The Hindu : Briefly

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 08, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Briefly

Injured cops brought to Vizag

VISAKHAPATNAM: Three policemen injured in the attack by People's War naxalites at Koraput of Orissa were admitted to various hospitals in the city on Saturday.

The Koraput jail superintendent, B.B. Padiya, who suffered a bullet injury in his left leg, underwent an operation at the King George Hospital. The KGH resident medical officer, U. Swarajyalakshmi, said his condition was stable. Prem Prakash, and Ashok Kumar, two constables belonging to the CRPF, who suffered injuries in Friday night's landmine blast, were admitted to a corporate hospital. The condition of Mr. Prem Prakash, who had a head injury, was stated to be critical.

Following the attack on the district jail, treasury and other places and snatching of several weapons by naxalites at Koraput, the authorities issued directions to all police stations and combing parties to remain on high alert, the Visakha Range DIG, Tushar Aditya Tripathy, said.

Meet held on flood control measures

SRIKAKULAM: Irrigation officials here held talks with their counterparts from Orissa on flood control mechanisms on the Vamsadhara river to be taken up by either side. Today's talks were a consequence of an agreement reached last July after a meeting of experts from either side that pre-monsoon and post-monsoon meetings should be held to apprise each other of flood control measures. The expert teams were sent by the Andhra Pradesh and Orissa Governments after the latter had taken exception to the construciton of spurs in Kottur constituency on the Andhra Pradesh side. In tune with the agreement, two spurs under construction at Solikiri and Baleru were converted into launching aprons, according to the Vamsadhara Superintendent Engineer, G Prasada Rao, who participated in the talks today. The Orissa side was represented by the SE of Berhampore, AK Dahl, and the Chikiti EE, AK Padi.

Intermediate exam on schedule

CHITTOOR: Intermediate examination will be held as per schedule and there will be no interruption due to the elections, according to S. Sasanka Goel, Director, Intermediate Board.

He was speaking at a seminar on the effect of globalisation on Intermediate education, organised by Government junior college principals here today.

He said that the Election Commission had not announced the election schedules both for the Lok Sabha and the State Assembly. He said the standard at the Intermediate level was good in the State.

Three held on extortion charge

Rajahmundry: Three persons -- B. Krishna Murthy (50), a former head constable in the Border Security Force, Tunuku Malleswara Rao (45) and Upparapalli Satyanarayana (44), who wanted to make a fast buck allegedly by writing threatening letters in the name of the People's War -- found themselves behind the bars on Saturday. All the three belonged to Rajahmundry. The Superintendent of Police, Givinda Singh, said Bhupendra Kumar Ganesh, a businessman in the city, had received four letters in the name of PW asking him to deposit Rs. 5 lakhs with one Krishna Murthy, failing which there would be serious consequences. Krishna Murthy himself wrote those letters. The venue at which the cash was to be handed over was specified. Mr.Bhupendra Kumar approached the SP who directed the police in Rajahmundry to lay a trap. Fake currency bundles with genuine hundred rupee note at the top and bottom of the bundle for Rs.1 lakh were prepared and Mr. Bhupendra Kumar went to the appointed venue where the three were caught while receiving the money. Mr. Govinda Singh said the letters and phone calls received by the former Mumidivaram MLA some time ago were also found to be false. But the culprits were yet to be nabbed.

Naxals blast railway station

ANANTAPUR: Naxalites belonging to the People's War blasted a railway station at Chinnakuntapalli in Bathalapalli mandal, about 45 km from here, on the meter-gauge section in the district on Saturday morning. Contacted, the Superintendent of Police, Anil Kumar, said two lungi-clad persons went to the railway station around 9 am and sought to purchase two tickets, as the Bellary-Guntakal-Pakala train was scheduled at 10 am. The two assailants, then threatening the clerk with revolvers, identified themselves as People's War naxalites and stated that they would blast the railway station. They also called out the assistant station master and a few others in the waiting room. They placed explosives in the ASM's room and blasted it. The ASM's room and the waiting room were completely damaged in the blast. They left a letter with the ASM stating that their act was in protest against the killing of three of their leaders in fake encounters in Cuddapah and Chittoor districts recently.

The naxalites ran towards the hillocks after completing their task. The loss was estimated at about Rs. 2 lakhs. Train services in the section were not affected as no damage was caused to the track.

Former TDP MLA joins Congress

Hyderabad: The former TDP MLA, Vadde Chennaiah of Railway Kodur of Cuddapah district, joined the Congress here on Saturday. He met the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president, D. Srinivas, and took primary membership of the party.

Cold-wave conditions in North Telangana

Hyderabad: Cold-wave conditions set in north Telangana on Saturday due to a variety of factors, including the presence of a low-level trough.

The region shivered in chilly weather with minimum temperatures suddenly falling at many places. Adilabad spent the coldest night with the temperature nosediving here to a low of 7 degrees C for the 24-hour period ending this morning.

The State Met office issued a warning alerting the region against continuance of "cold wave" for one or two days. With the trough being present, Nellore and Prakasam districts are likely to get isolated rain on Sunday. Weather will be mainly dry in Telangana and rest of coastal Andhra. During the period, there was isolated rain in coastal Andhra while weather was mainly dry in Telangana and dry in Rayalaseema. The minimum temperatures were significantly below normal at many places in Telangana but significantly above normal at a few places in Rayalaseema and normal in coastal Andhra.

Small savings mobilisation

KURNOOL: The Collector, Ajay Jain, has asked officials concerned and agents of small savings to increase the business taking advantage of the growing savings culture among the public.

Addressing a function after announcing prizes for winners among depositors and agents here on Saturday, he said the network of small savings surpassed the target by mobilising Rs. 39 crores as against the target of Rs. 20 crores.

Sports kits' distribution

KURNOOL: The Collector, Ajay Jain, has said sports kits will be diverted to other areas if the beneficiary groups do not collect them by February 11.

Addressing a meeting of MPDOs on Saturday, he said the distribution was incomplete in over 30 mandals and wanted the MPDOs seeking extra quota to make their indent on February 12.

Lok Adalat at Nandyal

NANDYAL: The Third Additional Sessions and District Judge, A. Pullaiah, settled 17 cases, including eight civil cases involving an amount of Rs. 15.23 lakhs, at a Lok Adalat on Saturday. The judicial officers -- Y. Venkateswarlu, Dattatreyulu and M.V. Ramesh -- assisted the judge.

Indra Ratna Award presented

TIRUPATI: The Indra Ratna Trust of Chennai presented Indra Ratna Award-2003 to Parvati, president of Amma's Union, promoted by RISE and the Stree Shakti Sanghatana, at Phooley School in Jeevakona here on Friday. The award carried a cash amount of Rs.50,000, a trophy and a citation.

Free medical camp today

MADANAPALLE: A free medical examination and general surgery camp will be held in the CSI Church compound at Kalikiri on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to B. Wesley, director, Arogyavaram Medical Centre. Cases of asthma, orthopaedic, ENT and dental problems will be attended to at the camp.

`Dial Collector' postponed

KURNOOL: The `Dial Your Collector' programme has been postponed to February 16, according to a press note here.

Students stage dharna

NELLORE: Students of D.K. Women's College, led by functionaries of the Students Federation of India, staged a dharna in front of the district Backward Classes Welfare Office on Saturday demanding immediate release of pending scholarships.

CITU workers' rasta roko

NELLORE: Workers of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions staged rasta roko at RTC Complex here on Saturday asking settlement of their demands.

Scampi farming in Nellore

NELLORE: The regional centre of the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) at Vijayawada has decided to post a special team here to receive, scrutinise and assess the subsidy for development of scampi farming in the district.

It has been stated that xerox copies of application forms printed by the MPEDA will be accepted. Applications recommended by a four-member committee and depending upon the fund availability, subsidy will be released.

30 injured as lorry overturns

Cuddapah: Thirty persons sustained injuries, four of them severely, when a papaya-laden lorry overturned near Mukkavaripalle in Obulavaripalle mandal on Saturday. The lorry was going from Kodur to Gadela. The injured persons were admitted to a hospital at Kodur.

Campaign launched

ADILABAD: The Directorate of Field Publicity, Nizamabad unit, in association with the District Women and Child Development Agency and SAIDS, an NGO, jointly launched a six-day multi-media campaign on `Iodine deficiency disorders' (IDDs) and AIDS in Khanapur and Kadam mandals.

The Nirmal RDO, Ashok Kumar, launched the campaign at Khanapur mandal headquarters on Saturday. The Project Director of the District Women and Child Development Agency, V. Ramulu, the Khanapur Mandal Parishad president, Rameshwar Reddy, and others attended. The Nizamabad Field Publicity Officer, I. Haribabu, was also present.

Selected for sports meet

KARIMNAGAR: A disabled sportsperson and RTC employee, M. Srinivasa Rao, has been selected to represent India for the `Israel 4th Open Championships-2004', which would be held from March 19 to 21 this year at Jerusalem.

The Commonwealth Disabled Sports Association of India represented Mr. Srinivasa Rao to participate in badminton. He had earlier participated in several international sports events and won prizes, a press release said.

Students' distinction

NIZAMABAD: Jatin Puri, an eighth class student of R.B.V.R.R. High School, Nizamabad, bagged first prize in physical sciences category of the South-India Science Fair held at Kozhikode in Kerala this month.

Puri, who represented the State, had exhibited articles and made a power-point presentation on the tools of conservation of energy. He also presented a research paper narrating the experiences of different industries, household and automobiles in saving energy.

Puri, along with his classmate, Akash Gupta, secured the prize. The students were accompanied by their teacher, A. Krishna Reddy.

Science convention

KARIMNAGAR: The Democratic Teachers' Federation (DTF) is organising its second State Educational and Science convention in Karimnagar from February 13 to 15 at Padmanayaka Kalyana Mandapam.

In a press note on Saturday, the DTF State general secretary, M. Gangadhar, and the treasurer, K. Narayana Reddy, said that the Minister for School Education, Mandava Venkateswara Rao, would inaugurate the convention.

Plea to delete bogus voters

KARIMNAGAR: Expressing concern over prevalence of at least 10 to 15 per cent bogus voters in the new lists, the Lok Satta district unit has demanded that the district administration delete all the bogus voters from the list.

In a press note here on Saturday, the Lok Satta district president, T. Rajamouli, said during their random survey in all Assembly constituencies of the district it was found that bogus voters still existed in the lists. Out of 848 voters verified in Karimnagar town at polling station number 82, it was found that 108 were ineligible, he said.

CM to visit Kothagudem

KHAMMAM: The Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, will attend the `janda panduga' of the Telugu Desam Party in Kothagudem on Monday. This will the first major programme of the party aimed at giving a kick-start to the election campaign in the district.

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