Andhranews

Adoni, Sept. 14: “It has become almost impossible to save Tungabhadra Low Level Canal as the farmers of Karnataka were intentionally breaching the canal at various places. If the authorities tried to stop them, they are being thrashed,” alleged Mr Swaroop Kumar, deputy executive engineer of division No. 1, Tungabhadra Board.

Talking to former MLA Meenakshi Naidu, all-party committee leaders Ramalingappa, Ramanjaneyulu, Radhakrishna, Ajay Babu, Saibaba and Prasad at the SE’s office on Wednesday night, Mr Swaroop said that the Karnataka farmers breached the canal for about six times since the beginning of this year and they had tried to stop them twice.

While the irrigation and Tungabhadra board officials were holding bandobust duty on September 1, the farmers of Tirumalapuram in Karnataka, attacked and tied them with ropes, he added. When the issue was taken to the notice of the police, they managed to bring the officials back, he said.

“We are not able to tour along the canal as we are fearing attacks from the farmers,” he added. Meanwhile, the Karnataka farmers admitted that they were pilfering water from LLC to raise crops. Talking to the all-party leaders, they said that they were doing so for the past 20 years. However, the all-party leaders appealed to the farmers to spare the water to their counterparts in Andhra Pradesh as they were depriving both the drinking water as well as irrigation water.

Anantapur, Sept. 14: The police resorted to lathi-charge on Thursday when the farmers staged a protest demanding relief from the acute drought conditions in Anantapur district. The farmers staged a dharna in front of the collectorate under the aegis of Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangham. The farmers criticised the indifferent attitude of the State government towards their community in the district.

After the dharna, they planned to meet the collector and recount their tales of woe to him. But the police closed the main gates of the collectorate and prevented the agitators from entering the office premises. The farmers raised slogans demanding that the collector should come out at least and listen their grievances.

There were heated arguments between the farmers and the police for some time. Later, the farmers jostled and tried to push the gates forcibly. When the police resorted to force, the agitating farmers, including women, decided to enter the office at any cost and tried to jump over the gates.

In order to prevent them, the police resorted to mild lathi-charge. After dispersing the agitators, the police arrested AP Rythu Sangham State president and former MLA K. Ramakrishna, CPI district secretary Ramana and several other important leaders and took them to the I Town police station.

CPI district joint secretary Jaffer, Agricultural Workers Union district general secretary Kesava Reddy, All India Youth Federation district president Gopal and several other activists and farmers including women were injured in the lathi-charge.

Ongole, Sept. 14: Ongole municipal authorities on Thursday sealed five packaged drinking water plants under municipal limits for not maintaining the Bureau of Indian Standards norms. The municipal administrative department directed the Ongole municipality to shut down plants which failed to maintain ISI norms.

District food inspector Viswanatha Reddy, Ongole mandal revenue officer (MRO) Bhaskar Reddy, municipal commissioner Ch. Anuradha and officials from sanitation, food adulteration inspected the drinking water plants and closed them. Amrutha water plant, Malaija water plant, Lifeline, Manjeera and Wanior water plants were closed.

The management of another water plant, Rakshita, closed down the plant before the arrival of officials. The AP High Court earlier directed closure of drinking water plants which failed to maintain ISI norms. Revenue, food inspection and municipal authorities were entrusted with powers to shut down the erring plants.

Meanwhile, power was disconnected to some plants in the town for not implementing ISI norms though they restarted business. Speaking to this correspondent, Municipal commissioner Ch. Anuradha said that as per the directive of the High Court, the decisive action was taken against five water plants. Food inspector Viswanadha Reddy told this newspaper that the department would get directives very soon to shut down packaged drinking water plants which failed to maintain BIS norms.

Of the 50 odd drinking water plants, only four plants were maintaining BIS norms while the remaining were selling non-purified. To start an ISI standard plant, at least Rs 20 lakhs are required but for non-ISI plants only Rs 2 lakhs are enough. By selling non-purified and inferior quality water, these non-ISI packaged drinking water plants are earning lakhs of rupees every year.

Ongole, Sept. 14: AP Rythu Sangham leaders are preparing for an agitation, demanding that the government declare all 56 mandals in the district as drought- affected mandals. The State government has declared only 42 mandals as drought-hit. AP Rythu Sangham leaders will hold a meet on September 16 at Sundaraiah Bhavan, Ongole to discuss the future course of action.

The leaders allege that agricultural department officials did not send a proper report to the government on the prevailing drought conditions in the district. Owing to dry spell conditions, several thousands of people from Kandukur and Markapuram revenue divisions are migrating to places like Hyderabad and Bangalore in search of a livelihood.

In this backdrop, the government had declared 42 mandals as drought-affected and decided to take up measures to provide works to the people in these areas. Agricultural department officials estimated that 30 mandals were affected by drought.

On the other hand, revenue officials estimated that 42 mandals were drought-hit mandals. But Rythu Sangham leaders say that all 56 mandals are affected by dry spell conditions. As per officials records, the district recorded less than 45 per cent than normal normal. Cultivation was taken up over 79,000 hectares of land this kharif season.

Unfortunately, crop dried up on over 55,000 hectares of land. In this backdrop, officials had prepared data and sent reports to the government. On Thursday, farmers under the aegis of the AP Rythu Sangham staged a dharna in front of the district collectorate, demanding that the government declare all 56 district as drought affected.

Nellore, Sept. 14: A six-year-old girl, unknown to her parents travelling with her, fell down from a running passenger train at Nellore railway platform on Thursday morning at about 9 am. As luck would have it, the girl did not sustain any injuries. Assistant traction driver G. Suresh and Mr Bhaskar Rao of Nellore, who rescued the girl, handed her over to railway protection force SI Mr Syed Hussain.

Except for her parents’ name and the name of their village, the little girl, Pallavi, could not provide any information. The traumatised Pallavi wept for her parents. The hapless police informed all railway stations en route to Tirupati and requested child home managers Messrs Sarath Babu and Maruthi Rao, both railway employees, to take care of the girl.

The parents, Syamala and Krishnaiah, to make it worse, did not know about the incident till they reached Tirupati. “We assumed that Pallavi was with my relatives, who got into another compartment,” Krishnaiah said. In fact, Krishnaiah did not even know that his relatives were unable to board the train due to heavy rush in the train.

They left for Tirupati by bus. It was only after they went to join the couple at Tirupati railway station did everyone realise that the child was missing. Railway authorities in Tirupati told them about the missing child found at Nellore railway station when the shocked parents approached them to lodge a complaint. They returned to Nellore in the evening and collected the wailing child from railway police, who heaved a sigh of relief, following the reunion. Visibly angry with the parents and their relatives for their negligence, police gave them a lecture before handing over the child to them.

Rajahmundry, Sept. 14: With elections to the Mun-icipal Corporation round the corner, most of the corporators of the Congress and the Telugu Desam are targeting officials for their failure in tackling a wide spectrum of problems ranging from supply of adequate potable water to tackling the menace of mad dogs in municipal limits.

As mayor M.S. Chakr-avarthi (TD) changed his mind at the eleventh hour to skip the council meet on the pretext of health grounds, and deputy mayor Grandhi Lalitha (TD) did not turn up, the corporators resolved to allow one of their senior colleagues Jakkampudi Sriranganaikulu to chair the session.

As the question hour began, there was a heated debate among corporators on procuring State government dues pending for a long time to the corporation. The Municipal Corporation is facing a paucity of funds besides lack of adequate manpower even in important wings like town planning to execute works.

With lack of adequate supervision on works, mai-ntenance of sanitation, street-lighting, laying of roads and drains under various schemes have been badly affected. The civic administration is also affe-cted by the frequent transfer of municipal commissioners.

Congress corporators Buddiga Srinivas and Srik-akolapu Sivarama Subrahmanyam raised the issue of inefficient supply of potable water in several areas. Mr Srinivas faulted the legal counsel of the corporation for failing to wage a legal battle against encroachers.

Another Congress corporator Prasadula Harinath sought clarification on corporation lands being encro-ached. The council resolved to suspend Lala Cheruvu municipal high school teacher M. Vijaya Kumar and surrender his post to the director of school education following a controversy around him. The council also resolved to blacklist contractor Tammaiah Naidu, cancel allotted works and conduct an inquiry into allegations of irregularities in the works. Telugu Desam corporator Vasireddy Rambabu wanted to know why civic authorities had failed to fill up the teachers’ posts.

Bhimadole, Sept. 14: The State government has so far provided loans worth Rs 70 crores to villagers affected in the Operation Kolleru lake Clean-up in West Godavari district. Taking part in a programme pertaining to distribution of loans worth Rs 5 crores to the affected villagers in this mandal as part of the special rehabilitation package on Thursday, Eluru MP Kavuri Sambasiva Rao assured to distribute about 4,000 acres of government lands located at Plus-five contour level to the affected villagers. He advised them to avail the loans in the current fiscal itself.

Ungutur MLA Vatti Vasantha Kumar said that the State government, based on directions from the the Supreme Court, had taken up the Operation Kolleru Clean-up under GO No. 120 and destroyed several unauthorised fish tanks. He said that due to the unauthorised fish tanks in Kolleru limits, crops in over 1.20 lakh acres land were destroyed.

He said that the government will provide livelihood to the affected villagers and added that Rs 50,000 loan, including Rs 25,000 subsidy was given to each household. The MLA also said that in Bhimadole mandal alone, Rs 5 crores was distributed as loans to the affected villagers and assured to give loans to the remaining villagers by October 2.

District collector Luv Agarwal said that in order to improve the earnings of villagers, some of them were sent to Orissa, Goa, West Bengal and Kakinada to study the ways of business and techniques in dealing with aqua culture. He assured to provide facilities like cold storage, net manufacturing units and training in the preparation of fish pickles to improve their living conditions.

Warangal, Sept. 14: A high-level delegation comprising Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) MP and the MLAs on Thursday visited various drought-affected mandals in the district and charged the State government with wilfully ignoring to generate hydel power resulting in the crop loss due to shortage of power.

The delegation led by Hanamkonda MP B. Vinod Kumar comprised TRSLP chief G. Vijayarama Rao, legislator Kommuri Pratap Reddy, Jannu Jakaraiah, and Peddi Sudarshan Reddy. The TRS team visited Cherial, Maddur, Jangaon, Raghunathpally, Station Ghanpur and Wardhannapet mandals and interacted with the farmers who lost their crop due to shortage of power supply. \

“Though Srisailam and Nagarjunsagar projects are brimming with water, the government is not generating power and was storing the water to be released later for the second and third crops of the Delta and Rayalaseema,” Mr Vinod Kumar alleged. He said that the Congress government was playing a big fraud on the farmers of Telangana region by not generating hydel power though all the projects were full of water.

“For the government, the 2nd and 3rd crops of Delta and Rayalaseema are more important than the first crop of the Telangana. This is unjust and unfair and exposes the government’s biased attitude towards the region,” he said. The MP blamed minister for major irrigation Ponnala Lakshmaiah for not raising his voice against the injustice being meted out to the region.

“He (Mr Lakshmaiah) should resign first and come out openly to halt the injustice being meted out to the region’s farmer,” Mr Vinod Kumar said.
Reeling out the statistics, the MP explained that the crop loss was reported in a total of 4.5 lakh acres in the district while the total extent of crop loss in the region was around 40 lakh acres. Many farmers who incurred losses due to the crop loss broke down in front of the TRS delegation and demanded them to pressurise the government to pay them suitable compensation. The TRS has decided to stage a protest in front of the district collectorate on Friday.

Karimnagar, Sept. 14: While the Congress and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) are entangled in a political storm, the BJP district unit is focusing on making optimum use of the volatile situation to its advantage. With the prospects of by-election to Karimnagar Parliament constituency appearing imminent following the resignation of TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao, the BJP is making strategic moves to field its senior leader and former union minister Ch. Vidyasagar Rao in the by-election, sources said.

The BJP wrested the Karimnagar MP seat twice in 1998 and 1999. The party strategists have been devising suitable plans to bag the crucial Karimnagar seat in the event of by-election to stage a spirited come back in the region.

The party, which recently took up the cause of separate Telangana, has been heavily banking on the “Telangana sentiment” in the wake of the changed political scenario. Accordingly, the party has proposed to implement mass contact programmes to highlight its commitment for separate Telangana and expose the Congress and the TRS tussle on the issue.

The party has decided to hoist the national flag in all the mandal headquarters on September 17 in connection with the Hyderabad liberation day. BJP district president P. Sugunakar Rao said that the government should celebrate the event as an official ceremony as a mark of respect to the martyrs of the region. “If the government failed to do so, our party would organise the function in all the mandal headquarters by hoisting the national flag,” he said.

Guntur, Sept. 14: Police have turned up the heat on transport companies after the recovery of rockets and explosives meant for Maoists from the godowns of Kranti Transport Company. Guntur superintendent of police B. Sivadhar Reddy has sent a proposal to higher-ups suggesting that transport companies in the State be asked to use explosive detectors to prevent illegal consignments.

If this is insisted upon, transport companies will have to check every bag and parcel with the explosives detector before clearing it. “They cannot be allowed to get away by saying that someone had booked the parcel and they are not responsible for it,” said the superintendent of police.

If a suspicious parcel was not received by anyone, police should be allowed to seize it, he added. “We have already made arrangements to check consignments not lifted within a week,” said Mr Sivadhar Reddy. “We also want powers to check parcel offices at any time,” he added.

Meanwhile, owners of transport companies are apparently attempting to influence some top cops to cool down things. This is being done under the auspices of a leading vegetable merchant of Guntur, who has linked up with the son of a top police officer.
It is also rumoured that Rs 3 crores had been dispatched from companies in Chennai for this purpose.

Vijayawada, Sept. 14: The Telugu Desam leaders ridi-culed the controversy over the Telangana issue bet-ween the Telangana Rashtra Samiti and the Congress. TD leader Y. Dayakar Rao said that the Congress and the TRS were creating confusion among the people on the issue. He said the challenges and the counter challenges and the subsequent resignations and withdra-wals were all high drama.

While maintaining that Telangana could not be formed with the resignation of one leader or the other, the TD leader asked the Congress and the TRS leaders to be sincere even with their resignations. He said both the parties would be thrown out by the people of Karimnagar if a by-election was held. He asserted that people of Telangana have realised the political tricks being played by the Congress and the TRS and would teach both a lesson if they went for an election.

Stating that the Congress and the TRS would lose their deposits at Karimnagar, Mr Rao pointed out that the fear of defeat was pulling the leaders to withdraw their resignations. When asked whether he would contest from the Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency, Mr Rao responded positively but left the decision to the party high command. He claimed that the TD would win the election with a huge margin.

Visakhapatnam, Sept. 14: Following in the footsteps of their brethren in Gangavaram village, the port-affected villagers of Dibbapalem formed Gangavaram Port Dibbapalem Displaced United Front to fight for a relief and rehabilitation (R&R) package as per GO MS No. 68.

President of new forum Kadiri Kannaiah, told reporters here on Thursday that the officials and the local Gajuwaka MLA, Tippala Gurumurthy Reddy, had entered into an agreement with some private persons who claimed that they belong to Dibbapalem over R&R package.

“Majority of the Dibbapalem villagers did not accept the package according to which the compensation will be only Rs 45,000. The persons with whom the authorities had reached an agreement with on last Tuesday do not represent Dibbapalem village. They are the followers of MLA Mr Gurumurthy Reddy” Mr Kannaiah added.

The villagers also asked the authorities to give them rehabilitation cards like the ones the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant gave to the displaced during the land acquisition for the plant a few years ago. The villagers said these cards would give an identity to the displaced for their future transactions with the management of the Gangavaram Port Limited. “It’s absurd that the government released a GO and then not implementing it. We will even go to court on this issue,” said Nookanna, a villager.

According to the GO MS No. 68, a beneficiary would be entitled to get Rs 1.45 lakhs as compensation which includes Rs 1 lakh as rehabilitation compensation, Rs 20,000 for training and self-employment and Rs 25,000 for infrastructure facilities for family. “But the State government had announced only Rs 45,000 as compensation and washed off its hands,” said another villager Sammidi Tatarao.

Visakhapatnam, Sept. 14: The Human Rights Forum (HRF) has appealed to home minister K. Jana Reddy for early release of prisoners serving life term on the occasion of golden jubilee of AP Formation Day.
In a memorandum to the home minister, copy of which was released here by general secretary K. Balagopal, the HRF said for the past two years they had been receiving a number of appeals from life convicts and their relatives demanding early release.

In the State prisons, there are now more than 2,800 prisoners undergoing life term. In August 2004, while releasing 1,050 prisoners prematurely, the government announced that 285 more would be released on October 2, 2004.

In the past two years several such public occasions have come and gone but the prisoners were not released. The HRF came to know that there were number of prisoners who have completed more than 7 years of sentence and deserve to be considered for early release.

It was understood that the government had difficulties in considering the release of prisoners as the media and Supreme Court were critical of the procedure the government followed in the case of Gouru Venkata Reddy.

The question before the Supreme Court was one of misuse of power vested in the government under Article 161 of the Constitution. But that should not prevent the government from proper use of the power vested in it, Dr Balagopal said.