Date:13/11/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/11/13/stories/2004111304100400.htm

Civic Commissioner in ACB net

GUNTUR: Anti-Corruption Bureau sleuths on Thursday night raided the house of Municipal Commissioner of Sattenapalle, P. Dev Singh, and took him into custody for interrogation following allegations of bribery by DWCRA members of Macherla in Guntur district.

A member of the Sai DWCRA Sangham, M. Savitramma, told reporters that Mr. Singh had not released some bills relating to a Rs.1.2-lakh contract with the Macherla Municipality while he was working there. He had allegedly sought a gratification of Rs.6,000, which she had paid him in Guntur on Thursday.

Man thrashed at `praja court'

KARIMNAGAR: People of interior Sarvaipeta village of Mahadevpur mandal reportedly thrashed a man for allegedly killing his wife, at a `praja court' organised by the CPI-ML Janashakti group on Thursday. Reports reaching here said armed naxalites, led by the Mahadevpur and Mahamutharam area commander, Ramakanth alias Chaudhary Srinu, conducted the `praja court' at the village centre. The accused -- Balaraju and L. Bapu -- had been absconding ever since the murder and claiming that they were Janashakti militants. The naxalites caught hold of the duo and presented them before the "praja court.'' On interrogation, the two confessed to killing Sumalatha by drowning her in the Godavari while they were proceeding to Motla village of Maharashtra. This enraged the girl's parents and villagers who beat the duo with sticks. Balaraju sustained serious injuries and fainted. After the local RMP refused to treat him, Balaraju's father took him to Motla village. The Mahadevpur police have registered a case of rioting against the naxalites.

Coalminers serve strike notice

ADILABAD: A joint action committee of Left trade unions like the Singareni Karmika Samakhya (Sikasa), the Godavari Boggugani Karmika Union and the Telugu Nadu Trade Union Congress have served notice on the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) for a one-day token strike on November 24.

General Motors team meets YSR

Hyderabad: A team of General Motors Holding Company (General Motors Acceptance-CMAC) called on the Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, on Friday to discuss its expansion plans.

The company is contemplating expanding its finance, insurance and mortgage processing in the State. The team, comprising Mike Lipson, executive vice-president, Larry Klligman, co-managing director, Karen Bellezza, senior vice-president and Barbara Nigues, head of India operations, sought logistical support to expand the company's network here. Dr. Reddy directed officials to clear any hurdles quickly so that the company could go ahead with its plans.

Two held for theft at steel plant

VISAKHAPATNAM: Two persons were apprehended by the CISF unit in Visakhapatnam Steel Plant when they attempted to steal iron and scrap on Thursday morning. According to the Crime Inspector of CISF, S.P. Rajendran, some persons concealed scrap material in a railway wagon and were hiding inside the wagon.

A CISF guard patrolling near the rail bridge spotted them and sounded an alert. One Palla Prakash was nabbed and 530 kg of scrap worth nearly Rs.9,500 was recovered. In another incident, one Satra Govind was caught with stolen iron material in his scooter boot. CISF personnel caught him at the main gate with 101 kg of iron worth over Rs.2,000.

Two girls drowned in checkdam

KURNOOL: Two girls drowned in a checkdam at Mandalur village under Rudravaram police station limits on Friday. According to reports, the girls, who were identified as B. Rajeswari (12) and P. Sirisha (13) who got into the checkdam to drink water accidentally fell into it and died. A woman tried to rescue them, but could not succeed. The bodies were fished out.

One killed in gas cylinder blast

RAZOLE: One person was killed and another suffered critical injuries when a gas cylinder exploded in Razole, coconut trade centre in the Konaseema region, on Thursday. According to the police, Pedamallu Satyanarayana Murthy (28), a grocery merchant, tried to ignite a gas light in his shop following power failure. The gas light slipped from his hands and fell down on the cylinder.

Both gas light and cylinder exploded and under its impact the shop wall collapsed bringing him under the debris. The merchant died instantaneously while his father, Nageswerarao (54), was badly injured. The police on Friday clarified that the blast was due to the bursting of gas light and cylinder and there was no cracker blast feared.

MRPS men gherao Minister

ANANTAPUR: The Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi Sri Krishnadevaraya University unit gheraoed the Minister for Lift Irrigation and Rain-shadow Areas, M. Mareppa, here on Thursday in protest against the Supreme Court verdict against the categorisation of Scheduled Castes (SCs). Student leaders said classification of SCs was achieved after a prolonged struggle and the verdict was an insult heaped on the Madiga community.

They said the State Government should impress upon the Centre to make a law on the classification. They appealed to the Government to put on hold B.Ed and engineering admissions and appointments of DSC and APPSC. The MRPS leaders -- Nagaraju, Prasad, Chinnaraju and Anand -- and others participated.

Millers' plea on levy rice

HYDERABAD: The Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, has assured rice millers that he will take up with the Centre, their demand for maintaining a status quo on the procurement price of levy rice. He asked the Civil Supplies Commissioner to hold detailed discussions with the millers and sort out their problems.

The grievances relating to the Commercial Taxes department would be referred to it for their redress. Dr. Reddy gave these assurances to representatives of the Rice Millers Association of Andhra Pradesh when they met him at Secretariat on Thursday.

RTC workers' dharna on Nov. 18

HYDERABAD: The APSRTC Transport Mazdoor Sangh will stage a dharna before the Transport Commissioner's office on November 18 and observe November 30 as Struggle Day, protesting against what it termed the "indifferent attitude" of the State Government in curbing illicit operations which were cutting into the corporation's profits.

In a press release here on Friday, the general secretary, M. Nageswara Rao, said the tardy implementation of G.O. Ms. Nos. 148 and 36, which provides stringent action against illicit operations, were hurting the corporation to the tube of Rs. 500 crores a year.

Arogyavaram records 15° c

Hyderabad: Night temperatures fell in the State on Friday with Arogyavaram recording the lowest of 15 degree Celsius. Guntur, Nizamabad, Tirupati and Gudur recorded a rainfall of 1 cm each.According to a Met Office forecast here, there will be light to moderate rain at a few places in Rayalaseema on Saturday.

Virasam leader's works

TIRUPATI: A workshop will be organised on the works of Tripuraneni Madhusudhana Rao, founder-member of `Virasam'-- Revolutionary Writers Association, here on November 13. His various essays and commentaries on Marxist philosophy, imperialism, capitalism, class war etc will be discussed. Noted speakers, litterateurs and advocates of Marxist philosophy will attend the workshop.

Balaratna award

ANANTAPUR: Nine-year-old Amrutha P. Nayar of Anantapur has been chosen for the Balaratna award for her classical dance performance at the State level competition conducted by Jawahar Balbhavan at Hyderabad recently. She would receive the award from the Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, on November 14.

FFW rice seized

KURNOOL: The police seized a tractor carrying 120 bags of rice near Adoni on Thursday. According to reports, the rice which was meant for food for work programme at Peddaharivanam was being transported to open market. A person, identified as Abdul Rauf, who was responsible for the transporting of rice was arrested.

Auto drivers observe bandh

KURNOOL: Auto-workers observed bandh here on Thursday to protest against the hike in the prices of petrol and diesel. The auto operators demanded enhancement in the fare from Rs 4 to 5 in the city. The CITU and AITUC sponsored the auto bandh, which was almost total in the city.

Ex-DIG dead

NELLORE: A former DIG of Police, Babjee, passed away at Hyderabad on Friday. He is the father-in-law of Nellore district Collector, B. Rajsekhar.

Paediatric camp

NELLORE: A free paediatric camp will be held at the Reading Room of Town Hall, Nellore, on Sunday by the town branch of Indian Academy of Paediatrics. Experts from all over the district will attend the camp, which will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Akshara Bharati

NELLORE: The district Collector, B. Rajsekhar, has said that the `Akshara Bharati' programme aimed to identify 1,56,745 illiterates in the age group of 15 to 35 years in the district and make them literates, will be launched on November 14, coinciding with the birthday of former Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.

Cadets' feat

TIRUPATI: Narendra and Somasundaram, cadets of NCC 1/11 Flight Air Wing, S. V. Arts College here were part of the team that won the `Best Technical Trophy' at the All India Vayusainik camp 2004 held at Bangalore.

`Deepotsavam'

TIRUPATI: `Kartheeka Deepotsavam' will be celebrated at the TTD-run Sri Kapileswara temple here on November 26. `Kartheeka Somavaram' will be observed on November 15, 22, 29 and December 6 and 13 (Mondays) and `Skanda Shashti Utsavam' on Nov 17 at the temple.