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Jana Sena corporator’s open challenge to YSRCP MP

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Jana Sena corporator’s open challenge to YSRCP MP

Jana Sena party corporator from the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation gave an open challenge to local MP on Thursday on the development of Visakhapatnam. The GVMC 22 division corporator, Murthy Yadav, told media persons that the MP had developed his own real estate ventures and not the Visakhapatnam city or the Lok Sabha constituency.

Murthy Yadav said that he had developed his 22nd division better than the MP in the last four years. He dared MP M V V Satyanarayana to come for an open debate with him on the development of the greater Visakhapatnam.

He also said that he would take the MP along with him in the division and show him the development he had done so far. He dared the MP to take him along with him to any place in the Lok Sabha constituency and show him the development he had done in the last four years.

The Jana Sena corporator alleged that the MP had laid roads around the MVV Ventures around Visakhapatnam. The new roads laid around Mallayapalem and MVV City also show as clear examples of how the MP had worked for his own properties and ventures rather than the city.

He alleged that the MP had also grabbed 10 acres of land belonging to Hayagreeva to establish an old age home. He said that the MP had grabbed the Christian minorities lands including the controversial CBCMC lands.

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Indian and U.S. Militaries Conduct “Tiger Triumph” Exercise

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Indian and U.S. Militaries Conduct “Tiger Triumph” Exercise

The Indian and US militaries concluded a three-day joint humanitarian assistance exercise on Thursday at India’s Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam. The “Tiger Triumph” tabletop simulation was a comprehensive effort in which Indian and U.S. military and diplomatic representatives coordinated a joint response to provide disaster relief services to a notional third country that experienced a super-cyclone.

India is an indispensable partner and leader in advancing stability and security throughout South Asia and the greater Indian Ocean Region. I am encouraged by the team’s work on increasing interoperability and exercising bilateral agreements to develop and validate a multinational command and control model for humanitarian assistance in this region,” said Major General McPhillips, Director of Strategic Planning and Policy at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.

This week’s Tiger Triumph exercise was the second collaboration between the Indian and U.S. militaries to coordinate disaster relief in the region. The first exercise – also based out of Visakhapatnam – took place over the course of nine days in November 2019 and featured more than 500 U.S. Marines and sailors and approximately 1,200 Indian sailors, soldiers, and airmen. This year’s exercise involves fifty combined participants, and is focused on staff planning, with an emphasis on processes for streamlining diplomatic, operational, and logistical coordination. 

“Tiger Triumph is a perfect illustration of how the United States and India are working together to strengthen security in the Indo-Pacific,” said Jennifer Larson, U.S. Consul General, Hyderabad. “With climate change threatening to increase the frequency of extreme weather events around the world, the United States recognizes India’s unique role as a regional leader with the capacity to assist other countries in need. We look forward to continuing our close collaboration and deepening our ability to work side-by-side in the region.”

Tiger Triumph marks the third time in 2022 that the Indian and U.S. militaries have worked together in Visakhapatnam. In February, the United States joined India and more than thirty other nations for India’s bi-annual Exercise Milan – the first time the United States had participated in Exercise Milan. In August, the USS Frank Cable visited Visakhapatnam, during which U.S. sailors joined Indian counterparts for briefings and an official dinner.

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Jagan Govt taking Krishna Board office to Visakhapatnam

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Jagan Govt taking Krishna Board office to Visakhapatnam

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao has demanded that the main office of the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) be continued in Hyderabad. But, as per one of the promises in the AP Reorganisation Act, all arrangements have been made for shifting the Krishna River Board office to Vijayawada.

Recently, the board management had also announced that they were going to soon move their office to Vijayawada. Now, all of a sudden, the Jaganmohan Reddy Government has changed its plans. It has written a letter to the Krishna Board to stop shifting the office to Vijayawada. Instead, the office should be shifted to Visakhapatnam.

The AP Chief Secretary has written a formal letter to the board management to this effect. The logic behind this is not immediately comprehensible to the officials. Already, the Telangana Government is objecting to Vijayawada but now AP has decided to take the office still far away to Vizag.

For all practical purposes, the Krishna Board has to mostly coordinate with the Telangana and AP Governments on a continuous basis. The Board has to sort out inter state river water disputes and allocation claims on water. Speculation is going on whether the YCP regime has preferred Vizag out of political reasons. Questions are asked whether this would not attract contempt of court considering the court’s order for stopping Capital shifting.

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2 killed in Vizag pharma firm gas leak

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2 killed in Vizag pharma firm gas leak

Visakhapatnam, June 30 (IANS) Two persons died and four others took ill in a gas leak at a pharmaceutical unit in Visakhapatnam on Monday night, the second industrial disaster to strike the port city in less than two months.

The incident occurred at Sainor Life Sciences Private Limited, a pharma company located at Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City in Parwada on the city outskirts around 11.30 p.m. on Monday. However, it came to light only in the early hours of Tuesday.

Revenue Divisional Officer P. Kishore told reporters at the scene that Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) leaked while it was being pumped from one reactor to the other.

Initially, the leaked gas was suspected to be benzimidazole.

Six people working there inhaled the gas. While two persons died, four others were shifted to a hospital, where condition of one of them is stated to be critical.

The deceased were identified as shift incharge R. Narendra, 33, and chemist M. Gowri Shankar, 26.

The condition of L.V. Chandrashekhar, a helper, was critical. He was kept on a ventilator. The other affected persons were out of danger and they were identified as P. Ananad Babu, a helper, and D. Janaki Rao and M. Surya Narayana, both chemists.

Visakhapatnam Superintendent of Police R. K. Meena and District Collector Vinay Chand visited the plant. The collector has ordered an inquiry into the incident.

Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy enquired about the incident. As a precautionary measure, the factory has been closed.

Sainor Life Sciences manufactures Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), pellets and intermediates.

“The officials informed the Chief Minister that leakage was confined to the reactor unit only and there was no need for any panic as the situation is under control,” reads a statement from the chief minister’s office.

Meena told reporters that a First Information Report (FIR) would be registered into the incident and an inquiry would be conducted. “The gas leakage was arrested immediately. There is no threat to other units in Pharma City or to nearby habitation,” the RDO said.

Pendurthi MLA Annamreddy Adeep Raj said the negligence by the company management led to the gas leak. He said necessary precautions were not taken while pumping the gas and this led to the tragedy.

This is the second incident at the company in five years. Two workers including a pharmacist were killed and five injured in a reactor blast at active pharmaceutical ingredients manufacturing plant of Sainor Life Sciences in September 2015.

Monday’s gas leak incident comes close on the heels of May 7 disaster at LG Polymers plant at Venkatapuram on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam. Styrene gas leak from the plan had claimed the lives of 12 people and affected around 500 in the surrounding villages.

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30% rise expected in Visakhapatnam population: Capital needs

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30% rise expected in Visakhapatnam population: Capital needs

The Jaganmohan Reddy Government has recently faced tough challenges to push ahead with Capital shifting because of the twin crisis situations that arose in Visakhapatnam. LG Polymers gas leak tragedy got stuck in a variety of unexpected litigation issues in the High Court, the Supreme Court as well as the National Green Tribunal. On the other hand, the CBI investigation is ringing alarm bells for Vizag police machinery who were  involved in mishandling the Dr Sudhakar case in the city roads in broad daylight. Both cases have put the port city in the spotlight in national and international media.

Regardless of such challenging tasks, the Jagan Reddy Government is giving all indications of its firm decision to shift AP Administrative Capital as early as possible. Towards this, the Government has begun making plans to create basic facilities for employees, officials and general public in the next few months. As per its estimate, nearly 30 per cent rise is expected in Visakhapatnam population. This rise will be there in just a few months time once Capital started functioning from the port city. The Government has asked district officials to place special focus on creating drinking water facilities to meet the increasing population in and around the city. A master plan should be made ready especially on drinking water.

The ruling party leaders were of the view that there would be a big leap in industrial development around Visakhapatnam soon. Accordingly, the officials were being asked to prepare plans for roads and amenities for city expansion in the immediate future.

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11 dead , 320 hospitalized in Visakha gas leak. People fell like pack of cards

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11 dead , 320 hospitalized in Visakha gas leak. People fell like pack of cards

A major gas leak in a polymer company in Visakhapatnam has led to death of at 11 people, including a child and two senior citizens. Two of them fell into well while trying to escape and died.

Over 320 have been hospitalized following the leak, which took place at LG Polymers chemical plant owned at R R Venkatapuram around 2.30 am on Thursday after they inhaled toxic PVC gas (or Styrene) leaked from LG Polymers. Styrene gas is used to make plastics and rubber and can be dangerous. The gas had leaked out of two 5,000-tonne tanks that had been unattended due to coronavirus lockdown in place since late March. The plant was reopened after easing of the lockdown regulations without proper safety measures and adequate maintenance before starting production work led to the tragedy. The plant is owned by the South Korean company LG Corp.

At least 11 people had died from toxic gas exposure and that 320 others were affected by the gas to varying degrees, including some who are in intensive care. The deceased were identified as Krishnamurthy (73), Shreya (6), Grisha (9), Gangaraju (48) , Chandramouli (19), Narayanamma (39) and Narasamma (43). Some unconfirmed reports estimated that around 1,000 people were affected by the gas leak.

The toxic fumes have spread over five villages and officials have been evacuating people from surrounding areas. As the gas spread, residents ran out of their homes in panic. Hordes of people came out of their houses faces covered, ambulances rushing towards the the affected areas. Video footage showed dozens of men and women lying unconscious in the street. Visuals of a stray dog struggling to use its legs to stand before collapsing on the floor, two sisters tightly hugging each other, a cop choking, a daughter desperately trying to revive her mother collapsed on the street by puming her heart were disturbing. It was one horrific and tragic scene. People fell like a pack of cards, some fell off their bikes, some morning walkers collapsed inhaling the toxic fumes, children and women were found unconsicous on the pavements.

Hundreds of people have been taken to hospital – many complaining of a burning sensation in the eyes, nausea and breathing problems. Ambulances, fire engines and policemen reached the chemical plant. Residents of Simhachalam, Gopalapatnam, Vepagunta have been evacuated as National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have reached the spot. Chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy is closely monitoring the situation and is rushing to the Port City.

Of the 320 gas leak victims, around 193 are undergoing treatment at King’s George Hospital, 66 at private hopsitals and another 57 at various health centers. The KGH hospital in Vizag had to grapple with a swarm of patients cramming hospital emergency rooms with more than 2 gas victims being treated in one bed. There were children everywhere, often two to three to a bed. Some were brothers and sisters.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called up Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy to inquire about the situation. Jagan reportedly informed the Prime Minister that the situation was under control and that people in the nearby villages were evacuated. Modi expressed his condolences for the families of the deceased and issued instructions for proper treatment and assistance to be given to those who have taken ill. Modi also spoke to Union home ministry and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to take stock of the situation in Vizag arising out of the gas leak. The prime minister has also convened a meeting of the National Disaster Management Authority at 11 am in wake of the situation, the PMO said.

The prime minister wrote on Twitter that he spoke with Union Home Ministry officials and National Disaster Management Authority regarding the situation “which is being monitored closely.” “Spoke to officials of MHA and NDMA regarding the situation in Visakhapatnam, which is being monitored closely. I pray for everyone’s safety and well-being in Visakhapatnam,” tweeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi @narendramodi.

Responding to the Vizag gas leak incident on Thursday, Home Minister Amit Shah said that he has spoken to the officials of MHA and NDMA regarding the situation in Visakhapatnam, “which is being monitored closely.” “The incident in Vizag is disturbing. Have spoken to the NDMA officials and concerned authorities. We are continuously and closely monitoring the situation. I pray for the well-being of the people of Visakhapatnam,” tweeted Amit Shah.

Andhra Pradesh Govenor Bishwabhushan Harichandan expressed anguish over the situation in Visakha. Bishwabhushan Harichandan advised the government to press in Red Cross volunteers to mitigate the crisis.

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Breaking News: No Visakhapatnam Railway Zone

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Breaking News: No Visakhapatnam Railway Zone

The Centre once again gave a shock to Andhra Pradesh. The Centre confirmed that, given the current circumstances, Visakhapatnam Railway Zone is not possible. A press note regarding the same has been released by Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary, Dinesh Kumar. ‘According to the report received from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Visakhapatnam Railway Zone is not possible,’ said Dinesh Kumar.

The latest move comes at a time when the Parliament sessions are being stalled by the TDP MPs ‘AP Special Category Status’ protests. Along with the people of the state, all political parties are protesting against the Centre.

Recently, Arun Jaitley has made it clear that Special Category Status for Andhra Pradesh cannot be granted. Instead, the Centre is ready to fulfil all the promises made in the AP Reorganization Act 2014.

‘Visakhapatnam Railway Zone will be created, and Visakhapatnam will be made the Headquarters. It will be only possible by the BJP government,’ said the BJP MLA Vishnu Kumar Raju in the AP Assembly recently.

It looks like the Centre has started its vengeance against the state of Andhra Pradesh, thanks to our glorified politicians.

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Visakhapatnam Airport To Launch E-Visa Facility

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Visakhapatnam Airport To Launch E-Visa Facility

Visakhapatnam Airport To Launch E-Visa Facility

With an aim to boost the AP tourism and to increase the percentage of foreign tourists in Telugu states, the Union Home Minister has finally given permission for the visa on arrival facility at Visakhapatnam airport.

The foreign tourists can apply for the visa online and once they get authorization from the officials through e-mail, with which they can get the stamping upon arrival in Visakhapatnam.

In a statement released by minister Bhuma Akhila Priya, she stated that the e-visa facility will get started in Visakhapatnam from tomorrow and the port city will be added to the list of 16 cities like Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi, Goa, Jaipur, Gaya, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Tirucchi, Varanasi and Thiruvananthapuram in India, which already have this system. She also made it clear that with this facility, tourists from nearly 147 countries can directly come to Visakhapatnam.

She opined that this facility will help the foreign tourists entry to the state easier and the visitors can stay for two months with this e-visa. Also, people from countries like Finland, Newzealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, and Myanmar can directly come to Visakhapatnam without any visa.

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Google X goes to Vizag

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Google X goes to Vizag

Google X goes to Vizag

AP Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu has stood up to his promise of developing a Cyber City in his state that matches Hi-Tech City he had developed in Hyderabad. Google X, a high-tech arm of IT behemoth Google, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with AP Government to set up a centre to develop and test its cutting-edge technologies in Visakhapatnam.

The deal was signed by Nara Lokesh, state’s IT Minister on behalf of AP and Astro Teller, the company’s CEO, during the former’s visit to the San Francisco-based Google X. Vizag will be its first R&D centre outside the US.

Some of Google X’s projects are highly secretive. While many are at development and testing stages, a well-known project is driverless car that is undergoing field trials. Others are Google Glass and Project Loon that aims at providing Internet through balloons.

The AP Government has plans to provide high speed Internet and broadband services to nearly 120 lakh households and 130,000 private and public sector establishments by March 2019. Google X is closely associated with this project. It will deploy Free Space Optical Communications (FSOC) technology that uses light beams to transmit data instead of cables or fibre optic cables. A revolution in communications, indeed.

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Hyderabad, Vizag among Top 10 richest cities

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Hyderabad, Vizag among Top 10 richest cities

Hyderabad, Vizag among Top 10 richest cities

Hyderabad in Telangana and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh are among the top ten richest cities in India, according to Yahoo Finance. The ranks are based on their estimated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 2016. GDP is the measure of market value of all finished goods and services produced during a particular time, say financial year or a calendar year.

Accordingly, Mumbai, the country’s commercial capital, has retained its top position with an estimated GDP of Rs 23.92 lakh crores followed by the administrative capital Delhi with Rs 19.04 lakh crores.
While Kolkata ranked third with Rs 9.75 lakh crore GDP, IT cities Bangalore and Hyderabad occupied fourth and fifth positions respectively with an estimated GDP of Rs 5.39 lakh crores and Rs 4.81 lakh crores.

Chennai, which used to be the King of South in every respect and the fourth most important city in the country, took the sixth slot with RS 4.29 lakh crore GDP. It has lost its pre-eminence due to the rise of Hyderabad and Bangalore.

Ahmedabad, with Rs 4.16 lakh crore GDP, occupies the seventh position, followed by Pune (No 8 – Rs 3.38 lakh crores); Visakhapatnam (No 9 – Rs 2.79 lakh crores) and Surat (No 10 – Rs 2.60 lakh crores).
The ten cities account for a total GDP of Rs 80.13 lakh crores.

Not surprisingly, these top ten are home to a majority of millionaires and billionaires in the country. According to Asia-Pacific Wealth Report – 2017, India is home to the fourth largest population of millionaires in the region.

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More trouble for Ganta in Vishaka Land Scam

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More trouble for Ganta in Vishaka Land Scam

Following the footsteps of Minister Ch Ayyanna Patrudu, Senior leader of TDP Thota Nagesh filed a complaint with Special Investigating Team against Pratyusha associates which was once lead by Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao. Nagesh who was a former Chairman District Central Library, alleged that the firm is still in possession of the land belonging to the district library at Prahladapuram area in Visakhapatnam.

Pratyusha associates signed an MoU with the state government to develop a multi complex and a library in 2009. The land worth 100 crores was given on lease for 33years. The company which took over the land in 2009 neither started work on the library in 30000sqft nor on the multi complex in the remaining 1.2lakh sqft. Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao was director of the firm until February 2014. The MoU was cancelled in 2014 yet the company is the possession of the lands.

The number of complaints againt Minister Ganta has been snowballing ever since the SIT inquiry commenced. It may be recalled that Minister Ayyanna submitted evidences showcasing that the TDP leaders pawned government lands and raised Rs190 crore from banks. Of the 2560 complaints received by SIT, 2000 complaints belonged to the scams in Vizag city. Despite not having faith in the SIT, opposition parties did submit some key documents against TDP leaders who grabbed the lands unlawfully.

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Face off between TDP and YSRCP in Vizag on June22

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Face off between TDP and YSRCP in Vizag on June22

Visakhapatnam city will be a host for ruling Telugu Desham Party’s MahaSankalpam and opposition YSR Congress Party’s MahaDharna on June22. YSRCP will be conducting a Mahadharna at GVMC office demanding protection of both government and private lands. It is protesting against the involvement of ruling party leaders in the Vishaka land scam and tampering of land records. Opposition Leader YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will be leading the Dharna. Also, YSRCP will be collaborating with all other Opposition parties like CPI, CPM, Lok Satta demanding CBI probe into the scam.

With around 5000 party works, to counter the opposition, TDP is be organizing MahaSankalpam on the same day in the same city. The ruling party considers it as the apt time to enlighten the people about the opposition party’s ‘false propaganda’. As per the reports, the ruling party is planning to welcome Jagan with hoardings listing his corrupt activities from the airport to the city.

This is not a novel initiative by the TDP, especially when the welcomed Rahul Gandhi with Black flags in Vijayawada, and in the past detained Jagan at Vishaka aiport. However, Visakhapatnam is going to be a game changer in the next elections.

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Visakha Land Records tampering : Public hearing on June 15

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Visakha Land Records tampering : Public hearing on June 15

Spurious registrations, amendment of land records, bribe for issuing pattadar passbook, illegally selling lands of the freedom fighters – Visakhapatnam district is witnessing land scams, especially with the government lands waning in various mandals.

A very large scale tampering of records in Bheemili and Vishaka rural mandals had occurred with officials’ involvement. The district collector Praveen Kumar setup Special investigation team to investigate the matter.

It may be recalled that B.T.V. Rama Rao a “millionaire tahsildar” along with Deputy Tahsildar and another Assistant were nabbed by ACB officials and subsequently suspended for illegal land encroachment and bribes. Crores of acres of government land became inaccessible. Roads and Buildings (R&B) Minister Ch. Ayyannapatrudu said as of now 5,000 to 6,000 acres were under encroachment.

Several registration changes were made not only to the government lands but also private lands as well. Land encroachments saw a surge in the Chinnagadili Rural Zone by Tahsildar Sankara Rao, Deputy Tahsildar Shyam and other staff who modified thousands of crores of land records.

The facts pertaining to each survey number are being exposed currently. Recently authorities took hold of survey number 331/5 costing hundreds of crores on which several complaints were received in the last decade. In rural mandals, the officers remained clueless about the assignment of lands. Therefore, special teams have been deployed to the rural zone to verify the facts and correct the records.

Lakshmana Rao who was a deceased freedom fighter but a person named Ramakrishna misled the court with wrong documents and sold his land to others. The police detained Ramakrishna and a case has been registered. A similar incident occurred in Anakapalli where Deputy Tahsildar Krishnamurthy sent a report favouring politicos to district collector seeking compensation of 6 crores to 37 beneficiaries. However, the Joint Collector Srijana found that there were only 9 beneficiaries at that time who were already given compensation. The district collector Praveen Kumar is probing into the report sent earlier. Most of the accused have been detained and criminal cases have been filed.

District collector Praveen Kumar cleared air regarding the Daspalla lands the most expensive stretct in Vizag city and said as per the court orders, the lands were private lands. Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, the collector said a new record will be created within few months of the records that were tampered in the district. He said that they are looking into Vishaka Rural Mandal records while it will take some time to validate the Madhurawada records. Furthermore, he said that the records will be uploaded to Webland after updating them on the website and due to the discrepancies the records are not yet uploaded. The new records will be prepared based on records available in the Central Records Room. Due to tampering of records, land litigations might be appear. However, the collector said that government lands are not lost.
He said satellite fencing will be done for government land and a pilot will be implemented in a village.

The State government has decided to conduct a public hearing on June 15 over tampering of land records in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister K.E. Krishnamurthy. He said senior officials from the Chief Commissioner of Land Administration (CCLA) and the revenue department would verify the records. The team would conduct the hearing at the district Collector’s office at 11 a.m. This public hearing is a consequence of the farmers demanding an inquiry after the allegations surfaced that officials had fabricated the records by saying that they were missing after the Hudhud cyclone.

Even the leaders of ruling party accused that various political parties indulged in encroachments. Krishnamurthy said that the impacted persons can lodge complaints with necessary documents and subsequent action would be taken accordingly. He requested people not to give into political pressure.

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Lokesh to spruce up Visakhapatnam for Mahanadu

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Lokesh to spruce up Visakhapatnam for Mahanadu

Visakhapatnam: Minister for IT, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development, Nara Lokesh, is sprucing up the beach city for the three-day Mahanadu to be held for three days from May 27. Lokesh, who is now in Visakhapatnam, grabbed the opportunity to visit the venue for the Mahanadu on Saturday and held discussions with the party leaders on the arrangements to be made for the mega event.

This being the first Mahanadu for him as Minister, Lokesh is taking special care to monitor the arrangements in every minute detail. Minister for Human Resources, Ganta Srinivasa Rao, besides others is taking care of the food arrangements for the party leaders and activists to be present during the three days. Party State president and Minister for Power, K Kalavenkata Rao, another Minister Ch Ayyannapathrudu from the region have already got into action preparing the rank and file for the mega event.

Lokesh, who has already been elevated by giving him membership of the two prominent Cabinet committees, Industrial Promotion Board and the Land Allocation Committee for Amaravati, is marching ahead making his mark in the State administration. The absence of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had come in as a blessing in disguise for him to establish himself as next in command, both in the party and the government as well.

The Mahanadu arrangements are set to give him a greater opportunity to have his word and prove his leadership qualities. A month after his elevation as the Minister, Lokesh now looks different. He is giving least priority to the criticism on him by the Opposition and also the comments against him in the social media. “My concern is not to counter the criticism. I am focusing more on the developmental works, particularly in the IT and Rural Development sectors. While the IT will bring more jobs for the people, the rural development would change the face of the State and that itself would counter the criticism,” he quipped during a chit chat with the media persons before leaving for Visakhapatnam.

With this changed attitude of ignoring the Opposition criticism, Lokesh looks different as he gained greater experience in politics and administration to be the successor to the master of politics, Chandrababu Naidu. His initiatives in making the next Mahanadu are also set to be a greater opportunity to prove his abilities and energies.

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Railway Zone for AP, Konatala writes to Railway Minister

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Railway Zone for AP, Konatala writes to Railway Minister

Visakhapatnam: Former MP and former Minister, Konatala Ramakrishna had written a letter to Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu asking him to expedite the process to establish a railway zone for Andhra Pradesh at Visakhapatnam. The former minister said that the railway zone for residuary State of Andhra Pradesh was part of the AP Reorganisation Act 2014 and it was the responsibility of the government to fulfil it. The former minister had earlier written a letter on Septmber 3, 2016 and sought to remind the Minister of the Constitutional obligation to be fulfilled.

He said that the AP Reorgansiation Act had promised to complete the process within six months from the appointed day, June 2, and expedite the process. However, it is almost three years that the State was bifurcated, he said and regretted that the constitutional obligation is not fulfilled yet. He recalled that a committee was constituted to examine the zone issue and a report was already submitted to the government. He wondered why the government is sitting on the report without getting into action.

He said he had filed a petition in the Hyderabad High Court seeking expedition of establishing railway zone with headquarters at Visakhapatnam and added that the petition is set to come for hearing in the first week of June. By then the State would complete three years after reorganisation, he added and wanted the government to act at least now to fulfil the constitutional obligation. He said that the people of the State were waiting for the zone to help in the development of the State. Denial of zone would make people fight for their rights, he asserted.

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Majnu first schedule wrapped up in style

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Majnu first schedule wrapped up in style

Akkineni Naga Chaitanya commenced the shooting for his next film which is an official remake of Malayalam romantic entertainer Premam. Majnu is the tentative title for the film. Shruti Haasan and Anupama Parameshwaran are the female leads and the makers are on the lookout for the third heroine.

According to the latest update, the first schedule has been wrapped up in Vizag in which some key scenes featuring Chaitu and Shruti Haasan were canned for over a week. The schedule was wrapped up in style with a song being shot in the last two days during night time. The next schedule will commence in a few days in Hyderabad.

Chandoo Mondeti is the director and Suryadevara Naga Vamshee is producing it on Sitara Entertainment banner.

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Vizag MLC opposes Bauxite mining

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Vizag MLC opposes Bauxite mining

On a day when the state cabinet is meeting to take a view on going ahead on the mining of bauxite from the Agency area in Visakhapatnam district, an MLC from the district raised the banner of revolt.
North Andhra Graduates Constituency MLC MVS Sarma complained to President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, on the illegality of the mining of bauxite and its negative environmental fall out.
First to revolt against the Bauxite was Giddi Eswari, MLA from Paderu in Agency. She has threatened to resign from Assembly if government were to chose to go ahead.

“The government is pursuing the mining activity in the Agency and in the process several laws meant to safeguard the rights of tribal population have been compromised,” Sarma said in a letter dashed off to the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday. Andhra Pradesh cabinet is meeting on Monday to discuss the issue in the light of the growing opposition to the mining of bauxite. According to a senior minister, chief minister Naidu has in principle has decided to go ahead on the project as it is an assured source of revenue to the government, which embarked on massive projects such as capital Amaravati construction, airports, industrial corridors etc.

He said Monday’s cabinet might not take a decision in haste to start the mining immediately. ” The government is planning to take up an awareness creation campaign on the project. For this CM wants to release a white paper. The cabinet may approve of the decision to release a white paper,” the minister said. Questioning the legal and constitutional validity of the GO issued on November 5, diverting 1,212 hectares of forest land for bauxite mining by the AP Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC), MLC Sarma urged the President not to approve of the GO that was issued in the name of the Governor. “Article 244 (1) of the Constitution, says that the Constitution stipulates that the Governor should seek advice of the Tribal Advisory Council before issuing any order relating to tribal area under Schedule V. Before the GO was issued, the Governor should have directed the government to constitute the TAC, and sought its permission. No such action had been taken, ” Sarma said.

The MLC said the Ministry of Tribal Affairs issued a memo in September 2012 cancelling the mining lease issued to the APMDC. Since the order had not been revoked or modified, he argued, the clearance given by the Ministry of Environment and Forests for mining now was illegal.

Ministry of environment and forest has reportedly fast tracked the proposal of the government of Andha Pradesh seeking environmental clearance to the project.

Telugu360 is always open for the best and bright journalists. If you are interested in full-time or freelance, email us at Krishna@telugu360.com.

Myths and realities of Godavari – Krishna Inter Linking : An expert’s view

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Myths and realities of Godavari – Krishna Inter Linking : An expert’s view

[intro]Telugu360.com has requested former Chief Technical Adviser to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO/UN), Dr. S. Jeevananda Reddy, to present views on TDP Government’s much publicized inter linking of  Godavari – Krishna rivers  this week. In this guest essay he discusses about Polavaram, Pattiseema projects and Inter linking of rivers[/intro]

I did the inter-linking of Godavari River with Krishna River during 1964-69 on many occasions of my travel in train Guntur to Visakhapatnam via Vijayawada to Rajahmundry. I used to fill Krishna water in a bottle at Vijayawada and put that water into Godavari at Rajahmundry and vice versa . I enjoyed this. Now i read a story (by Tanaya Singh in BetterIndia)which says that the TDP government is the first to inter-link the Godavari water with Krishna River. The story says the Godavari River water from Tadipudi lift irrigation was pumped in to Polavaram Right Canal and this reaches Krishna River Prakasam barrage. The TDP Government plan was to pump water of Godavari from Pattiseema lift irrigation project in to the Polavaram right canal to Krishna River.

Justice Bachawat Tribunal approved the inter-linking of Godavari River with Krishna River through Polavaram project [it is a multipurpose project with 960 MW of power production]. With this 80 TMC of surplus water in Krishna River basin becomes allotted water. In this AP share is 45 TMC. For Polavaram Project in 80s Chief Minister Anjaih laid the foundation stone but nothing moved afterwards. In 2004 Dr. Y. S. Rajashekara Reddy took over as Chief Minister of the State. He started the work [got most of the necessary approvals] including first phase of rehabilitation and right left canals excavation before his death. Dr. YSR’s government released excellent R & R Package. As part of this, Pulichintala project was initiated [I was a member of the CFE committee in APPCB which cleared the project – three collectors agreed with my proposal to give land to land for displaced]. If Dr. YSR would have been alive this project would have been completed and Rayalaseema would have benefited from the inter-linking of Godavari with Krishna. Here the water moves through gravity from Godavari to Krishna, which is real inter-linking of rivers.

Now present TDP Chief Minister says, he laid foundation stone to Tadipudi lift irrigation project so, it is his baby [inter-linking]. Unfortunately, NTR laid foundation stones for several projects but none of them started work. The Present TDP Chief Minister also laid second time foundation stones where NTR laid the foundation stones prior to 2004. With this we lost the flood water use from Krishna basin [8 projects]. All these projects were proposed in Congress time in 70s-80s only. TDP rulers simply laid foundation stones. Under Jalayagnam Dr. YSR initiated all the projects [proposed in 80s] by giving funds. Now, TDP government says, though they abused on Jalayagnam projects now they claim Tadipudi lift irrigation project is their own, so they own the inter-linking of the rivers.

A report in Andhra Jyothi, 20 June 2014 state that in Telangana under Jalayagnam 25 projects were initiated to irrigate 22,77,416 acres at a cost of about Rs. 21,506 crores. So far around 14,321 crores were spent on them. After Dr. Y. S. Rajashekara Reddy death in 2009, the later governments failed to speeding up the construction activity as: if they are completed the benefit goes to Dr. Y. S. Rajashekara Reddy. To complete the projects around Rs. 11, 440 crores are needed in which original estimate is Rs. 7,185 crores plus an addition of Rs. 4,255 crores [escalation costs]. However, the new government is playing politics and wanted to change the projects. Some of them are nearly completed. These projects include under Krihna River as well Godavari River. One of the major projects initiated on Godavari River is Pranahita-Chevella project that is expected to meet the drinking and irrigation needs in 7 districts out of ten districts of Telangana and thus bring down the cost of water grid project initiated at Rs. 40,000 crores.

Have you seen the water that flowed from Tadipudi lift irrigation project built by Dr. YSR government in to Polavaram right canal which was built by Dr. YSR government – it is a muddy water [irrigation minister & TDP leaders have a dip in that water] pumped in to mud canal [TV channel showed this – water flow cutting the banks and carrying red sandy soil with it and will deposit it in to Krishna River].

Tanaya Singh says in the write up the Pattiseema project is meant to supply water to Rayalaseema. May be the writer has no knowledge on the Rayalaseema projects and Pothireddypadu head regulator are not yet finished after Dr. YSR death – everybody is afraid that these are completed Dr. YSR will get the credit.

TDP leader including NTR were never interested to take up irrigation projects due to regional politics. NTR completed Telugu Ganga project with most of the money was given by Tamil Nadu Government to take drinking water to Chennai – but on the day of opening the canal breeched submerging vast cropped lands in Rayalaseema.

Inter-linking of Rivers – by definition, the water from One River joins another river through gravity. Lift irrigation does not come under inter-linking of the rivers as the flow water will not connect the two rivers. So, water taken from Godavari through Tadipudi or Pattiseema through lift irrigation will not connect the two rivers through water flow. Unfortunately no irrigation expert says this is not a inter-linking of rivers. This is our political experts!!!

Tadipudi was built by Dr. YSR government and Polavaram Right Canal was excavated by Dr. YSR government. TDP government simply lofted water from Tadipudi and put in to Right Canal. So, the credit of inter-linking [?] as propagated goes to Dr. YSR and not to TDP government. Tadipudi water is meant for Godavari district and not for Krishna district.

Pattiseema lift irrigation project – it is meant to serve the real estate interests in the new capital city only and not to take water to Rayalaseema. Rayalaseema get water only by completing the pending works on projects in Rayalaseema and Polavaram.

Telugu360 is always open for the best and bright journalists. If you are interested in full-time or freelance, email us at Krishna@telugu360.com.

Amaravati will be free of casino and race course

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Amaravati will be free of casino and race course

Though chief minister Chandrababu Naidu plans to build new capital Amaravati into a world-class city, it would be free of casinos and race-course. This was made clear by finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu today in Assembly when BJP member suggested that government should consider setting up casinos in Amaravati. Even though casinos and race-clubs help shore up revenues, there was no proposal to set up casinos in new capital, the minister said.

According to Vishnukumar Raju, several people from Visakhapatnam and Godavari districts often go outside the state to play and place bets in casinos in Goa and Sri Lanka. Government should think of establishing casinos, horse racing clubs in the Amaravati to make city an entertainment centre as well.

“If Casinos are set up in the State itself, government can earn revenue from these centres in the form of taxes”, P. Vishnukumar Raju said participating in a discussion on the amendment to AP (Telangana Area) Horse Racing and Betting Tax Regulation.

The Finance Minister however responded that there was no proposal now to set up casinos.

Telugu360 is always open for the best and bright journalists. If you are interested in full-time or freelance, email us at Krishna@telugu360.com.

Will Naidu’s dream rail chug by 2018?

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Will Naidu’s dream rail chug by 2018?

In the backdrop of the reports that centre refused to give go ahead on the Vijayawada metro rail because of traffic un-viability, chief minister Chandrababu Naidu asked metro-rail man Sreedharan to complete the first phase of Vijayawada Metro Rail Project by August 2018 and Visakhapatnam by December 2018. Sridharan is advising the state on metro rail projects. Recently, the Centre has reportedly ruled out any financial assistance to the Construction of Vijayawada Metro Rail because of financial un-viability.

According to sources in the government the Centre has made it clear that metro rail in Vijayawada is not viable with the population being less than 20 lakh. It also stated that because of less population , the metro project was liable to run into losses. This forces the people to think that Naidu was giving unnecessary and unrealistic hype to his projects in new capital region to gain political mileage. today’s the meeting between chief minister Naidu and Sridharan took place to allay the misgivings among the publi. The chief minister informed Sridharan that the project could be executed with the support of Japan International Cooperation Agency .

“We should expedite the process of setting up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) and appoint a permanent officer who will monitor the progress of the project,” Naidu told Sridharan. They have decided to meet on September 9, in Vijayawada.

Naidu shared experience of his Turkey trip. He said the traffic management system in Turkey was efficient. “Their road and rail systems are managed well. This has not only increased the tourist arrivals but also improved the per income ,” the chief minister explained.

Telugu360 is always open for the best and bright journalists. If you are interested in full-time or freelance, email us at Krishna@telugu360.com.

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