Andhranews

Kadapa, Aug. 25: The municipal corporation had sent proposals to the Central government to provide housing to over 4,000 families in the town at a cost of Rs 44 crores.The officials proposed that a housing colony be constructed in a 65-acre land at Chinnamachupalle village on the outskirts of Kadapa town under the Integrated Housing Slum Development Programme for the benefit of people who were below the poverty line.

The officials further mentioned in the proposal that the civic body had already identified the beneficiaries. With the construction of the housing colony at least 20,000 people would be benefited, the officials said adding that these houses would be allocated to the poor people who were already living in the divisions that were identified under Indiramma project and also other divisions.

It was proposed that the housing scheme would be made a model colony.
As per the proposal, there will be 84 plots in which 4,000 houses would be built.
Each plot would be divided into G+2 and each block would have 400 square metre site. Like this, each flat would be constructed in 25 square feet area.

Internal roads, drainage, water supply, electricity, upper primary schools, community halls and other basic amenities would be provided in the colony to be taken up under IHSDP scheme, said commissioner S. Aleem Basha. Stating that they had already selected 4,000 beneficiaries for the allocation of these houses, he said that each beneficiary had to invest Rs 16,000 for their flat.

With the construction of this housing complex, the Kadapa town would be free from slum localities within the corporation limits as all of them will get housing at one place.The model housing colony would be developed on par with the town. It may be noted here that the corporation officials had sent the proposals after identifying the beneficiaries and the proposals include the names and other details of the beneficiaries also.

Srisailam, Aug. 25: All the crest gates of the Srisailam dam were closed on Friday. It may be recalled here that two gates were lifted initially, when floodwater started reaching the reservoir from the upper riparian areas of Krishna river.

Later, all the nine gates were lifted in phases to release water into Nagarjunasagar from the reservoir. However, one gate was closed at 7.30 am on Friday following the drastic reduction in the floodwater flows. Earlier five gates were closed on Thursday morning and two more gates were closed at 11.30 pm.

While the water level in the reservoir was at 884.40 ft at 3 pm on Friday, over 67,012 cusecs from Jurala and 32.715 cusecs from Roja are reaching the reservoir. On the other hand, 32,415 cusecs of water is being released through right canal for power generation through seven units each having 94.4 MW capacity, while 44,497 cusecs of water is being released through left canal to enable to produce power at the rate of 143 MW each from six units. After that the water is being released into the Nagarjunasagar.

At the same time, 9,500 cusecs of water is also being released through Pothireddypadu regulator to fill SRPC, Telugu Ganga and KC canals. As a whole over 86,412 cusecs of water is being released from Srisailam reservoir.

The power generation units on the left and right bank canals of Srisailam reservoir have so far produced 35.202 million units of power by utilising 75,344 cusecs of water. A total of 15.383 million units of power was generated by utilising 31,534 cusecs of water from 6 am on Thursday to 6 am on Friday at the right branch canal. Likewise, 19.819 million units of power was generated by using 43,810 cusecs of water through left branch canal.

Ongole, Aug. 25: Unlicensed aquaculture farms would be destroyed in the coastal areas of Prakasam district if prawn cultivators failed to register them with the Aquaculture Authority, district collector B. Udaya Lakshmi warned. She said that Parliament enacted the Coastal Aqua culture Authority Act, 24/2005 and this was being implemented from January 23, 2006.

Addressing the Aquaculture Authority district-level meeting here on Friday, the collector said that farmers who cultivate prawns in brackish and seawaters must take licences and register their names with the Aquaculture Authority.

However, freshwater prawn cultivators need not do so. The collector did not give a specific last date for taking licences but asked farmers to do this as early as possible. The district-level committee comprises collector as the chairperson, the assistant director of fisheries as the convenor and the DRO, joint director of agriculture, pollution control board officer, ZP CEO, etc, as members.

The collector said that the main objective of the government behind the move was to protect the environment in coastal areas. Giving details about rules and regulations to obtain licenses, she said that farmers who cultivate prawns in less than two hectares should get licences from the district-level committee and farmers with more than two hectares should get licences from the State-level committee.

Unlicenced farmers cultivating prawns in brackish and salty waters would be punished with up to three years imprisonment and fine of Rs 1 lakh, she warned. Prawn cultivators could get applications from the assistant director of fisheries on payment of Rs 100. The collector asked mandal revenue officers (MROs) to submit report on the progress made to give clearance of land cases.

She said that 2,640 farmers had taken up aquaculture in 2,500 hectares in 44 villages of nine coastal mandals. In the last 15 years, 5,173.25 hectares were converted for aqua farming. So far, officials granted licences to 2,117 farmers, 640 applications were rejected and 459 applications were pending. Of this, 149 are pending with the fisheries department and 310 with MROs for landhold rights certification.

Tirupati, Aug. 25: State deputy director general of NCC, Bali, said that the government increased budget allocation to Rs 460 crores for the NCC as against Rs 200 or 300 crores allotted in the previous years. Speaking to reporters here on Friday, he said that plans are on to encourage girls to join the NCC.

He said that there were about 25,000 girl cadets, constituting 18 per cent of the total 1,39,600 NCC cadets in the State and efforts were on to improve the figure to 33 per cent. Mr Bali appreciated the enthusiasm being shown by women to join the Army, Navy and Air Force in the recent past. He said that Muslim girls were also showing interest in joining the NCC.

Rajahmundry, Aug. 25: Middlemen lure tribals to carry out quarrying for semiprecious stones in the reserve forests of Mallava-ram Mamillu, Nimmalapal-em and other villages in the Agency area of Addateegala mandal of Rampachodavaram division in East Godavari district.

These middlemen act at the behest of agents dealing with precious stones from Chennai, Hyderabad, Vijayawada and other metros and camp at nearby towns like Rajahmundry and Kakinada. They lure innocent tribals to carry out risky operations in metal quarries by digging mud in search of stones. The tribals get only a pittance while the semiprecious stones are taken away by middlemen which are sold in the markets for good money.

The modus operandi of these middlemen is to employ tribals for digging operations and offer food and liquor for the day. In case any stones are found, tribals will be given some money ranging between Rs 50 and Rs 100. Some reports suggest that nearly Rs 25 lakh worth business was carried out in the last two months in the area. There are instances where some tribals were even buried under debris when the quarry collapsed while they were carrying out digging operations.

Recently, three tribals from Panasapalem were killed while carrying out digging operations at the Duppulapalem quarry. In the last three years, about 50 to 60 tribals were reportedly killed while inv-olved in quarrying activities. Quarrying operations are going on in villages like Mallavaram Mamillu, Nimmalapalem, Mitlapalem, Pydigutta and Duppulapalem. There are reports that quarrying for stones is even being carried out on patta land in one village.

Though forest officials are supposed to take action as the area falls under Tapa-svikonda reserve forest ar-ea, lack of adequate manpower is stated to be the reason for not keeping a close vigil. Rampachodavaram DSP K. Krishna Prasad sa-ys, “We opened suspect sheets against 25 tribals and taken undertakings from them that they would not involve again in quarrying works. Earlier, a quarry was blasted to discourage tribals from involving in such activities.”

District forest officer B. Anand Mohan says, “We are carrying out awareness programmes for tribals to dissuade them from such works. we need more manpower to tackle the problem.

Eluru, Aug. 25: Poor people living in the Kolleru lake area will get loans worth Rs 10 crores on September 5 to help them eke out their livelihood. Inauguarating the 65-member Kolleru fishermen team who would go on a study tour to West Bengal and Orissa here on Friday, district collector Luv Agarwal said that the poor in the area were already sanctioned various employment schemes worth Rs 24 crores. He added that an additional amount of Rs 10 crores would be given.

He said that the fishermen would visit the two States and acquire skills and knowledge of the measures taken by those States in rearing fish in fresh waters in a traditional way as also the marketing techniques. The district collector said that a cooperative society would be formed with villagers at Kolleru to take care of marketing fish to other States so that the role of middlemen could be avoided.
He also said that some more fishermen would be taken to Goa on September 5 to help them understand the methods adopted by the fishermen there in aquaculture.

Referring to the provision of employment opportunities for Kolleru inhabitants, Mr Agarwal said that the government had sanctioned Rs 10 lakhs for providing training to youth in driving, and added that after training, they would be employed as drivers in private firms with a monthly salary of about Rs 5,000. He asked youth to register their names with the authorities concerned to avail the facility.

Eluru, Aug. 25: The CPI criticised the Congress government for its failure in providing adequate relief to the flood-affected victims in the State. Speaking to newsmen here on Friday, CPI State committee member and district party in-charge S. Venkateswarlu said that the government was confining itself to publicising the quantum of rice and kerosene it had distributed and crop loss.

He was critical against ministers for not visiting Khammam district where 14 mandals were affected in the Godavari floods and said that they were giving statements sitting in the State capital. He found fault with the government for failing to take adequate measures to contain the increasing spread of chikungunya to every part of the State.

Mr Venkateswarlu said that though the Congress government had started the land distribution programme with much pomp and show, it managed to distribute only 2.5 lakh acres which was already under occupation just by giving them land pattas. Maintaining that about one crore acres of government, surplus and waste land exists in the State, the CPI leader flayed the government for claiming that only 30 lakh acres was available.

He alleged that the Congress government had surpassed the records of the previous Telugu Desam regime in dolling out government lands to industrialists. Mr Venkateswarlu also alleged high-level corruption in the construction of projects, land acquisition for projects and in construction of the outer ring road in Hyderabad. He said his party highlighted the issue on the floor of the House.

Eluru, Aug. 25: Following the High Court strictures on the handling the case of a missing person, the West Godavari superintendent of police and Bhimavaram rural inspector were relieved of their duties temporarily. Two sub-inspectors attached to Bhimavaram and Akiveedu were placed under suspension in the same case.

One K. Gangadhar hailing from Pedakapavaram of Akiveedu mandal in West Godavari district went missing in December last year. His father Satyanarayana complained to the Bhimavaram Two Town police station but the police did not register a first information report.

The father complained to the Akiveedu police station but again to no avail. Finally, Mr Satyanarayana filed a habeas corpus petition in the Andhra Pradesh High Court. After examining the case, the High Court directed the chief secretary to take action against the officials concerned.

Following directions from the government, deputy inspector-general of police, Eluru range, C.V. Anand issued orders suspending Bhimavaram Two Town SI Srinivasa Reddy and Akiveedu SI Chiranjeevi. He also relieved Bhimavaram rural circle inspector N. Venkata Reddy of his duty. Mr Anand took additional charge as West Godavari superintendent of police after relieving superintendent of police M. Jaganmohan Reddy was relieved of his duty.

Principal of Arts College leads protest

Warangal, Aug. 25: The movement for separate Telangana State in the city got a shot in the arm with Muslims coming out in large numbers to support the agitation. Hundreds of Muslims soon after their Friday prayers thronged the district collectorate here and staged a dharna in support of the separate Telangana demand. The support of Muslims for the Telangana movement in Warangal assumes significance in the backdrop of the MIM’s opposition to the separate Telangana State.

The Telangana movement got further intensified in Warangal district with continued agitations, rasta rokos and a rail roko. All educational institutions in the city remained closed on Friday with the private educational institutions’ associations opting for voluntary closure of the schools and colleges to express their solidarity with the movement.

Going a step ahead, the Kakatiya University Arts and Science College principal Prof. G. Srinivasa Reddy led hundreds of his college students in the rasta roko in front of the college at Subedari. The students of LB College and CKM College too boycotted the classes.

Similarly, all the professors and lecturers belonging to the Kakatiya University Teachers Association boycotted classes in the campus and staged a dharna in front of the university’s administrative building, where they were joined by hundreds of non-teaching staff association members paralysing work for the entire day.

Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) activists, meanwhile, organised a rail roko at the Warangal railway station, where they had halted the Krishna Express and Satavahana Express for around half-an-hour.
Police has tightened the security at the residences of the rebel TRS MLAs in view of the threats from the agitating TRS activists.

The police erected barricades and posted some extra police personnel besides keeping vigil on the movement of the agitating activists.

Karimnagar, Aug. 25: The controversy surrounding the alleged move to shift the deputy mayor’s office chamber took an unexpected turn as the women corporators staged a protest demanding allotment of separate chamber in the corporation office here on Friday.

Deputy mayor Abbas Shami performed his duties from a makeshift chamber at the entrance of the corporation office for the second consecutive day in a symbolic protest against the alleged attempt to shift his office chamber without his knowledge on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the women corporators organised a protest demonstration in front of the corporation of-fice in the morning resenting the non-allotment of separate chamber to them at the office.

The women corporators Pattem Padma, G. Madhavi, N. Rama, V. Narsa mma, G. Jayasri, R. Bhagya Lakshmi and P. Subashini said that they were facing severe hardships in attending to their duties in the absence of a separate chamber.

“Our repeated pleas for separate office room went unheeded,” they lamented. The women corporators They demanded that the officials concerned should immediately allot an exclusive chamber for them at the office.

Adilabad, Aug. 25: The Acharya NG Ranga Agriculture University (AN-GRAU), Rajendranagar, is planning to set up a tomato juice manufacturing unit in this district, following increase in tomato cultivation and farmers getting high yields.

However, farmers were incurring huge losses in some seasons as there were no takers. Tomato crop is being cultivated over 20,000 acres on an average in the district and there is increase of 15 per cent in cultivation area in the kharif season of this year.

Prof. Vijaya Khader, dean of home science, ANGRAU, said that plans were afoot to set up the tomato juice manufacturing units in Adilabad and informed that she had a meeting with principal secretary (tribal welfare) Nagireddy in connection with this recently.
“Work on setting up the unit will be started soon if the university comes forward for setting up the unit on its own without any support from other organisations,” said Prof. Khader.

The aim of setting up the unit is to create value addition to the tomato crop, create employment for local unemployed youth and enable farmers to get more benefits. Farmers of Adilabad sold tomato at 50 ps per kg in the recent past. Some of them even dumped tomatoes in the garbage as there were no takers.

A team of university staff conducted a survey of tomato cultivation areas in Utnoor, Indravelli, Kerameri, Gudihatnoor, Itchoda mandals to assess the feasibility of setting up of tomato juice manufacturing units. They held talks with officials of District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) and Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) officials and sought their help in setting up tomato unit.
Dr Pulluri Ramesh, project director of ATMA said that the establishment cost of a small tomato juice manufacturing unit would be between Rs 5–7 lakhs.

Karimnagar, Aug. 25: With TRS president and Karimnagar MP K. Chandrasekhar Rao calling off his hunger stir New Delhi, the district party leadership has decided to exert pressure on the Congress leaders and press for a separate Telangana State.

According to sources, the TRS leaders have reportedly planned to organise agitations at various levels to corner the Congress leaders on the Telangana issue at different forums in the district. The party leadership has decided to make optimum use of folk songs and literature as handy weapons to vigorously carry forward the Telangana movement.

The party leaders have also instructed the heads of different frontal organisations of the party to step up the movement in the district. The TRS high command has reportedly entrusted the task of implementing the action plan to the TRS MLAs E. Rajendar, Kasipeta Lingaiah, Capt. Lakshmikantha Rao and Koppula Eshwar, sources said.

On the other hand, the Congress has worked out a plan to counter the TRS move. According to party sources, the frontal organisations of the party have been directed to promptly counter the anti-Congress campaign launched by the TRS.

Khammam, Aug. 25: The State government is said to be surreptitiously going ahead with the spadework for the Polavaram project, to avoid confrontations with the Telangana Rastra Samiti and the CPI(M). For instance, the government is using a clever tactic and acquiring lands in flood-affected villages near Godavari river. Some of these villages fall under the ambit of the Polavaram project. The government commenced land acquisition in Rudramkota and Vinjaram villages under Velierpad and Kukkunoor mandals which would be submerged by the project.

However, the government order authorising acquisition does not mention Pola-varam. It merely says that the lands are being acquired for public purpose. The GO was signed by district collector Sasibhushan Kumar, joint collector Solmon Alokyaraj and special deputy collector of land acquisition G. Dharma Rao. With this, the government has silently started the procedure for acquiring land in project-affected villages.

However, the GO, which appeared in local dailies, created panic in the two villages and farmers sought the help of local leaders. “We were surprised by the order,” said R.R. Prasad, a farmer from Vinjaram who-se land is being acquired by the government. “It is not proper to do such things through the backdoor and without informing farmers of the price,” he said.

He pointed out that the acquisition under the clause of ‘public use’ would deny them benefits that they would have got if land was acquired for Polavaram. Sources said the government wants to acquire 488 acres and 16 cents in Vinjaram from 400 farmers and 435 acre from 410 farmers in Rudramkota. A total of 202 villages in seven mandals would be submerged by the Polava-ram project in Khammam district.

Mr Dharma Rao told this correspondent that the government was acquiring lands in the flood-affected villages and not in those affected by Polavaram project.However, CPI(M) leader B. Ravi Kumar alleged that the GO ws issued to divert the attention of the empowered committee of the Supreme Court.

Vijayawada, Aug. 25: The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) authorities on Friday evacuated 85 families from Padmavathi Ghat opposite Pandit Nehru bus-station. All the families encroached the river bund a few months ago and prior notices were issued to them. The authorities during Kris-hna Pushkaram cleared the river bund at Padmavathi Ghat to provide bathing facilities to devotees, but slowly encroachers occupied the ghat later.

Minor tension prevailed at the site since the families were unwilling to vacate the land. Police force was also deployed at the site. The families were relocated at Vambay Colony and provided some vacant land in the colony to pitch their tents.

“We will be clearing the entire ghat by Saturday and efforts are on to provide permanent shelter to these families,” said city planner P. Venkatratnam. The VMC, under Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, would construct houses for 15,000 families for which nearly 200 acres of land is being procured in and around Vijayawada.

The beneficiaries would be extended loan facility from banks at reduced interest rates and the State government would bear half of the construction cost. Sources revealed that the VMC would continue to evacuate encroachers from river bunds and they would be rehabilitated in permanent shelters. The district officials and the VMC are considering lands within the city that are suitable for the construction of houses for the oustees.

Guntur, Aug. 25: Law enforcement authorities had a major role to play in protecting the rights of HIV positive people, said Abha Joshi of the Delhi-based Multiple Actions Research Group.Ms Joshi was speaking at the concluding session of the workshop on legal literacy for HIV positive people. It was jointly organised by MARG and CHARCA.

She interacted with different groups to discuss various legal problems faced by HIV positive people. “It is for authorities to en-sure that the justice is given to such vulnerable groups,” she said. “Of course, media and advocacy groups also have a role,” she added.

Legal literacy would help HIV positive people to fig-ht harassment and discrimination in households, schools, workplace and hospitals.Ms Joshi faulted insurance companies for denying insurance to HIV affected. “It is mandatory to give them insurance, including medical insurance,” she said. In the interaction which followed, a police officer said that there were enough sections in IPC that could be invoked to prevent harassment of HIV-affected people.

Visakhapatnam, Aug. 25: The Vizag unit of Jana Sikshana Samsthan (JSS), sponsored by human resources development ministry of Central government and city police will soon take up a project to train sex workers in vocational courses to wean them away from the profession and make them self-reliant.

The JSS Vizag, one of the 170 units spread across the country, is already training more than 7,000 women in various vocational courses per year by charging a nominal fee. The training has helped the women belonging to middle and lower middle classes to earn a sustainable income without depending upon their spouses.

These women after completing their training were either setting up their units by availing loans from the banks or were working with major units located in various parts of the city, said former Rajya Sabha member and chairman of JSS Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad.

“The vocational training has brought in a sea change among the women who could not complete their formal education to get a job,” Mr Lakshmi Prasad said. Talking to this correspondent here on Friday, Mr Lakshi Prasad said JSS was willing to train commercial sex workers to bring them into the mainstream.

The Samasthan staff would visit the places of rehabilitation centres and impart training by charging a nominal fee. Courses like fashion design would fetch them immediate jobs as Sri Lankan company Brandix would be needing more than 60,000 employees with basic knowledge of tailoring. Commissioner of police V.S.K. Kaumudi said the city police would join the project by utilising the services of counsellors and offer the premises of welfare complex which would be ready in a couple of weeks.

“The police too wants that the sex workers join the civil society and earn a decent living,” Mr Kaumudi said. According to AIDS Control Society data, the city has 3,000 commercial sex workers.

Vizianagaram, Aug. 25: The district lagged behind in the State in implementing Telugu as official language in day-to-day administration, said Andhra Pradesh State Official Language Commission chairman A.B.K. Prasad.

Addressing a meeting held here on Friday, Mr Prasad appealed to officials not to neglect Telugu by encouraging other languages. “I regret to make an appeal for the implementation of Telugu as official language in the district even after it was made an official language 40 years ago,” he said.

Stating that Nizamabad district stood first on this front in the State, he urged the district collector B. Kishore to take Mahakavi Gurajada as inspiration in the task. He asked the collector to reject strictly any file that was in English.

Responding to Mr Prasad’s appeal, Mr Kishore assured that he would take necessary steps in this regard. Among others, Official Language Commission members V. Appala Swami, R. Chandrasekhar Reddy and K. Mallayya and joint collector M. Jagan Mohan spoke.