Hyderabad, August 29: Funds allocated every year for the socio-economic development of Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes is being diverted by upper-class officials to public-private partnership projects, D Raja, member of the parliamentary committee on SC/ST welfare, has said.

Hyderabad, August 29: BJP senior leader and former Union minister for state B Dattatreya has criticised governor ESL Narasimhan’s comments on the functioning of the state government.
Talking with reporters here on Sunday the BJP leader said that the governor had paid compliments to the state government by announcing that all was well in the state.

Narasimhan also said that there was no danger to the government in the state.

“On the contrary, everything is upside down in the state.

The chief minister, ministers and even opposition leader are unable tour the Telangana region.

Hyderabad, August 29: Nine Left parties on Sunday vowed to continue their fight in the state against central and state governments’ anti-people policies.

Addressing the gathering at Basheerbagh after paying tributes to those who were killed in police firing during an agitation against hike power tariff in 2000 during the TDP reign, they said that they would not allow both the governments to implement World Bank’s policies in the state.
Later they organised a rally.

Hyderabad, August 29: The Budameru is the sorrow of this city on the Krishna.

It overflows every rainy season and causes misery to the residents of low-lying localities on its banks.

Cynical civic officials blame the residents themselves: they ought not have encroached on the land.

It’s not that the city’s planners did not cater for the rainy season.
They built a diversion channel from the Velagaleru regulator to take the flood water from the Budameru to the Krishna.

But it’s the inflows from higher regions which flood the low-lying areas in the city.

Hyderabad, August 29: While the country is grappling with the ethical issues of death penalty, another problem that goes relatively unnoticed is the mental trauma and related illnesses that hound prison inmates.
Life at central prisons is breaking the psychological health of many prisoners, going by the number of inmates regularly being brought for treatment at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), Erragadda.
But even with a long history of mental illness afflicting inmates, none of the prisons in the state have filled the post of a psychiatrist.

Hyderabad, August 29: Several social activists, writers and intellectuals have urged the central government to scrap the death sentence from the Indian penal laws.

Speaking to reporters here on Sunday, they recalled that more than 100 countries had abolished death sentence and India too signed a treaty of the United Nations against death penalty.
Varavara Rao of Revolutionary Writers’ Association opposed the death sentence awarded by a Ranchi court to poet and people’s artiste Jiten Marandi and his associates Anil Ram, Manoj Rajwar and Chhatrapati Mandal.

Rajahmundry, August 29: Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president and transport minister Botcha Satyanarayana has said disciplinary action will be initiated against Jagan loyalist MLAs after the decision of Assembly speaker on their resignations.

Hyderabad, August 29: Rajya Sabha member K Keshava Rao on Sunday welcomed the statement of chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy that a solution to Telangana issue would come within three months.
In an informal interaction with media persons, he said solution to Telangana could not be other than formation of a separate state.
This was obvious from the sacrifices of over 600 people for Telangana, the resignations of legislators, MPs and reluctance of ministers to attend their duties.

Kakinada, August 29: PCC president B Satyanarayana has called upon people to realise that supporting YS Jagan Mohan Reddy or the legislators who resigned in his support will be tantamount to endorsing his corruption.
Addressing a well-attended public meeting at the Bhanu Gudi Junction here on Sunday, he he failed to understand how the Kadapa leader and his MLAs were going to town seeking support for themselves at a time when Anna Hazare-led campaign against corruption was sweeping the country.

Hyderabad, August 29: Mild tension prevailed in Golconda area on Sunday following a row amongst the locals who were trying to offer prayers at a disputed place of worship.

People belonging to the other community objected to the locals worshipping in that place, leading to tension.
The incident took place near Alijhapur under the Golconda police station limits on Sunday afternoon.

Hyderabad, August 29: The clever strategy of the ruling Congress and the utter failure of the opposition BJP has pushed the issue of black money and corruption backwards and brought the Lokpal issue to the forefront, Swadeshi Jagaran Manch co-convener and noted columnist S Gurumurthy said.

Tirupati, August 29: Actor turned politician K Chiranjeevi said that he had decided to act in his 150th film.

Speaking to the media at Tirupati airport on Sunday, he said the shooting of the film would begin shortly, to be produced by his actor son Ramcharan Teja.
Commenting over the merger of the PRP in Congress, Chiranjeevi said that he was coordinating with PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana for the smooth transition of the cadre.

Chiranjeevi said that he came to the town to attend the 100-day function of a movie and he did not intimate to Congress leaders.

—Agencies

Hyderabad, August 29: Three persons have been allegedly kidnapped by unidentified persons from the busy Secunderabad area.

The trio were forcibly taken away in an auto and thei whereabouts are not known, police said.
Though the incident took place two days back, a case of kidnap was registered on Sunday, following a complaint by the family of one abducted person.

According to police, Vasudeva Rao of Nimboliadda, Venumadhav Rao of Ghatkesar and Narsaiah of Kukatpally were former employees of postal department.

Hyderabad, August 29: Rainfall is likely to decrease further in the next few days in the state with the south-west monsoon weakening its essence.
Met officials, however, say light to moderate rains will occur across the state in the next couple of days.

Moderate rain will occur in many places in Telangana and coastal Andhra regions and the state capital while light thundershowers will lash some other places as an upper- air circulation prevails over coastal Andhra.
“The south-west monsoon is becoming weaken in its essence, and there will be rains due to upper-air circulation.

Srinagar, August 29: Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah Tuesday said his remarks made in Gujarat were secular and meant no disrespect to Islam.

In a statement issued here, Dr. Abdullah said: “On a recent visit to Gujarat, I had an occasion to make a speech in which I highlighted the essential unity of all Indians and also categorically emphasized that no religion preaches hatred (Mazhab nahin sikhata apas mein bair rakhna).

Hyderabad, August 29: Drumberries provides an absorbing, interactive drumming and rhythm experience. The founder of this event is Vehaan, co-founder is Meghna along with their team members — Aparna and Vijay.
It’s been a year since they started this programme. The group also organises such drumming events at corporates, schools and college for team building and group bonding. The group had their fourth session of drumming together at Sweet Nirvana in the city.

Vehaan taught the group how to play drums. He said, “The drums should be played slowly.

Hyderabad, August 29: The drizzle on a Sunday morning did nothing to dampen the spirits of 1,300-odd runners who gathered to participate in the first Hyderabad Marathon.

The event saw participation of people across all age groups and close to 400 runners from other states and cities.
“A natural progression from walking is running.
Running is the most inexpensive and invigorating exercise.

New Delhi, August 29: The Jan Lokpal, as proposed by Anna Hazare and his team will be a threat to the democratic freedom and may end up being misused against the honest people, whom it seeks to protect from corruption in the first place. This was one of the main issues of discussion at a meeting “Lokpal: Alternative Voices” organized in New Delhi.

Hyderabad, August 29: A round-the-clock call centre where citizens can call to register their grievances relating to civic problems is going to be established shortly at a cost of about Rs 95.79 lakh.
The standing committee of the GHMC gave green signal to the proposal at a meeting held recently and the same would be recommended to the general body for according administrative sanction.

The call centre will be established under the Build Operate Own and Transfer (BOOT) model with the selected agency operating and maintaining it during the three year contract period.

Hyderabad, August 29: Indira Park rivalled India Gate as a carnival-like atmosphere prevailed, with denizens celebrating Anna’s ‘victory’, dressed in Gandhi caps and ‘I am Anna’ T-shirts.

The tri-colour formed a recurring motif as 3,000 to 5,000 supporters played Holi and participated in an array of events on Sunday.
The victory celebrations organised by the India Against Corruption was joined in by several small and large support groups that had formed in wake of Anna Hazare’s protest.

“We feel the government has not accepted the demands whole-heartedly.

Hyderabad, August 29: Finding faults with measuring scales, weights and balances at outlets? Customers can now walk in to the Legal Metrology department or call to lodge a complaint against defective weights and measures.

With a number of complaints pouring in to the Legal Metrology depaWrtment, the controller has directed to initiate a special drive against these defective weights and measures.

For instance, P Kiranmayi, a home-maker, had purchased a necklace worth Rs 95,000 at a jewellery shop in Basheerbagh a few months ago.

Hyderabad, August 29: A hotel manager and a realtor were arrested while a woman was rescued in a raid on a hotel by the Task Force sleuths at Jubilee Hills here on Sunday.

Another person, said to be a sub-inspector of police attached with the Medak police, had fled the hotel minutes before the sleuths swooped down on the hotel, sources said.

On a tip-off that illegal activities were going on in the hotel, the Task Force Central Zone sleuths raided the Daspalla Hotel on Road No 36 in the wee hours of Sunday and found a realtor in the company of a woman in one of the rooms.

Riyadh, August 29: Saudi Arabia’s religious police arrested a Filipina housemaid for targeting teen agers in her alleged prostitution activity, press reports said on Sunday.

Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, who had watched the woman after a tip-off, seized her with an 18-year-old boy at his grandmother’s house in the western town of Taif.

“The maid was targeting teen agers by tempting them to have sex with her in return for money,” Ajel newspaper said.

–Agencies

Islamabad, August 29: An Anna Hazare is needed in Pakistan to lead the struggle against corruption if the country’s political parties continue to be averse to taking decisive measures against graft, a Pakistani paper said Monday, commending the Indian activist for his “unflinching struggle” for the common people.

Makkah, August 29: A Saudi man and his wife have been living in their own car for more than three years because they are simply too poor to own a house.

They said social welfare authorities have not given much attention to their problem.

The husband, Turki Al-Amri who is in his 50s, told Arab News he was under immense pressure as he had to deal with both a lack of regular income and his wife’s mental illness. He said they could not provide proper nutrition to their newborn baby boy.