Date:04/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/04/stories/2008120454350400.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

‘Design change delayed Pulichintala’

Special Correspondent

Ponnala Lakshmaiah

HYDERABAD: Major Irrigation Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah has admitted in the Council that the Pulichintala project was delayed due to change in design and the land acquisition process.

Of the sum of Rs. 529.15 crore spent so far on the project, Rs.108 crore was utilised for barrage construction and the rest on land acquisition, rehabilitation, he said responding to a question from T.G.V. Krishna Reddy (Congress) Compensation for about 2,266 acres of affected land in Nalgonda and Guntur districts would be paid to farmers in a month and over 10,000 families displaced would be accommodated in the rehabilitation centres identified in both the districts, he said adding that the water under the project would be impounded by the next monsoon.

Minister of Medical Education G. Aruna Kumari informed M.V.S. Sarma (Teacher), in reply to another question, that notices were served on nursing colleges functioning without proper facilities and faculty. Pointing out that only those with M.Sc nursing qualification should be appointed as faculty in these colleges, he asked about the number of M.Sc qualified faculty in the State and how many of them were working in 168 private nursing colleges. The Minister said they were awaiting the report of Paramedical Board which was asked an year ago to look into facilities and faculty position in the colleges.

To a question on increasing chain snatching cases, Home Minister K.Jana Reddy said of 9,474 cases registered in the last four years of ornaments worth Rs.1.5 crore, valuables were recovered in 50 per cent of cases.