City News

Move to drop action against CM’s pal
Toll 8, YSR declares ‘war’ on mosquitoes
Surana killer gets lifer
Teachers enrol voters for AP council polls

Move to drop action against CM’s pal

The State government is understood to have decided to drop disciplinary action against irrigation chief engineer R. Prabhakar Reddy, who had allegedly resorted to irregularities in preparing estimates for excavation of tunnel for the Gandikota reservoir of Galeru Nagari Sujala Sravanthi project in Kadapa district. Mr Prabhakar Reddy was a classmate of Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy and was holding fort in the irrigation circle in Kadapa, his home town, before he was transferred to Mahbubnagar circle following the allegations. According to sources in the irrigation department, the file pertaining to dropping of the disciplinary case against Prabhakar Reddy has been pending in the peshi of irrigation minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah since June 27, 2006. Irrigation secretary Satish Chandra on October 16 wrote to the minister to return the file, so that it could be submitted to secretary (Rayalaseema projects) Rajiv Ranjan Mishra for further action. A committee of engineers would be constituted to examine other estimates of the project to find any other gross mistakes or irregularities in the project, Mr Satish said. Department sources said the disciplinary case against Mr Prabhakar Reddy was initiated at the instance of former irrigation secretary Harish Kumar, as the latter had suspected some foul play in increasing the discharge capacity of five-km long tunnel feeding Gandikota reservoir from 10,000 cusecs to 15,000 cusecs. Back

Toll 8, YSR declares ‘war’ on mosquitoes

The official death toll in the dengue outbreak went up to eight on Wednesday and Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy declared “war” against mosquitoes. He launched ‘Operation Dengue’ to take up anti-larval operations and sensitise people. Dr Reddy told mediapersons after an emergency meet with district collectors that the official machinery would engage itself in Operation Dengue every Friday for 10 weeks. An official note gave the break-up of deaths from dengue as two from Vizianagaram, one each from Adilabad, Anantapur, Kadapa, East Godavari, Guntur, Ranga Reddy and Khammam. There were no deaths due to chikungunya or Japanese encephalitis. The note stated that 64 out of 126 reported cases were confirmed as dengue, of the 77,467 suspected cases 248 were confirmed as chikungunya. There were 23,215 cases of confirmed malaria, and 13 suspected cases of japanese encephalities.

Operation Dengue, the Chief Minister said, would include awareness campaigns and rallies, anti-larval operations, identifying dengue cases and shifting them to hospitals. “We have asked officials to ensure that at least two members from each family participate in the rallies,” he said. He said the government had released Rs 18 lakhs for each district and orders were issued to immediately release Rs 20 lakh. The government will release another Rs 20 lakh in a few days. Besides, collectors were asked to appoint doctors and health personnel through walk-in interviews. Dr Reddy said the government would begin spraying DDT. Facilities to diagnose dengue had been created in all teaching hospitals. In Nellore, health minister K. Rosaiah said the government would establish task forces to be headed by district collectors. He said there was no paucity of funds to prevent epidemics. He said district collectors had been authorised to draw funds whenever necessary. A report from Kakinada said laboratories were overcharging patients who come for diagnostic tests. Patients were being charged from Rs 500 to Rs 2,000 per test. Patients with high fever, severe headache, shivering, muscle pains — symptoms common to both chikungunya and dengue — were going in for the test. Back

Surana killer gets lifer

Mayank Bohra, convicted for the murder of prominent industrialist Dhulichand Surana, was sentenced to life on Wednesday. The Hyderabad metropolitan session judge pronounced the judgement. Bohra was convicted for life under sections 302 (for murder) section 364A (kidnapping for ransom). He was sent to seven years rigorous imprisonment for sections of 307 and 397 (for attempting to murder Manjula Surana, and robbery.) The judge earlier dismissed a petition filed by the prosecution seeking capital punishment for Mayank. Back

Teachers enrol voters for AP council polls

The staff at most educational institutions in the city is busy enrolling their names for the ensuing Legislative Council elections. Teachers from the city, Ranga Reddy and Mahbubnagar districts can elect one MLC. Distribution of Form-19 to register in the voters list is a hot property. In several schools, one person gets the forms and the rest get busy filling it up. The staff has also taken to enrol the parents of students as voters for the graduates constituency. Parents with degree qualification are being handed over Form-18 when they come to drop their children or pay the fees. At some schools, the parent-teacher meetings have turned into awareness campaigns. “Elections are being held after two years, so we are trying to create awareness among the public about the elections,” said A.V.N. Reddy, a representative of private schools association. Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy and Mahbubnagar districts together have one graduates and one teachers constituency. The response till now had been poor, with returning officers having so far received only 942 applications for the graduates constituency and 350 applications for the teachers constituency. “We request the public to submit the applications as early as possible without waiting till November 6 [the last date],” G. Ravibabu, additional commissioner (estates) of MCH. Back