The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Briefly

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Saturday, Sep 04, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Briefly

Commodity prices up under Congress rule, says TDP

HYDERABAD: The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has said prices of essential and other commodities have steadily gone up after the Congress came to power at the Centre and State.

The TDP leaders -- Ummareddy Venkateswarlu, Ravula Chandrasekhar Reddy, K. Vijayarama Rao and S. Venugopalachary -- told reporters on Friday that the previous Government had levied service tax on only three services but now it was extended to 71 services. Petrol and diesel charges were increased twice while the prices of cement; steel, coal, edible oil and jaggery were also hiked steeply. The subsidy component on the LPG connections for DWCRA groups was also reduced. The annual burden on the consumers at the present rates was likely to be Rs. 5,500 crores. The buying capacity of common man had gone down so much that it was likely to influence his standard of living, they said.

NHRC notice to Government

New Delhi: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has called for a factual report from the District Magistrate, Warangal, and the Deputy Inspector-General, Warangal Range, within four weeks on the reported social boycott of two women out of fear of them spreading AIDS.

The story appeared in a national daily on August 26 under the heading `Tribals boycott women fearing AIDS infection'. The news item stated that two women, Bhanot Samakka, employed as a cook in a school, and Bhukia Vimala, health worker at the anganwadi centre, were boycotted by the community as they had helped a pregnant woman in her delivery, who was suffering from AIDS. The news report stated that the community Panchayat had decreed that these women could not enter the village for four months. It stated that Samakka had been prevented from cooking the midday lunch for schoolchildren and Vimala to enter the anganwadi centre.

The NHRC Chairperson, A. S. Anand, observed that if the contents of the report were true, it raised issue of violation of human rights and hence issued notice to the authorities seeking a factual report from them.

CITU charge against

Congress MLAs

Hyderabad: The State Committee of the CITU has alleged that many Congress MLAs are exerting pressure on Government officials to remove workers who have been appointed on a contract basis in Government projects under the previous regime in order to give employment to their own favourites.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, the CITU State Secretaries, R. Sudhabhaskar, and Y. Siddaiah, said that anganwadi and electricity workers, health, medical, municipal and library employees and vidya volunteers were all taken on a contract basis under the World Bank inspired policies of the previous regime. Now the newly-elected Congress MLAs were exerting pressure to remove them and recruit their `own people', which they described as a "most undemocratic and illegal act."

Film chamber protest on September 5

HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber of Commerce on September 5 will stop all film shootings and other connected activities, such as dubbing, recording, re-recording, in protest against the decision of its counterpart in Karnataka not to allow release of other language films in that State up to seven weeks from their first release. G. Adiseshagiri Rao, president of the chamber, in a statement here described the decision "highly regrettable" and "not justifiable". It would "spoil cordial relations of the film industry as a whole," he said.

NCC Director-General calls on YSR

HYDERABAD: The Director-General of National Cadet Corps (NCC), M. C. Bhandari, on Friday met the Chief Minister, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, and requested him to allocate budget for taking up various works pertaining to NCC activities in the State, especially at Vijayawada and Tirupati.

Lt. Gen. Bhandari is on a two-day visit to the city during which he would visit the Group headquarters, units and training areas. Speaking to reporters after meeting Dr. Reddy, he said the strength of NCC cadets in country was more than the combined strength of Army, Navy and Air Force. The State alone had 1.4-lakh NCC cadets, he said. Lt. Gen. Bhandari further said that the State had 68 units spread across all the districts. He said there were over 13-lakh cadets across the country, which formed 3.8 per cent of the total school going population.

Group I form submission

date extended

Hyderabad: The last date for sale and submission of applications for the Group I services examination of the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) has been extended up to 5 p.m. on September 10. Applications received after this date will not be accepted. There is no change in the preliminary examination date, which will be held on October 10. All other terms and conditions as notified remain unchanged, according to a press release.

Mystery shrouds kid's death in TTD choultry

TIRUPATI: Mystery shrouds the death of an 18-month-old boy whose limp body was found lying on the cot of a room in the TTD Srinivasam Complex here. There was no one else in the room when the TTD staff broke into it this morning on suspicion. Beside the bloodstained body, the police found an empty bottle of pesticide. Ropes were also said to be found hanging from the window sill indicating that the inmates -- obviously parents of the boy -- must have made a vain bid to hang themselves before fleeing the scene.

The police said a couple with two kids had taken the room on the name of G. Narendra Kumar of Pathameda village near Gudivada. They also extended the room on August 30 and 31 and were not seen later. From a bag left behind, the police found a voter identify card bearing the name of Narendra Kumar. Attempts were on to reach their relatives in Gudivada through a phone number found in the bag.

Trough over Bay

VISAKHAPATNAM: An upper air trough lies over west central Bay of Bengal off coastal Andhra Pradesh and extends up to 4.5 km. above sea level, according to the Cyclone Warning Centre here on Friday. Under its influence, rain or thundershowers are likely at a few places over coastal Andhra Pradesh during the next 36 hours.

Health camp conducted

MADANAPALLE: Tlhe Madanapalle Mid-town Rotary Club and Oasis and the District Blindness Control Unit conducted a free health camp at Yellamanda village of K.V. Palle mandal on Thursday. As many as 30 bottles of blood was collected and 63 free IOL operations were conducted at the camp held in memory of Srikanth Bayya Reddy of that village.

Babu conducted the operations. The Chittoor Indian Red Cross blood bank collected the blood. The Oasis president, T. Srinivasa Gupta, the Rotary Mid-town president, S. Prithvi Raj, and Ramakumar Reddy participated.

Varuna japam

TIRUMALA: The administration of the hill temple of Lord Venkateswara is all set to perform `Varuna Japam' ( to propitiate the rain god) for five days starting from September 6.

Lok Adalat

today

MADANAPALLE: Lok Adalat will be conducted on the premises of the court of the Additional District Judge on Saturday, said the district Additional Judge-cum-Mandal Legal Services Commission, M. Chalapathi Rao.

BSNL road show

CHITTOOR: The district Collector, S. S. Rawat, and the SP, V. V. Gopala Krishna, inaugurated BSNL road show here on Friday. The BSNL DGM, Kishore Babu, explained their services . The road show will conclude on Saturday.

AIR live quiz

TIRUPATI: All India Radio, Tirupati, will conduct a live quiz on the 28th summer Olympics held at Athens.

Sports enthusiasts can take part in the quiz on September 6 (Monday) by dialling the phone numbers 0877-224 0098 and 224 2198 between 9.30 am and 10.30 am, a release said.

Red sanders seized

TIRUPATI: The forest sleuths have seized a mini-lorry laden with 25 red sanders logs worth Rs.68,000 near Puttur on the Tirupati-Chennai highway on Friday.

The mini-lorry was sighted at Taduku and subsequently chased by the waiting guards, led by K.Venkataswamy, Puttur Range officer. However, the inmates fled after deserting the vehicle on the outskirts of Puttur.

Fire in

scrap shop

NELLORE: A fire in an iron scrap shop of Kavali last night created a scare in the area. Said to be due to a half-burnt cigarette butt, the mishap resulted in sudden fire in the shop, leading to people in nearby areas running for life. Timely arrival of fire tenders prevented the fire from spreading to

LP gas cylinders in the vicinity.

Drought-hit

status sought

NELLORE: The district unit of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) has demanded that the entire district of Nellore be declared drought-hit and wanted appropriate measures to save the farming community from distress.

In a statement issued here on Friday, the Morcha sought immediate release of 15 tmcft of Krishna water to the Somasila reservoir, to tide over the drinking water crisis in Nellore district. The BJYM urged the civic authorities of Nellore, Kavali and Gudur to contain what it described as `selling of water' through tankers.

Protest staged

NELLORE: Protest demonstrations were staged at post offices on Friday under the auspices of the divisional unit of the National Federation of Postal Employees, demanding regularisation of about three lakh extra-departmental (ED) employees in the department.

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