Andhranews

Kurnool, Aug. 29: Irate farmers under the Lower Level Canal (LLC) ayacut of Tungabhadra attacked the irrigation office of the LLC at Gonegandla on Tuesday and ransacked the furniture and destroyed some files, in protest against the administration’s failure to check the water pilferage by the Karnataka farmers.

Later, the farmers drove away the employees and officials of the irrigation office and locked it saying that there was no need of such office as they failed to provide irrigation water to their lands. The farmers staged a sit-in protest in the dried up LLC for about an hour. Later th-ey staged a rasta roko on the Gonegandla road and st-opped all the buses and oth-er vehicles that were proceeding towards Karnataka.

The agitation was led by Telugu Desam leader S.V. Mohan Reddy and about 1,000 farmers participated in the protest. It may be recalled here that the farmers were staging protests and hunger strikes for the past one month and there was no response from the government. The apathy of the government raised the tempers resulting in the attack on the office.

Though the Tungabhadra dam was overflowing with water, the Karnataka gover-nment failed to release the rightful share of water into the LLC resulting in the dr-ying up of lands. The non-availability of water had adversely affected the farmers in Yemmiganur, Kodumur sub-divisions. Almost half of the fields withered away due to poor irrigation facilities.

Though Kurnool MP Kotla Suryaprakash Reddy and Adoni MLA Saiprasad Reddy had met the Hospet dam officials and pleaded for the release of water, it was of no avail. Though the Pathikonda MLA S.V. Subba Reddy is bringing the issue to the notice of the government for the past two years, no action was taken.

Meanwhile, Mr Suryaprakash Reddy took the issue of non-release of water to LLC to the notice of the Centre. He met the Ms Chatterjee, secretary of the water resources ministry and spoke to her about the problems being faced by the farmers under LLC ayacut.He told this correspondent over phone from New Delhi that he had also shown the photographs of the withered crops in the region.

Kadapa, Aug. 29: The Central government’s move to waive the interest on the loans taken for agricultural purposes gave relief to the farmers who lost their crops due to severe drought. The Centre is chalking out a plan to waive the interest on agricultural loans in 16 districts, where the highest number of farmers committed suicides, besides imposing a moratorium on the recovery of loans for about three years.

The farmers of the district are heaving a sigh of relief, as Kadapa was also selected as one among the 16 districts. Besides, the government is also planning to provide seed for five acre per farmer in the name of input subsidy for the kharif crop, which was also hit by severe drought.

It is learnt that Rs 25 crores interest was pending in District Central Cooperative Bank (DCCB) in the form of long-term and short-term loans. At the same time, it was estimated that another Rs 25 crores interest was pending on loans in various commercial banks including State bank of India, Syndicate Bank, Indian Bank and Andhra Bank.
It may be recalled that farm loans to the tune of Rs 10,000 were waived in all the banks during former prime minister V.P. Singh’s regime in late 80s.

From then onwards, no government dared to waive either the loan or the interest on farm loans. Such loans were either rescheduled or given a moratorium but they were not waived. The present step by the Centre would undoubtedly bring relief to the farmers, who were facing problem due to severe drought.

The DCCB officials, besides the lead bank manager are calculating the loans taken by the farmers in the district and it is learnt that they had received oral instructions from the higher ups to prepare the list in the wake of a GO likely to be released soon.The Centre is also planni-ng to introduce special pac-kages for the benefit of far-mers and to give a facelift to the agriculture sector.

Ongole, Aug. 29: Senior safety officer, South Central Railway, Vijayawada, Srivastava on Tuesday said that the railways has been coordinating with irrigation department and village panchayats along railway tracks to prevent train disasters caused by flash floods.

Mr Srivastava, along with security officials from Vijayawada participated in an awareness meeting on safety at the railway guest house here. Railway officials and staff working in engineering, signalling, communications and other departments attended the meeting. Assistant security officer B. Rajareddy, assistant divisional engineer, Vijayawada, Jayaprakash Reddy, railway manager, Ongole Koteswara Rao and others spoke.

Mr Srivastava said that railway tracks could be washed away due to flash floods during the rainy season and to prevent such disasters, the SCR authorities had been closely coordinating with irrigation department officials. He said that railway staff in coordination with village secretaries would keep a vigil along the railway tracks to check disasters.

Monsoon patrolling teams were set up by the railways which would keep a watch on the tracks during night in rainy season, he said. Talking about the major train accidents in SCR division last year, he said 17 accidents, including eight derailments and six accidents took place at unmanned railway gates.

Two accidents were caused by flash floods at Valigonda in Guntur district where some bogies of the Repalle-Secunderabad passenger train were washed away. Goods train bogies fell into a rivulet near Renigunta in Nellore district due to flash floods, he recalled.
Following the two incidents, the railways had asked Irrigation officials to sanction more funds to repair breaches and strengthen bunds of tanks, Mr Srivastava said.

Railway security officials gave suggestions to employees on safety. Carrying of inflammable material in trains was a crime and it should be prevented at any cost, they said.

Ongole, Aug. 29: The farming community in the district demanded that the government declare Praka-sam district as drought affected due to the prevailing dry spell conditions. The farmers are extremely concerned over the scanty rainfall. In August, the district registered –58.95 mm rainfall till August 26.

The average normal rainfall in the same month was 91.6 mm. Adverse conditions dashed the hopes of thousands of farmers in the district in kharif season. If the government declares the district as drought-hit, farmers would get certain concessions.

For example, farmers will get compensation for croploss and the State and Central governments will grant funds for supply of drinking water, additional loans to farmers and reschedule loans. The government will also supply seeds on subsidy and waive school fees. There is a possibility of waiving loans and interests of farmers to some extent.

In view of all these factors, farmers requested the government to declare the district as drought-hit. Speaking to this correspondent, AP Rytu Sangham secretary Nagaboina Rangarao and CPI town leader P.V.R. Chowdary said that they had visited drought affected mandals in the last few days.

The two leaders said that the time to sow seeds for crops like red gram, green gram, castor and jowar was over in this kharif. They disclosed that farmers were badly affected due to poor power supply and low voltage problems. Owing to power problem, farmers could not extract water from borewells resulting in withering of crops, they added.

Meanwhile, Kandukur MLA Mahidhara Reddy raised his voice in the Assembly on Monday on the prevailing drought conditions in the district and appealed to the government to render assistance. District collector B. Udaya Lakshmi said that officials were collecting information on drought conditions and croploss suffered by farmers due to dry spell.

Ongole, Aug. 29: The farming community in the district demanded that the government declare Praka-sam district as drought affected due to the prevailing dry spell conditions. The farmers are extremely concerned over the scanty rainfall. In August, the district registered –58.95 mm rainfall till August 26.

The average normal rainfall in the same month was 91.6 mm. Adverse conditions dashed the hopes of thousands of farmers in the district in kharif season. If the government declares the district as drought-hit, farmers would get certain concessions.

For example, farmers will get compensation for croploss and the State and Central governments will grant funds for supply of drinking water, additional loans to farmers and reschedule loans. The government will also supply seeds on subsidy and waive school fees.

There is a possibility of waiving loans and interests of farmers to some extent. In view of all these factors, farmers requested the government to declare the district as drought-hit. Speaking to this correspondent, AP Rytu Sangham secretary Nagaboina Rangarao and CPI town leader P.V.R. Chowdary said that they had visited drought affected mandals in the last few days.

The two leaders said that the time to sow seeds for crops like red gram, green gram, castor and jowar was over in this kharif.
They disclosed that farmers were badly affected due to poor power supply and low voltage problems. Owing to power problem, farmers could not extract water from borewells resulting in withering of crops, they added.

Meanwhile, Kandukur MLA Mahidhara Reddy raised his voice in the Assembly on Monday on the prevailing drought conditions in the district and appealed to the government to render assistance. District collector B. Udaya Lakshmi said that officials were collecting information on drought conditions and croploss suffered by farmers due to dry spell.

Bhimavaram (West Godavari), Aug. 29: About 1,400 junior lineman posts in the limits of Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (EPDCL) will be filled up by September. Earlier, the government has given permission to APTransco for filling up 7,000 junior lineman posts State-wide.

EPDCL chairman-cum-managing director Praveen Prakash told newsmen here on Tuesday that out of 1,400 posts, 249 were sanctioned for West Godavari district alone. Mr Praveen Prakash said that priority would be given to eligibility, experience and nativity in selection of candidates for the posts. He added that priority would be given to those working on contract basis in APTransco in addition to their nativity.

Referring to the agriculture sector, he said that government had taken a decision on an experimental basis to pick up a sub-station for four districts in the entire State, and replace non-ISI agricultural pump sets with ISI marked pumpsets at 80 per cent subsidy in the sub station limits.

As part of this, in the EPDCL limits in West Godavari, Chinthalapudi sub station was selected for replacement, he said, and added that a survey was underway and in 15 days, it would be completed. Proposals could be sent to Government. With regard to the recent rains and floods, the CMD stated that about Rs 20 crore loss was incurred in the five districts of EPDCL limits to AP Transco and added that State government had released Rs 2.5 crore for taking up temporary repair works.

He also said that for agricultural pumpsets falling under the company limits, 1.28 lakh capacitors were installed so far, and added that in addition 50,000 agricultural pumpsets were sanctioned. He also said that they were going to construct 50 new sub-stations each costing Rs 1.5 to Rs 2 `.

Bhimavaram, Aug. 29: The Congress came up with a strategy to reject the vehement criticism from the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) that the Congress government was allocating adequate funds for the development of the Telangana region.

Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) official spokesman N. Tulasi Reddy told newsmen here on Tuesday that the TRS was misguiding and provoking youth by raising the issue of the separate State often and said that if people were informed about the kind of allocations made for development of the Telangana region, their misapprehensions would be dispelled.

Mr Reddy said that out of the total area of the State, the Telangana region comprises 41 per cent of the land, and in terms of population also, about 41 per cent of population living in Telangana region. Out of 37 universities in State, 24 exist in Telangana and of 32 private and government medical colleges, 14 were in Telangana.

Similarly, out of 266 engineering colleges, 157 were in Telangana and of 1,724 degree colleges, 751 were in the Telangana region. Of the 345 professional colleges offering MBA, pharmacy and BEd, 167 were in the Telangana region and of the 1,006 SC hostels, 449 were in the Telangana o, he said.

Mr Tulasi Reddy stated that the Congress government led by Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy had allocated 53 per cent of funds in the current fiscal to the Telangana region.

Warangal, Aug. 29: Municipal commissioner Smita Sabharwal on Tuesday issued memos to 22 employees of the corporation.
Memos were issued to those officials who failed to conduct division-wise sanitation committee meetings with the residents and the corporators.

As per the schedule, the sanitary inspectors, revenue inspectors and the community organisers should have conducted the division-wise sanitation committee meetings to take stock of the sanitary condition in their respective divisions.In a bit to improve the sanitary conditions in wards, Ms Smita took the initiative to constitute division-wise sanitation committees with the residents, corporators and the officials as the members.

The newly-formed committees should meet every month and take stock of the sanitary conditions in their divisions. But the officials failed to conduct the meetings. The meetings were convened only in two divisions on August 22. As the incidence of chickungunya was rampant in the city, the indifferent attitude shown by the corporation officials on sanitation made the commissioner furious.

Taking serious note of the indifferent attitude of the officials in organising the meetings, the commissioner issued memos. The officials were also warned that if they failed to convene the sanitation meetings on schedule again, they would be suspended.

Similarly, the town planning and building inspectors who gave the house numbers to some illegally constructed structures at Hunter Road and at the Bhadrakali foreshore bund were also served with showcause notices.

Warangal, Aug. 29: CPI(M) State secretary B.V. Raghavulu said on Tuesday that the Jala Yagnam mission would turn out to be a Jala Samadhi (watery grave) for the Congress government in the State. He said that the Jala Yagnam would further aggravate the regional imbalances in the State. Addressing a public meeting in protest against the “anti-people” policies of the UPA government here, Mr Raghavulu blamed the State government for ignoring the Ichhampally, Pranahita and Sripadasagar projects that should have been taken up on a priority basis.

He also found fault with the government for “unnecessarily” taking up Polavaram project while ignoring the Ichhampally project. Referring to recent floods, Mr Raghavulu said that after the completion of the Polavaram project, any flood in the Godavari would virtually submerge the Khammam district.

He refuted the Congress charge that the CPI(M) was blocking the formation of Telangana State. “Both the Congress and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) have thoroughly duped the region’s people on the issue and now they are accusing the CPI(M) without any valid reason. The CPI(M) took a consistent stand on the issue while the Congress and the TRS have repeatedly changed their views,” he said.
He demanded an explanation from the Congress and the TRS for misleading the region’s people over the Telangana issue.

Nizamabad, Aug. 29: The Railway Protection Force has decided to prosecute organisers of rail rokos in the Hyderabad division under the South Central Railway (SCR). The cases will be registered under 174-A of the Indian Railway Act, 1989.

The security wing of the Hyderabad division of the SCR took this decision after several passengers complained about the inconvenience caused to them due to rail rokos. Sources in the Nizamabad RPF said railway security authorities had instructed the RPF personnel working in Hyderabad division to file cases against agitators in the railway courts in their jurisdictions whenever rail rokos are held. The railway police personnel have also been given cameras to shoot photos to produce them in the court as evidence.

Vijayawada, Aug. 29: The meeting of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation witnessed heated exchanges between the CPI (M) and the Congress on Tuesday over imposition of tax on garbage collection. The council also witnessed suspension of the Telugu Desam (TD) corporators as they obstructed the proceedings demanding discussion on the issue.

As soon as the council met, the TD members demanded discussion on the garbage tax. Mayor Tadi Sakuntala requested the members to return to their seats and allow her to take up the routine business. She also told the members that the issue was on the agenda and would come up later. However, the TD members refused to withdraw their agitation and continued to raise slogans against the Congress and the VMC.

As there was no respite, the mayor suspended all the TD members and took up the agenda. But the suspensions were later withdrawn following an appeal by the TD members and also a similar request by the other parties. Later, when the issue came up for discussion, the CPI (M) floor leader, Ch. Baburao, took the mayor and the Congress leadership to task for allowing the administration to take decisions. He alleged that the mayor too was a party to the anti-people’s decisions, which are being imposed by the State government under the World Bank direction.

He said that the tax on the garbage would be an additional burden on the people and asserted that his party would never allow the VMC to collect the tax. The Congress leaders, S. Narasaraju, S. Ramalinga Murthy and K. Rajasekhar, countered the CPI (M)’s charge and said that the tax was proposed to make people responsible for the city. The Congress leaders further tried to justify the move by saying people were throwing garbage on the roads and in some localities, they were not even using the dustbins.

However, with continued opposition from the CPI (M) and to some extent, the CPI and the TD, the council amended the proposal and resolved to limit the scheme to the residential colonies with the support of the colony welfare associations, sparing the slum dwellers.

Guntur, July 24: The BJP would take up formation of Telangana State on priority basis, if the party came to power at the Centre in the next general elections, said the State party president, N. Indrasena Reddy.

Speaking to mediapersons here on Tuesday, Mr Indrasena Reddy said that the BJP had been positive for Telangana State right from the beginning. However, the issue was kept in abeyance as the Telugu Desam (TD), which supported the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) from outside, opposed division of the State. He said that people of Telananga region were in favour of separation.

He criticised the Majlis-Ittehadul-Muslimeen (MIM) leadership for demanding Union territory status for Hyderabad if the State was to be divided. Condemning the demand and terming it as politically motivated to block creation of Telangana State, the BJP president said that Hyderabad was part of Telangana and others have no right over the place.

Blaming the TRS and the Congress for the present unrest in the Telangana districts, he said that the two parties had gone to the people promising Telangana State and misleading the people.
He advised the TRS leaders to walk out of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), if they were serious about achieving the Telangana Sate.

He said that the BJP would consider working with the TRS only if the party snapped ties with the Congress and the UPA. Mr Indrasena Reddy said that the BJP was in favour of the smaller States and the NDA had created Chhattisgarh, Uttaranchal and Jharkhand States on priority basis. He said the UPA had no such commitment and the TRS also was aware of the UPA agenda.

He asked the TRS leaders to stop making a hue and cry on the streets, while continuing in the UPA, if they really wanted formation of Telangana State.

Visakhapatnam, Aug. 29: The public health department of the Greater Visakha Municipal Corporation (GVMC) on Tuesday warned the manufacturers of bottled water with stringent action if they marketed non-ISI products in the city under Prevention of Food Adulteration Act of 1955 and AP High Court directive of August 11, 2006.

The orders in this regard were received by the GVMC from the municipal administration and urban development. Chief medical officer of public health department of GVMC M.S. Raju said the manufacturers of bottled water were making profits at the cost of public health. “Only one company was marketing ISI mark bottled water in the city,” he added.

Dr Raju said that the companies use tap water supplied by GVMC or groundwater and pack them in most unhygenic conditions. There are about 20 units each preparing bottled water and water packets. None of them conform to ISI norms.

Most of these units were established on the outskirts of the city but after 32 panchayats were merged with the corporation with the formation of GVMC, all of them fell under GVMC’s jurisdiction, the CMO said.

Aqua 2000 and Himalaya were raided in 2000 and they shifted their operations to the outskirts and continued their business. But after GVMC came into force, these two unit again came under the corporation’s jurisdiction.

In association with assistant food controller, action would be taken against those units existing in rural areas and selling non-ISI products in the city, Dr Raju said.

Visakhapatnam, Aug. 29: Former Union minister and BJP national secretary Bandaru Dattatreya on Tuesday said his party would fight alone for creation of a separate Telangana State. Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr Dattatreya said the BJP does not have any sort of understanding either with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) or with actress-turned-politician Vijayashanthi’s Talli Telangana party on the Telangana issue.

Mr Dattatreya was here to call on an ailing Dr Subramanya Sarma, 79, a senior RSS leader, who was Pranthiya Sanchalak for Andhra and Orissa. Alleging that the Congress does not have any will to create separate Telangana State, Mr Dattatreya said that Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy succeeded in forcing TRS leaders K. Chandrasekhar Rao and A. Narendra to resign from the UPA government.

“Dr Rajasekhar Reddy ensured that the two TRS leaders resigned from the Union Cabinet by convincing defence minister Pranab Mukherjee, in-charge of AP affairs Digvijay Singh and AICC president Sonia Gandhi against Telangana,” he said. He stated that the TRS leaders resigned from the Manmohan Singh government as the TRS lost confidence among the people of Telangana and they did not had any other option.

Mr Dattatreya expressed his dismay that the TRS leaders were still saying that they have confidence in Mrs Gandhi over the Telangana issue. The BJP leader severely criticised the failure of the Congress government in helping farmers who lost crops in thousands of acres due to recent floods.

“The government failed on every front in relief and rescue operations during the recent floods,” he alleged. Expressing dissatisfaction over the rehabilitation package announced by the Chief Minister on Monday, Mr Dattatreya said that Dr Reddy had failed in getting aid from the Centre for this purpose.

Srikakulam, Aug. 29: Cell services would dot every village in the State for which 23,000 new cell towers would be installed this year, said chief general manager of AP Telecom Circle R.K. Arnold. Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr Arnold said the State has 13 lakhs BSNL cellular services and it would be increased to 18 lakhs focussing mainly the rural areas during the current financial year. The new towers would have the latest technology to cater all types of services.

He said high speed Internet was being provided with the installation of broadband services and shortly multimedial uplinking system would be introduced for better connectivity and speed. With the introduction of uplinking systems, media files and entertainment services could be had with lower tariff, the CGM said.

Work had begun in the district for providing net services through multi medial uplinking system, he added. The broadband was providing only 2 mb speed and with the multimedial linking system 25 mb speed services could be provided, he added. The CGM also spoke about the new services to be introduced shortly in the State. General manager of district telecom K. Neelaiah and DGM D.V. Ramana Murthy were also present.