Andhranews

Bellary (Karnataka), Aug. 30: Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said that several developmental activities are being taken up without causing any harm to the ecological balance in the State.

Mr Kumaraswamy laid the foundation stone for the second unit works of the 500 mw Bellary Thermal Power Plant at Kuditini near here on Wednesday.Addressing a public meeting on the occasion, Mr Kumaraswamy said, “Though there was a chance of heavy pollution due to the construction of heavy industries, the industrialists were told to ensure strict measures to take up afforestation to prevent damage to the environment.”

Mr Kumaraswamy further said that priority would be given to locals in jobs in the industries started by the government. He said that the children of farmers, who lost lands due to the construction of the project would be given preference in the provision of jobs and the Bellary Thermal Power Station (BTPS) would adopt Kuditini and develop the village in all fronts.

The Karnataka Chief Minister said that he would discuss with the officials about the drought and flood situation in the State in a day or two and start taking up rehabilitation measures soon. At the same time, Mr Kumaraswamy said that steps would be taken to ensure the relief reach the victims’ straight by excluding the involvement of middlemen.

Karnataka PWD minister H.D. Revanna said that six power projects at a cost of Rs 17,000 crores would be started this year in various places in the State and they would produce 4,300 mw power. Karnataka home minister M.P. Prakash, tourism minister B. Sriramulu, Chief Minister adviser K.C. Reddy, MLAs N. Suryanarayana Reddy, Anil Lad and others were present.

Railway Kodur, Aug. 30: Two Dalit youth belonging to Ambedkar Nagar (Dalitwada) were killed by their rivals here on Tuesday night following a scuffle over old rivalry. According to the police, the victims, Singamala Chakrapani, 30 and Singamala Hari, 23, were returning after Ganesh immersion on Tuesday night. They had a rivalry with Tippana Murali and reportedly bashed the latter.

When Murali’s relatives abused their mother Siddamma, both Chakrapani and Hari attacked Lakshmidevi, grandmother of Murali in an inebriated condition. Irked over the incident, Murali and his friends hatched a plan and hurled chilli powder into the victims’ eyes and hacked them with swords and axes.

At least eight persons including Murali were reportedly involved in the murder. Both of them died on the spot. According to a complaint lodged by the victims’ relatives, Tippana Murali, Tippana Kannaiah, Tippana Chiranjeevi, Tippana Lakshumma, Singamala Giri, Amritha, Narayana and Viswanath were involved in the murder.

A manhunt was launched for the accused. Both the bodies were shifted to Rajampet government hospital for post-mortem. Railway Kodur CI Muniramaiah, SI K Ashok Reddy are investigating.

Ongole, Aug. 30: Officials seized 2,400 tonnes of rice valued at about Rs 3 crores at Chirala railway station allegedly meant for transporting to Assam and Nagaland on Wednesday. Officials suspect that the rice belongs to the public distribution system (PDS) and was being procured from Prakasam, Nellore and Guntur districts.

On a tip-off, officials belong to enforcement and civil supplies raided the railway station and found the rice loaded in 39 wagons. A special train had been booked by rice millers to Assam and Nagaland. The officials are verifying records of rice mills located in Chirala and other mandals.

Speaking to this newspaper, joint collector Siddharth Jain said that samples of the seized rice were collected and sent to the Food Corporation of India and civil supplies department for tests. Mr Jain is mainly focusing on the PDS and is trying to root out corruption in the revenue department. His predecessor Mr Vara Prasad was transferred when he conducted surprise checks on ration shops.

In recent months, civil supplies and enforcement officials have seized rice bags being shifted illegally to other parts of the State. Chirala and Kandukur regions have become notorious for illegal trade in rice. It is alleged that rice millers and dealers are getting tacit support from officials in shifting rice to other parts of the State and the country.

Under the Telugu Desam rule three years ago, rice meant for the Food-for-Work programme was seized near Chirala, while it was being shifted to Kakinada port for export to other countries. When asked about the failure of the civil supplies department in checking the diversion of PDS rice, civil supplies officer Prabhakar said that the department was handicapped due to the scarcity of staff. \

Ongole, Aug. 30: Municipal chairman Bapatla Hanumantha Rao said that the municipal council had decided to scrap the resolution adopted by the civic body on July 31 to give one acre land at Ura Cheruvu on lease to a private party.

Speaking to reporters here on Wednesday, Mr Hanumantha Rao announced that the council would scrap the decision in a special council meet to be held in the first week of September. He said that one week notice was served in this regard.

The chairman made this announcement in the wake of stern warnings given by the Telugu Desam (TD), CPI(M) and CPI leaders that they would launch agitations if the council did not scrap the resolution. Earlier, the TD, CPI(M) and CPI had decided to besiege the municipal office on August 31 when the municipal council meet would be held. The three parties blamed the civic body for deciding to give the land for a nominal rent of Rs 25 lakhs per annum, though the market value of the land was over Rs 6 crores.

Mr Hanumantha Rao said that the civic body would pass a resolution on August 31 in the council meet, cancelling the lease of the land to a private party for construction of a three star hotel. He alleged that TD and CPI(M) leaders had been trying to malign the image of the Congress party on the Ura Cheruvu land issue.

He said that open tenders would be called for to give the same land to a private party. The chairman revealed that the private party which offers the highest bid would be given the land for lease. He made it clear that the Ura Cheruvu lands belong to the municipality, which has ownership for over six decades.

Tirupati, Aug. 30: The Tirumala Tirupati Devastanams would appeal to the State government to review the ropeway proposal for Tirumala in the interest of thousands of devotees thronging the hill shrine everyday. Mr B. Karunakar Reddy announced this during a media conference at Annamayya Bhavan in Tirumala after taking charge as TTD Trust Board’s chairman on Wednesday.

Reacting to a question, Mr Reddy said he too had reservations about the ropeway. But, he said, he would discuss the issue in detail with Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy. Pointing to the increase in number of devotees, he said that it would not be a surprise if the number went up to four lakhs in the near future.

He said that the benefits of the ropeway to ordinary devotees would be examined before taking any decision. He said that the trust board would try to improve facilities to ordinary devotees.He also hinted at steps to reduce the importance of VIP letters and middlemen. He said that the TTD would provide funds to Government only for religious activities.

Commending TTD officials and staff for their dedicated service, he promised to take all the steps to protect their interests. Board members Messrs Chadalavada Sucharitha, Gokaraju Ramaraju, R.P. Goenka, Dr O.V. Ramana, Sudarshan Reddy, Srinivasan, Janga Krishnamurthy, Vijayasai Reddy, Indira Reddy, TTD EO A.P.V.N. Sarma, FA and CEO Anitha Sha Akella attended the conference.

Kakinada, Aug. 30: Development of small ports was taken up on a massive scale in Andhra Pradesh with public and private participation. With the fast-growing need for water transport, the programme was taken up under the build, operate and transfer scheme with Rs 15,000 crores investment in the first phase.

With globalisation, privatisation and liberalisation, transport needs through sea waters has picked up momentum. With India emerging as a potential market in the global arena in general and in South East Asia in particular, emphasis is being laid to develop facilities in coastal AP.

With the distance and appro-achability factor with countries like China, Japan, Malaysia and South Korea playing a major role, economic viability was found in the development of ports along the AP coast. With both the Kakinada deep water and anchorage ports and Ravva port already in the operational list, the development of Gangavaram, Krishnapatnam, Nizampatnam, and Machilipatnam was taken up in the State.

Of these, both Gangavaram and Krishnapatnam ports are at various stages of completion. With the displacement factor settled amicably, the Gangavaram port is expected to be operational by the middle of 2008. Both Gangavaram and Krishnapatnam ports were taken up in the first phase with more than Rs 5,000 crores investment.

They are expected to handle cargo to the tune of 13 million metric tonnes per annum. In the second phase of the operation, cargo handling is expected to increase by eight to 10 million each at these two ports. In the second phase, the development of Nizampatnam was taken up.

According to port department sources, a memorandum of understanding was signed with Skoda enterprises of the Czech Republic. The development of the port was taken up on an integrated basis with a urea plant, thermal power plant and allied industrial development.

It is estimated that for the first phase, Rs 5,000 crores is being invested. As far as Machilipatnam is concerned, global tenders were called for and the tenders are at finalising stage. The first phase investment for this project is likely to touch Rs 2,000 crores, according to State Port director N. Sridhar.

Rajahmundry, Aug. 30: The Pollution Control Board (PCB) is to keep a tab on immersion of Ganesh idols in the Godavari river and other water bodies at selected points to check the quality of water before, during and after the immersion of idols in East Godavari district.

The PCB officials have written to the irrigation authorities to identify commonly used immersion points along the course of the river, especially in urban centres like Rajahmundry in the district. At Kakinada, devotees prefer to immerse the idols in the sea along the coastline, while some people prefer the Upputeru at Jaganaikpur.

Though the practice of keeping a tab on the quality of water during Ganesh immersion is uncommon here, the initial rejection by the Andhra Pradesh High Court for immersion of idols in the Hussainsagar and its subsequent permission for this year on an assurance by the State government to ensure measures to conserve lake waters, the PCB has taken the initiative, based on the directions from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

The PCB will be collecting water and sludge samples from selected points along the course of the river and other important water bodies in the district. The samples will be sent for analysis and inferences can be drawn on the levels of deposits of heavy metals like lead, mercury and others.

Iron is used for making big idols deposited in the water. Metal pickers do their job to lift them out and sell it to vendors. The PCB intends to prepare a data on the findings of this year’s immersion and come out with guidelines for next year’s immersion.

PCB’s environmental engineer R. Lakshminarayana says, “Our observations on pollution levels in water bodies including the rivers, due to immersion of Ganesh idols can be formulated as data which can be of immense help to come up with guidelines for the next year’s immersion. This helps us to keep a check on pollution levels in water bodies.”

Based on the guidelines from the CPCB, local bodies were roped in to avoid pollution of water bodies. Usage of natural clay and natural colours for in making Ganesh idols was recommended by the PCB engineer.

Karimnagar, Aug. 30: Notwithstanding the claims of the State government on improvement of amenities in the schools, 1,584 schools are still functioning without toilets in the district. According to sources, toilet facilities are not there in 1,010 primary schools, 230 upper primary schools and 344 high schools.

A total of 990 schools don’t even have the basic drinking water facility. Of them, 661 primary schools, 148 upper primary schools and 183 high schools. This apart, the acute shortage of the non-teaching staff has cast a shadow on the functioning of the schools.
The teachers mainly in the upgraded high schools are compelled to discharge the additional duties like record maintenance and payment of salaries.

As a result, teaching has become a casualty in most of the schools mainly located in the far-flung areas of the district. The students of the upgraded government school in the remote Motlapalli village in Kalvasrirampur mandal are deprived of drinking water and toilet facilities.

“Our children are prone to various water-borne diseases as they don’t have any drinking water facility in the school,” lamented Mr R. Mallesham, a gram panchayat ward member. The students are forced to study under trees in the absence of additional classrooms.
It is high time the authorities ensure the essential facilities to the students, Mr Mallesham added.

State Teachers Union vice-president N. Vidya-sagar demanded that the government initiate steps to provide basic amenities in the schools to prevent dropout rate. When contacted, District educational officer Srihari said that 306 schools have been recently sanctioned Rs 1,600 each for purchase of water containers and labour charges to ensure drinking water supply to the students.

Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan project director Ramchandar Rao said that funds have been sanctioned for 1,250 schools in the district at the rate of Rs 30,000 each in 2005 for construction of toilets.

Warangal, Aug. 30: The New Delhi-based Consultancy Services in Engineering (CSE) has bagged the project contract from the Kakatiya Urban Development Authority (Kuda) to prepare the Master Plan for the city and its surrounding villages.

Though the CSE has quoted Rs 65 lakhs fee for preparing the Master Plan for Warangal, the Kuda and the municipal administration authorities have negotiated and brought the price down to Rs 43 lakhs. The new Master Plan will be ready in a period of nine months.

Elaborating on the Master Plan, joint collector Syed Omer Jaleel said that the city was still depending upon the earlier Master Plan prepared in 1971. “The city has witnessed tremendous development and expansion on all fronts and has become one of the emerging cities in the State and the new Master Plan will shape the city’s planned development during the next 20 years,” Mr Jaleel added.
The State government is likely to give its nod for the Master Plan contract in a day or two. The satellite image technology would be used in the preparation of Master Plan.

“The proposed Master Plan will also include 171 villages besides the jurisdiction of the Warangal Municipal Corporation. The total area to be covered is 1,800 square km,” said Mr Jaleel, who is now the in-charge vice-chairman of the urban body. He said that the tri-cities of Kazipet, Hanamkonda and Warangal should be developed on scientific lines as the city was getting national recognition for its historic importance and tourism potential.

The joint collector said that the old Master Plan became obsolete with the city’s expansion and the drastic change in the land use patterns. Asked about the Kuda’s crackdown against illegal layouts in the city, Mr Jaleel said that the urban body had already identified around 20 unauthorised illegal layouts and started cracking down on the promoters.

“The buyers were also cautioned against purchasing the plots from the unauthorised layouts, which do not have permission from the Kuda and which do not fulfil the layout norms of the urban development,” Mr Jaleel added.

Nizamabad, Aug. 30: A case against Congress MLA from Banswada, Bajireddy Govardhan was registered by the Banswada police in the killing of Ibrahimpet Telugu Desam MPTC Saya Reddy.
Police also registered cases on 16 other Congress activists, including Jella Kuber, the prime accused in the killing of Saya Reddy.

The murder took place on August 28 at Ibrahimpet while Saya Reddy was returning from his agricultural fields to his house located in the same village. In-charge officer on special duty and investigation officer U. Madhukar Rao told this correspondent that police had registered a case against the MLA under Sections 302, 109 under IPC.

The case was registered, based on a complaint lodged by Saya Reddy’s brother More Narayana Reddy on August 29. Nobody has been arrested so far in this case, the officer said. Sources said that in the complaint, the petitioner had stated that Govardhan had instigated Kuber to kill his brother Saya Reddy.

District superintendent of police Mahesh Chandra Laddah said that a suitable reward would be given to those who reveal the whereabouts of Kuber. Meanwhile, the cremation of Saya Reddy concluded at Ibrahimpet amid police security. Thousands of Telugu Desam party workers and senior Desam State and district-level leaders attended the cremation.

Former chief minister and Telugu Desam party chief Chandrababu Naidu and former home minister T. Devender Goud, who were expected to attend the cremation, did not turn up. Speaking to newsmen, former minister and senior TD leader Kadiam Srihari said that the Rajasekhar Reddy government was encouraging faction-oriented killings in the State. So far, 85 TD workers and leaders were killed in the last two years, he alleged.

Vijayawada, Aug. 30: Chunduru Koteswara Rao, one of the main accused in Vangaveeti Santhan Kum-ar’s attempt to murder case, was arrested on Wednesday afternoon. The police officials who attended the III additional chief metropolitan magistrate court for the hearing on Katragadda Srinu’s police custody, noticed Koteswara Rao moving around. He was arrested and produced at the office of West Zone assistant commissioner of police Shaik Mastan Vali.

Since Koteswara Rao was in an inebriated condition, the police failed to get any concrete information from him. He was remanded to judicial custody till September 12. Koteswara Rao was a close associate of Katragadda Venkata Narayana, the slain leader and has been nursing a grudge against Santhan after Venkata Nar-ayana was murdered. He went missing soon after the attempt on Santhan on Au-gust 18 and has been calling police officials regularly saying that he would surrender, but he never turned up.

Meanwhile, the police had launched a thorough search near his house in Machavaram and also in Hyderabad and finally he was nabbed on the city court premises. The arrest of Koteswara Rao led to a minor argument between the police and the advocates objected to the police taking the accused into custody on the court premises.

The arguments on Katragadda Srinu’s police custody went on till the evening and the verdict was posted to Thursday. The police have so far arr-ested Katragadda Srinu ali-as Musunuri Srinu, the pri-me accused, the two shooters Kalidas Subramaniyam and Bogireddy Narsing, be-sides Koteswara Rao. The police is searching for Sunil who is believed to have supplied the ammunition and trained the shooters and they also suspect the role of one Shyam in the plot.

Vijayawada, Aug. 30: Internal squabbles in the Congress group in the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) have come to the fore when the ruling party-sponsored resolution surrendering the services of urban community development project officer Y. Ajaykumar to the State government was defeated in the council on Wednesday.

Congress corporator and former deputy mayor Musunuri Subba Rao took the UCD project officer to task while the CPI, CPI(M) and the Telugu Desam supported him. Even mayor Tadi Sakuntala backed the demand for surrendering the project officer to the government alleging that he was harassing women and was resorting to corrupt practices.

Even as deputy mayor Ch. Krishna Kumar and Congress floor leader K. Rajasekhar made several requests, the former deputy mayor turned down their pleas and voted against the Congress-sponsored resolution which favoured the continuation of the project officer in the VMC. The council finally passed a resolution with 26 corporators voting for the project officer’s surrender to the State government while 25 corporators voted for his continuation.

Though this is not the first resolution of the ruling Co-ngress-CPI combine to have been defeated in the council, it had exposed the internal fissures in the Congress, particularly in the group that is loyal to former minister Devineni Rajasekhar Nehru.

Mr Subba Rao and Mr Krishna Kumar have been loyal to Mr Nehru for several years but developed differences over supporting the UCD project officer. “It was not good for an officer to ignore an elected representative and target works against the corporator. He denied loans to the women in my division and ignored me in the progra-mmes,” Mr Rao alleged.

Srikakulam, Aug. 30: The State police has launched a hunt for a youth belonging to Hiramandalam in the district, who claiming to be graduate in engineering, allegedly cheated several unemployed persons promising them jobs in various government departments.
According to the local police, Saladi Ramgopal of Subhalai Colony opened offices — New Ways Foundation, New Ways Solutions — in Kakinada and issued “appointment letters” to several youths for Grade-III and Grade-IV posts in the departments of endowments, health and judiciary.

Eight candidates from the district received such “appointment letters”. They approached Srikakulam superintendent of police Manish Kumar Sinha after they realised that they were taken for a ride. K. Anil Kumar of Chinnabadam village of Kasibugga mandal was given an appointment letter as junior assistant issued in the name of general manager of endowments department at Nampally.

Starting with case, the district police had begun enquiring into this job racket.It was not known how much Anil Kumar had paid to Ramgopal but Paidi Prasad, Majji Appalanaidu, Nageswra Rao, S. Raja, K. Lalitha and Durga Prasad told the police that they had paid Rs 8 lakhs together to the scamster.

Police said Ramgopal left Hiramandalam long ago and was staying in Kakinada. It was also found that Ramgopal had earlier spoken to top officials of various departments, political leaders, brokers and unemployed youth through various cell numbers. Sources said the police was planning to handover the case to the CB-CID as the racket may have State-wide ramifications.

“It is not known in which engineering college Ramgopal studied. Very few people knew him in Hiramandalam. But his wife and children are still staying in Kakinada,” Srikakulam town sub-inspector S. Appala Raju told this correspondent. Cases were filed against him at Khammam and Kakinada, he added.

Pachipenta (Vizianagaram), Aug. 30: Project officer of Integrated Tribal Development Agency A.K. Sinha here on Wednesday asked the mandal officials to educate newly-elected sarpanches about the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

Addressing a meeting, Mr Sinha said, “We are fortunate as Vizianagaram district is one of the 13 districts selected for implementation of the scheme in the State. It will help to provide 100 mandays of work to each family and will halt migrations from rural villages.”

For the 9,219 job cards issued in the mandal, post office savings accounts were opened for only 2,342 persons so far, the project officer said and asked the mandal parishad development officer B. Arundhati Devi to expedite the opening of accounts. Mr Sinha urged new sarpanches and MPTCs to popularise the scheme in interior tribal hamlets.

Mandal parishad president Prasad Babu and ZPTC Ganapathi Rao were also present. Meanwhile, the medical camp organised by the local police at Nadenduvalasa in the mandal evoked a good response from tribals. Dr Sivakumar examined over 200 persons and distributed medicines.

Sub-inspector L. Bhaskar Rao said they were planning to conduct a mega health camp shortly with the co-operation of various medical specialist.

Srikakulam, Aug. 30: Vamsadhara river is in spate for the third time in two months following heavy rains in Orissa. The water flow crossed the danger mark on Tuesday night causing tension among villagers. Due to recent floods, 353 villages were under water for many days and of which 142 are still inundated. The fresh flood has entered 54 villages under Jalumuru, Narasannapeta and Polaki mandals after 89,721 cu secs of water flowed at Gottabarage.

The villagers are angry with the district administration as it had failed to fill the breaches caused by recent floods. Following a depression in the Bay of Bengal, Kutraguda, Gudari, Gummada, Gunupur, Udayagiri, Kasinagar and Bishamcuttack recieved heavy rains in the last two days. These areas recieved 160 cms of rain on Tuesday and 139 cms on Wednesday.

Similarly, the water level of Nagavali river increased. The flow at Gottabarage came down to 85,305 cu secs. Reports said 42, 000 cu secs of water flowed in Nagavali in the morning and it increased to 52, 700 cu secs on Wednesday evening. The revenue officials are once again busy evacuating people living on the banks of these rivers.

The officials who sighed with relief due to decrease in the water levels are worried over increase in the levels of Nagavali.During last two spells a total of 2.64 lakh cu secs of water flowed in Vamsadhara and 1.37 lakh cu secs in Nagavali.

Komarada (Vizianagaram), Aug. 30: Ten persons were injured when supporters of Congress and the Telugu Desam (TD) clashed during Ganesh immersion at Rajyalakshmipuram village in the mandal on Tuesday night. Police said the clash was a fallout of enmity between the two parties developed at the time of recent sarpanch election in the village.

Police said both parties pitched separate pandals and conducted Ganesh puja separately. Trouble began when Congress activists burst crackers while taking Ganesh idol in a procession for immersion. They hurled two powerful crackers on the compound wall of sarpanch N. Madhusudana Rao of the TD causing damage to a two-wheeler parked there.

The sarpanch entered into an argument with the Congressmen which led to a clash between the supporters of two parties. Both the groups used sticks and iron rods . On receipt of information, sub-inspector Leela Rao rushed to the village with police personnel and brought the situation under control. The injured were rushed to the Parvathipuram area hospital.

Sarpanch Madhusudana Rao said the Congressmen attacked them when he questioned the Congress activists about the crackers while Congress leaders alleged that it was a pre-planned attack by the TD men. A police picket was posted in the village.