Andhranews

Pulivendula, Aug. 28: Kadapa MP Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy ruled out any danger to the people or to the environment, due to the excavation of uranium from mines or with the setting up of a project to refine it at M. Tummalapalle village under Vemula mandal in Pulivendula constituency of Kadapa district.

Speaking to newsmen here on Monday, he reminded that their family is serving the people of the constituency for the past 30 years and it never go against the people’s interests here. He came down heavily on the leaders who were launching a tirade against the uranium project.

Mr Reddy said that he, along with a 30-member team, had personally visited the uranium project affected villages at Jaduguda in Jharkhand and inspected the conditions there. Mr Reddy said that he personally interacted with the people in the region and ca-me to know that the people were neither affected with any disease or ailments due to the uranium project as was alleged by human rights forum and other committees formed to fight against uranium projects.

There are about 4,200 workers in Jaduguda uranium project and of them 3,600 workers are not even qualified technically. According to the Uranium Corporation of India Limited company, with the setting up of uranium project at least 924 people would get direct employment while 500 others would get indirect employment, he added.

He also ruled out the drying up of groundwater resources, saying that they had seen three tail ponds in existence for the past 15 to 20 years. Likewise, here also two tail ponds would be dug and there won’t be any hazard due to these ponds as they are between the hills.

The project being taken up at a cost of Rs 1,000 crores would be a boon to the people of the region, Mr Reddy said and urged the people to cooperate with the government in setting up the project by rising above the party lines.

Rayachoti, Aug. 28: The police is vigorously combing the Seshachalam forest range under Rayachoti Assembly segment for the Maoists, which is known as a Naxal-infested area, it is reliably learnt.It may be mentioned here that nine Maoists were killed in an encounter in April this year in these hill ranges and the police had got some important information abo-ut the movement of Maoists in these areas.

It is suspected the Maoists had shifted their operations from Nallamala to Sesh-achalam forests.Police personnel, especially the Greyhounds, APSP and SP special parties are conducting the combing in Chakrayapet, Ra-mapuram, Galiveedu, Veeraballe and Sundupalle mandals. The police is also inquiring the surrendered and former Maoists about the details of Maoists during their search operations.

Already several ruling party leaders and those who were reportedly in the hit list had left for safer areas leaving their villages. The police had unearthed a huge arms dump of Maoists besides cash during their combing on Saturday.

The police is undertaking these search operations by using mine-proof vehicles at all culverts, road curves and other important main roads for safety. All the vehicles are being frisked by the police.

Ongole, Aug. 28: Deadlock over the removal of 17 employees in the 100-year-old Ongole Urban Bank continues as some directors opposed the bank chairman Malempati Krishna Rao’s decision to downsize the staff.

The urban bank panel members who met here on Monday could not reach a consensus on downsizing the bank staff as majority of the seven directors, including bank vice-chairman Aariga Chalamaiah, Kurra Prasad, Pasupuleti Govindu and some others opposed the proposal of bank chairman.

The urban bank has been facing crisis for the last two-and-a-half years since the RBI imposed a partial moratorium on repayments of deposits to customers. Following the crisis, the RBI directed the bank to sack 17 out of 40 employees to save Rs 17 lakhs per annum. As per RBI instructions, one employee is sufficient for every Rs 3 crores deposit.

As per latest figures, the bank has deposits of Rs 17 crores and so an eight member staff was sufficient to run it, Mr Krishna Rao said. The bank made advances to the tune of Rs 17 lakhs. “I will sack surplus staff without the approval of the panel in the coming weeks. As chairman, I had powers to do so by serving notice one month before or paying one month salary to the staff,” he said.

Meanwhile, the performance of the bank improved since the imposition of a moratorium. The government declared it a sick unit in October 2004, and due to the collective efforts of the bank panel and staff, the bank secured Grade III certificate from the government and repaid upto 50 per cent of deposits, said bank chairman Mr Krishna Rao.

He said that the bank was yet to get Rs 2.87 crores deposits and Rs 90 lakhs interest from the Charminar Bank. The bank spends Rs 37 lakh for salaries every year and after downsizing staff it can save Rs 17 lakh per annum. This would definitely strengthen the financial condition of the bank, Mr Krishna Rao said.

Aariga Srinivas, one of the directors of the bank, told this correspondent that budgetary allocation has been made for the staff till March 2007 and so these employees would be continued their duties till then. Over 18,000 shareholders are worried as the bank plunged into crisis.

Ongole, Aug. 28: Anti-retroviral therapy drugs will be distributed to recommended HIV patients free of cost at the government hospital in Ongole. Hospital sources said that the distribution process would begin within a week.

So far, HIV victims of Prakasam district have been taking anti-retroviral therapy drugs either in Guntur or Vijayawada hospitals, free of cost. Now they will get these drugs from Ongole government general hospital. A separate clinic will be set up in the government hospital and trained staff will be appointed to treat the patients.

According to sources, HIV victims with below 200 CD4 count will get medicine free of cost. After conducting a medical examination in Guntur, local doctors will decide whether the patient is eligible for the free medical drugs. Most HIV victims belong to poor and below-middle class families.

They cannot afford to buy these drugs by spending over Rs 1,500 every month. Speaking to this correspondent, Mr Durga Prasad, co-ordinator, Ongole Government hospital said on Monday that two specialist doctors were appointed to look after HIV and AIDS victims at the government hospital.

The clinic will have a lab, pharmacy room and counselling room, etc. AP State AIDS Control Society and the National AIDS Control Project will jointly supply the drugs. Drugs reached the hospital and are ready for distribution, Mr Durga Prasad said. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other NGOs will also help hospital authorities to run the clinic, he added.

A CD4 count machine or CD4 counter will be opened in Ongole soon. Till then, patients will be tested at Guntur general hospital. Doctors will select patients for free distribution of drugs only after the CD 4 test.

Rajahmundry, Aug. 28: East Godavari will become a child labour-free district by the time it celebrates the International Literacy Day on September 8. The district, with a population of about 50 lakhs, has a record of about 86,549 children out of school in the age group of five to 14 years working as child labourers at various places in 2001.
Subsequently, the district administration took up a drive to enroll these children in schools, residential and non-residential bridge schools for formal education.

By April 24, 2006, a total 14,531 dropouts were identified in various parts of the district during Nestam Badikira programme and a massive drive was launched to enroll all these children. With the exception of 8.68 per cent of children not turning up for school for 10 days in a month, all children are turning up to school soon after they were enrolled in schools in the beginning of the academic year in 2006 in the district.

The district administration, in coordination with officials from education, revenue, police and labour departments, formed special task forces, conducted raids and liberated 2,312 children working as child labourers in quarries, hotels, commercial establishments and also as domestic help. Cases were booked against 1,106 employers in the recent past.

In addition, between April, 2004 and May, 2006, as part of Nestam Badikira programme, 2,877 children working as cattleherdsmen were liberated. Similarly, 8,654 child labourers were also liberated and enrolled in schools. In all, 60,000 government officials have given an undertaking not to employ child labour in their houses.

In order to attract children in the age group of five to 14 to enroll and be retained in schools, about 12.36 lakh houses were adopted by 14,098 teachers, teaching from Classes I to VII, where each teacher has the responsibility to monitor on an average 85 houses.

Explaining the strategy adopted to make the district nearly child labour-free, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan additional project coordinator D.N. Murthy told this newspaper that they had divided the district into 60 mandals, 300 school complexes, 1,012 panchayats, 300 municipal wards and 3,644 habitations.

He said, “To celebrate the event, a motorcycle rally will be taken out from 50 mandal headquarters on September 8 which would culminate at the collectorate. A memorandum will be submitted to the collector with the signatures of people to ensure that they send children to schools.”

Eluru, Aug. 28: The Students Federation of India (SFI) called for action against officials, alleging corruption in sanctioning of social welfare scholarships to tribal students. SFI city unit president M. Kalyani and secretary Y. Arun Kumar alleged that officials were resorting to corrupt practices in issuing scholarships to tribal students studying in the Agency areas.

They expressed concern over tribal students discontinuing their studies and demanded recovery of the swindled amount from those concerned. In another development, the SFI took out a cycle rally demanding that the government set up an annual revision commission and increase mess charges on par with the increase in prices of essential commodities.

The district-level cycle rally which started on August 17 at Tadepalligudem visited 175 hostels in 33 mandals and covered 650 km since then. SFI district vice-president M. Trimurthulu, while stating that the prescribed mess charges were inadequate to meet the increased expences of students due to an increase in the prices of essential commodities, appealed to the government to raise the charges.

Nizamabad, Aug. 28: Telugu Desam (TD) mandal parishad territorial constituency (MPTC) member elected from Ibrahimpet of Banswada mandal, D. Saya Reddy, 35, was allegedly hacked to death by the Congress activists on Monday evening.

Saya Reddy was the brother-in-law of former minister and TD district unit president Pocharam Srinivas Reddy. This is the first killing after the zilla parishad elections in the district. Banswada circle-inspector P. Ravinder Reddy told this correspondent that villagers witnessed three Congress activists attacking Saya Reddy with axes and sickles, while he was returning home from his agriculture fields. Saya Reddy died on the spot following which the attackers fled.

Villagers said that they had witnessed Kuber, senior Congress activist in the village and two local villagers killing Saya Reddy. Thousands of TD activists from nearby areas rushed to the village after the news of the murder of the MPTC spread like a wildfire. Police shifted body of Saya Reddy to the area hospital, Banswada, for post-mortem. Hundreds of TD activists thronged the hospital to see the body of the slain leader.

“The situation is under control and no violence was reported so far anywhere in Bansawada mandal and surrounding areas,” the inspector said. Meanwhile, the district TD unit gave a bandh call on Tuesday in protest against the killing of Saya Reddy.

Banswada police sent additional force to avoid any untoward incidents in the village. Senior police officials, including, Nizamabad additional superintendent of police (administration) B. Ananda Rao and Bodhan deputy superintendent of police Madhukar Rao also visited Ibrahimpet and are monitoring the situation. A police picket was also posted in the village.

Nizamabad, Aug. 28: A former co-opted member in the Nizamabad zilla par-ishad (ZP) along with two others was arrested by the Kamareddy police for extorting money from contractors and owners of beedi supply companies on August 27 at the new bus stand in Kamareddy of this district. Police seized Rs 4 lakh from them.

The accused were identified as Shaik Anwar Pasha, former co-opted member in the 2001 ZP body, Mohd Dawood Ali, the kingpin of the gang and close associate of the Nizamabad district committee secretary (DCS) Sagar alias Ven-katesh and P. Srinivas, son of the former sarpanch of Polkampet of Lingampet mandal in this district.

Deputy inspector general (DIG) of Nizamabad range Anjani Kumar and district superintendent of police (SP) Mahesh Chandra Laddha produced the arrested persons before the media here on Monday. The DIG said said that during interrogation, the accused confessed that the money was collected from civil works contractors, wine (belt) shops owners and owners of beedi supply companies in Kamareddy division for the past one year on the instructions of Sagar.

Dawood said he was instructed by Sagar to send the money collected from contractors to perform the latter’s daughter’s marriage. Dawood took the assistance of Pasha and Srinivas. They worked according to Dawood’s instructions for a commission, the DIG said. Both Pasha and Srinivas collected Rs 4 lakhs from the proprietor of Vani Navashakthi Beedi Company at Kamareddy and sent it to Dawood.

On a tip-off, the police caught the three persons. The accused also confessed that they had extorted money earlier and sent it to the brother-in-law of Sagar, who is running a private finance business at Warangal. The DIG appealed to people not to fall prey to the Maoists and intimate the name of persons collecting money in the name of Maoists. The identities of informants would be kept secret.

Adilabad, Aug. 28: Mothers of Cherlapalli village of Thalamadugu are not happy with their young sons, not because the latter are not working, but because they do not extend their support to them in the fight against sale of liquor in their village.

Cherlapalli is a tiny village consisting of 110 families of 700 people, most of them tribal. Interestingly, the local director of the cooperative society, upasarpanch and other village elders strongly opposed the anti-liquor movement launched by the women of the village, while village sarpanch Pendur Govinda Rao extended his support to the agitation.

Mothers, including aged women, started the anti-liquor movement a few days ago. But little did they expect opposition from their own young sons. However, they have decided to carry the agitation forward.

Excise officers and police have turned deaf to their demand to ban liquor sales. Nearly 100 women represented the issue to the Collector. District Collector Ravala Subbarao said a gram sabha would be convened on August 30 and police, revenue and excise officials would participate in it.

Vijayawada, Aug. 28: The city police on Monday presented Kalidas Subramaniam and Bogireddy Narsing alias Sridhar alias Raju, the main shooters involved in the attempt to murder Vangaveeti Santhan, in the court. They were taken into custody at Kanakadurgamma Varadhi on Sunday afternoon.

Addressing mediapersons, assistant commissioner of police Shaik Mastan Vali said the police recovered two 9mm pistols and four magazines that were used in the crime. Subramaniam, hailing from Tenali has a criminal past in Guntur district and has been closely associated with Katragadda Srinu, the prime accused, for the last one-and-a-half years.

Subrahmaniam said that he met Srinu during the death anniversary of Katragadda Venkata Narayana and since then Srinu was paying him Rs 3,000 per month to eliminate Vangaveeti Santhan. He confessed that the murder was planned by Chunduru Kote-swara Rao, a close associate of Katragadda Venkata Nar-ayana, along with Katragadda Srinu.

The accused were introduced to one Sunil and they were trained in the lemon orchards near Chiluvuru village in Krishna district by him. Srinu agreed to pay Rs 5 lakhs to Sunil, Subramaniam and Narsing for executing the murder plan. They said they have been closely following Santhan for the last few days and finally tried to kill him on August 18 while he was coming out of the court.

They said that TD leader Katragadda Babu, who has been denying his role from the initial stages, was also aware of the plan. “Chunduru Koteswara Rao was along with us near the court when we were dilly-dallying on executing the plan as there was a big crowd around. Finally, Koteswara Rao called up Katragadda Babu to let him know the situation and only then he told us to go ahead,” said Subramaniam.

After shooting Santhan, they fled to Tenali and from there they went to Hyderabad. The weapons were recovered from a well near Hyderabad as per the information given by them. The police are on the look out for Koteswara Rao, Sunil and one Shyam who allegedly helped them in the plot.

“We are trying to find out if Koteswara Rao called up Katragadda Babu to get his permission. Once the telephone numbers list is received, we will decide future course of action against Babu,” said Mr Vali.

Vijayawada, Aug. 28: The district administration had finally succeeded in prevailing upon the wholesale traders of the old city to move to the outskirts. The administration had gi-ven three days time, which expired on Monday. Accor-dingly, most of the traders have shifted to the spacious wholesale market at Gollapudi.
The traders, who have been reluctant to shift from the busy and narrow One Town area for more than a decade had to finally succumb to the pressure from the district administration.

The Mahatma Gandhi Wholesale Market constru-cted during the Telugu Des-am regime was inaugurated by Chief Minister Y.S. Raj-asekhar Reddy during his maiden visit to the city after assuming charge in 2004. The civic administration and the Vijayawada Urban Development Authority (Vuda) provided connecting roads to the market from the city and even from the Hyderabad-Vijayawada na-tional highway.

The Vijayawada Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which spearheaded the cau-se of the traders for the massive complex, made several attempts in solving the problem. While the traders refused to move out of the One Town area, which has been known to the customers for several decades, the administration, including the city police, insisted that they shift to an alternative place.

The movement of trolleys loaded with the goods, incl-uding iron, cement and che-micals besides pulses, cause frequent traffic problems in the area. The administration had served notices to the wholesale traders asking them to shift to the new complex, while the traders rejected it as the complex was not accessible to the customers.

Some of them have even moved the AP High Court. It was at this stage that the Vuda had secured orders directing the traders to mo-ve to the new complex. “They have availed all subsidies and other benefits from the government and now if they refuse to shift, it is meaningless,” said Vuda chairman Malladi Vishnu.

Guntur, Aug. 28: Women have a major presence in the political scenario of the district.Representation of women in Guntur Zilla Parishad (ZP) is more than the stipulated 33 per cent. Women members of zilla parishad territororial constituencies (ZPTCs) and mandal parishad territororial constituencies (MPTCs) are 10 per cent more than the stipulated number.

Similarly a large number of women have been elected as mandal presidents and sarpanches. In all, 24 of the 57 ZPTC members are women and are asserting themselves stridently. Only 19 ZPTCs are reserved for women.

Also, there are 22 MPPs in the district instead of the stipulated 19.
Out of 57 ZPTCs, one was reserved to Scheduled Tribe woman, four to Scheduled Caste women, four for Backward Caste women and 10 for the women of general category. Apart from these representatives, four more SC women got elected from general seats and one BC woman from another seat.

Since the ZP chairmanship was also reserved for SC (woman), Guntur zilla parishad has become a strong terrain for women. “The parishad may finally get rid of its male chauvinistic image,” a woman ZPTC member quipped.

Similarly, a total of 297 members of mandal pari-shad territorial constituencies are women. In village panchayats, nearly 3,700 women were elected as ward members and 300 women became sarpanches. Ms Kuchipudi Vijaya, who took over the reins as the ZP chairperson, has vowed to implement women and child welfare schemes effectively.

Visakhapatnam, Aug. 28: Vizagites could be drinking most expensive water in the country if the bills issued to a few apartments by the Greater Visakha Municipal Corporation were to be believed. An apartment complex received a bill of Rs 1.13 lakhs for consuming just 4,400 kilo litres, while the same volume of bottled water could be available for a less cost.

“The bills never crossed more than Rs 5,000 per month,” said A. Suresh, the general secretary of Visakhapatnam Apartment Residents Welfare Association. Recently, the spot billing system was introduced under which the meter reading is taken in the presence of apartment association representatives. But the latest bills shocked the residents.

Amrutha Apartment received a bill for Rs 1.13 lakhs for three months for consuming 4,400 kilo litres, Maruthi Towers Rs 38,385 for 1,991 kilo liters over a period of five months and Kalyan Residency Rs 38,385 for consuming 1,210 litres over a period of eight months.

The flat owners in the city have strongly objected to the whopping water bills. A delegation led by Suresh met district collector A. K. Singhal on Monday and apprised him of the situation. “The collector himself was surprised when he saw the bills,” Mr Suresh said. Later, they submitted a memorandum demanding that the water cess be collected under the old system of Rs 60 per month as is being charged for the individual houses or keep the issue pending till the new corporation council was formed.

They suggested to the collector that a slab be fixed till a new system was finalised by the new council. On an average each family has to cough up Rs 1,500 per month as against Rs 60 by the individual house owners. Chief engineer of the GVMC P. Panduranga Rao said metering was introduced 20 years ago and 400 apartment complexes were drawing water under the same scheme. Only three apartments received such bills, he said. “We will check the bills and find out what went wrong,’’ Mr Panduranga Rao told this correspondent.

Vizianagaram, Aug. 28: Assistant commissioner of endowments D. Bhramaramba in a complaint to district superintendent of police (SP) Vikram Singh Mann alleged that she was receiving threats from one Pabbineedu Venkateswara Rao ever since she ordered demolition at Neelayamma Choultry in the town.

She said when the demolition was taken up following the directions of deputy commissioner, Kakinada, at the choultry, Venkateswara Rao came to the office premises and threatened the entire staff. “I will not only pour concentrated acid on your assistant commissioner but will send my followers to molest her at any time when she goes out or I will see that she would be involved in a road mishap if she goes ahead with the demolition,” Bhramaramba quoted Venkatewara Rao as saying.

Ms Bhramaramba also expressed suspicion that she was stalked by some miscreants on August 25 when she took up demolition work. She appealed to the SP to hold an inquiry and initiate necessary action against Venkateswara Rao and his followers. Copies of the complaint were sent to district collector B. Kishore, commissioner, regional commissioner and deputy commissioner of endowments for action.