Andhranews

Hyderabad, Aug 6: Damage to life and property notwithstanding, the recent cyclonic rains have come in as a blessing in disguise to thousands of farmers all over the State except Anantapur, Chittoor and Kadapa districts.

The incessant rains that lashed for three days from August 3 have given new life to the drying crops spread over several lakhs of acres in coastal Andhra and Telangana regions and in Kurnool district. The moisture content in the soil is now sufficient to sustain the crops for the next fortnight even if there are no rains.

“The benefits from the recent rains actually outweigh the damage. About two lakh acres of agricultural crop was submerged under rain water and now it has started receding from the fields. Preliminary reports point out that only 8,000 acres of horticultural crop, mostly banana, was damaged. But the rains have stabilised the kharif crop all over the State benefiting thousands of farmers,” agriculture minister N. Raghuveera Reddy said.

The State government has sent special teams to all the districts to access the damage to crops. “We will get the exact picture once these teams submit their report in a couple of days,” Mr Raghuveera Reddy pointed out adding that steps have been taken to provide seed and fertilisers at 75 per cent subsidy to farmers in the affected areas.

The minister said compensation of Rs 1,500 per hectare will be given to farmers who have lost their vegetable crops.Though there were no rains in Prakasam and Nellore districts, there’s no cause for concern as farm activity starts a bit late during the kharif, he told reporters at the Secretariat here on Sunday.

As against the normal of 321.7 mm rainfall in coastal Andhra, the region received 347.7 mm rainfall till August 5. Telangana region received 4.5 mm of rainfall as against the normal of 422.9 mm. “There was a huge deficiency in Rayalaseema with the region getting just 136.4 mm of rainfall against 201.3 mm,” he said.

Hyderabad, Aug. 6: Osmania General Hospital (OGH) has restarted sale of bodies to private medical colleges despite the controversy over missing bodies. The body of Chandraiah remains untraced even after a month. The forensic department of OGH has sold three bodies each at the rate of Rs 15,000 to Bhaskara Medical College in Moinabad. The amount was deposited to the Osmania General Hospital development fund.

Sources said that at least five bodies had been embalmed and three sold to a private medical college. OGH in-charge superintendent G. Sailaja said, “The forensic department can sell bodies if they are not claimed for three days. The money obtained from the sale is used for hospital development. For the past one week we did not receive any check from the forensic department.”

Hyderabad, Aug. 6: Hyderabad’s famous tandoori chicken is all set to get a new taste with the city-based Project Directorate on Poultry (PDP) developing a special variety of chicken that resembles the desi hen in flavour and taste.

The PDP’s “Gramapriya” looks like a domestic hen (naatu kodi) both in appearance and taste. Because of the moderate body weight, the cocks of Gramapriya are best suited for preparation of tandoori type chicken dishes. The hens produce good number of eggs, under free range farm conditions in rural and tribal areas.

“The bird is predominantly an egg producer, developed for village rearing. It has high disease resistance power and its immunity gives it the strength for maximum survivability under semi-free range conditions,” according to PDP project director R.P. Sharma.

The bird feeds on insects and other natural food available in the backyards, unlike a farm bird. Due to this Gramapriya’s meat fibre becomes strong giving it the taste of a desi fowl. Because of its low body weight the bird is tender and good for tandoori dishes, which Hyderabad is famous for. Mr Sharma, a member of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, has earlier developed Vanaraja, a poultry variety primarily meant for meat. The Gramapriya is meant for eggs.

The male Gramapriya attains a weight of 1.2 to 1.5 kg with in a period of eight to 10 weeks on broiler chick feed. The eggs are tinted and have fairly good size. Gramapriya hens are able to produce about 160 to 180 eggs in a year with the resources that are available under free-range conditions. Depending on the environment, and other conditions, they can lay a maximum of 200 to 220 eggs.

Hyderabad, Aug. 6: City police is letting off hoax callers who make bomb threats, only checking out the place from which the calls are made. At least 15 hoax calls are reported every month, wasting the time of police and specialist forces like bomb disposal squads. So far this year, the police has booked just one case.

The Prasads Complex re-ceived 10 bomb threats this year, but Saifabad police has not registered any case. Saifabad assistant commissioner of police K. Uma Maheswara Rao said, “If we receive a written complaint we register the case.”

Explaining the difficulties, Mr Rao said that the Nampally police did register a case on the recent hoax on a train. “We tried to trace the caller but we couldn’t succeed. The call tracked up to Nagpur where the caller had switched off the phone. It was a postpaid connection, the address was fake,” he said.

A senior official of the de-tective department caution-ed that hoaxers could be te-rrorists checking out the al-ertness of the police of trying to fatigue them. “It cou-ld be part of terror activities of extremists or the handiwork of former Naxals and extortionists,” he said.

“Business rivalry and personal grudges could also result in hoax calls. Students do this for fun. A passenger who feels that he may miss the train may also do this,” he added.
Officials say that it is difficult to trace the caller. “These days the hoaxers are using coin-phone boxes. In the booths, they could be watched,” a police official said. Also, “most of the organisations which receive a hoax call do not have caller IDs,” he said.

Another reason is that most officials do not know that the hoaxer can be booked under 507 IPC which deals with “criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication,” an official said. The hoaxer could face two years in jail if convicted. A West Zone police official said, “Even the section on mischief can be added.” He cited the case last month in Delhi where two youth were arrested by Delhi police for making hoax calls.

Hyderabad, Aug. 6: Almost two-thirds of the voters kept away from elections to seven wards of the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) on Sunday. Many of those who turned up found that their names was not on the voters list. The results are expected on Monday. Returning officer Prabhakar Reddy said 36.7 per cent of votes were cast and 70,361 voters out of the total 1.91 lakh turned up to vote. When the elections were held the last time nine years ago, the voting percentage was about 68.

“I followed the campaign very closely and felt not a single candidate was honest enough to get my vote,” said P. Ganeshan of Kharkhana explaining why he did not vote. There were many cases of missing names. In a polling booth at YWCA, voter-ID card holders were turned away as their names were not in the list.

At Dowtown Bazaar, Ms Lalithamba, 62, asked, “They have deleted my name though I have a voter ID. What’s wrong with these people.” Mr Vinay Kumar complained, “Only last week I had confirmed that my name is in the list. They deleted it within a week.”

Hyderabad, Aug. 6: Three persons of a family, including two children, were found murdered in the Medchal Weaker Section Colony on Sunday. The dead were identified as Ram Mohan Reddy, 40, and his children Bhavani, 15, and Sainath Reddy, 9.

Police said that three persons of the family, including a two-year-old girl, survived the attack that reportedly took place on Friday. The three survivors — Ram Mohan Reddy’s second wife Jyothi Reddy, his brother-in-law Madhusudhan Reddy and the girl — had reportedly spent two days with the bodies without food.

According to Cyberabad police, “Medchal police station received a phone call from locals that a child was crying inside a house around 5 pm. We found three people dead and two injured, besides the crying girl, when we opened the door.”

Police added: “The woman, Jyothi, who was seriously injured was admitted to Gandhi Hospital. Madhusudhan Reddy had an injury on his cheek and was the only survivor who was able to speak. As per his version unidentified people atta-cked them with boulders and pestle on August 4.”

Ram Mohan Reddy’s first wife, Lakshmi, passed away and he had Bhavani and Sainath through her. He reportedly married Jyothi two-and-half-years ago and had a child through her.Madhusudhan Reddy reportedly told police, “Four persons entered the house and asked us to show cash. They then beat everyone. Later I fell unconscious.”

Hyderabad, Aug. 6: Barring about 150 villages in 10 districts that were affected by heavy rains and floods, elections were held in more than 6,200 gram panchayats in 25 sub-divisions of 21 districts in the third phase of polling on Sunday.

According to the State Election Commission sources, elections were postponed in all the panchayats of Nirmal division in Adilabad; 23 panchayats of Amalapuram in East Godavari; 12 panchayats of Tenali; all the panchayats of Kothagudem and Palvancha divisions in Khammam; one panchayat of Gadwal division in Mahbubnagar; 24 gram panchayats of Kangiti and Narayankhed divisions in Medak; four panchayats of Warangal; eight panchayats of Narsapur in West Godavari; six of Palakonda division in Srikakulam and 12 panchayats of Gandhari division in Nizamabad.

Sources said that polling went off by and large peacefully. However, the police had to open fire into the air to disperse unruly mob in villages like Saidapur, Singannapalli, Miryampalli, Vasalatippa, and S Yanam village in East Godavari district.An incident of bomb hurling was reported at Miryampalli village of Tripurantakam mandal of Prakasam district.

Hyderabad, Aug. 6: Andhra Pradesh will chair an important session at the United Nations meeting on agriculture in Brisbane, Australia, from August 12 to 18.The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations has invited the State government to preside over one of the sessions at the International Association of Agricultural Econo-mics, with about 800 delegates from over 100 countries participating.

Agriculture minister N. Raghuveera Reddy will represent the State at the meeting which will discuss policies, agriculture, economic issues and reforms in the farm sector. Mr Reddy will chair the session on August 12 in which delegates from India and other South Asian countries as also the UNDP, World Bank and FAO will participate. Mr Reddy said the conference would lay focus on poverty eradication in the region by 2015.

Hyderabad, Aug 6: Come September, AP State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) will turn eco-friendly by introducing bu-ses, which run on Compre-ssed Natural Gas (CNG). The APSRTC will intr-oduce 100 CNG buses in Vijayawada in the first pha-se from September and efforts will be on to extend it to other areas.

Hyderabad, however, will have to wait for another two years to get a breather from the polluting buses.
The APSRTC on Sunday entered into a long term agreement with Bhagyanagar Gas Limited for meeting the CNG requirements for next 15 years. “For the first time in south India, we have taken an initiative to implement the Supreme Court orders on reducing vehicular pollution. In a phased manner, we will switch over to the CNG run buses,” transport minister Kanna Lakshmi Narayana told mediapersons after the signing of the agreement.

The BGL gave a firm commitment to RTC with regard to supply of CNG. “Once the gas pipeline proposed by Reliance is completed as per schedule by 2008, RTC buses in twin cities will also become eco-friendly,” said BGL managing director Trivedi.

Hyderabad, Aug. 6: One hundred employees, Rs 10 lakh spent every month and not a paise turnover for 40 months. This is the fate of the Charminar Bank which collapsed in February 2002. The State government revived the bank on March 3, 2003. but a ban imposed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on the bank’s financial transactions rendered the the plan ineffective. Neither the government nor the Charminar Bank approached the RBI again, seeking that the ban be lifted.

As of August, the bank authorities have spent Rs 4 crores on various heads including salaries in the last 40 months without the bank earning anything. The bank has so far recovered about Rs 120 crores from defaulters in the last four years. In all, it has to collect around Rs 450 crores from defaulters.

Besides, the bank is hamstrung because of rules. Since its money is deposited in government securities, it cannot lend money, collect deposits or even give loans against mortgage of gold.
The bank gets just 4.5 per cent interest on its investments made with the government and RBI while it pays 7.5 per cent to depositors.

“Charminar Bank is losing three per cent interest. A bank can run effectively if the interest rate on lending is more than the interest rate on deposits. The case with Charminar Bank is reverse,” said Charminar Bank NRI Depositors’ Association convener M.A. Taher.

“For every Rs 100 invested in government securities, it is earning an interest of Rs 4.50 but for every Rs 100 in deposits it is paying Rs 7.50 as interest. The RBI has to set right this to make the bank come out of the red,” he said. The modified one-time settlement scheme could not help the bank as it has been challenged in court. Meanwhile, the bank has made arrangements for disbursal of the second in-stalment to depositors with up to Rs 5 lakh deposits. The cheques will be distributed later this month.

Hyderabad, Aug. 6: State Wakf Board has hit upon a novel idea of organising lectures by religious scholars to insulate its employees from corruption and create a sense of devotion towards work.

On Saturday last, Mufti Sadiq Mohiuddin of Jamea Nizamia told Wakf Board employees that they have dual duty — one towards the Muslim community and the other towards humanity in general. “Remember protecting and taking care of the properties that have been endowed for the welfare of Muslims is a religious duty. You are being paid for your work. But Allah too will reward you, if the work is done with sincerity,” he said.

Next in the line to speak with the 200 employees are Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani and Prof. Ahmedhullah, a legal expert. Muhammad Shafiquz Zaman, principal secretary, backward classes and minority welfare and special officer, Wakf Board, said the objective of the “orientation programme” is to improve the overall performance of the employees.

“I felt that some of the employees are constantly showing signs of discipline and responsible behaviour. Since all employees are Muslim and deal with some religious issues, they needed to be told how their religion deals with the subject. Fear of god and reward for good deeds and punishment for misdeeds form a part of the Muslim belief. The discourse by respected religious scholars on these subjects would show its importance,” he said.

Ahadees (sayings and traditions of Prophet Muhammed) against corruption and dedication to work will be displayed on notice boards and other places, the officer said.
The 50-minute monthly lecture series will not be restricted to the Muslims alone. Subjects like time management and focused performance would be de-alt with by senior bureaucrats and academics, he said.

Meanwhile, to check the late reporting on duty by its employees, Wakf Board has introduced biometric attendance system in July as against the prevailing system of card swiping in government offices.