Andhra Pradesh

Vijayawada, February 27: Union Minister of State for Railways K H Muniyappa today clarified that priority was given to Andhra Pradesh, after West Bengal, in announcing projects in the Railway budget.

Addressing a press conference here, he said the budgetary allocation for Andhra Pradesh for ongoing new lines, gauge conversion, doubling and electrification had also shown a significant increase of almost 27 per cent, compared to previous year.

”Seven new rail line projects were sanctioned to a length of 1,164.83 KM at a total cost of Rs 4,386 crore for Andhra Pradesh.

Vijayawada, February 27:Police arrested five people for organizing betting on the ongoing world cup and other cricket matches here today and seized a TV set, a Laptop, 12 mobile phones, one Voice Recorder, and balance sheets
besides cash of Rs 2.10 lakh from them.

Informing this at a press conference, Deputy Commisioner of Police M Ravindranadh Babu said the main accused Chimmiri Ranga Rao and one of his accomplices Juloori Veranjaneyulu had been organizing the betting for the last six months in the residence of Ranga Rao.

New Delhi, February 27: The issue of formation of a separate Telangana state is becoming ticklish for Congress with each passing day as party leaders from the sensitive region in Andhra Pradesh mount pressure on it to find an early

settlement.

With the budget session of Parliament on, partymen from Telangana region appear to have made a common cause in Lok Sabha with members of TRS and TDP from the region.

The leadership has brought temporary truce asking the party MPs to lie low for the next few days till the presentation of the budget is over.

Hyderabad, February 27: In order to impart advanced training to law enforcement agencies for investigating cyber crime, the prestigious Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy here plans to establish a first-of-its kind Digital Crime Analysis Centre.

“As part of providing advanced training to deal with cyber offences, we intend to have our own centre at the National Police Academy. The process has begun and we have already drawn up a programme. A proposal will soon be submitted to the Central Government,” Academy Director Rajiv Mathur.

Hyderabad, February 27: Those who are not enumerated in the current spell of census operations need not despair. Officials will take up a five-day revision programme from Tuesday, immediately after the completion of the census operations on Monday.

Residents of houses which are not covered by the census officials should call the Deputy Municipal Commissioners concerned so that they can send teams to take up the enumeration. The revision programme will be between March 1 and 5. The officials would also be taking up enumeration of the shelter less people on Monday night.

Hyderabad, February 27: In a departure from the stand taken by former MP Y S. Jaganmohan Reddy not to contest elections to Legislative Council, his supporters are gearing up to field independents against the Congress.

The appeal he issued on Friday to the electorate to vote as per their conscience is seen as a bid to allow his supporters in the Assembly and local bodies to back independent candidates

Congress MLAs from Kadapa owing allegiance to him announced on Saturday the name of former DCCB vice-chairman C. Narayana Reddy from Kadapa LAC as independent candidate.

Kakinada, February 27: A two-day exhibition organised by the Aditya Nursing Academy students was inaugurated by college chairman and Anaparthi MLA N. Sesha Reddy here on Saturday. As many as 60 stalls were arranged in the exhibition, depicting various ailments incurred to human beings and their treatments.

Vishakhapatanam, February 27: A panther strayed into the densely populated MVP Colony in the city and stay put in an abandoned quarter of the Police Department, adjacent to the Task Force Police Station on Saturday.

Hyderabad, February 27: The stalemate in the Assembly which could not transact any business for the eighth day in succession triggered off a blame game between the ruling Congress and the opposition parties.

While the Treasury Benches criticised the opposition for not facilitating the conduct of the business, the latter accused the Congress of its failure to take the responsibility in enabling hassle-free conduct of the proceedings.

‘Match-fixing’

The day witnessed mutual accusations of ‘match-fixing’ by members of the Congress, TDP and the TRS

Hyderabad, February 27: Talent Management International (TMI), in association with the National Skill Development Corporation, has launched ‘e2E Academy Private Limited’ here on Saturday, in order to address the mismatch between corporate sector expectations from employees and the skill set of the job seekers.

Hyderabad, February 27: Congress MP Ponnam Prabhakar has accused ‘rulers’ of the State of trying to divide Telangana MPs, MLAs and Ministers.

Talking to mediapersons here on Saturday, he, however, said a majority of the elected representatives were already taking part in the Telangana movement as per people’s wishes.

Mr. Prabhakar, who is convener of Congress MPs Forum from Andhra Pradesh, however, did not specify the names of these ‘rulers’.

He said, “Whoever is in the seat of power and all those who are running the show in the State now were the ones.”

Kadapa, February 27: A last minute effort to avert a split in the family of late YSR failed with Minister for Agriculture Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy spurning his nephew Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy’s offer to support him if he contested as MLC (from Local Authorities Constituency) from Kadapa district.

Hyderabad, February 27: In a volte face, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti MLAs denied they had attacked Lok Satta Party member Jayaprakash Narayan on the Assembly premises.

The TRS members claimed that they had, in fact, prevented the driver Mallesh when he tried to attack Dr. Jayaprakash.

Submit views

TRS MLAs — T. Harish Rao, K. Vijayarama Rao and K. Sammaiah — made this claim when they were asked to submit their views to Assembly Chief Marshal Arthur who had been asked to inquire into the incident.

Hyderabad, February 27: The Chairman-Managing-Director of the Central Power Distribution Company (APCPDCL) M.T. Krishna Babu indicated that the city might have to brace for power cuts during this summer, if not owing to the shortage likely to prevail due to non-availability of gas, then owing to the constraints of transmission network.

However, unlike the last summer when industries were imposed with three-day power holiday schedule and domestic sector with two-hour daily load relief, power cuts will be kept to a minimum this time round, he assured.

Hyderabad, February 27: Minister for Handlooms and Textiles P. Shankar Rao, who is frequently in the limelight for doing something unusual, was in the thick of action again on Saturday when he sat in dharna on the main road in front of the Secretariat where the members of the Telangana Non-Gazetted Officers Association were already staging a protest.

Dr. Shankar Rao took the onlookers and security personnel by surprise when he squatted on the road in support of the employees who went on a flash protest against the alleged “misbehaviour” of police officials against women staff members.

Hyderabad, February 26: Nearly two months after PSA Peugeot Citroen almost finalized its decision of setting shop in Andhra Pradesh, it now seems to be shying from investing in the State.

Hyderabad, February 26: As part of the RBI’s financial inclusion programme, State Bank of India (SBI) said its regional office in Warangal has so far appointed 38 business correspondents in the district.

“Several measures are being taken by the Reserve Bank of India under financial inclusion programme with an aim to deliver the financial services at an affordable cost to the vast sections of disadvantaged and low income groups especially in rural areas,’’ said A S Rao, regional director, RBI.

Hyderabad, February 26: Various people and members of the homosexual community in the city would be gathering for a peaceful protest in the city on Saturday after a city-based news channel aired a ‘sting operation’ on the gay community recently.

The protest, led by various NGOs like ‘Suraksha’ and ‘Expressions’, will take place on February 26 evening at 4 pm at Road No. 3, Banjara Hills, near the bus stop which is located outside the channel office.

Srikakulam, February 26: The fishermen of Santabommali mandal, who have been protesting against the setting up of a thermal power plant in the mandal, today fought a pitched battle with police leading to tension in the village. About 15 villagers and a couple of policemen were injured in the clashes.

Reminding the clashes between villagers of Sompeta and police in the district sometime ago, the villagers attacked the police personnel with sticks and the latter retaliated by firing tear gas shells.

Hyderabad, February 26: A division bench of the AP High Court comprising justice V. Eshwariah and justice V Suri Appa Rao on Friday overruled objections on whether a public interest writ petition can be filed for an enquiry into the Emaar scam before the High Court.

Hyderabad, February 26: Buckling under pressure from people in Telangana, particularly from the employees and students, Telangana Congress MLAs have come out openly to register their protest on Telangana issue on the floor of the Assembly today. They have decided to continue their protests in the Assembly.

Shortly, the ministers and MLAs from the region would leave for New Delhi to convince their party president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on statehood issue.

Hyderabad, February 26: In a better haul than last year, the State has bagged 28 new train services this time, seven more than the previous year. Further, seven new lines were sanctioned along with implementation of six projects under MMTS Phase-II and other capacity building projects. These projects worth Rs. 3,666 crore will be implemented over the next 5-7 years.

Hyderabad, February 26: Minister for legislative affairs D Sridhar Babu today made it clear that an Assembly resolution on the Telangana issue would be possible only if there is consensus among the members. “We (Congress members) are not ready to make any efforts to take ahead other partys’ (referring to TRS) agenda. The Congress will strive to convert Telangana people’s sentiments into a reality,” he remarked.

Kadapa, February 26: The Congress leadership is reported to have said a firm ‘no’ to agriculture minister YS Vivekananda Reddy’s plea for a ticket for his son-in-law N Rajasekhara Reddy to contest the Kadapa Lok Sabha byelection.

Since defeating YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on his home turf is going to be a challenge, the party leadership is looking for a strong candidate to take on the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s son in the electoral battle. Vivekananda Reddy made it clear that his son-in-law was not in the race for the ticket reportedly after he got this hint from the leadership.

Hyderabad, February 26: Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who reached Delhi today, discussed the list of probably candidates for the elections to 20 MLC seats with party seniors Ahmed Patel and Veerappa Moily.

The chief minister, after discussing the probables with PCC president D Srinivas for the last three days, left for the national capital in the evening. He prepared a list of 10 candidates for each seat and presented them before the party seniors.