Date:26/02/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/02/26/stories/2005022608650400.htm

Child dies in cracker blast

VISAKHAPATNAM: A baby girl died and three persons were severely injured in a cracker blast at Pisinikada village of Anakapalle mandal on Thursday night.

While Hyma (3) died of burns, her mother, B. Kumari, maternal aunt, Rama, and a two-month boy were critically injured. The injured have been shifted to the King George Hospital here for treatment.

The Mandal Revenue Officer, J. Seetharama Rao, the Circle Inspector, D. Ravi Babu, visited the scene.

Girl's body exhumed

ELURU: The police on Friday exhumed the body of Akula Nirmala Kumari (16), at Badampudi in Ungutur mandal of West Godavari district, 10 days after she committed suicide, following allegations of a police constable's involvement in the incident. According to the Chebrole Sub-Inspector, M. Sudhakar Rao, the girl committed suicide by consuming poison on February 16 and the body was buried by her parents without informing the police. However, her brother, Shyam Babu, lodged a complaint with the police holding Sanamandra Vijayasekhara Babu, a constable attached to the Nidamarru police station, responsible for the death.

The Sub-Inspector said inquest and post-mortem were conducted today and a case under Section 174 (suspicious death) was registered. Action would be taken against the said constable if his involvement was established.

PG students stage dharna

NALGONDA: Students of the Post Graduate College, Osmania University, on Friday staged a dharna in front of their college at Panagal near here to protest against the principal's behaviour with them and some of the woman staff members.

They students alleged that the principal, S. Anjaiah, had removed the posters of national leaders and pictures of gods from their hostel rooms. In a startling revelation, the lab attender of the College, a widow, told the Collector, K. Vijayanand, that the principal had been harassing her for raising an objection for his vulgar behaviour. The Collector asked the District Revenue Officer (DRO) to inquire into the allegations.

DIET students' plea

HYDERABAD: Students of District Institutes of Educational Training (DIETs) on Friday urged the Government to earmark the posts of Secondary Grade Teachers in schools only for those who had undergone training in DIETs.

Nearly 3,000 students of DIETs, who had come from all over the State, staged a sit-in at the Indira Park seeking reservation of SGT posts for them. They argued that their training module was more suitable for teaching primary school students. "We are trained in child psychology and teaching of five subjects for primary classes", they stated.

The Andhra Pradesh Backward Classes Welfare Association, R. Krishnaiah, led the demonstration.

Plea for removal of self-centres

KURNOOL: The president of Andhra Pradesh Private Educational Institutions Managements' Association, V. Janardhan Reddy, has urged the Government to abolish self-centres for private unaided schools to avoid irregularities.

Speaking to reporters here on Friday, he said a particular school was granted the status of self-centre where the students could take the SSC examination on the same premises. He said one school was also allowed to enrol students for SSC examination before being granted permission and instead of a fee of Rs. 600 per student, the school paid only Rs. 100 per candidate. The incidents gave an impression that all were not equal before law, he said.

Book released

Hyderabad: The Major Irrigation Minister, P. Lakshmaiah, today released a book written by Siddani Nagabushanam, a retired Government employee, on several aspects of the utilisation of the Godavari waters.

Titled `Godavari', the 300-page book highlights the continued under-utilisation of the Godavari waters and discusses the various options available with special focus on specific projects with the help of graphs and pictures.

Over 2,500 ducks perish NELLORE: More than 2,500 ducks have died in Manamala village of Ogili mandal, after they swallowed fertiliser granules in a paddy field. The ducks usually stray into nearby fields for feed. The value of ducks was said to be about Rs.1.50 lakhs.

`Struggle for crop price'

HYDERABAD: The CPI (Maoist) has given a call for a struggle by farmers and youth to secure remunerative price for agricultural produce. The party promised to support the struggle. A press release of the CPI (Maoist) said the cotton, chillies and tobacco farmers had taken to agitation in the last four days in various districts for remunerative price to their produce.

Ban on film sought

HYDERABAD: The youth wing of the National Congress of Indian Christians has demanded a ban on the screening of the Hindi film `Sins' alleging that it had hurt the community's sentiments. In a press note, the youth wing president, C. A. Daniel Adams, said the film showed fictional sexual escapades of a Catholic priest. He appealed to the Prime Minister, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister, National Commission for Minorities and the Central Board of Film Certification to intervene immediately.

CPI submits memorandum

HYDERABAD: A delegation of the Communist Party of India (CPI) has submitted a memorandum containing the resolutions adopted at the State conference of the party at Nalgonda recently to the Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. Among others, the CPI demanded a special package of Rs. 10,000 crore for Telangana's development and implementation of GO 610. Packages to tide over drought in Rayalaseema, north coastal districts and the upland areas of Prakasam district were also demanded.

Dry weather to prevail

Hyderabad: There was isolated rain in Telangana on Friday as a "local development". Weather was dry in Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. Minimum temperatures fell at one or two places in Rayalaseema and they changed little in Coastal Andhra and Telangana. The lowest night temperature for the day was 20 degrees Celsius and it was recorded by Arogyavaram and Bapatla. Weather will be mainly dry in the State on Saturday, according to a forecast by the State Met Office.

Training programme

TIRUPATI: A training programme for entrepreneurs on food processing was inaugurated at the Youth Hostel here yesterday. The Andhra Pradesh Productivity Council, NISIET and the Union Food Ministry was jointly organising the programme. Addressing the trainees, Balakoteswara Rao, Assistant General Manager of Andhra Bank enlisted the various loan packages provided by the bank. The Industries Promotion Officer, Yesudas, explained the schemes announced by the Government for the food processing industry.

Beedi workers

stage dharna

CUDDAPAH: Members of the Andhra Pradesh Beedi and Cigar Workers Union staged dharna before the Collectorate on Friday, seeking work guarantee, ESI facilities and house sites to beedi workers.

Nearly 10,000 beedi workers in Cuddapah district were getting work for only two to three days in a week due to scarcity of beedi leaves, the CITU district general secretary, N. Ravisankar Reddy, said. He sought work guarantee for at least five days in a week. He also sought medical facilities in ESI hospitals for the nearly 2,000 beedi workers in Cuddapah.

Complaint

against DPRO

CUDDAPAH: The Collector, Jayesh Ranjan, on Friday assured to order an enquiry into charges that the Cuddapah DPRO, B. Srinivasulu Reddy, `belittled' journalists of small newspapers and denied them information on official programmes. About 25 journalists complained to the Collector that the DPRO was being rude to them and not informing them about important programmes. Mr. Ranjan assured to order an enquiry by an official other than that of Information Department, and initiate appropriate action.

Mobile

science lab

Anantapur: The Jana Vignana Vedika will launch a mobile science laboratory here on March 1. The first exhibition will be held at Sri Krishnadevaraya Municipal High School. The purpose of launching the mobile lab is to cultivate inquisitiveness among students of classes IV to VI. The district Collector, Y.V. Anuradha, will inaugurate the mobile lab. Implements pertaining to about 200 experiments will be available in the mobile lab and it will be exhibited in Anantapur town and the surrounding mandals during March.

VDOs plea on

seniority list

NELLORE: The district unit of Village Development Officers' Association has urged the Panchayat Raj Commissioner to release the final zonal seniority list. Its other demands include promotion to VDOs, recalling of executive officers belonging to Cooperative Department and reduction of service from 10 years to 2 years for promotion to the post of senior assistant.