Month: June 2010

CM directs officials to check spread of swine flu

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Hyderabad, June 27: Chief Minister K Rosaiah on Saturday directed Health Department officials to procure enough medicines and keep enough stocks in the city and at all district headquarters to check the spread of the dreaded Swine Flu in the state.

Reminding the officials of the reports of resurgence of H1N1 in the state, Mr Rosaiah urged the officials to take all necessary steps to prevent the disease from turning into an epidemic.

The Chief Minister appealed to the people not to panic over the situation. He said that the government was taking every care to deal with the situation.

Police raids on duplicate cosmetic sellers

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Hyderabad, June 27: The Goshamahal police on Saturday nabbed two persons accused of selling duplicate cosmetics and soaps of a well known company.

According to police, the two accused, Praveen Singh and Balwanth Singh used to sell the duplicate cosmetic products in bulk. The duo procured the duplicate cosmetic products from Mumbai at cheap rates and sold them in bulk to the various retail shops in Begum Bazaar.

Some of these duplicate products included well known brands such as Dove Soap, Dove Shampoos etc

Invalid bank accounts delaying fee reimbursements: Pilli

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Hyderabad, June 27: The state government on Saturday reaffirmed its commitment to carry on reimbursing education fees of students belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes in the state.

The government’s reaffirmation of its commitment came after BC Welfare president R Krishnaiah refused to break his fast-unto-death over the ‘issue’ of fee reimbursement, which he had started from Friday.

Absorb LPG price hike through subsidy: TDP

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Hyderabad, June 27: The Telugu Desam Party on Saturday demanded that the state government immediately announce that it would absorb the Rs 35 per cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas rise.

Talking to media persons at the NTR Trust Bhavan, senior party leader and MLC, Nannapaneni Rajakumari said that the UPA government at the centre is acting on dictatorial lines.

She said that the Centre is taking advantage of the differences between the opposition parties and acting out its whims.

Govt to look at ways of lessening fuel price hike burden: CM

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Hyderabad, June 27: In a bid to scuttle opposition attempts to corner the government on the price hike of petroleum products, Chief Minister K Rosaiah on Saturday said that he is looking at ways to ease the burden on the common man.

Talking to media persons before leaving for a two-day tour to Srikakulam, Mr Rosaiah said the government will use the additional Rs 540 crore it will earn as sales tax from the price hike for public welfare.

Two Towlichowki eateries sealed for unhygienic conditions

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Hyderabad, June 27: The Health and Sanitation Wing of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation on Saturday carried out surprise inspections on eating establishments at Mehdipatnam and Tolichowki and sealed the ‘US Pizza’ and the store room of ‘Madar Restaurant’ at Yousuf Tekdi in Towlichowki.
Eleven eateries were also penalised for violating GHMC by-laws.

Collector makes surprise visit to Malakpet Hospital

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Hyderabad, June 27: Hyderabad district Collector Natarajan Gulzar on Saturday made a surprise visit to the Government Area Hospital in Malakpet, better known as the Police Hospital.

Mr Gulzar conducted a careful inspection of the maternity ward and the operation theatre.

He expressed his dismay over the general public turning away from the government hospitals and getting treatment at private hospitals.

The Collector said that this was due to the harsh attitude of the doctors and other staff of the government hospitals.

No Marathi For Thackrey Son’s?

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Mumbai, June 27: While Raj Thackeray vows to give Marathi its due, his son plans to pursue Mass Media course in English despite having option of Marathi

His party, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, has been holding Marathi lessons for non-Marathi speakers in the city.

But party chief Raj Thackeray’s son, Amit, wants to pursue a bachelor’s degree course in mass media in the English medium at Ruia College, Matunga.

This, despite the college introducing a course in Marathi from this academic year.

US sanctions on Iran will backfire: MP

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Tehran, June 27: An Iranian MP says that the recent bill passed by the US Congress that imposes new energy and financial sanctions on Iran will backfire and mostly harm US companies.

“The US move to impose sanctions on Iran is in fact imposing sanctions on their own firms,” ISNA quoted Majlis (Parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Chairman Alaeddin Boroujerdi as saying on Saturday.

If a poll were conducted, US companies would express their dissatisfaction and object to the congressional bill imposing sanctions on Iran, he added.

MNS expects its membership count to double

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Mumbai, June 27: Three months after the launch of its membership drive, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) is expecting to double its members, indicating a jump in membership figures since the last state Assembly elections.

The membership drive was launched on MNS’s fourth foundation day on March 9 this year by party chief Raj Thackeray. During the earlier membership drive, MNS had recorded a membership of around six lakh through its network spread mostly in urban pockets of the state.

This year, the party workers collating the figures now are expecting the numbers to double.

Kerala CPM leader calls judges ‘idiots’

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New Delhi, June 27: Slamming the division bench of the Kerala High Court for banning public meetings on roadsides, CPM state committee member M V Jayarajan on Saturday called the judges ‘idiots’. He said that by hitting the roads across the state On Saturday, the people of Kerala have proved their scant regard for the court order.

Jayarajan, a former state legislator and member of the state electricity board, said that if these judges who banned the meetings were left with any self respect, they should quit the office.

Dutch women allege rape by fake guides

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New Delhi, June 27: Two Dutch women who arrived in India in January have alleged that two men — one, a Kashmiri businessman — raped them for more than 45 days in three cities. They also allege that the accused forcibly took away their passports and money and confined them illegally on pain of “punishment”.

Pranab to meet CMs, PSB chiefs to discuss credit flow strategies

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New Delhi, June 27: Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will meet chief ministers, administrators of the central and Western states & union territories and public sector banks’ chiefs in Mumbai on Monday to discuss strategies to achieve government’s credit offtake target on agriculture, education, micro-and small-enterprises segments.

According to the ministry of finance, Mukherjee wants all PSBs to take steps to achieve agriculture credit flow target of Rs 3,75,000 crore, amounting to a 15% increase over last year in the current fiscal.

Telangana solution must be palatable to all: TDP

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Hyderabad, June 26: The issue of statehood for Telangana should be settled amicably and to the satisfaction of the people of all the regions, Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu has said. Without elaborating on what he meant, he asserted that there was no ambiguity in his stance.

Four swine flu deaths, 23 infections in Andhra

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Hyderabad, June 26: Four people died of swine flu in Andhra Pradesh while 23 were found infected by H1N1 virus this year, officials said Saturday.

Three deaths and a majority of the cases were reported during last 10 days. The monsoon is believed to be the main cause for the virus becoming virulent.

Officials have advised people not to use preventive medicines without advice from the doctors.

“People should take the medicines only under the supervision of doctors,” said P.V. Ramesh, principal secretary, health and family welfare.

Protests in AP over fuel price hike

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Hyderabad, June 26: All Opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh today took to streets in a massive way protesting the steep hike petroleum product prices and organised agitations even as Chief Minister K Rosaiah said government would take a decision on July 1 on reducing the impact of the hike.

The state government was expected to earn an additional Rs 540 crore in the form of sales tax as a result of the hike in petro products, the Chief Minister noted, adding they would draw plans to spend this money on public welfare.

CM gives nod for sanctioning of teachers’ posts

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Hyderabad, June 26: Chief Minister K Rosaiah today gave the nod for sanctioning of teacher and supervisory staff posts by the Tribal Welfare Department.

He was reviewing the functioning of the department with the minister for tribal welfare P Balaraju and officials.

For the first time a full-time Secretary, KV Satyararayana, has been posted to Gurukulam. The State Cabinet has also approved sanctioning of 2,151 teacher posts and recruitment is under way.

Telangana lawyers leave for campaigning

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Hyderabad, June 26: Members of the Telangana Advocates Joint Action Committee left here today to conduct election campaign in 10 Assembly constituencies in five districts in the Telangana region.

They will take part in public meetings, road shows and door-to-door campaigning. Before leaving the city along with their supporters, the advocates visited the Gun Park opposite the Assembly and paid homage to the Telangana Martyrs.

Hike sends out shock waves

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Hyderabad, June 26: It didn’t take long for the impact of the hike in prices of petroleum products to be felt on other sectors of the city’s economy. While citizens made a beeline to petrol pumps to fill up, service providers in other sectors immediately reached for their calculators. Barely hours after the price hike was announced, commercial transport operators in the city decided to hike their prices with immediate affect.

Police foil BC leader’s indefinite fast

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Hyderabad, June 26: Police today foiled the fast unto death launched by BC leader R Krishnaiah in the city demanding immediate reimbursement of fee and release of scholarships to BC students statewide. Amid resistance by BC activists and leaders, police shifted Krishnaiah from the hunger strike camp at Nallakunta today evening and shifted him to the Gandhi hospital for treatment.

Close shave for GoAir

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Mumbai, June 26: In a close shave for a Mumbai- bound GoAir flight in, the plane with over 130 on board suffered a bird hit that damaged one of its blades soon after it took-off from the city airport on Saturday, forcing it to return.

All 131 passengers are safe after the aircraft landed under emergency conditions in Ahmedabad and the plane has been grounded.

“One blade of the aircraft, which was operating on Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Bangalore route has been confirmed as damaged due to the impact and the flight has been grounded,” a GoAir official told.

Police officer killed in Iraq

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Iraq, June 26: A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol killed one officer and wounded five in Iraq’s main northern city of Mosul on Saturday.

Mosul has remained a hotbed of insurgent activity even as levels of political violence have fallen off in much of the rest of the country.

On Thursday, three suicide bombers killed four police and a soldier in separate attacks in the city.

Yuvraj back with a bang in Indian test team

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Mumbai, June 26: Out of favour in ODIs due to slump in form and fitness, middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh today returned to the 16-member Indian Test squad, along with veteran Rahul Dravid for the three-match away series against Sri Lanka next month.

Both Yuvraj and Dravid had to miss India’s last Test assignment against South Africa at home due to injuries suffered during the Bangladesh Test series early in the year.

Yuvraj, who was dropped from the ODI side for the just-concluded Asia Cup, had missed out against the Proteas due to a ligament injury.

Saina in final of Indonesian open

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Jakarta, June 26: India’s Saina Nehwal stormed into the final of the Indonesia Open Super Series with a 21-9, 21-10 victory over Eriko Hirose of Japan on Saturday.

Defending champion Saina, who is the top seed in the tournament, will take on Japan’s Sayaka Sato, who beat Indonesian qualifier Ana Rovita 22-20, 21-17, in the title clash Sunday.

The Indian is in line for three titles in three weeks, having won the Indian Open Grand Prix and Singapore Open Super Series in the last two weeks which saw her climb three places to world no.3.

—Agencies