Andhranews

Kurnool, Aug. 31: Mayor Raghurami Reddy said that the municipal corporation had decided to revamp the drainage and drinking water pipeline on the lines of Chandigarh and a plan is being chalked out for the purpose. The mayor, along with some corporators, had visited Delhi, Chandigarh, Jeypore and some other cities to study the drainage and drinking water system in those cities.

Speaking to newsmen after returning from the study tour, he explained the details of their study in those cities. Mr Raghurami Reddy revealed that Union minister for urban development S. Jaipal Reddy had assured them to release Rs 220 crore to revamp the drainage and water supply system in the city.

As per their tentative proposal, the municipal corporation needed Rs 50 crore to revamp the drinking water supply system, Rs 150 crore for underground drainage system, Rs 6 crore for storm water drainage constructi-on, Rs 1.5 crore for the construction of a new municipal corporation office building, Rs 10 crore for the development of roads in the old city and Kallur area.

After completion of the study tour, the team had met the Union minister and exp-lained the situation in Kur-nool. The team informed him that they would send detailed proposals for each and every work so that he could sanction the funds. The mayor further said that he would again personally meet Mr Jaipal Reddy after sending the proposals and request him to release the funds at the earliest. Likewise, he, along with the corporators, would meet Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy and ensure funds for the civic body.

Stating that all the cities the team had visited were quite neat and clean, besides the greenery in those cities is worth watching. The civic bodies are developing one park per year in those cities and they are going hand in hand with private participation.

Congress corporator P.G. Narasimhulu Yadav appeal-ed to consider privatisation of sanitary system on the lines of Chandigarh. He opined that the present staff available with the municipal corporation be utilised for the wards to the available extent and wherever sanitary staff required, the civic body could take the help of private parties.

Anantapur, Aug. 31: Telugu Desam leader Nandamuri Harikrishna ruled out any groups in the district unit of the Telugu Desam and categorically stated that it is united. Mr Harikrishna was here to participate in a private marriage function. Speaking to newsmen at the district party office, he said that there is no truth in the criticism that he had formed a separate group in the district. He clearly said that he had never supported any particular group.

Stating that the party is growing strong in the district in recent times, he said that he was not in the habit of forming or supporting groups. He criticised the State government that it failed to come to the rescue of farmers who were suffering from severe drought. Though some farmers committed suicides during the TD regime earlier, he reminded that their government had extended adequate relief to the kin of the victims.

He also said that the TD government could not provide the justified five tmc ft of water to farmers in the absence of rains, but the Congress government is unable to supply the water despite enough rainfall.

Nellore, Aug. 31: Union minister of State R. Velu expressed doubts over the introduction of Bullet trains in the near future because of the prohibitive cost involved in upgrading the track.
He said that it would cost Rs 200 crore to Rs 300 crore to upgrade one kilometre track to run Bullet trains.

The minister said this during a brief interaction with reporters during a function held at Gudur railway station to introduce a fast passenger train to Tirupati from Gudur on Thursday. However, he said, the present priority for the Railways was connecting the entire country. He pointed out that Railways have already upgraded 200 trains as superfasts and introducing trains. Adopting various innovative methods and making optimum use of the existing facilities, the Railways have generated Rs 13,000 crore surplus this year and are planning to increase it to Rs 20,000 crore, Mr Velu said.

He asserted that his ministry does not have any reservations or limits in building the roadoverbridges if the State governments are willing to provide the support with respect to land and other logistics. He indirectly blamed the local administration for the delay in constructing the most-sought after ROB in Gudur town.

He said that Gudur was among the 528 stations taken up for developing as model stations. In all, he said, 30 stations in AP would be converted as modern stations. Stressing that the year 2006 has been earmarked for improving passenger amenities, he said that Rs 233 crore have been allocated for the purpose and the SCR would get a lion’s share of Rs 50 crore. Reacting to a request from Union minister of State for health and family welfare and Nellore MP Panabaka Lakshmi, he said the Sesha-dri Express would halt at Gudur from September 15.

Srikalahasthi, Aug. 31: Congress leader and Srika-lahastheeswara Swamy Trust Board chairman Kola Anand tied the nuptial knot after Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy assured to visit the couple’s house during his next trip to Chittoor. A close follower of the Chief Minister, Anand planned his marriage on August 31 for the convenience of the Chief Minister to attend the marriage.

The serious debate on the Outer Ring Road in Assembly led the Chief Minister to cancel his programme to attend the marriage of Kola Anand at Srikalahasthi as well as the marriage of Nellore legislator Anam Vivekananda Reddy’s son on Thursday. Anand, who made elaborate arrangements anticipating the Chief Minister’s participation, decided against marrying after it became clear that Rajasekhar Reddy cancelled his tour on Wednesday night itself.

The Chief Minister reportedly asked TTD Trust Board chairman B. Karunakar Reddy to explain the situation to Anand personally and pacify him. Though he declined to go ahead with the marriage, Anand relented after the Chief Minister personally spoke to him over phone during the early hours of Thursday.

Rajasekhar Reddy said to have blessed the bride and the bridegroom and also assured to pay a personal visit to their house during his next tour to Chittoor district. Among a host of political leaders and Congress functionaries, TTD trust board chairman Karunakar Reddy, TTD EO A.P.V.N. Sarma, TTD special officer A.V. Dharma Reddy, actor Mohanbabu couple, Ghazal Srinivas and film director Raghavendra Rao also attended the marriage.

Karimnagar, Aug. 31: A total of 70,229 households spread in 935 villages in 48 mandals in the district would be electrified under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana. The Northern Power Distribution Company Limited (NPDCL) has finalised a plan to this effect.

Giving the details of the plan at a press conference here on Thursday, district collector M.V. Satyanarayana said that 19,417 households of below poverty line category (BPL) and 50,812 households of general category would be electrified as part of the project at an estimated cost of Rs 17.49 crores. The eligible consumers of the both the categories should pay Rs 125 to the section officer to get electric supply.

The necessary service wire, meter box and meter board will be provided for the electrification of the BPL households by the department. The consumers, who don’t fall under the BPL category, should obtain the necessary service wire and other material at their own cost for electric connection, the collector said.

The first phase of the project works would commence in 374 villages of Indiramma programme spread in 48 mandals. However, the households, which are having outstanding power arrears, are not eligible for service connection under the scheme.

He said that plans are on the anvil to extend and strengthen the drinking water distribution network in Karimnagar at an estimated cost of Rs 32 crores. The project reports is being prepared in respect of the underground drainage system in the city, which is proposed at an estimated cost of Rs 68 crores.

The government has sanctioned Rs 50 lakhs grant under the 12th Finance Commission to the municipal corporation for purchasing dumper placers, front-end loader and other equipment to lift the garbage. Action has been taken against Bommakal village secretary Narasimha Chary and mandal revenue inspector Srinivas based on a preliminary inquiry into the alleged land scam, the collector said in reply to a query.

Karimnagar, Aug. 31: The campaigners for a separate Telangana State, owing allegiance to the Telangana Vidyavanthula Vedika, are planning to make use of cellphone technology to push the Telangana movement towards its logical end.

The district unit of the forum has mooted a plan to employ the vibrant potential of the mobile phone technology to trigger Telangana sentiment among the masses. A plan to this effect was approved at the district executive meet held here on Thursday.
The plan envisages use of a specially designed ring tone titled “Jai Telangana” in their cell phones by the campaigners to make the callers listen to the pro-Telangana tune. “We have already worked out the modalities to feed an inspiring phrase from a popular song on Telangana into the cell phones to disseminate the desired message to the caller in the form of a melodious ring tone,” said the forum’s district convenor, G. Linga Reddy.

Speaking to this newspaper, he said the move aims to ignite the Telangana sentiment and provide a fillip to the ongoing Telangana movement. “We have also decided to greet our co-campaigners as well as the general public with “Jai Telangana” instead of the customary practice of saying “namaste”, he said. Post-cards would be sent to the President, the Prime Minister and the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to press for separate Telangana, he said.

“We would make use of all the available sources to mount pressure on the government,” said TRS city president Akula Prakash. Efforts are on to tap the services of talented singers and writers of the district to intensify the ongoing Telangana movement further, he said. Meanwhile, the forum has decided to organise a convention at Ramadugu on Sept 6 to press for Telangana.

Guntur, Aug. 31: CPI leader and Nalgonda MP Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy said that Parliament should not be kept in the dark about international treaties ente-red into by the government.
Talking to mediapersons here on Thursday, he said that the treaties should be signed only after discussing them in Parliament. Referring to the Telangana issue, Mr Sudhakar Reddy said that a five-point programme should be launched to remove the backwardness of the region and a high-power committee should go into other grievances of the people.

The CPI State executive had urged the central leadership to impress upon the Union government the need to constitute a second States Reorganisation Committee (SRC) to look into the Telangana issue. “Our executive had explained the problems being faced by people of Telangana and the strong sentiment in favour of a separate State,” he added. The CPI would not object if the Centre decided to set up a separate committee on Telangana instead of an SRC, he said.

Mr Reddy demanded justice for those affected by the outer ring road project in the twin cities. The government should also ensure proper rehabilitation package for families which would be displaced by irrigation projects. “They would prefer land more than money,” said the CPI leader.

Guntur, Aug. 31: The Centre has asked people who own antique articles to get them registered at the Archeological Survey of India.
This is being done since many people who own precious antiques tend to keep it a secret. ASI superintending archeologist Dr Jitender Das said that assistant superintending archeologist D. Kanna Babu had been appointed as registering officer for this.

“People who possess anti-ques should register the inf-ormation with this official, who is the museum officer at Amaravati,” said Dr Das. ASI officials said that some owners of antiques had pledged them to take loans by showing them as property. However, they avoided mentioning the antiques when paying property tax.

Keeping all factors in mind, ASI has decided to follow rules strongly while listing up antiques. “This is actually an effort to protect the heritage of the country and make information about antique articles available to all people,” said Dr Das. The effort follows last ye-ar’s successful programme to enumerate palm leaf manuscripts in the State.

People owning antiques should should send the information from September 1 to the following address: D. Kanna Babu, ASA, Buddhist Archaeological Museum, Amaravati, Guntur District, Pin: 522020. He can also be contacted on 08645-255225. “Owners can also bring the articles to the Amaravati office and register or send photographs for cross verification,” said Mr Kanna Babu. Coins, copper plate inscriptions, sculptures, paintings, metal objects such as swords, bowls and palm leaves would come under the category of antiques.

Visakhapatnam, Aug. 31: The district police had identified 1,237 male and 114 female educated unemployed tribals during their preliminary survey in the 15 mandals in the district.

The survey was taken up by the rural police as part of the Remote and Interior Areas Development (RIAD) programme taken up by the State government. Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, the district superintendent of police (SP) P.J.G. Murali said there were no plans to set up a private tribal battalion on the lines of Chhattisgarh’s Salwa Judum with the aid from some private mining companies in the Agency areas as was reported in some vernacular papers.

“The police department is encouraging the tribal youth in sports, imparting them education and also organising employment generating programmes so that the tribal youth would not be attracted towards extremism. Other than that, there are no plans to recruit tribals and form a private battalion,” said Mr Murali.

The SP said a high level co-ordination meeting at the district collectorate on September 6 with the participation of representatives of various departments and principal secretary to the State government M.V. Sastry would discuss the programmes designed under the RIAD, especially employment plans for the tribal youth.

Visakhapatnam, Aug. 31: Maintaining a firm stand on their demand for a judicial probe, the fisherfolk boycotted the magisterial inquiry conducted by district revenue officer (DRO) S. Satyanaryana at Gangavaram village on Thursday.

This was for the third time the fisherfolk boycotted the inquiry into the circumstances which led to the firing in the village on March 27 in which a fisherman Ch. Nookaraju was killed. The State government ordered an inquiry after the political parties and several other organisations launched an agitation. The first two sittings were conducted at the collectorate and the fisherfolk demanding judicial probe boycotted them.

The DRO on Thursday reached the Gangavaram village and convened the meeting at the community welfare centre at 11 am as announced by him earlier. The fisherfolk went close to the venue and began discussions among themselves without taking part in the inquiry. Later, raising slogans against the government, the police and district officials they converged at the venue.

The women too were present in large numbers and raised slogans demanding action against officials responsible for opening fire, judicial probe and lifting of cases filed against them. The fisherfolk told the DRO that Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy gave the agitating political parties an assurance that the inquiry would be conducted by an IAS officer but it entrusted to DRO.

Convenor of Gangavaram Fisherfolk Aikya Vedilka Ch. Rajewara Rao said Nookaraju’s wife was being made to work all the seven days in a week in the port for a paltry sum of Rs 300 though the government annou- nced a permanent job for her. The promise of free education for her children was also proved to be a hoax, he said.

Leaders of the community said all the 170 injured persons were left to their fate any compensation. The police personnel on the orders of the district officials barged into the homes of fisherfolk and beat up women and children mercilessly, they alleged. "We don’t want the same officials to conduct the probe," Mr Rajeswara Rao told the DRO. The DRO returned to city cancelling the probe.