Andhranews

Prashanti Nilayam (Anantapur), Sept. 3: The Indian Railways will lay separate rail lines for exclusively freight transport at a cost of Rs 25,000 crores, railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav said. Speaking to reporters at Prashanti Nilayam railway station on Sunday, the railway minister said that the transport of goods is getting delayed as both goods and passengers trains run on same tracks.

Mr Lalu Prasad said that the railways is contemplating to lay separate railway lines for transport of goods on the basis of the requests and growing demand for freight transport from the a booming industrial sector in the country. The railway minister said laying of separate rail lines will cost Rs 25,000 crores for the Indian Railways.

According to the minister, the railways is planning to introduce special schemes for farmers who were committing suicide unable to get minimum support price for their produce. “Air-conditioned warehouses would be constructed on railway land, where farmers can store their produce and sell them whenever they get a proper price. Separate stalls would also be set up on railway station platforms for farmers to sell their produce,” he said.

The minister said world-class railway stations would be built in major cities. On an experimental basis, these stations would be built in three cities in Bihar, he said. Mr Lalu Prasad, who is also the Rashtriya Janata Dal president, said that his party was neutral on the issue of separate Telangana State. The party would take a decision if a bill was introduced in Parliament for the creation of separate Telangana State, he said.

The minister also ruled out the chances of mid-term polls. Earlier, Mr Lalu Prasad visited Prashanti Nilayam and had the darshan of Satya Sai Baba. He came here by car from Bangalore. The railway minister had the special darshan of the Satya Sai Baba and spent nearly about 20 minutes with the Baba. Mr Lalu Prasad later reached the Puttaparthi railway station, from where he departed to Tirupati in a special train.

Anantapur, Sept. 3: Several alleged irregularities have come to fore in the implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh amid fanfare in the district last year. The irregularities have come to light in the ongoing social audit, sources said.

The scheme faced several problems in its implementation due to the alleged negligence of the officials and lower-rung staff. It was noticed that the authorities have forged signatures and have claimed that works were over. Sources said that muster rolls in several villages were not taken at the place of work.

Sources alleged that officials themselves recorded details of works done by illiterate workers and forged their signatures. Several irregularities like denial of payments for works completed and non-maintenance of records for works completed and entry of less number of mandays were discovered in the social audit. For example, muster rolls related to works in Pulagampalle village in Nallamada mandal were reportedly prepared at the field assistant’s house.

Similarly, only two mandays were entered in records even though C. Chinna Narasimhulu and Krishnamma worked for eight days. P. Chinnadoddappa was denied payment and his name was missing from the records even though he worked for eight days. Meanwhile, no signatures were found in the muster rolls related to the works in Mohammadabad village in Amadaguru mandal.

Thumb impressions were taken from those who know how to sign. Most of the signatures in the records were found to be forged. Irregularities were found in the entries in job cards. Most of the details were found missing in job cards.

Vempalle (Kadapa), Sept. 3: The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), implemented by the Central government to provide employment to labourers and poor in the drought affected villages has been hijacked by middlemen due to the negligence of the State government, Telugu Desam leader and Rajya Sabha member M.V. Mysoora Reddy alleged.

Speaking to reporters here on Sunday, Mr Mysoora Reddy said that poor have not benefited from the programme launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the State. “The programme has been generating employment to local Congress leaders in villages,” he alleged and requested the government to rectify the irregularities and rescue the poor.

He said that the people have been severely affected due to the floods and drought conditions in different regions. Rayalaseema region is experiencing an unprecedented dry spell in the kharif season in the recent past, the TD leader said. Nearly 90 per cent of the farmers did not raise crop in the present season in the region, Mr Mysoora Reddy said and demanded that the government provide at least nine hour power supply to farmers who raised crops.

He also demanded that the government supply seeds with 100 per cent subsidy to farmers for rabi season. He criticised the banks for forcible collection of deposits in the name of crop insurance amounts instead of providing them the crop insurance. He called upon the banks to provide crop insurance to the farmers.

Khammam, Sept. 3: The farmers under Nagarjunsagar Project (NSP) Left Canal are accusing officials of not releasing sufficient water to various branches of the canal. Though the water level in Nagarjunsagar reservoir reached to the capacity a month ago, officials are reluctant to release adequate quantities of water to the reservoirs such as Palair, Lankasagar and Wyra in the district, the farmers alleged.

The water flow to the Madhira branch canal was so low that farmers under the ayacut are worried about survival of their crops. The canal is receiving 350 cusecs of water instead of the required 800 cusecs. Due to this, all the farmers in Kallur are not getting water to their crops. K. Laxmaiah, a farmer from Kallur, said that it was impossible for the farmers at tail-end to get NSP water. He said that they pinned lot of hopes on NSP water this year because of the full reservoir level (FRL).

Interestingly, the water level in Palair came down to 13 feet against 22 feet FRL and it is difficult to let the water into branch canals. AP Rythu Sangham leader V. Narasinga Rao said that the irrigation authorities were negligent in releasing water to the left canal. He said that the officials could have filled these reservoirs by releasing floodwaters into them. Hundreds of farmers from the villages of Chinakorukondi, Lingala and Chennuru met the NSP officials and requested for release of water.

Ongole, Sept. 3: Andhra Pradesh High Court Chief Justice G.S. Singhvi said that for the first time in the country the judiciary took part in the welfare activities of the State by participating in the construction of houses for the tsunami victims in Prakasam district. Mr Singhvi on Sunday inaugurated 50 houses constructed for the tsunami victims at the Battusubbaiahpalem village of Ulavapadu mandal.

The judges and advocates have donated Rs 25 lakhs for construction of the houses while the State government contributed its share of Rs 25 lakhs. Speaking on the occasion, Justice Singhvi called upon the colony residents to grow plants before their houses and added that all houses should have at least two trees in front of their houses during his next visit. He said that an elementary school was constructed for the children and asked the residents to admit their children in the school.

Justice Singhvi said that if each advocate contributes Rs 10 per month in the State many model colonies could be built in the State. Justice Bilal Nazki lauded judges, advocates and other judicial staff for donating funds to construct the colony and appreciated district collector B. Udaya Lakshmi for allocating the land.

Ms Udaya lakshmi said that the district administration allocated land for construction of houses to the tsunami victims when the judicial officials offered to donate Rs 25 lakhs for construction of 50 houses. High Court judge Gopal Reddy, advocate general C.V. Mohan Reddy, district judge B. Chandrakumar, Ongole and Kandukur Bar Association presidents K.S. Prasad and Ramesh and others were present.

Ongole, Sept. 3: District revenue officials on Sunday decided to recover 450 tonnes of rice from eight railway wagons at the Chirala railway station. According to the officials, this decision was taken as 450 tonnes out of 2,400 tonnes of rice, which was recently seized at the Chirala railway station, bel-onged to Prakasam district.

The 2,400 tonne rice consignment was seized while it was being sent illegally to Assam and Nagaland. The consignment was valued around Rs 3 crores. After identifying that a part of rice consignment was cultivated in the district, officials raided rice mills and found many irregularities.
Subsequently, the officials traced the origins of the recovered stock to seven rice mills, which evaded the government’s rice levy quota to send it to the northeastern States.

On Sunday evening, Chirala MRO visited the railway station and instructed the officials to shift the 450 tonnes of rice to the private godown near Chellareddy palem in Vetapalem mandal. The decision on the rem-aining 1950 tonne rice will be taken after receiving a report from the government. The sources that the rice samples were sent to New Delhi for tests and the reports are likely to reach the district by Monday or Tuesday. However, as Sunday being a holiday for hamalis, the officials decided to unload the rice into trucks on Monday.

The officials said that the samples of the seized consignment were collected and will be sent for testing to determine if the rice belonged to Food For Work programme or Public Distribution System. Meanwhile, joint collector Siddhardh Jain on Saturday rejected the traders request to release the rice saying that the rice will be released after the tests.

Ongole, Sept 3: Kandukur legislator M. Mahidhara Reddy came down heavily on the district officials for violating the protocol when the houses constructed for the tsunami victims were inaugurated at the Battisubbaiahpalem village of Ulavapadu mandal under his constituency limits.

The MlA’s name was not included among the list of invitees for inauguration. Andhra Pradesh High Court Chief Justice G.S. Singhvi inaugurated the 50 houses built for tsunami victims. Judges and advocates donated Rs 25 lakhs while the district administration contributed Rs 25 lakhs for 50 houses.

Interestingly, Mr Mahidhara Reddy inaugurated another newly-built colony 100 feet away from where the Chief Justice inaugurated the colony at the same time. Mr Mahidhara Reddy unveiled the DNSS Colony, which was built by government along with an NGO. Meanwhile, revenue, housing staff and Dwcra women were in a tight spot and they could not decide as to which programme they should attend.

Speaking on the occasion, the MLA criticised officials for exerting pressure on Dwcra women to attend the programme attended by collector and High Court Judges. He said that the collector did not invite Karedu sarpanch and mandal president though they belong to fishermen community. He questioned why fishermen community leaders were ignored when the colony was built for tsunami-hit fishermen.

The MLA said that he would raise the protocol issue in the Zilla Parishad meeting on Monday. Many Dwcra women, who were present at the Chief Justice’s programme left it abruptly and rushed to the meeting conducted by Mr Mahidhara Reddy.

Kakinada, Sept. 3: The land acquisition for the special economic zone (SEZ) picked up momentum in the suburbs of city and neighbouring mandals. The acquisition process that started in 2005 was hampered due one reason or other .

Agitation by the farmers of Kakinada rural U. Kothapalli and Tondangi mandals and the subsequent developments delayed the process to some extent. But soon a settlement was reached between the farmers and the promoters. The farmers are being paid Rs 3 lakhs per acre by the promoters of the SEZ.

Kakinada SEZ private Limited, the chief promoters of the SEZ, has taken up the registration process about six months ago. As of now, 3,394 acres of land was acquired for the purpose. Of this, 153 acres was in Kakinada rural, 1,990 acres in Tondangi and another 1,251 acres in U-Kothapalli mandal.

The target of 9,981 acres is expected to be met in the next few months. With Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Reliance and other companies in the list of the industries setting up units in the area, the other major industrial activity is expected to follow suit. As industrial activity is expected to be in full swing by mid-2008, the facilities at the Kakinada port are also being upgraded to meet the situation.

The construction of fourth berth at the Kakinada deep water port was taken up at a cost of Rs 230 crores by Kakinada Sea Ports Company Limited to meet the future requirements. This berth and the offshore vessel jetty under construction are expected to handle the increased cargo.

They will also meet the transport needs of ONGC, Reliance and Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation for their offshore drilling operations and transport of gas and allied products . With the gas production at these units is expected to start in mid-2008, some of the industries that are being established in the SEZ are likely to use this gas for their energy needs.

Nizamabad, Sept. 3: The Banswada police arrested Jalla Kuber, 26, the prime accused in the killing of Ibrahimpet Telugu Desam MPTC member Saya Reddy, on Saturday night. The police produced the accused in front of the mediapersons at the Banswada police station on Sunday.

Speaking to newsmen, Bodhan deputy superintendent of police U. Madhukar Rao said Kuber had killed Saya Reddy on August 28 at Ibrahimpet village while he was going to his house from agriculture fields. Kuber attacked Saya Reddy with an axe and the latter died on the spot.

The DSP said that Kuber had confessed that he killed Saya Reddy as he had an extra-marital relationship with his mother. Saya Reddy continued the relationship despite Kuber warning him several times. Kuber confessed that he had killed Saya Reddy owing to personal animosity and Banswada MLA Bajireddy Govardhan had no role in it, the DSP added.

Kuber was remanded to judicial custody. The DSP said that an inquiry would be conducted into the allegation that the police failed to provide security to the MPTC member even after he lodged a police complaint. He said that the police had previously provided security to Saya Reddy when a clash occurred at Ibrahimpet.

Karimnagar, Sept. 3: The alleged involvement of some influential politicians in the land scams in Karimnagar mandal is snowballing into a major controversy. The district administration has already initiated action against two revenue employees for their alleged role in a land scam in Bommakal village last week.

The two lower-rung revenue employees have allegedly made a bid to hand over prime government land worth about more than Rs 50 lakhs in Bommakal village to some real estate dealers by manipulating the records pertaining to the land.

The district administration has suspended a village secretary and transferred a revenue inspector based on the findings of a preliminary inquiry into the land scam. The incident brought to the fore the nexus between a section of revenue staff and some influential political leaders who allegedly masterminded the entire episode.

The district administration has lodged a criminal case at the local police station to unravel the role of the main kingpins in the land scam. The land scam has once again brought to light the clandestine efforts of the land-grabbers to capture prime government lands in Nagnur, Kothapalli, Rekurthi, Chinthakunta and other villages, which are situated near Karimnagar.

Meanwhile, the Karimnagar agriculture market committee chairman Y. Sunil Rao and other Congress leaders demanded that the revenue officials make public the names of the politicians allegedly involved in the “land scam”. Speaking to newsmen here on Sunday, they appealed to the district administration to expedite the inquiry and punish the guilty.

Nizamabad, Sept. 3: The police resorted to lathicharge to disperse Telugu Desam (TD) activists who tried to stop the vehicle of Banswada Congress MLA Bajireddy Govardhan at Durki village in Birkur mandal on Sunday.

Fifteen TD workers were injured in the lathicharge. Three police officials were also injured when the TD activists pelted stones on them. The Birkur ASI told this correspondent that around 300 TD activists staged a rasta roko at Durki after they received information about Mr Bajireddy Govardhan’s visit to Nemli village in Birkur mandal.

The MLA is going to attend the first anniversary of a hospital set up by an NRI. This is the MLA’s first visit to his constituency after the killing of Telugu Desam MPTC member Saya Reddy on August 29 in which he is one of the accused.

The TD workers stopped the MLA’s vehicle for a half-an-hour. The police tried to persuade the TD workers, but as they didn’t relent police resorted to lathicharge to them.

Vijayawada, Sept. 3: The temple authorities of Durga Malleswara Swamy Devasthanam of Goddess Durga temple on Indrakeeladri are making elaborate arrangements for the Dasara Navaratris. The festivities will begin from September 23. The organising committee will be headed by sub-collector Ch. Bhanu Prakash.

“We are making all necessary arrangements for the convenience of the devotees at the temple. It is estimated that Rs 50 lakhs would be spent on celebrations,” said temple executive officer (EO) E. Gopala Krishna Reddy. The police department will press home guards into service at all main points on the hill and it was decided to deploy 250 sanitary personnel during the nine days.

The temple authorities have estimated that there would be 20 per cent raise in the flow of devotees compared to last year. They have decided to open Bhavanipuram ghat and Punnami ghat for the devotees besides Durga ghat. The devotees who have taken Bhavani deeksha will be provided extra space to keep their belongings.

Khammam, Sept. 3: The farmers under Nagarjunsagar Project (NSP) Left Canal are accusing officials of not releasing sufficient water to various branches of the canal. Though the water level in Nagarjunsagar reservoir reached to the capacity a month ago, officials are reluctant to release adequate quantities of water to the reservoirs such as Palair, Lankasagar and Wyra in the district, the farmers alleged.

The water flow to the Madhira branch canal was so low that farmers under the ayacut are worried about survival of their crops. The canal is receiving 350 cusecs of water instead of the required 800 cusecs. Due to this, all the farmers in Kallur are not getting water to their crops. K. Laxmaiah, a farmer from Kallur, said that it was impossible for the farmers at tail-end to get NSP water. He said that they pinned lot of hopes on NSP water this year because of the full reservoir level (FRL).

Interestingly, the water level in Palair came down to 13 feet against 22 feet FRL and it is difficult to let the water into branch canals. AP Rythu Sangham leader V. Narasinga Rao said that the irrigation authorities were negligent in releasing water to the left canal. He said that the officials could have filled these reservoirs by releasing floodwaters into them. Hundreds of farmers from the villages of Chinakorukondi, Lingala and Chennuru met the NSP officials and requested for release of water.

Guntur, Sept. 3: Minister for transport and co-operation Kanna Lakshminarayana sought to allay fears of APSRTC employees over opening of some routes to private operators. Speaking at a press conference here on Sunday, the minister termed the concerns over alleged privatisation of 104 routes as “misconceptions”.

According to him, the GO No. 95 refers to the identification of roads in the districts. It divides the roads into two types; nationalised and privatised. About 95 per cent of roads fall under nationalised category and the rest comes under privatised roads, he explained.

Prior to 1994, the RTAs were able to give permission for routes. If road for which the permit was sought comes under five per cent private route, the RTAs would reject them. But after 1994, the Centre gave the authority to State government to issue permits to these five per cent routes also, the minister said.

“The Cabinet considered a total of 194 such applications. Of them, 104 were found to be acceptable, 41 were rejected and the remaining were sent back for re-examination,” he said. He clarified that it does not mean that 104 applications were accepted. Mr Lakshminarayana also said that those applications were submitted in 2000-01.

He further said RTA’s first meeting held at Anantapur rejected 22 route proposals after considering 25. “Rejection of 88 per cent of applications itself shows the sincerity of the government,” he said.

Move to tackle Naxalism

Visakhapatnam, Sept. 3: In a bid to wean away tribal students from the Maoist ideology, the district police organised ‘Manovygnanika Vihara Yatra’ (excursion tour) on Sunday. Around 1,000 tribal students from welfare hostels of 15 mandals in the district were taken to popular spots in the city like Kailashgiri, Vuda Park, Andhra University and Gitam institutions in special RTC buses.

Explaining the idea behind organising the tour, district superintendent of police (SP) J.G. Murali said: “The programme was organised to divert the attention of the students from the propagation of the Maoists in the Agency areas.” Mr Murali said the extremists were trying to convince the tribal students that there would not be much opportunities if one studies, but they can achieve many things if they have a gun in their hands. “To counter the extremists’ argument the police had organised the tour,” the SP added.

It was believed that the Maoists were trying to inject their ideology among the inmates of welfare hostels in the Agency areas in Vizag, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts. It was a day full of excitement and joy for the students. They were first taken to the police stadium near Kailashgiri where deputy inspector general (DIG) Govind Singh and SP Murali interacted with them.

The students took an oath saying that they would not get into extremism and will excel in studies. Later, they were taken to the Andhra University where the professors gave them career guidance. Swaroopa, a Class X student from Araku said that she aspired to be a doctor. “Doctors in our Agency areas take money to treat even the poorest of the poor. So I want to become a doctor for the sake of my people.”

Another student Ramesh also wished to become a doctor. A Class VIII student, Subbrao from G K Veedhi said: “I will join police department as they promised me that they would take me into their department after completing my Class X.” The students were also taken to the Gitam institutions to show them that they can secure admission in such institution if they study well.

Vizianagaram, Sept. 3: Following the State government’s decision to implement the revival package offered by the Union government for the Primary Agriculture Co-operative Societies (PACS) in And-hra Pradesh, special teams have been set up recently in the district to study the financial status of all 157 societies in the district.

Orders for setting up of nine teams in Vizianagaram revenue division and eight teams in Parvathipuram revenue division were given by district co-operative officer (DCO) V.L. Narasimha Rao. It may be recalled that the State government has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) few days ago. The revival package was based on the recommendations of the Task Force constituted by the Centre under the chairmanship of Prof. A. Vaidyanathan.

Most of the PACS in the district have been facing financial crisis. For sanction of financial assistance, the Nabard intended to conduct a special audit of societies as on March, 31, 2004. It communicated a list of schedules to the DCO for preparation of statements by the special teams.

Mr Narasimha Rao said that verification work was going on and wherever necessary, assistance of senior officers was being provided to the teams. He said the teams would verify the statements prepared by the society secretaries and will submit the verification reports to him before September 10 which in turn would be sent to Nabard.

Visakhapatnam, Sept. 3: The CPI(M) will not allow the Congress-led UPA government to make amendments to the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
Disclosing this to mediapersons here on Sunday, CPI(M) politburo member and Rajya Sabha MP Sitaram Yechuri said, “The Centre did not release any amended draft of the RTI and if at all it releases the draft our party will strongly oppose it.”

Mr Yechuri was in the city to take part in a programme organised to highlight the alleged failures of the UPA government. The party has planned agitations, demonstrations and public meetings across the country. To a query, Mr Yechuri said that there was no immediate threat to the UPA government, despite the CPI(M)’s efforts to form a third alternative and the resignation of two Telangana Rashtra Samiti ministers K. Chandrasekhar Rao and A. Narendra.

“The third alternative is not a political front but a platform for the secular parties. We welcome all the secular parties to join hands to fight against the communal parties,” he said. He observed that due to the pressure exerted by the CPI(M), the Centre could not dare to increase in the fuel prices to equal international crude prices.

“Had we not put pressure on the Manmohan Singh government, it would have increased the price of petrol by Rs 10 per litre, diesel by Rs 5 and LPG cylinder by Rs 150” Mr Yechuri said. He also clarified that his party was not against the Foreign Direct Investment in the country.