Andhra Pradesh

Briefly

Minister allays fears on new rule on borewells

NIZAMABAD: The Minister for Rural Development and Rural Water Supply, D. Srinivas, has said the Andhra Pradesh Water Land and Tree Act (WALTA) is not meant to target anyone, but to check the excessive exploitation of water resources.

"The amended Act will help conserve the existing water resources and plug indiscriminate drilling for groundwater," he said while interacting with mediapersons here on Sunday.

As per the amended Act, no one would be allowed to sink a borewell on his or her field without getting certificate from the registered geologist specifying the water point and paying insurance premium of Rs.1,000.

Tension after alleged custodial death

NELLORE: Security in and around Bitragunta of the district has been beefed up following tension in the area after the death of a person in police custody.

According to information, V. Venkata Rao was taken into custody by the police on September 15 in connection with his alleged involvement in two cases. He died on Friday while being shifted to the SVIMS in Tirupati for treatment. As news spread, relatives of the deceased staged a dharna and stopped vehicles of officials, who were returning to Nellore after attending the function of the Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad.

Steps afoot to cut power generation cost

VISAKHAPATNAM: The State Government is taking steps to reduce the cost of power generation and see to it that no additional burden is put on consumers, according to the Minister for Commercial Taxes, Konatala Ramakrishna.

He was addressing a gathering after laying the foundation stone for the corporate building of the AP Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited at Seethammadhara here on Sunday. The five-storied building will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs. 2.94 crores.

The Minister was of the view that overdependence on thermal power should be reduced. The present hydel generation, which is between 10 and 20 per cent of the total power generated, was much less when compared to 70 per cent in the past.

IPS officers shuffled

HYDERABAD: In a reshuffle of IPS officers, Jitender, DCP, City Armed Reserve, Hyderabad, has been posted as SP, Guntur, vice A. Ravishankar, who is being sent to work with the United Nations Mission, Kosovo. The DIG, Visakhapatnam, T.A. Tripathi, has been posted as Additional Secretary, Home vice Rajiv Trivedi, whose re-posting as Additional Secretary has been cancelled. Instead, T. Krishna Prasad, waiting for posting on transfer from the post of Commissioner, Vijayawada, has been posted as DIG, Visakhapatnam.

Transco moves to improve supply

HYDERABAD: The APTransco has geared up to further enhance the quality and reliability of supply to the industrial sector by creating 900 industrial express/dedicated feeders out of the 1,400 feeders to promote productivity and generate employment potential. Disclosing this at the two-day meeting with CMDs/CEs, SEs of Discoms here, Rachel Chatterjee, Chairperson and Managing Director, APTransco, stated that the power utilities had initiated special steps to launch round-the-clock control rooms at the district level to continuously monitor and supervise feeder-wise supply to the sector.

Cheating charge against Janashakti leaders

WARANGAL: The district police have registered cases against Janashakti leaders and its sympathiser on charges of kidnap and cheating.

Three minor girls -- Anusha, Geetha and Sharada -- all Buddharam villagers, Mulug Ghanpur mandal, who were allegedly lured into the movement by the sympathiser, Gopu Rajaiah, came out with the initiative of their mothers on Friday. They went on record that they were forcibly admitted to the dalams.

Cases were booked under IPC 363 and 420 against Gopu Rajaiah, Ramakanth who is commander of Naganna dalam and Praveen, commander of Madhu dalam of Janashakthi.

Plea for return of weapon

HYDERABAD: The State committee of Communist Party of United States of India (Dalit Bahujan Sramika Vimukti) has appealed to the Government to hand over the weapon and cash seized by the police with the help of a covert after the Oddugudem encounter. Charwaka, secretary of the committee, in a statement issued here said the handing over should be done through the mediators for the talks between the Government and the People's War. If the Government, he emphasised, was committed to ceasefire it should immediately return the weapon and cash.

Two struck dead by lightning

KURNOOL: Two persons were struck by lightning in Gadivemula mandal of Kurnool district on Sunday. According to reports, Ramakrishna (35) died at Pesaravai village while Chenchu Narsamma (7) at Korrapoluru.

Explosives seized

ANANTAPUR: The district police had a haul of explosives on Sunday during the vehicle checking near the Collectorate. According to the police, a team led by the Reserve Inspector, Devadas, was conducting vehicle checking when they found the contraband material. The police also arrested the vehicle driver, Sundaram, and the cleaner, Ravi. The vehicle was also confiscated.

Rain likely

HYDERABAD: A trough lay across the coastal Andhra Pradesh on Sunday and rain is likely under its influence. Tuni received a rainfall of 6 c.m. and Nandigama 4 c.m. Rain is likely to continue on Monday also in Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore districts.

There will be isolated falls in Telangana, Rayalaseema and the rest of coastal Andhra.

The chief amounts of rainfall in other areas were: Nuzvid, Podili 3 c.m. each and Nalgonda, Kaikalur and Mancherial 2 c.m. each.

Study centre inaugurated

KARIMNAGAR: The Vice-Chancellor of Acharya Nagarjuna University, L. Venugopal Reddy, has inaugurated the university distance education study centre at Kakatiya Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) in Kothapally village on the outskirts of the town. He also inaugurated the study centre library on the campus. The Karimnagar range DIG, S.A. Sattar, inaugurated the computer science laboratory.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Reddy said that the university was the first to offer practical- oriented science courses through the distance mode. The KIMS Chairman, P. Ravinder Rao, the Director, P. Devender Rao, and others were also present.

Free eye

camp held

KARIMNAGAR: The Karimnagar rural police organised a mega free eye testing camp in association with the Rekurthi Lions Eye Hospital in the interior Parlapalli village of Thimmapur mandal on Sunday.

Villagers from Thimmapur, Manakondur and Bejjanki mandals attended the camp in large numbers. Some 4,000 were examined and 560 cases were referred for cataract operation at the hospital. The police also distributed medicines and spectacles worth Rs. 1 lakh among patients. Free transport facility and food also was provided to patients.

The Karimnagar range DIG, S.A. Sattar, the Superintendent of Police, Rajiv Ratan, the DSP, Y. Sai Narsa Reddy, the rural CI, P. Venugopal Rao, SIs - Krishna, Veerabadram and Sambaiah - were also present.

Kakatiya varsity conference

WARANGAL: The Department of Physics, University Arts & Science College, Kakatiya University, is organising a three-day national conference on `Current trends in condensed matter research' from September 20. The Southern region office of the University Grants Commission is sponsoring the conference.

In addition to 90 poster presentations, as many as 15 talks will be delivered by academics of international repute at the conference, which will be inaugurated by the Kakatiya University Vice-Chancellor, Chandrakant Kokate, according to the conference convener, A. Ramakanth.

Annadanam for pilgrims

CHITTOOR: The annadanam programme for visiting pilgrims during the Brahmothsavam of Sri Varasiddi Vinayakaswamy at Kanipakam in Thavanampalli mandal was inaugurated by the MLA, Galla Aruna Kumari, on Saturday. Temple Executive Officer Kesuvulu said pilgrims would be provided free meal from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily for 21 days during Brahmothsavam with the money collected from philanthropists. In all, 5,000 pilgrims were fed on the first day, he said.

Courtesy week by RTC

NELLORE: The RTC authorities here will observe a `courtesy week' from Monday onwards to keep bus shelters and stations clean and to facilitate interaction with the passengers.

Handloom expo

CUDDAPAH: Handloom clothes from all over the State will be on display at a 10-day exhibition, `Chenetha Alalu', at Kalakshetram here from September 20 to September 29, said the Assistant Director of Handlooms and Textiles, K. Ramachandraiah. The Collector, Jayesh Ranjan, will inaugurate the exhibition, which offers a special rebate of 10 per cent over the production cost, he said.

Heavy rain in Nellore

NELLORE: A heavy downpour lashed Nellore town, bringing normal life to standstill on Sunday night. The rain which started at 7-30 p.m. was continuing till 8-30 p.m.

Courtesy week by RTC

NELLORE: The RTC authorities here will observe a `courtesy week' from Monday onwards to keep bus shelters and stations clean and to facilitate interaction with the passengers.

Rasta roko by BJP

TIRUPATI: The district leaders of the BJP today held a rasta roko at the Rayalcheruvu Road junction protesting against the lathi charge on their fellow-activists at Hyderabad on Saturday. Addressing the demonstrators during the hour-long dharna, the party leaders demanded the resignation of the Home Minister, Jana Reddy owning the responsibility for the cane charge on `peaceful' BJP demonstrators. Gali Dhananjayulu Naidu, M.R. Raja, Sakam Prabhakar, B. Chandra Reddy and C.Chandrababu led the dharna.

Acid attack

NELLORE: A house wife, Latha, was seriously injured after her husband, Srinivasulu allegedly poured acid over her. She was rushed to hospital.

NCC activities

KURNOOL: The Deputy Director-General of NCC, Air Commandore James Sebastian, said special emphasis would be laid on adventure activities in the NCC training. Talking to reporters here on Sunday, he said a girl cadet from AP, Kamana Debey, was undergoing training for Mount Everest expedition in 2005. He said the NCC unit completed the Godavari river expedition covering 450 km. Sarpanches' meeting

MADANAPALLE: The Madanapalle division sarpanches and gram panchayat secretaries meetings would be held from September 20 to 25, said the Divisional Panchayat Officer, Madanapalle, Subba Reddy.

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