Warangal, May 15: In a tragic incident, a 31-year-old mother and her two children died in a fire caused by the LPG cylinder leakage in their house here on Thursday.  The accident took place when the victim, Gurram Sridevi, woke up late on Wednesday night and tried to put on a candle as the power went off in their residence.  But by then the domestic cylinder in their house leaked and the gas engulfed their room. As she lighted the candle, the fire broke out in the room grievously injuring Sridevi, and her two children Shiva Shankar, 8, and Pranay, 3.

They were shifted to the MGM Hospital here where all three  succumbed to burns.  Sridevi’s husband Gurram Ramesh, 36, escaped with minor injuries in the fire accident. City MLA Baswaraju Saraiah visited the victims’ house on Thursday morning, while DCCB chairman Konda Murali gave the family Rs 3,000 for the funeral expenses. 

Anantapur, May 15: The district collector, Mr N. Sridhar, on Thursday wrote a letter to state government to transfer him from the district as the district had  failed to get into the top 10 in the state in the Class X results.  Five months ago,   Mr Sridhar announced that he would not remain as collector if the district   failed to get into the top 10 ranks in the SSC results.  Anantapur district, which  occupied the last position in the 2007 SSC results, got the 18th rank in this year’s SSC results.

The district recorded 70.33 pass percentage, compared to  last year’s pass percentage of 53.40, a growth of 17 per cent. Even though the   district showed remarkable improvement, it failed to get into the top 10 ranks.   Mr Sridhar, who focused on improvement of SSC results, conducted review   meetings with government teachers and hostel wardens and also reviewed  question papers of the last 10 years to prepare an action plan.

Speaking to newsmen here on Thursday, Mr Sridhar said that he had expected a  pass percentage of 75 and expressed dissatisfaction over the results.  He  congratulated officials and teachers who worked hard to show an improvement of  17 per cent in the results.  He said that the district would get into the top three in the state in the next two years if students, parents and teachers continued their hard work. He said that he would abide by the decision of government on  his transfer issue.  Meanwhile, teachers and officials urged Mr Sridhar to   continue in the district. They said that the class X results had improved due to his initiative. 

Karimnagar, May 15: With the byelection campaign reaching the crucial stage following the expiry of the nomination withdrawal process on Thursday, the main political parties have intensified a no-holds-barred campaign in the form of unleashing a pamphlets-based war and hurling personal innuendos.  The main political parties have prepared pamphlets targeting the top brass of their opponents in a bid to gain the support of the voters. Even as the APSRTC chairman, Mr M. Satyanarayana Rao, circulated the specially prepared pamphlets to the voters in various villages in Timmapur mandal on Thursday, the Telugu Desam Legislature Party deputy leader, Mr T. Devender Goud, released a pamphlet in Jagtial and participated in electioneering in the division.

While the Congress campaign managers have launched an attack on the TRS president, Mr K. Chandrasekhar Rao and the TD president, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, through the pamphlets, TD leaders have unleashed a scathing attack on the Chief Minister, Mr Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy,  and Mr Chandrasekhar Rao.
On the other hand, TRS leaders have been distributing a wide range of publicity material including booklets titled Telangana Akanksha-Upa Yennikala Poru taking both Dr Reddy and Mr Naidu to task for the alleged injustices meted out to Telangana.

Meanwhile, speaking to newsmen in Karimnagar, Mr Devender Goud accused the Chief minister and Mr Chandrasekhar Rao of deceiving the people of Telangana in the name of “development” and “sentiment” respectively.  “The YSR regime is engaged in constant exploitation of the resources of Telangana including water and lands for the benefit of Kadapa district,” he charged and compared it with the exploitation of the country’s resources by the British rulers in the past.  “Dr Reddy has no moral right to seek the votes of Telangana people,” he said and accused Mr Chandrasekhar Rao of remaining silent to the severe injustices meted out to Telangana during the four years of Congress rule.

Karimnagar, May 15: A total of 23 candidates remained in the byelection fray from three Assembly seats and one Lok Sabha constituency in the district after the expiry of the nomination withdrawal process on Thursday.  Six candidates including E. Jamuna and V. Satish Kumar who filed their nominations as the TRS (dummy) candidates from Kamalapur and Huzurabad segments withdrew their nominations on Thursday.

Seven candidates in Karimnagar Lok Sabha constituency, six in Huzurabad Assembly seat and five each in Medaram and Kamalapur seats remained in the fray in the district.  Despite the presence of several independents and other candidates, all the three Assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seats are poised to witness a triangular fight among the Congress, TRS and the TD.  The Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat has become a cynosure of all eyes as the Congress candidate T. Jeevan Reddy, the TRS candidate K. Chandrasekhar Rao and the TD candidate L Ramana are engaged in tough fight.

Khammam, May 15: The toddy tappers in Agency area are distressed at tribals being allowed rights on palm trees through a 1970 regulation.  They are planning to launch an agitation to urge the government to relax the rules to protect them from poverty.  According to toddy tappers in 29 mandals in the area, the pro-tribal regulation was affecting their livelihood.

Laws enacted by the government to protect toddy tappers in the state are not being implemented in the agency areas because of the act.
Though they belong to the backward classes, the financial position of these toddy tappers is worse than that of scheduled tribes and scheduled castes in the agency area.  When Mr Gajuala Lalaiah, toddy tapper, died recently after falling from a palm tree, the government did not provide any ex-gratia saying that rules were different in the agency areas.

“The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, promised to solve the issue, but took no steps,” said Mr Markam Lingaiah, president of district toddy tappers association.  He added that thousands of families of toddy tappers have been facing dire poverty since the palm trees were under the control of tribals.

“The government should relax the Act to save us from hunger,” said Mr Lingaiaih. “We are planning to take out an agitation over the issue.”  Around 10,000 toddy tapper families have been living in the Tekulapalli, Yellandu, Burgumpahad, Bhadrachalam, Aswaraopet, Kothagudem and Manuguru mandals and all of them are in penury.
The Telangana Rastra Samithi leader, Mr G.S. Rao, also urged the government to take initiative in relaxing the 1970 regulation regarding palm trees and provide five acre in each village to raise palm groves.
“Toddy tapping is the profession and tradition of these families and it is difficult to them to change their occupation all of a sudden,” he said.

Vijayawada, May15: The first additional chief metropolitan magistrate, Mr K.R. Satyanarayana, here on Thursday ordered police custody to Gurvinder Singh alias Laddu till May 23 in the Ayesha Meera murder case.  Ayesha, the B. Pharmacy student, was raped and murdered in a private hostel room in Ibrahimpatnam on December 27 last year.  The city police filed a petition in the court seeking custody of Gurvinder Singh who is presently serving a sentence in the central prison at Rajahmandry.

The hearing on the petition was completed on Tuesday and the judge posted the order for Thursday.  The court gave permission to interrogate Laddu and ordered to surrender him to the court on May 23.  The judge however directed the policemen not to use third-degree methods against Gurvinder Singh. The defence lawyer, Mr David Ratna Kumar, asked the court to conduct a medical examination on his client and expressed doubts on the safety of his client in the hands of the police.  So the defence lawyer requested the court to appoint a lawyer to oversee the interrogation at the police station. 

Visakhapatnam, May 15: A 60-year-old died on the spot and her daughter-in-law sustained serious injuries when gales accompanied by rains lashed Anakapalle town and parts of Vizianagaram on Thursday afternoon. Vizianagaram town plunged into darkness and officials said it would take few more hours to restore supply. Hundreds of trees, power poles and billboards crashed on the roads due to gales interrupting the normal life.

In Anakapalle, Sarisa Seethamma died on the spot when her jhuggi near railway station collapsed on her. Her daughter –in-law Nagalakshmi suffered serious injuries and rushed to government hospital.

Reports said a  hail storm and heavy winds caused heavy losses to the property in Anakapalle town and surrounding areas. Members of one family sustained injuries when the storm blew away their tin roof in Satyanarayanapuram. A number of trees were uprooted and fell across the roads in Narsingarapeta, Tahsildar office, Phoolbagh, Dasarigedda Road and Tummapala. Entire traffic on these roads came to a standstill. Roads and Building engineers swung into action to remove the trees. “We are assessing the exact losses caused by the storm,’’ said a senior revenue official. However, the storm brought relief to the people who were suffering in blistering summer and humidity. The temperature crossed 40o Celsius during last the three days

Visakhapatnam, May 15: City police detained more than 100 activists of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) here on Thursday when they tried to barge into the All India Radio (AIR) station in Siripuram to stall the ongoing programmes. The activists were agitating in protest against the skyrocketing prices of essential commodities burdening the common man and the government’s inability to bring them down. For the first time agitators chose the AIR station to show their protest. Siripuram locality turned red with the agitators carrying red flags, banners and placards demanding the government to control prices.

They said that the government was acting soft on the black marketers and hoarders. The agitators raised slogans against the government. The CPI-M district secretary, Mr Ch. Narasinga Rao, said that the public distribution system failed which was meant to benefit the poor totally failed.

He found fault with the policies of the UPA government at the Centre, which resulted in the steep rise of the prices. Police who were deployed in large numbers at the AIR station resorted to mild lathicharge to disperse the agitators and detained them later.  The arrested included Mr Ch. Narasinga Rao, Mr K. Lokanadham and others.  It is learnt that the arrested were released later in the evening. The opposition Telugu Desam also staged dharna at the collectorate demanding the government to take steps to bring down the spiraling prices.  The TD leaders said that the poor were unable to meet their two ends in the present scenario of price hike.