Kiran denies differences with colleagues

Bonding for best:APCC president Botcha Satyanarayana, Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and Deputy Chief Minister C. Damodar Rajanarasimha at a meeting in Hyderabad on Thursday.

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy has reportedly denied any differences with his Cabinet colleagues and blamed the media for writing negative reports about them.

Amid growing reports that he had developed differences with the new PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana and also some of his Cabinet colleagues, Mr. Reddy broached the issue at the Cabinet meeting on Thursday. After the official agenda was completed and officials left the meeting, Mr. Reddy referred to some reports that Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy was not getting along with him.

The Chief Minister is said to have ticked off the reports saying the Finance Minister in fact had met him for over an hour on Wednesday night. “First, the media had written that I was not getting along with Mr. Satyanarayana. Today, they went to town talking about Mr. Ramanarayana Reddy feeling disappointed that he is not being taken into confidence. We cannot go on giving clarifications and denials to such reports. Let's ignore the reports and work in close tandem,” he was quoted as telling his colleagues.

He is believed to have said that when the PCC chief was discussing party affairs with him regularly, there was no scope for any differences.

The meeting reportedly decided that a list of leaders, who are sailing or likely to join the YSR Congress Party be prepared. In places where the MLAs are presently with Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, alternative leadership would be developed, the Chief Minister is said to have remarked.

Sources said when some Ministers tried to raise the issue of ordinance appointing special officers for the local bodies, Mr. Reddy reportedly told them that the issue could be discussed afterwards as the High Court had already given a stay on the elections. The government may consider getting an ordinance issued only after the term of local bodies ends in July last week.

The Chief Minister is also said to have shot down a question on whether the elections would be held on party or non-party basis. Instead, steps are likely to be taken to conduct elections for cooperative societies. Some Ministers are said to have lamented that officials were dominating the show, to which the Chief Minister is said to have pointed out that the latest transfers were done in tune with such complaints. At least seven Ministers, including six from Telangana, could not attend the meeting as they were away in New Delhi.

T-JAC dares Congress, TDP leaders to quit by June 25

HYDERABAD: The Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) has set a fresh deadline for Ministers, MPs and MLAs of the Congress and Telugu Desam from the region to resign if an announcement on separate Telangana was not made by June 25.

While sparing Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of the ultimatum as MLAs of the two parties had already proved their commitment to the cause by resigning last year, the JAC leadership said on Thursday that it had decided to target Congress because of its deceiving nature and the TDP for its double standards on the issue of statehood.

JAC chairman M. Kodandaram and TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao told reporters after a meeting of the steering committee that it was also decided to organise “cooking on roads” programme in the State capital on June 19. It was aimed at blocking traffic on the roads.

Agitation plan

The meeting also decided on a series of agitations but did not announce dates. They included a general strike, a ‘chalo Hyderabad', blocking of traffic on national highways and a rail roko. It was decided to confront Congress and TDP leaders when they visited villages from June 13. The TRS president and BJP State president G. Kishan Reddy would participate in the programme on the first day, Mr. Kodandaram said.

He said that lakhs of people would be mobilised for ‘chalo Hyderabad' and the administration brought to a standstill by the general strike. The JAC did not support the TDP ‘Ranabheri' programmes at Tandur on June 10 and in Adilabad on June 13.

Meanwhile, the Telangana Telugu Desam Forum warned Telangana activists against disturbing its second “Telangana Ranabheri” at Tandur on Friday.

At a press conference, Forum convenor E. Dayakar Rao said it was unfortunate that some Telangana groups were bent upon creating hurdles for a meeting which was meant for achieving separate statehood.

He alleged that plans were being made in the TRS office, to disturb the meeting and warned that both the TRS president, K. Chandrasekhara Rao, and the political JAC chairman, M. Kodandaram, would have to take responsibility for any untoward incident.

Kiran reiterates commitment to ryots

Impressed: Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy along with Minister for Tribal Welfare P. Balaraju going round the exhibition organised by various departments at the venue of the Rythu Sadassu at Sabbavaram on Thursday.

SABBAVARAM: Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy has reiterated the commitment of the State Government to welfare of farmers.

Addressing the gathering after inaugurating a Rythu Sadassu here on Thursday, he said that the Sadassus were meant to provide an interface between scientists and farmers and help the latter in adopting the latest techniques to improve production.

He outlined the various development schemes launched by the Congress Government in the State since 2004.

He said the State Government was pursuing the demand for getting ‘national project' status to Polavaram. The Centre would bear 90 per cent of the funds for the project, if it was accorded ‘national status.'

Referring to the loss suffered by farmers during the kharif, Mr. Reddy said the input subsidy was hiked from Rs.1,500 to Rs.6000 per hectare.

He said 38 of the 43 mandals in the district had been declared ‘rain-affected'. A total of 1.25 lakh farmers in the district were being given input subsidy to the tune of Rs.18 crores. The Chief Minister, however, said this year the State had received a bumper crop as never before with the production of 207 MTs of food grains during the rabi season.

He said the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of paddy which was Rs.590 a quintal when the Congress Government came to power in the State in 2004 was hiked to Rs.1,030 per quintal recently. He said that the MSP increased from Rs.520 in 1994 to Rs.590 a quintal in 2004 when the Telugu Desam was in power in the State.

Mr. Reddy said the AP Land Licensed Cultivators Ordinance 2011 promulgated on Wednesday was a major relief to tenant farmers as they were now eligible for all the benefits such as crop loans and input subsidy that were presently restricted to pattadars.

He said an additional Rs.7,000 crores was introduced in the budget under the Employment Assurance Scheme for digging up of one lakh bore wells in lands belonging to SC/ST farmers to provide irrigation facilities to them in the next two years. He said that the State Government has waived off loans to the tune of Rs.650 crores during the last kharif season.

Turning towards the large number of women, the Chief Minister said that the Government has decided to provide 50 per cent reservation to women in the forthcoming elections to local bodies.

Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development D. Purandesari and Minister for Tribal Welfare P. Balaraju spoke.

Pendurthy MLA Panchakarla Ramesh Babu presided.

Probe ‘ill-gotten' wealth of Jagan, says TDP leader

On the offensive: TDP State general secretary V Ramaiah at a press conference in Ongole on Monday.

ONGOLE: TDP State General Secretary V Ramaiah on Monday urged the Union and State Governments to suo motu register a case into alleged “ill-gotten wealth'' of YSR Congress Party chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and hasten probe into the charges.
The TDP would explore all options to bring down the ''inept'' Kiran Kumar Reddy Government for failing to rescue farmers and other sections of people in distress, he told a press conference here.
‘Big talk'
After the ''big talk'' by Mr Jaganmohan Reddy that the Congress Government should go, the MLAs loyal to him had supported the Congress in the election of the Assembly Speaker and the Deputy Speaker in the wake of tacit understanding with the ruling party to avoid probe into alleged ''money laundering'' by the YSR Congress Party chief.
He dared Mr Jaganmohan Reddy to parade the MLAs loyal to him before Governor E S L Narasimhan to trigger the fall of the Congress government if he really meant that the government survived at his mercy.
Displaying pictures of palatial buildings in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kadapa and Pulivendula allegedly owned by the YSR Congress Party chief, he said people of the state had a right to know how these assets were acquired in a ''short period of time''.
He alleged that the Chief Minister was “ignorant'' of the problems of different sections of people, including tobacco growers and inmates of social welfare hostels. ''How long the people will have to wait for the Chief Minister to familarise himself with people's problems'', he asked.

State government fails to deliver Morphine to advanced cancer patients

Distressing: A woman undergoing external radio therapy for cervical cancer at MNJ Institute in Hyderabad.

HYDERABAD: Cancer patients in most districts of the State are left to suffer excruciating pain due to lack of access to effective and inexpensive pain reliever, Morphine, despite amendment of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.
Amendments to the NDPS Act, which promise to make the drug accessible to all cancer patients, have failed to ensure delivery of the crucial drug in peripheral centres in the State. “Patients are denied essential treatment and have no access to the drug due to lack of awareness and misconceptions among physicians and even specialists regarding the use of morphine,” said Dr. G. Durga Prasad, in-charge of Department of Pain and Palliative Care, MNJ Cancer Institute, on the occasion of Cancer Survivors Day.
The NDPS Act requires licences from several agencies to procure every consignment of the drug making it inaccessible. Oncologists said that the drug is only available in cancer hospitals in cities due to stringent policy regulations and that cancer patients in districts are forced to come to the city to procure morphine.
“While morphine is recommended as essential first-line treatment,” Dr. Prasad said, “alternatives of the drug such as Fentanyl, which are transdermal patches, cannot be used as first-line treatment and are not recommended as they produce erratic results due to sweat on the skin's surface.”
Morphine is also the least expensive and most effective palliative drug. Dosage of the drug for a day costs not more than Rs. 18, while doctors said that alternatives such as Fentanyl cost over Rs. 150 for a day and are easily available as they pushed forward by pharmaceutical companies. Oncologists also said that morphine targets multi-dimensional aspects of pain in majority patients and that other methods of pain alleviation such as nerve blocks target only one particular area and in course of time cause the disease to progress beyond the area of innervation.
Fear of misuse
While the State effected amendments to the act two years ago, there is still fear of misuse and misconceptions about the addictive nature of Morphine. “For over three decades, medical education in the aspect of palliative care has been almost absent. Hospital administrators or pharmacists do not understand the essential nature of pain treatment and use of morphine and so do not stock it,” said Dr. Prasad.
While India is the largest producer of opium for pharmaceutical trade, from which Morphine is obtained, 90 per cent of it is exported and a mere 4 per cent is available for needy cancer patients in the country. “While over 50 per cent of cases of cancer are being detected in its advanced stage, where pain is the most common presenting symptom, limited access of the drug Morphine is causing many to die of unbearable pain,” said Dr. P Raghu Ram, Director Oncoplastic Breast Surgeon, KIMS-Ushalkakshmi Centre for Breast Diseases.
“Urgent policy regulations to make the drug easily accessible are required,” he added.

Kiran charms all with his Hyderabadi lingo!

Making right moves: Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy participating in developmental programmes in old city. —

 

There was a perceptible difference in the Chief Minister's oratory skills especially Urdu during his second to the old city on Sunday. Amidst a spree of laying foundation stones and openings at various places, Mr. Reddy spoke at the Nizamia Tibbi College and Unani Hospital in the local lingo much to the joy of the people around.
“Salaam Aleikum…,” he began with a flourish and assured the gathering of his government's resolve to improve civic amenities in the area. Unlike the previous time, he spoke comfortably and did not need any prompting from his Cabinet colleague D. Nagender as it happened before.
Perhaps unaware of the Chief Minister's improved Urdu skills, Mr. Nagender tried to “correct” him when he said that under ‘Aarogyasri' “phukat mein…” operations were being done with “muft mein”. “Arey…this is Hyderabadi lingo, don't you know!” Mr. Reddy ticked him off.
Such was his confidence being exuded that he even took a pot shot at the media: “The Government programmes benefit 80 per cent of people but the media highlights the other 20 per cent who are left out,” was his take!
That the Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao's lucky number is six was proved again when a new daily Namaste Telangana was launched by him on June 6. Those close to KCR vouchsafe that his favourite number is 6 and that he would ensure number ‘6' is there during all important tasks or launch of programmes. Interestingly, Mr. Rao is also known to be averse to take up any initiative on Tuesdays. Close associates also point out that the TRS president makes it sure that the number ‘6' is present while filing nominations before elections. Will the number 6 prove auspicious for the new Telugu daily?
Seems the Water Board doesn't trust its own product. The other day Chief Minister, N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, inaugurated a reservoir at Thattikhana in Banjara Hills. As usual the programme was held much behind schedule.
Those who came for the function had to simply wait endlessly and guzzle lots of water. The Water Board readily provided the elixir of life. If you think it was the Board water banish the idea. It was the bottled water that was supplied to everyone. Many were left wondering why the Board did not provide its own stuff.
For a change, these days, the traffic police seem to be taking proactive measures to ease congestion on the arterial routes during peak hours.

They prevented sudden ‘U' turns on Masab Tank flyover by placing precast concrete blocks.
They restricted free right turn at St. John's School, Secunderabad and introduced one-way traffic at Anandnagar in Khairatabad. Some of these initiatives have enabled to reduce traffic gridlocks.
In a similar initiative, the traffic police have removed some portion of the median in front of Shoppers Stop complex at Begumpet to allow motorists coming from Hyderabad Public School (HPS) take right turn to proceed towards Rasoolpura junction via Prakashnagar flyover during evening hours. Motorists coming towards HPS from Rasoolpura have to use the road abutting the flyover.
This experiment has made life easy for commuters and helped police ease the ever increasing chaos between HPS and Begumpet.
V. Geetanath
M. Sai Gopal
J.S. Ifthekhar
M. Srinivas

Andhra assembly witnesses many goof-ups

of goof-ups on Saturday. 


When the national anthem was being played soon after members assembled at 11 am, nobody took notice of it as everyone, including chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and pro tem speaker J C Diwakar Reddy, were busy confabulating with one another. It was only towards the end of the anthem that some of them realised and quickly stood up, and others followed. 


Also, while the assembly secretariat issued a bulletin on Friday night stating that the election to the Speaker post would be through secret ballot, it was later changed to open ballot system fearing cross-voting. Normally, the consent of the members of the House has to be taken before changing the procedure which was not done in this case. Admitting that it was a mistake, pro tem speaker Diwaker Reddy said it was his decision to go for open ballot based on legal opinion. The opposition should not blame the assembly secretariat for it, he said. 


Again, Diwakar Reddy was the butt of opposition ridicule when he goofed up while announcing the name of the Congress candidate for Speaker's post. Instead of Nandendla Manohar's name, he announced: "those in favour of Nandendla Bhaskar Rao should get up.'' Bhaskar Rao being the former chief minister and father of Manohar! Following noises from opposition benches, he corrected himself but in the confusion failed to announce the name of the opposition candidate. 


When the members supporting Manohar stood up, forest minister S Vijayaramaraju took his own time doing so. He stood up after a few minutes only after realising his mistake.