Andhra Pradesh

Vijayawada, January 08: There will be no power cut in the state, including in agriculture, industrial and domestic sectors, in the ensuing summer as the APTransco has already initiated several measures to meet the growing demand, its CMD Ajay Jain said.

Speaking to presspersons here today on the sidelines of zonal review meeting on power supply to agriculture sector and setting up of new substations, Ajay Jain said it was decided to purchase 1000 MW of power for March and 800 MW for April at a cost of Rs 620 crore to meet the increase in demand.

Hyderabad, January 08: Senior TD leader from Telangana K Srihari said that the Telangana TDP Forum ‘rejected’ the report of the Srikrishna Committee, which was ‘biased and influenced’.

No option given by Srikrishna was acceptable to the Telangana TDP, he said.

Speaking to reporters after a strategy meeting of the Telangana TDP Forum here today, Srihari said the report was ‘hopeless’. The Committee went beyond its terms of reference and touched upon various other issues, he said.

Hyderabad, January 08: Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K Chandrasekhar Rao appears to be not in a tearing hurry to take the movement for T state forward, preferring a slow but steady approach.

Chandrasekhar Rao is busy discussing the implications of the Srikrishna Committee report and is constantly in touch with his leaders in all Telangana districts taking feedback about the prevailing situation.

Hyderabad, January 08: A delegation of Andhra Pradesh Congress MPs today met UPA chairperson and AICC chief Sonia Gandhi requesting her to intervene on the ‘injustice’ meted to the state due to the Krishna water dispute tribunal award.

In response, Gandhi suggested the MPs should meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union water resources minister Pavan Kumar Bansal to discuss the issue.

Hyderabad, January 08: The need to insulate physical commons in rural areas from getting privatized and discussions on how they can be kept with the rural people will be the main focus of the upcoming International Conference on Commons.

The 13th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Commons (IASC) on ‘Sustaining Commons: Sustaining Future’ will be held in Hyderabad from January 10 to 14 at the Dr Marri Channa Reddy Human Resource Development Institute of Andhra Pradesh.

Hyderabad, January 08: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N Chandrababu Naidu is a relaxed man now. He need not tell his opinion on separate Telangana demand anymore.

Sources said that Naidu is of the opinion that the Centre had to take a decision now on the separate state demand, as the Srikrishna Committee had submitted its report. The TDP has already announced that it will extend all possible help for creating a separate Telangana through constitutional means.

Naidu wants the Telangana TDP Forum to aggressively target the Congress to keep its assurance on separate Telangana.

Karimnagar, January 8: The Telugu Desam party, which was virtually split over the Telangana issue, will be receiving another shock as Choppadandi MLA, Mr Suddala Devaiah has reportedly decided to leave the party and join the TRS, closely following former minister, Mr Pocharam Srinivas Reddy.

Kadapa, January 08: Former Kadapa MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy will officially announce the name of the party that he will float at YSR Ghat at Idupulapaya here on January 13, according to former mayor P Ravindranadha Reddy.

Disclosing this to mediapersons at Khazipet today, he said the new party would fulfill the aspirations and aims of the late chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy.

Hyderabad, January 07: Bhanu Kiran, prime suspect in the killing of Maddelacheruvu Suryanarayana Reddy alias Suri, who continued to evade the police might have fled out of Andhra Pradesh, a top police official said today.

“We are pursuing the Suri (murder) case. He (Bhanu) might have gone out of Andhra Pradesh,” State Director General of Police K Aravinda Rao told reporters here.

Hydearbad, January 07: Hours before the all-party meeting in New Delhi to discuss the Srikrishna Committee report, unidentified persons hurled stones and set ablaze two (RTC) buses at Osmania University.

The incident took place around 10.30 p.m. The miscreants rained stones on the buses when they reached the Law College forcing them to halt. All the passengers were asked to get down and the buses were then set ablaze. University police rushed to the spot.

–Agencies

Hyderabad, January 07: Health infrastructure in the state has grown at a slow pace and therefore the per capita availability of many facilities has stagnated or increased marginally. The government health facilities (hospital beds and doctors) per lakh population are the highest in Rayalaseema region followed by coastal Andhra region.

New Delhi, January 07: When Justice B N Srikrishna spoke to the press a week ago ahead of submitting his committee’s Telangana report to the Union government, the former Supreme Court judge’s comments on it were replete with metaphors of child-birth.

Hyderabad, January 07: This chapter has examined the demand for a separate state of Telangana from the viewpoint of diverse social and cultural groups inhabiting the three regions of the state. These social groups have visibly and vocally participated in the movement, articulating their reasons for wanting or not wanting the separate state of Telangana.

Hyderabad, January 07: Congress leaders belonging to the Telangana and Seemandhra regions have refused to react to the recommendations made by the Srikrishna Committee, saying the report needs to be studied fully and carefully. However, leaders of the Congress Action committee For Telangana (CAFT) have welcomed one of the recommendations _ creation of a separate Telangana as it had existed prior to 1956.

Guntur, January 07: Samaikyandhra leaders today welcomed the unified Andhra Pradesh option of Srikrishna Committee report. Speaking to Express, Samaikyandhra political JAC convener N Samuel said the government should act immediately to thwart any law and order problem in the state following the disclosure of the report. The government should also take up development works in the backward regions mentioned by the committee. The people’s views on the report should be considered. The JAC will carefully go through the committee report, he said.

Hyderabad, January 07: Contrary to apprehensions of a severe backlash in the Telangana region to the Justice Srikrishna Committee report, the situation in the entire region remained more or less peaceful today. Only the Osmania University campus in Hyderabad witnessed some unrest with students hurling stones and the police lobbing of tear-gas shells in retaliation.

The issues raised by Muslims of the various regions in support of their views are described below:

New Delhi, January 07: Evidently, the B N Srikrishna Committee report is carefully drafted. For instance, when it speaks of the creation of a separate Telangana state, it delves deep into entailing problems – like the apprehensions of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema people and others who have settled in Hyderabad and other districts of Telangana with regard to investments, properties, livelihood and employment.

“These would need to be adequately addressed and confidence instilled that their safety and security would get the highest priority from the new dispensation,” the report said.

Hyderabad, January 07: Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) MLA Eravat Anil Kumar, who represents Balkonda Assembly segment in Nizamabad district, today faced embarrassment and had to leave Indira Park, the venue of JAC’s dharna, when Telangana activists tried to manhandle him. He left the place with police escort.

The dharna was organised by T-JAC protesting against the Srikrishna Committee report. Leaders of all the JAC constituents, including TRS, BJP, CPIML New Democracy and Banswada MLA Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, who recently quit the TDP, attended the protest programme.

Karimnagar, January 07: Contrary to the expectations of local police, people staged peaceful demonstrations opposing recommendations of the Srirkrishna Committee report. There were no reports of violence in Karimnagar district.

At Indira crossroads (Telangana Chowk) in Karimnagar town, JAC leaders set ablaze Srikrishna committee in effigy.

In Jagtial, nearly 15 ABVP activists climbed atop the revenue divisional office and threatened to jump from it if the central forces were not withdrawn from the district. They also demanded introduction of Telangana bill in the Parliament.

Rajhmundary, January 07: Amalapuram MP GV Harsha Kumar hailed the Srikrishna Committee report for its main option of unified Andhra Pradesh for all-round growth. Commenting on the report, the MP termed it good which was submitted after an indepth study of all relevant aspects. If people of Telangana abide by the Srikrishna Committee report, they should not speak about separate statehood for the region in future, he said.

Rajahmundry MP Vundavalli Aruna Kumar refused to comment on the report. The MP said he along with some others decided not to make any comment on the report now.

Khammam, January 07: The Telangana joint action committee (JAC) staged dharnas protesting the Srikrishna Committee report at various places in the district today. The pro-Telangana activists staged rastorkos and dharnas in Khammam, Kothagudem, Yellandu, Sattupalli, Palvoncha, Manugur and Bhadrachalam. Hundreds of activists came out on streets after the committee report was made public and protested against the recommendation of a unified Andhra Pradesh.

–Agencies

Banglore, January 07: The somewhat-fragile BJP government in Karnataka has been dealt another blow: An expert committee has ruled that Cabinet ministers, the Reddy brothers, have been running an illegal mining empire across the border in Andhra Pradesh, and that their mining licenses should be cancelled.

The report of the Centrally Empowered Committee (CEC), set up by the Supreme Court, says that G Janardhana Reddy and his brother Karunakara Reddy have been mining in areas demarcated as Forest Areas since 2004.

Hyderabad, January 07: Nothing short of Telangana with Hyderabad as its capital will satisfy the people of the region, Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekhara Rao has asserted.

Reacting to the report of the Justice BN Srikrishna Committee here today, the separatist leader said: “We want the Telangana that existed prior to 1956 with Hyderabad as capital. The other options that the committee had suggested mean nothing to us.”

Hyderabad, January 06: Former Kadapa MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will hire a special train to take people to Delhi for his day-long hunger strike at Jantar Mantar on January 11.

The special train will leave Secunderabad on the evening of Jan 9. Jagan Mohan Reddy will also travel by the same train along with 1,400 to 1800 people, including farmers.