Andhranews

New Delhi, Oct. 4: Congress President Sonia Gandhi has given green signal for the Congress to contest the Karimnagar parliamentary by-election, caused by the resignation of Telangana Rashtra Samiti President K. Chandrashekhar Rao.
This assumes significance, as it marks a clean break-up of the Congress and the TRS, which had forged an alliance ahead of the simultaneously held parliamentary and Assembly elections in 2004. Besides, it puts an end to the talk among some Congress leaders from Telangana region, of leaving the Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat uncontested.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy on Wednesday met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and afterwards said the Congress would contest and win the Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat. Dr Reddy also expressed confidence that the Left parties would back the Congress candidate.

Dr Reddy, who was in a meeting with Union water resources minister Saifuddin Soz, took a break to meet the Congress president at her 10 Janpath residence here. Later, he returned and rejoined the meeting. The Congress high command would decide on the candidate, only after the by-election is notified. A report from Hyderabad said that TRS on Wednesday announced its president K. Chandrasekhara Rao as the party candidate for the bypoll. The announcement was made at senior members meeting at Telangana Bhavan.

TRS legislature party secretary E. Rajender proposed Mr Rao’s name and former union minister A. Narendra supported it. Addressing the meeting, Mr Rao called upon the party activists to show the real power of Telangana in the by-election. “ I am seeking fresh mandate to show the strength of the Telangana sentiment. The real fight begins now” he remarked. Party senior leader A. Narendra expressed confidence that Rao would retain the seat with a thumping majority.

Hyderabad, Oct. 4: Municipal administration minister Koneru Ranga Rao on Wednesday said the government was firm on setting up Greater Hyderabad and Greater Visakhapatnam by merging the surrounding municipalities with respective cities. Speaking to mediapersons here, the minister said while all the hurdles for Visakhapatnam were cleared, there were still cases pending with the High Court on Greater Hyderabad. “We will hold elections simultaneously for both the corporations once the legal hurdles are cleared,” the minister said.

Asked about opposition to the concept from among Congress legislators, the minister said the matter was subjudice and Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy would hold a meeting opposers of Greater Hyderabad and clear them once the court cleared the matter. He said revision in property tax was certain next year but steps would be taken to minimise the impact. Mr Rao criticised the Opposition for resorting to “false propaganda” against the Chief Minister and the government.

Reacting to the Opposition pooh-poohing the open letter of the Chief Minister on Dasara, the minister sought to know whether it was not a fact that the Dr Reddy government had launched several initiatives like creating lakhs of acres of additional ayacut, extensively building houses for the poor, compensation in farmers’ suicide cases and development of municipalities with Central assistance.

Hyderabad, Oct. 4: Engineering and construction giant Larsen and Toubro has proposed to set up a Rs 1,000-crore ship building unit and dry dock area to repair ships in Kakinada. The company has already submitted a draft Memorandum of Understanding to the government and a high-level official meeting on Thursday will discuss different issues involved in the MoU.

Official sources told this correspondent that L&T has sought special economic zone status for the project, 600 acres of land and other incentives like power subsidy. The MoU, however, has a controversial proposal to relocate fishermen, especially small and marginal fishermen, from the fish landing facility, which is about three kilometres away from the deep-water-port. Official sources said, “Poor fishermen go out fishing at night and bring in the catch the next morning. They store the catch on the shore as they cannot afford entry into the fishing harbour. The fishermen export the catch from there.”

Ironically, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy had set the foundation stone to create a better facility for the local fishermen with Rs 50 lakhs last year. According to the note circulated for Thursday’s meeting L&T has sought government’s “help in shifting the fishermen to a new permanent location.”

The Congress government has already had a bitter experience in moving fishermen in Gangavaram where a deep-water-port is being built by the D.V.S. Raju consortium. At Gangavaram the protests had turned violent leading to the death of a fisherman in the police firing. Sources said the company had asked for 600 acres on lease out of which 300 acres would be reclaimed from the sea. It proposes to build ships of 60,000 dwt (dead weight tonnage) to 1 lakh dwt and promises that the facility would create employment opportunities for 20,000 people.

The company also sought supply of electricity at a subsidised rate of 75 paise per unit, the SEZ status and approval for warehouse facility. It has asked the government to recommend its case for approval from the Centre on environmental issues, coastal regulation zone (CRZ) and structure erection.

Hyderabad, Oct. 4: The second phase of the Multi-Modal Transit System (MMTS) has almost been shelved by the State government and the South Central Railway.
Though they had formally renewed the agreement for the second phase in September, neither the State government nor the SCR is too keen on the project.

The second phase, estimated to cost Rs 324.80 crore, is meant to extend MMTS services to commuters on the outskirts of the city. MMTS trains were to run on the Secunderabad-Medchal (28 km), Falaknuma-Shamshabad (20 km) and Secunderabad-Ghatkesar (19 km) routes under the second phase.

Authorities had also decided to construct bypass lines between Kachiguda-Moula Ali (10 km) and Moula Ali-Sanathnagar (21km) routes apart from reviving the Tellapur-Patancheru (8 km) route. However, the State government is now more keen on the Rs 8,000-crore Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) and has not been prompting the SCR to go ahead with the MMTS second phase. Railway officials blame the Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation’s refusal to agree to road-rail tickets for the failure of the first phase. The first phase covers 26 stations and 43 km in three routes and has been running since 2003. SCR and RTC had earlier agreed to share 50:50 revenue for issuing a combined monthly ticket at a cost of Rs 400. But later, RTC backtracked.

“It is for the Railway Board to approve the second phase,” said SCR general manager D.N. Mathur. However, RTC regional manager C. Panduranga Murty said that SCR was intentionally creating difficulties for bus commuters. “If they really need our cooperation, why are they not allowing buses into Bhoiguda premises of Secunderabad bus station?” he asked. MMTS Project Director N.V.S. Reddy said that the government was trying to broker an agreement between the two.

Hyderabad, Oct. 4: An engineering student who was allegedly racing his new car knocked down a registered medical practitioner in front of his college on Wednesday morning at Narsingi, sparking angry protests by the doctor’s relatives. The relatives said that the students of Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Technology were racing their vehicles when the accident occurred killing R. Venkateswara Rao, 36, of Kokapet. Rao was riding a two-wheeler at that time.

Rao’s brother Lavaiah said, “College students race their cars and there is no control on them. In this case the car was being driven rashly and collided with my brother’s vehicle.” The vehicle overturned after the mishap. Narsingi inspector Ram Bhoopal Rao said, “The dharna last 15 minutes. They protested against the driving habits of MGIT students.” He said the police would take measures to curb speed on the road which leads to Gandipet. The driver of the vehicle [AP 10 AT TR 3469] has not been identified.

Hyderabad, Oct. 4: Friends of Naveed Hussain, accused in Mumbai train blasts, are under police watch. Most of Naveed friends are working with BPOs in the city. Police suspects that militants belonging to the sleeper cells of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami might have infiltrated into the BPOs and IT companies in the city. Police verification is being done at Banjara Hills, Ameerpet, Uppal and so on in the city.

Sources in the police department said, “The verification is restricted to specific suspects who are friends of Naveed. In Hitec City alone, there are 80,000 employees in the IT and BPO industry. If required we can verify the background of each and every one. Sometimes it may lead to criticism that we are targeting a specific community.” Meanwhile, Ibrahim Kha-leel, a friend of Naveed, was questioned and let off by the police.

Khaleel, who is the assistant vice-president of RSR Sales and Services, where Naveed worked, said, “The BPO firm is owned by Syed Ansari whom I know from childhood. Naveed does not have any share in this firm, which we started only six weeks ago.” “I worked with Naveed before also. After he came back from Mumbai, we invited him to join us,” he said. “We came to know that Naveed was arrested for his role in Mumbai blasts. We can’t believe that. I used to visit his room in Neredmet,” said Ibrahim.

An intelligence official said, “The module was cracked based on phone call verification. He stopped using the phone fearing tapping.” “But he made calls to Mumbai and other Gulf countries from the public telephone booth situated in front of Lake Shore Apartments.”

Hyderabad, Oct. 4: The Fire Services department has decided not to give ‘No Objection Certificate’ to shops selling firecrackers if they do not have basic firefighting equipment. District fire officer G.V. Narayana Rao said, “As per rules, the temporary firecrackers shop should have two dry chemical powder fire extinguishers, two buckets full of water and two buckets with sand. We will not allow any shops in busy commercial areas and residential areas.”

The police department will issue licence only after the NOC is given by the fire department. Firecracker shops should be set up in an open area and in single-storied structures. Electrical wiring should be perfect and a licensed electrician only should check the wiring. Applicants for the licence from the respective DCPs and zonal police offices should submit their forms by October 13. No application will be accepted after this.

The strict rules came into force after 12 persons, including a woman, were killed and four others were injured when a fire broke out in a commercial complex housing a firecracker shop at Begum Bazar in October 2002. The shop, located on the ground floor of the three-storied building, accidentally caught fire and the flames engulfed a lodge housed in top two floors of the building. Sixteen others, who were trapped in the lodge, were rescued.

Hyderabad, Oct. 4: The Right to Information Act has become a weapon in the hands of the Opposition parties to expose government’s failures and negligence in taking up developmental activities. Though the Information Act was legislated to help ordinary citizens to gain ac-cess to official information, it is helping the political parties nail down the go-vernment on various issues.

Thanks to the RTI, the political parties are able to give the details on implementation of developmental activities and are able to analyse the implications of the data.
Last week, Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) legislators released to media the details of the funds allocated to Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy’s native district Kadapa and native town Pulivendula. According to their information, Rs 3.5 crores were sanctioned for the construction of guest houses in Kadapa district despite a ban on the construction of guest houses.

Apart from this, Pulivendula got Rs 30 crores for Hockey Academy and Model Village, Rs 50 crores for JNTU regional campus, Rs 16 crores for Kadapa Satellite Township, Rs 270 crores for Lingala-Pulivendula branch canal and Rs 65 crores for underground drainage in Kadapa. TRS MLA Harish Rao, who received information from Kadapa, said the Chief Minister’s native district got funds at the cost of Telangana.

TRS legislature party secretary E. Rajender said his party got more than requ-ried information through the RTI. “We have exposed the government with accurate numbers on disparities and discrimination in development activities,” he said.
The main Opposition Telugu Desam is also making use of the RTI to fix the government. The Telugu Desam utilised the Information Act to get details on the number of suicides by farmers and cases of power pilferage against farmers.

“Basing on the information, our party members posed questions to the government in the last Assembly session,” said Mr Amarnath, incharge of the TD legislature party office. “The actual number of vacancies to be filled through DSC also came to light thanks to the RTI,’’ said BJP general secretary G. Lakshman.

Hyderabad, Oct. 4: Medical education director I.V. Rao has ordered a thorough enquiry into the gross misuse of funds in the name of reimbursement of medical expenses to government employees. Reacting to a report published in this newspaper on Wednesday, Dr Rao reviewed the reimbursement procedure and ordered strict scrutiny of the medical bills as per the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) rules.

The director has reportedly warned his employees who were indulging in corrupt practices while scrutinising the bills. He asked his officials to verify whether the government employees actually got treatment in the private hospitals. “We will also conduct surprise checks in the recognised private hospitals,” said Dr Rao. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Government Doctors Association president M.S.R.K. Prasad demanded the State government to frame new guidelines for medical reimbursement to control the large scale fraud in the State.

He alleged that some private hospitals were looting the public money by raising excess and fake medical bills for reimbursement. “This practice is spreading even to mandal-level private hospitals. Government has to look into the matter seriously,” said Dr Prasad. APGDA treasurer N. Ravi Kumar expressed concern over the budget of medical and health was less than the reimbursement amount. He alleged that some unrecognised private hospitals were also raising false medical bills with the help of recognised hospitals by paying commission in the reimbursement amount.

New Delhi, Oct. 4: President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has granted time to Mohammad Afzal Guru’s family on Thursday, barely 24 hours after they filed a mercy petition before him for grant of clemency. Afzal was set to be hanged on October 20 for his involvement in the 2001 Parliament attack case. A five-member delegation, comprising Afzal’s wife Tabassum, his son Ghalib, mother Ayesha Begum and lawyers Nandita Haksar and N.D. Pancholi, will present itself before the President at 1.45 pm on Thursday to present their case for mercy plea.

“We had requested for time for five people and permission has been granted for all five,” Mr Pancholi told this newspaper. Meanwhile, the Union home ministry has already begun consultations with the Delhi government over the petition seeking clemency for Afzal. According to Union home ministry officials, the ministry has already received a copy of the clemency petition from Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The petition would be taken up with the Delhi government and its views would be sought, as under the current law, the state government in whose territory the crime has taken place, is consulted. Tihar Jail officials too have been informed that a stay would be in place on the hanging of Afzal till a decision has been taken on the mercy petition.

The meeting gains importance as the meeting is being seen as the family’s biggest chance at making their case for clemency stronger before the President. Although no time-frame has been set for a decision to be taken on the capital punishment, home ministry sources said the process would in all likelihood be completed in two-to-three weeks.

New Delhi, Oct. 4: JKLF leader Yasin Malik on Wednesday said that the hanging of Mohammad Afzal Guru could lead to thousands of Kashmiris taking up the gun.
Warning against a possible replay of the events that occurred in the state following the hanging of Maqbool Butt in the 1980s, the JKLF leader said: “When Maqbool Butt was hanged in the ’80s there was widespread anger and nearly 50,000 Kashmiris took to guns. I was one of them. In today’s Kashmir, we should not force another 10,000 to take to guns because of this.” Speaking during a peaceful sit-in demonstration organised by the Society for Protection of Detainees’ and Prisoners’ Rights, Mr Malik said it was important to keep in mind the human and political perspective of Afzal’s case as Kashmir is a “conflict zone” that has seen the death of thousands of Kashmiris.

Wednesday also saw some opposition come Afzal’s way, with the BJP accusing the Congress of being sympathetic towards terrorists and its senior leaders terming the issue as “Congress ka haath Afzal ke saath.” Coming as it did a day after the wife of Afzal Guru, who is facing execution in the Parliament attack case, filed a mercy petition with the President, the protest on Wednesday saw Kashmiri leaders, trade unions leaders, student activists, human rights activists and members of the academia join the demand for grant of clemency to Afzal.

The protesters included People’s Conference leader Sajjad Lone, noted Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande and social activist Medha Patkar among others. The quietest participant at the demonstration was perhaps Afzal’s seven-year-old son Ghalib, who was seen fiddling and playing with a mobile phone, as his father’s supporters from in and outside Kashmir spoke in Afzal’s defence.

Extending her support, author-turned-social activist Arundhati Roy said she had come to express solidarity with Afzal. “I have come here today to extend solidarity for two reasons. One, I am against the death sentence and two because the whole case is full of faulty evidence and fabricated stories. Afzal was not even represented well in the courts. There should be a parliamentary enquiry into the matter,” she said.

The demand for a high-level commission was, in fact, a common one at the demonstration. Also questioned was the quantum of punishment awarded to Afzal.
Placing his case for Afzal, Mr Yasin Malik said those who believe that Afzal’s hanging will help prevent any more such attacks are ignoring the fact that the planners of the December 13 attack on Parliament continue to be free. “None of the men who attacked Parliament on that day were left alive. But the men accused of planning the whole thing are not in the country and are yet to be arrested. Afzal was neither involved in the planning or the execution. There is no direct evidence against his and yet he has been awarded a death sentence,” added Mr Malik.

New Delhi, Oct. 4: Indian Railways has entered into a fare war with low-cost air carriers by offering to ferry passengers in air-conditioned (AC) 3-tier comfort from Delhi to Mumbai at 50 per cent less than the usual rail fares. Railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav’s aides will not speculate how many passengers they will be able to wean away from low-cost air carriers but insist theirs will be a win-win formula for commuters and the Railways alike.

Taking a leaf out of shoemaker Bata’s psychological price positioning (its products are priced at Rs 39.99, not Rs 40), Indian Railways will charge Rs 695 for AC 3-tier and Rs 595 for AC chair car travel by the Garib Rath Express from Saharsa in Bihar to Amritsar in Punjab.

The fares will include a nominal safety surcharge, reservation charge and superfast charge. Mr Yadav on Wednesday flagged off the Saharsa-Amritsar Garib Rath Express. Three more such trains — linking Hazrat Nizamuddin in Delhi with Bandra (Mumbai), Chennai and Patna — are in the offing. “The distance between Delhi and Mumbai is less than that of Amritsar and Saharsa, so you can imagine that fares for the Hazrat Nizamuddin-Bandra Garib Rath Express will be even less,” a Rail Bhavan official said.

Officer on special duty to the minister for railways, Sudhir Kumar, in turn, explained that the economic model of the Garib Rath Expresses was to carry more volumes (of passengers) without forcing any passenger in any class to cross-subsidise any other passenger.

“These new trains will carry 2.5 times the volume of passengers that a train does today because each coach will have more berths and each train will have more coaches. Moreover, you only pay for yourself, unlike other trains where a passenger travelling by AC 2-tier pays nine times and an AC 3-tier traveller pays 6.5 times the fare of an ordinary sleeper class ticket,” Mr Kumar said.

New Delhi, Oct. 4: The Congress plans to celebrate the birth centenary of Satyagraha by holding quiz competitions, public meetings, international conference and a camp at Sevagram in Maharashtra. Though the party has yet to give a final shape to the activities it proposed to undertake during the year to mark the centenary celebrations of Satyagraha, it has decided to mobilise youths in large numbers in Gujarat to take out a bicycle march from Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad to Porbandar, the birth place of Mahatma Gandhi, in January.

Besides ,to spread Mahatma’s message of “cleanliness is next to godliness”, a “Swatch Vatavaran Abhiyan” (Clean environment movement) is also planned all over the country. AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik, along with senior leader Motilal Vora on Wednesday told reporters about the party’s plans.

He also said that eight working groups have been constituted which would work out details regarding these programmes. Meanwhile, under attack over Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s plea for clemency for Mohammed Afzal, the Congress steered clear of the controversy saying whatever Constitution has provided should be followed in the case of Parliament attack convict.

New Delhi, Oct. 4: The Centre on Wednesday claimed that there were no deaths due to chikungunya in the country. While the disease has spread its tentacles in southern State of Kerala, where unofficial figures have put the toll at 72, Union health minister, Dr A. Ramadoss, maintained that there have been no deaths in the country due to chikungunya. “People don’t die of the viral. Those who are dying are succumbing to secondary complications,” said Dr Ramadoss.

Meanwhile, a nine-member team of experts, including those from World Health Organisation arrived in Kerala to assess the situation. The Union health minister said director-general of health services R.K. Srivastava will visit Kerala. “I have called a meeting of health ministers of all chikungunya-affected States on October 11. In the meeting we will decide whether they need more funds to combat the problem,” informed Dr Ramadoss.

Dr Ramadoss said the viral has come to the country after 32 years and is due to climatic conditions like more rains and sanitation problem. There are no vaccines for chikungunya and people who have contracted the disease should consult doctors and take paracetamol and consume more water.

Dr Ramadoss said they are also planning to start a laboratory in South India. “We have two laboratories to detect the cause of the disease in India. We are planning to open the third one in South India. The destination has not been planned and it will take one year to open it,” Dr Ramadoss said, adding that the laboratory will meet all the requirements of BioSafety Level Three.

Nearly, 12,85,000 cases have been reported in the country. The minister said after Mr Srivastava’s report, he would decide about visiting Kerala. With the death toll crossing 30th mark and nearly 2,700 patients affected from dengue around the country, the Centre on Wednesday maintained that it is only a matter of concern and not an epidemic. As per the latest official figures, over 2,700 cases have been reported, with at least 40 lives being lost due to the disease.

New Delhi, Oct. 4: The women’s reservation bill is all set to be introduced in its original form in the upcoming Winter Session of Parliament. The government and the Left came to a consensus on the issue at the UPA-Left Coordination Committee meeting on Wednesday night. The tribal bill will also be introduced in the Winter Session of Parliament.

This means that there will be no increase in the number of seats in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also indicated at Lady Shriram College recently that consensus was being hammered out and the bill would be introduced in the Winter Session of the Parliament. The three-hour-long meeting chaired by Dr Singh and attended by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, was also attended by Union defence minister Pranab Mukherjee and Union finance minister P. Chidambaram, besides Left leaders Prakash Karat and A.B. Bardhan. According to sources, both Dr Singh and Mr Chidambaram sought the help of the Left in fine tuning economic policies, so that the country could maintain a GDP growth rate of eight per cent.

The long-drawn out UPA-Left Coordination Committee meeting saw divergences between the government and Left over key economic issues like disinvestment, as deadlock persisted. The government’s efforts to persuade the Left for consensus on shedding equity by non-strategic public sector companies met with a stiff resistance with the allies insisting that the PSU units deserved to be strengthened and not privatised. On issues like attracting foreign capital and financial sector liberalisation also met with opposition from the Left parties.

New Delhi, Oct. 4: After making them slog for decades for a pittance, India’s dominant communist party has finally decided to hike the wages of its full-time activists to give them a slightly better standard of living. Across the country, “whole timers” — as they are known — are eagerly waiting for the windfall promised to them by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), which pays a monthly fi-xed wage, or salary, to its estimated 25,000 acti-vists. The lowest monthly slab is now Rs 1,500, which is barely enough to give a decent lifestyle.

If the CPI-M decision to pay its “whole timers” the minimum wages prescribed by central and state governments for unskilled labour is implemented, this amount is likely to rise by a few hundred rupees. That, party activists said, is something they badly require. “It’s a good step,” said Mr K. Veeriah, a 32-year-old activist who has been with the party since 1997.

Mr Veeriah, who works at the CPI-M headquarters here as a personal assistant to politburo member Mr Sitaram Yechury, earns Rs 3,300 a month — just a few hundred more than what courier company delivery boys in the city get. Mercifully, his accommodation and family’s medical expenses are taken care of by the party. But he doesn’t get to take home even the meagre monthly amount that comes his way although that is less than the notified wage for an unskilled labourer in the national capital. Worse, Mr Veeriah has to pay around Rs 600 to the party as “levy” annually. This is mandatory for all members.