Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad, March 10: Taking exception to the silence being maintained by TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao over Million March, the Telangana Students Joint Action Committee (TSJAC) today demanded an explanation from him.

“The TRS chief should explain why he is backing away from the March. He initially raised a hue and cry over the proposed protest but is maintaining silence after his visit to New Delhi,’’ TSJAC president M Bhaskar said.

Rao had also tried to get the Million March programme deferred for sometime after meeting Congress leaders in Delhi, he said.

Rajhmundary, March 10: Demanding compensation for the crop loss incurred by them due to movement of ONGC heavy machinery through their fields, villagers of Katrenipadu have seized a rig since February 25 causing a loss of Rs 13 lakh per day to the oil major.

The obstruction caused by the villagers to its shifting to the drilling site has hit production of crude oil. The ONGC Rajahmundry Asset has to pay Rs 1.56 crore to the rig owner. It has also been losing 175 barrels of crude oil production per day due to non-operation of the rig.

Khammam, March 10: An idea may change your life. The SMS idea of joint collector MA Azeem has helped streamline the Public Distribution System (PDS) in Khammam district. The SMS system has been successfully implemented since August 2010. According to district civil supplies officer Devayya, no complaint has been received from any ration card holder pertaining to distribution of essential commodities by fair price shop holders after introduction of SMS system.

Hyderabad, March 10: Unexpected problems led to the closure of five power plants including two independent power producers causing a loss of 1,260 MW leading to power outage in more than 10 districts across the state. However, the AP-Genco and AP-Transco officials reacted swiftly and restored power generation in three of the five power plants.

Hyderabad, March 10: If there have been confusing signals vis a vis the Million March scheduled for Thursday, it is possibly because the Big Two of the Telangana movement, K Chandrasekhar Rao of the TRS and Prof M Kodandaram of the TJAC, differ on the intensity they must now employ to further their agitation goals.

Indications are that KCR wants to pause for a breath, and Kodandaram wants to maintain the momentum.

Tirumala, March 09: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Central Dharmic Advisory Council (CDAC) has decided to rope in pilgrims in dharmic activities and propagation of dharma. Briefing mediapersons about the deliberations during the meeting, CDAC chairman Rambabu said the focus of the meeting was on how to propagate dharmic activities to the grass-root level.

Hyderabad, March 09: West Godavari zilla parishad chairman Meka Seshu Babu has been expelled from the Congress for entering the MLC poll fray as a rebel candidate. The party nominated Ganga Bhavani as the candidate for AP Legislative Council from West Godavari Local Authority constituency.

PCC chief D Srinivas issued orders expelling Seshu Babu on Monday evening, after party leaders’ efforts to make him withdraw from the contest failed. Babu has the support of Kadapa former MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

There is opposition from the party leaders to Ganga Bhavani’s candidature.

Hyderabad, March 09: Telugu Desam MLAs from the Telangana region offered to resign from the Assembly if such an action can ensure creation of Telangana state.

Speaking to reporters here today, M Narasimhulu, A Revanth Reddy and others said that they would put in their papers if their counterparts in the ruling Congress and other parties did so. “We are not after posts or positions. Telangana is important to us,” they declared.

Hyderabad, March 09: The state will become self-sufficient in power by 2014 and have surplus power generation from 2017, AP Transco chairman and managing director Ajay Jain has said.

Speaking at a meeting of industry representatives, Jain said industry need not be worried as the power supply situation was better now than what used to be three or four years ago. He asked the power distributing companies (Discoms) of Transco to hold monthly meetings to sort out any technical problems.

Hyderabad, March 09: Cyberabad police on Monday arrested four property offenders involved in theft of laptops, chain snatching and house burglaries and recovered gold ornaments, laptops and other valuables worth more than `25 lakh from them.

Hyderabad, March 09: Even as women across the world celebrated Women’s Day on Tuesday, a private school teacher was murdered allegedly by her distant cousin while another woman ended her life depressed over her husband’s death in the city.

The private school teacher, T Shilpa Ratna Kumari (28), was married to Gopi Kumar, a contract supervisor of GHMC, and the couple were residing at Pamul Basthi in Amberpet. Shilpa, hailing from Warangal, and Gopi were married in 2007 after they fell in love.

Hyderabad, March 09: The state government is planning to collect user fee (toll fee) for the eight-lane main carriageway of Nehru Outer Ring Road expressway (NORR).

Initially the user fee will be levied on the completed stretch between Pedda Amberpet and Gachibowli from next month as the Hyderabad Growth Corridor Ltd (HGCL) of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) is in the process of entrusting the job to a private agency.

The HMDA will float tenders in a day or two and the process would be completed before April this year.

Hyderabad, March 09: Movie tickets might get costlier soon, if the Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber of Commerce (APFCC) has its way. The APFFC has proposed to hike the movie ticket prices from the existing Rs 50 to Rs 70 in individual cinema halls for high-budget movies.

A delegation of the APFCC called on Chief Secretary SV Prasad here today and made a representation with regard to the increasing cost of movie production. He sought permission to hike ticket prices for high-budget movies.

Hyderabad, March 09: With almost all service departments lagging behind by almost one month, officials want the state government to postpone the dates by another month, to complete the pending works proposed in the 100-day programme.

Senior officials admitted they were lagging behind the schedule mainly due to the model code of conduct in force for the elections to local authorities and graduates constituencies as well as due to the non- cooperation movement.

Hyderabad, March 09: The Egypt-style Million March, a brainchild of the Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC), slated for Thursday may or may not throw normal life out of gear. But the “build up” to the march is certainly sending a shiver or two up the spines of people especially students.

Intermediate, CBSE and ICSE exams are scheduled for the day. The TJAC has altered its timings to spare Inter students but still the other examinations would be in progress by the time — 1 p.m — the Telangana protestors hit the streets.

Hyderabad, March 08: The decision to scale down the Million March by Telangana separatist groups scheduled for this Thursday was not without its drama. The TJAC steering committee meeting that took place to address concerns expressed by students taking the Intermediate exams withnessed a heated discussion among the constituents of the coalition over whether or not to defer the march.

Hyderabad, March 08: The Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) met for six hours on Monday and decided to give the city half a reprieve from its threatened Million March scheduled for this Thursday. While the Telangana separatist coalition will go through with the march, it will be much scaled down from what was anticipated. It will also begin after the Intermediate exam scheduled for that day will have ended.

Chittor, March 08: Five candidates are left in the fray for the lone MLC local bodies’ constituency in the district after withdrawal of nominations ended yesterday.

Six persons filed nominations on the last day of filing on Saturday. A TDP dummy candidate, G Ramdoss Choudary, withdrew his nomination on Monday, leaving five in the contest.

With the nomination process coming to an end, the election scene in the district is heating up. The main contenders, the Congress, the TDP and the Jagan group, have shifted their focus to strategies to win the election.

Tirupati, March 08: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams has made elaborate arrangements for the annual Teppotsavam at Tirumala to be held from March 15 to 19.

Hyderabad, March 08: Congress MLAs from Telangana will hold protests every day in support of the separate statehood demand, a party MLA from the region said on Tuesday.

“We have decided to hold protests every day in different ways,” Congress MLA M Rajaiah told reporters.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi should give appointment to the ministers from Telangana as early as possible, he said. The ministers have sought an appointment with Gandhi to express their feelings on the separate Telangana demand to her.

Hyderabad, March 08: Telangana TDP Forum convenor Nagam Janardhan Reddy, who created a flutter in the Assembly by raising Jai Telangana slogans, received a flood of telephone calls from people from almost all the districts of the region. The callers included not only TDP activists but also Osmania University professors, advocates and students. Nagam poured his heart out while answering the innumerable phones calls.

Excerpts from a quick interview with Express:

What was the provocation for you to stall the proceedings?

Guntur, March 08: A septuagenarian Ali Baba and his wife Nurjahan Begum are anxiously watching TV news channels to know the fate of their son Ali Basha (26) whenever breaking news is aired. Basha is working in a cement company in Libya. Basha who has four sisters, went to Libya to work in a cement company after his high school studies.

Hyderabad, March 08: Alleging that the Andhra Pradesh government has reduced security provided to former Congress MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, one of his confidantes on Tuesday asked the government to provide fool-proof security to him.

“The supporters of Jagan have concerns about security being scaled down to him and the government should provide adequate security to him,” Ambati Rambabu, a former Congress MLA, told reporters.

Hyderabad, March 08: YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will take part in a dharna by fishermen and farmers in front of the Srikakulam district collectorate today demanding cancellation of land allotments for power plants in the districts.

The former Kadapa MP, who will tour the district for two days from tomorrow, will console the families of the two villagers who died in the police firing in Santabommali while they were agitating against the setting up of a thermal power plant in their area by the East Coast Energy Pvt Ltd.

Hyderabad, March 08: Appealing to all organisations working for securing statehood to Telagana to participate in the Million March here on March 10, leaders of various political leaders reiterated yesterday that they would resign from the legislatures or Parliament as the case may be to press their demand for separate Telangana.

Congress MP G Vivek, TDP MLAs Nagam Janardhan Reddy and Jaipal Yadav visited the Rytu Mahadeeksha camp organised by the Telangana Coordination Committee at Indira Park today demanding immediate introduction of a resolution in Parliament for state’s bifurcation.