Govt departments fail to set up special cells

BY V L Srinivasan

Published on March 21, 2006

HYDERABAD: Ignoring the diktat of the State Government, several key departments have not bothered to set up special HIV/AIDS cells to create awareness about the dreaded Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

The departments which were identified for the purpose included Women & Child Welfare, Youth Services, Panchayat Raj, Urban Development, Industries, Mining and Labour, Tourism, Education (Higher & School), Police, Revenue, Rural Development, Transport, Roads & Buildings, Irrigation, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Forestry, SC, BC, Tribal, Minority Welfare and Information.

However, only three departments, including Rural Development and Horticulture have complied with the directive.

We are planning to have a meeting with senior officials and Chief Secretary T K Dewan next week to ensure that the remaining departments also fall in line, officials of the Medical & Health Department told this website's newspaper.

Chairing a meeting in November last, Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy directed that special cells should be set up in each department and its heads were asked to communicate the names of senior officers appointed as nodal officers to the AP State AIDS Control Society.

In the meeting, Rajasekhara Reddy also wanted that either the principal secretary or secretary of the department concerned should review the action taken once in a month and the chief secretary once every quarter.

The meeting was also of the opinion that the response to fight the disease should not be limited to Medical & Health Department alone but should be multi-sectoral.

According to orders issued early this year by the Medical & Health Department, each department has to name a senior officer as nodal officer for its effective implementation.

Officials of these departments were expected to have a clear action plan for inclusion of HIV/AIDS as part of all their training, education, awareness and extension programmes but there is no response from them, sources said.

Sources said that the disease was posing a major challenge as it could wipe out all the gains made by the State in increasing the life expectancy and reducing morbidity and mortality among mothers, infants and youth.

While the population among the most productive age was being affected by the disease, it also led to increase in orphans and destitutes in the society.

Andhra Pradesh is second in the country after Maharashtra in the number of patients suffering from AIDS and the main reason for the growth of the epidemic is high prevalence of paid sex, vast network of national highways criss-crossing the State, high incidence of STDs, both among men and women, proportionately lower rates of consistent condom use and also because of migrant population.

Forest, Tribal departments cross swords over laid roads

BY V L Srinivasan

Published on March 13, 2006

HYDERABAD: Officials of the Forest and Tribal Welfare departments in Khammam district are crossing swords with each other over the road laid between Markode and Karkagudem in Kinnerasani wildlife sanctuary in Khammam district at a cost of Rs 68 lakh in July last year.

The forest officials contend that the road was disturbing the wildlife sanctuary, which has three tigers among the animal population. Once completed, the road work, taken up under the Centrally-sponsored Rashtriya Sam Vikas Yojana (RSVY), will help speeding up developmental activities besides opening up 169 tribal habitations to better communication and other facilities in the tribal-dominated Gundala and Pinapaka mandals.

The district was selected for implementing the scheme on a pilot basis. Though the Forest officials sought the district Collector to direct the tribal welfare staff to stop the work, the latter refused.

When the Forest staff attempted to stop the work, the contractor and the locals revolted against them forcing the latter to seek police protection. Even the Paloancha DFO met the Project Officer of Bhadrachalam to get the work stopped but he too expressed his inability on the ground that it was meant for development of tribals.

Subsequently, a case has been registered by the forest officers against seven persons including four officials - project officer, executive engineer, deputy executive engineer and an assistant engineer - besides two contractors and a villager for violating the Forest Conservation Act.

In their report submitted to the higher-ups, the local forest officials said that during their inspection, the ITDA officials laid a road damaging the habitat for tiger and heritage of Kinnerasani wildlife sanctuary, which is inhabited by three tigers.

“The laying of road may lead to vanishing of all three tigers,” the officials claimed in their report.

“Taking up such road works in a wildlife sanctuary requires permission of the National Board of Wildlife and Supreme Court,” Forest officials told this website’s newspaper.

Rs 2600 crore sought from Centre for HVDS

BY V L Srinivasan

Published on March 13, 2006

HYDERABAD: Seeking Rs 2,600 crore from Centre for executing the High Voltage Distribution System (HVDS), Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy on Sunday advocated creation of a comprehensive mechanism for providing quality power to agriculture, domestic and other sectors in the state.

The HVDS would help in improving the voltages in supply of power to pumps and reduce the transformer failures since there will be smaller transformers catering to two or three pump sets.

In the last two years, the State Government implemented HVDS by energising 1,72,668 pump sets and was planning to cover the remaining 22 lakh pumpsets at a cost of around Rs 5,651 crores with financial assistance from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) by 2012.

He said that the power utilities have been providing quality power supply at a reasonable tariff to industrial consumers by providing around 1,000 exclusive industrial express feeders.

Rajasekhara Reddy, who reviewed the power supply position and implementation of HVDS with AP Transco officials over telephone from Delhi, asked the latter to constantly monitor the position though there was slight improvement in view of the rains in recent days.

The Chief Minister cautioned the officials that complaints were still being received from Nizamabad, Mahaboobnagar, Nalgonda, Prakasam and other areas regarding power supply and directed them to ensure that that they do not recur.

Recalling that the State recorded the maximum peak demand of 8,210 MW on February 17, which was 7.84 percent higher than the maximum demand reached during the same period last year, he patted the officials for meeting the demand by supplying 170 million units per day.

Sales to agricultural sector during January to March, which was 3,377 MU in 2002-03 and 3,798 MU in 2004-05, was expected to cross 5,000 MU this year. With the Government planning to conduct `Rythu Chaitanya Yatras' from April 2, Chief Minister asked the departments like revenue, power and Panchayat Raj to collect feedback from the general public.

The Chief Minister wanted the district collectors to monitor regular power supply position in their areas on day-to-day basis and report to him problems regarding supply.

The Chief Minister desired that power supply to industrial sector should not be disturbed as far possible, despite priority being given to domestic and the farm sectors.

SC empowered committee holds public hearing

BY V L Srinivasan

Published on March 12, 2006

HYDERABAD: Even as thousands of aqua-culturists and fish-workers affected by the demolition fish ponds in the world famous Kolleru lake in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling stood gloomily, people's representatives and advocates pleaded before the Apex Court appointed empowered committee for protection of the livelihood of the over one million people depending on it directly and indirectly.

As the four-member committee headed by M K Gijwrajaka held the public hearing inside the jubilee hall, agitated aqua-culturists unable to understand the proceedings being held in English, staged a noisy protest.

Seeking modification of the apex court order which only permitted traditional fishing, former MP and former state Minister V Sobhanadreswara Rao urged the committee to allow fish production through ‘cage and pen culture’ practised in the USA, China and Philippines, without causing pollution as a total ban of pesci-culture would deprive livelihood of the people dependant on the Rs 700 crore aquaculture sector.

Maintaining that encroachments of government lands in the fifth contour and private lands, should be removed to restore the pristine glory of the lake, attracting many migratory birds, the TDP leader demanded that the government must provide suitable compensation to the affected people and allocate land for the poor in the sixth and seventh contours for practising environment-friendly ‘cage and pen culture’.

Senior Congress leader Kavuri Sambasiva Rao, MP, pleading the case of the poor fishfolks, argued that demolition of all tanks in the area was not a solution to the problem of pollution caused by discharge of sewerage from several towns, effluents from industrial units and chemicals used in agricultural fields.

CPM floor leader in the State assembly alleged ‘gross human rights violations’ by the government officials in the name of implementation of the Apex Court ruling.

Asked for an explanation, West Godavari District Collector L Agarwal detailed the 354 cases filed in the last six years while implementing the Supreme Court's direction against the people who disrupted demolition of tanks.

Meanwhile, detailing the crop loss due to clogging of the Kolleru lake, which used to receive upto 1.36 lakh cusecs of water at Times of floods, All India Kisan Sabha National Vice-President K Nageswara Rao called for removing encroachments and big fish tanks to prevent about two lakh acres from being submerged, leading to heavy crop loss.

Suitable compensation and alternative livelihood must be provided for fishermen. Appearing for the Kolleru fishermen and small farmers association, its pleader R Rajaram urged the committee to put on hold the demolition operation till the Supreme Court decided on the human rights issues raised by his client, were heard.

AP gears up to hold ADB meet: CM

Published on March 11, 2006

HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh government is fully geared to host the Annual general body meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in May.

The infrastructure and hospitality facilities in the Capital city would be upgraded further to meet the requirements for such a prestigious event, Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy informed the ADB president Haruhiko Kuroda.

Dr Reddy gave the assurance during wide-ranging discussions he had with the ADB President at a dinner hosted in his honour here on Thursday night.

Having already hosted several major events such as the world Buddhist meet Kalachakra, Pravasi Bharatiya divas and the Indian science Congress, the Chief Minister explained that the official machinery had gained considerable experience to play host to an important event such as the ADB general body meeting, which will be participated by more than 3,000 foreign delegates, including top executives of banks from across the globe from may three to six.

On the occasion, the Chief Minister announced that the government had decided to extend subsidy of Rs 20 lakh to each of the three star hotels for upgradation of facilities on par with international standards.

The ADB meeting would provide tremendous opportunities for tying up business and investments in view of the participation of a large number of important delegates from different countries.

The delegates would be shown important destinations in different parts of the state for tapping investment opportunities, particularly in the areas of it, industry and tourism, the release said.

On his part, the ADB president expressed his happiness over the facilities in Hyderabad, which was being looked at as the right destination by many, amply proved by the MOU signed for establishing the multi-crore FAB city here, despite stiff competition from other states.

The Chief Minister informed Mr Kuroda that he was monitoring on a weekly basis, the arrangements for the ADB meeting and a committee comprising officials from finance and other departments was being formed to ensure that all requisite facilities were put in place.

Mr Kuroda enquired about the progress of International airport coming up at Shamshabad on the city outskirts and was informed that works were going on in full swing.

Dr Reddy explained the pro-active measures taken by the government to promote industries, including a reduction in the power tariff for ht consumers by four per cent in the last two years.

Asian development bank to launch energy efficiency initiative

BY V L Srinivasan

Published on March 10, 2006

HYDERABAD: Mr Haruhiko Kuroda, President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on said the bank would initiate an energy efficiency programme this year to help the growing economies of Asia meet their energy demands efficiently and minimize impact on environment.

Speaking to media persons at the international convention centre on the outskirts of the city, Mr Kuroda said the improved energy efficiency initiative would be one of the most prominent issues to be taken up for discussion at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) which will be held here from May 3 to 6, 2006.

He said the energy efficiency programme was one of the measures planned by the bank under the Kyoto protocol. Hyderabad was a booming and hi-tech city.

Hi-tech would be one of the issues to be discussed in the AGM. Mr Kuroda said as the economies of China, India, Pakistan and Indonesia were growing, they needed more energy which required efficient energy management to prevent higher prices and environmental hazards.

He said he was expecting around 2,000 to 3,000 delegates, including ministers, officials, financiers and academicians in the ensuing AGM.

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ADB plans assistance to municipalities

BY V L Srinivasan

Published on March 10, 2006

HYDERABAD: In an effort to boost infrastructure development in urban areas, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) was considering to provide assistance directly to municipal bodies without sovereign guarantee from Indian government, its president Haruhiko Kuroda said on Thursday.

There was room for intensifying ADB's effort in improving urban structure, he said during an interaction with bureaucrats after a lecture on ''investing in infrastructure: key to economic growth'' at the administrative staff college of India here.

Pointing out that education sector in Japan was being denationalised, he favoured a greater role for the private sector in higher education in India. Acknowledging the increasing role of foreign direct investment in development of infrastructure, he said China was attracting USD 50 to 60 Bill FDI investments in infrastructure projects annually and the exports sector was booming in the last 10 years.

Predicting an energy crisis in the Asian countries in the future, particularly in fast growing economies like China and India, he said attention should be paid to use water resources wisely and double the efforts to develop technologies to conserve it.

Pointing out that agriculture accounted for 75 per cent of the world water consumption, he called for doubling of efforts to reduce water consumption even while improving productivity and commended the efforts of the international rice research institute at Philippines.

Website of the CPDCL to be believed or not!

BY V L Srinivasan

Published on March 9, 2006

HYDERABAD: If the website of the Central Power Distribution Company Ltd (CPDCL) is to be believed, a Minister, MLA, senior IAS officers figure among the consumers who whopping sums to the power utilities towards electricity charges.

Of this, the dues to AP Central Power Distribution Company Limited (APCPDCL), which has a jurisdiction of seven districts including twin cities, alone accounts for more than Rs 1,180 crore. The total dues in all DISCOMS put together is Rs 2,400 crore.

The who's who in the list of defaulters in APCPDCL circle (according to its website) as on September 30, 2005, include Finance Minister K Rosaiah (Rs 60,159), former Home Minister T Devender Goud (Rs 51,358), MIM MLA Mohd Muktada Khan (Rs 1,90,345), senior IAS officers (both retired and serving)- P L Sanjeeva Reddy (Rs 50,378), A K Sharma (Rs 91,587), P Krishnaiah (Rs 60,071), Karikal Valavan (Rs 81,692) and former chief minister Nadendla Bhaskara Rao (Rs 81,513).

The list was kept in the website as per the directions of the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) which wanted the DISCOMS to appoint chartered accountants to identify recoverable and non recoverable dues from major defaulters and realise the same by implementing Revenue Recovery Act.

The APERC was also of the view that with the State Government reducing subsidy to the power sector every year (it came down from Rs 1,599 crore in 2005-06 to Rs 1,405 crore in 2006-07), the power utilities should look at various sources to tap funds for bridging the gap in the revenues.

All distribution companies have nearly completed the exercise and concluded that an amount of Rs 410.34 crore has to be recovered from 5,170 audited services so far. Another 877 accounts, which were also covered, will fetch about Rs 125.11 crore.

The details of another 4,600 defaulters who have to pay more than Rs 50,000, are being kept in the websites of the respective distribution companies. These defaulters including industrial and consumer services have to pay Rs 230.82 crore.

When contacted, a senior official in APCPDCL said that the Roads & Buildings department has to make payments for ministers and government officers which is usually delayed by two to three months. “They must have paid the old bills but the latest ones are pending and hence their names figure in the website,” the official said.

Prez curiosity elicits CM’s dhoti discourse

BY V L Srinivasan

Published on March 4, 2006

HYDERABAD: United States President George Bush was at a loss to understand why Telugu-speaking Indian-Americans were divided into two groups - Telugu Association of North America (TANA) and American Telugu Association (ATA).

Bush, who was on his maiden visit to AP, sought a clarification on this topic from Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy while recalling his association with the Telugu-speaking NRIs back home. “Mr Chief Minister, if all Telugu-speaking people are one, why are there two groups ?” he asked.

This was one of the queries posed by Bush during their heli-hopping in the Marine One chopper of the US Air Force to Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU) from Hyderabad airport on Friday morning.

The Chief Minister, however, explained that there were no major differences as they worked unitedly whenever the occasion demanded.

“Our culture is 2,000 years old and its language is beautiful and sweet. It is the second-most widely spoken language after Hindi in the country,” Rajasekhara Reddy said.

Bush also wanted to know about the style of Rajasekhara Reddy’s dress. Reddy replied: “Mr Bush. This is a distinct dress of an Andhra Pradesh farmer. I come from a farmer’s family and I like to look one among them.’’

The discussion later switched over to the personal details of the Chief Minister. Bush asked him how many children he had, how did he spend his holiday and how far away was his native from the city.

Rajasekhara Reddy replied that he was born in Balapanuru village near Pulivendula in Kadapa district and he usually spent his leisure time either in his farm house or in Ooty.

Bush expressed surprise when Rajasekhara Reddy told him that he had grandchildren. “We get married at an early age,” the Chief Minister told him.

Rajasekhara Reddy also explained his Government’s priorities and the reforms, which were being implemented with a human face. He listed the welfare programmes launched for various sections of the society, including farmers.

Polavaram gets State wildlife board nod

BY V L Srinivasan

Published on March 3, 2006

HYDERABAD: Crossing a major hurdle, the multi-purpose Indira Sagar (Polavaram) Project has obtained the clearance of the State Board for Wildlife. The relevant file is now with the National Board for Wildlife for its approval. Subsequently, it will be submitted to the Central Government.

The Indira Sagar will submerge 3,267 hectares of forest land, including 187.29 hectares of the Papikondalu wildlife sanctuary, besides affecting more than two lakh tribals.

Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, who is the chairman of the State Board for Wildlife, convened a meeting a few weeks ago, which was attended by representatives of the World Wildlife (India), forest conservationists and senior officials from Forest, Irrigation and Revenue departments.

The project was cleared by the Board after the State Government agreed to abide by certain conditions.

One major condition is that the Irrigation Department should ensure that the labour working in the project will not use firewood from the nearby forest either for building huts or for cooking. They should be supplied cooking gas with stoves by the contractors.

“Since a major portion of the work is being done by machines, fewer workers will be used,” officials of the Forest department told this website's newspaper.

Another condition is that the net sanctuary area lost should be suitably compensated by adding an equal portion from the adjacent high forest area, which is considered to be a better habitat for wildlife.

The chief wildlife warden has been asked to submit proposals to the Central Government for notifying 187.29 hectares of adjacent forest area for the purpose.

Other conditions agreed upon relate to registering and recognising the rights of resident tribal communities and implementing the Centrally-sponsored Environment Development Committee (EDC) schemes for them, payment of Rs 195 crore towards net present value of the forest produce.