Andhranews

Anantapur/ Kadapa, Aug. 4: Campaigning came to an end on Friday for the third phase of gram panchayat elections slated for Sunday. There are a total of 368 gram panchayats and 3,626 wards in Anantapur division, while 275 panchayats are there in Jammalamadugu division.

As on date of the withdra-wal of nominations, 71 sar-panch posts and 1,549 ward member posts in Anantapur division were declared elected unanimously. The number of unanimous elections are more in number than Penukonda and Dharmavaram divisions.

A total of 297 sarpanch posts and 2,039 ward member posts are going for elections on Sunday. While 817 persons were contesting for the sarpanch elections, and 4,218 members are vying for the ward member posts.

Likewise, 130 panchayats and 1,566 wards were declared elected unanimously in Jammalamadugu division. Hence elections would be held for 145 panchayats and 1,020 wards. Of the 22 panchayats und-er Peddamudiam mandal, nine were declared unanimous, while 28 persons are vying for 13 sarpanch posts.

Under Jammalamadugu panchayat limits, of the 14 panchayats, 11 were declared unanimous, while six persons are vying for the three sarpanch posts. In Mylavaram mandal, there are 19 gram panchayats.

Of them 12 were declared unanimous while 18 are competing for the seven sarpanch posts. In Muddanur mandal, there are 17 panchayats. Of them seven were declared elected unanimous, and 78 persons are going to polls for sarpanch posts for the 11 seats.
Under Kondapuram mandal there are 28 panchayats and of them 14 were declared elected unanimous and 40 are in fray for the 14 sarpanch posts.

Under Proddutur Assembly constituency limits, there are 15 gram panchayats in Proddutur mandal. Of them six panchayats were declared elected unanimous and 46 members are in fray for the nine sarpanch seats.

In Rajupalem mandal limits, there are 15 panchayats and of them four gram panchayats were declared unanimous and 38 are in fray for the 11 sarpanch posts.In Chapadu mandal, there are 22 gram panchayats, and 10 among them were declared elected unopposed, and 45 candidates are in fray for 12 sarpanch posts.

Vijayawada, Aug. 4: Minister for municipal administration Koneru Ranga Rao on Friday ridiculed the Opposition criticism on the controversial GO aimed at withdrawing the employees from the public sector units.

Mr Ranga Rao said that the contents of the GO were all agreed between the Wo-rld Bank and the previous Telugu Desam government. He said that the TD government had already implemented the first two phases of the plan by privatising several PSUs, closing some of them and sent more than 25,000 employees home through the VRS.

He said that the TD had also plann-ed the third and final phase of the agreement which was released in the form of a GO in the regular process. He asserted that the GO does not reflect the policy of the Congress government in the State, but was only a continuation of the previous government.

He pooh-poohed TD leader Y. Ramakrishnudu’s criticism against the GO and asked the TD leader to understand that the GO was part of the pro-World Bank policies of the TD government. He said that the TD regime had reorganised the electricity board and sold the assets of cooperative sugar factories in the State at cheaper prices. He also sought to remind the TD and CPM leaders of agitations that were held during the TD regime opposing the privatisation.

Ongole, Aug. 4: Officials will face the challenging task of conducting the village panchayat polls in a free and fair manner in the Maoist-affected Markapuram division on August 6.

Of the total 163 village panchayats in the revenue division, 69 are located in the Maoist-affected Markapuram police subdivision area. Some panchayats are located in very deep forest areas which are bastions for the Maoists. Sensitive villages are located in Pullalacheruvu, Y Palem, Peddaraveedu, Markapuram, Ardhaveedu, Dornala and Giddalur mandals.

The Maoist central committee gave a call for a State bandh on August 6, the polling day. Of the total 198 villages in Markapuram division covering 12 mandals, 35 sarpanches were elected unanimously.

Over 700 ward members were elected unopposed while polling will be conducted for 1330 ward members. Shifting of polling materials including ballot boxes is no easy task for officials in the dense Nallamala forests.

Tight security will be arranged for polling staff as there is a possibility of extremist activity in the wake of the encounter in which eight Maoists including State committee secretary Madhav were killed on July 23 in Y Palem Mandal.

The brutal killing of a Congress activist, Prasada Reddy by the Maoists in Giddalur Mandal two days ago, highlighted the sensitive nature in the region. The Maoists have also warned that they would target more Congress leaders in the region if they take part in the campaign.

With this serious warning given by the Maoists, mandal level Congress leaders abstained from the campaign on Thursday and Friday. The Maoists have given a bandh call for three days from August 2 to 4, protesting against the encounters. In this backdrop, polling staff are worried that violent activities could flare up during polling.

As the polling will be held from 7 am to 1 pm, staff will have to travel in the late hours to reach the respective polling booths before the beginning of the polling process. This is a totally unsafe time in remote areas, said one of the employees deputed for polling duty.
Speaking on the issue, Collector Ms B Udaya Lakshmi said that the district administration had taken all precautions to ensure an incident-free election.

When asked about the polling arrangements, she replied all polling material would be sent to the respective booths and did not elaborate on the arrangements made by the staff. District SP Mr Balasubramanyam said that all efforts would be made to conduct the polls in a free and fair manner .

Nellore, July 4: The election campaign came to an end in Gudur division on Friday. District officials are gearing up to hold the third and final phase of panchayat elections in 275 panchayats in Gudur division on Sunday.

At least 617 candidates are in the fray for sarpanch posts and 4441 candidates for 1117 ward number posts. Of the total 361 gram panchayats, sarpanches have been elected unanimously in 84 panchayats.

Election was postponed at Chenigunta village in Tada Mandal, following complaints on auctioning the sarpanch and ward member posts. Elections are not being held in 23 wards due to lack of nominations in some cases and rejections during scrutiny in some others.

The Police Department has made arrangements to use all force in its disposal in the wake of tensions prevailing in fishermen villages in Tada Mandal, located near the Tamil Nadu border, apart from some villages in Gudur and Sullurpet mandals.

Leaders of both the TD and Congress in Gudur division are forced to spend two times more than their counterparts in Kavali and Nellore division for the elections because these are slated for the final phase.

“Party cadres are after us for money every day for food and drinks for those taking part in the campaign, and we have no other alternative then fulfilling their demands to maintain the tempo till the end of the campaign,” a senior Congress party leader in Gudur division said. He said that their opponents’ condition was no better.

‘We wish that elections should take place in the first phase in our division at least in the future,’ he added, expressing disgust over the pressure for money from all quarters. Meanwhile the main political parties are vying with each other to bag the maximum number of villages. Gudur division witnessed an intense fight between the ruling Congress and opposition Telugu Desam party during the ZPTC and MPTC elections.

Congress leaders are bent upon taking revenge on the TD by securing maximum panchayats. In fact, the TD gave a jolt to the ruling party in several pockets in Gudur division in the local body elections. The Congress lost a host of ZPTC seats to the TD in Sullurpet constituency. The TD also maintained its grip in certain mandals of Gudur division. Both parties are facing problems with dissidents.

Chirala (Prakasam), Aug. 4: A woman working in a private school in Chirala town complained to the One Town police that she was being sexually har-assed by a rickshaw puller. The rickshaw puller takes the woman’s three children to school. He was picked up by the police who allegedly beat him up.

Sources said that the rickshaw puller was acting on the behest of a police constable. The woman complained to police that Rambabu used to threaten that he would kidnap her three children if she did not concede the demands of the policeman. However, the woman did not name the policeman in her complaint.

She said Rambabu had been harassing her for many months before she finally summoned the courage to file the complaint. However, sources said that efforts were on to suppress the case as it would harm the image of the police of one of them was found guilty of sexual harassment.

When this correspondent contacted superitendent of police Balasubramanyam on the issue on Friday, the district police chief said that that he would enquire into the matter and take appropriate action if he found anyone guilty.

Rajahmundry, Aug. 4: Incessant rains in the last three days left a trail of devastation and claimed the lives of six people in East Godavari. Several rivulets and canals are overflowing affecting agricultural fields and habitations and transportation in West Godavari district.

In East Godavari, six people were killed out of whom three are from Yeleswaram, two from Rampachodavaram and one from Kakinada. One more person was electrocuted at Peddapuram. Incidents of collapse of trees and houses and walls caused their deaths.

At the Dowleswaram barrage, the first warning signal was hoisted as the water level reached 11.75 feet by 5 pm. The water level continued to rise. At 6 pm, it registered 12.40 feet with a discharge of 11.14 lakh cusecs of water.

By 8 pm, a water level of 13.3 feet was registered and it is expected that by 9 pm, a second warning signal would be hoisted as the water level was expected to reach 13.75 feet with an expected discharge of 14 lakh cusecs of water. The district administration has geared up its machinery to evacuate people from the weak flood banks in case of any breach.

Irrigation head works executive engineer K. Muralidhar said that Dongaravi, Vadapalem and Madhavaipalem in West Godavari were most vulnerable for any eventuality. However, they were on alert to meet any exigencies. G. Venkata Rao of Yarna-gudem of Devarapalli mandal was washed away in a drain.

Polavaram, Aug. 4: With the Godavari in full spate, transportation came to a grinding halt in the Agency villages of the mandal following incessant rains during the last three days.

Over five feet water was flowing on low-level causeways at Ramaiahpeta and Kothur, resulting in stoppage of vehicular traffic in that direction. As there were heavy gales with high velocity, several electric poles were uprooted while transmission lines snapped, plunging villages in pitch darnkness.

RDO Ms Seetamahalakshmi said that with floods to the Godavari river and Kovvada canal in the Agency, measures were taken to evacuate people to safer places. Meanwhile, normal life in all the 46 mandals of Khammam district has been paralysed with the incessant rains for the last 48 hours.

Nunavat Prabhakar, a youth from Pedathanda under Khammam rural mandal was washed away in Munner and a case has been registered in the police station on it. Prabhakar who went to Munner to search for hidden arrack was washed away in the flood waters. About 80 villages in Bhadrachalam division, 10 in Paloncha and five in Kothagudem division were inundated in flood water.

Warangal, Aug. 4: Even as the authorities fear more deaths due to the rain havoc in the district, the identity of the five victims, who were killed in separate incidents, was established.

The victims include S. Swarajyam, 40, the woman was killed when the walls in her residence at Parvatagiri were collapsed. A two-year-old boy Raj Kumar died after falling into a water pond formed in front of his house after the heavy rains at Madikonda. The third victim was identified Pendyala Narsamma, 45, who got washed away at Somalagadda in Govindraopet mandal. And in the same mandal, 50-year-old K. Hathiaji was also washed away at Laxmipuram near Karlapally.

A 42-year-old woman, Dasai Bhagyamma was also washed away at Chennaraopet mandal. Two other persons were washed away at Maqdoompura in Chennaraopeta mandal, while one person was washed away at Parkal. The fate of the three washed away persons is not yet known.

Meanwhile, floodwater was overflowing on the railway tracks at Gundrathimadugu near Mahabubabad town. The road traffic towards Khammam, Bhadrachalam, Mulug, Eturnagaram and Kaleshwaram was also cut off as the rivulets were over flowing and there were breaches to roads.

All in all, the district recorded an average rainfall of 13.9 cm and places like Tadwai, and Mangapet received highest rainfall of 25 cm. The first danger mark at Ramannagudem, where the river Godavari flows by, was showed and during the night the authorities might show the second danger signal. Efforts are on to shift the people from the low-lying areas along the Godavari.

Nizamabad, Aug. 4: Normal life was disrupted in Nizamabad district due to the heavy rainfall that occurred on Thursday and Friday. So far, one death was reported in the district due to heavy rains. A nine-year-old boy Santosh died after a mud wall collapsed on him in Armoor.

According to Metrology sources, 6.2 cms rainfall was recorded on Thursday. Reports reaching district headquarters reveal that copious rainfall occurred in the entire district on Friday. A total of 15 families residing at Bathukammakunta in Kamareddy town were evacuated by revenue officials after rainwater entered their huts. The families were shifted to the nearby government schools and provided food and drinking water.

Traffic was diverted due to rainwater on the road connecting Nizamabad and Armoor, on the outskirts of Nizamabad town. R and B officials were constructing a road bridge and a temporary road was laid for the convenience of buses and lorries.

In Nizamabad town, open drains located in low-lying areas were floating with excess water. Drainwater is floating on the streets at Namdevwada, Ambedkar Colony, Islampura Colony and Koja Colony in the town. Nizamabad RDO Chandrasekhar visited the low-lying areas and reported to district collector Srinivas Srinaresh that there was no danger to these areas.

Irrigation officials are working on a war-footing to fill small leaks found in an irrigation tank at Birkur Mandal. Panic was created among farmers due to leaks in the tank and they alerted Irrigation officials.

The district collector is monitoring the situation with the RDOs of Nizamabad, Kamareddy and Bodhan. He directed the RDOs to keep a close watch on low-lying areas, irrigation and Panchayat Raj tanks and irrigation projects situated in their jurisdictions.

Poor attendance was marked in all the State and the Central government offices on Friday due to heavy rains. Nizamabad mayor D. Sanjay also assessed the situation with corporators representing low-lying areas in Nizamabad town.

Warangal, Aug. 4: District collector K. Damayanti directed all the village and mandal-level officials to stay put in their respective work places in the district.

The collector, who reviewed the rain havoc with the RDOs and the MROs, instructed them not to move away from their respective headquarters. “The village and mandal-level personnel should remain alert in their work places to meet any eventuality and offer immediate and prompt relief and rehabilitation services to the affected,” Ms Damayanti said.

The collector, who rushed to the Chalvai, Mulug and Govindraopet areas to personally supervise the relief measures to the rain affected people, took stock of the situation. She asked the ITDA project officer to ensure the immediate relief and rehabilitation services to the victims of the Gundla Vagu project, which was washed away due to heavy inflows.

At least the people in three surrounding villages were displaced due to the project breach. In her hourly wireless review meetings with the RDOs, Ms Damayanti alerted the officials on the possible breaches to the village tanks, overflowing of rivers and other rivulets.

“The washing away of railway tracks and the breaches to the roads where water was overflowing were also some of the main tasks where the officials have to be extra cautious,” she said. The collector also directed the medical and health staff to ensure that the primary health centres remain open round-the- clock in case of any emergency. A control room (phone No. 0870-2510777) was also set up at the collectorate for the officials to monitor the situation.

Adilabad, Aug. 4: A jobless youth of Kagaznagar town of this district was shocked on finding that he had talk-time balance worth Rs 44,50,900 in his pre-paid cellphone.P.D. Satish got this unexpected ‘bonanza’ after he recharged his cellphone for Rs 50 under the ‘Idea Easy Recharge’ scheme on Thursday.

A bewildered Satish, a resident of Naugoanbasti Colony, crosschecked with the Idea customer care centre which coolly informed him that he can make calls for Rs 44,50,900.
When he insisted that this was a mistake, customer care centre officials said th-ey would inform him of his balance after three hours.

Ravi Ramakrishna of the Idea customer care centre in Hyderabad confirmed to this correspondent that the balance amount for the cellphone bearing the number 9948497244 was Rs 44,50,900. “It is a technical error and will be rectified within 24 hours,” he said.

An Idea mobile services dealer of Adilabad admitted that several such technical errors had been reported recently. Many users who recharged for Rs 50 got Rs 70 as balance. But such a whopping amount was unheard of, he added. Customers usually get a balance of Rs 45 if they recharge their mobile with Rs 50 easy recharge coupon.

Satish had made some calls after recharging his cellphone and his balance had come down to Rs 38. It was after he made a few more calls that his balance ‘jumped up’ to Rs 44,50,900. “I stopped making calls since I felt it was not proper to take advantage of the technical error. I didn’t want to commit fraud,” Satish, who completed intermediate and makes a living as a contract labour, said.

Vijayawada, Aug. 4: The district administration evacuated over 3,950 families from the river bed and other low-lying areas due to heavy inflows to the river Krishna on Friday. The river received 3.15 lakh cusecs of water at Prakasam Barrage on Friday evening and it is expected to go up to 5 lakh cusecs by Saturday morning.

The officials at Nagarjunasagar have discharged over 4.35 lakh cusecs to the downstream which is expe-cted to reach Prakasam Barrage by Saturday noon. In addition to the discharges from Nagarjunasagar, the officials are also expecting heavy inflows to the river from Munneru and other rivulets due to heavy rains in Khammam and Warangal districts during the last 24 hours.

The officials rescued 70 people from the floods in Chandarlapadu area of Nandigama, while three persons of a family were found missing at Chevitikallu village of Kanch-ikacharla mandal. The family members, according to the neighbours, have gone to the river for sand collection and they were missing. The officials deployed swimmers to search for the missing people.

The families which were evacuated from the river bed as the inflows incre-ased, were kept in seven relief camps.The district administration had also posted senior officials to head each of the relief camps, monitoring the supply of food and water, besides medicine. Professional swimmers were also posted at various places along the river in case of any drowning of people.

District collector Navin Mittal said that they have also identified 2,000 people additonally to be evacuated from the low-lying areas and they would be shifted to the relief camps in the next 24 hours depending on the inflows to the river. He said that they have also directed the Transco officials to withdraw power supply in the low-lying areas as a precautionary measure.

The collector said that they were planning for a permanent settlement of the people from the low-lying areas. He said that the government sanctioned 50,000 houses for the city under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. Majority of the houses under this scheme would be given to the flood victims, he said. Mr Mittal said that the government sanctioned Rs 52 crores for doubling of the flood bank from Vijayawada to Avanigadda and it would be taken up shortly.

Khammam, Aug. 4: Normal life in all the 46 mandals of the district has been paralysed with the incessant rains for the last 48 hours. Nunavat Prabhakar, a youth from Pedathanda under Khammam rural mandal was washed away in Munner and a case has been registered in the police station on it. Prabhakar who went to Munner to search for hidden arrack was washed away in the flood waters.

About 80 villages in Bhadrachalam division, 10 in Paloncha and five in Kothagudem division were inundated in flood water. The rivulets, streams, tributaries, rivers and tanks are in spate and traffic has been disrupted due to the flow of flood water on the roads.

Second warning was declared at Bhadrachalam as the water level in Godavari crossed 48 feet and the flood is still increasing. It is expected that the water level would cross 53 feet by 1 am on Saturday. About 2.5 lakh cusecs of water was being released from Taliperu river and three mandals, Charla, Venkatapuram and Vazeed were cut off due to the flood water flowing on road at Tegada under Charla mandal.

Sabari is in spate and 15 villages in Chintoor mandal were marooned. Irrigation officials have been releasing water from all the hydro-power projects on Siler river which joins Sabari near Kunta, a border village of Chhattisgarh.

Bhadrachalam MLa Sunnam Rajaiah, who went to see the marooned villages under Palemvagu in Venkatapuram was stranded at Dummugudem as water from Gubbalamangi rivulet entered the villages.

All the reservoirs, rivulets and streams such as Palair, Kinnerasani, Bethupalli, Bayyaram tank, Wyra, Lankasagar, Palemvagu, Pedavagu, Murredu, Godhumavagu, Munner and Singabhupalam tank and Sokireru are in spate. Nine crest gates of Kinnerasani Project were opened and 51,000 cusecs of water was the outflow against 92,000 cusecs inflow.

The district administration opened 19 relief camps including 16 in Bhadrachalam division and two in Khammam in the district and 8,000 people were shifted to them from the flood-affected areas. The flood water from Munner entered Bokkalagadda area in the town and Godavari flood water inundated eight colonies in Bhadrachalam town. Food packets are being supplied to the victims in the relief camps.

Visakhapatnam, Aug. 4: The death toll due to the rains and the gales caused by the deep depression in the Bay of Bengal touched 14 and 1,079 villages were plunged into darkness due to snapping of powerlines and uprooting of poles and trees in the district since Thursday night.

The uprooting of trees which fell across the roads interrupted the communication system. Senior district officials led by joint collector Sandeep Kumar Sultania visited all the affected places and launched rescue and relief operation.

Sultania in a release said so far nine bodies were recovered from the mudslide in Kodupunjuvalasa in Araku Valley mandal and search was launched for the remaining persons. He said S. Musali Naidu, T. Kumari of Gajuwaka and Yanamala Janardhan of Gopalapatnam died in wall collapse. Kondem Venkataramana and T. Maridemma were washed away in a canal in Chodyam village under Golugonda mandal. So far, 11 persons suffered injuries.

He added that 64 houses were completely damaged and 68 houses partially hit in Munchingput mandal, five houses were completely damaged in Kotauratla mandal. About 50 persons were evacuated to relief camp in Sattivanipalem in Pendurthy mandal.

Uprooted trees affected the road communication in Thimmapuram, Pedagummaluru, Narsingapalle and Lingapuram. The district received 4,741.7 mm of rain during the last 24 hours. EPDCL officials said power supply was hit in 691 villages in Srikakulam, 113 villages in Vizianagaram and 1,079 in Visakhapatnam district.

EPDCL chairman and managing director Praveen Prakash held an emergency meeting with the senior officials on restoration of power in north Andhra.In the city, power supply was hit in Dwarakanagar, Dondaparthy, Lalithanagar, Akkayyapalem, Bhanojinagar and other areas.

Visakhapatnam, Aug. 4: Flights from and to the city were cancelled for the second consecutive day on Friday following inundation of the airport and its surroundings.

Airport officials said there would be no services till further orders. Airport controller C. Pattabhi said though there was no water on tarmac, the apron and the parking area were submerged. Talking to this correspondent, he said water was receding slowly.

“The water level at the car parking area was around one foot and at apron it was little less which was very difficult for any flight to take shelter. We have cancelled the flight operations on Saturday also,” said Mr Pattabhi.

Vizianagaram, Aug. 4: The district administration set up five rescue centres at Vitam College, Garugubilli, Kandivalasa in Pusapatirega mandal and mandal parishad schools at Bhogapuram, Cheepurupalli and Vizianagaram to shelter 1,750 persons residing in lowlying areas.

District collector B. Kishore has been monitoring the rain situation from time to time alerting revenue and police officials. As many as 100 farm tanks breached following heavy inflows and measures are being taken to mend the breaches.

A control room was set up at the collectorate to co-ordinate the activities of all mandal revenue officers and revenue divisional officers involved in the relief and rescue operations. Mr Kishore said 34 special officers were appointed to look after all 34 mandals.

Joint collector M. Jagan Mohan was already deputed to Parvathipuram as special station officer to monitor agency situation. “We were monitoring water levels of all reservoirs. A total of 25 teams were set up to attend to power interruption,” said the district collector. The Mallamma tank in Gajapathinagaram mandal breached inundating various crops in 70 hectares.Still the district headquarters has been receiving reports from various mandals about rain-related damage.

Visakhapatnam, Aug. 4: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy will arrive here on Saturday to visit the flood-affected areas in north Andhra and Araku Valley where 30 tribals were feared washed away in the landslide.

According to official sources, the Chief Minister will arrive at 12.30 pm and hold a review meeting with the officials and people’s representatives. At 1.30 he would leave for Araku Valley and from there he would fly to Srikakulam. After assessing the situation there, he would arrive at Vizianagaram and spend the night there. The following day, he would fly directly to Hyderabad.