Andhranews

Anantapur/ Kurnool/ Kadapa/ Chittoor, Sept. 4: At a time when some parts of the State were suffering fr-om heavy rains and floods, the entire Rayalaseema region is facing severe heat wave conditions. People in the region are offering prayers to each and every god, besides performing yagnas, pujas and bhajans in various villages of Rayalaseema seeking a relief from heat.

However, there was no trace of a single drop of rain in the region. Especially during this rainy season everyone expect a cool atmosphere with good rainfall. But for the past 10 days, the entire region is witnessing high temperatures. The farm labourers were not even getting work to earn daily wages forcing them to leave the place in search of livelihood at far off places.

Thousands of farm labourers were leaving to nearby towns and cities to eke out a living in almost all the districts in the region. When there should be widespread rains during July and August, not even a drop of rainfall was witnessed by the region. At least 10 per cent less than normal rainfall was recorded during August in Anantapur district, which denotes the condition of the region. Moreover, 36o to 38o Celsius is being recorded every day.

In almost all the Rayalaseema districts 36o to 38o Celsius temperatures are being recorded for the past 10 days. When 38o Celsius was the highest temperature was recorded on August 31 in Anantapur, 36o Celsius was recorded on Monday. In Kurnool, the temperature has gone up to 39o Celsius and the humidity percentage in the air was also reduced drastically.

As a result, the drinking water sources are also drying up leaving the people to suffer from drinking water scarcity. In Kadapa district also, 38o Celsius temperature was recorded for the past two days. In Chittoor district temperature is being recorded between 36o and 38o Celsius for the past few days.

In Tirupati, temperature was recorded at 37o Celsius for the past two days forcing the people to stay indoors during day time. In addition to this, frequent power cuts are causing further inconvenience to the people.

Kadiri, Sept. 4: Minister for endowments and panchayat raj J.C. Diwakar Reddy on Monday reiterated that propagation of other religions in Tirumala would be banned through a special legislation. Efforts are being made in that direction, he added.
The minister is here to take part in various development activities.

He made the above statement when the local reporters raised questions over the propagation of other religions in Tirumala. However, Mr Reddy stated that no cases were book-ed against anyone so far wi-th regard to the propagation of other religions at Tirumala and no departmental action has been taken again-st any one in this regard.

The State government is planning to curb the propagation of other religions at the sacred place and Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy is firm in this regard, he added. A draft legislation is being prepared and it would be implemented very soon, he said. Later, the minister laid a foundation stone for the construction of a kalyanamandapam in place of Chalapatinayuni Satram on Hindupur road, which is attached to Sri Lakshminarasimha Swamy temple.

The kalyanamandapam to be constructed on the land of Chalapatinayuni Satram would have a banquet hall, retiring rooms besides other facilities. Mr Diwakar Reddy also said that shopping complexes would also be constructed to generate more revenue.

Ongole, Sept. 4: People’s representatives came down heavily on the irrigation officials at the Zilla Pari-shad general body meeting here on Monday. They said that the officials failed to address the problems encountered by farmers.

All the ZPTC members and mandal parishad presidents (MPPs) attended the first Zilla Parishad meeting presided over by ZP chairperson Katam Arunamma. Kandukur legislator Mahidhara Reddy blamed the irrigation staff for negligence on Rallapadu project in Kandukur constituency.

“No action has been initiated against the stores department officer even after the theft of 300 kgs of copper wire at the project site five months ago,” he said and questioned irrigation superintending engineer Siva Prasad on the steps taken for the recovery of copper wire.

Mr Siva Prasad said that the department has only one DE and it faces shortage of staff. He said action would be taken against stores officer within a week. The legislator expressed concern over the officials lifting project gates at irregular intervals.

He questioned whether officials inspected Rallapadu project before the rainy season. “The quality control department has found irregularities in the project repair works taken up last year,” he said. Martur legislator Gottipati Ravi Kumar alleged that the irrigation and drain departments failed to take up repair works to Addanki Branch Canal. Crops sowed would be withered if officials failed to repair the canal, he said.

The SE assured to repair the canals in one month. Cumbham legislator Udumula Srinivasa Reddy asked the officials to repair Hajipuram and other tanks, damaged in October floods. Kanigiri legislator Irigineni Tirupathi Naidu alleged that the irrigation officials failed to start Paletipalli reservoir works though tenders were called four months ago.

“The reservoir construction will cost Rs 6 crores and will benefit 2,000 acres,” he said. When Mr Siva Prasad replied that land acquisition was the main hurdle for the works, collector B. Udaya Lakshmi intervened and assured that the project works would be taken up soon.

The ZPTCs and MPPs requested officials to complete projects and repair tanks damaged in cyclones and heavy rains. They demanded that the officials focus on supply of drinking water in rural areas.

Nellore, Sept. 4: The role of a Kavali-based rice mill in the Chirala rice scam has come to light on Monday following a raid conducted by revenue and civil supplies officials on the mill on Sunday night. The officials could not do much except taking away the records since all the transactions tallied with the records.

However, they came back on Monday after verifying the veracity of the records and seized 59.625 metric tonnes of rice from the mill. District in-charge collector and joint collector B. Ramaiah said that the miller fabricated the records and illegally sent 126 MT of rice to Chirala on August 25.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Mr Ramaiah said farmers of Gowravaram village of Kavali rural mandal, whose names figure in the miller’s records as suppliers of paddy, categorically denied the claim. The in-charge collector said that the names mentioned in the records are also fictitious. Rice miller Bala Murali Reddy blamed their accountant for the lapse while claiming that there were no irregularities on their part with respect to the seized rice.

Kakinada, Sept. 4: The probe into alleged funds misuse in the town planning department (TPD) of Kakinada municipal corporation was entrusted to CB-CID. The Kakinada corporation holds the dubious distinction of misuse of funds in one form or other.

The funds misuse in TPD was detected by the district audit department at the instance of the previous joint collector and former in-charge commissioner M. Dana Kishore in 2005. In all, seven people, including in-charge town planning officer (TPO) and a woman employee were suspended when it was found funds to the tune of Rs 28 lakhs were misused.

The inquiry over the misuse was first taken up by the vigilance department. After the new body was elected in the last week of August 2005, there were fresh allegations by some corporators against the quantum of misuse. Several corporators alleged that the misuse of funds was much more than the disclosed amount.

The misuse was detected pertaining to the years 2000 -01, to 2004-05. There were allegations that the misuse of funds may cross Rs 1 crore. The modus operandi was to give challan numbers of small denominations remitted to that of the large amounts paid. The regular auditing by the same department was done earlier for all the years from 2000 to 2005 but no misuse was found.

But the same came to light at the inquiry ordered by the joint collector much to the dismay of the public and rate payers. In this backdrop, the inquiry was entrusted to CB-CID. According to corporation commissioner Venkateshwarulu the relative files were handed over to the department officials at Hyderabad on August 30 and 31.

The Rate Payers Association and the public expect the inquiry at a faster pace and should bring the facts to the light. They also demanded stringent action against those who misused funds and an inquiry on the waiver of Rs 5 cores tax arrears in the revenue department in the year 1999 -2000 as alleged by former civic body chief Dr B. Chandrashekar.

Rajahmundry, Sept. 4: Farmers whose fields were sandcast due to heavy floods to Godavari river recently are facing hardships to restart their agricultural operations. Agricultural land in the mandals of Devipatnam, Katrenikona, Ainavilli and Mummidivaram was sandcast as the flood waters entered into the fields due to over-flowing water and at some places breached the Godavari bund.

It is estimated that about 1,838 hectares land was sandcast, according to the agricultural officials, thou-gh the quantum of area could be much larger than assessed. The State government announced 25 per cent hike in the existing rate of input subsidy for crop damage this year and the farmers will be getting seeds to restart their agricultural activity at 50 per cent subsidy.

But the farmers whose lands were covered with sand with a thickness ranging beyond six inches had to deploy earth-moving machines to remove the sand. The farmers who got a deposits of silt with flood waters face no problem as they can start the agricultural works. The farmers whose lands were sandcast below six inches can also manage to clear the sand, plough the land and sow the seed.

These farmers appealed to the government to come to their rescue by helping them clear the sand and restart the agricultural operations. In the floods to river Godavari, the district has suffered crop damage in about 49,602 hectares. The mandals affected include Amalapuram, Rajahmundry, Kakinada, Peddapuram and Rampachodavaram.
Nearly 22 crops including paddy, banana and vegetables suffered damages.

The district administration has estimated input subsidy for crop damage to the tune of Rs 13.42 crores based on preliminary reports. However, the government has released Rs 16.71 crores.

Warangal, Sept. 4: Major irrigation minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah on Monday said that the State government was committed to release water to a total of 7.5 lakh acres as promised this kharif season. Mr Lakshmaiah stated that the Opposition parties were resorting to a “motivated campaign” against the Congress government which made unprecedented strides in the irrigation sector during the last couple of years.

“This government succeeded in getting a record number of 71 clearances related to various irrigation projects within a short span,” he minister said. Addressing a press conference at his residence here, Mr Lakshmaiah stated that though water release from some projects got delayed due to some unavoidable circumstances, the government was making it up by releasing water through other projects.

Reeling out the statistics, he said water would be released through Peddagadda reservoir in Vizianagaram (8,500 acres) on September 10, Alimineti Madhava Reddy project in Nalgonda on September 15, and through Surampalem project in East Godavari on September 11.

The minister explained that the submergence of the intake well due to the floods at the Devadula project site slowed down the pace of works on the lift irrigation project and thus the release of water also got delayed. In order to make up for the hurdle in releasing the water through Devadula project, the water would be released through SRSP Stage I and II through which 85,000-acre would be irrigated.

“Constructing massive structures required for the projects cannot be done overnight through miracles. They take a lot of time and the government was leaving no stone unturned to complete the projects on time,” Mr Lakshmaiah added. Out of the total of 3.42 lakh acres land required for the projects, the government had already acquired 1.62 lakh acre. The government would recruit special collectors and other staff to complete the process as per the schedule, he said.

Nizamabad, Sept. 4: With the arrest of four persons, the Nizamabad police cla-imed to have busted a counterfeit currency racket. The arrested were identified as Karlam Ramulu, an RTC conductor of Kamareddy depot who was placed under suspension, Mirza Ahmed Baig, a registered medical practitioner and resident of Champapet in Hyderabad, Chanda Gangadhar, a motor mechanic of Metpally of Karimnagar district and Dasa Krishna, a private financier from Armoor.

The police seized Rs 1. 40 lakhs worth counterfeit currency notes in Rs 100 denomination and two two-wheelers, four cellphones and Rs 4,100 in cash. Announcing the details of the arrests on Monday at Nizamabad III Town police station here, district superintendent of police (SP) Mahesh Chandra Laddah said that a special police team noticed one of the accused Ramulu trying to exchange 10 counterfeit currency notes near a hotel at Kanteshwar in Nizamabad town on September 3. When the police interrogated him, Ramulu confessed that the fake notes were given to him by Gangadhar, another accused.

The police arrested Gangadhar and seized Rs 20,000 worth counterfeit currency notes along with a scooter. Gangadhar, in turn, revealed the whereabouts of other accused — Krishna and Ali Baig. The police seized some counterfeit currency notes, cellphones and a two-wheeler from them. Investigation by the police revealed that one Lakshminarayana, who supplied the counterfeit currency notes to Gangadhar was the kingpin behind the racket.

The Luxettipet police arrested Lakshminarayana on July 12 this year and seized Rs 45,000 worth counterfeit currency notes. The accused used to lure gullible public by promising them to supply fake notes in 1:2 ratio to original notes. The case was cracked by Nizamabad III Town sub-inspector Nagabhushanam, circle-inspector N. Lakshminarayana and special party police team leader Sayanna under the guidance of OSD U. Madhukar Rao.

Vijayawada, Sept. 4: The Krishna district administration has once again began to set its eyes on promoting information technology in the city. The district administration, while projecting the spacious Government Polytechnic College grounds on the Ring Road, has sent an open invitation to reputed IT companies across the world to have their local offices and units in the city.

The officials had allocated over two acres of land in the college for the IT park and handed over the project to the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI). As it could not materialise so far and the State government had proposed a similar project at Gannavaram, the district administration has once again sent an open invitation to the companies about the polytechnic college grounds.

This time, the administration, after a thorough review, even indicated that it would shift the polytechnic college and the government ITI from the area, which would be more suitable for the IT firms to have their units there. As the area is located by the side of the national highway, the district administration feels that IT companies would be attracted by the offer to open their units. The STPI, which had done the preliminary work of planning a massive complex on the location, would now plan for the entire area, which would be around 30 acres.

Responding to the offer, Effectronics has come forward to set up its unit here but wanted the administration to provide about 100 acres of land around the city. Effectronics managing director D. Ramakrishna has made a formal request to district collector Navin Mittal seeking suitable land. While welcoming the initiative from the Effectronics, the district collector has directed the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation and the STPI officials to find out the suitable land and submit a report to the administration.

Vijayawada, Sept. 4: Telugu Desam (TD) district unit general secretary and Nand-igama MLA Devineni Um-amaheswara Rao on Monday asked the Congress leaders from the district to fight for the delta’s due share of Krishna waters.

Mr Rao accused the district leaders of ignoring the interests of the delta and surrendering themselves to Chief Minister Y.S. Raja-sekhar Reddy. He said that the Chief Minister had taken several decisions to give more water to Rayalaseema region, particularly through the Pothireddypadu head-regulator.

He said that the government had increased the water from Pothireddypadu head-regulator to 44,000 cusecs through GO No. 170 and later the State government had increased the regulator capacity to 55,000 cusecs. The TD MLA said that the increase of the Pothireddypadu capacity would depr-ive the Krishna delta of its due share and the farmers in the delta would have to suffer due to lack of water.

Guntur, Sept. 4: Chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Y. Vijay Kumar issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against S. Ranga Reddy, who had worked as additional superintendent of police (administration) and as superintendent of police (administration) of Guntur district.

Mr Reddy, currently working as assistant director of the Andhra Pradesh Police Academy in Hyderabad, did not appear before the court, ignoring the summons issued by the CJM on a defamatory case filed by the Guntur Bar Association (GBA) for making “offensive” comments.

It is said the SP made the controversial remarks at an awareness meeting held for the political parties in Mangalagiri on July 31. The recorded speech and the video clippings were presented before the court. As per the recording, the SP warned the political leaders of the village not to stir political tension. He allegedly listed methods of torture the police employ in the dormitory in District Police Office.

Mr Reddy himself had termed the dormitory as a “torture chamber.”
“Police counselling would confine you to bed for six months. Don’t trust the lawyers, they come to your villages to deprive you of half of your assets in the guise of court cases,” the SP allegedly told the gathering.

The SP’s comments drew criticism from various quarters, including the State Human Rights Commission. But Mr Reddy defended his comments by saying they were “in public interest.” Taking a serious objection to Mr Reddy’s comments, members of the Bar Association abstained from duties for nearly two weeks.

Guntur, Sept. 4: Politicians of coastal districts are ‘wary of September’, as the dates in this month have played prominent roles in the history of Andhra-Telangana. Ex-chief minister from Guntur Kasu Brahmananda Reddy had to quit his post on September 7, 1971, due to the violence over the Andhra-Telangana issue.

Interestingly, the movement, which led to his resignation, was started at the Osmania University on September 7, 1969 by leaders like Mallikarjun and Marri Chenna Reddy. The famous Mulki (domicile) Rules favouring the interests of Telangana people and 610 GO were formulated by Supreme Court in September, 1972.

P.V. Narasimha Rao took over as Chief Minister from Kasu in September 1971. Later, he too became a casualty in a similar movement for a separate Andhra. At one stage, Andhra leaders B.V. Subba Reddy, Kakani Venkatratnam and Tenneti Viswanadhain demanded a separate Andhra. To appease them, ex-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi announced a six-point formula in Lok Sabha on September 20, 1973.

Even prior to the formation of Andhra State in 1953, September had an important place. The Nizam of Hyderabad wanted to retain his independence. The resulting standoff ended a military invasion by Indian troops under the rubric of a police action called Operation Polo between September 13 to 17, 1948.

Later, to express the resentment of the Andhras, Swami Sitaram (Gollapudi Sitarama Sastry), undertook a fast unto death. However, Swami gave up his 35-day fast on the September 20, 1951, on the appeal made by Vinoba Bhave.

Coming to the current political scenario, the disgruntled TRS called for a massive meeting on September 8 in Siddipet. Political pundits also anticipate the judgment in the middle of September on State Government’s clemency to Gouru Venkat Reddy on compassionate grounds, which may be a fatal blow to the Government.

Visakhapatnam, Sept. 4: Consumers need not make rounds to the Greater Visakha Municipal Corporation (GVMC) office greasing palms of lower- rung employees to seek information on various services. All the information could now be sought by sending just an SMS to 944084008 under T-governance facility. The system launched on Monday is first of its kind in the country. Information on house tax, domestic tap dues, lease dues, vacant land tax, bulk water dues and death and birth certificates can be obtained through this facility.

The system would also alert the consumer on the dues. Information can be accessed from anywhere round-the-clock. The SMS notification server would be connected to the centralised database of the corporation and retrieves necessary information whenever a sender seeks information.

The project under T-governance as the name suggests, aims at bridging the gap between the citizens and the government through the telephone, said Satyendra B, CEO of Dialabs, which designed the project for the GVMC. “It’s not that easy to get information from the e- Seva centre. We have to wait for long hours to get our turn to seek information. But with this project, I think the information will be on our finger tips” said a K. Paramseh, a software professional.

There will be four components under this project: Samacharam — to get any information about the services provided by the authorities through SMS. Prajanadi — fully automated opinion poll gathering system.Dandora — information broadcasting and alert system through SMS and Firyadu Kendram — automated complaint management system.

“Not every one can browse Internet to get information but most of the public have cellphones. Whenever one needs information, he or she can get it in just in a few seconds. The project also does not cost much. We are on trial run right now and may launch the new service in a month” said the Officer on Special Duty, IT and HRD of GVMC, P. Rambabu.

Visakhapatnam, Sept. 4: International airlines would soon operate from here with the commissioning of 10,000 feet runway with night landing facilities expected to be completed by December this year. Local Lok Sabha member Nedurumalli Janardhan Reddy said that he met civil aviation minister Praful Patel in New Delhi in connection with the improvement of facilities at the Visakhapatnam airport.

Mr Patel promptly agreed to give permission to whichever airline that applies for landing rights effective from January 2007. The MP thanked the minister for the positive response. This would help many international airlines like Air India Express, Sri Lankan Airlines, Malaysian Airlines and Silk Air to operate from Visakhapatnam to various destinations outside India,a release by Mr Reddy added. Mr Reddy said he also held discussions with Mr Patel to convert Vizag airport into an international transit point.