All set for Praja Patham launch

HYDERABAD: The stage is all set for the launch of Praja Patham, the month-long mass contact programme aimed at taking administration to the doorstep of people, on Monday, amid a call for its boycott by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS). Separately, the TDP has asked its cadre to confront the Congress leaders for the government's failures.
Chief Minister K. Rosaiah will formally kickstart the programme at Katarivaripalem in Vetapalem mandal of Prakasam district, setting the tone for officials to work out on the spot solutions addressing the immediate needs of the people.
Praja Pratham was a brainchild of the late YSR who wanted elected representatives to go to the people during the difficult summer months and redress their grievances pertaining to drinking water and Arogyasri and other health related services.
The Chief Minister has instructed the Finance department officials to release sufficient funds for attending to the grievances of “emergency nature.
He asked Ministers, MLAs and MLCs to be present in their respective areas and ensure that people took maximum advantage of presence of officials in their midst, rather than delivering long winding speeches and making lofty claims.
Advance teams had to be deployed by the district authorities to ascertain the issues that are likely to come up during the programme and efforts made to ensure that grievances of immediate urgency were attended to on the spot, said Mr. Rosaiah.

Rosaiah for road safety panel

K. Rosaiah
HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K. Rosaiah has favoured constitution of a Road Safety Coordination Panel comprising senior officials from the departments concerned to chalk out steps to bring down the road accidents in the State.
Expressing serious concern over the rising number of fatalities due to road accidents, Mr. Rosaiah at a review meeting with Transport Minister S. Vijayarama Raju, Commissioner, Transport, Raymond Peter and other officials on Sunday said: “There is a spurt in the road accidents in which precious lives are lost. I want all the departments concerned like traffic, police, roads and buildings to work in close coordination and to bring down the number of accidents.”
Review meeting
He will shortly hold a high-level review meeting with ministers and senior officials and follow it up with interaction with the district officials, highway patrolling police and other departments. He wanted road rules like the lane system, driving regulations and parking to be strictly implemented while highway patrolling should be further intensified.
Mr. Rosaiah lamented that in 10 major road accidents this month in Nalgonda, Kurnool, Khammam, Nizamabad, Nellore and Warangal districts about 43 people lost their lives. The latest was the ghastly mishap in Mydukur in Kadapa on Saturday that claimed nine lives.
The Chief Minister directed that the District Collectors to regularly hold District Road Safety Committee meetings and take immediate steps to identify accident prone areas and take remedial measures.

Jagan braves heat, continues yatra

REACHING OUT:Kadapa MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy after unveiling the statue of his father at Palvancha in Khammam district
PALVANCHA ( Khammam dt): Undeterred by the pro-Telangana cry, blistering heat and strong gales that he encountered while criss-crossing the tribal pockets of Khammam district, Kadapa MP Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy continued to reach out to people with his consoling message for the second day on Wednesday.
With crowds gathering in large numbers to receive him, it appeared to be more than a mere Odarpu Yatra. Though he was deliberately silent about it, the talk of partymen and loyalists accompanying him was all about future leadership. Bolstered by the response, they announced him as their hope after his father Y. S. Rakasekhara Reddy and the crowds responded with approving cheers and whistles.
Rousing welcome
His day started with paying floral tributes to B. R. Ambedkar at his statue in Palvancha thus marking his birth anniversary. He had darshan of Lord Venkateswara at an old temple in the town before proceeding to Pullaigudem to call on the family of Edavalli Srinivas, who died of stroke in the wake of the death of Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy. He struggled to control his emotions while consoling Srinivas family members. He was accorded a rousing welcome by thousands of partymen at Punukula village, a km away from the Kothagudem thermal power station (KTPS).
Patient listening
He gave a patient listening to the village people and assured them of his support for the treatment of a physically-challenged child from a poor family.
The crowds kept swelling on the roads at Palvancha as he returned for unveiling the statue of Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. DCC president Vanama Venkateswara Rao and former minster Konda Surekha who addressed gathering declared that the young leader as the future of the State.
Roadshow
Minister for Cooperation R. Venkata Reddy and Government Chief Whip Bhatti Vikramarka also joined him in unveiling of the statue. Braving the sweltering heat, the crowds continued to following him. The yatra turned into a roadshow as people gathered in large numbers at every village en route to Sathupalli and forced him to stop the convoy and come out of his vehicle. He unveiled a number of statues of his father in Chandrugonda, Mulkalpali and Tekulapalli mandals.
He was greeted by large number of women at villages such as Bhaskarapuram colony, Yatakulakunta, Charlapalli and Kistaram. He visited the Harihara Kshetram at Annapureddipale and received blessings from the priests. At places he sounded apologetic for not being able to spend much time with the crowds as he had many more families to meet and console in the district as part of his hectic programme in the district.

Chief Minister takes a dig at Opposition

MAHABUBNAGAR: Chief Minister K. Rosaiah appealed to the opposition parties to play a constructive role and asked them to give suggestions to government if they found any lapses in implementation of various developmental and welfare schemes.
The Chief Minister was addressing a public meeting at Shadnagar town in the district on Wednesday after launching the fifth phase of land distribution to landless poor. The district administration has made arrangements to distribute over 1408 acres of land to 981 landless poor in 20 mandals in the district.
The Chief Minister said that some political parties were criticising the policies of their government for mere criticism sake. “If there are any lapses in the welfare schemes, kindly give suggestions to rectify. But do not criticise” he said.
Mr. Rosaiah said that the State government topped in implementing the NREGP compared to other States and added that it would maintain this position in the current fiscal too. He said the government was giving utmost priority to mitigate the drinking water crisis in the summer. MLAs had been empowered to sanction funds up to Rs.25 lakhs for providing drinking water from their constituency development fund.
He said the government was purchasing power at the rate of Rs.12 per unit to provide seven hours power to farm sector. Mr. Rosaiah said even though the prices of rice were escalating year after year since last five years, the State government was helping the poor by providing them rice at Rs.2 Kg.
Revenue Minister Dharmana Prasad Rao said that patta and land right certificates were also being given to women under land distribution scheme so as to empower them. Shadnagar MLA C. Pratap Reddy presided over the function. MP from Nagarkurnool M. Jagannath, district Collector M. Purushotham Reddy and Joint Collector Chiranjeevulu also spoke.
Earlier, the Chief Minister garlanded the statue of Dr.B.R. Ambedkar besides unveiling a plaque to mark the inauguration of tahasil office buildings of Kothur and Keshampet mandals and 33/11 K.V power stations of Nandigama, Gantlavelly and Uttarasipally villages.

Jayaprada still undecided on returning to TDP

Jayaprada
HYDERABAD: Film star and Samajwadi Party Member of Parliament Jayaprada has not taken a final decision on returning to the Telugu Desam Party fold.
Sources close to her said she was not in a hurry and was in the process of weighing the political options before her.
A day after media speculation about her joining the Telugu Desam Party, Ms. Jayaprada is said to be discussing her political future with her close friends.
In a way, she is facing a dilemma. If she joins the Telugu Desam Party now, it could attract the anti-defection law and she could also lose her Lok Sabha membership from Rampur in Uttar Pradesh.
RS seat
Sources said she was bargaining for a Rajya Sabha membership as the Telugu Desam Party has enough strength in the Assembly to return two Rajya Sabha members. Elections to six Rajya Sabha seats from the State are due over the next two months.
She had made this clear to Telugu Desam Party leaders who are in touch with her. But the party president, N. Chandrababu Naidu, though keen on her return, was strongly against accepting such conditions. He is believed to have told senior leaders that she should first return to the party fold and leave such decisions to the party.
Few options?
When contacted, these leaders admitted that she was keen on a Rajya Sabha seat but expressed confidence that she would indeed return with options for her drying up and her mentor, Amar Singh, looking more inclined towards joining the Congress.

HMDA plans to free Hussainsagar of pollutants

Cleansing act: Water hyacinth and trash being removed from Hussainsagar on Monday. —
HYDERABAD: The long awaited plan to cleanse Hussainsagar of its pollution that has been accumulating over the decades looks at addressing some major concerns in the coming months.
The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), which has been involved with the Hussainsagar and Catchment Area Improvement Project, taken up with assistance of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), hopes to be able to complete and commission five Interception and Diversion (I&D) structures by the mid-year. The locations of these structures include the points of Fatehnagar, Necklace Road and Picket.
Four of these I&D structures aimed at stopping and diverting the pollutants flowing into the lake are being set up by the HMDA while the fifth one is taken up by Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB). “These will be ready by June-July and once diversion is in place properly, that much of sewage inflow is reduced,” says HMDA Member (Environment), Sunil Kumar Gupta.
Sewage treatment
Three sewage treatment plants of 30 million litres per day (MLD), 20 MLD and 5 MLD capacities too are scheduled to be completed and commissioned this year. Another component for cleaning the nearly 4.8 square km lake with a 14 km perimeter has been to set up sewage lines.
The HMDA along with consultants have studied the nalas from mouth-to-end and worked out the zones with sediments that need to be taken care of. Also, the officials are trying to go for suction method for dredging. “We are trying to ensure that the lake bed is not disturbed while dredging and instead looking at a method to suck the sediments, which are of high nutritive values and can be used after drying for our green areas,” he says.
Once these measures are in place, no sewage would then flow into the lake and Mr. Gupta added that only treated water would be allowed and that too as required to maintain the hydrological balance of Hussainsagar.

Jagan's yatra put off by a day in Khammam

Anxious wait: Minister for Cooperation and Labour and Employment R. Venkat Reddy addressing the crowd who were waiting for the Kadapa MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy at Gangaram Village in Khammam District. MLC P.Sudhakar Reddy is also seen.
SATHUPALLI: The Odarpu Yatra of Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy was delayed by a day in Khammam district. As per the given schedule, he was expected to reach Gangaram village in Sathupalli Assembly constituency by Sunday night. But because of the overwhelming response he has been receiving all along, he had extended his programme by a day in the neighbouring West Godavari district. He is likely to enter into Khammam district some time in the midnight on Monday.
His Yatra in Khammam will commence only on Tuesday morning.
The Minister for Cooperation, R. Venkata Reddy who was among a host of leaders and party functionaries on a day-long wait at Gangaram village for Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy, said the Yatra, which was to conclude on April 14 as per the original schedule, would be extended by a day in Khammam district. He exuded confidence that the Yatra would be an overwhelming success in Khammam district as well.
He stated that people were eager to receive him and give their intimate account of their association with the leadership of his father and former chief Minister, Y. S. Rajasekhar Reddy.
People were looking forward to the young leader with fond hope that he would carry forward the crusade launched by his father for the upliftment of the downtrodden. Thousands of party workers and followers who reached Gangaram village in the early hours on Monday were on a long-wait. Braving harsh sun, they preferred to spend the time on the roadside. Party leaders including, the Government chief whip, Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and the AICC Secretary and MLC, P . Sudhakar Reddy had addressed. The entire village of Gangaram had been wrapped in banners. Huge cutouts of Y. S. Rajasekhar Reddy greeted the crowds.
The supporters of Y.S. Jagan were found busy distributing water packets for quenching the thirst of people on long wait. Youths took out motorcycle rallies on the occasion.