Andhranews

Pulivendula, Sept. 12: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajase-khar Reddy’s statement in Visakhapatnam on Monday that the establishment of uranium project in the constituency will not affect the people in any way in itself proves that the setting up of the project is certain here.

After a controversy over the setting up of the uranium project like Central clearance, forest and environment clearance and the subsequent people’s confidence vote in the form of opinion poll were rendered a mere eye wash with the statement by the Chief Minister. It may be mentioned here that the Chief Minister posed a question that why will he allow setting up of the project if it is hazardous for the people of his constituency, which he and his family were representing for many years.

After taking into consideration all the pros and cons of the project, he had decided to allow the setting up of uranium project at a cost of Rs 1,200 crores in the backward region, as he was sure that the project will not be hazardous to any of the villages in the surrounding area. Dr Reddy also expressed his concern over the opposition to the project by some people’s organisations and their remarks which are provocative. He also made it clear that the State government would take steps to rehabilitate the people affected by the project in a suitable way.

It may be mentioned that the Centre and State governments had already clear-ed all the obstacles for the setting up of the project and a proposal was sent to the environment ministry and forest ministry for its clearance after holding an opinion poll in the region, as per the Supreme Court directive. Those who opposed the project and those who supported it also recorded their statements in the form of a documentary and they were also submitted for the consideration of the environment ministry.

The collector also recorded the statements of Kadapa MP Y.S. Vivekananda Red-dy, Pradesh Congress Committee official representative N. Tulasi Reddy, who was invited by the Uranium Corporation of India Limited. A team of officials from the environment ministry would visit the project site and submit a report after which the project will be set up.

Kadapa, Sept. 12: Collector M.T. Krishnababu on Tuesday announced that the statue of Puttaparthi Naray-anacharyulu would be set up at the same place from where it was removed. He made it clear that the junction where the statue was earlier erected, would rema-in at the same place and no other statue would be plac-ed besides Narayanachary-ulu’s. He made the announ-cement at the Official Language Commission’s regio-nal meeting held at Sabha Bhavan in Kadapa.

It may be mentioned that the statue of the litterateur was earlier removed from Puttaparthi circle at the alleged behest of local MLA Varadarajula Reddy and there was a widespread resentment over it for the past three days.Unable to withstand pressure from all quarters, the district administration took the issue to the notice of Chief Minister Y.S Rajasekhar Reddy, who reportedly gave his nod to restore the statue at the same place.

Nellore, Sept. 12: The tangle over the parents of a woman from Kerala demand-ing Rs 2 lakhs to return her eight-month-old male child to her, ended on a happy note, following the intervention of Nellore police.
It may be recalled that a Keralite, Blessy married Dayakar Reddy of Nellore while doing her nursing course in Nellore in February 2005 against the wishes of her Kerala-based parents.

She delivered a male child in January 2006. Her parents, Joseph and Sosamma of Madathakkam village in Perumbatatti taluk of Pathhanamthitta district in Kerala invited them to their village but changed their stance after the couple reached there. They demanded Rs 2 lakh to return the baby to Blessy on the plea that they had borrowed money to enable Blessy to pursue her nu-rsing course. Unable to do anything the couple retur-ned to Nellore and lodged a complaint with the V town police on September 6.

A police team led by V town sub-inspector Srinivasan and constables Bhaskar and Malyadri left for Kerala on Sunday along with Blessy and Dayakar Reddy. After initial resistance, Blessy’s parents returned the child to the couple when Mr Srinivasan and his team went to their house on Monday morning along with Kerala police.

Speaking to this newspaper, Mr Srinivasan, who was on his way to Nellore along with Blessy, Dayakar Reddy and their baby, said that Blessy’s parents had re-tained the baby so that she would learn how it pains pa-rents to part with their child.

He said that they had spent heavy sums to educate Blessy, anticipating that she would earn and help them educate her two younger brothers and sister. He said that they were shocked and felt abandoned when Blessy married Dayakar Reddy without their knowledge.

“We met Kerala police formally after reaching Madathakkam and they assisted us to convince Joseph to part with the baby,” Mr Srinivasan said. He said that the child was healthy and Blessy’s parents had looked after him well. Blessy and Dayakar Reddy thanked SI Srinivasan and constables Bhaskar and Malyadri for restoring their child to them.

Nellore, Sept. 12: Shortage of manpower has been badly affecting the functioning of the Nellore Municipal Corporation ever since it was formed.
Apart from the post of the regular commissioner, nearly 70 posts, including a host of senior-level officials ha-ve been lying vacant in the absence of any initiative, either by ruling party legislators or by the higher ups in the department of municipal administration to fill the vacancies.
Meanwhile in-charge commissioner Imam Mohiddeen has also gone on long leave since Monday. He gave charge to the city planner, the only senior official left in the corporation.

Though he is only an in-charge, Mr Mohiddeen, who is a superintending en-gineer, took several initiatives to update the records and computerise all operations of the civic body after taking over the charge. He managed to improve revenue collection by implementing some harsh measures, despite pressure from the ruling party leaders. He collected property tax to the tune of Rs 12.70 crore during his tenure, besides collecting drainage and water tax arrears to the tune of Rs 57 lakh.

Sources in the corporation said that he was responsible for collecting a long overdue Rs 61.50 lakhs from leaseholders of the shopping complexes belonging to the corporation. They also credited him for managing to pay salaries once in two months instead of the earlier practice of once in five months.

A section of corporators including the mayor, launched a sustained campaign against him. Their only grouse against him is that he is not entertaining their recommendations for out of the way payments to contractors close to them, according to sources in the corporation.

Rajahmundry, Sept. 12: The State government’s decision to delegate more powers to local bodies was welcomed by elected representatives as it helps to speed up developmental works in the districts directly under their supervision. The government had taken a decision to entrust zilla parishad (ZP) chairpersons with nearly nine additional powers which are likely to be executed in about one-and-a- half month once the government order is issued to that effect.

ZP chairpersons were made as chairpersons of district planning boards as also the Indiramma programme in the districts. East Godavari zilla parishad chairman Ch. Srinivasa Venugopala Krishna said, “In the true spirit of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment, the State government has taken the decision to empower ZP chairpersons.”

He said till now the elected heads of the three-tier panchayat raj system used to suggest or advise officials as to what their priorities were, while carrying out developmental works. “But now, political heads are given powers to directly monitor and even accord priority as to what works should be taken for the benefit of people,” Mr Krishna added.

He said that ZP chiefs would be empowered with several powers very soon. Mr Krishna said, “My first priority would be to tackle open defecation as this problem has been plaguing both East and West Godavari and Krishna districts. I wish to bring awareness on the importance of sanitation.”

He listed his other priorities as supply of potable water, proper education at primary and secondary levels, strengthening of infrastructure in schools, ensuring adequate care to children, especially from poor backgrounds with regard to supply of nutritious diet and education instead of allowing them to work as child labourers as part of the Integrated Child Development Service.

West Godavari zilla parishad chairman K. Venkata Nageswara Rao said, “The move helps us to serve the poor more effectively. My priority will be to supply potable water to all people in all areas in the district, besides taking up development of roads and other infrastructure facilities. As chairman of the Indiramma programme in the district, we will be able to provide houses to the shelterless .”

Rajahmundry, Sept. 12: Several students led by the Progressive Democratic Students Union (PDSU) took out a procession demanding that the government curb ragging and eve teasing, especially on campuses of professional colleges in the State.

A large number of college students raised slogans against such practices and sought stern action against those who resorted to them.
Speaking on the occasion, PDSU district secretary M. Ramakrishna expressed anguish over the developments at Kurnool and Rajam in Vizianagaram district where ragging affected juniors.

The students demanded that the government keep a tab on films and television serials, so that they did not show acts of ragging and eve teasing and also asked it to issue guidelines to the managements of colleges to curb these practices. They blamed films and TV programmes also for the phenomenon. Later, they staged a dharna in front of the sub-collector’s office.

Karimnagar, Sept. 12: Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) activists and Congress cadre on Tuesday organised separate protests in the town following the resignation of TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao from the post of Member of Parliament of Karimnagar.Tension prevailed in the city as activists of both the parties descended on the streets in support of their leaders.

While irate TRS activists staged a protest in front of minister for sports M. Satyanarayana Rao’s residence in the evening protesting against the “adverse remarks” made by him against Mr Chandrasekhar Rao, the Congress activists burnt the effigy of the TRS chief at Indira Chowk.

The TRS activists demanded that Mr Satyanarayana Rao resign from the post of minister as well as the MLA. They burnt the effigy of Mr Satyanarayana Rao for allegedly backtracking from his challenge by setting two conditions to Mr Chandrasekhar Rao .

Another group of TRS activists led by State secretary C. Satyanarayana Reddy organised a rasta roko resenting the “adverse comments” made by Mr Satyanarayana Rao against Mr Chandrasekhar Rao. TRS State secretary C. Satyanarayana Reddy alleged that Mr Satyanarayana Rao was trying to undermine the Telangana movement by resorting to a misinformation campaign against Mr Chandrasekhar Rao.

Traffic on the busy road was disrupted for around half-an-hour. The police detained about 16 TRS activists and leaders in this connection. To counter the protests of the TRS, the Congress activists led by the District Congress Committee (DCC) vice-president B. Yadagiri Rao set fire to the effigy of Mr Chandrasekhar Rao. DCC president T. Santosh Kumar alleged that the TRS president ignored his constituency for two-and-a-half years in the name of lobbying.

Meanwhile, senior Telugu Desam (TD) leader and TD Legislature Party deputy leader T. Devender Goud said that the people would teach a lesson to both Mr Chandrasekhar Rao and Mr Satyanarayana Rao for breaching their trust. “The TD candidate would emerge victorious in the event of by-election,” Mr Goud said.

Warangal, Sept. 12: A controversy erupted following the death of a 45-year-old man while watching a movie in a theatre here.T. Ramesh complained of chest pain while watching the movie and died soon after he was shifted to the MGM Hospital. Ramesh’s friend Srinivas, who was watching the movie along with the former, said: “I noticed my friend getting frightened after hearing some unexpected sound and I think he died of shock.”

The movie reportedly deals with the story in the backdrop of snakes and was accompanied by some frightening sounds. But the theatre management contended that Ram-esh died 10 minutes after the start of the movie and there was no heavy sounds by then.

However, the relatives blamed the cinema and the theatre for the death of Ramesh, a native of Ramaram village near the city. Cardiologist R. Srinivas said that it was possible for a person to go into a state of shock and get heart attack due to sudden and unexpected sound effect.

Vijayawada, Sept. 12: The Gunadala area in the city is all set to have a new look in the next couple of months, if the impending plans of the civic body goes well. The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) had first turned its attention on this area, when Praveen Prakash was the Municipal Commissioner six years ago.

Mr Prakash took the initiative to widen the ESI Road giving a new look to the locality, which was till then neglected and remained undeveloped for several years. Though Gunadala gram panchayat was merged with the VMC on the same day along with Patamata in 1981, the area remained backward, while Patamata developed into a mini-town.

However, the initiative taken by Mr Prakash had changed the face of the locality, giving a urban look to it. The area is in a prime locality with popular educational institutions — SRR & CVR Government College on one side and Andhra Loyola College abutting it. It was in early 1980s, that the area also got the country’s first medical and health university — the NTR University of Health Sciences.

As the Government Dental College is now coming up in the area at an estimated cost of Rs 7 crores, the VMC has decided to develop the area on par with other parts in the city. Municipal commissioner Natrajan Gulzar on Tuesday inspected several residential localities in the area, including the Veterinary Colony and explored the possibilities of developing it keeping in view the educational institutions that are coming up here.

Interacting with deputy mayor Ch. Krishna Kumar, local corporators Kalapala Ambedkar, V. Satyanarayana and Anne Prasanna, the municipal commissioner laid out his plans for the area. He reportedly said that the road starting from Executive Club and passing by the side of Andhra Loyola College should be connected to the Government Dental College that is coming up at the other end of the road. This would also gives a boost to the development of the Veterinary Colony, which has been pending for several years.

“The commissioner had hinted at developing a major traffic junction at the dental college area connecting the Mahanadu Road as that would give a new look to the area,” said local corporator Ambedkar, while speaking to this correspondent.

Guntur, Sept. 12: Telugu Desam (TD) leaders have promised to obliterate the perception that one powerful caste was dominating the party. A two-day meeting of the party held here saw leaders agreeing with the opinion of party workers that this perception had damaged the party much in the recent polls.

“We have to try and change the opinion about one caste gaining upper hand in the party,” said a TD leader. In fact, Guntur has been a citadel of the TD since its founding. However, the fact remains that most of the MLAs and leaders of the district belonged to a particular caste. There was almost an unwritten dictum that leaders of the other castes had to play second fiddle. There have been grumblings within the party that during its long tenure in power, this caste sidelined other communities.

This also had its reflection in the party’s attitudes. Despite the tall talk about the welfare of the common farmer, the TD leaders were seen to be favouring traders. Most MPs, MLAs and other leaders of TD had strong affinity with traders and this resulted in the farmers turning away from the party.

“We realise that people punished the party for its neglect of farmers in the 2004 Assembly polls,” said a TD source. The dismal streak continued in the local bodies’ polls also with the Congress wresting all 11 municipalities and the Guntur Municipal Corporation. The two-day meeting was held as part of party president N. Chandrababu Naidu’s attempt to refurbish TD’s image. TD leaders and MLAs- including Errabelli Dayakar Rao and Yanamala Ramakrishnudu participated in programme.

Guntur, Sept. 12: A senior minister is reportedly attempting to protect a top excise official who was caught red-handed by Anti-Corruption Bureau sleuths while accepting a bribe. Even two weeks after being caught, deputy commissioner of excise Veerendra Singh has not been suspended.

It is learnt that senior ACB officials and commissioner of excise B.R. Meena are under pressure not to take action against the tainted official. Assistant superintendent of excise Veera Brahmam was also trapped by ACB officials but he escaped on a technicality since it was his servant maid who took the amount from the complainant.

ACB sleuths had acted on the complaint of a suspended excise inspector from whom both the officials had demanded bribes. Currency notes laced with chemicals was handed over and the fingerprints of the officials matched those on the notes. ACB officials filed a case before the court on the strength of this evidence.

The deputy commissioner is out on conditional bail. As per rules, he should have been suspended within a week. DSP Mahipal Reddy of the ACB said that no political intervention would be allowed in the case. “Suspension is mandatory,” he said.

Visakhapatnam, Sept. 12: Minister for agriculture, food and civil supplies N. Raghuveera Reddy on Tuesday said that the State government would announce a new policy soon for procuring rice from farmers. Speaking to reporters after taking part in the review meeting with officials of three north coastal Andhra districts here, the minister said that a decision to this effect was taken to strengthen the public distribution system in the State.

“The State was procuring rice from Haryana and Punjab even for distribution under the public distribution system. The proposed new procurement policy would overcome such hurdles,” he said. He added that the government was contemplating to introduce online LPG booking system where the details of the consumer, dealer and company would be registered so as to reduce difficulties faced by the LPG consumers. “The new system would be given a final shape within a month,” he said.

Speaking on the filling of agriculture and horticulture officers posts, the minister said that they have decided to give permission to the respective collectors to fill up those posts in their districts on contract basis. Earlier, in the review meeting, the minister asked officials to pay more attention to schemes introduced by the government for the benefit of the farmers.

Meanwhile, speaking at a regional workshop on ‘Iodised Salt: Awareness for traders and manufacturers,’ Mr Raghuveera Reddy said that the Centre had made use of iodised salt mandatory with a good intention to prevent health problems.

He said Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy should be thanked for waiving VAT on salt. He said that iodised salt would be sold for Rs 4 per kg through 52,000 ration shops in the State. The market price is Rs 8 per kg. Minister for commercial taxes Konatala Ramakrishna said that prior to entering politics, he himself was manufacturing salt and is still continuing.

Commissioner for civil supplies Banwar Lal said that the State is manufacturing 2,000 tonnes of iodised salt against the demand of 25,000 tonnes. He said the manufacture of iodised salt was cheaper as it would cost only 10 paise per kilogram. Salt commissioner of India S. Sunderasen congratulated the State government for waiving Vat on salt. Additional secretary and financial advisor in the ministry of commerce and industry Naresh Chaturvedi was also present.

Visakhapatnam, Sept. 12: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI(M) district committee condemned Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy’s statement that only 600 families would be displaced with the commissioning of bauxite mining in the Agency areas of the district.

In a statement here on Tuesday, CPI(M) district committee secretary Ch. Narsinga Rao said that as per the revenue survey conducted recently, 247 villages in Araku valley, Ananthagiri and G.K. Veedhi mandals would be shifted, 9,312 hamlets would be affected and 44,010 persons would be displaced.

“It is strange that the Chief Minister said only 600 families would be displaced. Hills would disappear in Jerrela, Sapparla, Gudem, Galikonda, Rattakonda and Chittamgondhi. The farm land would disappear in these areas, coffee plantations would be destroyed and those tribals eking out their living from these plantation would be driven to hunger,” the CPI(M) leader said. The pollution from the mining would affect 10 km radius and Sarada, Tandva, Gosthani, Raiwada and Thatipudi rivers and reservoirs, he said.

On the one hand, Union minister of State for mines T. Subbarami Reddy has been saying that a Bill would be introduced in Parliament to take up mining on the lines of Canada and Australia and on the other, the Chief Minister was trying to quicken the process of mining bauxite in the Agency, Mr Narsinga Rao alleged. “Let the Chief Minister visit the Agency areas and tell the tribals that bauxite mining would not harm them,” he said.