Andhranews

Should we be cheering over the fact that the Dow Jones Industrial Average has finally set a new record? No. The Dow is doing well largely because American employers are waging a successful war against wages. Economic growth since early 2000, when the Dow reached its previous peak, hasn�t been exceptional. But after-tax corporate profits have more than doubled, because workers� productivity is up, but their wages aren�t � and because companies have dealt with rising health insurance premiums by denying insurance to ever more workers. If you want to see how the war against wages is being fought, and what it�s doing to working Americans and their families, consider the latest news from Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart already has a well-deserved reputation for paying low wages and offering few benefits to its employees; last year, an internal Wal-Mart memo conceded that 46% of its workers� children were either on Medicaid or lacked health insurance. Nonetheless, the memo expressed concern that wages and benefits were rising, in part �because we pay an associate more in salary and benefits as his or her tenure increases.� The problem from the company�s point of view, then, is that its workers are too loyal; it wants cheap labour that doesn�t hang around too long, but not enough workers quit before acquiring the right to higher wages and benefits. Among the policy changes the memo suggested to deal with this problem was a shift to hiring more part-time workers, which �will lower Wal-Mart�s health care enrolment.�

And the strategy is being put into effect. �Investment analysts and store managers,� reports the New York Times, �say Wal-Mart executives have told them the company wants to transform its work force to 40 per cent part time from 20 per cent.� Another leaked Wal-Mart memo describes a plan to impose wage caps, so that long-term employees won�t get raises. And the company is taking other steps to keep workers from staying too long: in some stores, according to workers, �managers have suddenly barred older employees with back or leg problems from sitting on stools.�

It�s a brutal strategy. Once upon a time a company that treated its workers this badly would have made itself a prime target for union organisers. But Wal-Mart knows that these days the people who are supposed to enforce labour laws are on the side of the employers, not the workers. Since 1935, US workers considering whether to join a union have been protected by the National Labour Relations Act, which bars employers from firing workers for engaging in union activities. For a long time the law was effective: workers were reasonably well-protected against employer intimidation, and the union movement flourished.

In the 1970s, however, employers began a successful campaign to roll back unions. This campaign depended on routine violation of labour law: experts estimate that by 1980, employers were illegally firing at least one out of every 20 workers who voted for a union. But employers rarely faced serious consequences for their law-breaking, thanks to America�s political shift to the right. And now that the shift to the right has gone even further, political appointees are seeking to remove whatever protection for workers� rights that the labour relations law still provides.

The Republican majority on the National Labour Relations Board, which is responsible for enforcing the law, has just declared that millions of workers who thought they had the right to join unions don�t. The Act grants that right only to workers who aren�t supervisors. And the board, ruling on a case involving nurses, has declared that millions of workers who occasionally give other workers instructions can now be considered supervisors.
As the dissent from the Democrats on the board makes clear, the majority bent over backward, violating the spirit of the law, to reduce workers� bargaining power.

So what�s keeping paycheques down? Major employers like Wal-Mart have decided that their interests are best served by treating workers as a disposable commodity, paid as little as possible and encouraged to leave after a year or two. And these employers don�t worry that angry workers will respond to their war on wages by forming unions, because they know that government officials will do everything they can to come down on the side of the wage-cutters.

Mumbai, Oct. 6: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said there was a need �to reform our financial sector further if we are to have a larger debt market.� Dr Singh, who was inaugurating the new Rs 75-crore Sebi Bhavan at the Bandra-Kurla Complex built by the Central Public Works Department, said, �We may currently be lacking a consensus on the needed reforms. However, I am confident that we will soon be able to forge a consensus and take reforms forward.�

Stressing the imperative of a debt market ,�which has not quite delivered on expectations�, Dr Singh said, �We need to promote a widely-held pension fund system, and have a larger insurance sector with a higher capital base and more diverse products. It is these which will generate the necessary long-term funds for investing in the debt market and make available resources for the investment needs in our country.�

He cautioned that unless investments were �of a high order�, India would not be able to achieve the 8-10 per cent economic growth. Stressing the importance of good regulation of the securities markets, Dr Singh said, it will ensure that necessary information is available to the public so that they can take informed decisions about investments.

�Good regulations,� he said, �will further ensure that while the engines of growth are allowed to run at full throttle, there is no space for manipulators in the system.� Dr Singh recognised the need for a suitable investor protection fund and said that urgency is being given to undertaking a comprehensive amendment of the Sebi Act 1992, to create an appropriate fund and empower Sebi to better address the issues impacting investor interests.

Finance minister P. Chidambaram spoke on the need for market participants to be registered with self-regulatory organisations such as Association of Mutual Funds of India, just as stock brokers are regulated by the BSE and Sebi. This would improve the confidence of lay investors in the market.
�Unless every saver is turned into an investor, we cannot achieve the high level of growth that we aspire for. The task of Sebi is to convert retail investors and dispel the irrational character of the capital market,� Mr Chidambaram said.

PM�s agenda for the capital market

* Policy measures to give fillip to the debt market
* Reform financial sector further
* Promote a widely-held pension fund system
* Insurance sector needs higher capital base and more products

New Delhi, Oct. 6: The foreign direct investment (FDI) in India rose by a record 92 per cent during April-July this fiscal to $2.9 billion as against $1.5 billion in the same period last year, said commerce minister Kamal Nath here on Friday. FDI inflows during the month of July went up by a record 259 per cent to $1,163 million, as against $324 million in July 2005. The largest inflow so far this year was by Singapore-based Barclays Bank, which brought in $380 million, said Mr Nath. This FDI inflow has been in the financial services sector and has been received in the month of July 2006.

Other major investors include Global Communication Services Holdings, Mauritius, Aircel Ltd (telecom services); SIERO investment holding, Mauritius, in Orange Realty P Ltd. (Real Estate) as also Flextronics (Computer Software) and Aspen Pharmacare holdings Ltd. FDI inflows into the manufacturing sector and sectors impacting the manufacturing sector continue to show a record growth. FDI equity inflows into manufacturing alone in April-July 2006-07 is estimated at $668.41 million, said Mr Nath.

He pointed out that some of the services sector like design and engineering, air/sea transport, ports, construction activities have a bearing on the growth of the manufacturing sector. The FDI policy rationalisation and liberalisation measures have resulted in the increased inflows into such sectors as well, he said. According to the commerce ministry, in terms of FDI, the 10 top investing countries are Mauritius, USA, Japan, Netherlands, UK, Germany, Singapore, France, South Korea and Switzerland.

Hyderabad, Oct. 6: On Mobile, a telecom value-added services (VAS) provider spun off from Infosys Technologies Ltd in 2000, said on Friday it has secured strategic financing of $27.8 million from Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs & Polygon Investment Partners.

Speaking to this newspaper, Mr Arvind Rao, co-founder and CEO of OnMobile, said the proceeds would be used to expand the company�s marketing infrastructure in the United States, and to develop new products. �Currently, we use the offices of Infosys in the US and the United Kingdom, but we need people dedicated to marketing our VAS to telecom companies in the US and elsewhere,� Mr Rao said.

OnMobile, which has its development centre in Bangalore where it employs 350 people, will also be investing in the research and development of new products, he said. Mr Rao said Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Polygon had been given minority stakes for their investment. Infosys continues to have a small stake in OnMobile, while Mr Rao, other senior executives and employees hold a 40 per cent stake.

�The funding is a late-stage financing from the investors. We raised about $18 million when the company was spun off from Infosys in 2000,� he said. �Eventually, we may go in for a public issue to enable our investors to exit,� he said. OnMobile provides mobile content distribution, interactive media portals, 1-to-1 direct marketing via mobiles, and M-Commerce in the fast-growing 150 million plus subscribers in the Indian telecom market.

OnMobile was spun out from Infosys to build and deploy innovative software applications for the wireless Internet industry. �Our choice of Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and Polygon Investment Partners was driven by the strategic role they will be playing in our drive towards the next level of global growth. There is a significant opportunity to export the innovations and market learnings from our India deployments overseas, and to bring the latest innovations from around the world into India; our new investors are superbly positioned to help us do this,� he added.

Hyderabad, Oct. 6: GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd., which is bui-lding a new airport here, has awarded the fuel farm operations contract to Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL). GHIAL will be building the facility which will be managed by Reliance Industries, T. Srinagesh, COO of GHIAL, told reporters here on Friday.

�The awarding of a fuel farm operations contract to RIL will ensure that airlines can refill their planes with Aviation Turbine Fuel from companies of their choice. This is a departure from the practice at other airports where exclusive ATF contracts are with various oil marketing companies,� Mr Srinagesh said.

GHIAL, a subsidiary of GMR Infrastructure Ltd., has signed a contract with RIL, under which it will be setting up an �open access model� fuel farm. The farm will comprise three storage tanks with an initial capacity of 13,500 kilolitres of ATF and hydrant. RIL will operate and maintaing the farm, as well provide �into-aircraft� service, Mr Srinagesh said.

The contract with RIL is for a period of seven years. GHIAL has estimated that airlines flying into the new airport, which is exp-ected to be commissioned in early 2008, will be using 300,000 kilolitres of ATF in the first year of operation. �What the contract essentially means is that if a particular airline uses fuel from a specific ATF marketing company, RIL will be raising the bill with the marketing company,� he said.

According to GHIAL, a joint venture by the GMR group, Malaysia Airport Holdings Berhad of Mala-ysia, the Airports Authority of India and the Andhra Pradesh government, the fuel farm would enable airlines to have a choice of suppliers and Hyderabad could be part of their global or pan-Indian supply contracts.

�There will be increased competition among oil companies for supply of fuel, leading to enhanced services and competitive pricing,� a company statement said. Aviation fuel comprises around 30 per cent of the airline�s operating cost. Mr Srinagesh said that both IATA and the Naresh Chandra Committee on civil aviation had recommended the �open access model� for all airports in the country.Meanwhile, work on the construction of the airport is continuing apace, and is expected to commence operations as per schedule by March, 2008, he said.

New Delhi, Oct. 6: IT industry body Nasscom has sought a police probe to get to the bottom of information theft from Indian call centres after a UK-based TV channel, which made these allegations, refused to share the details of date pilferage. �We have taken up this investigation (sting operation by the TV channel) with the Indian police authorities in Kolkata and filed a complaint on behalf of the indian it industry,� Nasscom president Kiran Karnik said in a statement.

The industry body had sought Channel 4�s cooperation, prior to the airing of the programme on October 5 for a prompt action against the criminals but it had refused to provide the information. �We have no further update from them on their intent to share the details of persons shown in the programme who have �sold� the data to Channel 4. We will pursue it further to ensure that criminals, if any, are rightly taken to the authorities concerned,� he said.

�There was no suggestion of customers suffering fina-ncial loss in dispatches report, but that does not diminish the priority we give to the security issues,� Mr Karnik said. The Criminal Investigation Department of the West Bengal police has registered a FIR based on the complaint. Mr Karnik said the investigation was already well underway and the police have said that the main accused Sushant Chandak has been missing along with his family.

The authorities are in the process of locating Mr Chandak and gathering evidence relating to the allegations, he added. After a 12-month undercover investigation, Channel 4 aired a programme (dispatches) on the criminal networks in India which were allegedly involved in selling British consumers� bank account details and other commercial information for huge profits.

Following the airing of some parts of the programme on Star News in India last week, Nasscom had taken up the matter with the police in Kolkata. Nasscom vice-president Sunil Mehta said the programme made it clear that data security is an international issue that is not unique to any one country.

�But in India we are seeking to lead the way to even more stringent standards.� He said India is setting up a national registry of employees in the IT software and services industry, promoting the sharing and implementation of best practices in member companies.

Hyderabad, Oct. 6: The business process solutions division of Perot Systems will be ramping up its life insurance practice, even as it is planning to set up a third centre in India, a senior company official said on Friday. According to Mr Vardhman Jain, head of the BPO division of Perot Systems, life insurance and some financial services had emerged as key growth sectors for the division. �We started our BPO operations focusing on healthcare, but have since added financial services and life insurance. Eighty per cent of our business is from third-party clients, with the balance coming from Perot Systems,� Mr Jain said.

The BPO division has 2,200 employees at its centres in Chennai and Coimbatore. Perot Systems has its IT services centres in Bangalore and Noida, employing over 3,800 people. �India is an important base for Perot Systems, both for the BPO and IT services, and it now accounts for more than 30 per cent of the company�s global workforce. In the BPO space, more than half of the total workforce of 4,500 is in India,� Mr Jain said.

The growth in the healthcare, financial services and life insurance BPO business had made it imperative for Perot Systems to set up a third centre in India, he said, adding that Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Pune in Maharashtra and Kochi in Kerala had been shortlisted, all so-called �Tier II� cities. �We expect to take a decision on the third centre in the next six months,� he said.

Mr Jain said the Coimbatore centre, opened two months ago, was involved in some financial services and call centre work. It has over 100 employees. The BPO division had accounted for $415 million of Perot Systems� revenue of $1.99 billion in 2005.

New Delhi, Oct. 6: Trai on Friday issued a set of regulations on the quality of service standards that broadband service providers would have to maintain. According to it, if the broadband service is available in the area, then the service providers are required to provide the customer the service within 15 days of receiving the payment of installation charge and security deposit. If service provider fails to do so, then he will detect Rs 10 per day for the period of deduct in the first bill.

On the repair and restoration of the broadband service, the Trai directive says that service providers would have to fully restore it within three days. If the service provider is not able to restore it within seven days then, he would have to give the customer rebate for seven days or provide equivalent quantity. If the fault restoration takes more than seven days but less than 15 days, than the rebate equivalent to 15 days of minimum monthly charge or equivalent usage allowance of MB has to be given. For any delay of more 15 days, the service provider would have to give the customer a rebate equivalent to one month of minimum monthly charge.

About the billing complaints, Trai has made it mandatory for the service provider to resolve it within four weeks. The broadband service provider is required to refund the deposits to the customer within two months after the closure of the service. On bandwidth, the Trai regulations say that if on any link route bandwidth utilisation exceeds 90 per cent, then network would be considered to have congestion.

Hyderabad, Oct. 6: The Office of Generic Drugs in the United States Food and Drug Administration has adopted a new information technology system for reviewing and archiving abbreviated New Drug Applications (generic drug applications or ANDAs) electronically.

�OGD recently began using the division file system (DFS) as a repository for Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) review and regulatory documents in order to improve the efficiency of the generic review process,� the FDA said in a posting on its website on Friday.

The new system is expected to give a fillip to Indian pharmaceutical companies who filed ANDAs regularly with the FDA, for generic versions of patented drugs in the United States. �This version of DFS, which has been used by the Office of New Drugs (OND) within the Centre for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) since October of 2000, provides document management, tracking, archiving, and electronic signature capabilities for internally generated review documents and search and retrieval capabilities for final versions of internally generated review documents,� the FDA said.

This system will now allow electronic archiving of ANDA documents for better tracking and search capabilities. It will also enable reviews to become part of the official electronic record for a specific generic drug application, it said.

Hindupur, Oct. 6: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy said here on Friday that the State government is making all-out efforts to develop Anantapur district, which is suffering from acute drought, on all fronts. He said that the State government has been taking steps to ensure water for both irrigation as well as drinking purposes, besides developing it industrially.

The Chief Minister had participated in the valedictory of the birth centenary celebrations of former MP Srirama Reddy, who is also the paternal uncle of agriculture minister N. Raghuveera Reddy at Neelakantapuram in Madakasira mandal.

Addressing a public meeting, Dr Reddy recalled the services of Srirama Reddy, who strove for the irrigation facilities to Anantapur district. The State government is working hard to fulfill his dreams, he added.

The Chief Minister said that tenders would be called for the digging of canals to provide water to 330 tanks through Handri Neeva Sujala Sravanti soon. He announced that the water would reach the canals in the next four years amidst huge applause.

Likewise, permanent ste-ps are being taken to supply water to mitigate the drinking water problems in Hin-dupur, Madakasira, Kalya-nadurgam and Rayadurgam regions through Penna Ahobilam reservoir.

Steps are also being taken to develop the district industrially. As part of it, a garment factory would be set up to provide employment for the unemployed youth, he added. The State government was able to secure Central funds worth Rs 133 crores under crop insurance for distribution among the farmers who lost crop in over two lakhs acres due to heavy rains some two years ago.

The government helped over two lakhs farmer families through this crop insurance and presently they were providing input subsidy to the tune of Rs 82 crores and distributed it among six lakh farmers. Never before such a huge benefit was extended to the farmers, Dr Reddy said.He assured to take up works under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to arrest the migration of farm labourers.

Chittoor, Oct. 6: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy assured farmers of Chittoor district that irrigation water would be supplied to the crops from withering besides taking steps to provide quality power.

Addressing a public meeting at Mahadeva Mangalam village of Bangareddypalle panchayat in Gangadhara Nellore mandal after inaugurating a 400/220 KV substation at the village on Friday, the Chief Minister indicated to the plans to establish heavy, medium and sm-all scale power substations to do away with low voltage problems in the State.

He said that the government is prepared to spend any amount of money for the substations. He reiterated his commitment to provide irrigation to every farmer in the State while assuring water for irrigation for every inch of land in Chittoor district. Referring to Handri-Neeva, Sujalasravanthi and Telugu Ganga projects, which would benefit Chittoor district, Dr Rajasekhar Reddy promised to complete the works in a phased manner.

He alleged that the Telugu Desam (TD) government failed take up any irrigation project during its nine year rule and never came to the rescue of the farming community.� He claimed credit for introduction of free power and waiver of power bill arrears while asserting that his government was truly a farmer-friendly governm-ent. He exhorted other welfare programmes taken up by his government for the benefit of women and poorer.

The Chief Minister gave away Rs 73 lakhs cheque on behalf of Lidcap to legislator Gummadi Kuthuhalamma and collector S.S. Rawath towards acquisition of land for leather technology project at Vepamjeri.� He reacted positively when the legislator sought funds for the leather project. Large contingents of police force was deployed for security arrangements to the Chief Minister visit.

Chief whip N. Kirankumar Reddy, Zilla Parishad chairman M. Subhramanyam Reddy, legislators, Gali Muddukrishnama Naidu, Dr Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, Venkataramana, Narayana swamy, G. Arunakumari, Reddyvari Changa Reddy, K. Prabhak-ar Reddy, Congress district president M. Sudhakar and others were present.

Ongole, Oct. 6: Activists belonging to CPI(M) and AP Rytu Sangham organised a protest in front of Nagarjunsagar Project (NSP) office at Chimak-urthy town on Friday and staged a rasta roko on the Ongole-Kurnool Road demanding that the government release NSP water to tail-end areas.

The agitators gheraoed irrigation superintending engineer (SE) Siva Prasad and executive engineer D. Venkateswarlu asking them to release waters to the tail-end areas. They sent the NSP office staff outside and locked the doors for three hours.

Later, they obstructed movement of vehicles on the Ongole-Kurnool Road disrupting traffic for one hour. The protestors raised slogans against the government criticising it for not supplying irrigation water to tail-end lands though plenty of water is available in Nagarjunsagar dam.

The farmers withdrew the stir after Mr Siva Prasad gave an assurance that water would be supplied to tail end areas by Saturday. The farmers threatened to restart the agitation if they did not receive the water.

Meanwhile, Telugu Desam (TD) leaders began a padayatra on Friday from Darsi to Chimakurthy demanding that the government release irrigation water from the NSP canal to tail end areas in Chimakurthy, SN Padu and Tallur mandals. TD district president Karanam Balaram, general secretary P. David Raju, former zilla parishad chairman Mukku Kasi Reddy, Kandula Narayana Reddy and other leaders attended on the occasion.

Former legislator P. David Raju is leading the padayatra. The TD leaders will reach the mandal headquarters of Chimakurthy on Saturday and stage a protest against the failure of the government to supply irrigation water to NSP canal tail end areas. Addressing party workers, the TD leaders said that farmers in tail end areas could not sow seeds due to non-supply of water.

Nellore, Oct. 6: Unable to bear the harassment of her alcoholic husband, a woman jumped into Pennar river here on Friday in a bid to commit suicide along with her two daughters. While Lakshmidevi, 30, and her younger daughter, Kousalya, 7, drowned in the river, her elder daughter, Umabharathi, 11, was rescued by Saisiva, 13, who was washing clothes in the river when the victims jumped into the river.

Though Saisiva went back to rescue Lakshmidevi, his attempt failed. According to the police, Lakshmidevi was living with her husband K. Malakondaswamy, a barber, at Jakir Hussain Nagar in the town.� He used to come home drunk every day and beat his wife and children on some pretext or the other. The woman took the extreme step following an altercation with her husband on Friday. III Town SI Subhan summoned expert swimmers, who traced the bodies in the evening.

The bodies were shifted to the government hospital for post-mortem. The SI congratulated Saisiva for saving Umabharathi and announced a cash reward.

Rajahmundry, Oct. 6: Health officials are keeping a close tab on people suffering with symptoms of dengue in East Godavari, given the background that six dengue cases were reported in and around Rajahmundry last year.

So far, no cases of dengue were noticed in the district in 2006. However, health officials have chalked out an action plan to bring about awareness among the general public to take precautionary measures to avoid falling prey to� mosquito bites which causes the viral fever.

The �aedes� mosquito, which breeds on fresh water stagnating in air coolers, flower pots, water tanks, water trays in refrigerators and other areas, causes dengue fever through its bite. It normally bites people only during daytime and the bite is a little painful. People who suffer its bite, develop symptoms like high fever, body and joint pains, vomiting and nausea and suffer post orbital pain in the eye balls. To avoid its bite, people should not allow fresh water to stagnate in their surroundings.

East Godavari district medical and health officer Dr D. Jayaram says, �Both dengue and chikungunya are viral fevers caused by� mosquito bites. We have geared up our health personnel to keep a track of fever cases in villages.�

He said that in addition, 12 officers were allocated five to six primary health centres each to monitor any such cases. �A mandal level meeting will be held in from October 9, involving officials from various departments to help educate people on symptoms of the fever, and the necessity to seek medical help. We will be initiating all measures to contain breeding of the mosquito and other necessary steps,� Dr Jayaram said.

West Godavari district medical and health officer Dr D.S. Sarma said, �At present we are taking up investigation on the first suspected case of dengue. We will inititate all measures to ensure that people do not fall prey to viral fevers.�

Bhimavaram, Oct. 6: A comprehensive town planning map is being prepared to provide basic amenities and to take up other developmental works in 42 municipalities through satellite images in the State, said Andhra Pradesh Urban Services for Poor (APUSP) project co-ordinator B. Janardhan Reddy.

Speaking to newsmen on Friday, he said that this kind of activity was being taken up in the civic bodies where the APUSP scheme was being implemented. The projerct official said that the government was able to provide web-enabled information in 32 towns in an year�s time since the commencement of the project.

Mr Reddy said that the APUSP will be in vogue till March 2008 as the State government had intervened to facilitate the extension of the scheme by an year from March, 2007.� He said that under the scheme, they were able to provide training sessions for better administration from the commissioner level to clerical level in addition to engineering, revenue and town planning officials.

By doing so, they managed to save power consumption to the tune of Rs 5.6 crores in 42 municipalities.� Referring to solid waste management, Mr Reddy said that of 4,327 urban areas in the country, only seven centres had cent per cent implementation of solid waste management practices and added that they were making all efforts to get similar per cent at Suryapeta municipality in Nalgonda district.

Warangal, Oct. 6: The District Review Committee (DRC) meeting here on Friday witnessed heated arguments between major irrigation minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah and Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) MLA from Cherial K. Pratapa Reddy over the protocol observed during distribution of cheques to the farmers who were displaced by the Devedula irrigation project.

As soon as the DRC meet began, chaired by district in-charge minister M. Satyanarayana Rao, the TRS MLA alleged that the major irrigation minister had violated the protocol and insulted him by arbitrarily postponing the disbursal of cheques to the affected farmers.

Reacting sharply, Mr Lakshmaiah alleged that the TRS MLA was trying to blackmail the officials and him by fixing the cheques disbursal date unilaterally. �He (Mr Pratap Reddy) fixed the cheque disbursal date as September 25 without consulting me and as I was busy with the earlier planned schedule, the disbursal had to be rescheduled to September 30. But the MLA didn�t had patience even to wait for five days and created a big issue out of nothing,� the� minister said.�

For the first time in the history, the Congress government is paying compensation to the farmers as soon as their lands were acquired and even the 25-year-long pending dues were also being paid to the affected farmers,� Mr Lakshmaiah said.

The TRS MLA alleged that the official concerned for the compensation disbursal was the minister�s relative and the minister was dictating terms to him. Enraged at the �wild� allegation, Mr Lakshmaiah also took a dig at Mr Pratap Reddy�s previous experience of working as a personal assistant to a minister before entering into politics and warned him not to politicise every issue in his constituency.

Later, Mr Pratap Reddy also had a wordy duel with district collector K. Damayanti, who asked the legislator to respect the officers and expect respect from them, over the rules declaring� Cherial constituency as drought-affected. Pacifying the MLA, Mr Lakshmaiah and the collector, sports minister M. Satyanarayana Rao said those who were in public life should observe restraint and amicably solve their differences.

Karimnagar, Oct. 6: Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) MLA T. Harish Rao rebutted the charges of the Congress leaders against TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao.� Speaking to newsmen at Sircilla on Friday, Mr Harish Rao said Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president K. Keshava Rao owed an explanation as to why his party had an alliance with the TRS in the last Assembly elections and why he went to the house of Mr Chandrasekhar Rao for a ticket.

The TRS MLA charged the Congress leaders with indulging in baseless charges fearing imminent victory of Mr Chandrasekhar Rao in the bypoll for the Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat.� Meanwhile, addressing newsmen in Karimnagar, district BJP president P. Sugunakar Rao dared the Congress to pass a resolution in the Assembly in favour of Telangana to prove its sincerity on the issue.

He alleged that the Congress was again trying to hoodwink the people on false promises to derive electoral mileage. BJP senior leader and former Union minister Ch. Vidyasagar Rao is all set to formally launch the party�s pre-poll campaign in the district on Saturday.

Karimnagar/Rajahmundry/Nellore, Oct. 6: Dengue fever claimed a life in the State on Friday. A seven-year-old girl of Raikal mandal of Karimnagar district died after battling for life for 20 days. According to sources, V. Madhuri of Bhoopathipur village died while being shifted to Hyderabad in the afternoon.

The girl had undergone treatment at a private hospital in Jagtial for the last three weeks, source said. Dengue fever had claimed several lives in the district three years ago. Chikungunya and viral fevers are prevalent in Bheemdevarapalli, Mahadevpur, Kataram and other mandals.

Responding to the State alert, medical and health officials swung into action and found a suspected case of dengue at Bhimavaram in West Godavari. A woman was found to be suffering from dengue and her serum will be sent for analysis to the Institute of Preventive Medicine in Hyderabad shortly.

But Nellore town is under the grip of viral fever. Many patients have been going to private hospitals for treatment. �I am treating about 70 patients in the morning and an equal number in the evening for the last 10 days,� said a noted physician and former municipal councillor, Dr P.S.R.K. Murthy.

Most of the patients have reported high fever, body aches, severe cold and cough, he said. Though the viral fever is not deadly, it takes at least a fortnight for the victims to recover completely, according to Government medical officer Dr E. Sudhakar. He said the virus was spreading within the family and in some cases the entire family was down with fever. Some patients mistook it for chikungunya due to body pains but there is nothing to worry, Dr Sudhakar added.

Karimnagar, Oct. 6: Even before the bitter memories of the suicidal death of Rahim receded from the memory, one more person made an attempt to end his life by jumping from the terrace of a two-storied building here on Friday. However, the police persuaded him against taking his life. G. Gauraiah, 35, a mason of Kanaparthi in Veenavanka mandal, tried to commit suicide fearing threat to his life from the relatives of his paramour. Gauraiah went up the two-floor building of a tax consultant at Ganeshnagar at about 5.30 am.

He locked the entrance door of the staircase from inside, sat on the parapet wall and shouted. Local residents, who came out on the street, sensed trouble and alerted the one town police over phone. One-town SI Srinivas rushed to the spot with the fire service personnel. While the SI tactfully engaged Gauraiah in a conversation, the police and the fire personnel brought in tents and beds to save the mason.

Gauraiah told the police that he faced a potential threat from some people of Kothapalli village. When the SI assured all help from the police. Gauraiah came down, ending a two-hour tense drama. At the station, Gauraiah reportedly told the police he had been staying with a married woman after his wife and daughter died six years ago.

The sub-inspector said that a case under section 309 had been registered against Gauraiah for attempting to commit suicide. P Sattaiah, a resident of Ganeshnagar, deplored that Gauraiah resorted to the strange move apparently under the influence of the repeated telecast of Rahim�s death.

Vijayawada, Oct. 6: The 29 Congress corporators in the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) had to face yet another defeat at the council meeting on Friday as the entire Opposition rallied together, giving enough indication that it would be much more difficult for the Congress in the coming days to run the show.

The corporators from the CPI(M), CPI and the Telugu Desam (TD), besides the independents, stalled the proceedings of the council insisting on a discussion on the State government orders for revision of property taxes.

While the Congress wanted to avoid any discussion on the issue claiming that the VMC did not get the copies of the GOs, the Opposition members produced copies of the GOs and demanded that the council take up discussion and adopt a resolution asking the government to withdraw the GOs.

Yielding� to the Opposition pressure, mayor Tadi Sakuntala called for a discussion on the issue which was raised by CPI(M) floor leader Ch. Babu Rao, CPI floor leader P. Gowtham Reddy, TD floor leader Y. Ramana Rao, CPI corporator D. Shankar and independent corporator U. Bahadur.

The corporators said that the government had issued two GOs (GO Ms No: 466 and 467) authorising the VMC to revise the property taxes. They said that the GOs would cause additional burden on the people as the property tax in the city was much higher than that in other corporations.

Mr Babu Rao said that people were already burdened with the hike in taxes, including garbage tax, meters for drinking water taps and water tax.� Mr Gow-tham Red-dy said that the GO Ms No. 467 was issued quoting Section 679 E of the Municipal Corporation Act. He said the section was earlier repealed by the government and wondered how a GO was issued quoting the repealed section.

He wanted the government to withdraw the GOs and give more powers to the local bodies.� CPI(M) deputy floor lea-der D. Kasinath requested the State government to iss-ue a fresh GO authorising the civic body to collect the tax arrears from the State and the Central government organisations in the city, besides taking the VMC�s due share from the vehicle tax, commercial tax and ent-ertainment tax.

This would replenish the VMC coffers and also would save people from being taxed, he said and wanted the government to release pending funds from various heads to the VMC.� TD floor leader Ramana Rao and other corporators also insisted on the withdrawal of the GOs.

Congress floor leader K. Rajasekhar, deputy mayor Ch. Krishna Kumar and corporator S. Ramalinga Murthy ridiculed the Opposition demand on the ground that the VMC did not receive any such GOs and it was not proper on the part of the corporators to adopt a resolution on the GOs.

However, the mayor too joined the Opposition and conducted voting on the issue asserting that the officials were ignoring the elected body and would implement the GO without even placing it before the council for approval.� The Opposition had won with 28 votes in favour of a resolution for the withdrawal of the property tax hike GOs, while the ruling Congress lost in the 59-member council.

Guntur, Oct. 6: It was either the printer�s devil or a Freudian slip, but it has surely revealed the state of affairs in the Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC). A statement issued by Guntur mayor Kanna Nagaraju on the completion of his first year in office claims that the �cooperation and coordination of the municipal council�was worth nothing��

According to his office, he actually meant �worth noting�. But those who have observed the goings-on in the GMC in the last one year will agree with the unwitting comment. In spite of thumping majority, the Congress plunged into group war soon after the polls and it touched a peak during the mayoral election.

The archrivals, minister Kanna Lakshminarayana and Guntur MP Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, fought over the issue for long and it was finally settled only after the intervention of Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy and PCC chief K. Keshava Rao.

Under the truce agreed to by the two leaders, Mr Lakshminarayana�s son Kanna Nagaraju would be the mayor for half the tenure and would then make way for Rayapati Mohan Saikrishna, son of Rayapati Srinivas.

The administrative wing of the GMC was also in the grip of faction war of its own kind. Several senior officials left the civic body under political pressure, bringing the administration to a standstill.

Visakhapatnam, Oct. 6: The Andhra University (AU) authorities on Friday suspended three research scholars from the hostel on charges of abusing and attacking other inmates after an eight-hour drama which prevailed in the scholars hostel � Vidya. The suspended scholars were identified as A. Raja Babu, B.S. Lakshmi Suryanarayana and G. Ramesh.

AU vice-chancellor Prof. L. Venugopal Reddy told reporters that they had taken the decision to suspend the scholars based on a preliminary inquiry report. �Further action would be taken after a comprehensive inquiry which would be completed soon. � The vice-chancellor was, however, mum on the non-boarders who were found staying in the hostel.

It all started on Thursday night when a group of scholars � all non-boarders � entered the hostel premises to have a party with their friends.� The inmates objected to their entry and soon there was a heated argument. This led to a clash between two groups of scholars. The situation was brought under control by the police.
On Friday morning, the scholars staged a demonstration in front of the hostel and threatened an indefinite fast if the authorities failed to take steps to restore normalcy in the hostel.

A student said that five boarders were creating nuisance in the hostel every night by consuming alcohol along with their friends and no action has been taken against them so far despite complaints to the warden and registrar Prof P. Vijay Prakash. �The VC suspended three scholars though he assured us that he will suspend all the five erring scholars,� the scholars said.

Palasa (Srikakulam), Oct. 6: With the arrest of four persons, the local railway police claimed to have busted an inter-State dacoit gang late on Thursday night. Cash worth Rs 30,000, five cellphones, one suitcase, four watches, five bags and a box of sedatives were seized from them.

Government railway police sub-inspector (SI) I. Brahma said the arrested were identified as Ube Alam, 30, Kesari Alam, 27, Mohd Anwir, 24, and Banti Alam, 27, all natives of Kishanganj district of Bihar. The gang was involved in train robberies with Delhi as its headquarters.

Ube Alam was the leader of four gangs. Prime accused Itahasham Alalun Raju is yet to be arrested. Of the four gangs, three operate on trains starting from Delhi. Without drawing the attention of the police, the gang members wore good clothes and always travelled in reserved coaches. They become friendly with the fellow passengers and make them drink or eat food mixed with sedatives. After the passengers fell unconscious, the gang members used to rob their valuables.

On Thursday, the four gangsters were travelling on a superfast train from Bangalore to Guwahati which halted at Palasa railway station. As they were moving under suspicious circumstances, the police caught two of them while the remaining two escaped in the train. The police passed on the information to railway police at Bhubaneswar� and Berhampur and subsequently the remaining two gangsters were nabbed.