Date:10/04/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/04/10/stories/2004041005350400.htm

Forest Department

staff assaulted

KURNOOL: Timber smugglers allegedly assaulted the Forest Department staff injuring six persons seriously near Tartur in Kurnool district on Thursday night.

The injured included a Forest Range Officer, Guruprabhakar, who lost six teeth and received serious facial injuries. According to reports, 25 personnel of the Forest Department were formed into three teams to carry out raids to check timber smuggling on the eve of the annual fair at Tartur near Nandikotkur. The fair is popular for sale of wooden agriculture implements. One of the teams spotted 15 carts coming with a load of timber worth Rs. one lakh, accompanied by 40 persons at 2 a.m.

When the forest squad, led by T.Y.N. Goud, Section Officer, challenged the smugglers, the assailants attacked them with clubs and stones. When the team sent an SOS, another party rushed to the spot. The second party was also attacked. According to forest officials, the assailants, believed to be the residents of Siddhapuram village near Atmakur, had pre-planned the attack and carried with them stone chips in gunny bagsThe injured were identified as B. Nagasesha Rao, Section Officer, D. Krishna Murthy, Forest Beat Officer, G. Venkatramiah and S.A. Hussain, Assistant Beat Officers. The smugglers reversed their carts and drove towards Siddhapuram abandoning the timber midway.

High Court directive to TTD

HYDERABAD: A Division Bench of the A.P. High Court comprising Justice B. Sudershan Reddy and Justice Ghulam Mohammad on Friday directed the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) to respond to the writ petition filed regarding the demolition of the thousand pillar mandapam at Tirumala.

The Bench was dealing with a writ petition filed by Govinda Ramanuja Das representing the Akhila Bharata Krishna Seva Sangha.

The petitioner complained that the TTD had unilaterally demolished this mandapam, which was just opposite the main temple at Tirumala. He sought reconstruction of the mandapam and requested the court to appoint a committee of Vedic scholars to evaluate the alleged master plan for Tirumala.

Power cut lifted in villages

Hyderabad: Power cut for villages has been lifted following better availability due to fall in agriculture demand with the rabi coming to a close in the State except in areas where the crops are sown late for the season.

However, the ordeal continues in case of some villages depending on common feeders connected to agriculture connections.

The grid met the entire unrestricted demand of the State on Thursday for the first time after many days, put at 139 million units, without resorting to any load relief. The total demand, which reached a peak of 160 mu by March-end forcing the AP Transco to search for helpers, came down to that level due to the rabi closure on one hand and the recent rain in some parts reducing dependence on agriculture pumpsets on the other.

By end of April, the demand is expected to come down further to 125 million units and then start rising reaching a high of 30 million units in May.

Grid operation officials are buoyed at the improved situation and are confident that they can meet the peak situation without depending much on external buying and even with a drastic cut in hydel generation. The Tranco has reduced the purchases from the Power Trading Corporation to 150 MW from 500 MW. It has also dispensed with the plan to tap the Tata Power Limited of Mumbai.

Hydel generation has come down to 9 mu, as seen on Thursday, with only Sileru-Machkhund being the only sources under operation and with the stoppage of the activity at major centres like Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar

Pyramid Party fields nine candidates

HYDERABAD: The Pyramid Party of India has fielded nine candidates for the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. At a press conference today, the party founder, Subhash Patriji, said that M. Murali and V. Dhawan would be contesting from Secunderabad and Hyderabad Parliament seats respectively.

The party, whose agenda includes equal status for women, has fielded six women candidates. "If elected, we will make meditation compulsory in schools and colleges," he said.

Two inter-State dacoits held

ONGOLE: In a major breakthrough, the district police arrested two inter-State dacoits and recovered property worth Rs.10 lakhs from them on Friday. Acting on a specific information, the Range Control Squad led by the Ongole rural Circle Inspector, Tadi Jayaprasad, nabbed the duo, Munga Sudhakar alias Sudha and Chota Chinnaiah alias Chinnodu on Gandhi Road when they were loitering around to sell the property at 2 p.m.

They were the most wanted criminals and involved in seven cases, four in Hyderabad and one each in Visakhapatnam and Prakasam districts and one in Bellary district of Karnataka.

Isolated rain forecast

Hyderabad: There was isolated rain in North Coastal Andhra on Friday while weather was mainly dry in Rayalaseema and dry in South Coastal Andhra and Telangana. Salur and Veeraghattam recorded 2 cm of rainfall each.

The day temperatures rose at a few places in Rayalaseema and changed little in Coastal Andhra and Telangana. Nandigama in Krishna district accounted for the State's highest day temperature at 42 degrees C during the 24-hour period ending this morning.

According to a forecast issued by the State Met Office, there will be isolated rains in Coastal Andhra on Saturday. Weather will be mainly dry in Telangana and Rayalaseema.

30 nominations rejected

NELLORE: Thirty nominations have been rejected after scrutiny in Nellore district. While four out of 14 nominations for the Nellore Lok Sabha seat have been rejected, three out of 10 nominations for the Assembly seat have also been rejected.

Training for election staff

KURNOOL: The Collector, Ajay Jain, has said action will be taken against those who have failed to attend to the election duty.

Addressing presiding officers and assistant presiding officers of the Kurnool Assembly segment at a training class here on Friday, he said the election process was simplified because of introduction of electronic voting machines. He said those who failed to attend the training session should undergo training with the Returning Officer.

Raw deal to BCs alleged

NELLORE: The district convenor of Andhra Pradesh Weaker Sections Association, B. Radhaiah, has criticised the Congress for the alleged injustice done to backward class candidates in allotment of ticket.

In a statement issued here on Friday, Mr. Radhaiah, who is vice-president of State unit of the Indian National Trade Union Congress, sought an explanation from the party. He said the party had not allotted a single seat for BCs in Nellore district.

Meanwhile, the district president of Dalita Vidyarthi Sena, A. Poorna Prakash, has said a relay hunger strike will be launched near Ambedkar Statue centre on April 14 in protest against the injustice meted out to weaker sections by the Congress.

Appointed convenor

Cuddapah: The DCC president, Shaik Hussain, said on Friday that a former DSP, T. Sivasankar, who joined the Congress recently, was appointed convenor of the District Congress Election Publicity Committee.

He said at a press conference here that a Congress leader of Lakkireddipalle, Vishnuvardhan Reddy, and a co-option member of Rayachoti, L. Ali Nawaz Khan, were appointed to the State election publicity committee.

The PCC member, M. Ashok Kumar, the DCC secretary, M. Navaneeswara Reddy, the Kisan Cell leader, V. Jayarami Reddy, and others were present.

Fire service week at airport

TIRUPATI: The Airports Authority of India will observe Fire service week at Tirupati airport from April 14.

According to S. Raman, Senior Manager, AAI, demonstrations on the usage of first-aid extinguishers, lectures on attending to emergency calls, medical first aid and large-scale fire-fighting exercise would be organised.