Andhra Pradesh

Thiruvantapuram, September 30: Four youths were arrested from Ochira in Kollam district today for allegedly sending provocative SMS messages to friends relating to the Ayodhya issue.

Police said the four – Jayakumar, Subhash, Manu and Jijo – were arrested this morning and would be produced before the First Class Judicial Magistrate Court at Karunagappally.

Sending messages in connection with the Ayodhya verdict, to be pronounced later today by the Allahabad High Court, has been banned by the state administration.

Hyderabad, September 30: Andhra Pradesh Central Power Distribution Company Limited (APCPDCL) has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) envisaging sale of 288 million units per day generated from the 1,200 MW SCCL thermal power plant proposed at Pegadapalli in Adilabad district.

APCPDCL chairman and managing director MT Krishna Babu and SCCL chairman and managing director S Narsing Rao signed the agreement here today in the presence of chief minister K Rosaiah.

Tirumala, September 30: For the first time in the annals of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the administration has lodged a complaint against three former Trust Board members – K Yadaiah, M Anjaiah, A Subrahmanyam -, five TTD employees and four others, including two deputy EO cadre officers, seeking criminal action against them in the Arjitha seva ticket scam.

Vijayawada, September 30: After many twists and turns, the sensational Ayesha Meera rape-cum-murder case finally culminated in a lifer for main accused Pidatala Satyam Babu (24) here on Wednesday sparking off protests from various quarters.

Satyam Babu of Anasagaram village in Krishna district was held guilty on two counts of murder and rape. He was handed life imprisonment for murdering Ayesha Meera, an under-graduate, under Section 302 of the IPC and asked to pay Rs 1,000 or undergo six more months in jail if he fails to pay up.

Hyderabad, September 27: Late in the evening last Sunday, engineering student Sekhar invited Divya, his junior at college, to his flat to celebrate his move to Mumbai. Sometime during the evening, he battered her to death on the floor of his flat. He was enraged that she had turned her affections to another boy.

In another such incident two days later, engineering student Praveen slashed the throat of Srisha, a student of his college, who he had been stalking for some two years. She is battling for life in hospital.

Tirupati, September 27: In what could be described as a miracle, the 20-year old girl who

had accidentally fallen into the deep valley of Avachari Kona, near Mokali Parvatam of Tirumala Hills four days ago, was today found alive and safe but with a fractured hand.

Hyderabad, September 27: Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member K Keshava Rao today expressed his anguish over different perceptions on nativity among Telangana leaders. The leaders have been speaking against one another affecting the movement, he said.

He told newsmen here that he was committed to Telangana cause but issues like nativity should not divide the movement. Leaders in Telangana should respect each other and build a united movement, irrespective of party affiliations.

Kadapa, September 27: OPPOSITION parties stepped up the offensive against the government, gheraoing Union minister of state for steel A Sai Pratap here today in protest against the withdrawal of the cheating case against Kadapa mayor P Ravindranath Reddy in connection with the fertiliser scam.

Tirupati, September 27: BJP National Executive member K Santha Reddy and 15 activists of the party were taken into custody here today when they were proceeding on KT Road to disrupt the exam conducted by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams for recruitment of staff.

A police contingent headed by DSP Gangaraju stopped Santha Reddy, who was leading a strong crowd of 100 party activists, from marching on the examination centre located on the KT Road.

A tense situation prevailed for some time when Santha Reddy entered into an argument with the police.

Hyderabad, September 27: The fight between the TDP and the TRS is hotting up. TRS activists are disrupting the meetings of the TDP leaders. This is apparently intended to hit back at the TDP for calling Chandrasekhar Rao as the only stumbling block for formation of Telangana state and digging into Rao’s past to attack him personally.

In Hyderabad and Karimnagar, TRS activists disrupted the meetings to be addressed by T Devender Goud and N Janardhan Reddy.

Anantapur, September 27: Telugu Desam Chief N Chandrababu Naidu commenced his three-day visit to Anantapur district today from the Kodikonda checkpost.

Huge crowds greeted him at every village on the way so much so that it took his convoy about five hours to cover a 30-km distance.

All along the route, at the request of people in different villages, Naidu conducted road shows.

At Chilamatthur he unveiled a statue of NTR and addressed public meetings in Lepakshi, Hindupur, Somandapalle, Penukonda and Dharmavaram mandals of the district.

Hyderabad, September 27: In order to clear the extra rush of passengers during the Dasara festival and holiday season, South Central Railway will run 129 special trains between various destinations from October 1 to 29.

Secunderabad-Bikaner special train will depart on October 6,13,20,27 and November 3,10,17, 24 and will leave Bikaner on October 10,17,24,31, November 7,14, 21 and 28 Hyderabad-Ajmer weekly special train will depart on October 1,8,15,22,29, November 5,12,19, 26 and will leave Ajmer on October 3,10,17,24,31 November 7,14,21 and 28.

Hyderabad, September 27: A first-hand view of the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) and Rajiv Awaas Yojana (RAY) projects was given to Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) corporators.

To understand the nature of the projects, a Powerpoint presentation was given by the HMR Ltd managing director NVS Reddy and additional commissioner for Urban Community Development (UCD), Priyadarshini.

Hyderabad, September 27: Noted Telugu writer Acharya SV Rama Rao has dedicated his research work titled ‘Palamuru Sahithi Vaibhavam’ to TRS chief and MP K Chandrasekhar Rao at a programme at the Telangana Bhavan here on Sunday. The TRS leader released the book and handed over the first copy to Prof Krishna Rao, head, department of Telugu, Osmania University.

“Though Telangana is known for literary movements, unfortunately it was not recognised by Andhra and Rayalaseema regions,” he observed and complimented SV Rama Rao for coming out with the book at the right time.

Hyderabad, September 27: The Election Commission has announced the schedule for revision of electoral rolls in Andhra Pradesh, state Chief Electoral Officer I V Subba Rao said here today.

The annual exercise would begin with the publication of draft rolls on October 30 and conclude by January five, he told reporters.

There are 5.80 crore voters in the state out of which 5.50 crore have got enrolled with photos.

Official machinery in the districts have conducted surveys at booth-level for updating the rolls, he said.

Hyderabad, September 26: Five persons including three children drowned in an irrigation tank in Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam district today, police said.

The incident took place near Baddupadu village when two women along with their three children had gone to the irrigation tank for washing clothes, they said.

While the women were busy washing cloths, the children aged between 10 and 12 years who were taking bath nearby slipped into the tank following which the women rushed for help.

Srikakulam, September 26: A daily labourer has been arrested on Sunday after his 13-year-old daughter lodged a complaint against him for sexually molesting with her at Ingham village, Kothur mandal in Srikakulam district.

According to police, the incident took place when the girl was alone with her father after her mother who too was a labourer, had gone for work.
The labourer is believed to have claimed that he was unwell and stayed at home.

Hyderabad, September 26: Inter-collegiate sports, games, cultural and literary meet will be organised jointly by the Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University and College of Home Science at the sports complex in the Angrau premises from September 27 to 30.

Speaking to mediamen here today, Dr. S V Ramakrishna Rao, dean, student affairs, Angrau said nearly 1,000 students from 13 different affiliated colleges of NG Ranga university will participate.

Hyderabad, September 26: PNR Infra, a Hyderabad-based infrastructure and construction firm, has clarified that it had nothing to do with the Commonwealth Games, contrary to a report published in these columns that the foot-overbridge that collapsed near the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in New Delhi was constructed by it.

In a statement issued here, the company said it was at no point of time involved in the preparations for the Commonwealth Games. It termed as far from the truth the report that the Delhi goverrnment had blacklisted it.

–Agencies

Hyderabad, September 26: Panchayat raj minister B Satyanarayana has expressed relief over the deletion of his name from the chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the city courts in the 2-million Euro Volkswagen scandal.

Speaking to reporters here today, the minister claimed that the fact that he had no involvement in the scam had been finally confirmed by the CBI. The minister said that the CBI had held a press conference in the morning at Delhi and stated that the names of the officials and non-officials of the state had been removed from the chargesheet.

Hyderabad, September 26: CPM state general secretary B V Raghavulu created a stir last week when he said the TDP was proving to be a hurder to his party’s efforts to cobble together a secular opposition front coopting the Praja Rajyam and Lok Satta. The statement raised eyebrows in the TDP, the CPM’s agitation partner. In a Q&A with Express, Raghavulu tried to explain what his plan really is.

Since the last general election, the CPM seems to have taken a back seat as far as people’s agitations are concerned.

Hyderabad, September 26: It took 14 agonising hours for RTC bus passengers, who left Vijayawada at 10 last night, to reach Hyderabad.

Their agony can be gauged from the fact that it took them nearly five hours to cover just a 25-km stretch between Chityal and Choutuppal as the bus crawled closer to the city.

This harrowing tale was aptly narrated by a regular commuter, M Srinivas, who was caught in one of the traffic jams on the National Highway-9 last night.

Warangal, September 26: A hoa x call stating that ragging was taking place on Kakatiya University campus kept police on tenterhooks on Friday night. On receiving the call from a coin box phone last night, the Warangal Urban SP alerted university police who visited Pothana hostel on the campus where PG second year students were accommodated.

Police took a student, Raju, who is pursuing PG second year and his brother, a non-boarder, present in a room to police station and enquired about the incident late last night. Early this morning, they called some junior students and enquired about it.

Hyderabad, September 26: Chief minister K Rosaiah today agreed to take up repairs to 47 dilapidated major temples in the state at a cost of Rs 30 crore.

Visakhapatnam, September 26: Suspected Maoists have killed two tribals in remote Kotagunnulu village of the district, police said today. Two tribals, P Srikanth and P Prasad (both in their late 20s), were believed to have been hacked to death by axe and other sharp weapons by a group of Maoists at the village late last night, Visakhapatnam (Rural) District Superintendent of Police Vineet Brijlal told PTI. “Both the tribals died on the spot,” the SP said.