Kurnool, Nov. 24: Ridiculing the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Ra-jasekhar Reddy’s promise to make one crore women lakhiers, Telugu Mahila president Ms Roja urged the Chief Minister on Monday, to first control the pri-ces of essential commodities.

"I don’t know whether he will fulfil his promise of making one crore woman lakhiers, but it is obvious that his coterie is accumulating crores of rupees by looting public money," Ms Roja said. She was here to participate in a vratham performed at the house of Telugu Desam politburo member, Mr K.E. Krishnamurty, in Krishnagiri mandal.

She called upon people to end Congress rule in the state as it had become synonymous with corruption, oppression and bloodshed.  The former home minister, Mr Kodela Siva Prasada Rao, alleged that the Chief Minister and his followers were involved in a number of political murders from the assassination of Paritala Ravindra to the murder of Moddu Srinu re-cently in jail. He added that they were even eliminating people to remove evidence.  Former ministers, Mr K.E. Prabhakar, Mr B.V. Mohan Reddy, Mr Md Farook and others attended the function.

Nellore, Nov. 24: The union government has released Rs 22 crore to develop 11 ancient temples in Chittoor district and Rs 23.22 crore to develop seven temples in Nellore district under the tourism heritage project.

In total, the government has sanctioned Rs 46.60 crore to renovate and create facilities in 18 popular temples in Chittoor and Nellore districts.

According to tourism officer, Mr M. Nagabhushanam, Rs 2.63 crore has been allotted for Sri Alaghu Mallari Krishnaswamy temple at Mannarpolur near Sullurpeta, Rs 44.5 crore for Sri Penusila Lakshmi Narasimhaswamy temple, Penchalakona, Rs 44.4 crore for Sri Vedagiri Lakshmi Narasimhaswamy temple, Narasimhakonda, Rs 3.26 crore for Sri Mallikarjuna swamy and Kamakshi thayee temple, Jonnawada.

In addition, Rs 3.80 crore has been earmarked for creating facilities for tourists coming to visit Sri Talpagiri Ranganadhaswamy temple and Rs 2.06 crore for Irukalala Parameswari temple in Nellore town.

The government will spend Rs 3.46 crore to improve facilities at Someswaraswamy temple located near the Somasila project. The proposals include creation of pilgrim amenities and infrastructure such as roads and drinking water facilities.

The minister for tourism, information and public relations, Mr Anam Ramnarayana Reddy, will inaugurate works at all the temples coming under the heritage project during the next four days.

He will lay the foundation stones for heritage temple projects at Prabhagiripatnam on Tuesday at 9.00 am and Penchalakona at 2.30 pm, and at Sri Talpagiri Ranganadhaswamy on Wednesday at 8.30 am, at Someswara swamy temple at Somasila on Thursday afternoon, at Narasimha-swamy temple located at Narasimhakonda, Mallikarjunaswamy and Kamakshi thayee temple at Jonnawada and Irukalala parameswari temple on Friday between 9.00 am to 11.00 am.

He will also visit Sri Alaghu Mallari Krishnaswamy temple at Mannarpolur near Sullurpeta at about 3.00 pm the same day to lay the foundation stone for the heritage project works.

Tirupati, Nov. 24: The Rythu Protsahaka Utsavam held at Vadamalapeta in Puttur constituency created a sensation with its MLA, Mr Muddukrishnama Naidu, not attending it, though three state cabinet ministers, Mr Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, Ms Galla Arunakumari and Mr R. Changa Reddy took part in it.

This government programme was to have been held last week itself with Mr Muddukrishnama Naidu set to distribute incentives to beneficiaries. But the supporters of the estranged Congress leader alleged that Mr Changa Reddy and Ms Galla Arunakumari had played a vital role in getting it cancelled.

A fresh programme was chalked out with the ministers later, excluding Mr Muddu from the list of invitees, amounting to violation of the protocol. Vadamalapeta mandal is considered the bastion of Muddukrishnama Naidu, irrespective of political affiliations.

The programme held at a local cinema tent house saw the participation of about 900 farmers, all beneficiaries of the Rs 5,000 incentive.

Interestingly, some farmers, owing allegiance to Mr Muddukrishnama Naidu refused to take the incentive.  The programme was also so sudden that many farmers in the mandal had no knowledge about it,and some reached the venue after the programme was over.

Some activists owing allegiance to the ministers and opposed to Mr Muddukrishnama Naidu displayed banners and flexes with the images of the ministers and local leaders, but not Mr Muddu. This comes as a clear signal that Mr Muddu is almost out from the Congress. For the last couple of months, there were rumors that he would be joining the TD at any point of time.

Rajahmundry, Nov. 24: The municipal administration authorities plan to deal firmly with those who failed to apply under the Building Penalisation Scheme (BPS) to regularise their unauthorised buildings by demolishing the structures.

The municipal administration principal secretary, Mr C.V.S.K. Sarma, held a review meeting with the municipal commissioners from East and West Godavari districts on the performance of the municipalities here on Monday.

Later, speaking to newsmen, Mr Sarma said that they were awaiting court directions in the implementation of the BPS in the state and made it clear that they had already worked out some plans to initiate stern action against those who failed to avail the building penalisation scheme to regularise their unauthorised structures within the stipulated period.

The principal secretary said the government was going to issue an order to impose certain guidelines in laying roads by the municipal authorities following several complaints that newly laid-out roads were dug for laying pipelines, telephone cables and other service cables. As this practice was destroying roads, the government was issuing an order to impose regulations like laying large pipes while laying the road to facilitate laying of water pipelines, telephone and power cables and other services cables, he said.

In order to overcome the shortage of manpower in municipal corporations and municipalities, they were going to entrust the responsibility of recruiting officers to the State Public Service Commission, he said, and added that the municipal corporations or municipalities would be given permission to recruit officers at certain levels. However, a decision in this regard would be taken in consultation with the government, he clarified.

Admitting that there was delay in release of non-plan grants meant for providing wages to civic staff, the municipal administration principal secretary assured efforts to release the grant after taking up the issue with the finance department. The principal secretary said that delay in realisation of tax dues from the general public as well as from the government offices was the main reason for the civic bodies starving for funds and called for efforts to collect tax dues. He said instructions were issued to civic officials for sending proposals for replacing corroded pipelines to ensure proper supply of drinking water.

Kakinada, Nov. 24: Sea erosion along the Uppada coast in the suburbs of Kakinada for four kms is likely to get permanent reprieve in the next few months. The authorities who tried different methods to arrest sea erosion finally found the geo-tube technology suitable.

The completion of a geo- tube wall in the next six months, is expected to benefit 30,000 population, most of them fisherfolk in the villages of Uppada, Ameenabada and Subbampeta in U-Kothapalli mandal, adjacent to Kakinada.

The need for speedy impl-ementation of the project was noticed after the recent cyclone which affected the district and the Uppada area. In addition to the coast, the Kakinada- Addaripeta Beach Road was also damaged for 4. 5 kms.  The concerned R&B department estimated the losses at Rs 5 crore.

According to details available, more than 600 acres, two guest houses, two temp-les and more than 200 houses of fisherfolk were eroded into the sea in the last two-and-a-half decades. As a permanent measure, Engineer in Chief (irrigation) of AP in consultation with the Central Water Power Research Station (CWPRS) and the department of ocean engineering, IIT, Chennai and manufacturers of Geo-tubes, Garware Wall Ropes, evolved a model section to be adopted at Uppada.

This was after careful study by the National Coastal Protection Development and Advisory Committee in various states and after effective implementation at Sankarpur in West Bengal. An amount of Rs 12.18 crore was sanctioned by the state government, reportedly at the initiative of minister of state for def-ence and Kakinada MP, Mr M.M. Pallam Raju.

Mr P. Madhava Rao, the executive engineer, irrigation, attached to the drains department, said that the entire project for two kms was taken up in the first phase of the programme at a cost of Rs 12.16 crore. The works will start in the next few days and are likely to be completed in the next five months under the guidance of the CWPRS.

The works will be executed by Garware Wall Ropes with the drainage department playing the facilitator’s role, the EE said.

Adilabad, Nov. 24: The Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president, Mr D. Srinivas, said that allocation of 33 per cent tickets to Backward Class (BC) candidates in the ensuing elections was as important as separate Telangana state issue.

Addressing a press conference in Mancherial on Monday, Mr Srinivas said the Congress passed a bill in the state Assembly for 33 per cent political reservations to BCs and appealed to the AICC to implement this.

He reiterated that only Congress can carve out a separate Telangana state. "Other political parties cannot do anything except giving representations and writing letters as they do not have power," the PCC chief said.

Expressing her faith in Congress chief, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, with regard to Telangana issue, he said that the memorandum submitted to her with the signatures of 42 Congress MLAs in support of Telangana state demand under the leadership of A. Indrakaran Reddy, the convenor of the Telangana Congress Legislators Forum (TCLF), in the past was the last word as far as the issue was concerned.

The PCC president was confident that the Congress would sweep the election in the three districts of Warangal, Karimnagar and Adilabad. He said that he would bring the comments of Congress MLA Mareppa on the Telangana issue to the notice of the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, and ask for stern action against against him.

Earlier, addressing a party meeting, Mr Srinivas said that priority would be given to party activists and their services would be utilised properly in strengthening the party in the ensuing elections.

He appealed to activists to act as mediators between the party and people and publicise in a big way the welfare and development schemes being implemented by state government.

Second rung leaders appealed to the PCC president to help party activists at the village and mandal levels financially, and suggested that works be taken up with the Rs 90 lakh allocated to each mandal be given only to Congress activists in the Assembly constituency represented by non-Congress MLAs.

Labour Minister G. Vinod, Congress MLA Koneru Konappa, DCCB chairman and MLA C. Ramachandra Reddy and others were present.

Karimnagar, Nov. 24: In an effort to empower the young women with the requisite skills to impart stress free pre-primary education to the children and pursue the path of financial self-reliance, the Women and Child Development Agency (WCDA) has decided to provide free training in pre-primary teaching to 90 young women of Balika Mandali groups of the district.

Pratham, a city-based NGO, in association with Andhra Mahila Sabha, will implement the four-month duration training programme.  The WCDA selected 90 young women of the Balika Mandali groups of Karimnagar and Sultanabad mandals for the training. The training programme has been designed to promote school readiness in children and improve child-rearing practices to lay a strong foundation for early childhood education.

The initiative assumes significance in view of the dearth of trained pre-primary teachers. Specialised training is essential to impart quality pre-primary education to the children in a play way and stress free method.

"Mother is the basic teacher and the training programme enables the future mothers gain the requisite skills to excel in child rearing practices," said Saroja Srivastava, coordinator of the training programme.  It aims to create "smart teachers" capable of imparting holistic pre-primary education.

Another 30 trainees including housewives and private school teachers have also joined the training programme to undergo the specialised training, she said.  "The programme will enable us avail the wide job opportunities available in the pre-primary education," said Madhavi, a housewife who joined the course.

Meanwhile, participating in the inaugural ceremony of the training programme held at Kala Bharathi here on Monday evening, the in-charge collector, Mr Ch Vijaya Mohan, exhorted the trainees to make optimum use of the training programme to become expert pre-primary teachers.  The WCDA project director Padmavati and others spoke.

Khammam, Nov. 24: The tobacco growers in Bhadrachalam division have been given permission to raise tobacco this year because the proposed pilot project to stop tobacco cultivation by giving compensation to them was still under the consideration of the central government.

The central government wanted to reduce the tobacco production in the country by 2020, keeping the decreasing demand for the product in the international market and the widespread campaign against the consumption of tobacco to protect the people from ill-health.

The Central Tobacco Board has evolved a plan to take up a pilot project in Bhadrachalam division by implementing the package by paying Rs 5 lakh to the farmer who has a licence to raise tobacco. The board sent the proposal to the central government and it is under consideration. The government asked the board to create awareness among the tobacco growers of all the states including Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh on the decreasing demand and the alternative crops. As part of it, Tobacco Board conducted seminars.

Vijayawada, Nov. 24: About two lakh women belonging to over 20,000 self-help groups (SHGs) would benefit from the Loan Insurance Scheme to be implemented in Krishna district from December 1.  The beneficiaies have to pay a nominal fee to be insured.

The main objective behind the introduction of the scheme is see that the loanee’s kin are not burdened in case of accidental or unexpected death. The loanee has to pay Rs 75 while the Central government will pay the remaining Rs 75. Each member will have to pay Rs 150 per year to for an insurance upto Rs 30,000.

Project director of District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) , Mr Ch. Bhanu Prasad, said the Life Insurance Corporation of India will cover the insurance for the women’s groups under the Janasri Bhima scheme.

In Krishna district, the government sanctioned Rs 500 crore bank linkage loans to about 20,000 women’s groups. Each group has 10 members.  In case of unexpected death of a loanee, the banks are pressuring the family members for repayment of loan and interest.

The LIC will repay the loan to the banks on behalf of the loanee. Almost all the nationalised banks have their own life insurance schemes for the customers. But, the premium is higher when compared to the LIC, particularly Janasri Bhima scheme.

The beneficiary will pay a premium only once in a year. If the loane has already repaid the loan to the banks, the LIC will repay the amo-unt to the kin of the loanee. Women aged between 18 to 59 are eligible for scheme. Self-help groups, which have already taken loans from the banks can also benefit under the scheme. The DRDA is gearing up to formally launch the scneme from December 1.

The beneficiaries can get details from the DRDA office in Machilipatnam. The district collector, Mr N. Sridhar, has announced that efforts were on to sanction bank linkage loans to self-help groups upto Rs 700 crore in the next financial year.

Narsipatnam, Nov. 24: Supplying water for irrigation was much cheaper in coastal Andhra when compared to Telangana region, said the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy.

Talking to reporters here on Monday, Dr Reddy said 2,300 mega watt of power was needed to supply water to 10 lakh acre land under the ayacut of Pranahitha project while 399 mega watt was needed for the proposed Sujala Sravanthi project which would supply water for eight lakh acres land in north coastal Andhra districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam. "With this, farmers would have more profits with less investment in north coastal Andhra compared to Telangana," the Chief Minister said.

He said about 20,000 acre would be required for acquisition for the Sujala Sravanthi project which would cost about Rs 6,955 crore as per the initial estimates. The huge project was being launched after pressure being put by the farmers of upper reaches.

Yeleru canal would be extended up to Chodavaram to irrigate 30,000 acre for which Rs 150 crore was being envisaged.

So far 14 major irrigation projects were launched in the district, which was never done in the history of the State, he added.

The minister for commercial taxes, Mr Konathala Ramakrishna, and the minister for marketing, Mr Botsa Satyanarayana were also present at the press briefing.

Tangedu (Visakhapatnam), Nov. 24: The Congress will go on the development plank and win the next elections hands down on a positive note the way Indira Gandhi won the 1971 elections, said the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Dr Reddy said each and every family was benefited by the state government ruled by the Congress during the last four years and nowhere there was opposition or resentment as being claimed by the Opposition parties.

"Each family got benefited from at least five to six welfare schemes which improv-ed their lot and neglected by the previous governments," he said. Even the floor leaders of the Left parties were benefited, he added.

With the vast experience, Congress could understand the problems of the common man and addressed them. The loan waiver announced by the UPA government was a great boon to the farming community in the country. This gesture was appreciated by CPI and CPM floor leaders, Mr Chada Venkata Reddy and Mr Nomula Narasaiah, who were also benefited with the waiver.

The BC students would get fee waiver and scholarship from the next academic year for which sufficient funds would be allocated in the Budget. The Cabinet has decided to hike the Budget by Rs 690 crore in addition to the allocated Rs 490 crore.

Giving a list of benefits, he said 90 per cent of the population were given ration cards, 71 lakh pensions and one crore farmers were benefited from the loan waiver. "People in the state are impressed with the schemes launched by the government and they feel it would be a crime if they do not vote for the Congress," Dr Reddy said.