The heroine’s homecoming

  V V Balakrishna

Last Updated : 15 Apr 2012 09:59:17 AM IST

HYDERABAD: Playing a second innings is not uncommon for actors. Bollywood siren of the 80s Jaya Prada is now contemplating a second innings in Andhra Pradesh politics. Jaya’s political fortunes haven’t been very favourable of late and in order to revive them intends to return to her janmabhoomi. Jaya has recently hinted at returning to her alma mater-the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
  The sitting Member of Parliament from Rampur in Uttar Pradesh has gauged that there is not much action left for her in the Samajwadi Party now. The actress who had recently come to Tirupati to seek the blessings of Lord Balaji on her 50th birthday was heard speaking praises of TDP chief N Chnadrababu Naidu. Jaya seems to have forgotten the humiliation she faced before the 2004 general elections when Naidu did not even like to have her on the dais of a massive TDP rally in Secunderabad, compelling her to sit with members of the audience. Thereafter, she disappeared from Andhra Pradesh politics, only to emerge in the Uttar Pradesh political arena with former general secretary of Samajwadi Party Amar Singh. Her subsequent rise in Uttar Pradesh politics is well known. During her successful campaign for the Rampur parliamentary seat in 2009, she had hit the election trail with the slogan “Andhra is my janambhoomi but Uttar Pradesh is my karmbhoomi  (place of work).”
  While speaking to the media at Tirupati, Jaya did not play her cards openly, but gave a hint of a comeback when she said that she was keen to campaign for good friend and actor Balakrishna, the son of the late N T Rama Rao, who has emerged as a power centre in the TDP. Speaking highly about Naidu, Jaya said. “Naidu is a good leader. He has skills to put the state again on the path of development.”

Pact soon with Maharashtra on Pranahita-Chevella

 VV Balakrishna
Last Updated : 17 Apr 2012 10:41:50 AM IST

HYDERABAD: A governmental team comprising ministers and officials will visit Mumbai soon to sign an agreement with the Maharashtra government on the Pranahita-Chevella major lift irrigation project.  As both chief ministers were busy with Assembly sessions the agreement could not be signed so far, government sources said. “We will proceed to Maharashtra to sign the papers soon,” major irrigation minister Peddi Sudarshan Reddy has said.

The agreement will make things easier for Andhra Pradesh to get clearances from the central government,   The Centre has accorded four of the eight clearances required for the project. According to sources, the state needs clearances from as many as 15 departments but could get clearances only from seven departments so far. Once all the clearances are obtained, the Centre may confer the national project status on Pranahita-Chevella.

The state government had prevailed upon the Maharashtra government to constitute an inter-state board for the project. Though the  state cabinet hailed chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy in January this year for his efforts to convince his Maharashtra counterpart, nothing could be put in black and white so far.

This was attributed to the budget session of the Assembly in both the states. Sources said Centre had already agreed to bear 57 per cent cost of the project. If the national project status is conferred, the Centre will bear 90 per cent of the cost.

While Pranahita-Chevella is in Telangana, Polavaram, another irrigation project, is in Andhra region. It is also in an advanced stage of getting clearances and the state is trying to get the national project status for both projects simultaneously.  If Polavaram gets the national project status first, it will trigger widespread protests in Telangana.  That is the reason why the government is trying its best  to see that both the projects are declared as national projects at one go.

Water scenario:

The state’s share of dependable flows at 75 per cent dependability from the river systems is estimated as 2769 TMC (Thousand Million Cubic Feet). This breaks up into 1480 TMC from the Godavari River system, 811 TMC (800 TMC + 11 TMC regeneration) from the Krishna, 98 TMC from the Pennar and the rest from other rivers.
   The entire dependable water share of Krishna  is fully harnessed through the construction of several reservoirs and barrages. The yield from Godavari  has been utilised to an extent of 742.2 tmc only and the surplus flow aggregating to an average of 3000 tmc is flowing to the sea as unutilised.
 The major irrigation projects  SripadaSagar YellamPally, Dr BR Ambedkar Pranahita-Chevella Sujala Sravanthi,   J Chokka Rao Devadula Lift Irrigation Scheme, Indira Sagar Polavaram and PV Narsimha Rao Kanthanpally Sujala Sravanti are being taken up to harness the Godavari water for Irrigation, drinking and power generation needs.


Dr BR Ambedkar Pranahita-Chevella
Sujala Sravanti Project
* To divert 160 tmcft of  water by building a barrage across Pranahita, a major tributary to the Godavari, in Adilabad district
* To irrigate an ayacut of 16.40 lakh acres in Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Medak, Warangal, Ranga Reddy, Nalgonda districts
* To draw 20 tmcft water from Godavari at Sripada Yellampally reservoir
* To cost Rs 40,300  crore
* In-principle clearance received on April 16, 2010
* Project works divided into 7 links, 28 packages
* Agreements concluded for all 28 packages
* Target year for completion is 2018-19

Irrigation  potential
* Adilabad: 1,56,500 acres, 306 villages, 19 mandals
* Karimnagar: 1,71,449 acres, 157 villages, 10 mandals
* Nizamabad: 3,04,500 acres, 275 villages, 19 mandals
* Medak: 5,19,152 acres, 539 villages, 22 mandals
* Nalgonda: 2,29,832 acres, 171 villages, 11 mandals
* Ranga Reddy: 2,46,704 acres, 283 villages, 14 mandals
* Warangal: 11,863 acres, 11 villages, 2 mandals.

Drinking water
*  10 tmcft to villages en route from Adilabad to Chevella
* 30 tmcft for Hyderabad

Industrial use
* 16 tmcft

Major projects on Godavari
* SripadaSagar, YellamPally
* Dr BR Ambedkar Pranahita-Chevella Sujala Sravanti
* J Chokka Rao Lift Irrigation Scheme, Devadula
* PV Narasimha Rao Sujala Sravanti, Kantanapally
* Indira Sagar, Polavaram

Jurala farmers in the lurch as K'taka Refuses to Release Water

 VV Balakrishna
Express News Service
Last Updated : 16 Apr 2012 10:21:25 AM IST

HYDERABAD: With the Karnataka government being indifferent to the water requirements of farmers under the Jurala Priayadarshini irrigation project in Mahbubnagar district, standing crops like paddy and groundnut raised in around 69,000 acres are about to wither away.

The inflows into the Jurala reservoir from the Narayanapur dam in Karnataka have come down drastically in the last two months.

The inflows were 2,800 cusecs in January, 764 in February, 792 in March and zero in April.

Though the state government requested the Karnataka government to release 5 tmcft of water from Narayanapur to Jurala, the government of the neighbouring state turned down the request. It is willing to release only 2 tmcft of water which will not be sufficient to save the stand crops.

As a result, farmers of paddy and groundnut are about to lose a produce worth Rs 100 crore this time. Such a situation under the Jurala ayacut was unprecedented, district leaders said.

Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy sent a letter to his Karnataka counterpart Sadananda Goud requesting him to release 5 tmcft of water to Jurala.

The letter was personally handed over by Jurala irrigation project superintending engineer to the Karnataka chief minister.

But the Karnataka chief minister expressed his inability to release water for agricultural needs. He informed Jurala officials that Karnataka could, at best, release 2 tmcft of water for drinking water needs but not for agricultural needs.

Leader of the opposition N Chandrababu Naidu wanted the Karnataka chief minister to release about 3 tmcft of water to Jurala.

The standing crops needed water for another 25 days.

Otherwise, they would dry up and cause heavy losses to farmers, Naidu said.

Union minister S Jaipal Reddy too requested the Karnataka government to release 5 tmcft of water but he too failed to convince the neighbouring state. Whether it was Rajolibanda diversion scheme or Jurala, the Mahbubnagar farmers have always been facing untold hardships due to the attitude of Karnataka.

The mistakes committed by Jurala officials such as not undertaking repairs to 62 radial crest gates compounded the woes of the farmers of the district. As the crest gates were damaged and could not be operated, around 5,000 cusecs of water has been flowing waste downstream for about two months.

Project officials realised in the third week of March that the water level at Jurala was going down. They placed sand bags near the crest gates to avoid further wastage of water.

But by then sufficient damage had been caused to farmers.

The water level at Jurala as on Sunday is 5.342 tmcft, just a trifle higher than the dead storage level of 5 tmcft. That means officials can use only 0.34 tmcft of water which is sufficient only for a few days.

The inflow into Jurala was nil on Sunday whereas the outlflow was 687 cusecs. The storage level at Narayanpur is 18.2 tmcft and inflow is 491 cusecs and outflow nil.

The water level at Narayanapur being treble the Jurala level and satisfactory, Jurala project officials requested Karnataka to release 5 tmcft of water. Normally, the water release for rabi crops under Narayanapur dam would flow into Jurala project.

When Karnataka released water from Narayanapur for rabi crops, some water would seep into the Jurala reservoir. Between 1,000 to 2,000 cusecs of water from Narayanapur would seep into Jurala daily in normal circumstances, which was sufficient for rabi crops under the Jurala ayacut.

According to sources, the seepage stopped this time as Karnataka farmers tapped even the seeping water throgh as many as 80 lift irrigation schemes.

This affected the interests of farmers under the Juralal project.

TDP MLA from Mahbubnagar district Ravula Chandrasekhara Reddy requested the Karnataka government to release water for another 25 days to save Jurala farmers.

TDP leaders met chief minister N Kiran Reddy recently and represented the plight of the farmers.

No seepage even

Between 1,000 to 2,000 cusecs of water from Narayanapur would seep into Jurala daily in normal circumstances, which was sufficient for rabi crops under the Jurala ayacut. Now there is seepage as Karnataka farmers tapped even the seeping water through 80 lift irrigation projects.

Andhra government, a big IT defaulter

Express News Service
Last Updated : 14 Apr 2012 10:36:53 AM IST

HYDERABAD: Has the state government turned into a big defaulter of Income Tax? Yes, it owes a whopping Rs 5,000 crore to the Income Tax department for the financial year 2011-12.
 As the government had failed to credit the tax amount, there is speculation that state coffers ran dry. Most of the tax amount is related to tax deducted at source (TDS) from employees’ salaries.
  Under normal circumstances, the state government pays IT even if there is a delay by a couple of months by making book adjustments through AG account. However, this time, the government could not pay IT. While PSUs like NMDC, SSCL, Andhra Bank, SBH and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd stood as top five IT payers, the state paid nothing to the IT department.
  Now, it has to pay penalty also.
   A senior IT official dubbed the state an IT defaulter, “The state government is not exempted from penalty on delayed tax payment,” he said.
  The state government has deducted tax before making salary payments to employees, brokerage and under various other heads. The government should deduct TDS of one or two percent on the value of various civil works like construction of drains, canals etc. The TDS amount must be deposited with the IT department.
 Asked for his comment on the state government defaulting in IT payment, finance minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy told Express: “Such matters will not come to me. I am not aware of it.” The situation was no different in municipalities and civic corporations which were starved of funds.
  Another interesting thing is that the APIIC, which was earning money for the government by selling valuable lands, was not paying any tax as the IT department considers it a charity organisation.

AP Politicos Too Going MobiApp Way

The YSR Congress party has launched mobile application for Andriod platform enabled mobile phones. TDP too will soon launch its applications on mobile phones.


Express News Service
Hdearbad:   Like Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, the Andhra Pradesh politicos too are going MobiApp way.
The YSR Congress party has launched mobile application for Andriod platform enabled mobile phones. TDP too will soon launch its applications on mobile phones.
YSR Congres president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy formally launched the services on Thursday. The YSR Congress mobile application can be downloaded from the URL
"http://play.google.com" or "www.ysrcongress.mobi"
using any android platform enabled smart mobile phones. This application will have latest information about YSR Congress party. News, photos, videos, events and press releases will be updated regularly.
While launching the MobiApp, Jagan said that this  would help reaching mobile users across the state especially youth, students and smart phone users to know the latest information about the party.
This application was designed and developed by party IT wing member Suresh Bomma, CEO of Indsys Systems and freely available for download.
The party IT wing convenor Madhu Challa told Express that the services were initially available for Nokia and Andriod phones.  The services would be available soon to all smart mobile phone users like  iPhone, Windows, Symbian and Blackberry, he said.
Madhu claimed that for the first time in the country, a political party had an official mobile application.
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) too created a MobiApp for its party. "Once we have launched facebook of TDP and facebook of TDP chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu, we will upload all the services on mobiles," TDP IT wing incharge Srinivas said.
He, however, added that MobiApp had smaller number of users when compared to Facebook and Twitter. He said that TDP had already reached out to large number of tech-savvy youths.
It was indeed a handy tool to all the political party workers, who are on the move, to know the updates of their respective parties on smart phones. The MobiApp enables them to have continuous alert messages for each article and videos uploaded.

TD too Not Ready to Treat Bypolls as Match Decider

Not hoping to win more than a couple of seats now, it is placing all bets on 2014 general election
by VV Balakrishna

Hyderabad: Seeing prospects of victory in not more than one or two constituencies, the  Telugu Desam too is not prepared to treat the coming byelections for one Lok Sabha and 18 Assembly seats as a sort of people's final verdict. Whatever be the outcome of the bypolls, it will not have any adverse impact on the main opposition party is the general thinking among party leaders.
"Ultimately, the 2014 general election will be important to the party," a senior leader said.  The party chief has already declared that the party's coffers are empty and it cannot compete with the YSR Congress Party in "distributing money to voters''.
However, the TDP is mainly banking on Congress' inefficiency, involvement of ministers in liquor syndicates and the corruption charges YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is facing. Some leaders are of the opinion that the division of Congress votes between YSRCP and Congress would be advantageous to the TDP in a majority of constituencies. "Kovur byelection was different and cannot be compared with the coming  bypolls in 19 constituencies," said another leader, stating that in Kovur the TDP candidate, along with the party cadre, joined the YSRCP. Yet, the TDP put up a spirited fight in Kovur. But in the case of the 18 constituencies going to polls in June or July,  the Congress legislators there joined the YSRCP and the division of Congress votes would help the TDP, a senior leader analysed.
Despite the brave talk, the party is not sure how many seats it will win in the byelections. According to insiders, the TDP has hopes of winning only two or three seats.  But they are more or less unanimous in their opinion that the main fight will be between the YSRCP and the TDP. The more aggressive the  Congress gets in its campaign against Jagan, it will only split YSRCP votes, thus benefiting the TDP. Some Telangana TDP MLAs are of the opinion that the Congress will be going to the election on the Samaikya Andhra plank which will boomerang on it. If the YSRCP wins a majority of the seats, the Samaikya Andhra argument gets defeated and the Congress high command will give green signal for division of the state, says a young MLA from Telangana. However, TDP, unlike Congress leaders such as Lagadapati Rajagopal and TG Venkatesh, may not play the Samaikya Andhra card in the byelections.


Naidu to Launch
Campaign Today

Express News Service
Hyderabad: Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu will start his party's byelection campaigning from Tirupati on Monday.
Naidu always started his election campaigns and major yatras from Tirupati. He will have the darshan of Lord Balaji at 5 am and begin his road-shows in the Tirupati Assembly constituency at 4 pm.

TDP likely to adopt pro-Telangana stance

 Naidu ridicules internecine war in Cong

Express News Service
Last Updated : 07 Apr 2012 10:35:57 AM IST

HYDERABAD: Reiterating that his party is not against formation of a Telangana state, Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu has said he is speaking with party leaders on the Telangana statehood demand and will soon come out with a decision in favour of state’s bifurcation.

Addressing an extended committee meeting of the party here on Friday, Naidu said held the Congress responsible for the uncertainty and asked the central government to take a quick decision on the matter. “The Congress is in power in the state and at the Centre, and it has to clear the political impasse in the state. Instead of ending the problem, the Congress is slinging mud on the TDP.”

Naidu said that though the TDP lost in the recent byelections in the Telangana region, the party cadre put up a spirited fight. He demanded that the State government honour the assurances given to government employees after they called off the Sakala Janula Samme and drop all cases registered against students in both in all the regions. Urging the youth not to commit suicide, he said “Suicides cannot solve any problem.” 

On alleged differences among Congress leaders, Naidu ridiculed that the high command treated  warring leaders chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana as school children and took classes for them. “Ghulam Nabi Azad is behaving like a super CM. The Congress high command is running the show from Delhi. The situation reminds one of the 1978-83 and 1989-94 days,” Naidu remarked.

Kiran Kumar Reddy’s government was neck-deep in corruption and smuggling in the precious red sanders wood was being carried out from the chief minister’s constituency of Pileru, Naidu alleged.

quote
Azad is behaving like a super CM. The Congress high command is running the show from Delhi. _ N Chandrababu Naidu, TDP president

BJP Book Lists Seemandhra Advantages

Hyderabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been advocating state's division, has come out with a booklet stating how Andhra and Rayalaseema will  develop in the event of a separate Telangana state being created.
The party has already campaigned in the two regions highlighting the advantages of Andhra and Rayalaseema becoming a separate entity. To push its two-state theory, the BJP brought out a booklet "Pragatiki Sopaanam - Pratyeka Seemandhra".
The benefits Seemandhra people would get after the division of the state were listed in the booklet as follows: The separate Seemandhra state will be a fitting tribute to around 400 martyrs who sacrificed their lives during the Jai Andhra Movement in 1972.
The availability of state capital within their area would save time and money on travelling. A New High Court in the vicinity will help litigants as well as advocates. Setting up of new Central universities will help students to pursue higher education. The youths will get access to technical education at their native places due to setting up of IIT, NIT, IIM, IISC and other premier institutions.
Development of film industry will be possible with the setting up of new studios and thousands will get employment. Lakhs of people will get employment with the development of 1,000-km-long coastal area. Seemandhra can compete with Chennai and Mumbai with the development of minor and major ports. Creation of new districts will also be possible in a new state, which will take administration closer to people. A superspeciality hospital can be constructed on the lines of NIMS and Osmanian in Hyderabad.
IT industries can be developed in Anantapur and Chittoor districts, which are very close to Bangalore and Chennai cities. New districts like Nandyala, Tirupati, Puttaparthi and Proddatur can be created in Rayalaseema.
Rayalaseema which has several religious tourist spots can be developed as a tourist hub and big employment potential can be created. In a nutshell,  division of the state will ensure faster development of Seemandhra and Telangana states.
"The objective of the book is to dispel the notion that Seemandhra region will stand to lose if Telangana is formed, which is actually the reason for its opposition to Telangana demand. The oppositioni to bifurcation is based largely on misinformation. If information is given properly it will bring peace to both the regions," BJP state president G Kishan Reddy said.
Kishan Reddy further stated that the ongoing agitation for a separate Telangana has seemingly created a psychological divide between the peoples of the two regions. "The issue of separate Telangana has been there for more than half a century. Similarly, the Andhra region also had Jai Andhra movement in the mid-seventies. Both the movements had evoked good response from the people," Kishan Reddy pointed out.

Pragatiki Sopaanam _
Pratyeka Seemandhra
* Capital and Higigh court in the vicinity
* More central, state educational institutions
* New film studios
* 1,000-km-long coastal development
* Minor and major ports
* Formation of new districts & better admn
* Boost to religious tourism