Andhranews

Anantapur, Sept. 9: The Centre is committed to safeguard the interests of farmers in all the drought-hit districts in the country, said Union minister for rural development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh. He was here to participate in the first-ever plenary of social audit units of the employment guarantee scheme in the city on Saturday. The week-long social audit was completed recently and the meet reviewed the situation with the respective ministers and officials.

Later, addressing a public meeting, Mr Singh said that drought was severe in many districts and efforts are on to mitigate the situation. The Centre is committed to spend any amount of funds to mitigate the drought.

He revealed that the social audit would help them in plugging the loopholes in the scheme for its effective implementation in future. As the scheme is being implemented in over 200 districts across the country, it was decided to conduct similar social audit everywhere, he added. Mr Singh said that they were also planning to set up vigilance monitoring committees at village-level for the effective implementation of the scheme.

The scheme is being implemented with Rs 1,800 crores and everyone would get employment irrespective of caste, creed or religion. State minister for rural development D. Srinivas alleged that the Telugu Desam was trying to halt the implementation of the scheme, which was aimed at the welfare of the people.

Kurnool, Sept. 9: Despite several appeals by the State government and agitations by the farmers of the State, the Karnataka farmers continued to pilfer the Tungabhadra water. There was about 40,000 acres ayacut under the Tungabhadra Low Level Canal (LLC). But it has come down to a mere 6,000 acres this year due to the pilferage of water by Karnataka farmers.

The farmers resorted to agitations, as the Karnataka failed to release the justified share of water to the LLC for the past two months. Though the Tungabhadra Board records claim that three tmc ft of water was released to LLC ayacut in Kurnool district, the actual supply did not go beyond 0.90 tmc ft. This proves the irregularities being resorted by the neighbouring State.

Though the Karnataka government is releasing the water, it failed to reach the farmers in Kurnool district, as the Karnataka farmers in the upper reaches were diverting the water and misusing it. The ayacut under the LLC in Karnataka State has doubled in extent as the water has to traverse 256 km from Tungabhadra reservoir to reach the State and the farmers along the canal are diverting the water unofficially.

The State government which announced that water would be released to over 34,000 acres under the LLC for kharif season in Kurnool district, it failed to implement its promise. However, the irrigation officials made it clear that they could not supply water to more than 6,000 acres for kharif this year.

There was a widespread resentment over the non-release of water to the LLC ayacut and the indifferent attitude of the Tungabhadra water board officials.

Anantapur, Sept. 9: Union minister for rural development and member of UPA sub-committee on Telangana Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said on Saturday that the committee was consulting its coalition partners to reach a consensus on separate Telangana issue.

Speaking to this correspondent at the helipad, he said that there was a lot of hullabaloo over Telangana issue, but the issue could be resolved only after the sub-committee submitted its report. The committee has speeded up its duty and is considering the opinions of various political parties on bifurcation of the State, he said.

In this backdrop, the minister expressed his doubts over the formation of separate Telangana. However, he opined that development of Telangana is important, rather than bifurcation. Stating that the Centre was also committed to the development of Telangana region, Mr Singh said the Congress-led UPA government was respecting the sentiments of Telangana people.

The NCP, BSP, DMK, PMK and other regional parties had already expressed their stand on the Telangana issue, the minister added.
To a query, Mr Singh said the UPA would not join hands with the BJP, which was supporting for separate Statehood for Telangana, to resolve the long-pending Telangana issue.

Ongole, Sept. 9: After three weeks of agitation, the revenue employees finally relented and had withdrawn their agitation demanding that the joint collector Siddhardh Jain ne transferred. The employees have been alleging that the joint collector was “harassing” revenue employees in the district.

Chief secretary J. Hari Narayana and chief commissioner of land administration A. Raghottama Rao convened a meeting with the revenue services association State and district leaders, district collector B. Udaya Lakshmi and joint collector Mr Jain at Hyderabad on Saturday. The top officials, after holding talks, assured the employees that the joint collector would not harass them in future. Both the joint collector and the revenue employees reached an agreement to resolve the crisis.

Revenue Association State president K. Lakshmaiah, secretary N. Andanrao, district president Mastan Rao and secretary Bopparaju Venkateswarlu participated in the talks. The officials agreed to lift the chargesheet on 14 employees and lift suspension order on Chillara Ramesh, an employee in RDO office, Ongole.

Speaking to reporters on Saturday, Mr Venkateswarlu said that the agitation has been withdrawn following the assurance given by the chief secretary and the chief commissioner land administration that the joint collector would no more harass the employees.

Revenue employees under the banner of RSA launched agitations for the past three weeks demanding the transfer of the joint collector. They blamed that Mr Jain had been harassing them. The employees were observing work to rule and protested at Prakasam Bhavan and at DRO offices in Ongole, Markapuram and Kandukur.

Two days ago, minister for finance K. Rosaiah categorically told the revenue employees that the joint collector would not be transferred. The district collector on numerous occasions invited revenue officials for talks to resolve the deadlock, but in vain. People suffered a lot due to the work to rule observed by the revenue staff for nearly two weeks.

Proddutur, Sept. 9: The government had started efforts to conduct cloud seeding to mitigate drought in the district, said local MLA Varadarajula Reddy. Talking to newsmen at his office, he said that all arrangements are being made to conduct cloud seeding from Anantapur district headquarters.

The cloud seeding would begin within a week at appropriate time that suits the environment, Mr Reddy said adding that the district was facing severe drought like never before and it was decided to hold cloud seeding.

The MLA further said that the officials had also sent reports to the government on the loss of groundnut crop raised by the farmers.
The district administration is taking every step to stop the migration of farm labourers by providing them alternate employment, Mr Reddy said.

Eluru, Sept. 9: Special police teams conducted simultaneous raids on two popular clubs on Saturday and arrested 62 people, including several prominent leaders from both the Congress and Telugu Desam. They recovered Rs 1.17 lakhs in cash from them .

Based on the directions of Eluru range deputy inspector general C.V. Anand, special police teams led by Krishna district additional superintendent of police (ASP) Mohammad Siddique, East Godavari ASP V. Satyanarayana and West Godavari incharge ASP A.V. Srinivasa Rao raided the Town Hall at Agraharam and Cosmopolitan Club in Ramakrishnapuram at 7 pm and continued the raids till late in the night.

In all, 53 people were arrested from the Town Hall and Rs 1.04 lakhs was recovered from them and nine people were arrested at Cosmopolitan Club and Rs 13,000 was recovered from them. The policemen armed with weapons raided the clubs, taking the inmates by surprise. The police collected the details of those involved in gambling and recovered cash and several sets of playing cards.

However, Town Hall president M. Soma Raju and members M. Subash Chandra Bose and M. Satyanarayana found fault with the police claiming that their members were playing only legally permitted ‘Rummy’ game in the hall. They said that they were permitted to play the game upto 8 pm but the police raided their premises at about 7 pm.

They said that several prominent persons were the members of their club in which several facilities like gymnasium, tennis court and shuttle court were there. They said that all the members on the premises were not playing cards as they came there to take part in other activities.

Rajahmundry, Sept. 9: Though the increase in literacy rate is quite encouraging among children and adults in the age group of seven to 35 years, both East and West Godavari district have a long way to go to realise total literacy.

In East Godavari district, 7.90 lakh children were enrolled in the age group of seven to 15 years by August 31. The district administration managed to enrol all dropouts in bridge, residential bridge and formal schools. The Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) authorities had announced that the district would be child labour-free by September 8, the World Literacy Day.

With regard to adult education programme in the age group of 15 to 35, some 46,778 adults were targeted to be made literate between March 5 and October 31. Of the targeted 65,000 adults to be made literate in 2005, only 39,000 adults successfully passed out in the first and second premiers. However, 80,000 adults are yet to be brought into the adult education programme in the district. According to the 2001 census, the literacy rate in the district is 65.49 per cent.

East Godavari adult education deputy director Mar-co Ammaji Rao said, “We have roped in preraks, assistant preraks, anganwadi workers, volunteers and no-n-governmental organisati-ons to educate adults. Literacy among adults means that they should be able to read, write and do some simple arithmetic.”

In West Godavari, 41,685 adult women were enrolled under the Akshara Vanitha in August 2005 and 38,200 passed out in a common test conducted in the district on August 14, 2006. In all, 53,600 illiterate adults were identified in a door-to-door survey.

According to the 2001 census, the district literacy rate was recorded at 73.95 per cent, occupying the second place in the Sta-te. West Godavari adult ed-ucation deputy director D. Kailasapathi said, “Apart from making adults literate, we are also planning to provide vocational training to them.”

Warangal, Sept. 9: The residents of Ambedkarnagar and Bapujinagar areas in Kazipet demanded that the granite quarries operating in their areas be closed as they were causing a lot of pollution. The residents said that it was highly deplorable that the granite quarrying was still going on in the residential areas in total contravention to the public safety norms.

“The quarrying should have been stopped long back, but the authorities are still allowing the quarrying in the residential areas posing a threat to the health and safety of thousands of people,” alleged Mr K. Mahesh Kumar, one of the residents. He said that besides the unbearable noise pollution, the wells and borewells were getting dried up in the areas as the quarrying was done very deep.

The house walls were also developing cracks and safety of the residents is at stake in the areas, he alleged. When contacted, Warangal revenue divisional officer Surendra Karan told this correspondent that the officials of various departments have visited the quarrying sites in the area and have conducted thorough inquiries.

He said that the teams from the Central government’s mines and geology and the State officials have conducted the inquiry there. They have submitted the inquiry reports to the government. Asked about the findings of the inquiry report, the RDO explained that they were pending with the government and he didn’t have access to them.“If found guilty, the government would initiate action against the erring quarry owners and nobody will be spared,” Mr Karan added.

He said that the State government’s health department personnel, and the AP Pollution Control Board personnel have also conducted different inquiries at the quarrying sites and have submitted reports to the government.

Meanwhile, in a separate press meet at Kazipet, city BJP chief B. Gattaiah and former corporator Narlagiri Ramalingam threatened to launch an agitation in protest against the illegal quarrying in the area. They demanded action against the corrupt officials who are allowing the illegal quarrying in the residential colonies.

Nizamabad, Sept. 9: A 29-year-old mason Nerella Anand, drawing inspiration from a movie he saw, saved a woman and a home guard from drowning in the Hussainsagar Lake. He deservedly won the Jeevan Raksha Padak-2005 award conferred by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam along with a commendation certificate.

Mr Anand received the award through Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy on August 15 during the Independence Day celebrations at Parade Grounds in Secunderabad. “I recollected a scene from a Telugu movie, Kaliyuga Pandavulu in which the hero successfully pumps out water from a drowning person. I did the same and was successful in saving their lives,” said Mr Anand. Mr Anand narrated the incident to this correspondent.

“I found a 32-year-old woman trying to commit suicide by jumping into Hussainsagar in broad daylight on December 18, 2003 while I was going to work. Around 300 people were watching her from the lake bund but nobody moved to save her. Janardhan Reddy, a home guard working at the Lake Police Station jumped into the water to rescue her, but could not do so. I decided to save both, as I am an expert in swimming from childhood,” Mr. Anand said.

“I jumped into the lake and caught hold of both of them. First, I caught the woman, tied her to my stomach with her saree, then I pulled the home guard with my right hand and swam to the shore,” he added. “C.V. Anand, then Central Zone deputy commissioner of police (presently Eluru range deputy inspector general) appreciated my effort.

He found out my whereabouts and recommended my case to then DGP S.R. Sukumara for the President’s award. I received a cheque for Rs. 35,000 from the President’s office, and later this award,” added an elated Mr Anand. Mr Anand, who is a native of Brahmanpally of Jakranpally mandal, had migrated to Hyderabad seven years ago when his area was reeling under severe drought. In Hyderabad, he worked as a daily wage labourer and within three years settled down as a mason.

Karimnagar, Sept. 9: Home minister K. Jana Reddy has asserted that the GO 610 was being implemented in a phased manner in the police department and said that about 3,000 non-local policemen of Hyderabad city would be repatriated to their respective zones.

Speaking to newsmen after inaugurating the Regional Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) here on Saturday, he said that the police department was in the forefront in implementing the GO. Mr Jana Reddy said that about 3,000 police posts would be filled up soon in the region. There was no proposal to create a separate tribal battalion, he said in reply to a query.

Appreciating the State police for effectively containing the left wing extremism as well as the ISI activities, Mr Jana Reddy said that the police proved their efficiency once again by recovering a huge number of weapons including rocket launchers in Mahbubnagar and Prakasam districts on Friday.

He said that the seventh Regional Forensic Lab has been set up in Karimnagar at an estimated cost of Rs 40 lakhs to ensure speedy investigation of important cases. Director-general of police Swaranjit Sen said that two more regional FSLs would be set up at Kamareddy in Nizamabad district and another under Cyberabad limits.

Minister for sports and culture M. Satyanarayana Rao, APFSL director K.P.C. Gandhi, Warangal range inspector general J.V. Ramudu, Karimnagar range deputy inspector general of police Rajiv Rathan, superintendent of police D.S. Chauhan and others were present.

Khammam, Sept. 9: The government’s effort to enrol child labourers in schools is not succeeding in tribal areas because of the prevalence of extreme pov-erty. Many tribal children have dropped out and gone back to work to feed their families. T. Appanna, 12, from Naguloncha under Chintakani mandal is helping his father herd cattle nowadays.
“I like going to school but my family situation is not good,” he said.

“I have to help my father,” he added. Appanna is one among 6,757 children in the district who are out of school. The rate of dropouts is especially high among tribals, who are mostly illiterate. The State government, with the help of various Central schemes, is trying to persuade parents to send their kids back to school. But families, whose situation has become worse after the recent floods, are unable to do this.

Koya Venkanna, son of Ramulu, a tribal farmer in Vararamachandrapuram, jo-ined school last year. But he stopped going to school after the floods and is now helping his father collect forest produce for sustenance. “We lost everything in the floods,” said Ramulu. “I have no alternative but to make the child work,” he added. K Ramesh, convenor of Pranahita, a non-governmental organisation, said that the recent trend underscored the need to include a financial component in the government plans to educate child labourers.

“Special plans have to be evolved to make this programme a success in tribal areas,” he added. District education officer N. Parameswara Raju said that there were 21 schools, including bridge schools and open schools for child labourers. Mandal educational officers, headmasters and teachers were being invo-lved in enrolling child labourers, he said. “Ideally, all citizens should be involved in this noble effort,” said freedom fighter K. Subba Rao.

Khammam, Sept. 9: The State government has taken up a programme to ensure better services to residents of 42 municipalities. Municipal chairpersons, vice-chairpersons, commissioners, floor leaders and engineers in these municipalities will be part of the programme which is being taken up by the Andhra Pradesh Urban Services for the Poor (APUSP).

Tirupati, Khammam, Ga-juvaka, Srikakulam, Vizi-anagaram, Kadapa and Kurnool are some of the municipalities in which the programme is being implemented. As part of the programme, municipal chairpersons, vice-chairpersons and other top officials would be taken on a study tour to select municipalities where sanitation, drainage and drinking water schemes are being implemented in an exemplary manner. The main aim of the tour is to broaden the perception of the leaders and officials governing municipalities.

They would be taken to Vizianagaram municipality to study the successful solid waste management project and to Tirupati municipality where women are successfully running a bank and extending credit to poor pe-ople for self-employment. Likewise, Khammam municipality is showing the way in setting up counselling centres and garbage collection.

The idea is to help chairpersons and officials adopt better practices being followed in other municipalities. All the expenses would be drawn from the funds of APUSP. “It will help us better our services,” said Khammam municipal commissioner U. Venkatramaiah.

Agitators, caned, Left vows to halt works

Pachipenta (Vizianagaram), Sept. 9: Tension prevailed for a few hours near Peddagedda reservoir here on Saturday when police resorted to lathicharge on the agitating project oustees, a day before Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy is scheduled to visit the place to release water from the reservoir.

Around five persons were injured in the police lathicharge and a sub-inspector and 10 other policemen were injured when the mob pelted stones on them, according to district superintendent of police (SP) Vikram Singh Mann. “Around 1,000 policemen of various cadres are deployed and the situation is now under control,” the SP said.

The displaced persons of the project led by CPI(M) district secretary M. Krishna Murthy reached the project site on Saturday morning and tried to stall the ongoing works. They argued with the officials that they will not allow the works to continue till the State government finalises the relief and rehabilitation (R&R) package and implements it.

The police, who were at the project site, gave an hour time to the agitators to leave. The SP said that without any provocation the agitators pelted stones on the policemen injuring a sub-inspector and 10 other policemen. “As a last resort we resorted to a mild lathicharge. Around five to five agitators were injured,” Mr Mann said. He clarified that there will not be any problem for the Chief Minister’s inauguration programme on Sunday.

Meanwhile, marketing minister Botsa Satyanarayana and district collector B. Kishore continued their efforts to pacify leaders of various parties in view of the CPI(M)’s ultimatum to stall Peddagedda reservoir project launch. Since finalisation of the Chief Minister’s programme, the minister and the collector have been touring various villages in Pachipenta mandal on Tuesday assuring the villagers that the government will attend to all works under the R&R package.

After CPI(M) leader Krishna Murty demanded that the administration fulfill all promises before release of water, the minister said that the programme would not be postponed at any cost owing to pressures from some quarters.

Visakhapatnam, Sept. 9: The 21st Century Gurukuls (21CG) of the Andhra Pradesh State Council for Higher Education (APSCHE) will start functioning within 50 days and notification for entrance examinations and recruitment of faculty in Mathematics, English, Information Technology will be released soon.

Announcing this on Saturday at a press conference, APSCHE chairman Prof K.C. Reddy said the aim of 21CG is to provide training to rural youth so that could compete in national-level tests. The gurukuls are being set up so that through education, rural youth could change the economic status of their families. The 21CGs, the residential academies for the rural youth would have six centres under six universities in the State.

Prof Reddy said that the centres would be at Tagarapuvalsa under Andhra University, Hyderabad under Osmania University, Warangal under Kakatiya University, Kuppam under Dravidian University, Srisailam under Potti Sriramulu University and Anantapur under Jawahar Lal Nehru Technological University.

The selection in gurukuls would be based on entrance test, counselling and medical examination of the candidates, he said and added that the candidates have to stay in the hostels during the one-year training period. “Higher education has been mostly centered around metropolitan cities which might create problems for rural students as most of the job opportunities in the coming years would be in technical fields” observed Prof. Reddy.

Dr Raj Reddy of Carnegie Mellon University, US, who spoke said that 18 percent of the children are born in rural areas of the country and there was zero percent likelihood that they compete with urban students in national-level tests as there was high percentage of dropouts among rural children.

He added that 21CG was an effort to bring these talented rural youth to the forefront, but it would take nearly three years to get the results. “During the training, the pass percentage will be 95 per cent, which means he would be given training until he gets the said percentage” Dr Raj Reddy said.