the corporation staff to remove all the posters.

The WMC, which took up the Clean and Green City project, had issued orders not to deface any public wall with writings or pasting of posters and warned of stringent action against the erring. Several organisations which defaced the walls by writing on them and by pasting posters complied with the orders of the WMC and whitewashed the walls.

“There are clear rules not to deface the public walls. We have issued notices to all those who violated the rules. I want all the concerned to respect the rules of the civic body and ensure that this city turns out to be a clean and green one,” the commissioner said.

However, Mr Srihari refused to accept the notices issued by the corporation and staged a protest against the removal of posters. Justifying his action in ordering pasting of posters all over the city, he said: “I am surprised at the WMC’s action in removing the CM Cup sports meet posters. It is an official programme and in order to create awareness among the public about the event, the posters were pasted.”

The Saap director pointed out whereas the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad was extending all possible support for the CM Cup sports meet, the WMC was removing the posters. Ever since she assumed charge, Ms Sabharwal has worked for the beautification of the city. Among other initiatives taken by her were road-widening at Kazipet junction and Venkatrama Crossroads, clearing the encroachments on public drains and beautifying the city under the Fund Your City programme.

Even her predecessor Neetu Prasad was responsible for giving a facelift to the city. She erected central lighting on all the main roads, completed the long-pending road-widening at Kumarpally, Reddy Colo-ny, constructed a bus bay at Enugulagadda and brought discipline among the corporation staff.




Congress plans YSR’s visit to reap benefits in by-election


Karimnagar, Sept. 30: In a bid to gain advantage in the ensuing by-election to the Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat, the Congress campaign managers have planned Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy’s visit to the town in the second week of October.

Dr Rajasekhar Reddy is likely to lay the foundation stone for the Mid Manair Reservoir and review the progress of the ongoing irrigation project works in the district during his forthcoming visit. The campaign managers have scheduled the Chief Minister’s visit to the district to virtually kick off the party’s pre-election campaign to counter the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), the Telugu Desam (TD) and the BJP.

The District Review Committee meet has also been convened on October 5 to hasten the process of implementation of various development schemes. The State Congress leadership has reportedly decided to organise frequent tours by the MLAs, MPs and the ministers besides the corporation chairmen throughout the constituency in October to popularise the development works being taken up by the government in the region in general and the Karimnagar constituency in particular.

The party has already drawn up a plan to appoint at least two MLAs of the region as in-charges for each mandal in the constituency and entrust the task of coordinating the campaign to the MPs in the major towns in the constituency.

Speaking to this newspaper, government whip and Manthani MLA D. Sridhar Babu said that the government has accorded top priority to the speedy execution of the irrigation projects including the Sripadasagar Project to rejuvenate the agriculture sector and uphold the cause of farmers.

“We would highlight the true commitment of the Congress for Telangana and expose the anti-development stand of the opposition parties and their misinformation campaign against the government,” he said.






Vacant land tax opposed


Vijayawada, Sept. 30: The Tax Payers Association has criticised the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) for imposing vacant land tax and insisting the land owners to pay the tax with arrears. Association secretary M.V. Anjaneyulu on Saturday said that the VMC had served notices to the owners of the vacant lands asking them to pay the tax with arrears from the year 2000.

Moreover, Mr Anjaneyulu said that the VMC was insisting that the owners pay the tax on the basis of the land registration value of 0.5 per cent along with six years arrears. The registration value for the lands in the city was Rs 7,000 a square yard and that way the total tax that the land owner would have to pay with six years arrears would be around Rs 42,000.

Mr Anjaneyulu pointed out that this amount would be a heavy burden on the land owners. The association leader said that the land owners who wish to construct houses on these vacant lands would be forced to pay the tax with arrears, besides the developmental charges and fees which would be on the higher side.

“The common man would have to sell the land rather than construct a home if the tax is imposed on him,” he said. The association secretary asked the municipal officials to calculate the tax for the vacant lands based on the rental value in the area which is also being considered for imposing property taxes in the zonal system.

The association secretary asked the State government to intervene in the issue and reduce the vacant land tax to help the land owners pay the tax and not look for ways to evade it.




Paddy centres from today


Vijayawada, Sept. 30: The State government will formally launch the kharif marketing season (KMS) on October 1. Though active procurement of paddy is likely to begin a couple of weeks later, the process will start on Sunday, a day before Vijayadasami, giving the much needed relief to the farmers.

According to sources, the Central government has communicated to the States to start the KMS process with the minimum support price of Rs 580 a quintal. The States of Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttaranchal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan too would start the KMS the same day along with Andhra Pradesh.

The central ministry of food processing industries, through the department of food and public distribution has directed the States to start the KMS for the current season with a procurement target of 270 lakh tonnes against the 279 lakh tonnes procured during the last season. The officials from the department of agriculture, department of marketing and the Food Corporation of India (FCI) have started the procedure of establishing procurement centres.

The officials from Krishna district would soon launch a campaign on the minimum support price announced by the Central government and would also publish the lists of procurement centres to be set up in the district. The eastern part of the district, with Machilipatnam and Gudivada revenue divisions would have more procurement centres as they produce a major portion of the district’s total output.

The procurement centres would be set up near the fields reducing the transportation cost of the farmers. The officials from the revenue, agriculture, marketing and the FCI would identify the procurement centres taking into consideration the volume of paddy produced in the area.

The State would get around 1,000 procurement centres of which the coastal districts would have a major share. The FCI and the department of food and public distribution would establish over 10,000 procurement centres across the country with the major centres going for Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, while over 600 centres each would come up in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal and Maharashtra.






Citizens to intensify fight for water


Plan to hold a series of protests

Visakhapatnam, Sept. 30: The ongoing tussle between the residents of around 40 apartments in the city and the Greater Visakha Municipal Corporation (GVMC) over the disconnection of water supply from September 26 due to non-payment of pending bills took a new turn on Saturday with the residents deciding to intensify their stir.

The residents have threatened to launch a series of agitations if the authorities failed to resume water supply for Dasara which falls on October 2. They plan to hoist black flags on their apartments, hold a ballot on the corporation’s move, organise a round-table with all the political parties and take out a rally in which all the family members living in the the affected apartments will take part.

Disclosing this, secretary of the Visakhapatnam Apartment Residents Welfare Association (Varwa) A. Suresh said that they would also appeal all the apartment dwellers in the State to support their cause. On the other hand, GVMC commissioner N. Srikanth insisted that the apartments clear the outstanding bills for getting water connections restored.

Taking the corporation officials to task, Mr Suresh said: “A rich person staying in a bungalow pays around Rs 100 to 150 as water charges under domestic category but each apartment having a single tap connection is charged between Rs 1,200 to Rs 1,400 per month.”

The dispute arose with the non-payment of the pending bills, which the residents say comes to Rs 1,200 to 1,400 per flat per month.
Mr Suresh said that when a few of them approached the GVMC they were informed that the water bills were sent under the semi-bulk category as per the resolution passed at the council meeting.

The apartments, group houses and commercial establishments come under the semi-bulk category. An amount of Rs 10 per kilolitre is collected between 1-10 kilolitres, Rs 15 between 11-25, Rs 20 between 26-100, Rs 25 above 100 kls. And the kilolitres are counted through a water meter fixed.

“The authorities must keep the bills in abeyance till a new council is elected. Meanwhile, we are ready to pay nominal charges,” Mr Suresh said. Pusapati Kumar, a member of Varwa, alleged that neither district collector A.K. Singhal who is also the special officer of the GVMC nor commissioner Srikanth showed any interest in resolving the issue.

Mr Srikanth said that water charges which are being collected by GVMC are the lowest in the country and they were being collected since the year 2001. “Why are they (apartment owners) raising this issue now. Why didn’t they question when these charges were introduced in 2001? The recent bills we issued to some apartments were pending for more than four years. They did not pay the pending bills and we withdrew the water supply. Let them pay the bills and we will resume the supply,” he said.

When asked about the disparities in the water charges of independent houses and apartments, the commissioner said that he would look into the issue. Some residents are using the groundwater after filtering it for drinking purposes and some are relying on private water tankers.




35 villages affected by floods


Srikakulam, Sept. 30: Fresh floods to Vamsadhara and Nagavali rivers due to heavy rains in Orissa destroyed crops in about 5,000 acres in eight mandals Kotthuru, Hiramandalam, Bhamini, Jalumuru, Palakonda, Burja, Veeraghattam and LNPeta in the district on Saturday.

At least 35 villages were also marooned due to the floods. Crops in vast areas were inundated at some places as the flood banks were breached by the gushing waters of the two rivers. The flood discharge at Gotta barrage on Vamsadhara river came down to about 95,000 cusecs from 1.06 lakhs cusecs on Saturday afternoon and the discharge is expected to reduce further.

However, Nagavali is continuing to be in spate. Discharge at the district headquarters is persistent at 81,000 cusecs. The river water entered some low-lying areas of the district headquarters. Meanwhile, traffic on Burja-Palakonda road came to a halt as more than knee-deep water flowed on to the road due to breaches to the major canal at Allena village near the mandal headquarters of Burja.
Several villages in Kotthuru, Veeraghattam, Palakonda, Bhamini and Jalumuru were badly affected due to the floods.

District collector V.N. Vishnu and other district officials visited Gotta barrage and reviewed the situation. Mr Vishnu instructed the mandal revenue officers concerned to take necessary measures to prevent any eventuality.

 

Hyderabad News, Sep 30th,2006

Police: ISI planned 7/11 blasts


Mumbai, Sept. 30: The Mumbai police claimed on Saturday that it had cracked the July 11 Mumbai train bombings case and that the terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) had executed the blasts at the behest of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI), the “mastermind” behind the attack.

The police said the men who had planted the bombs and provided logistical support to the terrorists in the July 11 Mumbai blasts have been identified by the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS). Mumbai police commissioner A.N. Roy told reporters on Saturday: “The ISI had planned the blast conspiracy and had helped LeT execute the blast. The LeT men received support from their local operatives and Students’ Islamic Movement of India (Simi) members in carrying out the blasts.”

[Pakistan on Saturday rejected the Mumbai police’s claim that the ISI masterminded the July 11 Mumbai train bombings, AP reports from Islamabad. “We reject this allegation and demand that India should provide us any evidence, if they have (it),” Pakistan minister of State for information Tariq Azim told AP.]

Commissioner Roy explained that the operational part of the blasts started in March 2006. Till date, 15 persons have been arrested in the July 11 blasts case, of which the direct links of 12 persons have been established, he said, adding that the LeT had a significant role in planning the blasts. Most LeT men who were arrested had received training in a terrorist camp in Bahawalpur area of Pakistan, he said.

“Some of the arrested persons had gone to Pakistan around two to three times and were trained by Azam Cheema, an LeT commander with links to the ISI,” said Mr Roy.The 15 persons arrested by the ATS in connection with the July 11 blasts are Kamaal Ansari (Madhubani district in Bihar), Khalid Aziz Sheikh (Madhubani district in Bihar), Mumtaz Ahmed Chaudhary (Turbhe in Navi Mumbai), Faisal Atta-ur-Rehman Sheikh (Bandra), Mozammil Atta-ur-Rehman Sheikh (Mira Road), Sohail Sheikh (Worli), Zamir Latif Chabiwala (Worli), Dr Tanvir Ahmed Ansari (Nagpada), Ehteshaam Siddiqui (Mira Road), Tohfooq Akmal Hashmi (Jammu and Kashmir), Mohammad Naved (Hyderabad), Sheikh Mohammad Ali (Govandi), Mohammad Wajid (Mira Road), Abdul Wahid (Mumbra), and Mohammad Shafi (Kolkata).

According to the police, 11 Pakistani nationals had come to India using three different routes. On May 25, two persons were brought to Bihar from Nepal by Kamaal Ansari, five persons were brought to India from the Bangladesh border by Abdul Majid and a group of four entered India from the Gujarat border, the Mumbai police said.

All 11 Pakistani nationals were provided accommodation by Faisal Sheikh and his men at four different locations in Mumbai and neighbouring cities. The locations were Malad, Borivali (East), Abdul Wahid’s residence in Mumbra and the Bandra residence of Faizal Sheikh. “Around 15 to 20 kg of RDX were used in the train blasts. Among the 11 Pakistani nationals, one Ehsaan Ullah had brought around 15 to 20 kilograms of RDX to India and the ammonium nitrate was bought in Mumbai itself to be used in the explosives,” said Mr Roy.

He added that the bombs were prepared at the Shivaji Nagar residence of Mohammad Ali in Chembur on July 8, 2006 and were later kept in the Bandra residence of Faizal. First five, and later three, pressure cookers were purchased by the terrorists to keep the bombs. Approximately two kg of RDX and four kg of ammonium nitrate were concealed in each cooker. The cookers were then kept in bags along with an umbrella in each bag to hide the cookers, the police said.

All 14 bomb planters, armed with the explosives, started their journey of destruction from Faizal’s residence in Bandra and reached Churchgate in taxies. “Bomb was planted in seven different trains by an Indian and a Pakistani. Quartz timers were used with the bomb. The bombs were planted using the subway of the Churchgate railway station. All planters managed to get out of their respective trains at different stations except for one person, known as Salim, who was killed in the blast that occurred between Khar and Bandra railway stations. Salim was a resident of Lahore, in Pakistan, and is the same person whose face was reconstructed at Sion Hospital,” said Mr Roy.

Amongst the seven Indian bomb planters, four were Faizal Sheikh (Jogeshwari railway station blast), Kamaal Ansari (Matunga railway station blast), Ehteshaam Siddiqui (Mira Road railway station blast) and Mohammad Naved (Khar railway station blast), the police said. “We have identified the other three planters too, they were involved in the Bhayander, Borivali and Mahim blasts. But revealing details about them at this stage could hamper our investigations,” said ATS chief K.P. Raghuvanshi.

Mr Raghuvanshi added that among the seven Pakistani planters, two had been identified. “We have found out that 11 Pakistani nationals were involved in the conspiracy. Salim died in the Khar-Bandra railway station blast and Abu Umed, alias Abu Osama, who was killed in an encounter at Antop Hill by the ATS on August 22, were among the seven Pakistani bomb planters,” he said.

When asked the whereabouts of the other remaining Pakistani nationals, Mr Raghuvanshi said, “The others might have left for Pakistan, but if they are in India we will get them as our teams are on the lookout for them.”




City BPO manager planted bombs, held


Hyderabad, Sept. 30: A call centre manager was arrested by Mumbai police for the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts. Naveed Hussain, 26, IS suspected to be a Lashkar-e-Tayyeba operative. Naveed was picked up from his rented flat at Lake Shore Apartments in Neredmet on Friday evening. Hyderabad Task Force, Central Zone and Detective Department personnel assisted the Mumbai police in arresting Naveed. “He was directly involved in the Mumbai blasts,” said a police source.

A city police official admitted, “He was not on our radar. He appears to be a member of the sleeper cell. Usually we do not concentrate on areas like Neredmet.” Naveed is said to be related to Faizal, the main conspirator of the 7/11 blasts. Police will also question one Ibrahim who used to come to Naveed’s room. SIT sleuths are questioning a woman BPO employee linked to Naveed.

Naveed was born in Kuwait, where his father still works, and did his graduation in commerce from Mumbai. His mother was a Pakistani and after her death, his father had married again. Naveed was staying in his Neredmet residence for the past two years. His neighbours were shocked at learning that he was a terror suspect.

“I can’t believe this,” said Swasthik Chandrashekar, who was sharing the flat with Naveed. “He is innocent and I don’t think that he is involved in the blasts.” R.G. Naidu, who stays in the neighbouring apartment, said that Naveed had left for Mumbai two months before the blasts. “He said he was going for some training,” said Mr Naidu. “He came back only 20 days ago.”

Swasthik, who is a quality analyst the BPO where Naveed worked, said, “For the one month Naveed was not using his mobile phone and said it was infected with a virus.” Police suspects that Naveed was not using mobile phone to avoid detection. Police also questioned Swasthik, who hails from Ooty in Tamil Nadu. Cyberabad police said that Naveed’s brother Waleed was a journalist working with an English newspaper in Mumbai. “He has also been picked up,” said a police officer.






Nuke deal: Saran must now catch lame duck


New Delhi, Sept. 30: Outgoing foreign secretary Shyam Saran will take over as the Prime Minister’s special envoy on the India-US civilian nuclear energy deal on Sunday. He will have his task cut out for him as the deal that the government had expected to sail through the US Senate has been stalled with its future now hinging on the elections to the US Congress and the final results.

The US Senate formally went into recess without taking up the nuclear deal. Agency reports suggest that Senate Majority leader Bill Frist tried to proceed with the enabling legislation with no further amendments, but this was resisted strongly by Senate Minority leader Harry Reid, who insisted that the legislation was too important to be rushed through but could be taken up in the lame duck session in November.

Mr Saran, who was in Washington recently working to clear the obstacles for quick consideration of the bill before the US Senate broke for the elections, will now have to go back to ensure that it is taken up in November, before the time window closes for Congress and pushes the bill back to the committee stage next year.

The outside chance that the Senate could discuss and vote on the bill after the elections is complicated by the fact that there is still no official word if an Unanimous Consent Agreement on S 3709, the civilian nuclear deal legislation, has been reached. Mr Saran, apart from chasing the nuclear deal, is expected to enjoy a larger role than the actual designation indicates. Sources said he might be given minister of State rank, although there was no confirmation of this from the Prime Minister’s Office.

Mr Shyam Saran, a popular officer who enjoys the confidence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, might gradually fill in the slot vacated by the early demise of senior diplomat, J.N. Dixit. This remains vacant as despite holding charge of the ministry of external affairs the Prime Minister does not have a diplomatic adviser.

The grapevine suggests that Mr Saran has already been given the additional charge of determining the content of the Prime Minister’s speeches on foreign policy. Prime Minister Singh continues to control foreign policy as the appointment of a Cabinet minister for external affairs again appears to be deferred. National security adviser M.K. Narayanan, who was handling foreign policy matters, was perceived by the establishment as being out of his depth on these issues and had come in for strong criticism from different quarters.

He is a former intelligence man and his expertise was never seen to run into foreign policy. Regarded as a “hawk” on Pakistan, he has maintained a studied silence on the meeting between Dr Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf at Havana. Special envoy Satish Lamba has confined himself to the brief of negotiating policy with Pakistan through the back channels. Mr Shyam Saran’s advice on foreign policy, sources said, would thus be invaluable for the Prime Minister.

The US legislators, despite their professed support for the nuclear deal, appear to have shed no tears about the fact that it has not been cleared by the Senate and could end up becoming just one of those pieces of legislation that everybody wants but no one is prepared to actually go out and vote for at this stage.

The Bush administration has been pushing hard for the deal using every argument in the book, from “it will give a boost to non-proliferation” to “we will bring India under NPT provisions without being a signatory”, but has clearly failed to cut ice with the senators who have allowed themselves to get distracted by the other items on the agenda that were more pressing domestically.

The Democrats are at present demanding second degree amendments and flexibility in the number of amendments to be offered, according to agency reports from Washington. Both Senators Frist and Reid have insisted that the nuclear bill will be a top priority in the lame duck session but till date have not made a formal announcement about whether or not the crucial unanimous consent agreement has been reached.

Even if the bill is taken up, it is essential from the Indian point of view to bring in the changes necessary to meet the reservations voiced by Prime Minister Singh on behalf of Indian Parliament. It will also have to go through the reconciliation committee with the final legislation then coming under the scanner of Parliament when it meets around the same time for the Winter Session. The Senate will reconvene on November 9 and will have a formal session on November 13.




Irrigation to get big pie from Centre sop


Hyderabad, Sept. 30: Nearly 60 per cent of the money that the State got in Friday’s Rs 9,650-crore special package will go to irrigation projects. The government will use Rs 8 crore of the money to pay an additional Rs 50,000 as compensation to families of farmers who committed suicide.

The package will be spread over three years in 16 drought-prone districts. The government has been trying to get the Centre to give 70 per cent of the money under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) as grants, and the rest as loan.

Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy told mediapersons on Saturday that the government would get up to 90 per cent of the money as grant, and 100 per cent in tribal areas of these districts. Separately from the package, the Chief Minister said, as a Dasara gift the Centre has permitted 80,000 houses for people below the poverty line under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission. Fifty thousand of the houses will come up in Hyderabad, 15,000 each in Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.

Each unit will cost Rs 1.2 lakh for which the Centre will pay Rs 65,000. The rest will have to be shared by the State government and the beneficiary. The Telugu Desam and the BJP pointed out that allocations were small. Rs 7,000 crore would go for the waiver of interest and the remaining amount would be spent over three years.

This leaves the government with very little money to implement new programmes, TD parliamentary party leader K. Yerrannaidu and Rajya Sabha members M.V. Mysoora Reddy and R. Chandrasekhar Reddy told journalists. Mr Yerrannaidu said that the Jayati Ghosh Committee recommendations should be implemented fully.

“We need a long-term strategy to deal with the problems of farmers as they are very complex in nature,” he said. In Nellore, BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu said that the package formed part of budget proposals. Rs 12,303 crore of the Rs 16,978-crore package [for four States] were from the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) and Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP).

Referring to the Centre’s claim on interest waiver to the tune of Rs 1,400 crore in AP, he said that the fund-starved State government had to bear 50 per cent of the cost. The Chief Minister said the Centre had agreed to alter AIBP guidelines and fund projects which had got techno-economic clearences. “The Centre has agreed to fund drip irrigation projects to whatever extent we propose and execute,” he said.
He announced that the government had decided to revise the milestones of Jalayagnam projects to ensure that the benefits were extended to farmers immediately.

The Chief Minister said 65 per cent of the total package would be in the form of grants. Other components include waiver of interest on farm loans for Rs 1,436 crore for which the Centre and State would share the burden equally, and Rs 470 crore in next three years for seed replacement package in which farmers would be supplied new seed at 50 per cent subsidy. The government also decided to place Rs 8 crore at the disposal of the collectors of 16 districts.

The amount will be utilised to give an additional compensation of Rs 50,000 to the kin of farmers who commit suicide. The State is already paying Rs 1.5 lakh towards compensation in such cases. The Chief Minister said that the government had decided to take up watershed programmes and check dams with Rs 480 crore each and Rs 264 crore for improving livestock and dairy besides funding artisans.

What goes where

* Rs 5,789 crores for Jalayagam irrigation projects.
* Rs 1,436 crores for waiver of interest on farm loans, shared equally by Centre and State.
* Rs 470 crores for seed replacement package.
* Rs 8 crores for additional compensation of Rs 50,000 to the kin of farmers who commit suicide. The State is already paying Rs 1.5 lakh towards compensation.




IIT-M to fly plane with 45cc engine


Chennai, Sept. 30: Seven students of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras have developed a small aircraft that is powered by a 45cc motorcycle engine and can fly at 60 kmph. This is the first time that students of IIT-M have designed a six-foot-long pilotless aircraft. The hobby club at the IIT-M has been converted into a mini-workshop for students where their interesting ideas are put to practical tests and the unmanned aircraft is one of the ideas that have taken concrete shape.

“Seven members of our institution teamed up to design this aircraft, which weighs only 11 kg,” said team member A. Ravikanth, a B.Tech who is a student of aerospace engineering. Amol Joshi, an M.Tech (computational engineering) student, has been busy helping give final touches to the aircraft.
Explaining the technicalities of the light aircraft, Amol said, “We started this project in January with Rs 3 lakhs in funding from our institute. Initially we thought of using a Luna engine, but that is too heavy. So we purchased a Japanese-made engine, Zenoah, from the US. The advantage of this engine is that it weighs only 2 kg.” The young engineers then planned to automate the aircraft so that it flew on its own.

“In the first phase, the plane will be controlled using a remote control. In the next phase, we plan to make it fly on its own, except for take-off and landing,” he said. The students plan to test-fly the aircraft
at Kovalam, near Mahabalipuram, on Sunday since the IIT has a lot of trees on its campus. The aircraft will be flown over the campus during the Shaastra tech fest that is to take place at IIT-M between October 4 and 8. It will shoot the proceedings live from the air.

This year, the list of speakers at Shaastra include two Nobel laureates, George Andrew Olah (Nobel for chemistry in 1994) and Arno Allan Penzias (Nobel for physics in 1978). The other highlights of the tech fest include a first-of-its-kind nanotech workshop that will explain the detail and uses of the technology. Various forms of robots, like the humanoid, biomorph, cerebus and surveillance robots from the National University of Singapore, will be on display during Shaastra.





Most popular? Raj Kapoor’s Brodyaga


London, Sept. 30: The 1951 Raj Kapoor-starrer Awaara has been seen and enjoyed by so many across the globe that it may well be the “most successful film in the history of cinema at large”, according to a leading professor of film studies. Dina Iordanova, professor at the University of St Andrews, and other experts cite several texts and anecdotal evidence to state in a special issue of the journal South Asian Popular Cinema that Awaara may be a candidate for the title of the “most popular film of all time”.

The journal’s latest issue is devoted to mapping the career of Indian films in various national contexts outside South Asia. The issue includes several papers exploring the popularity of Indian films in places such as Greece, Bulgaria, Africa and Turkey. The papers cast fresh light on the popularity of Indian films beyond the better-known overseas markets, such as the US and Britain.

The special issue is titled “Indian Cinema Abroad: Historiography of Transnational Cinematic Exchanges” and is co-edited by Prof. Iordanova and Dimitris Eleftheriotis of Glasgow University. Prof. Iordanova and others write extensively on Awaara in the issue.

Recalling her Bulgarian origins and childhood, Prof. Iordanova said: “I knew Indian films long before I had met any living Indian. We knew next to nothing of India and the Indians; we did not know much of the personality of Raj Kapoor either. However, the fascination with a film like Awaara (Brodyaga in Bulgarian) was everlasting; everybody knew the actor’s ever-singing dancing persona. Nothing could match up to the experience of watching Awaara; this film was more fascinating than any other I can remember.”

“Even though repeat viewing is not typical for the cinema going practices of Bulgarians, many admit that they have seen Awaara numerous times. Why such fascination? The copy that we were watching was fairly old; the film was overlong and markedly over-the-top. Yet it was so absorbing.

It was a film that, in an unabashed manner, revealed a whole different world where preposterous melodrama came across as completely legitimate (and thus mesmerising), where improbable misapprehensions triggered infinite suffering and obstinate injustices, where people were not ashamed to be overemotional and were solemnly preoccupied with enchanting adoration,” she said.

“It was the candid praise of love and affection in the Indian movies that was truly enchanting for us... Awaara remains a truly enduring global hit, yet one that is understudied and under-researched.” Prof. Iordanova and Eleftheriotis wrote in the journal: “Indian cinema was internationally popular for a significant period, starting in the 1930s and peaking around the 1960s. There were massive exports of Indian films and massive international interest in it. However, as these exports and acclaim did not target (nor took place in) the West (until recently the only place where such processes are properly studied), we really have no record of the intensity of these cinematic exchanges other than sporadic references and anecdotal evidence.”

She wrote that it was difficult to think of any other film from the 1950s that was seen in so many countries and was as widely acclaimed as Awaara. Most film history books, she added, analysed other films and mentioned Awaara only in passing, “yet I cannot think of any other film from that period that would have enjoyed such popular success transnationally”.

Prof. Iordanova said: “At this oldest university in Scotland (University of St Andrews), we are making sure Indian cinema is properly represented in our teaching and we regularly screen classical and new Indian films for our students.” A British academic journal devoting a special issue to Indian cinema is the latest in the growing coverage of Indian films in the popular and academic press

Pharmacist must in shop


Hyderabad, Sept. 30: The State drug control administration has threatened to cancel licences of medical shops which are not manned by qualified pharmacists. It was found that there were hundreds of medical shops in the State being run without pharmacists. In all, there are 41,000 medical shops in the State.
The problem is acute in small towns and rural areas, where, ironically, many illiterate villagers need help to purchase medicines.

“We will not allow this and will cancel licences of such shops,” said an official of the drug control department. The department will also ask the AP Pharmacy Council to cancel the certificates of pharmacists who are not present in the medical shops. Many medical shop owners display certificates of pharmacists, who may actually be working in other pharma companies or laboratories.

They are paid a salary by the medical shop owners for ‘loaning’ the certificate and for the sake of appearances.R. Ranga Rao, director of AP Drug Control Administration, said that licences of such medical shops would not be renewed. However, AP Chemists and Druggists Association said that there was a dearth of pharmacists in the State.

“It is impossible to keep pharmacists round the clock in shops which are open day and night,” said Dr Gulshan Jain, president of the association. “We request the government to recognise experienced shop owners as practising pharmacists.” He added that medicines were being sold only on the basis of prescriptions given by doctors.




BSNL offers unlimited calls


Hyderabad, Sept. 30: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) on Saturday unveiled a free unlimited calls scheme for its landline customers in Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam. The scheme, which includes three packages of Rs 399, Rs 599 and Rs 899 per month, will come into effect from October 1.

The scheme costing Rs 399 will provide free unlimited calls from BSNL to BSNL landlines and WLL within the local area. Free unlimited calls in entire Andhra Pradesh circle is the hallmark of the Rs 599 scheme, while the third scheme enables the customer to make unlimited calls to both landlines and mobile phones.

BSNL chief general manager R.K. Arnold said that the schemes would gradually be extended to other areas in the State. Talking to reporters here, Mr Arnold said that BSNL had been able to secure the confidence of the public despite stiff competition. To attract new customers, BSNL has decided to allow them to pay security deposit in five instalments.

“Phone connection will be given on payment of the first instalment itself and the rest of the amount will be collected in the four bills. A rebate in rentals will be given to those who book landline connections in October and the benefit can be availed in the bills for the first and sixth month,” he said.




Police wakes up to terror, search on for Pakistani


Hyderabad, Sept. 30: Waking up to the threat posed by sleeper cells of terror networks after the arrest of a BPO employee in connection with the Mumbai blasts, city police have launched a hunt to trace out members of sleeper cells.

Pakistan sponsored Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami are the three most active groups with sleeper cells in the city. The Hyderabad connection was proved in most of the major terror attacks in the country.

The BPO employee, Nav-eed Rasheed Hussain, was arrested from Neredmet under the Cyberabad police commissionerate limits, which is otherwise considered a trouble-free area. A city police official said, “He was not on our radar so far. He appears to be the member of the sleeper cell. Usually, we do not concentrate on areas like Neredmet.”
Naveed is related to Faizal, the main conspirator of the Mumbai blasts. The city police has decided to interrogate Naveed’s friend Ibrahim and another wo-man BPO employee. They seized several documents from Naveed’s house.

Meanwhile, Intelligence Bureau officials alerted the city police that a Pakistani militant has sneaked into the country and is suspected to have been staying in the city. Task force sleuths began search in Chandrayanagutta and Falaknuma areas, where the Pakistani is suspected to be hiding.




Children to speak on manuscripts


Hyderabad, Sept. 30: In an attempt to create awareness among children on the preservation of manuscripts, National Mission for Manuscripts and Children’s Educational Academy have decided to organise cultural and educational programmes between October 6 and 20 in 11 districts in the State.

This is the first program-me to be organised by CEA outside New Delhi. The programmes include puppet shows, seminars, songs, audio and visuals. “Students from Class I to X will take part in the seminars,” said M. Vedakumar, chairman of Children’s Educational Academy. NMM coordinator Rashmi Singh said digitisation, training in manuscriptology and fostering research will also be held.




Bill soon to pin corrupt babus


Hyderabad, Sept. 30: Hard times await corrupt sarkari babus. The State government has proposed to come out with legislation to confiscate the assets of corrupt government employees, if they were proved guilty. At present, corrupt employees are simply convicted while their families enjoy the illegally accumulated assets. If the new legislation comes through the government will not only punish the corrupt but also take away their ill-gotten assets.

Inspired by legislation passed by the Jammu and Kashmir Government, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy has directed principal secretary Jannat Hussain to study the J&K legislation and come out with a draft Bill on this issue. The Law Commission in its 166th report has proposed enactment of a separate legislation for forfeiture of property acquired by corrupt public servants if it were found to be disproportionate to the known sources of income.

The Law Commission’s proposal is still at an examination stage. The Centre is consulting various quarters before taking a final decision. The Central government way back in 1988 amended the Criminal Law Act, 1944 which provides for attachment of property of the people found guilty of corrupt practices.

The property can be attached by the Special Judge during the course of trial. Subsequently, after termination of criminal proceedings and conviction of the accused, the Special Judge is empowered to confiscate the property of the convicted public servant. The Chief Minister has instructed the Anti-Corruption Bureau officials to intensify raids on corrupt officials and ensure hundred per cent conviction.




YSR determined to seal Polavaram Project


Hyderabad, Sept. 30: The State government has its fingers crossed over the outcome of the three Chief Ministers’ conference on the multi-purpose irrigation project Indira Sagar (Polavaram) scheduled on October 4. The Central Water Commission has convened the meeting of Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Chattisgarh to sort out the inter-State disputes over submersion.

The dispute is coming in the way of the State government in executing the project. Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy on Saturday expressed doubts over the very presence of the two other Chief Ministers at the conference. “They are very much opposed to the project. Naturally they will try to avoid the meeting,” he told mediapersons at his camp office.

He said he would attend the meeting. Dr Reddy, however, sees hope in their absence as the CWC could take a stand on the issue. “It will enable the CWC to decide that Andhra Pradesh has a right to execute the project as per the provisions of the Godavari tribunal award,” he pointed out. The government argues that the two States should spell out their objections, then propose the compensation package.

The Project is expected to submerge some villages in Dantewada district in Chhatisgarh and some in Malkangiri district in Orrisa. However, in the absence of Environmental Impact Assessment and study by either of the governments there is no specific information on the impact of submersion.




Jagan involved in scam: TD


Hyderabad, Sept. 30: The Telugu Desam on Saturday alleged that Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy’s son Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy was involved in the Poppalaguda evacuee property scam. Addressing a press conference here, party MLAs Harishwar Reddy and D. Narendra and Ranga Reddy district TD leaders V. Mahender Reddy and K.S. Ratnam took strong objection to the State government’s inaction in providing security to the more than Rs 1000 crore worth evacuee property.

They asked the government to explain the reasons for not taking action on then revenue secretary D.C. Rosaiah for giving an order in favour of some persons, though the evacuee land belonged to the Central government. Meanwhile, Panchayat Raj and endowments minister J.C. Diwakar Reddy on Saturday challenged the Telugu Desam and other Opposition parties to prove that he owned large extent of lands abutting the ORR project.
At a press conference, Mr Reddy said he would distribute the land among the poor if the Opposition proved its charge.




Monica to be paid Rs 10 per day


Hyderabad, Sept. 30: Starlet Monica Bedi, who began first day of her life as a convict at Chanchalguda women’s prison on Saturday, will start earning for her work from October 3.
Monica Bedi will be paid either Rs 10 or 15 per day depending on the nature of the work she selects. She has to take up the work of making candles, preparing tooth powder or knitting. She wore white saree as per the dress code of a convict prisoner.

Chanchalguda Women’s Prison superintendent R. Sharada said “She is being given food of a convicted prisoner. But we will allow any prisoner to buy food items for her from the Prisoner Private Cash. She is being separated from remand prisoner cell and shifted to convict prisoner cell.”

“We did not allot her any work on Saturday. After holidays we will allot her work based on her interest,” said Sharada.Monica Bedi was put in the barracks along with other convicts and there is no separate cell for her. However, Monica appeared confident of winning her case again in the court.

PM rides 1st class in S. Africa


Pietermaritzburg, Sept. 30: An “awed and humbled” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh retraced the footsteps of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi at this South African railway station, 113 years after the Mahatma undertook the fateful train journey that changed the course of history.

In his first public engagement after arriving on a four-day visit to this country, Dr Singh undertook a train journey from Pentrich station to Pietermaritzburg, 95 km from Durban, the route taken by Gandhiji on his way to Pretoria on June 7, 1893, when he was thrown out of the first class compartment for being a person of colour.

The Prime Minister travelled in a first class compartment of the four-coach train hauled by a steam engine. The journey between Pentrich and Pietermaritzburg took about 15 minutes. “I am awed and humbled to be at the very spot at which began the transformation of an ordinary young lawyer into an extraordinary legend who influenced the destiny of my country,” Dr Singh wrote in the visitors book.




AIIMS becomes victim of dengue


New Delhi, Sept. 30: A seventh-semester student at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Kamal Raj Kiran, died of dengue on Saturday, taking the toll from the deadly disease in the capital to 11. He was being described as “very critical” till late on Friday evening. Kiran, who hailed from Hyderabad, was being treated at the ICU of the hospital since Thursday. He was brought to the institute in a very serious state and had to be operated upon to stop haemorrhage in his brain.

The national capital is witnessing a spurt in dengue cases, with 327 reported so far this year till September 24, nine of which have proved fatal. From the prestigious AIIMS alone, as many as 15 cases have been reported in the past five days. Out of these 15, six are resident doctors and medical students, five are AIIMS staffers and the remaining are relatives of hospital staff.

Earlier, a 17-year-old daughter of a doctor couple, Monal Nangia had succumbed to the disease at AIIMS on Wednesday. There were eight to 10 fresh cases of dengue at AIIMS on Friday, five on Thursday. Meanwhile, in view of the sudden spurt in dengue cases, the AIIMS authorities have resorted to intense fogging and kicked-off a drive to check all water coolers in the hospital premises.

Terming the death of Raj Kiran as “really unfortunate,” Dr Anil Sharma at AIIMS said that generally the dengue patients get well in a week’s time and it was only in five per cent cases that dengue fever leads to haemorrhage as it happened with Kiran. “Since the first case was reported at AIIMS last week, we are holding a meeting at noon everyday to take stock of the situation. But, as we are to deal with several dengue patients every day, it makes us (the doctors) more vulnerable,” he asserted.




Polio drive in question after new cases


New Delhi, Sept. 30: In a major blow to the much hyped polio eradication programme in the country, twelve fresh polio cases have been reported from different parts of the country, including one from New Delhi, taking the total number of people affected to 338 this year.

Out of the 12 fresh cases, 10 are from Uttar Pradesh, which has so far reported 301 polio cases. “These are not good signs as it can create a big hurdle for the pulse polio immunisation programme that was launched to eradicate polio from this country,” said a senior official of the ministry, adding that it can be an outbreak and more cases are likely to be reported. The ministry on Friday confirmed the fresh cases.

But what is troubling officials in the ministry is the fact that areas which were free from polio last year, are being reported this year, meaning the entire programme has been overturned in these areas, which include New Delhi, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chandigarh and West Bengal. In the November anti-polio drive those areas would be covered that have been affected by the virus. Polio is a viral paralytic disease that enters the body through the mouth, due to contaminated water or food. It infects intestinal walls and then enters the bloodstream and the central nervous system.

Health minister Ambumani Ramadoss had earlier informed that seven to 15 per cent children had missed the immunisation programme this year. He had also said that he would be visiting Uttar Pradesh and would interact with the minority community, who are not taking the vaccine after rumours that it would make their children impotent. “More than 90 per cent of cases have originated from UP. In areas where there is no hygiene and people live in unhygienic conditions, it easily effects children,” said an official in the ministry.




Jain charged in Tehelka case


New Delhi, Sept. 30: The CBI has filed a chargesheet against a middleman, who had figured in the revelations made by Tehelka.com in March 2001 pertaining to the alleged corruption in defence dealings.

The chargesheet was filed against the accused, former Samata Party treasurer R.K. Jain, under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 in the Patiala House Courts on Friday. This is the third chargesheet in the Tehelka tapes cases. The first chargesheet was filed against former BJP president Bangaru Laxman on July 18 this year and the second chargesheet was laid against a staff officer (since dismissed) of the ordnance factory cell under the defence ministry.






Weightlifter from Orissa has no cash


Bhubaneswar, Sept. 30: Ranu Mohanty, the Orissa strongwoman who has own several laurels for her state and country in both powerlifting and weightlifting championships, is uncertain about her forthcoming visit to Norway to participate in the seven-day World Powerlifting Championship 2006, which starts on October 5, because she is finding it difficult to arrange the Rs 96,000 required for the trip. Neither the State government nor any corporate house, despite repeated appeals, have yet agreed to help Ranu Mohanty.

The 25-year-old, who recently bagged gold medal at the Asian Powerlifting Championships in Taebacity, South Korea, is thinking about cancelling her trip.
Ranu had faced similar financial constraints during the Asian Championships too and met the tour expenditure of Rs 91,000 from her own pocket and from contributions from friends and well-wishers.

Besides Ranu, many other Orissa women powerlifters are fighting financial hardship. Driven by penury, Mandakini Mahant of Mayurbhanj district, who won the Asian senior powerlifting title some years ago, had offered to sell her medal. Mandakini had been selected to participate in an international meet in London in May, but could not go because she didn’t have the money.







TN cracks down on poll auctions


Chennai, Sept. 30: The widely prevalent system of auctions of panchayat posts, to be decided in the coming local body elections across Tamil Nadu, have stopped, or at least are not taking place openly, after state election commissioner D. Chandrashekaran threatened arrests and ordered a crackdown.

At the end of Saturday, the last day for withdrawal of nominations, over four lakh candidates are left in the fray for 1.30 lakh posts being elected by a little over 4.6 crore voters. Reports from the districts suggest that not all of those positions are going to be filled by free elections.

“I am still ostracised because I defied the diktat from the so-called elders in my village to withdraw my nomination so that they could auction the panchayat president’s post to the highest bidder, Amaithi Thevaraj, for Rs 2.10 lakhs. I insisted on contesting the October 15 elections because I did not want democracy to be defeated by auctioning local body posts in this manner,” claimed V. Ravichandran, 39, a lawyer contesting for panchayat president in Pottulapatti, in Madurai district. Along with him and his wife and two children, his three brothers and four ward nominees were also ostracised for backing him.

“When I made it clear I was not going to fall in line with them, they announced the ban against me and my people from September 20. Now we cannot enter the local temple, cannot shop here. No one in the village will speak to us. It feels as if we are in the mediaeval age,” Ravichandran told this newspaper, expressing fear for his safety and hoping the state administration would provide him security.

This is not the first time that such instances of local body posts being auctioned are surfacing. Another nearby panchayat had got its president in the last elections after collecting Rs 7 lakhs from him at auction. “We spent the money for public good, such as improving roads and repairing the temple,” a local said on condition of anonymity. He insisted that no auctions took place this time, but some others in the village contested the claim.

The administration attempted a crackdown and arrested a few persons in Dharmapuri for allegedly participating in such auctions. In nearby Namakkal, district collector G. Sundaramurthy said police and revenue officials undertook extensive tours amid reports of auctions taking place. “My stern warning, that action would be taken against those indulging in the sale of panchayat posts, has had a salutary effect. Now there is no auction of these posts reported in my district,” Mr G. Sundaramurthy said.

Seven men were arrested after being caught auctioning local body posts in Perunthurai, Erode district, a few days ago. The post of panchayat president there had been auctioned for Rs 1.1 lakh and that of vice-president for Rs 30,000. After the arrests, the villagers are said to have decided to go through the democratic process of voting. While in most cases the money collected from the highest bidder is shared among the village leaders, the booty in some cases is spent on improving local infrastructure.

For instance, said a local official, the elders in a village in Trichy district gathered at the temple square on September 20 and decided that whoever made the best offer for building a Perumal (Vishnu) temple would become panchayat president. An 87-year-old woman reportedly offered Rs 2.20 lakhs so her daughter-in-law could get the post. At another village nearby, a former panchayat president allegedly paid Rs 1.85 lakhs to get the panchayat chief’s post for his wife.

“It will take a couple of days after the nominations are finalised to correctly judge the extent of such auctions. There is intense competition for the posts and we are alert to prevent these incidents,” said K. Devaraj, a CPI(M) functionary in Madurai. Campaigners like him agree it would be a huge task for the administration to stop such auctions because in most cases the villagers hold the “sale” in secret places and enforce the decision through a diktat.

“Also, it would be difficult to book the violators under existing laws and convict them in a court of law. Constant public awareness spread by the government and voluntary agencies is the only way to stop this evil,” said another social activist. State election commissioner Chandra-shekaran, however, is confident that the “massive” poll exercise on October 13 and 15 will be fair and smooth.




IAF concern over combat squadrons


New Delhi, Sept. 30: IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi has reportedly written to defence minister Pranab Mukherjee expressing concern at the drop in the number of combat squadrons of the IAF over the years and the lack of adequate fighter aircraft. With old aircraft like MiG-21s and certain versions of MiG-23 and MiG-27 being phased out, the Air Force is alarmed that there may be a steep drop in the number of combat squadrons if more fighter aircraft are not procured soon.

The IAF is worried over Pakistan’s plans to induct more F-16 fighter aircraft from the United States and create two more squadrons. The IAF is pinning its hopes on the government’s plan to procure 126 multi-role fighters as this will boost the combat potential of the IAF. Sources said that the Air Force is also said to be keen on the procurement of 40 additional Sukhoi-30 MKI from Russia. The IAF hopes for a return to the position in the late 1980s when the IAF had an optimum combat squadron strength of 40 aircraft. Each squadron has 18 fighter jets.

Friday, September 29, 2006

 

Sports News

Door not closed on anyone: Vengsarkar


Mumbai, Sept. 28: In what could be music to the ears of Sourav Ganguly and Zaheer Khan, newly appointed national senior selection committee chairman Dilip Vengsarkar on Thursday said that door is not shut on anyone playing domestic cricket for making a comeback into the Indian squad.

“The door is not shut on anyone playing domestic cricket,” said the former India skipper a day after being appointed to one of the most difficult posts in Indian cricket at the cricket board’s AGM here.

Former captain Sourav Ganguly has not got a look-in by the selectors since returning from Pakistan while Zaheer also has not found favour after that trip across to India’s western neighbours early this year.

The Rajapur (Ratnagiri district)-born Vengsarkar, who had led India in 10 Tests in the late 1980s and was a member of the 1983 World Cup winning team, said that he would try and ensure that there was no zonal bias whenever the new five-member committee meets and selects a team. “I will try and see that there’s no question of any zonal bias in selecting a player. It (selection) will be purely based on form and merit of the players,” he said.






I followed Greg’s advice: Mongia


Chennai, Sept. 28: It was a perilous situation to walk into. Back in national colours after a 14-month break, Dinesh Mongia came to bat after the top order had been cracked open by Australia. Showing a heart for the battle, he carved out a fine unbeaten 63. He had, however, to endure criticism from the pundits for not guiding the team home.

“We were right on course but things did not work out well in the end. It was really disappointing but we have to take it in our stride and not let the defeat play on our mind too much. “It is important for the team to approach a prime tournament like the Champions Trophy in a relaxed frame of mind,” Mongia told this newspaper.

Accused of not holding on to the strike when R.P Singh was in the middle, Mongia said, “RP can bat a bit, so we decided not to waste a single run irrespective of the number of balls remaining in the over. The idea was to add 10-15 runs with him and if and when Munaf came in I had planned to go for the boundaries.

“Unfortunately, Munaf also fell in the same over as RP.” Mongia said he had followed the advice of coach Greg Chappell. “Greg told me to just concentrate on playing out the overs and the target will take care of itself. It was not a big chase and Suresh Raina and Dhoni exuded a lot of confidence in the middle and that helped me be my natural self in the middle,” said Mongia.

He returned to the side after a long gap, straight into a high-pressure game and yet Mongia said he never felt any pressure when going out to bat. “The opposition or the situation hardly matters, I treat every game as an opportunity to serve my country and that is inspiration enough. I just played my game and it clicked though I am disappointed the knock didn’t help the team win.”

The Punjab southpaw is also thankful to his teammates especially the seniors Rahul Dravid and Sachin for helping him settle down in the dressing room quickly on his comeback. “The coach and captain had good words for me and they made me a part of the system straight away. That actually helped me concentrate on my game”

Dinesh’s plucky knock overshadowed his bowling. He had accounted for dangerman Andrew Symonds at a crucial juncture who could have easily made India face a stiffer target. But in the final analysis Mongia did go for 43 in his nine overs as he suffered heavily at the hands of Brad Haddin who smashed him for four sixes.

“I could have resorted to a lower trajectory but how I look at it is that I went for only 19 in 8.2 overs but I will have to bring down the bad ball count. Once I am able to achieve that my bowling will also start contributing to the team’s success,” notes Mongia.




Jyoti, Kapur in fray for Indian Open


New Delhi, Sept. 28: Jyoti Randhawa and Shiv Kapur will lead the Indian charge at the $400,000 Hero Honda Indian Open golf tournament to be played at the Delhi Golf Club here from October 19 to 22. Gaurav Ghei, who finished runner-up in 2005 will also compete for top honours.

However, Asian Tour Order of Merit leader Jeev Milkha Singh, who is currently playing the Japan Tour and Arjun Atwal, will miss the open this year, organisers said here on Thursday. Three European Tour winners — Scotsman Andrew Coltart, Simon Dyson from England and Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell — will be the strong contenders for the Asian Tour Trophy.

Asian Tour Order of Merit 2000 winner Dyson has won twice this year on the European Tour, while Coltart and McDowell have clinched two titles each in Europe. Apart from the European stars, Thailand’s Thaworn Wiratchant will defend his 2005 Indian Open title. Announcing the schedule of the event Indian Golf Union vice-president T.T. Jaganathan said that everything was in shape for hosting the 43rd staging of the national open. David Parkin, the director of tour operations of Asian Tour, said that special layout at the golf course will attract the visitors.




Diabolical triumphs


Mysore, Sept. 28: Diabolical (B.Prakash up) claimed the Kelachandra Mysore 2000 Guineas 2006 (Grade iii) the second classic event of the races held here on Thursday. Results:

1. Jagan Mohana Palace Plate Div ii 1400 m: Divine Force 52 (cd 49.5) D. Mahendran 1, Young Indian 2, Silent Witness 3, Third World 4. All ran. Won by l.Nk, nk, 1-1/2 l. Time: 1-29. Trained by: S. Dominic. Fav: Jasmine Star.

2. Jaganmohana Palace Plate Div I 1400 m: Azraff 57.5 Suraj Narredu 1, Famous for Free 2, Prince Crimson 3, Fixed Dividend 4, All ran. 1 l,, nose, 3/4 l. 1- Md. Sajid Qureshi. Prince Crimson.

3. The Justice P Medapa Memorial Trophy Div ii 1400 m: Simply Glorious 53 K. P. G. Appu 1, Soul Search 2, Ever Blazing 3, Diamond Rock 4. All ran. 1 l, l.Nk 1 l. 1-28.68 R. R Byramji. Fav: Mystic Minstrel.

4. The Original Vel B Ashok Kumar Memorial Gold Cup Div I 1200 m: Elezibeth Arden 58.5 B. Prakash 1, Copper Bracelet 2, Mount Royale 3, Ho Chi Minh 4. All ran. 3/4 l s.Nk 1/2 l. 1-14.36. R Foley Fav: Elezibeth Arden.

5. The Margrove Estate Gold Cup 1800 m: Shaolin 60.5 M. A. Gallagher 1, Hold That Tiger 2, Sharp N Smart 3, Lyra 4. All ran. 3-1/2 l, 2-1/2 l, l.Nk. 1-53.54. Darius R Byramji. Fav: Shaolin.

6. The Kelachandra Mysore 2000 Guineas 2006 Grade iii 1600 m: Diabolical 56 B. Prakash 1, Red Eagle 2, Stone of Destiny 3, Bramos 4. Not run: No Name and My Turn. 4 l, 7-1/2 l, dist. 1- 38.45. R. Foley. Fav: Diabolical.
7. The Hyderabad Race Club Gold Cup 1400 m: Scintilating Skill 60.5 B. Prakash 1, Arturo 2, Big B 3, Al Qamar 4. All ran. 1-1/2 l, 2-3/4 l l.Nk. 1-25.65. R. Foley. Arturo.

8. Justice P. Medapa Memorial Trophy Div I 1400 m: Royal Dazzle 54.5 J.H. Christopher 1, Mozart 2, Magical Mystery 3, Vesuvio 4. All ran. 1-1/4 l, 1/2 l, l.Nk. 1 m 29.22 sec. B. Puttanna. Fav: Mozart.

9. The Original Vel B Ashok Kumar Memorial Gold Cup Div ii 1200 m: Overdrive 55 J. H Christopher 1, Al Jazeera 2, Janasheen 3, Mid Summer Star 4, All ran. 2-1/2 l, 3/4 l, 1 l. 1-14.64. M. A. Tharun Thimmaiah. Fav: Overdrive.

Dividends at Hyderabad
First race: 32 (w), 13, 9, 93, F: 190, Q: 93, Shp. 34. T: 12,347 (3).
Second race: 31 (w), 8, 13, 7, F: 219, Q: 156. Shp. 50. T: 401 (159).
Third race: 33 (w), 9, 15, 18, F: 115, Q: 51. Shp. 45. T: 334 (181).
Fourth race: 12 (w), 8, 10, 7. F: 54, Q: 39, Shp. 29. T: 160 (331).
Fifth race: 10 (w), 6, 16, 19, F: 160, Q: 82, Shp. 47, T: 1072 (44).
Sixth race: 5 (w), 6, 5, F: 6, Q: 6. Shp. 6, T: 5 (10890).
Seventh race: 19 (w), 7, 7, 115, F: 32. Q: 15. Shp. 21. T: 1461 (46).
Eighth race: 32 (w), 10, 5, 10, F: 126, Q: 18. Shp. 20. T: 327 (178).
Ninth race: 14 (w), 7, 15, 24, F: 162, Q: 113. Shp. 60, T: 2046 (38).
First treble: 39 (1218).
Second treble: 664 (95).
Jackpot consolation: 135 (860). Jackpot: 1050 (258).







Priapus excels


Hyderabad, Sept. 28: Priapus, Key To Relax, Lancashire, DA Vinci Rose, Lolita pleased when the horses were exercised here on Thursday morning. Sand Track: 600M: Captain Steve (Laxmikanth) 46. Easy. Adoring Star (K. Anil) 47. Impressed.

800M: Mr. Bureaucrat (A. Ramana) 1-1. Easy. Invogue (Deep Shanker) 1-1 600/44. Impressed. Desirable (J. Anthony) 1-3 600/45. Gazar Glitz (D. Singh) 59. Famous Tribute (G. Sandeep) 58. Impressed. World Vision (A. Pavan K) 1-3. Celestrella (C. Razzan) 1-1 600/45. Grey Hound (Laxman) 56. Chief De Mission (D. Singh) 56. Extended. Red Key Point (D. Singh) 1-1. Impressed. Lolita (Arvind Joshi). Unexpected Twist (Laxman) 56 600/43.

1000M: Lancashire (Ravinder S) Key To Relax (A. Imran K) 1-15. Lenavi (Ravinder S) DA Vinci Rose (A. Imran K) 1-13 800/56 600/41. State City (C. Razzan) 1-17. Special Force (M.F. Ali K) 1400/400/1-17.

1200M: Flower Princess (Qazafi) Fashion For Ever (Ganesh) 1-28. Dama Grande (C. Razzan) 1-27. Sir Creek (B.V. Krishnan) Spanish Cruise (RB) 1-30. Silver Bullet (Qazafi) 1600/400/1-37.

1600M: Priapus (C. Razzan) 2-04 1400/1-47 1200/1-33 1000/1-17 800/1-3 600/49.






Brits on a roll while Italians flop


Paris, Sept. 28: A hat-trick from Didier Drogba and a brace from Peter Crouch gave English sides Chelsea and Liverpool victory over Levski Sofia and Galatasaray respectively on Wednesday in their Champions League matches. Chelsea saw off Levski 3-1 while Liverpool — the 2004 champions — had to withstand a late Turkish comeback to win 3-2 to give British clubs a highly satisfactory week in the Champions League with five wins from five.

However, it was quite the reverse for Italian clubs as both Inter Milan and AS Roma were defeated, Inter — Italian champions by default following the demotion of Juventus over the match fixing scandal — reduced to nine men being beaten 2-0 by Bayern Munich and Roma losing 2-1 away at Valencia.

It was Bayern’s first win in Italy in seven matches dating back to 1988. While Valencia maintained their unbeaten start to the season their Spanish title rivals and Champions League titleholders Barcelona left it late to draw 1-1 away at Werder Bremen, Argentinean teenager Lionel Messi scoring with a minute remaining.

That leaves Barca two points adrift of bitter Champions League rivals Chelsea, who they face on October 18, with both sides having eliminated each other one apiece over the past two seasons. Drogba’s hat-trick — his first for Chelsea in the competition and second in his career in the Champions League — once again showed up in rather painful fashion the lack of goals and morale from his £30 million strike partner Andriy Shevchenko. (AFP)




Hair not posted to Champions Trophy


London, Sept. 28: Controversial Australian umpire Darrell Hair will not officiate in next month’s Champions Trophy in India because of security concerns. Hair was at the centre of a damaging row last month over the ball-tampering allegations against Pakistan that led to the Oval Test against England ending in a farce.

Pakistan captain Inzaman ul Haq was on Thursday cleared of ball-tampering but found guilty of bringing the game into disrepute and banned for four one-day internationals. Hair, 53, said he accepted the ICC’s decision not to employ him as an umpire at the 10-nation Champions Trophy but added: “Of course I wish to keep on being an umpire. “My umpiring performance or career is on public record and if other people consider I am still good enough to umpire I will continue.”




Sania gets her revenge on hingis


Seoul, Sept. 28: Top seed Martina Hingis crashed out of the Korea Open in spectacular fashion on Thursday, losing to India’s Sania Mirza in the second round 4-6, 6-0, 6-4. Just five days after the world number eight swept the 19-year-old aside in the semi-final of the Kolkata Sunfeast Open, a competition that she went on to win, the Swiss star encountered a much-improved Mirza at Seoul Olympic Park.

“It is my third time to play her this year and I guess that it is third time lucky,” said a smiling Mirza. “Every match is a different match and every week is a different week — this proves that.” When the Indian produced some stunning strokeplay to twice come back from 0-4 to win the game in the opening three games, the crowd sensed an upset.

Mirza’s below-par service let her down, however, with four double faults early on that interrupted her momentum. Hingis, who had been struggling to impose herself on the game, took advantage to win a hard-fought first set 6-4. The second set was an entirely different affair as the Mumbai-born Mirza stormed back in style to overpower her bewildered opponent and take the set without dropping a game.

The third set was a much closer affair but the world number 59 was always in control and dominated play, producing four exquisite returns to win a Hingis service game to love. Mirza’s serve threatened to let Hingis back into the game but although the top seed survived two match points, it was third time lucky for the outsider.

“She was too good today, she played too well,” a tired Hingis told a press conference. “She played very well today, much better than last Saturday. I gave her more chances today. In the beginning I lost two 40-0 games. Sometimes that’s professional tennis and little things can make matches.”




Galvani extends super Mario


Mumbai, Sept. 28: Second seed and crowd favourite Mario Ancic of Croatia was made to battle but eventually prevailed 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) over unseeded Italian Stefano Galvani to go through to the quarter-finals of the $380,000 Kingfisher Airlines Open at the Cricket Club of India on Thursday.

“Super Mario” swept through the first set in quick time but was given a much harder time in the second by the plucky Italian who stretched the lanky Croat all the way into the tie-breaker before finally conceding to his opponent’s class and aggression. Joining him in the last-eight stage was Austrian Stefan Koubek, a 7-5, 6-3 winner over Frenchman Nicolas Devilder.

Earlier, the Czech Republic’s third seed, Tomas Berdych was not exactly fluent with his display, but was still good enough to book a quarter-final berth as he made his way past Germany’s Simon Greul.

21-year-old Berdych, who last year won his first ATP Masters Series title (Paris), encountered a stiff challenge from the unseeded German before ensuring his progress following a hard-fought 7-6 (4), 6-4 victory in an early match played on the outside court.

Also making his way into the quarters was Dmitry Tursunov, who recovered from an early reversal to quell the challenge of Kristian Pless 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4. Berdych, who made the fourth round of the US Open, will now meet another German in the form of Bjorn Phau, who had a comparatively easier passage into the next stage.






Narain predicts bright future with Williams


Chennai, Sept. 28: Formula One test driver Narain Karthikeyan predicts a bright future for the Williams F1 team after he was retained as test driver for the British squad. Willaims boss Sir Frank confirmed on Thursday that Narain will stay as an official test driver till December 2007, “with an option of renewing it”.

In a chat with this paper, Narain, who failed to find a racing seat in the 2006 season after hisdebut with the Jordan team in 2005, explained his role as a test driver and spoke on the team’s future plans.

Excerpts:

On the team’s 2006 performance and future plans: The current season was not an ideal one for Williams. We struggled with our Cosworth powerplants, with poor reliability and a lack of results forcing us to look at Toyota next year. Though it is too early to make any judgements, I am confident the change of engines would also lead to a change of fortunes in 2007. If everything goes fine, we will come out with a good performance next season.

On the new Toyota-powered Williams FW28B: We had a positive test at Silverstone last week where we tested a revised aero package that we will bring with us for the final three rounds. We also concentrated on tyre testing in preparation for the remaining season. Apart from the new Toyota-powered interim Williams FW28B, we also switched to an entirely new gearbox.

On the focus of the Silverstone tests: We concentrated on testing a new aero package that will be rolled out for the final rounds of the season and comprehensive tyre evaluations to assist the team in selection at the track. All FW28s will benefit from new front wings and barge boards in China, as well as minor bodywork modifications.

On his targets: Going into the third successive season as a Formula 1 driver, I feel my hard work, perseverance and desire helped me perform to the fullest of my abilities. Naturally as a racing driver, my first priority is to compete, but I would far rather test with a leading team than accept a race seat that offered no real potential to learn and develop. Next season is extremely important for Williams with their new engine partners Toyota. Williams are a team who exist only to race and I hope that whatever I can contribute to this ultimate objective will be valued by the team.






Alaskan best bet for feature

Kolkata card
Kolkata, Sept. 28: Alaskan who is in fine winning form is expected to win the Hokaido Cup (1400m) the main event of Friday’s races.

Following Is The Card:

1. The Gold Kale Handicap 2000m 1.30 pm:
1. Falaknuma 60 Rajinder 1
2. Newmachar 60 N Pandey 2
3. Lightning Flash 57.5 I Chisty 4
4. Queen Amedale 57 D Singh 3

2. The Bright Law Handicap 1200m 2.00 pm:
1. Schumacher 61 V Jaiswal 4
2. Thoughtful 59.5 Md Islam 2
3. Arrayal 59 S Shanker 3
4. Satluju 54 D Singh 1

3. The Allying Handicap 1100m 2.35 pm:
1. Cambridge Blue 60 S Domingo 3
2. Salinger 60 Rajinder 5
3. Secret Desire 57 J Gurung 2
4. Eglevsky 54.5 Surjeet S 6
5. Vancouver 51.5 D Singh 4
6. Castle Moon 50 Md Islam 1


4. The Mercury Handicap 1100m 3.05 pm:
1. Acrostic 60.5 G Singh 1
2. Sweet Success 58 M Reuben 5
3. Romantic Escape 57 Som Singh 4
4. Sergeant Slipper 54.5 I Chisty 3
5. Star Gluster 52.5 G Ross 2
6. Alashaan 52 Md Islam 6

5. The Roll ‘N’ Twist Cup 1400m 3.35 pm:
1. Exploding Wonder 60 M Reuben 6
2. Retained Asset 56.5 I Chisty 4
3. Star Magic 56.5 D Singh 1
4. Pure Valour 54.5 Manasseh 5
5. Regal Empress 54.5 G Ross 2
6. Alarico 53.5 Md Amil 3

6. The Amazing Handicap 1400m 4.10 pm:
1. Immaculate 60 N Akhtar 1
2. Wizard of Oz 58.5 I Chisty 4
3. Champion Crusader 57.5 Rajinder 6
4. Ardennes 57 S Shanker 5
5. Sven 57 B Gurang 7
6. Boogie Nights 53 Md Islam 3
7. Spectacular Star 51 Surjeet Singh 2

7. The Hokaido Cup 1400m 4.45 pm:
1. Sea Legend 60.5 Md Islam 5
2. Adderly 55.5 V Jaiswal 9
3. Alaskan 55 Asghar 2
4. El Cid 54.5 Salim K 6
5. Magic Mantra 54.5 M Reuben 8
6. Remarquable 54 G Ross 3
7. Tactical Advantage 53.5 D Singh 4
8. Roofer 53 R Ahmed 7
9. Body and Soul 48.5 M Maseyk 1
Jackpot Pool Race Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7.
First Treble Pool Race Nos. 2, 3 & 4.
Second Treble Pool Race Nos. 5, 6 & 7.

Selections

1st race: Lightning Flash 1, Falaknuma 2.
2nd race: Schumacher 1, Arrayal 2.
3rd race: Salinger 1, Cambridge Blue 2, Secret Desire 3.
4th race: Sergeant Slipper 1, Sweet Success 2, Acrostic 3.
5th race: Retained Asset 1, Star Magic 3.
6th race: Wizard of Oz 1, Ardennes 2, Champion Crusader 3.
7th race: Alaskan 1, Tactical Advantage 2, Magic Mantra 3.
Day’s best: Alaskan

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