Andhra Pradesh

Hyderabad, March 27: Cuting across ideological lines, the TDP, MIM, CPM and BJP today lashed out at the State Government for its “failure’’ to maintain law and order and to check the crime rate in Andhra Pradesh.

The people were living in fear across the State, particularly in the urban areas, they remarked.

Raising the issue during Question Hour in the State Assembly today, senior TDP member M Narsimhulu demanded that the Government scrap the advisory committees for law and order and public safety.

Hyderabad, March 27: Bowing to the pressure mounted by the industrial sector in general and small scale industries in particular against frequent power cuts, the State Government has decided to supply power for one eight-hour shift during the notified 48 hour power holiday in a week. The Government is currently imposing a two-day power holiday per week on industrial sector.

Kurnool, March 27: India, it is said, lives in her villages.

And what kind of life is it? Certainly far removed from the romantic song and dance sequences in films set against swaying, green paddy fields and alluring blue ponds.

Hyderabad, March 27: Two persons were brutally done to death while another suffered injuries in an attack by some unidentified person, in a vegetable market at Vikarabad in the neighbouring Rangareddy district.

The murders came to light today morning at around 5.30 a.m when local farmers found the market security guard, Mohd Ali (50), lying in a pool of blood.

A little distance away from Ali’s body, they found another person lying dead. He was later identified as Hanumaiah (70), a beggar who used to take shelter in the market during nights.

A 22 year old man from Tallaburidi in Pargathipuiram mandal of Vizianagaram district needs the help of philanthropists to undergo bone-marrow transplantation to get cured for aplastic anemia.

His parents have already sold away their one acre land to meet the immediate medical exprenses

Hyderabad, March 26: Barely 24 hours after stepping down as Director of the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Warangal, YV Rao did a U-turn on Thursday, claiming that he had resigned under duress.

Notwithstanding his retraction, the students not only faxed his resignation to the Union Human Resource Development Ministry but also despatched a team to New Delhi to submit a memorandum to HRD Minister Kapil Sibal and other board members of NIT.

Vijayawada, March 26: Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal has submitted his fifth report to the Srikrishna Committee on the need to keep the State united.

Releasing a copy to mediapersons today, he denied that the Gentlemen’s Agreement reached between Andhra and Telangana leaders at the time of the formation of Visalaandhra was violated. He claimed that a majority of people in the Telangana region wanted the State united.

The MP said that he had submitted four reports to the Srikrishna Committee earlier and the fifth contained some more facts on the Andhra and Telangana regions.

Hyderabad, March 26: Most of the Pakistani Armymen or its militants have the tendency to come back to strike again and again, even after biting the dust at the hands of the Indian Army, says former Jammu and Kashmir governor Gen Krishna Rao (retd).

The 86-year-old’s observation assumes significance as the Centre gears up to grant consular access to 28 Pakistanis, including five terrorists, in Amritsar on Friday. His vast experience in both the Army and the troubled State demands that he be listened to.

Hyderabad, March 26: As climate change continues to exact its toll on Indian farming communities, vigorous research is being conducted by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) that seeks to mitigate the effects of climate change on rain-fed Indian farmers. The institute, in its wide and varied research, has created hybrid seeds that are resistant to drought, excess heat, and flooding, which are widely considered to be the major hazards of climate change.

Hyderabad, March 26: The Andhra Pradesh government on Thursday received a major boost with the Supreme Court, in an interim order, upholding the validity of 4 percent reservation provided to backward members of Muslim community in the state.

A bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices J M Panchal and B S Chauhan, however, referred the issue to a Constitution bench to examine the validity of the impugned Act since it involved important issues of the Constitution.

Kurnool, March 25: It’s great for a long-cherished dream to come true.

But, it is rare indeed for two such dreams to converge.

When they do, it is a happy coincidence. And basking in it are Ravindra Naik and Ram Shankar Naik, the cousins from Anantapur.

‘‘Oh yes! we are very happy,’’ says Ravindra Naik as he settles himself comfortably in a chair beside a beaming Ram Shankar Naik. The duo hail from the same family and had shared the hard life that comes from being a tribal in a remote hamlet like Naginayani Cheruvu in Anantapur district.

Vizianagaram, March 25: Three policemen were killed and six others severely injured during an exchange of fire in Tojango forest area of Gumma block of Gajapati district (Orissa) close to Andhra-Orissa Border in the wee hours of Wednesday.

The Special Operation Group (SOG) and District Volunteer Force (DVF) of Orissa were combing the forest area when Maoists started firing at the police party.

In the exchange of fire that ensued for 45 minutes, Deepak Senbai and Balaram Pradhani belonging to the Special Operation Group besides Sanjay Tarky, belonging to the DVF were killed.

Ongole, March 25: Facing the heat from paramilitary forces on the Andhra-Chhattisgarh border, Maoists appear to be making a tactical retreat, to their once impregnable fortress — Nallamala forest.

This, notwithstanding the recent ‘‘encounter’’ death of CPI (Maoist) leader Sakhamuri Appa Rao in the region. ‘‘Several Maoist camps have cropped up in the Nallamala,’’ a tribal belonging to Palutla village in Yerragondapalem mandal said.

Warrangal, March 25: Students of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) campus, who have been agitating for the past two days demanding the resignation of its Director YV Rao for allegedly indulging in large-scale corruption, managed to take his resignation letter from him here on Wednesday. They also forced him to request NIT Chairman Deekshitulu to accept his resignation.

But late in the night, YV Rao was quoted as saying that his resignation, submitted under duress, wasn’t valid.

Hyderabad, March 25: Though Telugu Desam’s Telangana leaders formed a separate forum within the party to wage a fight for Telangana State, the forum has remained non-functional so far.

The Telangana Telugu Desam Party Forum (TTDPF), which was officially launched on March 5, has not taken up any concrete action plan to continue its `fight’ for T-State.

Several party MLAs from the region, including TTDPF convener N Janardhan Reddy, maintained silence when asked why the forum was inactive. They neither refute the charges nor try to counter the argument.

Hyderabad, March 25: It was rash and negligent driving which claimed the lives of five persons, including two youngsters, late Tuesday night.

In the accident on the Greenlands flyover, which left two youths dead and one battling for life, the impact was such that the bike skidded for more than 100 yards and when the vehicle crashed into the road-divider, two of the youngsters rebounded to the other side of the road.

Brussels, March 25: The Rajiv Gandhi Airport in Hyderabad is the best airport in India, according to Britain-based consultancy Skytrax, which judges the quality of air travel around the world.

At a ceremony here Tuesday, the Hyderabad airport was given the Best Airport India award.

Singapore’s Changi airport was named the world’s best airport.

It was also called “Airport of the Year 2010”, the best airport in Asia and also the best for leisure amenities.

Skytrax awards serve as the quality benchmark for the world airport industry.

Kadapa, March 25: Police set free a dangerous stalker, that too after he had created mayhem at a poor girl’s house at Bhakrapet village in Siddhavatam mandal, Kadapa district on Wednesday.

Their callous act prompted villagers to hold up traffic on the Tirupati-Badwel- Kadapa junction demanding his immediate arrest.

Hyderabad, March 24: A tiff over one rupee with a grocer that later led to an attack, drove a woman to suicide out of humiliation at Moinabad on Tuesday night.

Police said T Venkatamma (35), a resident of Kanakamamidi, made a phone call from a coin box at a kirana store in the village. Later, she asked the store owner, J Vantiha, to give her back one rupee as she gave two rupees but made a single call. Vanitha, however, insisted that Venkatamma gave her only Re 1 coin. A heated argument ensued between the two that later turned into a scuffle.

Hyderabad, March 24: Task Force sleuths on Monday busted an international credit card cloning racket and arrested five persons from Ranigunj in the city.

The accused used to steal confidential credit card data from foreigners and make clones of the cards by using it.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Task Force, VB Kamalasan Reddy told mediapersons that the gang collected credit card data of foreigners through a friend, Irfan, who has international contacts.

Team leader Mohd Ilyas used to transfer the stolen data onto the magnetic strip of another card using skimming tools.

Hyderabad, March 24: A Padma of Uppal Circle bagged the bumper prize of Rs 1 lakh in the lucky draw for tax payers held here on Monday.

Mayor Banda Karthika Reddy picked the winners of the incentive scheme launched by the GHMC for those who paid property tax promptly.

The SBH has sponsored the cash prizes totalling Rs 10 lakh.

Hyderabad, March 24: Exposing gross negligence and utter disregard for norms, inspections by the Fire Prevention Wing of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) revealed that 295 hospitals out of 336 in the city with a capacity of up to 50 beds failed to take safety measures.

After completing inspection of hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities in the city, the authorities have found deficiencies in implementation of fire safety norms in over 90 percent of them.

Only 41 hospitals provided fire safety measures, that too not up to the mark.

Vijayawada, March 24: Union Minister of State for Textiles Panabaka Lakshmi has called upon farmers to make use of woven, non-woven and knitted fabrics in agriculture to improve the yield apart from producing healthy agriculture products.

Hyderabad, March 24: The two-day bandh call given by Maoists in the Visakha Agency area and the Andhra-Orissa border (AOB) of Andhra Pradesh was peaceful so far, even as combing and frisking operation continued, police said on Tuesday.

“The bandh was peaceful so far and no incidents were reported in Visakhapatnam district. However, combing and frisking operations shall continue in the bordering areas,” Visakhapatnam (Rural) district Superintendent of Police Vineet Brij Lal, told agency over phone.

Hyderabad, March 24: Asserting that there is no need to wait till the government gets all clearances from the Central Government departments/ institutions concerned to commence work on irrigation projects, Minister for Major and Medium Irrigation Ponnala Lakshmaiah has said the government is determined to complete the Dummugudem lift irrigation project by 2012-13.