VUDA to issue LRS approvals in Oct.

The Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (VUDA) is likely to issue about 1,000 Layout Regularisation Scheme (LRS) approvals soon. According to the officials sources of VUDA, a special drive to issue the approvals would be conducted within a week. Mr. Kona Sasidhar, VUDA vice-chairman took a decision to continue the special drives to clear all the pending and new LRS applications. The officials of the planning department were directed to speed up the process of scrutiny and field inspections in this regard and make 1,000 approvals ready for the next special drive scheduled in Octotber 1st week. He further decided to monitor the LRS process to avoid delay and long pendency as a large number of applications were to be disposed. The last date for submission of applications under LRS is on September 29. The scheme was extended by the State government, giving opportunity for regularisation of plots in unauthorised layouts. The face to face (Mukha Mukhi) programme session also be held to continue the enabling the applicants of all services from VUDA without any delay.

BJP demands National Water Commission

Dr. K. Haribabu, National executive Committee member- Bharatiya Janata Party demanded the Central Government to set up a National Water Commission to help resolve all long-pending river related issues in the State on Friday. Addressing the newsmen he said that a national committee is immediately required for 'interlinking of rivers' and the Jala Yagnam project to ensure water supply to rain-fed areas. In this regard, the Supreme Court had directed the Central government on February 27 to go ahead with the ‘inter-linking of rivers’ introduced by the NDA government and to appoint a high-level committee to review the work. The projects like Task force and river link projects etc., implemented by NDA Government were supressed by the present UPA, he mentioned. The inter-linking of rivers would benefit cultivation of a total of 3.5 crore hectares to produce 8.5 crore tonnes of food grains and also produce 34,000 MW of power for which the total cost was estimated in 2003 at Rs 5,00,000 crore. He further mentioned that, according to government reports on Polavaram project, 64 per cent of the work was completed on the 174-kmlong right main canal taken up with an estimated cost of Rs 2,240 crore while 48 per cent of work was completed on the 200-km-long left main canal taken up with a cost of Rs 1,954 crore. Mr. B. Ranga Mohan, state vice -president, Mr. M. Nagendra, city president and others present at the conference.

VATA praises DP's efforts

The Visakhapatnam Air Traveller's Association (VATA) had praise for Ms. D Purandeswari, Minister of State for Human Resources Development, who has been pursuing the case of 24 hours operation of Vizag Airport with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Finance for more than two years. According to the official sources, Mr. P. Chidambaram, Finance Minister, has communicated to Ms. Purandeswari a copy of approval given to the proposal of Ministry of Defence for creation of additional posts of 24 officers, 356 sailors and 27 civilians with financial implication of Rs 12.68 crore. Now, the Defence Ministry is going to take further action of creation of posts ensuring 24 hours operation of Visakhapatnam Airport. In this period, she has written more than 50 letters to various dignitaries, including Civil Aviation Minister, Finance Minister, Defence Minister and the Prime Minister. She met Prime Minister twice and the Civil Aviation Minister, Defence Minister and Finance Minister at least three times.

GVMC

GVMC Commissioner inaugurated "New Generation Month-12" sports programme at Indoor Stadium conducted by Rotary Club Couples chapter. He held a meeting with women organisations and stressed the need of participation of women in various development activities. He along with GVMC officials and workers attended the sanitation problems for which complaints received during Dail Your Commissioner programme in various regions.

PRSI - Vizag Chapter bags award

The local chapter of PR Society of India has been adjudged as the best chapter in organising programmes at the national-level, according to its Vice Chairman- Mr. Dwaram AV Swamy. He said that the Visakhapatnam Chapter delegation will receive the award from Prof. Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh during the 34th All India Public Relations Conference to be held at Shimla from September 29 to October 1. The theme of the Conference is ‘Communication Strategies for Travel and Tourism.’ The chief minister will be the chief guest. The Vizag team represented by Mr. GN Murthy, Chairman, Prof. DVR Murthy, Vice-Chairman will receive the award at the session, Mr. Swamy informed.

RINL is known for faster completion of projects

Sri Pankaj Jain, IAS, Special Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Govt. of India stressed the need to complete the projects in time to avoid cost and time overruns to achieve excellence in the industry. Sri Jain visited RINL today and held discussions with the top management related to the ongoing projects of RINL, operational efficiency and raw material linkages, marketing strategies etc and praised RINL for faster completion of projects. Sri Jain was highly impressed by the turn around of RINL and its clean and green environment. Perhaps, “RINL is the only green plant in the country scaling to new heights”, he observed.
Sri AP Choudhary, CMD, RINL-VSP said that project implementation of RINL has been appreciated by the government and claimed that RINL has very strong project team to execute the future expansion projects. Sri Choudhary mentioned that RINL has taken up its Rs. 12,300 crores worth 6.3 MTPA expansion project on its own internal accruals and so far incurred expenditure of about Rs.10,000 crores.
Sri Umesh Chandra, Director (Operations), Sri NS Rao, Director (Projects) senior officials of Projects department took part in the discussions.
Sri Jain witnessed a Corporate Presentation of RINL highlighting the achievements and particularly the on going projects under implementation.
Later Sri Jain visited Model Room and Visitors Gallery, various production units in the plant. Sri NS Rao, Director (Projects), Sri R Ranjan, ED(Works) and senior officials accompanied the dignitary during the plant visit.

Co-optex offers 30 pc rebate

The Co-optex, showroom of Tamil Nadu Handloom began offers 30 per cent rebate on various handloom products as part of the festival seasoon, according to Mr. B. Nookaraju, Additional Director of State Information Department. Launching the rebate sale, he appealed to the public to utilise the opportunity by purchasing clothes at the stall to indirectly help the weavers. Co-optex is named for its quality, latest designs and affordable price and those who remit Rs 100 per month for nine months would be given clothes worth Rs 1,428 at the end of the 10th month, he added. This scheme was introduced in the country by the Tamil Nadu government to help and encourage the weavers. They said a variety of cotton, silk, Kanchi, Harani, Selam and Coimbatore clothes besides dress materials, bed-sheets, towels and dhotis are available with 30 per cent special rebate, which lasts till January 31, 2013. They said they were also extending credit to government employees and the amount could be remitted in six easy monthly instalments. Showroom managers Mr. PM Rao, Mr. TVV Satyanarayana and others present at the inaugural session.

Life is Beautiful team visits

The team of Life is Beautiful movie directed by Sekhar Kammula visited Bay city on Wednesday and entertained Vizagites. Mr. Abhijeet, Mr. Sudhakar and Mr. Kaushik and other members, visited Twills exclusive store and entertained the visitors and entertained the showroom customers. Later, the crew entertained the visitors of Vodafone showroom near Old Jail Road as part of its ‘Vijay Yatra’. Mr. Sekhar Kammula thanked the Vizagites for making his movie a success. The security could not controlled crowd at the showrooms. The Vodafone team provided the interaction session with team. During the visit Mr. Mandeep Singh, Mr. Bheemesh and others joined the Kammula team.

YSRCP dharna against anti people policies

Mr. Vamsi Krishna Srinivas, City Convenor, YSR Congress Party city wing criticised that both the Central and State governments are competing with each other in levying taxes on people. Addressing the mass dharna at the District Collectorate on Wednesday, he pointed out the ruling Congress for imposing heavy taxes including petrol, diesel, quota on LPG, and now on RTC charges which could not bear by commonman.
The city wing staged this dharna in support of its party resident, YS Vijayalakshmi. The party activists raised slogans against the present Government. He further said that the opposition Telugudesam party is also responsible for it. Mr. G. Babu Rao, MLA- Payakaraopet, Mr. Konathala Ramakrishna, Dr. Zaheer Ahmed, Mr. Koyya Prasad Reddy and others joined the camp in support of the city wing. Later they submitted a memorandum to the DRO Mr. Venkateswara Rao.

CPM protests against bus fare hike

The city wing of Communist Party of India (Marxist)- CPM city wing held a protest on the National Highway at Maddilapalem on Monday against the bus fare hike by the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC). Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Gangarao, the secretary of the above said committee pointedout the failure of the governance of the RTC. The organisation incurred loss not because of the diesel price hike, but with the private transporters who are grabbing the attention of bus passengers throughout the State including big cities. This will show impact others commodities too, he added. Earlier, the activists held a rally from their office to Maddilapalem junction where they formed humanchain and obstructed the traffic for half an hour, later they were arrested by the police. As part of the call given by the CPM State committee, the city wing activists staged dharna at the Maddilapalem depot. About 100 party activists were participated in this protest.

Speed up flyover works: Ganta

Mr. Ganta Srinivas Rao, Minister for Ports and Infrastructure has directed the Commissioner and other concerned officials of Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) to speed the flyover works, so that it could be punt into use as early. During his visit on various projects in city on Monday, he asked to coordinate with the Waltair Division- East Coast Railway and APEPDCL to remove all the obstacles to complete the project. Later on he inspected the flyover at the Asilmetta, Dondaparty and Dwarakanagar. Mr. Dronamraju Srinivas, Government Whip, Mr. M. Srinivasa Rao, MLA- Bheemili, Mr. K. Sasidhar, Vice Chairman- Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (VUDA) and others joined him during this inspection. Earlier, Mr. Ganta held a review meeting to assess the ongoing projects like in the city and the Telugu Museum, Animal Park, YSR Park, Jogging Track and Rushikonda Beach resort surroundings at the Government Circuit House. Later, speaking to newsmen he said that the sports complex some efforts are needed to get funds sanctioned eighter through Chief Minister of the Sports Authority of India.

Biodiversity meet in Hyd opposed

Mr. Varavara Rao, Human Rights Protection activist opposed the Bio-diversity Meet to be held from October 1 to 19 in Hyderabad by the United Nations Organisation (COP-11). Informing the media representatives at the press conference held at VJF Press Club, in city on Saturday, he said that about 500 crore rupees are being spent to this event, which, he said, was nothing but a mere‘waste’. in which over 10,000 representatives from 193 countries would participate. Already, Rs 190 crore has been spent for laying and widening of roads leading to the venue affecting the livelihood of roadside vendors and cutting the trees. The State government, which was ‘destructing’ the livelihood of Dalits, Adivasis and fisherfolk along the sea coast in the name of Coastal Corridor, had no moral right to hold the international meet or to speak about environment protection, he charged. The Government is organising this meet only to please multinational companies, he pointedout. Meanwhile the Government is implementing some destructive policies in the state affecting the Adivasis in the agency, fisherfolk along the coast and commonman in the rural. He further informed that a committee would be formed with the representatives of all people’s organisations to chalk out future course of action.

RCDP Workshop on Augmenting PPP Programmes in Vizag

Mr. Paul Schuttenbelt, South Asia Coordinator of City Development Initiatives in Asia (CDIA), called upon the development partners to come up with good suggestions and advises for further development of the city. Addressing the Stakeholders Work Shop of the Revision City Development Plan (RCDP) session held in city on Saturday, he said that CDIA will support to reduce the gap between the Plan and the Implementation. The CDIA will not give any Financial Assistance and it will help only to implement Public Private Participation (PPP) programmes in a proper manner, he clarified. Mr. M V Satyanarayana Commissioner Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation said, proclaiming the vision, the Revision City Development Plan was taken up by the CDIA and a draft report was prepared within six months. The report will be finalised after taking feedback from the stakeholders. He informed that the RCDP involves Solid Waste Management, Water supply, Sanitation and other Public Interests and hoped that this session will come out with good advises. Ms. Rajana Ramani, former mayor, Mr. K. Ramesh, Additional Commissioner, Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation, Dr. Saswat Bandyopadyay, Gujarat University and other professionals were participated in the Workshop.

Rear Admiral SV Bokhare Takes Over as Flag Officer Submarines

Rear Admiral SV Bokhare, YSM, NM assumed the duties of Flag Officer Submarines from Rear Admiral Srikant, today, 22 Sep 12. Rear Admiral Bhokare was commissioned on 01 Jan 84 and is an alumnus of Australian Defence College and Army War College (Mhow). Prior to his present appointment, he was Chief Staff Officer (Operations) at Headquarters, Eastern Naval Command. He has held many prestigious appointments such as the Command of three Submarines INS Sindhughosh, INS Sindhudhvaj, INS Sindhushastra and of the frigate, INS Beas. His shore appointments include that of Commodore Commanding Submarines (West) and Directing Staff at College of Naval Warfare, Karanja, Mumbai.
Rear Admiral Srikant, the outgoing Flag Officer Submarines is proceeding on transfer as the Project Director (Operations & Training) at Headquarters, Advanced Tactical Vessel Program (ATVP), New Delhi.

Regional News Service from Oct : AIR Addl DG Sudhakar

Mr. PJ Sudhakar, Additional Director General (News) informed the media representatives that the All India Radio Regional News Service from Visakhapatnam station, would start by next month. Addressing the press conference on Saturday here at VJF Press Club, he said that his career started at the same station in Visakhapatnam as a news correspondent. The above services were approved in the 11th plan, as the required infrastructure facilities were already provided and as per the discussions with Mr. Dikshitulu, the Chief Engineer, South Zone, after assuming charge as Addl DG, Mr. Sudhakar mentioned. The news bulletin will be transmitted at 8.35 am to 8.45 am and another session in the late evening 8.15 pm to 8.35 pm aired on prime wavelength it 100 kW, MW and 927 kHz, he stated. The Server, Workstations, multifunction Printer are ready to function.The Fibre Optical Cable to Newsroom is in the finishing stage. This bulletin will cover Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts. Right to Information, Right to Education, Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme, National Rural Health Mission will also be propogated in the channel, he mentioned. Mr. Nukaraju, the senior official of I&PR and others present on the occasion.

Excellent “MOU” Rating third year in succession

The 30th Annual General Meeting (“AGM”) of RINL, a Government of India undertaking and a Navratna Company, was held on 20th September, 2012 at its Registered Office situated in Visakhapatnam. Shri AP Choudhary, CMD (RINL) chaired the Meeting.
Ms Sarita Taneja, Under-Secretary to Government of India, Ministry of Steel, attended the AGM on behalf of President of India as authorized nominee. Shri Umesh Chandra, Director (Operations), Shri P Madhusudhan, Director (Finance), Shri T K Chand, Director (Commercial), shareholders were also present. Other Functional Directors viz. Shri Y R Reddy, Director (personnel) and Shri NS Rao, Director (Projects) were also present. Shri P Mohan Rao, Company Secretary, coordinated the proceedings of the Meeting.
In his address, Shri AP Choudhary mentioned that RINL achieved overall good performance in the year while earning “Excellent” rating for the 3rd consecutive year against the MOU for the year 2011-12 signed with the Ministry of Steel. RINL’s production, besides surpassing 100% capacity for the 11th consecutive year, showed improvement and achieved better technical parameters such as fuel rate, energy consumption and water consumption. These helped the company to register a Profit after Tax of Rs. 751 Cr for the year, with a growth of 14% over the previous year. The AGM has declared dividend for the year 2011-12 at the rate of 10% of Profit After Tax for equity shareholders and 7% on preference share capital with a cash outflow of Rs. 218 Cr.
Chairman declared that during the current financial year the Company for the first time has commenced the Redemption of Preference Share Capital with Rs. 100 crores being paid on 31st March 2012 and further redemption of a cumulative amount of Rs. 1226.60 crores, the instalments of which were due between 1st April – 1st September 2012, thus totalling to Rs.1326.60 crores of redemption. On the expansion front, he mentioned that Stage-1 of 6.3 Mtpa Expansion was brought to the stage of hot commissioning.
Shri Chaudhary thanked on behalf of RINL, all the stakeholders especially Ministry of Steel, the Government of India, the Government of AP, the suppliers (domestic and overseas), customers, ancillary units, bankers, representatives of the people, the District Administration and various other agencies for the confidence and trust bestowed upon the Company.

Bharat bandh elicits mixed response

The one day nationwide bandh called by the opposition parties against diesel price hike and FDI in retail was elicits mixed response in the city on Thursday. All the opposition party activists including top leaders staged rasta rokhos, dharnas, rallies, road blockades in most of the junctions along the National Highway and other locations in the city. Mr. JV Satyaranayarana Murthy, district secretary, Communist Party of India (CPI), Dr. Gangarao, city president - Communist Party of India (Marxist) and others were held during the rasta rokho. Dr. Hari Babu, national executive member, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Mr. M. Nagendra, city head- BJP, Ms. K. Ratna Kumari and others participated at the road blockade at the Maddilapalem junction where the protest turned serious during working hours. Large number of police were deployed to control the situation. Most of the buses of the State Road Transport Corporation switched off at the depots, the APSRTC cancelled about 300 services in various routes on Thursday.
The activists of the opposition parties demanded the Union Government to down the diesel price and lift the quota system to LPG cylinders for household purpose on the occasion. Schools, Colleges and other educational centres were closed, and the commercial activites were remain continued in the afternoon session in the city.

FOC-IN-C South at Visakhapatnam

Vice Admiral Satish Soni, AVSM, NM, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command, accompanied by his wife Mrs. Payal Soni, President, Navy Wives Welfare Association (Southern Region) arrived Visakhapatnam on Wednesday, 19 Sep 12, on a three day visit to the Eastern Naval Command. On arrival, the Flag Officer called on Vice Admiral Anil Chopra, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief at Headquarters, Eastern Naval Command. He also visited INS Satavahana and Shipwright School (Visakhapatnam) later in the day.
Mrs. Payal Soni interacted with members of the NWWA Committee, Eastern Region and visited their activity centers at Nau Sena Bagh and Naval Park. Vice Admiral and Mrs. Soni are scheduled to depart Visakhapatnam on Friday, 21 Sep 12.

Ganesh Chaturthi held at largescale
Pendals enthralled Ganesh in different styles

The most auspicious Ganesh Chaturthi held at largescale in the city on Wednesday. Most of the cultural and voluntary organisations performed rituals to various models of the God. The pendals in the city attracted the Vizagites on the occasion. The noted shopping malls, educational institutes, auto rickshaw unions, apartments associations etc., exhibited their devotion towards the the lord. CMR presented Siri Ganesh (designed with 32,000 one rupee coins), Tummidi Brothers with bangles, Ganesh with shells at Gajuwaka, and other styles are Kaliya mardhana Ganesh, Hanuman Ganesh, Venkateswara Ganesh, Garuda vahana Ganesh, etc. Cine artist Mr. Ram Charan visited Sampath Vinayagar along with his wife Upasana to perform rituals on Wednesday. Devotees in large number were seen at Sampath Vinayagar Temple, Durga Ganapathi Temple, Seethampet and Vijaya Ganapathi Temple, Sankaramatham Road, in the morning to offer special pujas. The temple committees arranged cultural programmes during Ganapathi Navaratri fete.

SilkAir to start flight service from Oct 28

The SilkAir, officials announced that they would run a non-stop flights to Singapore from Visakhapatnam thrice a week from October 28. Speaking to newsmen on Tuesday here at a press conference, GM Toh, General Manager (India)- SilkAir said that the first airline would be operated with Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft, featuring both business and economy class cabins. The flights would be operated three times a week, departing on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays with next day return flights, he said. It would be their eight destination in India. Mr. Vivek Jain, Incharge (Andhra Pradesh) said that Singapore Airlines and SilkAir combined scheduled features 85 flights from 10 cities in India - Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kochi, Thiruvananthpuram and Coimbatore. The airline will start its booking for the inaugural flight from October 15.

Collector launches sale of clay idols
Awareness on eco- friendly festival

Mr. V. Seshadri, District Collector launched the sale of clay idols arranged by the State Pollution Control Board (PCB) on the eve of Ganesh Chathurti at the MVP Rythu Bazaar here on Tuesday. He requested the Vizagites to use clay idols and observe the eco-friendly festival. He further said that, with the immersion of coloured idols made of chemicals, entire water would be polluted. The PCB has arranged 8,000 clay idols for sale at a price of Rs 5 against actual cost of Rs 20 and are being sold at all six Rythu Bazaars. Whereas, some of the voluntary organisations distributed Ganesh idols made up of clay free of cost. All the bazaars in the city are colourful with all the material utilised for the festival. Most of the street vendors are happy on the sales on Tuesday.

AU to conduct Special drive

A special drive examination will be conducted for the students of Post Graduation and Professional Courses of batches belonging from 1994 to 2004 to complete the leftover papers. According to the varsity officials, the examination will be held in December at AU Campus (Arts & Commerce, Science & Technology and Engineering) Colleges, Visakhapatnam. This will be their last chance to clear the pending papers. Candidates should submit their application form along with copies of marks memos through the principals of the colleges where they have studied. The last date for the payment of the examination fee is October 18, 2012, and the date of commencement of the examination is December 12, 2012. There is no provision for revaluation under the special drive examination. Candidates can download the examination application form from the AU website www.andhrauniversity. infor/exams/appl.html and have to pay Rs.40 towards registration fee.

Students campaign for eco-friendly festival

The students of Gitam University, Visakhapatnam launched a campaign for eco-friendly festival by performing rituals to clay Ganesh idols to create awareness among the people to avoid pollutants on Monday. Dr. G Subrahmanyam, Vice-Chancellor congratulated the students for launching the campaign, and said the eco-friendly Ganesh idols made from clay have lot of importance by rituals and good for the environment. He invited the commonman to utilise this opportunity and protect the environment on this occasion. He requested the public not to use Plaster of Paris (PoP) which will attract the visitors at the market will not immerse in the sea or any inland water and produce toxic waste killed plant and animal life in the water. The awareness campaign was organised by the Environmental Science Department students in the university campus. Noted environmentalist Dr. T Shivaji Rao also present on the occasion. He informed that, the people who use water polluted by these immersions experience a host of health problems such as infections of the lungs, and diseases of the skin, blood, and eyes, etc.

GVMC Commissioner held a review meet with Revenue and Engineering officials regarding collection of pending taxes from the public. He also held a review meet on the 93 grievances received as part of Grievance Day from the public.

 

GVMC Commissioner with M.S.C.s

GVMC Commissioner held a review meet with the Muncipal Standing Committee and asked to clear pending legal cases at the earliest. He also said that the review meet with the M.S.C's will be held every month on the fourth Saturday. During the meeting he told the press that in 2011 itself 4483 R.T.I. cses and 1196 appeals have been cleared successfully and in current year till now 176 out of 292 R.T.I. cases and 60 out of 127 legal appeals are cleared and rest will be cleared at the earliest.

ENC and the Coast Guard observe coastal clean up day

The ‘International Coastal and Waterfront Clean up Day’ was observed by the Eastern Naval Command today, 15 Sep 12. A large scale clean up drive all along the prominent beaches and waterfronts of the city was flagged off from near the Kursura museum on the Ramakrishna beach, by Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba, AVSM, Chief of Staff, Eastern Naval command. The Naval community at Visakhapatnam represented by over 2000 personnel comprising officers, men, ladies and children from various units of the Command joined hands with over 1000 citizens of Visakhapatnam and undertook the cleanup drive in earnest.
The event was graced by Vice Admiral Anil Chopra, AVSM, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command. Other Flag Officers, Senior Officers, families and students from the Navy Children School and the Kendriya Vidyalayas were also present on the occasion. With this endeavour, Eastern Naval Command aims to complement the efforts of VUDA in making Visakhapatnam a clean city. The Service personnel were joined for the first time at this annual event, by members of prominent Clubs and Organisations of Visakhapatnam, including the Consumer Protection Council, Lions’ Club, Waltair Club, Walkers’ Club, Century Club, Papa Home and the NSS Wing of Andhra University. With a tagline ‘Time for a Sea Change’, the Drive is also intended inculcate amongst the general populace, the necessity of keeping the beaches clean and of safeguarding our environment.

Parties decry diesel price hike

A shrill cry of agony arose from all Opposition parties against the hike in diesel rate and ceiling on LPG cylinders of only six per year. Each party demonstrated in its own fashion to express resentment against the ‘anti-people’ policies of the Central and State governments. The Communist Party of India (CPI) city wing activists conducted a protest at the RTC Complex with empty cylinders, whereas members of Communist Party of India (Marxist- CPM) burnt an effigy of the UPA Government and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh at the Maddilapalem junction, The Telugudesam Party members submitted a memorandum to the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation on Friday. The Opposition party activists flayed the Centre and State for burdening the common man again. The high price in diesel will affect not only vehicle drivers but also the prices of all other consumables, he said. Stating that cement dealers were already contemplating a hike in rates, he said that vegetables and essential goods are beyond the reach of common man. Limiting LPG gas cylinders to only six per year is the most deplorable move, he said, adding that the common man is more harassed now than in the British Raj. Women wing members of the Opposition Parties pointedout the negligence of the UPA Government towards the auto and other transport services. The additional cylinder will cost Rs 750 and if a family is a big one, they have to shell out more money as they have to take extra cylinders as six may not sufficient for their needs. The government hiked Rs 5 per litre of diesel and this would lead to hike in transport charges too. If the Centre goes on hiking spree, the people would teach a lesson to the Central and State Governments.

Criminal proceedings on violation of rules: Seshadri Toll Free number for grievances soon Collector announced at Meet the Press

Mr. V. Seshadri, District Collector announced the district administration would take up for criminal proceedings against the encroachment on Government lands. Announcing his priorities at MEET the PRESS session called by the Vizag Journalists Forum on Friday, the collector is very clear in protecting the Government lands and other assigned lands, informed that a detailed survery is going on and all the government lands will be recorded along a photograph at the revenue centres. Responding to a querry on industrial development, the warned the organisations, that the government will take back the lands given to them, if they failed to fulfil the agreement. Later, proceeding to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Mr. Seshadri said that it is the only welfare scheme that reaches poorest of the poor without inter-media risk. A toll free number will be set up to receive better service to the rural and agency people, he added. The Government has proposed to bear the Pavala Vaddi on behalf of the Self Help Groups (SHGs) to provide interestless loans to them. The returns from the SHGs in the district are good but it is poor in Hukumpeta and Dumbriguda mandals, where the recovery is almost single digit, collector mentioned. Later, the VJF Committee thanked Mr. Seshadri for attending the session and honoured him on the occasion. Mr. G. Srinubabu, President- VJF and Mr. S. Durga Rao, Secretary explained the activities of the Club to the new district collector.

Air Arabia team in Vizag

A delegation of Air Arabia, led by Mr. Kunal Sampath, manager – central India, and Mr. Satish – head of sales, AP region, arrived here to explore the possibilities of launching flights to Sharjah and other cities in the UAE on Friday. The members of Visakhapatnam Air Travellers’ Association (VATA), took them around the city and explained the unique specialities of it. They visiting team was impressed with the IT SEZs and the new developments taking place in the city and later they met Mr. V Seshadri, District Collector and briefed him about their intentions. The VATA members gave them a detailed presentation on the tourism and industrial potential of the city. They were also shown a PowerPoint presentation on the Vizag Airport facilities, passenger traffic growth, landing charges and other costs, airport timings and capabilities prepared by airport director authorities. The Air Arabia team explained that they were operating from 13 cities which include Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Nagpur, Coimbatore, Cochin, Calicut, Goa and Trivandrum. All flights operate at around 4.30 am early morning, landing in Sharjah by 6 am (local time Sharjah). The approximate travel time is three hours and time difference is 1.5 hours between Hyderabad and Sharjah. The fare from Hyderabad to Sharjah is Rs 8,500 and they are expecting lower fare from Vizag. The team said they will come back again for a bigger road show and explained that they would need the airport to be open during early morning 4 am for their operations as it is in all other cities in India where they operate. Mr.Ch. Ramakotiah, President of VATA, Mr. P Vishnukumar Raju, VDCA president and others joined the visiting team on Friday.

Community guards wing launched

Mr. J. Purnachandra Rao, Commissioner of Police, formally launched Community Guards Voluntary Organisation in the city on Wedensday. Speaking at the inaugural session he said that the Organisation started on 1st May 2012 and got approved by Mr. V. Dinesh Reddy, Director General of Police, during his recent visit to Vizag. It is a voluntary organisation which provides Rs. 250 per day to unemployed youth of various wings in the society on each working day. The Police Department will provide training to the Guards to be appointed at various Organisations. Candidate who passed Class X and age between 18 to 30 are eligible to join, is not a regular duty, willing to go anywhere in the city limits, he mentioned. It was constituted under Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu scheme. In general the services of this crew will be utilised to protect Government property and other locations like industries. The first batch of 27 persons will be posted at places like Mutyalammapalem, Vada cheepurapalli, Gangavaram, Tikkav anipalem, Dibbapalem, Tallavalasa, Dasaripeta, Devada and other locations. These people will be given training for 30 days and will be absorbed by various Organisations in the City. Mr. V. Suresh Babu (Addl DCP - Traffic), Mr. P. Atchuta Rao, (Addl DCP -Admn) and Md. Khan (ADCP Crimes), ACPs Mr. B. Prasada Rao (North), and Mr. Adhinarayana (Special Branch), CI’s Mr. K, Nageswara Rao and Mr. Shaikh Hussian were present

GITAM to honour Oberoi, Nedunuri, Sunkara

The GITAM University. Visakhapatnam will honour the legendary personalities Mr. Prithvi Raj Singh Oberoi (Oberoi groups), Mr. Nedunuri Krishnamurthy (Carnatic music exponent) and Dr. Sunkara Balaparameswara Rao (well known neurosurgeon) during its Convocation on September 15. Speaking to newsmen Dr. G. Subrahmaniam, Vice Chancellor of the institute said that Dr Thirumalachari Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, the chief guest, will deliver convocation address, where a total of 1,350 students will be awarded degrees on the day. The students of Gitam have who have secured highest CGPAin their respective programmes during the year 2011-12 will be awarded gold medals. He further mentioned that the university has established its second campus at Nagadena Halli, Doddaballapura Taluk, in Bengaluru, and will offer B.Tech. and management programmes from the 2012- 13 academic year. Dr. K Ramakrishna Rao, and others will join the convococation on Saturday, he menioned. Dr. D Harinarayana, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Mr. M Potharaju, Registrar also participated at the press conference.

Asilmetta Flyover to be ready by March '13

The flyover Asilmetta to Dondaparty would be completed by March end, said Mr. P. Shyam Bob, Principal Secretary and Special Officer Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation. Speaking to media persons, after conducting a series of review meetings with the GVMC and Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority officials here on Thursday, he said that the flyover was is almost complete and minor issues were pending with the East Coast Railways, which had been sorted out recently. The ongoing projects were progressing as per schedule, whether it be the housing schemes or the sanitation schemes. Around 15,000 houses under JNNURM scheme were taken up and of them 8,000 houses were completed. Mr. Shyam mentioned that basic needs at the housing schemes will be fulfilled including school buildings, drinking water, sanitation facilities etc, before the people from slums be shifted. The GVMC was also keen on protecting the government lands from encroachments, he said in reply to a question. Mr. V Seshadri, District Collector, Mr. MV Satyhanarayana, Commissioner- GVMC, Mr. Kona Sasidhar, VUDA vice chairman and others were present at the meet.

Demand for AICTE recognition

The Students of Department of Systems Designs, Andhra University staged dharna with a demand to recognise their MSc (Tech) three-year and other courses offered at this institute to get All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) on Wednesday. About 200 students raised slogans by holding placards at the Central Administration Office, AU after conducting a rally in the campus. This department is offering three courses viz. MSc (Tech) Electronics and Instrumentation, MSc (Tech) Digital Signal Processing and Embedded Systems Design and MSc (Tech) VLSI Design. The students alleged that at the time of admissions they were under the impression that all these courses might have been listed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and recognised by AICTE and didn't informed that were not recognised. These courses have no recognition at the umployment sesssions and were left behind during the interview process and student who possessed these courses are not eligible to go for higher studies, students alleged. Later, the agitators submitted a representation to AU authorities. A large posse of police has been deployed on the campus in view of the agitation.

TEACHERS FELICITATED AT ENC

Vice Admiral Anil Chopra, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command presided over a function held at the ‘Tarang’ Sailors’ Institute, Eastern Naval Command today, 13 Sep 12 to felicitate teachers for their noble service in shaping future citizens. Over 250 teachers from nine institutions, including the Navy Children Schools, Kendriya Vidayalas as well as the Visvodaya High School for Defence Civilians attended the Ceremony.
The Commander-in-Chief presented Gift Cheques to all the schools. The Rolling Trophy for excellence in the Higher Secondary Board Examinations-2012 was awarded to Kendriya Vidyalaya, Malkapuram. Complementing six of the twelve CBSE affiliated Schools that had achieved a pass percentage of 100% in the Class XII examinations, the Admiral spoke of the importance of re-engineering the existing educational methodology to help children recognise and utilise their potential to contribute to the family, society and to the aspirations of the Nation. He expressed satisfaction at the pivotal role the esteemed profession was playing in the all-round development of children, and urged the teachers to upgrade their competencies continuously, so as to be in consonance with the young minds that will be the cornerstones for Nation building.

GVMC

AP State Tribal Welfare Committee Chairman Mr. Rajanna Dora and his committee members held a review meet on the ST programmes planned by GVMC and other vacxant posts. Speaking on this occasion he said that GVMC is neglecting tribal people and lot of back-log posts are still vacant. He asked the officials to make a noite of all the vacant posts under ST cantegory and send it to the Governement for review. After that the committe will clear for further action.

Convention held on Power crisis
FAPI demands for uninterrupted power supply

The Federation of Andhra Pradesh Industries (FAPI) demanded the State Government to provide uninterrupted power supply to the small and medium industries in the State, to fulfil the targets without fail. Speaking at a regional convention held onTuesday, Mr. BV Ramarao, president appealed to the State Chief Minister, N.KiranKumar Reddy to take immediate action to improve the power supply situation in thestate. Mr. S. Ramanujam, State Secretary - FAPI said that 40% of the industries in the State were in crisis and the power cuts have added another 20% to 30%. The Industrialists from five Coastal Andhra districts Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari and West Godavari demanded the Government must take action to improve the power supply before the industrial production comes to a stand still and appealed to the Chief Minister to honour the promise to lift the VAT on diesel and to bail out the industries. Mr. Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Minister for Ports and Infrastructure his inaugural session he promised the convention, that the State Government is also always supportive to the industry, due to unavoidable situation, Government could not supply uninterrupted power supply.
Mr. V.Krishna, Chief General Manager -APEPDCL , Mr. V.R. Vijaya Raghava Naik, DIC General Manager, Mr. B.Bhaskar Sharma, Andhra Bank Deputy General, Mr. K.Haribabu- APSFC Assistant General Manager, Mr. Ch. Venkataramaiah, MLA- Gajuwaka and others participated.

TSR to felicitate S Janaki on Sept 17

The T. Subbarami Reddy Lalithakala Parishad would felicitate noted playback singer S. Janaki on her diamond jubilee celebrations during the birthday celebrations of Mr. T. Subbarami Reddy on September 17. Speaking to newsmen Mr. Reddy told the media representatives at a press conference on Tuesday, that the celebrations would be held for two days from September 16 in Vizag. On the day one, spiritual personalities and priests from the sacred shrines of India would be felicitated at Kalabharathi and on the next day Sarvadharma Samabhavana Sammmelanam and Diamond Jubilee of S. Janaki would be celebrated, at Kalavani Port Stadium on the occasion of T.Subbarami Reddy’s Birthday.
Mr. Chiranjeevi, member of Rajya Sabha and Mr. Mahidhar Reddy, Minister for Municipal Administration would lay foundation on September 17 to a convention centre at MVP Colony to be constructed with an estimation of Rs. 10 crore, Mr. Reddy said. This auditorium can accommodate about 900 people, which will be managed by Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (VUDA).

Entries invited for Short films

The Vizag Film Society (VFS) in association with Andhra University inviting entries under Short film and documentaries from the interested persons. Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Prof. DVR Murty, Head of the Department- Master of Journalism and Mass Communication- Andhra University informed that the duration of the short film is 15 minutes and documentary is 30 minutes. One person can submit one each film in DVD format on or before October 5. The winners in each category will receive Rs. 10,000, for the second Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 2,500 for the third prize apart from a consulation of Rs. 1,000, he added. The contest will be held at AU Platinum Jubilee Hall on October 21 and 22. The applicants has to send their applications along with films prepared during 2011-12 in DVD format and self declaration to " The Director, Vizag Film Society, LIG-10, AP HB Colony, Vizag-22. Entry fee for Short film is Rs. 400 and Rs. 300 for documentary. Each applicant can send only one entry in each category, he mentioned. Mr. Narava Prakasa Rao, Hon. President, VFS and others were present at the press conference.

Convention on Power Crisis in AP

The Federation of A.P. Industries (FAPI) is organising industry meetings regionwise starts with Visakhapatnam, Mr. BV Rama Rao, its president. Speaking to newsmen on Monday at a press conference he said that industries in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari and West Godavari would be taking part in the session scheduled on September 11 in Vizag. Mr. Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Minister for Ports and Infrastructure will inaugurate the meeting in which MPs and IAS officials from the five districts will also participate. Such conventions also proposed at Tirupat on September 22, Warangal on September 25 and statelevel convention on September 27 at Hyderabad. The Governor Reserve Bank of India and other CMDs of big industries will take part in the Statelevel.
Mr. Rama Rao, alleged that the A.P.state has been witnessing unprecedented power shortage for a long time through all the sections of people. About four lakh small and medium scale industries are existing in the State and most of them are ready close their shutters due to insufficient of power supply. This sessions will discuss the remedies for the current issue and will bring the issue to the notice of the Government. Industries are the worst affected with 70% power cut, which shows impact on the growth of the industry, he added. Industrialists Mr. Gajapatiraju and Mr. VVN Murthy also present at the press conference.

‘Annamayya Samkeertana Harivaram’ from Sept. 13

A three-day cultural event ‘Annamayya Samkeertana Harivaram’ will be held at Kala Bharati Auditorium in city from September 13 announced Mr. Parupalli Charan, founder and CEO of RJ Media Works, Hyderabad. Speaking to newsmen on Monday, he said that this session would go under the aegis of RJ Media Works, Visakha Music and Dance Academy and Sri Sarada Annamayya Sangeeta Vidyalaya and continue till September 15. Mr. Kamisetty Srinivasulu, Annamacharya Project founder director will deliver a lecture to each Annamacharya kriti presented by Mr. Parupalli Sri Ranganath and singer Sunita Balaji. The daily sessions will begin by 6 pm and prasadam brought from Tirumala temple also be distributed at the end of the daily programme, he announced. Students of Sri Sarada Annamayya Sankeertana Vidyalayam will perform Annamayya Sankeertana Stuti Panchakam on September 13. Mr. Kambhampati Parvathi Kumar of World Teacher Trust will inaugurate the evening programme. All are invited to participate the three day Harivasam, he added. Mr. GRK Prasad (Rambabu) - Secretary Visakhapatnam Music and Dance Academy (Kalabharati), Mr. Parupalli Satyanarayana and others present at the press conference.

“RIGHT QUALITY OF PRODCUT & SERVICES” need of the hour

Sri P Madhusudan, Director (Finance), RINL-Visakhapatnam Steel Plant said that the mantra of success of any organization largely depends on “right quality of product and services with a competitive price” in the highly competitive global-business environment. Global trade is continuously increasing and quality service is very much essential to achieve success, he added.
Sri Madhusudan was the Chief Guest at the one day seminar on “International Taxation and Service Tax” organised jointly by Visakhapatnam Chapter of Southern India Regional Council of ICAI and Ukkunagaram Chapter at Training Centre Auditorium today. Speaking on the occasion, Sri Madhusudan stressed the need to understand the provisions of taxation to operate the organization of the business and mentioned that business entities have to compete globally to be positioned as “fittest category”. The awareness of international taxation provisions plays a very a vital role particularly in negotiating the terms and conditions of contracts involving cross border transactions in the most competitive way, he observed.
Sri S Tirumalai, Hyderabad, is a senior consultant at Delite on indirect taxes and having a four decades of experience to his credit, delivered a lecture on “Service Tax: Negative list, works contract, reverse charge, place of provision”. Sri Rashmin Sanghvi, Mumbai, an expert on international taxation and FEMA matters, chaired the session on “International taxation and FEMA”.
Sri MK Kumar, Chairman, Visakhapatnam branch of ICAI, Sri D Prasanna Kumar, Vice Chairman, Sri GN Murthy, GM (Finance) I/C and Convenor of Ukkunagaram Circle, Sri Prakasa Rao, Sri K Ganesh and large number of renowned members of the profession attended the seminar.

Singapore flight on Oct 28

The Silk Air flight will take off on October 28, directly from Visakhapatnam to Singapore, according to Visakhapatnam Airport officials. All the clearances were done, meanwhile the Silk Air will conduct road shows from the third week of this month. Ms. D. Purandheswari, Union Minister of State for HRD and members of the Visakha Air Travellers Association (VATA) met concerned Union ministers in this regard, which received a positive response. The members of VATA thanked the Indian Navy, Mr. N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, Chief Minister, and local MPs for their efforts in extending the operation hours at the airport and impressing upon the Silk Airways to start their operations. With this more industries would be set up in the Bay City for their activities. Thai airlines and Tiger Airways were likely to operate from here which could lead to more international flights in the city. The Silk Airways flight from Visakhapatnam would take off at 10.55 pm on October 28 and the flight time would be four hours. The flight will arrive there at 5.45 am (IST). He said the official announcement would be made by end of next week and ticket sales also will commence.

GVMC

GVMC commissioner had sudden inspection of Ambedkarnagar, Simhadrinagar and Housing Board Colony of 9th ward on Friday. During his inspection he found that anti-malaria operaions, anti-larva operations ans sanitary works are not carried out regulary by the GVMC workers. He warned the workers and asked them to disacharge their dusties properly. He also found that the street lightning in the Housing Board colony was not properly amaintained by the concern private contractor and ordered GVMC officials to deduct one month charges from the bill that has to be paid for the contractor. He also ordered officials to lodge criminal case on the building contractor who threw debris on the road blocking the drains in the Ambedkarnagar.

Mega dharna by TDP

A Telugu Desam team comprising of 21 MLAs and two MLCs of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) staged a maha dharna in front of Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Corporation Limited (APEPDCL) CMDs corporate office, here on Thursday protesting against irregular power supply to both industrial and domestic sectors. 21 TDP MLAs including Mothkupalli Narasimhulu, Sita Dayakar Reddy, T Nageswara Rao, D Narendra, V Veerayya, K Sridhar, Narayana Reddy, G Rama Naidu, VRK Babu, K Lalitha Kumari, Sriram Rajgopal and others led by party district president Ch Ayyanna Patrudu and Nannapaneni Rajakumari participated in the protest and raised slogans against the government for neglecting the power sector. When the CMD Md Nadeem Ahmed remained in his chambers, a group of TDP leaders including Ayyanna Patrudu, Nannapaneni and Bandaru Satyanarayana Murty rushed inside the office and demanded him to come down to take the representation.

Minister honour best teachers award winners

Mr. P. Balaraju, Minister for Tribal Welfare honoured the Best Teacher award winners on Wednesday on the occasion Teachers' Day in city. Speaking at a function organised by District Education Department, he said that the government is committed to provide value based and quality education to compete with the private schools. Most of the professionals were studied in Government schools during their childhood, standards of Government schools are high, but due to competition, corporate schools are going ahead these days, he added. The teachers in Government schools are well qualified and are dedicated and the Government always recognised the talent in students through the teachers and parents as well. The education in the State is improved when compared to previous years , he extended. The Government has been encouraging SC, ST, BC and Minorities students by providing fee-reimbursement, repairs to school buildings and hostel buildings, mid-day meals, distribution of textbooks, drinking water supply and toilets. Recently, the government had conducted DSC-12 exam to fill most of the vacancies across the State, he said adding the government is taking all steps to increase the image of teaching community.
The minister said that Rs 3 crore has been sanctioned for the construction of own buildings for the District Education Department and a stone would be laid shortly. The Government is giving equal priority to sports apart from education, in this regard, Panchayat Yuva Khel Krida Abhiyaan (PYKKA) was instituted by the Central Government to encourage the children in sports and identify their talent. The pilot project was initiated in Visakhapatnam a couple of years which was very successfully runing now, the Minister proudly announced.
Later Minister and Mr. Seshadri, District Collector, Ms. Krishna Kumari, District Education Officer, Mr. Malla Vijay Prasad, MLA- Visakha West and others felicitated the teachers who received awards on the occasion. Meanwhile most of education insitutions in the city like Andhra University, Gitam, Gayatri Vidya Parishad and others also celebrated the occasion at their premise.

MP meets Thai Ambassador

Ms. D. Purandheswari, sitting MP and Minister of State for Human Resources Development met Pisan Manawapat, Ambassador of Thailand in India, and Sasirit Tangulrat, Minister- Counsellor in Embassy of Thailand, in her chambers in New Delhi and discussed in detailed the issue of starting Visakhapatnam- Bangkok flight by Thai Airways. Ms. Purandheswari explained the tourist and economic potential of Visakhapatnam and other districts from West Godavari up to Odisha border in the north. The Union minister further explained that Vizag- Bangkok flights may be quite viable. The Ambassador assured her that a delegation of Thai Airways will soon be sent to Visakhapatnam for studying the feasibility of starting the air travel from Visakhapatnam to Bangkok and further action will follow in due course.

Sabarimala Reservation Centre opened

Mr. A. Ramakrishna, Executive Director, Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC), Vizianagaram inaugurated a Sabarimala Reservtion Counter on Wednesday at Dwaraka Bus Complex in city. He informed the media that a special Marketing team for this special Sabarimala packages and will explain at various temples to Guruswamy and other devotees. The APSRTC buses are exempted from other states taxes and also special discount ranging from Rs.2 to Rs.5 per kilometer. Special discounts also be given depending on the type of bus booked-Luxury, Express, Deluxe etc. Mr. Y. Jagadish Babu, Regional Manager - Visakhapatnam informed that separate parking facility has been allotted for the AP transport services in Pampa- Neelakal location. A special team consisting of Electrician, vehicle mechanic etc are ready with a vehicle to attend the break down of pilgrim vehicles in co-ordination with Kerela transport authorities. He further mentioned that, Sabarimal operations earned Rs.80 lakhs turnover last year in Visakhapatnam, highest in the State, whereas they have set a target of 1.5 crores with a fleet of 117 buses. Additional facilites which are arranged for bulk bookings are free Cooks, Bhakti CDs etc. with flexibility in routes and point to point pick-up and and drop. Mr. D.Virendra Choudhary Traffic Manager and others were present.

JUDA to intensify stir

The Junior Doctors clearly mentioned that they would intensify the ongoing stir, as the talks with the government failed late on Tuesday night. While the government wanted the junior doctors to call off the strike and continue with their talks on their demands for clear-cut guidelines on rural postings. The Junior doctors at the King George Hospital (KGH) conducted a mass rally at the campus and burnt an effigy of Director Medical Education (DME) in the morning. Meanwhile they boycotted all the services including emergency on Tuesday, which affected the hospital services on the second day too.
Though assistant professors and transferred internee doctors have been deployed as alternative arrangements, patients had to face huge inconvenience as the doctors’ number was inadequate.
Mr. Ratna Kishore, Principal Secretary for Health, Education and Family Welfare, warned that there would be forced imposition of the Emergency Service Maintenance Act (ESMA) if the AP Junior Doctors’ Association does not withdraw the strike. He also said that the government was considering the issue empathetically and would try to resolve the issue within a month. The JUDA members have been demanding for a bi-partisan agreement on the compulsory rural posting issue. They also said that the policy for compulsory one year rural service and the committee is not clear about payment, designation, accommodation and other basic issue. Certificates of medical students who completed their studies have been held back since many months, they added.

T20 teams arriving today

India and Newzealand teams would be arriving here on Wednesday by a chartered flight from Bangalore at 12.30 pm on Wednesday. The New Zealand team will have net practice from 10 am to 1 pm and India from 2 pm to 5 pm on Thursday. On September 7, Team India will have the nets from 10 am to 1 pm and New Zealand from 2 pm to 5 pm. The match scheduled on September 8 from 7 pm to 8.20 pm and after a 20-minute break, the second session would begin at 8.40 and close at 10 pm. In the event of a tie, the match will be decided by the one-over-per-side eliminator system as per ICC Standard T20 Playing Condition 2011- 12. The field umpires will be S Ravi and Sudhir Asnani, TV umpire Vineet Kulkarni and fourth umpire C Shamshuddin. Chris Broad would be ICC match referee. The teams will take off at 1 pm on September 9 by a chartered flight to Chennai.

AU to host I-genesis on Sept 5

A mega technical, educational and entertaining festival I-Genesis would be inaugurated on September 5, by Dr. George Victor, announced Prof. GSN Raju, Principal, Andhra University Engineering College. Speaking the press conference on Tuesday, he revealed the detailed structure of the event which includes Junk yard wars, paper presentations, quizzes, expo's, guest lectures, cultural activities. He further mentioned that about 8000 students were enrolled for the event out of which 7000 registered online. The outstation students will be given accommodation at the AU Engineering hostels.
Patrolbot, Beacon Follower, Transporter, Rob, the builder, The test will be held under conducted under Robotrics category and AppTech, reverse Engineering, Catch the Bug, LPGIC'al, Nitro Cars, Hurt locker, Rpbo Cricket, Robo Wars, Water wars, Cam balancing, Contraptions, Angry Bots, Air Bot underComp- tech category. For the first time all the departments in the campus are joining in this and it will be more useful to the all the participants, he added. Mr. Malla Vijay Prasad, MLA- Visakha West and Mr. Prabhu Kishore, CMD- Varun Group will join the inaugural session. The closing ceremony will be held on September 8. Prof. Ch. Ramachandra Murthy, Vice- Principal, AUCE and Mr. Chakravarthy, student representative I-Genesis were also present at the conference.

Hindi Fortnight Inaugurated at ENC

Hindi Fortnight celebrations for the year 2012-13 were inaugurated at the Swarna Jyothi Conference Hall, Eastern Naval Command today, 03 Sep 12, by Rear Admiral T Sudhakar, NM, Chief Staff Officer (Personnel and Administration). Speaking on the occasion, Rear Admiral Sudhakar appreciated the dedicated efforts taken by the personnel towards implementation of Official Language Hindi and he exhorted all personnel to put in sustained efforts in carrying out maximum Official work in Hindi in the Command. Smt, Dr. Hemalatha Rao, Senior Hindi Officer (Retired), Visakhapatnam Port Trust and Faculty member, Hindi Department, Andhra University was a Special Invitee on the occasion. She stressed on the need to generate new ideas and methodologies which can be easily accepted and adopted in the rapidly changing scenario for effective implementation of the Official Language.
Prizes were awarded for the winners of various competitions conducted during the year involving Hindi Implementation. The function was attended by a large number of service and civilian personnel from various establishments of ENC. The fortnight will witness various competitions and workshops on Hindi software ‘Saransh/Unicode’ by M/S Aryan Softwares, New Delhi with a view to inculcate interest in undertaking official work in Hindi using computers.

Sale of Cricket tickes through Mee seva : JC

Mr. Praveen Kumar, Joint Collector announced that the sale of tickets for the T-20 Cricket Match to be played between India and New Zealand, at the YSR-ACA-VDCA, Stadium at Pothinamallayyapalem, Visakhapatnam on 8th Sept. will begin at 8.00 am on Tuesday at the twenty one Mee-Seva Centres in the district. He informed the details in a press release after discussing with the organising committee, he said that all arrangements have been made to ensure that there are no irregularities in the sale of tickets. Each person will be eligible to buy only two tickets. A total of 12,300 tickets have been alloted to the Mee-Seva Centres for them to sell. Three hundred Rs. 3000/- tickets, five hundered Rs. 2000/- tickets, five hundred Rs. 1500/- tickets, three thousand Rs. 1000/- tickets, Six thousand Rs. 600/- tickets, two thousand Rs. 300/- tickets will be sold. He directed that one Monitoring Official of the District Administration will be present at each of the Mee-Seva Centre to ensure transparency and smooth functioning of the sale. The match tickets will be sold through the Mee-Seva Centres at Suryabagh, Asilmetta, Chinawaltair, RK Beach, Seethammadara, Chinawaltair-Bridavanam, Gyanapuram, Butchiraju-palem, Kancharapalem, Madhavadhara, Akkayya-palem, Arilova, Malka-puram, Chittivanipalem, (Autonagar) China Gantyada, Peda Gantyada, Vadlapudi, Rythu Baazar, NTR Stadium in Anakapalli, GV Hospital, Library Street in Tagarapuvalasa and Bhimili Municipal Choultary.

Jr doctors launch strike:
KGH services affected
JUDAs demand for Guidelines on mandatory rural service

The Junior Doctors went on protest with a demand for guidelines on mandatory rural services on Monday at the King George Hospital (KGH). Around 760 junior doctors including undergraduates, post graduates in medicine boycotted their dutiries and take out a rally followed by a protest at the entrace of the KGH in support of an indefinite strike of AP Junior Doctors’ Association (APJUDA) in the State who protested against State government for not providing guidelines for the implementation of mandatory rural services to those completing PG and PG diploma medical courses. Dr. Md. Shahnawaz, president of Junior Doctors’ Association of Andhra Medical College said that junior doctors at five medical colleges – Gandhi, Osmania, Kakatiya, Siddhardha and Rangaraya – had been staging protests against the lack of clarity in implementation of mandatory rural services and the delay in conducting counselling, which cost the students of PG Diploma, precious three months, which will not be taken into consideration for the rural service. He further mentioned that it is an extention of earlier strike which held for 52 days last year, for which the Government had failed to fulfill to talks with the APJUDA. Blaming the Medical Council of India (MCI), the junior doctors demanded that the government specify that the clause to serve in the rural hospitals was based on State guidelines and not the MCI. Meanwhile, the regular services at the KGH were held up for some extent, as the senior doctors managed for sometime.

VASER Liposuction Surgery in city

Dr. G. Sunanda Rani, Nikhita Hospital announced that their health centre introduced VASER Liposuction surgery to remove fat below the Chin, Arms, Chest, Tummy, Back, Buttocks, Thighs etc .Speaking at a press conference on Monday, she said that over a decade the hospital is providing services in the city. They adopted the latest technique of laparoscopy (key hole surgery) method and brought to Vizag first of its kind technology like harmonic scalpel & ligasure. Bariatric surgeries (weight reduction procedures) were started in the same year and being successfully performed till now, she added. Visakhapatnam is the second city to provide such surgery after Hyderabad. This is a relatively short procedure compared to traditional liposuction and can be performed in local anaesthesia. The person can get back to normal work within two to three days of undergoing the operation. The most popular “Six Packs” tummy is now reality with VASER Lipo and is being used by Cine Celebreties. Dr. K. Ramesh Naidu, the expert doctor demonstrated the procedure on the occasion.

Second beach soon in city
Sanitaion, drinking water top priorities : civic chief
GVMC Commissioner and Meet the Press

Mr. MV Satyanarayana, the Commissioner - Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Commissioner announced his top priorities among them are : sanitation, supply of water and street lighting. Addressing the scribes at "MEET THE PRESS" organised by the VJF Press Club on Saturday, he said that the city would have a well developed beach at the Santhi Ashram to Appughar in support of the Visakhapatnam Port Trust soon with an estimated cost of eight to ten crore rupees. He futher said that he had already held a meeting with engineering staff and discussed the possibilities to speed up all pending projects under the JNNURM. More projects are to be adopted, as the city has good sources to develop, he mentioned. He will have surprise checks in the city to look after the activities of sanitation and water service staff, if found any mistake or negligence, severe action will be taken. To meet future water needs of the city, proposals were made for laying pipelines between Yeluru- Vizag and Raiwada-Vizag and in addition to that he has already requested Vizianagaram Collector Mr. M Veerabrahmaiah to increase the daily water supply from Tatipudi reservoir. Responding to the plea made by Mr. G. Srinubabu, President, VJF Press Club about sanctioning of housing under the Rajiv Awas Yojana scheme to the its members who were not given government sites, the civic chief assured of all help in this regard. Mr Sreenubabu, president, Mr. S. Durga Rao, secretary and others attended.

TDP cadre on fire, as Chengala quits party

The Telugudesam Party held mass protest against its former MLA Mr. Chengala Venkata Rao (Telugudesam) who suddenly declared that he would be joining in YSR Congress party soon on Saturday. The party cadre in Visakhapatnam including the top activists in Hyderabad shocked with this announcement. The women wing of the party conducted a rally at the party office and burnt the effigy of Chengala. Meanwhile, Mr. Chenagala convened an extended party meeting of his constituency on Saturday and while addressing the party leaders and activists, he began praising the welfare schemes launched by former chief minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy and his rule to the surprise of the entire party cadre. He is very disappointed with the party for his debacle in the 2009 elections and bypoll recently in which he was defeated by the YSR Congress party candidate. According to him he would be joining YSR CP in the presence of Ms. YS Vijayalakshmi, honorary president soon and was assured that he would get the assembly ticket in next 2014 general elections.

Secretary, DPE Lauds RINL‘S Human Resources Strength

Sri OP Rawat, IAS, Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), Government of India, praised the strength of Human Resources which is a key element in the success of RINL. Sri Rawat arrived to a warm welcome on his maiden visit to RINL to participate in one day workshop on “Performance Management System” held at Centre for HRD today.
Sri Rawat witnessed a corporate presentation of RINL and interacted with the top management in the evening at VSP. Speaking on the occasion, Sri Rawat said the sustainability development plan, CSR activities, future expansion plans, Human Resources initiatives, business diversification plans of RINL are extremely laudable. The DPE will always support RINL in enhancing the corporate governance and added that the CSR initiatives focusing on human care, education are unique and wonderful. He expressed his great satisfaction after visiting the plant for the first time and observed that the “workforce are quite enthusiastic and energetic” Sri Rawat earlier visited various production and expansion units in the plant.
Sri AP Choudhary, CMD expressed his gratitude to Sri Rawat for taking keen interest in visiting RINL and said that strong workforce helped RINL to scale to new heights. Faster decisions has helped the growth of the Company. He mentioned that the raw material expenditure of 72% of total cost is strongly hitting the bottom line due to lack of captive mines.
Sri YR Reddy, Director (Personnel), Sri NS Rao, Director (Projects), Sri Siddharthakumar, CVO and senior officers of RINL participated in the interactive session.

RINL’S Growth Remarkable

Sri EK Bharat Bhushan, IAS, Additional Secretary & Financial Advisor (AS&FA), Ministry of Steel, was accorded a warm welcome on his maiden visit to RINL today. Addressing the top management after witnessing a Corporate Presentation of RINL, Sri Bharat Bhushan stressed the need to focus further on Research & Development, cost reduction measures, rationalization of manpower to achieve excellence in the industry. He said that quick stabilization of expansion units would help RINL to grow and expand its capacity further. While terming RINL as a ” Tech Oriented Industry” he congratulated the entire collective for achieving a remarkable growth during the last several years despite no captive iron ore mines. “Happy organization is a profitable organization” and it is reflected truly in RINL , he said amidst applause.
While welcoming Sri Bharat Bhushan, Sri AP Choudhary, CMD said that RINL is known for skilled workforce with highest Labour Productivity among Public Sector Steel Plants in the country. With out captive iron mines, the Company is doing extremely well in all fronts and moving ahead with its competitors, Sri Choudhary added. He mentioned that RINL has been taking several initiatives to contain the cost of production and also adopting several modern and green technologies first time in the steel industry.
Earlier, Sri Bharat Bhushan visited the Model Room and Awards Gallery and went round the production and expansion units. Sri Umesh Chandra, Director (Operations), Sri NS Rao, Director (Projects) and other senior officers accompanied the dignitary during the plant visit and explained the know how adopted in the plant.
Sri Umesh Chandra, Director (Operations), Sri NS Rao, Director (Projects), Sri B Siddhartha Kumar, CVO, Senior officers participated during the interaction with the AS & FA.

Stake Holders Provide Sugessions on Waste to Energy Project with Swedish Technology

As part of the Sweden support to GVMC for study in the area of Solid Waste Management and Waste to Energy, which was commenced during May 2011. Inaugurating the work shop, the Commissioner explained the urgent need for integrated Solid Waste Management in the city in view of the increasing quantity of Solid Waste generated in the city, which is exceeding more than 1000 Mts. per day. The present situation of transfer of the entire quantity of Solid Waste, to the major dumping yard situated at Kapuluppada, is involving heavy cost to the Corporation, besides other pollution effects. The Commissioner requested the participants in the work shop to provide as many suggestions as possible, which will be considered not only by the Swedish Experts for including in their final report, but also will be considered by GVMC, from the point of view of Waste to Energy methods, and to regulate and implement and integrated SWM by GVMC.
Prof. S. Bala Prasad, Prof. K. Raghu Babu Environmental Engineers from Andhra University, Mr. Y. Nartasimha Rao, Arichitect, and all the HODs of GVMC have participated in the work shop.

Spl train to Bangalore

In order to clear extra rush of passengers, Railways will run special train services between Guwahathi and Bengaluru two trips in each direction, said a release here. Train No. 02510 Guwahathi- Bengaluru will leave Guwahathi at 01.15 pm on September 1, reach Visakhapatnam on Sunday at 10 pm and depart at 10.20 pm and reach Bengaluru at 6 pm on Monday. In the other direction, Train No. 02509 Bangalore- Guwahathi will leave Bengaluru at 10.10 am on September 4 (Tuesday), reach Visakhapatnam on September 5 at 05.20 am and depart at 05.40 am and reach Guwahathi on September 6 at 6 pm.
These trains have stops at Malda-Town, Howrah, Kharagpur, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Khurda Road, Brahmapur, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Chennai Central, Katpadi and Jolarpet Jn in both directions.

FAPI demands waiver of VAT on diesel

Mr. BV Rama Rao, president, The Federation of Andhra Pradesh Industries (FAPI) has demanded the government to immediately waive the VAT on diesel to be used for captive power generation and other needs immediately. Speaking to newsmen on Friday at a press conference, he further deanded to release a GO offering 25 per cent subsidy to purchase diesel sets for captive power generation and stop collecting Rs 250 per KVA being collected in the name of power demand charges despite acute power crisis. The industrial sector in Andhra Pradesh was on the verge of closure due to the faulty policies of the government, which resulted in acute power crisis, the first time in the history of the State. With the lack of LPG supply, all the nine gas-based power projects were not able to generate power, which further compounded the problem. State Government has neglecting alternative power sources like solar and wind, which was being encouraged in Gujarat and Tamilnadu. Pointing out the three-day power holidays to the industrial sector and regular peak load restrictions between 6.30 pm and 10.30 pm, the managements were not able to pay even wages to the workers with the continuous loss of production, which may also lead to lay-offs and lockouts shortly. In this connection, the federation will conduct a series of meetings involving government officials, MPs, MLAs and industrialists on September 11 in Visakhapatnam and Tirupati on September 22, Warangal on September 25 and Hyderabad on September 27 to chalk out future course of action whether to run the industries or to close them till the power problem is redressed. Industrialists Mr. S. Ramanujam, Mr. Y Sambasiva Rao and Mr. Balaji were also present.

Music director Koti felicitated

The Snehanjali Arts’ Association, feliciatated the noted music director (Telugu Cine industry) Mr. Saluri Koti on Friday here. As part of its ‘Taralu Digivachina Vela’ event amid rendering ‘Swara Neerajanam’ at a private hotel. Prior to the felicatation the upcoming singers who participated in various TV singing competitions presented number of Tunes prepared by Koti. Koti blessed Harini, Anuhya, Sunayana, Akhila, Jayanth Mathur and others for their performance on the occasion. Mr. Malla Vijay Prasad, MLA- Visakha West presented the honouted Koti on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Vijay Prasad said Mr. Koti created sensational records in Telugu industry and became role model to the upcoming music composers. Mr. Koti thanked the organisers for giving such a big honour for his tunes. Talent will be identified one day but, never to loose the opportunity, advised the upcoming singers. Mr. M. Niranja Rao, Director National Fertilizers Limited, Mr. P. Venkatapathi Rao, MD- Cosmic Group, Ms. Malla Aruna Kumari and others present on the occasion.