All set for Mana Gudi

All the neccessary arrangements were done for the prestigious Mana Gudi programme by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) and Hindu Dharma Prachara Parishad scheduled on November 28 in the district, according to Mr. Subrahmaniam, local incharge TTD. Informing the media on Tuesday, he said that to bring back the past glory to Hindu temples on the auspicious day of Karthika Pournami on Wednesday across the state. About 870 temples in the district including Sri Varaha Lakshmi Nrusimha Swamy temple, Simhachalam and Sri Kanakamahalakshmi temple and many more temples to observe this tradition. Devotees will be given Srivari prasadam on the occasion. He invited the devotees to take part in from morning onwards. The material supplied was offered special rituals at the Srivari temple in Tirumala. All the temples will be decorated with traditional procedure and offered special rituals to the dieties.

CPM activists demands to withdraw surcharge on power bills

The activists of Communist Party of India (Marxist)- CPM demanded the State Government to withdraw its option of levying surchage on electricity bills. Staging dharna at the Electric sub-station at Pandimetta on Tuesday, the activists started slogans against the Government. The police resorted to mild lathicharge and arrested a couple of CPM leaders who tried to lay siege to the APEPDCL office. Mr. VS Padmanabha Raju, CPM city committee led the protesting session, took out a huge rally from the Jagadamba office and reached the APEDCL ERO office where they held a dharna and raised slogans against the government for levying surcharge on power bills. He said the government had failed miserably to handle the power situation in the State. Apart from increasing the power tariff, the government slapped a surcharge putting a burden of Rs 16,000 crore on people. He alleged that the government was planning to privatise the sub-stations, which, he said, would be resisted by the Left parties. He said the common man, who has been burdened with the rise in the prices of essential commodities, was being pushed into further pain with the increasing power bills and surcharge. They tried to barge into the ERO office but they were prevented by the police. Angered with the police, they tried to climb over the main entrance gate. The police then resorted to mild lathi-charge and arrested some leaders.

Shivdhar Reddy takes charge

Mr. B. Sivadhar Reddy, assumed charge as the new Commissioner of Police of Visakhapatnam on Monday from Mr. J. Purnachandra Rao. Later he launched Community Guards Batallion. He promised to resume all the efforts made by his predecessor on the occasion. He promised that he would work sincerely for the welfare of the people of Visakhapatnam and would strive his level best to control law and order. He received guard of honour from the first batch of Community Guards, which is first ever in the State instituted under Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu. Mr. Reddy was 1994 bath IPS and served Additional SP- Anakapalle in 1997, SP- Srikakulam - 2002, Director- ACB.
On this occasion, Mr Purnachandra Rao, whose brainchild was the Community Guards system, said that Visakhapatnam city was lucky enough to have an efficient police officer, Mr Sivadhar Reddy, as Commissioner. He thanked the police officials, staff members and others for their cooperation extended during his tenure here as Commissioner of Police. He further mentioned that this city made him doctor ( he submitted his Ph D recently to Andhra University), and had good memories too.

Medical Camp Held by ENC Doctors at Acuthapuram

A free Medical Camp was organised at IVA Pathshala of Mandala Vikalangula Samkshema Sangham (MVSS) Atchutapuram by INHS Kalyani, a premier multi-specialty hospital of the Indian Navy in coordination with INS Dega, on Sunday, 25 Nov 12. The camp was inaugurated by Rear Admiral SV Bokhare, Flag Officer Submarines.
The Camp held as a part of outreach program under the aegis of Eastern Naval Command and the Navy Wives Welfare Association (Eastern Region) covered the fields of Paediatrics, Dermatology and Dental surgery, in addition to Ophthalmology, general OPD and on-the-spot Laboratory investigations. Free medicines were disbursed and spectacles would also be delivered within a week to students who were checked for poor eyesight. Personnel from INS Dega white-washed the class rooms, cleaned the surrounding area and provided special lunch for the children. The Guest of Honour Smt Meena Bokhare, along with senior members and ladies of the Arogya wing of NWWA that looks after matters of physical and mental health actively participated in the camp and also distributed gifts to all the students.
Speaking on the occasion, Surgeon Commodore VSSR Ryali, Commanding Officer, INHS Kalyani stated that the camp was aimed at bringing health care to the students at their door step. Shri PSTR Patnaik, chief functionary of MVSS thanked the Navy for their humanitarian effort. There was an overwhelming response to the camp and students of neighbouring Zilla Parishad High School and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya Vihar also benefited from the services provided.

Indian Navy Band Enthrals Public at Shivaji Park

As part of the Navy Week celebrations, the Eastern Naval Command organised a public performance of Military Music with its team of 50 skilled musician sailors at Shivaji Park today, 18 Nov 12. The program was aimed at acquainting the music-loving public of Visakhapatnam with the professional capabilities of the personnel of the Naval Band.
The one hour program presented by the ENC Band commenced with welcome music titled ‘Swagatham’ and continued with traditional Big Band pieces and golden oldies of Telugu, Hindi and English. The band was conducted by eminent conductors of ENC Band, RK Tamang, T Vijayaraj and Johnson Vincent. The program was applauded by the large numbers that witnessed the thrilling show by the men in uniform. The musical evening culminated with the popular patriotic song ‘Sare Jahan Se Achha’.
The Eastern Naval Command Band was commissioned as the Band of INS Circars in the early 50s. The 26 men band of those times has emerged as a 50 piece Symphonic band today with a vision to develop further. Apart from enthralling the audience at Visakhapatnam and in all the major cities of the country, the Band has also enchanted audience overseas with its performances. Progressing from martial music, the band has widened its capabilities to include overtures, concerts, symphonies, solos and duets and other forms of contemporary music as well as Western and Indian classical music. The Band is led by its Director Lieutenant Commander VC D’Cruz.
The Naval Symphonic Band is also scheduled to perform a Concert of Western Classical and other forms of music during the forthcoming Navy Day and Vijay Diwas celebrations.

VMA music fest from Nov. 26

The Visakha Music Academy (VMA) is organising a week long festival from November 26 to December 1, according Mr. SV Ranga Rajan, NSTL Director, and president of it. Addressing the media, he informed that this year’s recipient of the title ‘Naatya Kala Saagara’ would be awarded to Dr Saraswathi, Artistic Director of Vipanchi Natyalaya, Chennai. This title carries a presentation of a gold medal and a citation. The festival will be inaugurated at 6 pm on November 26th by Mr. Ajeya Kallam, Chairman of Visakhapatnam Port Trust at Kalabharathi auditorium. He further mentioned that eminent artists from different parts of the country are participating to commemorate 43 years of service to the music fraternity. The tradition of presenting the title to the front ranking artists started in 1971 with Padma Vibhushan, Dr. Mangalampalli Balamurali Krishna.Over the past 42 years, the Academy has honoured 48 artists with this title. During the music festival, MS Subbulakshmi Puraskar will be jointly awarded to the couple Dr Sriram Parasuram and Anooradha Sriram on Nov. 26 followed by Hindustan Jugalbandi by this duo. Mr. MSN Murthy, will get Dwaram Venkata Swamy Naidu Purasakar on Nov 27, followed by violin concert by MSN Murthy and Pantula Rama. Vangala Narasimha Deekshitulu and Alivelamma Puraskar to Gayathri Venkataraghavan on Nov 28 and a vocal concert on the same day by Mysore Srikanth group. Dr Nedunuri Krishna Murthy Puraskar will be given to Neyveli Santhanagopalan on Nov 29. The awardees will be presented a cash award of Rs. 10,000/- and a citation. The following awards will be presented by Dr Mangalampalli Balamurali Krishna on November 30. Sangeetha Aacharya award to Kulapati IVL Sastry, Artist of Distinction Award to Ms. Kasturi Kamala Deepthi, Best Concert of the Mid-year series to Apoorva Krishna and Outstanding Services Award to KV Rama Murthy (Visakha Music Academy). Dr S Vijay Kumar, Chairman of Vijay Nirman Co Ltd, and S Srinivas, secretary of Visakha Music Academy also participated in the press meet.

GVMC sanitation staff on flash strike

The sanitation workers of Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) went of flash strike on Saturday. They were protesting against the GVMC's proposal to tie up with Ramky Enviro Engineers for waste management. The striking workers belong to Subhram scheme, under which over 5,000 workers were outsourced. Sanitation system was affected in many areas, mostly in Wards where outsourcing agencies were deployed. Addressing the protesting camp, Mr. Ajay Sharma, vice-president of Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), said the entry of Ramky Enviro Engineers would not only harm the interests of the workers but also affect the people. The public health department of GVMC said the impact of the strike was minimal in the city.Citing reasons for the protest, P Venkata Reddy, general secretary of GVMC Employees’ Union, the recognised union of the Corporation, said if Ramky was assigned the waste management, employees on a large scale would lose their jobs. Dr. PV Ramana Murthy, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) said, around 1,500 workers out of 5,000 reported to work and the movement of garbage was not affected.

Second CBI court in city soon

Mr. Lakshminarayana, Joint Director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said that the process of establishing a second CBI court in Visakhapatnam is on. He was in city and visited Sri Kanaka Mahalakshmi temple, on Saturday. Sharing his views with the media, after traditional ritual at the temple, he said the apex court in the state wrote to the Government with the request of CBI. Ealier he visited Simhachalam Sri Varaha Lakshmi Nrusimha Swamy temple along with his family, on the auspicious day of Karteeka Ekadasi on Saturday. Ms. D Bhramaramba, Deputy Commissioner of Endowments and Sriman Desikacharyulu, Chief Priest Sri Kanaka Mahalakshmi temple welcomed Lakshminarayana with Purna Kumbham. He also participated in Rata Utsav on prior to the month long festival Margasira Masotsavam. Mr. Dronamraju Srinivas, Government Whip, also participated. Later, they released festival posters.

Raksha Rajya Mantri Inaugurates Coastal Radar Chain at Visakhapatnam

Shri Jitendra Singh, Honourable Raksha Rajya Mantri inaugurated a coastal chain of static sensors positioned along the coast of Andhra Pradesh, today, 23 Nov 12 at the Administrative Building, Coast Guard District Headquarters, Malkapuram, Visakhapatnam. The event was attended by Vice Admiral Anil Chopra, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command, Vice Admiral MP Muralidharan, Director General Coast Guard, Members of the Parliament and Legislative Assembly from the region as well as various dignitaries of the District Administration, Central / State Government agencies.
On completion of the event, the honorable Raksha Rajya Mantri visited the Headquarters, Eastern Naval Command, where he was received by Vice Admiral Anil Chopra, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief and was briefed on the organisation, role and the area of responsibility of the Command. Additional Information on Radar Chain: The Chain of Static Sensors project being steered by the Indian Coast Guard, envisages fitment of high end surveillance gadgets on lighthouses and masts at various locations on the mainland, in Lakshadweep & Minicoy and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The project aims at preventing undetected intrusion by monitoring the movement of vessels plying along our coastline. The project would also aid in enhancing the efficacy of Search and Rescue (SAR) operations coordinated by the Coast Guard. The data generated would also be shared with other maritime agencies via the National Command Communication Control and intelligence (NC3I) network to generate a comprehensive Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA).
The project is the first of its kind both in terms of expanse and strategic implications. Whilst the Gujarat, Maharashtra Kerala clusters of the network were inaugurated in Aug-Sep 12 earlier, inauguration of the Andhra Pradesh Cluster today signifies the operationalisation of the network on the East coast. The project, when implemented completely, would act as the much needed electronic eye to our maritime agencies and provide the envisaged impetus to the overall coastal security apparatus, wherein the Chain of Static Sensors would ensure near gap free electronic surveillance of the entire Indian coast line upto the 25 nautical miles from the Coast.

Vasavi Sangham performs mass marriages

Sri Vasavi Kalyana Mandapa Sangham, performed mass marriages to Arya Vysya community on Friday as part of its annual welfare activities. Mr. Dronamraju Srinivas, Government Whip blessed the newly wedded couples on the occasion. He was very happy to note that the Vasavi Sangham has been continuing its task of performing mass marriages. He lauded the organisers for observing traditional methods and providing ‘Tallibottu’, new clothes, household articles and ‘Saari’ (sweets) to the six couples. Responding to an appeal by the Sangham, parents of six pairs came forward for the mass marriages from Guntur, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts. The Sangham representatives made all arrangements, including breakfast and lunch to the parents and relatives of the six pairs. The six couples were: Garlapati Srinivasa Rao (Guntur district) and A Sanyasamma (Vizianagaram district), V Ramesh and P Parvathi (both from the city), Durga Chandra Rao and M Santhoshi (both from Vizag district), Badam Suresh and K Jayalakshmi Devi (both from Vizag distict), M Balaji (Srikakulam district) and K Varalakshmi (Vizag district) and N Suresh and B Gunna Padmaja (both from Vizag district). Large number of community elders, including Mattapalli Chalamaiah and Arisetti Srirama Murty, blessed the new couples amid chanting of Vedic hymns.

Holistic Safety Culture among the Industries

The Vizagapatam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) conducted an awareness and interactive session with Underwriters Laboraties (UL) on A Holistic Approach towards Plant and Personal Safety on Friday. The forum, aimed at inculcatng the Safety Culture in visakhapatnam, includes a line-up of international expers who will address various facets of plant safety. Mr. Arisetty Srirama Murthy, vice president The VCCI called the industrialists to take up proper safety measures at the workspot. Most of the fire incidents, accidents will take place due to lack of such maintenance and carelessness. Speaking about the forum, Mr. JC Sekhar, Singapore based Managing Director for UL knowledge services said, " We believe that a truly holistic approach needs to be taken when it comes to plant safety. This requires due consideration to be given to people, products, processes, technology and partners".
Mr. V. Jagadeesh, presented demonstration on Fire Safety, Mr. Dilbagh Singh on Industrial Safety. They presented various fire accidents, explosion that took place at workspot and suggested preventive measures. Industrialists from North Coastal Andhra districts were present on the occasion.

Multi Purpose Halls in Rehabilitation Colonies - A CSR Intiative of RINL

Being Responsible Corporate Citizen, RINL-VSP is taking up various activities under its CSR to improve the living standards of people particularly in Rehabilitation Colonies where most of the displaced persons are living. Having been noticed that there were no multipurpose halls in Pedagantyada, Gangavaram, Aganampudi and Vadlapudi RH Colonies to perform functions like Marriages, Cultural Programmes, Musical Concerts, Social Programmes, etc., the RINL management comprehended that there is a need for common building to perform functions.
Sri. AP Choudhary, CMD-RINL, unveiled the plaque for the Multipurpose Halls (MP Halls) at Pedagantyada and Gangavaram RH Colonies today. Sri. Chintalapudi Venkataramaiah, Hon’ble MLA, Gajuwaka performed ‘Bhoomi Pooja’. Sri. Tippala Gurumurthy Reddy, Ex-MLA, Sri. YR Reddy, Director (Personnel) and Sri. NS Rao, Director (Projects), Sri R Shankar, GM (CSR) graced the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, Sri. Choudhary asserted that RINL-VSP would always be in the forefront for carrying out its CSR activities and it is ready to take up more number of activities in rehabilitation colonies for the benefit of displaced persons who are living there. He said that creating more job opportunities will help in generating employment for the displaced persons. He appreciated the efforts being put in by Hon’ble MLA in materialising construction of MP halls.
Sri Chintakapudi Venkataramaiah, Hon’ble MLA appreciated VSP management for taking up several CSR activities in RH colonies and he lauded the efforts of Sri AP Choudhary, CMD, RINL for special interest in taking up people friendly initiatives.
Sri Tippala Gurumurti Reddy, Ex MLA, Union Leaders Sri. D Adinarayana, Sri. N Rama Rao, Sri. Mantri Rajasekhar, spoke on this occasion. Trade Union Leaders, members, local leaders and public in large number from Pedagantyada and Gangavaram RH Colonies participated in these functions.
Multipurpose halls (MP Halls) at Pedagantyada & Gangavaram have been taken up at a cost of around Rs. 1.5 Crores each. The MP Halls are planned to have 3500 Sq.ft each at Ground Floor and 1st Floor, which can easily accommodate 500 members. The amenities like Function Hall, Stage, Separate rooms for Bride and Bride groom with attached toilets, Dining Hall, Kitchen One Guest room, Office Room, Overhead tank with Bore well, Parking area, Area lighting, Pathways with a compound wall around and in the plan. The construction works will be executed by C.P.W.D., Visakhapatnam.

Day at Sea for School Children and Media

Over 1500 civilian personnel, including 1100 school children and members of the Sea Cadet Corps, Media personnel, Senior Citizens, members of the Veteran Sailors Forum (VSF) and the Navy Foundation sailed onboard Eastern Fleet Ships today, 22 Nov 12, and witnessed various Naval exercises at sea. Five ships of the Eastern Naval Command including the Landing Platform Dock INS Jalashwa, Kashin Class Destroyers INS Ranjit and INS Ranvijay, Missile Corvettes INS Kulish and INS Vibhuti participated in the Event held as a part of the Navy Week activities.
The Event started with the prize distribution to the children winning the Navy Week Painting Competition ‘Pratibimb-12’, held on 04 Nov 12 at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium. The Prizes were given away onboard the ship by Rear Admiral Ajit Kumar P, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet. The top five entrants in each category were felicitated in the presence of their proud parents. The winning entries were that of JV Saishridhar, K Agnibhavya and K Rahul Ranjan in the Sub-junior, Junior and Senior categories respectively. DAV Public School, Anakapalle was once again adjudged the Best and awarded the Rolling Trophy. In the special children and hearing impaired children categories, G Sam GIrja and P Raju secured the first positions respectively.
The highlights of the Day at Sea exercises were the high speed run by the missile corvettes, Search and Rescue (SAR) demonstration, Helo Landing demonstration, high speed manoeuvres by Corvettes, Close Range Anti-aircraft firing, Underway Replenishment involving transfer of men and an Asymmetric Threat demonstration.

CP submit PhD Thesis

Mr J Purnachandra Rao, though he is the Commissioner of Police, turned a scholar of Andhra University (AU) and submitted a thesis of his research work on ‘Developing effective policing in Visakha Commissionerate to be useful for society,’ to the University Registrar Prof V Umamaheswara Rao here on Thursday. He submitted his thesis in the Department of Commerce under the guidance of Prof. Satyanarayana. When Prof Prasada Rao welcomed the Commissioner, the latter handed his thesis and explained its contents. It mainly focussed on how the subordinate staff and officials in the Commissionerate were functioning and what they were thinking about their respective assignments, what the Press is thinking about the police in the Commissionerate and whether the general public are satisfied with the redressal of their grievances. Dr. Uma Maheswara Rao, Registrar - Andhra University felt happy that the Commissioner of Police completed his research in the varsity.

GVMC issues birth certificates within hours

Mr. MV Satyanarayana, Commissioner, Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) had assured the people last week that the birth certificates would be issued within 24 hours of birth on Wednesday. The GVMC created a record by issuing birth certificates within hours of delivery to the family members of the newborn here. As he promissed earlier, issued certificates to family members of 15 newborn at around 8 am. The 15 children were born between 12 am and 8 am on Wednesday. This was for the first time the birth certificates were issued within hours of birth creating a record in the State, he added. The Commissioner said that the initiative was taken at the behest of District Collector V Seshadri. He said information of births would be sought from the local ANMs ad sanitary inspectors of the respective wards soon after the births and the certificates would be issued the following day.

Sri Sathya Sai Trust - Mahila Youth wing presented clothes, fruits to the needy

As part of 87th Birthday celebrations of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Saibaba vaaru, today was observed as “Youth day”. As part of youth day, the ladies youth wing of Vizag district have distributed clothes, fruits, Sri Sathya saibaba’s photo and Vibhudi to the needy residing in the slum area of Alluri Seetharama Raju Colony in Seethammadhara.
Led by the district mahila youth coordinator Miss Priyadarshini and Miss Hemalatha, Miss Sai Prashanthi, mahila youth also distributed clothes fruits, Sri Sathya Saibaba’s photo and Vibhudi to budding children studying in Anganvadi school in the slum allure sitharama raju colony.
Around 300 poor families with a population of around 1000 persons who are living as daily labour, plumbers, drivers etc., and have a very poor economic status.
The gents youth have pasted stickers with message of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Saibaba “Love All-Serve All”, “start early, drive slowly ,reach safely”.
Several youth(gents) have participated in the programme with Love and care.
gents youth wing have distributed new blankets to the needy at Araku tribal village. unemployed youth(both girls and boys) who were given free computer training, personality development and other job oriented skills under "SRI SATHYASAI UJWAL JEEVAN" were given certificates.
9th and 10th class students of Sri Sathya Sai Vidya Vihar sc hool have presented play items like throw balls, Chess Board, Tennis Balls, Cricket Bats etc., sweets, fruits and cooked food was also presented to the deaf and dumb students. Sri Sathya Sai Vidya Vihar students accompanied by the teachers have spent some nice time with the deaf and dumb children and cheered them up.

"Go Puja" observed

The Tirumala Tirupati Devastanams in association with Hindu Dharma Prachar Parishad observed "Go Puja" at e-darshan counter in MVP Colony on Wednesday. As part of the Mana Gudi celebrations scheduled on November 28, the TTD authorities conducting campaigning sessions for it. Large number of devotees performed rituals to the cow on the occasion as per the tradition. Mr. Subrahmanyam, manager, TTD- Visakhapatnam said, the Tirumala authorities involving the devotees in all its activities including Srivari Seva in Tirumala temple, Pushpa yagam and mana gudi session. As per the guidelines given by TTD, the devotees are requested to take part in temples very near to their homes and participate in all sevas including cleaning the temple, decoration, distribution of prasadams, etc as they like. All the devotees will be given prasadam from TTD at the respected temples. This session will be held on November 28, 2012 on the occasion of Karthika Pournami. Sriman Satuluri Badarinarayanacharyulu, of Sri Kodandaramalayam, Pithapuram colony explained the importance of the Go Puja, through which the cow be respected. Large number of devotees were participated in it. Later, the TTD authorities distributed Sri Vari laddu prasadam and pushpayaga prasadam to the devotees.

Advance research to be done on Embedded Systems Design

Mr. Dronamraju Srinivas, Government Whip advised the scientists and scholars to go advance reasearch on Embedded Systems Design. Addressing the inaugural session of the 28th National Convention of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers on the theme “Advances in Embedded Systems Design” here on Wednesday, he said that it is a good omen for India, which has entered into the third millenium. Now every youth is blessed with more provisions , opportunities and rights to raise their voice. Prof AV Prasada Rao, Rector of AU, said that usage of embedded systems has been initiated with business, security and satellite industries has now encompassed its areas and is soon going to expand to the premises of a common man in the forms of MP3 players, microwave oven and other household articles. Mr. P. Nagaraju, Senior General Manager of BSNL - Vizag circle congratulated the organisers to providing a room to the young talent on the occasion. Dr. I Satyanarayana, Dr TS Kamal, ETDB of Kolkata, Prof GSN Raju, Principal of AU College of Engineering also spoke.

Blood Donation Camp by the Navy

The Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam organised a Blood Donation Camp in collaboration with the Blood Bank of King George Hospital (KGH) as part of Navy Week activities at the Naval Dockyard Dispensary today, 21 Nov 12. Rear Admiral GS Pabby, VSM, Admiral Superintendent Naval Dockyard (Visakhapatnam) inaugurated the Camp. There was an overwhelming response from among uniformed and non-uniformed personnel, including ladies of the Naval community. Over 550 personnel turned up to donate Blood and strengthen bonds with local community.
Addressing the gathering at the inaugural function, Dr K Shyamala Devi, Medical Officer-in-Charge, Blood Bank, KGH stressed on the need to build awareness about voluntary blood donation, and of the misconceptions regarding the act. Speaking on the occasion, Rear Admiral Pabby reiterated the importance of the Donation and of Navy’s continued commitment to the cause of Societal Healthcare. The Flag Officer also thanked Dr. Madhusudan Babu, Superintendent KGH and his team for the cooperation extended towards conduct of the camp.

Raksha Rajya Mantri to Inaugurate Coastal Radar Chain

Shri Jitendra Singh, Honourable Raksha Rajya Mantri will be visiting Visakhapatnam on Friday, 23 Nov 12 for the inauguration of a coastal chain of static sensors positioned along the coast of Andhra Pradesh. The Ceremony is scheduled to be held at the Administrative building, Coast Guard District Headquarters, Malkapuram, Visakhapatnam. The event will be attended by Vice Admiral Anil Chopra, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command, Vice Admiral MP Muralidharan, Director General Coast Guard, Members of the Parliament and Legislative Assembly from the region as well as various dignitaries of the District Administration, Central / State Government agencies.
A complete surveillance mechanism along the coast was necessitated post 26/11 incident. A chain of static sensors (Radar units) have been envisaged to monitor the high sensitive traffic density areas along the coast of India. The coastal surveillance network would provide an integrated picture of all the vessels traversing along the coast. As part of this project, a chain of radar stations all along the coast line of Andhra Pradesh have been installed by the Ministry of Defence. Coast Guard District Headquarters, Visakhapatnam has 06 Radar Stations for undertaking the surveillance of the region. Two more Remote operating stations (ROS) are expected to be commissioned shortly at Chennai and Paradip, will complete the radar chain for the East Coast. This will link up subsequently with a similar chain functional on the West coast, thereby proving the envisaged comprehensive coastal surveillance data to the Joint Operations Room across the Country.

Rasadhuni Music Fete on Nov 22

Ms. K. Gayatri, founder president, Gayatri Sangeetha Kalasamithi announced that they will organise ‘Rasadhuni Lalitha Sangeeta Vibhavari’ at Vaisakhi Jala Udyanavanam on November 22. Addressing the press conference on Tuesday at VJF Press Club she said that, this music festival in which noted singers would render film and patriotic songs written by local advocate, poet and writer M Ramakoti. She said that it would be a tribute to him through lite music. Mr. Ramakoti had penned many film and patriotic songs with the inspiration of Devulapalli Krishna Sastry and Arudra. All India Radio had broadcast Ramakoti’s songs under the music direction of Tirupati Ramanuja Suri. M Madhava Rao, J Visalakshi, J Sarada, and others participated at the conference.

CII held interactive session with UK Dy High Commissioner

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Visakhapatnam organized an interactive session with Mr. Richard Hyde, Britain's Deputy High Commissioner for Andhra Pradesh on Monday in Visakhapatnam. Revealing the policies of the United Kingdom, he stated that Visakhapatnam, with its talent pool and a major port and steel plant, offers huge opportunities for British companies to invest and the domestic companies can also have a healthy relation with the UK counterparts. The Indian Government should open their hands for the UK industries for their establishment. Number of multi national companies already been established here such as HSBC and others. However, there is little awareness among the British companies about the advantages of Visakhapatnam. They were concentrating only on Hyderabad, and from now on "we will try to promote Vizag as a city with great future." The visiting UK team is concentrating on Trade and Commerce, Tourism, Education in this session, he mentioned. Number of opportunities are available for the skilled graduates in UK. Current session discussed matters relating to Indo-British Trade and Investment and Economic Relations and also explore of new opportunities for industries in Visakhapatnam for collaboration with UK. Later the team visited Andhra University in the evening to interact with the students of Engineering and Post Graduate students.
Mr. G. Sambasiva Rao, vice chairman- Confederation of Indian Industry Vizag zone, Mr. RVS Raju, Mr. Arun Pillai, Mr. K. Ganeshan and others joined the interaction session.

Cops focus on traffic violators

The city police under the guidance of Mr. J. Purnachandra Rao, Commissioner of Police would take tough action against those violating the traffic rules. Participating in a special drive on Monday, Mr. Rao said those failing to pay fine even after receiving the challans would be taken to task. The offenders have no scope to escape from paying fine since their violation was recorded by cameras. Mr. V Suresh Babu, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) said two wheeler drivers refusing to stop before the white line or jumping were causing accidents to the pedestrians. Around 1.6 lakh cases were booked through e-challan centre and fines to the tune of about Rs 70 lakh were realised in 50,000 cases, but more than Rs 1.5 crore was yet to be realised in over a lakh cases. The special drive would be continued during next three Mondays at Siripuram Junction in Vizag. He said 2,000 cases were booked for noncompliance with the Supreme Court order banning use of black film on cars and other vehicles. The black film was removed from over 1,300 cars by traffic police recently during a special drive and over 300 vehicular owners removed the film voluntarily, he added.

TW minister launches full meal scheme

Mr. P. Balaraju, Minister for Tribal Welfare launched a unique ‘full meal’ welfare scheme in Paderu on Monday. It is especially for lactating mothers and pregnant women for bailing them out from the intake of ‘malnutritious food’ and to contain women and infant mortality rate under the supervision of Women and Child Welfare Department. Launching the scheme, Mr. Balaraju said it was launched in Visakhapatnam, Medak and Kurnool districts adding that due to spurt in women and infant deaths in the Agency areas of Visakhapatnam, the scheme was introduced to cater to the needs of Paderu and Hukumpet mandals. This ‘full meal’ scheme would be implemented by the centres and the nutritious menu contains milk, egg, vegetable curry and sambar, he added. An action plan was under proposal to develop Paderu, G Madugula, Lambasingi in Chintapalli area in the Agency as tourist spots as many tourists visit these areas in all seasons following its unique nature and temperature.

ENC Gears up for Navy Queen Pageant 2012

The Eastern Naval Command is gearing up for Navy Queen Pageant 2012 scheduled to be held on 22 Dec 2012. The contest is held as a showstopper event during the Navy Ball, an event which traditionally marks the end of activities related to the Navy Week.
During the last few years, the Navy Queen Pageant at the ENC has been a launching platform for many an aspirant to the Miss India Pageant. Notable and the most famous amongst them has been Ms. Parvathy Omanakuttan, Navy Queen, Vizag 2007 who went on to be crowned as Miss India 2008 and later, was the First Runner Up at the Miss World 2008 Contest.
The grooming, hairstyling, makeup and choreography for this year’s Navy Queen contest will be undertaken by celebrity designers and choreographers from the fashion and film industry. ENC has announced prizes worth nearly Rupees five Lakh for the winners.
The screening of the contestants on 15 Dec 12 at the Samudrika Naval auditorium, with the finals of the Contest scheduled to be held during the Navy Ball 2012, on 22 Dec 12.
The contest is open to all women of Indian Nationality, over 18 years of age, married or otherwise. The last date for registration is 08 Dec 12. Rules and regulations for the Pageant and Application Forms are available on www.navyqueenvizag.com or may be sought on e-mail from navyqueenvizag@gmail.com.
Prospective participants may register online at www.navyqueenvizag.com or send in their entries to the Navy Queen Coordinator, Fleet Office, c/o Fleet Mail Office, Visakhapatnam. Forms downloaded from the net could also be sent by e-mail to navyqueenvizag@gmail.com or deposited in various drop-boxes placed at various outlets in the city. Clarifications, if any, may be obtained from the Navy Queen Coordinator at navyqueenvizag@gmail.com or on telephone numbers 9493856974/ 7799315937.

‘I believe that villages have unlimited potential and if they develop the nation is bound to develop’ says Steel Minister

‘I believe that villages have unlimited potential and if the rate of development increases here, the nation is bound to develop’ said Shri Beni Prasad Verma, Hon’ble Minister of Steel, Govt. of India while addressing a gathering of all India Customers and Rural dealers of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited at a “All India RINL Customers & Rural Dealers Meet” organized by RINL at Lucknow today.
The Hon’ble Minister further added that India’s rural market will be bigger than the markets in some of the developed countries in the next few years. He said that the role of dealers will be important in ensuring that steel reaches every corner of the country.
Shri Verma inaugurated RINL’s “Customer Portal” for direct e-sales and released “Customer Charter”, and gave awards to the best customers. He also released a “Booklet on Marketing”. He distributed Dealership Certificates to newly appointed dealers.
More than 250 major Customers and Dealers of RINL-VSP from different parts of the country participated in the “All India RINL Customer & Rural Dealer Meet”. On this Occasion, Hon’ble Steel Minister appreciated the customers and dealers for their role in making steel available to ‘aam admi’.
While appreciating the efforts of RINL-VSP in increasing their network in rural marketing, Hon’ble Minister asked CMD, RINL to further strengthen the distribution/sale of steel in rural areas and set up service centers.
Hon’ble Minister also made an announcement about coal based power plants in Jagdishpur and Gonda which will not only help in meeting power requirement of the state but also provide employment opportunities to youth in the state.
In his welcome address, Sri AP Choudhary, CMD, RINL-VSP said that the focus at RINL has been on maximizing customer delight, and RINL’s endeavour has always been to exceed customer expectations by providing the best service possible. All our marketing strategies are evolved keeping the customer in mind, he added.
On the Rural Marketing front, under the guidance of our Hon’ble Minister, Sri Choudhary said RINL launched a unique Rural Dealership Scheme which is basically an inclusive scheme extending the engagement to the rural entrepreneurs. No security deposit is taken under this scheme and the rural dealers get a margin of around Rs.1,000 to 1,200 for every tonne of steel sold by them. It is noteworthy that RINL is playing a proactive role in meeting the demands of the rural markets. It has appointed 555 rural dealers in the country. The company plans to cross the 1000 dealers mark very soon. RINL has appointed 101 Dealers in UP which is highest in the country, being a most populace state with vast rural marketing opportunities.
Sri TK Chand, Director (Commercial) said that RINL feels what customer needs. RINL always comes forward with new customer facilities before they ask it for. This brings customer delight. “Online Customer Portal” is one such unique initiative he added. Sri Chand said that this is first of its kind in steel industry in India. Customers and Consumers can directly book steel from any where through internet starting from one truck load to multiple rake loads. The portal is very user-friendly and even customers with very little knowledge of e-booking can easily place their order, he added. It is planned to extend this facility to mobile phones also, and with this, the customer can book their requirement on the move.
RINL is also opening up a new marketing branch at Allahabad shortly. RINL also plans to establish SPUs in Ambedkar Nagar and Ghaziabad of Uttar Pradesh very soon. Another industry for manufacturing of Railway Coach Components getting explored for establishing for Indian Railways by RINL at Raibarely. RINL is also establishing rural stockyards and is setting up a stockyard in Varanasi.
RINL has sold about 21% steel products more in UP in 2011-12 compared to previous year. In domestic steel market, RINL is the leader in Bar & Rods and is having 9% of the market share in Long products.
Under its CSR programme RINL has set up a Skill Development Centre in Gonda, where needy children are being imparted free of cost training. Similar training centers are being envisaged at other locations in Uttar Pradesh. Along with this RINL is also planning to set up an ITI in Gonda.

Bharata Ratna Smt. Indira Gandhi Jayanthi Celebrated at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant

Sri. P. Madhusudan, Director (Finance), garlanded the portrait of Bharata Ratna Smt. Indira Gandhi on the eve of 95th Jayanthi Celebrations of Bharat Ratna Smt. Indira Gandhi at Indira Gandhi Park in Ukkunagaram today.
In his message Sri. Madhusudan, recalled Indira Gandhi’s dedicated efforts towards the progress of the Nation. Sri. RP Srivastav, DGM(Town Admn), Sri.MVRV Prasad, AGM(Civil)-TA were present. Senior Executives of VSP, Leaders of Trade Unions, Representatives of Steel Executives Association and SC&ST Association, VSP employees and Students of Ukkunagaram Schools have paid floral tributes to Bharat Ratna Smt. Indira Gandhi.

Good Response to Sanskriti Express

Sanskriti Express, exhibition on wheels, a tribute by Indian Railways to VISWAKAVI Shri. Ravindra Nath Tagore was inaugurated by by Shri Anil Kumar Divisional Railway Manager, Waltair on 18.11.2012 at 10.00 am at Railway Exhibition ground, New Colony Road. The train received a Good response from the public and schools of Visakhapatnam . About 7000 people visited the train on the first day. The train will remain at Visakhapatnam till 06.00 P.M of 19th November (Monday), 2012. Public of Visakhapatnam requested to visit the Exhibition Train. Entry for both Exhibition & Cultural Programme is free. The inaugural function was also witnessed by Sr.Divisional Commercial Manager, Shri. M. Yelvender Yadav, Sr. Divisional Security Commissioner Shri. P. K. Gupta and other dignitaries witnessed.

Awareness Rally on Clean and Green

An Awareness Rally on Clean and Green with the main objective of educating the people on maintaining a healthy environment in the Jagannadha Raju (JR) Nagar, a small colony sandwiched between NH-5 and HB Colony road in Old Venkojipalem, north of Isukathota Junction organised on 18th Nov., (Sunday) morning at 0830 AM. The colony residents, including the school children and the youth participated in this event. Sri. K.Venkateswara Rao, Joint Chief Environmental Engineer, A.P. Pollution Control Board, Zonal Office, Visakhapatnam, Prof. G.S.N.Raju, Principal, College of Engineering, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam and Prof. S.Ramakrishna Rao, Incharge Director, CPC, GITAM University, Visakhapatnam also attended as Chief Guest and Guests of Honor.

Good Response to Navy Mela and Visit to Naval Ships

As part of Navy Week activitiess, two warships of the Eastern Fleet namely INS Rana and INS Kulish were open for visit by children and the public over the past two days. INS Rana is a Kashin Class Destroyer, while INS Kulish is a front line missile platform of the Indian Navy. A large number of public from all walks of life visited the ships on 17 Nov 12. A guided tour of the ships was conducted for the visitors. They were briefed about the diverse weapons and equipment fitted onboard. Various Naval evolutions and operations were explained to them by the means of photo boards and projection systems. Caps, flags and posters of Indian Navy were distributed amongst the children visiting the ships. There was also a Career Counseling Corner for those with an interest in joining the Navy. Refreshments were provided to all on completion of the visit. The visitors experienced life in the Navy from close quarters and considerable excitement was in evidence.
The Navy Mela at Samudrika grounds also evoked good response, with over 8,000 people visiting the venue till the evening of 17 Nov 12. People have displayed keen interest in the stalls put up by the Naval Dockyard and the Submarine Maintenance Unit that have been garnering the maximum attention.
Sunday, 18 Nov 12 is the last day for visiting the ships between 9 AM to 5 PM and also for visiting the Mela between 10 AM and 10 PM.

Gaiety marks Nagula Chaviti

The devotees celebrated Nagula Chaviti with religious gaiety and fervour here on Saturday. The city wore a festive look as scores of women along with their family members came out on to the streets from the early hours of Saturday to offer prayers to the Snake God. Devotees thronged the outskirts of the town and performed pujas at the ant hills. They offered traditional prasadam to the Snake God after worshipping him. It is learnt that the farming community in the city celebrate the festival on a grand scale. They believe that if they pour milk in the ant hill and seek blessings of the Snake God, they won't face any obstacles while going to their respective fields. Meanwhile, the festival was celebrated with pomp in the rural areas. Women carried the paraphernalia required to worship the Snake God at the ant hills as children and men followed. However, tracing a snake’s ant hill has become a Herculean task for women, thanks to real estate development.

PR plays vital role in development : Vijayasaradhi

Public Relations (PR) plays a vital role in developing a society, industry even a family to maintain healthy releations, Mr. Vijayasaradhi, former director of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL). Speaking at a workshop on ‘Role of PR in any organisation’ organised by the Public Relations Society of India (PRSI) local chapter on Saturday. Relation with the Public will change to path of the industry and could be possible only through a dedicated mind towards PR, he added. Most of the organisations are now setting up a separate department to it and spell their voice through PR. It is now common in normal human life. Mr. B. Prabhakar Sharma, a senior journalist who retired from The Hindu recently was felicitated by the PRSI chapter on the occasion. Responding to the fecilatitation, Mr. Sharma said, it is very much in need to have good PR with neighbour to have better life. He thanked the organisers and the organisation which tuned him as a good citizen and journalist as well. Mr. GN Murthy, president, PRSI- Vizag chapter, Mr. KM Reddy and others present.

GVMC COmmissioner inspected Yeleru Canal Works

During the last "Neelam" cyclone some parts of the Yeleru Canal, that drives drinking water to the city, have been damaged with a large holes in it. Due to which only 60 to 65 Mgds out of 110 mgds of water has been received by the city through this canal during the past few days. The works in all the affected regions of the Yeluru Canal have been took up and were been carried out in high speeds. GVMC Commissioner paid visit to the areas of Natavaram, Bojjana Konda, Tallapalem, Tarabhavaram and Lankelapalem and inspected the reparing works. He had order the officials at the respective locations to complete all the repairs and make the Canal ready within two months. He also met the officials at the Kateru Reservoir, Rajahmundry and viewed the flow of the Godavari River water. He opined that the City will have sufficient drinking water till the end of next year. Additional Commisioner and several other Engineers also assited him during his visit.

‘Sanskriti Express’ to city

Sanskriti Express – an exhibition train, a tribute to Rabindranath Tagore will arrive here for two days on Sunday. According to the Visakhaptnam Divisional Railway Manager's Office (East Coast Railway), this train exhibition train will remain open for public from 10 am to 6 pm at Railway Exhibition Grounds, New Colony Road, Thatichetlapalem. It will be inaugurated by Mr. Anil Kumar, Visakhapatnam DRM, at 10 am. The Indian Railways running this train to commemorate 150th birth anniversary of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore and to disseminate his legacy to the younger generation, Indian Railways pays tribute to Kaviguru and has been running a special exhibition train ‘Sanskriti Express’ across the country since 2010. The exhibition train, a fully air-conditioned fivecoach train displaying the life, teachings, philosophy and works of the ‘Vishwakavi’, will travel across the country for one year to showcase Rabindranath Tagore’s versatile creations to the people. The first coach named ‘Jibon Smriti’ depicts the life of Rabindranath Tagore through photographs while the second, ‘Gitanjali’, will exhibit his poems and songs. Third coach ‘Jogajog’ and ‘Muktodhara’ will depict the literature of Kaviguru, the fourth coach ‘Chitrarekha’ depicts the paintings of Tagore and other eminent artists. The last coach ‘Smaranika’ will exhibit and sell the handicrafts and other items of Santiniketan, founded by the Nobel laureate. Entry is free for the public.

Social service doesn't need power : DV

Social service doesn't required any government post or certificate, announced Mr. DV Subba Rao, former Chairman, Bar Council of India. Speaking at the felicitation session to Mr. R. Ravi Kumar who received Rajiv Gandhi Manav Seva Award from Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, President of India on November 14 this year, he said every one should draw inspiration from him. He praised the services of Ravi Kumar on the occasion on Friday. Mr Ravikumar, extending education, health camps etc to the children of Omkar Nagar - Seva Nagar through his organisation Gayatri Youth and Cultural Academy years together. The award carries a cash award of Rs 1 lakh, a silver medal and a citation. He further said that he had obtained the award only because of his determination, commitment and self-discipline coupled with the zeal to uplift women and children, especially in slums including Omkarnagar, in the areas of health and education. Responding to the felicitations, Mr Ravikumar said he would continue service activities with the same spirit and tempo as the national award has increased his responsibilities. Mr. B. Appa Rao, District Coordinator of Nehru Yuva Kendra, Mr. M Ramakrishnam Raju, Bharatiya Janata Party and others were also present.

TDP paid tributes to Yerrannaidu

The district wing of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) paid tributes to the departed leader Mr. K. Yerrannaidu, its politburo member on Thursday. Mr. Dadi Veerabhadra Rao, opposition leader, Andhra Pradesh State Legislature Council said, Mr. Naidu played key role in developing the party in all stages and the party lost big hand in North Coastal districts. From the day one of the establishment of the party, he obeyed the party regulations till the end. Mr. Ayyanna Patrudu, district TDP chief, said that no one can fill his gap for ever. He further said that Yerrannaidu was a principled party worker and a role model for the youth in the party. He was a friend to all leaders and workers than a leader. He promoted the voice of the party at the national capital too, he added. Mr. MVVS Murthy, former MP, Mr. Velagapudi Ramakrishna, MLA- Visakha East, Mr. Bandaru Satyanarayana, Ms. Gudivada Nagamani, Mr. PGVR Naidu, former MLA and other cadre also spoke on the occasion. Later, the party activists conducted annadanam to the poor at the party office.

Cash awards for Telugu playlets

The Telugu Kala Samithi, Kuwait, conducted a national-level competition in Telugu Playlets and gave away cash awards on Thursday at a function held in city. Addressing the gathering Mr. V.V. Rama Rao, Trustee - Visakhapatnam Port Trust and stage actor, promised to bring a special hall for the cultural activities in city soon. He advised the Cine industry to produce healthy movies, which do not create disturbances in the society, culture as well, which were lack recently. The committee received a total of 59 entries, three best prizes apart from three consulation prizes. The first cash prize of Rs 15,000 went in favour of Chunduru Srirama Murty of Kakinada for his playlet, Spurti. Second prize of Rs 10,000 was bagged by Dr KG Venu of Vizag for his Ananda Tandavam while the third prize of Rs 5,000 went to Ravinutana Prema Kishore of Hyderabad for his Kaadi. Three consolation prizes of Rs 3,000 each were given to Ravinutana Bharadwaj of Prakasam district for his Jeevannartanam, Bharatula Ramakrishna of Tanuku, West Godavari for his Smrutijeevulu and Tulasi Balakrishna of Hyderabad for his playlet, Sanchalanam. Mr. SK Mishro, noted stage artist, director, Mr. Chidambaram (Kallu fame) and others also spoke on the occasion.

GVMC Commissioner inspected Fly-over Works and Schools

GVMC Commissioner along with DCP Surendar Babu inspected the fly-over works, subway and side roads at Aseelmetta Junction. They also viewed the traffic and pressed the need of controlling and managing the traffic at the Asselmetta Junction. Also visited and gave lecture on some topics of Hindi and History Subjects to SSC students at MGM High School.

Navy Mela - 2012 Inaugurated

The Navy Mela, a Naval Exhibition by units of the Eastern Naval Command and local business houses was inaugurated by Vice Admiral Anil Chopra, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command, at the Navy Mela Grounds today, 15 Nov 12. The Event which is scheduled from 15- 19 Nov 12, opened with a colourful entertainment program presented by the children of Navy Children School, Kendriya Vidyalayas, Nau Sena Baugh and dance groups from NWWA Kendra,104 Area. The young members of the Naval community displayed their enthusiasm and talent through these enchanting performances.
The Navy Mela provides a window of opportunity for Vizagites to visit the Naval premises and see vignettes of Naval lifestyle. In addition to a large representation by MNCs, financial institutions, IT firms, electronic and consumer durables, and the amusement park featuring a host of rides and games, performances by several professional entertainment groups have also been organised as a part of the Mela this year. Parking for two wheelers at the Navy Mela will be along the road next to Samudrika auditorium and for four wheelers it will be on the side opposite to the auditorium and Mela grounds.
Naval Ships Open to Public:
As a part of the Navy Week, two warships of Eastern Fleet will be open to visits by the general public on 17 and 18 Nov 12 from 10 AM to 5 PM. Personnel visiting ships are advised not to carry hand bags, camera, tape recorder, camera phones and other electronic goods as these will not be allowed inside the Naval Dockyard due to reasons of security. The entry to ships will be from ‘Pallava gate’, which is located near the Pipe Line Junction near INS Satavahana.

Prize distribution

Prize distribution ceremony of children's day competition was held at Rail club. Chief guest of this occasion was DRM, Waltair Shri Anil Kumar who gave prizes to the winners of the essay and drawing competitions. Shri. C.Madhuaudana Rao, ADRM; Smt.Anju Anil Kumar, President, ECoRWWO; Smt. kiranmayee, vice President ECoRWWo, and other dignitories were also present at the function.

Govardhan hill replica with 250 kg

The Hare Krishna Movement, created a replica of Govardhan hill with 250 kg cake, as part of its month-long Kartika Deepotsav on Wednesday. It was presented at the Hare Krishna temple premises in MVP Colony. The Govardhana puja performed at large scale at the premise. Mr Surya Rao, senior Civil Judge, who attended the temple and praised the services of the organisation for involving in public services apart from the traditional activities. Mr. Malla Vijay Prasad, MLA- Visakha West, who also joined him, said he was happy to participate in the Deepotsavam and thanked the Hare Krishna Movement for extending invitation to all city elders and public. A large number of devotees attended the Govardhan Puja, which was the highlight of the month-long festival. Dr. B. Satyanarayana former vice-chancellor, Andhra University and other officials witnessed and offered special rituals to the Lord Sri Krishna on this unique opportunity. Mr. Nishkinchina Bhakta Dasa, president of Hare Krishna Movement and Akshayapatra, said this Deepotsavam festival would be organised till November 28.

Work with Commitment and Dedication : Sri Choudhary, CMD, RINL

Sri AP Choudhary, CMD, RINL-Visakhapatnam Steel Plant called upon the newly recruited Management Trainees (MTs) to work with commitment and dedication since the plant is on transition phaseof expansion to 6.3 MTPA at a total cost of Rs 12,500 crores. While inaugurating the “Induction & Orientation Programme” for MTs today at VSP, Sri Choudhary said that career growth for the employees is very much encouraging in the Company and the plant is running with state of art automation with professionally managed workforce. He congratulated them for choosing their career in RINL - a Navratna Company. He said that RINL is emerging as one of the leading steel maker in the country and visualized great future for the Company. RINL has lot of expectations from them, he added.
Later, the CMD and other Directors interacted with the newly joined MTs and shared their experiences.
Speaking on the occasion, Sri Umesh Chandra, Director (Operations), RINL said that the plant adopted green and clean technologies to increase productivity and urged them to become good technologists and prove as role models. He briefed them of the current expansion activities and mentioned that concern for environment is one of the core values of the Company. Put all out efforts to learn the technology adopted in the plant, he added.
Sri YR Reddy, Director (Personnel), RINL said that human resources are a great strength to RINL and they contributed immensly for the turn around of the plant and added that RINL always believes in best people.He hoped that the new MTs will have a bright future once they work with commitment and urged them to fully utilize the library facilities to acquaint with the technology.
While welcoming the MTs to RINL fraternity, Sri A Radhakrishna, GM (Training and HR), RINL said that 233 MTs (November 2012 Batch) were recruited from various engineering disciplines through All India written test and interview. This includes 12 female and 10 internal candidates also.

CPM demands to cancel agreement with Ramky

The Greater Visakha city committee of Communist Party of India (Marxist) demanded the State government to cancel the agreement reached between Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) and Ramky Engineers Company for lifting the garbage from the city basing on ‘Design-Build-Own Operation- Transfer’ model. Addressing the press conference on Wednesday, Dr. Ganga Rao, secretary said the agreement between the two parties termed as illegal and anti-people. He also questioned the entrusting of the works to Ramky organisation as it is the prime accused in the illegal assets case of Mr. YS Jaganmohan Reddy, president - YSR Congress Party (YSRCP). He alleged that it would harm both the GVMC and the people adding that collection and transportation was entrusted to Ramky and also to undertake recycling of garbage at the dumping yard with which the company earns money. Neglecting the 5,013 sanitation employees, the GVMC signed the agreement with Ramky by offering Rs 5 crore per month to the company for lifting the garbage in the city. He further mentioned that if the Government failed to withdraw the agreement, the CPM would rise agitation in this regard. Mr. A Ajay Sarma, executive committee (EC) member- CPM city committee also present at the conference.

Rich tributes paid to Nehru

Mr. P. Balaraju, Minister for Tribal Welfare, Mr. Dronamraju Srinivas, Government Whip and other congressmen garlanded the statue of first Prime Minister of Independent India, Jawaharlal Nehru and paid rich tributes to him on the occasion of his 123rd birth anniversary here on Wednesday. On this occasion, he recollected the historical events that had implemented by Nehru during his tenure like Panchaseela, Five Year plans etc. Nehru laid the foundation for the nation's progress seven decades ago, and his members of the family were very much involved in building the nation, he added. The minister asked the party activists and leaders to imbibe the virtues of the great leader. “As he loved children a lot, his birthday was being celebrated as Children’s Day,” he added. Congress party activists including Mr. Murthy Peetala, Mr. Rama Rao, Govind and others present on the occasion.

VUDA issues 600 LRS approvals

The Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (VUDA) issued approvals to 600 Layout Regularisation Scheme (LRS) on Monday. Mr. K. Sasidhar, Vice-chairman - VUDA advised the public on unauthorised layouts and warned them not to enter into any transaction with them since sale of plots in any unapproved layout was nothing but fraud. He said either VUDA or the local body would never develop or provide basic amenities to the residential plots purchased from illegal and unapproved layouts. It is only competent authority to approve such layout across Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam district. The Director of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) will issue permissions for development of layouts by any private individual or firm, he said.
Explaining the LRS scheme provided by the government for regularisation of plots in unauthorised layouts, he clarified that the regularisation was being done with limitations with an objective to do some favour to the plot owners as per the genuineness. Out of the 19,149 applications received so far, 6,988 applications were issued final approvals and 4,023 were rejected for reasons of ineligibility. The remaining 8,138 applications were under process and would be cleared soon, he assured.

TW Minister reviews flood situation

Mr. P. Bala Raju, Minister for Tribal Welfare held a review meeting on Monday, with the officials on rehabilitations measures on flood affected areas. He praised the services of the district officials whose alertness mitigated the situation. Mr. Balaraju asked them to restore the road in Madugula where a landslide from a hillock blocked the way since the floods hit the area. The minister ordered immediate disbursement of Rs 1.5 lakh to the families whose bread-winners lost their lives in the floods. He insisted that the power and drinking water situation should be restored on a warfooting. Similarly, according to GO No. 6 issued on November 3, all the damaged houses should be given compensation in a transparent way to avoid any controversy. Those farmers not in possession of white ration cards should also be compensated for loss of dwelling, he said. Mr. V Seshadri, District Collector said that special revenue officials were touring the affected areas and enumerating the losses by forming special teams. Mr. MV Satyanarayana, Commissioner - Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) said the areas downstream of Meghadrigerdda were inundated due to the floods. He said around 3,000 people were shifted to special relief camps. Government Chief Whip Dronamraju Srinivas, MLAs Panchakarla Ramesh Babu, Malla Vijay Prasad, Mutyala Bangarupapa and Golla Babu Rao and senior revenue officials were present. Earlier, the Collector held a meeting with the heads of the special teams assessing the flood losses and asked them to collect hard data of the losses so that compensation could be paid to the genuine losers.

VUDA drawing competitions held

The drawing competitions organised by the Visakhapatnan Urban Development Authority (VUDA) on the occasion of Children's Day to be celebrated on November 14 received good response from the students on Sunday. About 1000 children from Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram districts were participated in sketing the topic. Special topics were given in three categories – subjuniors, juniors and seniors. Mr. K. Sasidhar, vice-chairman, VUDA congratulated the children for participating in the competition. He witnessed the talent in the students on the occasion. He announced 50 prize winners in all the three categories. The VUDA is also conducting competitions in dance ballet, folk dance and classical. Dance ballets ‘Mohini Bhasmasura’ by the students of Vijayam Techno School in Yakshgana style was impressive and ‘Samaikyandhra’ presented by the kids of High Fields International School was thought provoking in the evening.

Visteel Mahila Samiti Distributes Blankets in Chuchukonda Village

True to its spirit of extending helping hand to the needy and poor people, VisteelMahilaSamiti (VMS) distributed 250 blankets to the flood hit people of SC Colony in Chuchukonda village in MunagapakaMandal in Visakhapatnam district today under Corporate Social Responsibility initiative. The colony was severely damaged and the residents are very badly hit during recent floods.
Smt Preethi Roy, Vice President of VMS distributed the blankets along with other office bearers of VMS. The colony residents appreciated the gesture of VMS and thanked VSP management for coming to the rescue of the colony residents. Smt Sunanda, Joint Secretary, Smt Ananta, Smt Leela from VMS participated.

Steel Pots(Bindelu), Glasses And Plates Presented To Flood Effected Villagers By Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations

To provide a succor to the needy who are still reeling under the devastating effect of the recent floods/rains, devotees led by sri SG Chalam, state president, Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations, Andhra Pradesh and devotees of Sri Sathya Sai Seva Samithi, RTC area, Anakapalli presented steel pots (bindelu), 2 steel glasses, 2 steel plates and sweets to each of the 136 rain effected houses in Yadagiripalem villages of Munagapaka mandal on Sunday. Sri Chalam interacted with the villagers and enquired about their welfare.
Sri VR nageswara rao, district president, Sri Diwakar, Convener, RTC sri sathya sai seva samithi, Anakapalli, several office bearers, devotees have participated in this noble service activity.

Midnight Inspection by the Commissioner

Commissioner M V Satyanarayna surprisingly inspected sanitation and street lightening on Friday midnight following the complaints published in several newspapers.
During his inspection from Camp office to VIP Road, Rama Talkies, Maddilapalem, MVP Colony, Rythu bazaar, Thatichetlapalem, Rly station, Madhavadhara, Muralinagar, etc. and expressed his satisfaction on both street lighting and Night sanitation.
At Thatichetlapalem street lights on the National Highway were Fused off. He called on DEE Bhaskara Rao and made them to put the lights on. DEE Bhaskar Rao and AE Srinivas noticed that in 39th ward out of 1500 street lights about 50 streetlights did not glow. They issued notice to the concerned contractor to rectify the lights within 24 hours.
SE V chandrayya, DEE bhaskar Rao, AE Srinivas assisted the Commissioner in his inspection.

Intl Children Science fest begins

Mr. SV Rangarajan, Director National Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL) inaugurated the International Children Science and Maths Festival in city on Friday. Speaking on the occasion, he said students from all over India participating in the Festival will benefit, from the two days deliberation. He added that science is to be demonstrated, appreciated, and the concept to be understood by young minds. Science has not only done wonders but also created problems. Science teaches us learning to know, what to do, how to be, and it is all about human values, he added. Students from about 32 schools including abroad, exhibited various models in 60 stalls during the exhibition. Dr. C. Agarkar, Professor, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Ms. Chandana Chakrabarti, Director, Sukriti, Dr. A. Senthil Kumaran, Senior Counsellor, Educational Excellence, CII, Dr. Sudhakar and others also spoke at the inaugral session.

VUTCO's first meet held
Trial run soon on BRTS roads

Mr. V. Seshadri, District Collector and Chairman, Visakhapatnam Urban Transport Company (VUTCO) announced that the trial run on the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) Road between Pendurthy and Simachalam would be held soon. During the first meeting of the VUTCO board on Friday, he addressed the officials and said all the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission ( JNNURM ) buses should be operated on this corridor soon after its completion. He further said that the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) has 51 per cent stake in the company, Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corpiration (GVMC) 25 per cent and Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (VUDA) 24 per cent. It was decided in the meeting to make a preliminary investment of Rs 250 crore in the company.

Tri-Service Conference (East) Focuses on Jointmanship

The Tri-Service (East) Annual Conference 2012 was held onboard INS Jalashwa, a Landing Platform Dock of the Eastern Naval Command today, 09 Nov 12. Vice Admiral Anil Chopra, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command hosted the Conference which has a great significance in joint operations. Lieutenant General Dalbir Singh, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Command and Air Marshal S Varthaman, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Air Command took part in the proceedings. The Commanders-in-Chief were assisted by their respective Staff Officers specialised in various disciplines of Military Operations. The three Commands have a pivotal role in defending the land, sea and air frontiers in the Eastern Region of the country.

The deliberations of the Tri-Service Conference focused on fine tuning and strengthening the trilateral cooperation and coordination in various operational activities, joint exercises and training matters. The Tri-Service Conference provided a platform for review of various operational and infra-structural facilities to ensure their optimum and joint utilisation. The Conference also envisaged closer interaction in the field of sports and cultural activities, familiarisation visits for enhancing troop-to-troop contact and to underscore the necessity of jointmanship in many other disciplines.

Visakha Body Lifting from Nov 10

The Visakha District Body Lifting Association informed that the first District level competition will be held from November 10 and the Andhra Body Lifting competition from November 11 at Sri Subham Railway Indoor Stadium. Revealing the details to the media, Mr. SS Shiva Sankar, Andhra Body Lifting Association president, said the competitions would be held in 10 categories from 50 kg body weight to above 80 kg in general category, below 60 kg body weight and above 60 kg for differently abled sports persons. Mr. Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Minister for Ports and Infrastructure will inaugurate the tournament on November 10, he added. Those who win the first three places in each category would be given away mementos, certificates for fourth and fifth places and participation certificates to all. About 300 entries were received so far, and many more to come. The committee will provide food arrangement for non-locals. There are two phases in the competitions – pull-ups on rod and dips on parallel bar – and it would be held within the rules framed by the Indian Body Lifting Federation. The winners in the tournament will be selected for Andhra Pradesh team and will participate in the National Body Lifting competitions in Amritsar (Punjab) from November 24 and 25, he announced.

National Conference on Biodiversity

The Department of Environmental Sciences, Andhra University will conduct two-day national conference on ‘Forest resilience, bio-diversity and climate change-12’ from November 23, said Prof AJ Solomon Raju. Addressing the press on Thursday, at the department, he said that, more number of students have successfully completed researches in the above concerned topics. To provide room for the youngsters, the Department has come forward to organise seminar at Platinum Jubilee. About 300 scholars, intellectuals, teachers will take part in it and discuss the new techniques on conservation of Forests, later they submit the report to the Department of Environment, Government of India. The conference will comprises six topics. He said resilience of forests underlined the need to conserve and manage genes, species and ecosystems diversity in order to sustain bio-diversity. The national meet will provide a common platform to share knowledge to find viable action plans for effective long-term conservation and management of resilience of forests and constituent bio-diversity in order to slow down the impacts of climate change, he added.

Lathy Charge at Passport Office

The Passport officials at the Regional Passport Office were failed to provide proper amenities to the applicants who had attended to submit their applications on Wednesday. The Passport officials opened special counters for the fresh passport applicants who have failed to get slots online can submit their applications directly on Wednesday and Thursday. Applicants from North Andhra districts like Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam, which fall under the jurisdiction of the Regional Passport Office have to visit the website www.passportindia.gov.in. The officials asked the applicants to submit the necessary documents during the submission. A large number of applicants had reached the Regional Passport Centre, the police were in action to control the crowd, at one stage lathy charge was also done. The special counters were also opened on Thursday. Original certificates would be verified at the time of submission. The candidates have to go in person and third party applications would not be accepted. The special counters would be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

YSR CP demands aid to farmers
YS Vijayamma visits affected areas

Ms. YS Vijayalakshmi, honorary president, YSR Congress Party demanded the Government to pay compensation to the farmers who have lost crops in the recent floods in Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts. She was in city to tour Sitarampuram, Kummaralova, Rajiv Grihakalpa in East Godavari district on Wednesday. Speaking to the media persons at Visakhapatnam airport on Wednesday, she said, both the governments in the State and at Centre have failed to extend immediate support to the "Neelam" cyclone victims. Instead of providing amenities, the Ministers including the Chief Minister showed interest in the Congress party rally at New Delhi, she mentioned. She promised that YSR Congress Party cadre will strive to help the farmers whenever they are in need of support. Mr. G. Babu Rao, MLA- Payakaraopet, Mr. Jyothula Nehru, Mr. GV Ravi Raju, were present on the occasion.

Sri V. Dinesh Reddy, DGP Inaugurates “MASS TREE PLANTATION” in Vizag Steel Plant

Sri V Dinesh Reddy, Director General of Police, Govt of AP inaugurated a “Mass Tree Plantation of 15,000 plants” near Visakha Steel General Hospital (VSGH) towards Aganampudi Road today. Speaking on the occasion, Sri Dinesh Reddy said that this is a welcoming step and a right thing at right time by RINL in protecting the environment in and around Vizag. The greenery not only gives clean environment but increases water levels, oxygen and protects the health of the employees. He complimented the management led by Sri AP Choudhary, CMD, RINL in taking the plant to newer heights. He said that RINL is known for excellent industrial relations and urged the union leaders to contribute for more productivity and devotion to duty.
Earlier, Sri Dinesh Reddy was accorded a red carpet welcome on his maiden visit to RINL by senior officials of VSP.
RINL Directors, union leaders, school children participated in large number in the mass plantation drive.
Sri V Dinesh Reddy while reviewing the first meeting of the State Level Standing Committee on Security and Coordination in the Steel Sector at RINL today said that Steel Industry is one of the prime area for the infrastructure development in the country where security is most essential and paramount importance.
Sri Digvijay Kumar Singh, Senior Commandant, CISF in his presentation highlighted the activities of CISF in guarding the plant property and the township.
Sri Umesh Chandra, Director (Operations) in his welcome speech highlighted the performance of the plant and said that clean and green technologies are being adopted in expansion like Pulverized Coal Injection (PCI) in Blast Furnace to improve productivity and to reduce the consumption of coke. He said RINL is the lowest in water consumption and most energy efficient plant in the country and generating over 55% of power from waste heat, waste gases etc.,
Sri P Madhusudan, Director (Finance), Sri YR Reddy, Director (Personnel), Sri NS Rao, Director (Projects), Sri B Siddhartha Kumar, IFS, CVO, RINL and senior officers from the plant participated in the meeting.
Sri VK Singh, IPS, Addl DGP (Coordination), Sri J PoornachandraRao, IPS, Commissioner of Police, Visakhapatnam Sri K Srinivasa Reddy, IPS, IGP (Coastal Security & coordination ), Dr K Jayanth Murali, IPS, DIG, CISF, Sri UM Praveen Kumar, Asst Director, Intelligence Bureau and others took part in the review meeting.

DGP inaugurated mass plantation

Mr. V. Dinesh Reddy, Director General of Police (DGP), inaugurated a mass tree plantation of 15,000 plants at Visakha Steel General Hospital towards Aganampudi on Tuesday. On the occasion he said it was a welcome step and a right thing at the right time by Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) - Visakhapatnam Steel Plant in protecting the environment in and around Vizag. He complimented the RINL management led by Mr. AP Choudhary, chairman and managing director in taking the plant to newer heights. He said RINL is known for excellent industrial relations and urged the union leaders to contribute for more productivity and devotion to duty. He reviewed the State Level meet on Security and Coordination in the steel sector at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. Mr. Digvijay Kumar Singh, Senior Commandant, CISF, presented the activities of CISF in guarding the plant property and the township. Mr. Umesh Chandra, Director (operations), Mr. P Madhusudan, Director (finance), Mr. YR Reddy, Director (personnel), Mr. NS Rao, Director (projects), and others participated.

Chief Minister promises for immediate support

Mr. N Kiran Kumar Reddy, Chief Minister arrived here on transit halt on Tuesday for personal assessment of the damage and held a review meeting with the top officials at the airport in the evening. After discussing with the district officials, ministers Mr. Reddy told media that all the necessary steps will be taken immediately and Rs. 1.50 lakh will be issued to the each family the death due to the floods. He announced, there were 29 deaths were registered officially. The paddy, cotton and other crops will be purchased by the concerned Government departments immediately to support the agri farmers. Earlier, he visited Khammam, Krishna, East Godavari and West Godavari districts to assess the loss incurred due to the Neelam cyclone. He ordered the district officials to assess the property loss. Mr. Ganta Srinivas, Minister for Ports and Infrastructure, Mr. P. Balaraju, Minister for Tribal Welfare, other ministers Mr. B. Satyanayarana, Mr. Kanna Lakshminayarayana, Mr. Raghuveera Reddy, Mr. K. Murali Mohan, Mr. Dronamraju Srinivas, Mr. V. Seshadri, District Collector, Mr. J. Purnachandra Rao, Commissioner of Police, MLAs Mr. T. Vijay Kumar, Mr. Ch. Venkataramaiah, Mr. M. Srinivas, Mr. P. Ramesh and other officials joined the session.

CV Raman’s B-day celebrations

Mr. R. Kanna Rao, principal, Mrs AVN College informed the media that they will celebrate the birthday of Nobel Laureate in Physics and great scientist Sir CV Raman on the college premises here on Wednesday. Speaking at a press conference, he said that Sir CV Raman had studied Intermediate course in the college while his father Chandrasekhar Iyer too had worked as faculty of Mathematics and Physics in this institution. Dr Rao said the Government of India had presented a bust size bronze statue of Sir Raman, which was installed in the college. An interaction with students on the subject ‘Science and Innovation’ will also be held on the occasion. The college was established in 1860 by late Ankitam Venkata Narasinga Rao, a great astronomical scientist, in his wife’s name and had donated 12 acres of land to the college besides a deposit of Rs 15 lakh. The principal and other faculty members appealed to the local ministers, MPs and MLAs to install the statues of great scientists – Ankitam Venkata Narasinga Rao and Sir CV Raman – on the RK Beach Road as a token of respect to the great scientists.

Promote ‘GIRL CHILD EDUCATION’ and Education to Disabled Youngsters

Sri KM Acharya, IAS, Member, Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) highlighted the need to promote educational facilities to the poor and backward class girl students and disabled youngsters in a systematic way under the Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives of RINL. Sri Acharya suggested that as a big brother, RINL should support these initiatives in a continuous manner for which institutional mechanism is required to implement it and review periodically.
Sri Acharya after witnessing a Corporate Presentation of RINL,complimented VSP and suggested RINL management to evolve a representative committee involving district administration also while carrying out the CSR activities for effective implementation. Identify the activity without duplicating the present activities and urged the management to involve external government agencies like Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) project and Sarva Siskhana Abhiyan (SSA) etc., for the benefit of the youngsters and disabled children. These activities should be monitored periodically, he added. The officials of RINL explained that so far CSR activities are being carried out in around 25 villages out of the total identified 99 villages in and around VSP and neighboring areas of the region.
Sri Acharya also evinced keen interest to know the details of the MOU signed with NMDCfor Installation of 336 Km length Slurry Pipeline from Nagarnar, Jagdalpur to Visakhapatnam and a 4 MTPA capacity Pellet Plant at Visakhapatnam. Sri Umesh Chandra, Director (Operations) explained that the slurry pipeline shall be the second one to terminate at Visakhapatnam in addition to the existing pipeline of Essar Steel.
The pipeline is planned to be routed alongside the National Highway 43, avoiding the forest area. This will result in easy access for maintenance and reduced threat from extremists. The slurry transportation cost is expected to be app Rs 400- 500/mt compare to Rs 870/mt by Rail.
Sri Umesh Chandra, Director (Operations) in his welcome address said that RINL is operating over 110% capacity and earning profits since a decade and emerging as one of the best steel plant in the techno economic parameters. RINL is a pioneer in adopting green and clean technologies in its operations he added.
Sri P Madhusudan, Director (Finance), Sri TK Chand, Director (Commercial), Sri YR Reddy, Director (Personnel), Sri NS Rao, Director (Projects) and senior officials participated in the discussions.
Later, Sri Acharya visited the Model Room & Awards Gallery, Coke Oven Battery 2, Blast Furnace 3, Steel Melt Shop 1 and Wire Rod Mill.

Railway Officials swing into action

The Indian Railways cancelled some of the trains and some were rescheduled due to the torrential rains (Neelam cyclone) on Monday. Train No.57229 VSKP – MTS, Train No.57226 VSKP – BZP, Train No. 67296 VSKP – RJY, Train No. 57272 VSKP – RGDA, Train No. 12840 MAS – HWH were announced cancelled. Waltair Division had to incur huge loss amounting to crores of rupees resulted in returning of tickets and in stoppage of sale of tickets. Railway authorities carried out special drive for refunding the amount and updating the Public with the latest information through Public Announcement System, carried out hospitality to the passengers on the platforms and in the circulating area. Whereas some of the trains including Nagavali Express, East Coast Express, Coromandal express are running indefinite late.

Flood Relief Operations by ENC Teams Gather Momentum

As the rescue and relief operations continue in Andhra Pradesh, 28 relief teams comprising nearly 60 divers of the Eastern Naval Command are engaged actively in the affected districts of Visakhapatnam and West Godavari. The rescue operations in Nidadavole, Narsingapatnam and Padmanabham have been completed and the teams re-deployed in other affected areas. Over 20 personnel from Chodavaram, 60 from Padmanabham and 25 from Yelamnanchili have been rescued and efforts are on to move all marooned personnel to safety. Nearly 2,100 personnel have been rescued till noon today, 05 Nov 12, with over 1300 being evacuated from Anakapalli, Munagapaka regions alone.
Two Chetak helicopters and a Seaking of the Eastern Naval Command were deployed again today, 05 Nov 12 for dropping of food packets in the villages of P.Anandapuram, Yadagiriplaem, Kummarapuram, Purushottamapuram and Ganaparthi of Munagapaka Mandal and in Kummarapalli and Dimili of Rambilli Mandal. In addition, Control Posts at Headquarters, Eastern Naval Command have been working constantly in tandem with the State Administration in augmenting the ongoing search, rescue and relief efforts.

VATA conducted relief activities in cyclone afftected regions

VATA members distributed bananas to the people of Sheelanagar and Airport region who are badly affected by the cyclone. VATA President Mr. Ch. Ramakotaiah participated in the relief activities.

Heavy rains stormed Vizag

GVMC Commissioner, MLA West and officials visited several areas in Visakhapatnam on Sunday which were totally hit by the heavy rains for the past two days. Rescue teams were brought in for rescuing and moving of families of Ekalavyanagar and Sheelanagar to safer places. Most of the trains towards Rajahmundry and Vijayawada were cancelled because of the damaged railway lines between Vizag, Tuni and Rajahmundry due to heavy floods. All the lakes and ponds in the Vizag district flooded the areas present in their regions.

Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation extends food relief and medical assistance to passengers stranded at Vizag railway station

The devotees inspired by the ideology of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Saibaba guidance ”hands that help are holier than the lips that pray” have once again proved that serving the needy is their ultimate happiness than anything else.
Around 5 major trains towards Chennai were stopped at Visakhapatnam railway station due to the floods/heavy rains across Andhra Pradesh.
Promptly acting on a request call by the railway devotees/senior officials, the Sathya Sai Seva Organisation swung into action immediately on Sunday afternoon and served sumptuous tamarind rice, fried rice, bananas and tomato rice to around 4000 railway passengers. Children were also given biscuits and Milk. Sri VR Nageswara Rao, district president sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations ably supported by various Samithi conveners like Sri NS Rao, K Venkateswar Raju, GN Murthy, conveners of various bhajana mandalis like Sri Pola Rao, Naidu, Nandikeswara rao, youth leaders Sri Karra Ramesh, Ganesh and others from Sri Sathya Sai city seva samithi, Gazuwaka, Steel Plant, Railway Area, Tatichetlpalem, Simhachalam, Arilova Samithis, former students of Sri Sathya Saibaba varu have actively rendered help with love and passion for the needy.
A staunch devotee and a former student of bhagavan sri sathya saibaba vaaru and President of Bothra Shipping Company, Sri B.Ramagopal also arranged sumptuous food to the needy immediately.
Former student of bhagavan sri sathya saibaba vaaru and a former doctor at sri sathya sai superspeciality hospital, Puttaparthi and present Managing Director of Prasanthi Hospital and a staunch devotee of Bhagavan sri sathyasaibaba vaaru, Dr. C.S. SRINIVAS assisted by a group of doctors Dr.C. Sai Sujana, DR. Ch Sai chittaranjan and para medical staff Vijay, tarakram and others visited each and every compartment of 5 trains and gave FREE necessary medical treatment like nebulisations for several passengers who were having breathlessness and asthma. They also gave good medicines for several railway passengers suffering with dysentery, diarrhoea , fever and reeling sensations. The railway passengers expressed their immense happiness at the noble gesture of Dr CS srinivas and sri sathya sai seva organisation members for their gesture.

Inculcate Ethical Values to Eradicate Corruption

Sri PK Jain, IRS, Chief Commissioner, Customs & Central Excise opined that those who are not discharging their duties sincerely and properly are considered to be corrupt and they pose danger to the organization. Sri Jain was the Chief Guest at the valedictory function of Vigilance Awareness Week(VAW)organized by RINL-VSP today.
Speaking on the occasion Sri Jain said that ethical values to be inculcated among the children to become good citizens of the country. He complimented the children who performed in the competitions and won prizes on the occasion. He praised Vigilance Department, RINL for organizing the VAW in a befitting way. This year’s theme was “Transparency in Public Procurement”.
Sri Umesh Chandra, Director (Operations), RINL said that the present education system is to be designed in such a way to uphold the ethical values among the children, which will lead to eradicate the corruption in the society.
Sri YR Reddy, Director (Personnel) RINL stressed the need to be vigilant and in RINL several innovations are carried out to enhance the corporate governance.
Sri NS Rao, Director (Projects) RINL observed that vigilance has to be practiced continuouslyin day to day life to contain corruption in every organization.
Sri B. Siddhartha Kumar, IFS, Chief Vigilance Officer, RINL-VSP said that lack of vigilance lead to lack of performance and productivity and added that corruption is anti - poor, anti-government and anti-development. It is high time to contain corruption for the development of the society, he said. He said that savings in procurements lead to increase of bottom line in any organization.
RINL is in forefront is using Information Technology for improving transparency in public procurement, e-commerce activities, systems improvements, process innovations and streamline of work process in enhancing the corporate governance, they added.
The dignitaries distributed prizes to the winners of various competitions organized to mark the occasion. A skit by the children of PedagantyadaVisakhaVimalVidyalaya enthralled the audience.
Messages of President of India, Prime Minister of India and Central Vigilance Commissioner were read out on the occasion.
Earlier, Sri RK Bhatia, GM (Vigilance) briefed the audience about the activities undertaken during the Vigilance Awareness week. Sri VR BapaRao, DGM (Vigilance) proposed vote of thanks and Sri A Jaya Raju, AGM (Vigilance) welcomed the gathering and conducted the proceedings.
CISF Senior Commandant, Sri Digvijaysingh, Senior officers, representatives of SEA, unions, WIPS, SC&ST association, school children of Ukkunagaram schools and large number of employees participated.

Navy Week Activities Commence With PRATIBIMB-12 Painting Competition

Setting off the month-long activities comprising over nineteen events scheduled to culminate in the Navy Day celebrations on 04 Dec 12, the Fleet Maintenance Unit of the Eastern Naval Command organised ‘Pratibimb-12’, a Painting Competition for children from schools of Visakhapatnam today, 04 Nov 12, at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium,. The event was graced by Rear Admiral GS Pabby, VSM, Admiral Superintendant, Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam. Shri CRS Patnaik, Head of Department of Fine Arts, Andhra University, himself an eminent painter of international repute, was the Guest of Honour on the occasion.
Nearly 1100 children from 108 schools including Kendriya Vidyalayas, Municipal, Naval and Private schools took part in the Event that had the Naval community joining hands with the citizens of Visakhapatnam and their wards. The competition was held for children under three different categories of Sub-Junior, Junior and Senior Groups. Themes of ‘Visit to the Zoo’ and ‘Fun at Beach’ were given beforehand to the Sub-Junior Group. The themes for the other groups given included ‘Visakhapatnam Port/Harbour/Coast’ and ‘Wildlife Protection’ for the Juniors, and ‘Indian Naval Power for Peace and Prosperity’ and ‘Harnessing Marine Resources’ for the Seniors.
Children from Special Schools were also invited once again to take part in the Event. The 40 children that participated in this category competed in two groups of speech/hearing impaired, who were given the themes of ‘Peace/ Harmony/ Nature’ and the differently-abled that were free to paint on any topic of their choice. A panel of five eminent artists from the Naval community evaluated the paintings and short-listed best paintings in each category. Awards for the Winners will be presented on 16 Nov 12 onboard an Indian Naval Ship during the ‘Day at Sea’ program.

DGP inauguarates CRPF barracks

Mr. Dinesh Reddy, Director General of Police (DGP)- Andhra Pradesh inaugurated the Central Reserve Protection Force (CRPF) barracks constructed at Visalakshinagar on Saturday. It was constructed with an amount of Rs. 40 lakhs which comprises accommodation and seminar hall. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Reddy said, the situation in the state is under control and more police forces will be deployed to control the accidents on the National highway. Later, he reviewed the situation in the district. Ms. Swati Lakra, DIG- Visakha range, Mr. G. Srinivas, SP - rural, Mr. N. Kishore, Additional SP, Mr. G. Chandrababu, B. Seetharam, Mr. K. Rakesh Kumar, Mr. KG Rao and other crew of CRPF were present.

Make - up before pack up UPA-II will go in for early polls : BJP natl leader Venkayya

There were clear indications that UPA -II Government might go for early polls, announced Mr. M. Venkayya Naidu, national leader, Bharatiya Janata Party. Addressing the press conference here on Saturday in the city, he said that the shuffling in the Union ministry seems to be " Make-up before Pack-up". There allied parties were defered with Congress, as part of it Trinamul Congress already departed, the DMK, SP, BSP are ready to leave the tie-up, he mentioned. He predicted that the country might have mid term polls to LokSabha any time after February. The UPA Government had failed in all fronts and is heading towards Mid term polls. The change in portfolio of Central Minister Jaipal Reddy proves that the Manmohan Singh Government is safegaurding the interests of the corrupt people. He said that hard ships of the common people is increasing day by day in the UPA Government. He further added that the BJP was ready to face election any time. He demanded the State Government to restore the services of 108 in the State specially along the National highway. BJP leaders Mr. DV Subba Rao, former chairman, Bar Council of India, Dr. K. Haribabu and others present on the occasion.

Intl Telugu net convention held Unicode fonts released

Mr. K. Rosaiah, Governor Tamilnadu, released 16 unicode fonts in Telugu language on Friday. Addressing the inaugural session of Second International Telugu Internet Convention jointly organised by Siliconandhra and Department of Information, Government of Andhra Pradesh, he advised the Telugu speaking people to develop the Telugu language through internet. He inaugurated this three day convention at Gitam University. He said the language could be made more popular by using Internet as many nations have been doing across the world. He appealed to the people to make their children speak in Telugu wherever they were living so that the language could gain popularity. Mr. Kuchibhotla Anand, president, Siliconandhra, said that, three Telugu fonts were released at the first International Telugu Internet Conference ( 2011) conducted in California last year. Fonts for spell-check, synonyms, Telugu- English dictionary, explanatory dictionary and lexicon were available for the Telugu-speaking people through the Internet.
Mr. A. Chakrapani, Chairman, Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council, Mr. Ponnala Lakshmaiah, State Minister for IT, Mr. Mandali Bhudha Prasad, Chairman, Official Language, Dr. G. Subhramaniam, Vice Chancellor- Gitam, various scholars from Telugu language, IT and others present on the occasion.

Protest against Denikaina Ready

The Saptarushi Charitable Trust associated to the Brahmin Society warned the cine industry not to cross the limits in film making and especially crew of Denikaina Ready movie in which Brahmin community was degraded. Addressing the press conference on Friday, Mr. Yogi Prabhakarji, of Sourya Peetham condemned the release of the movie Denikaina Ready which has unfortunately stooped to the base level of humiliating Brahmin community in a poor light. In addition to that, the artist involved in it Mr. Vishnu, son of Mohan babu, and his security physically attacked on some of the brahmins who staged protest at his home recently. He futher added Brahmins, being one of the most dignified communities in India, would have probably forgiven them, if they had apologized for the mistake and deleted the derogatory scenes. The makers of this movie have resorted to cheap, vulgar, derogatory scenes and remarks on Brahmins, thinking they are weak and helpless. This is certainly not comedy as they want to show it. On the contrary it is highly tragic that educated, well known citizens of this country are behaving like brutes who are trying to earn money by defaming members of such a key community in India. Mr. Madhava Sharma, founder of the Saptarshi Charitable Trust, Mr. Medicherla Murthy, and others also spoke on the occasion.

TDP top leader Yerrannaidu dies in Road Accident

One of the top leaders in Telugu Desam Party, Mr. K. Yerrannaidu, died in a road accident near Ranasthalam village in the early hours Friday. It was happened when he was returning to his home town after attending a marriage function in Visakhapatnam. Leaders of all the political parties were shocked with this incident and paid tributes to him. Leaders including Mr. Chandrababu Naidu, Telugudesam party president, Mr. K. Chiranjeevi, Union Minister for Tourism, Mr. Ch. Ramachandraiah, Minister for Endowments, Mr. K. Jana Reddy, State minister, Mr. D. Manikyavara Prasad, Minister, Ms. N. Raja Kumari, MLC, Mr. Lagadapati Rajagopal, MP- Vijayawada, Mr. TG Venkatesh, State Minister, Mr. Dharmana Prasad Rao, former minister, Mr. Venkayya Naidu, senior leader Bharatiya Janata Party, Mr. Bandaru Dattatreya, Bharatiya Janata Party, Mr. P. Ashok Gajapati Raju, senior Telugudesam party leader, Ms. Kavita, chief Telangana Jana Jagruti, The mishap took place when a car, in which he was travelling, hit an oil tanker on the national highway. He was 55, a four-time MP who served as Union Minister for rural development from 1996 to 1998, is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter. The last rites will be performed at his native village Nimmada in Srikakulam district on Saturday.

Sri Late Alwar Das 82nd Birthday Celebrations

On the eve of 82nd birth celebrations of Late Sri S. Alwar Das, his statue was revealed and inaugurated at the premesis of A.S.Raja Womens College and S.S.V.P. V.M.C. Degree and P.G. College by State Shipping Minister Sri Ganta Srinivasa Rao. Chief Whip Dronamraju Srinivasa Rao, MLAs Sri p. Ramesh Babu, Sri M. Vijay Prasad, Sri T. Vijay Kumar, Sri Srinivasa Rao also attended the Celebrations.

RINL-VSP Celebrates Vigilance Awareness Week

RINL, the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, is celebrating “Vigilance Awareness Week” from October 29th to 3rd November, 2012. Every year, RINL is observingthe Weekwith an aim to create awareness among the employees to prevent corruption and to enhance corporate governance in a transparent way.
As part of the celebrations, a guest lecture on “Fraud risks in current environment” by Sri Sandeep Baldava, Partner & Leader (South), Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services, M/s Ernest & Young (P) Ltd, was organized at T&D Centre auditorium today.
Speaking on the occasion, Sri Sandeep underlined the need for vigilance as frauds are committed systematically by using the latest computer technology.
He said that one should be very careful what information we are sharing with others and this is leading to serious frauds in the country. Sri Sandeep gave several interesting examples and case studies how frauds were committed by individuals and organizations amassing thousands of crores of rupees in the current environment. He covered the topics on current fraud & corruption risk environment in India, transparency in public procurement, how organizations lose 5-6% of their revenues towards frauds/corruption, fraud thrives in times of economic uncertainty etc. Sri Sandeep mentioned that level and intensity of frauds have increased over the last three years and added that fraud not only causes financial loss to the organization but also affects brand perception and reputation. He said in a case study it was found that 74% of the respondents strongly perceive IT fraud as a serious risk for the organization.
Earlier, Sri B Siddhartha Kumar, IFS, Chief Vigilance Officer, RINL welcomed the gathering and introduced the speaker to the audience.
Sri Umesh Chandra, Director (Operations), Sri NS Rao, Director (Projects), senior officers and cross section of employees of RINL attended in large number.

CP inaugurates book exhibition

Mr. J. Purnachandra Rao, Commissioner of Police, a book lover inaugurated the 13th Visalandhra Book exhibition at Turner's Choultry on Thursday. Speaking on the occasion, he said that he was inspired by the writings of Sri Sri especially with Maha Prasthanam. Book reading no doubt would help increase thinking and grasping capacity,” felt, he mentioned. He said he used to read Swami Vivekananda’s teachings and Chandamama Telugu monthly frequently adding that he likes the pictures drawn by Chitra and Sankar which remained as imprints. Book reading will provide good information, could help bail them out from stress and strain. Mr. Chalasani Raghavendra Rao, Director of Visakhapatnam Co-operative Bank said that the exhibition would last till November 25 and literary meets and debates were being organised during the period. He said books for all ages were displayed to benefit the visitors. Among others, former MLA Manam Anjaneyulu, writer Ramatheer tha, former special correspondent of an English daily B Prabhakara Sarma, exhibition advisor Varma and Visalandhra Book House manager Raju were also present.

AP Formation Day held 100-day plan book released

Mr. Dronamraju Srinivas, Government whip released the 100 day plan book for the development of the district on the occasion of the Formation Day of Andhra Pradesh State on Thursday. Addressing the gathering on the occasion, Mr. Srinivas recalled the efforts put by the great leaders like Amarajeevi Potti Sriramulu to get United Andhra Pradesh, after observing fast unto death. Mr. V Seshadri, District Collector unfurled the national flag and later garlanded the statue of Potti Sriramulu. He presented awards to the school children. Speaking on the occasion, the Collector listed out the welfare works and schemes which were being implemented in the district. RINL, Visakhapatnam Steel Plant also celebrated the day. YR Reddy, Director (Personnel) RINL-VSP garlanded the statue of ‘Telugu Thalli’ situated at KBR Junction, in Ukkunagaram. Representatives of Steel Executive Association, Leaders of Trade Unions, SC & ST Association, Senior officials, large number of employees and school children also attended the function. Cultural sessions were presented by children of various schools with a concept of freedom fight movement and Sri Krishnadevaraya getups on the occasion. Mr. J Purnachandra Rao, Commissioner of Police, Mr. Praveen Kumar, Joint Collector, and other government officials were present on the occasion.

World Telugu Internet meet on Nov 2

The Department of Information Technology and Silicon Andhra Associations are jointly conducting the 2nd International Telugu Internet Convention from November 2 at Gitam University, announced Prof. G Subrahmanyam, Vice-Chancellor of Gitam University. Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, he said Mr. K. Rosaiah, Governor Tamilnadu, will inaugurate the session. During the sessions, they would be releasing Telugu dictionary, book of synonyms, and Unicode fonts on the occasion. To create awareness among the Telugu netizens throughout the globe, this session will bring more friendly user tools, he mentioned. Around 400 delegates would be attending the convention. Interested persons could also download Telugu Unicode fonts free of cost by visiting the website www.teluguvijayam.org. The first session held at California, US, on September 27, 2011, in which more than 500 delegates participated. The main theme of the conference would be ‘Development of Telugu in Internet age’. The delegates would discuss ways and means to simplify Telugu on computers, which could be useful for the media and the writers using computers extensively. Mr. Y. Lakshmi Prasad, chairman of AP Hindi Academy and Mr. Pothuraju, Registrar were also present.

Dr.CS Mangamma garu received Life Time Achievement award from Rotary Club

Sri Thynala Vijaykumar, MLA, North, Vizag presented Rotary Club of WALTAIR Life achievement award to renowned Doctor Dr.CS Mangamma garu on 31st October, 2012. The award was presented to her for her outstanding services with a service motto to the society.
By the inspiration of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Saibaba vaaru, Dr Mangamma garu took only Rs.5 per patient as consultation fees for over 30 years. She is also the 1st lady doctor to start a nursing home at Vizag.
Rotarian Usharani Atluri, President, Rotary Club of Waltair and others were present on the occassion.

GVMC Commissioner held inspections in Pendurthi and Yellapuvanipalem

Commissioner suspended Assistant P.D. of Women Welfare, Pendurthi Manadal, for not releasing of loans that are sanctioned to the Self Help Groups situated in 57th ward. Later GVMC Commissioner inspected Call Centre (GVMC) and issued a charge memo on A.E. for false reporting. On 9th October 2012, Mr. Sanyasi Rao of 4th Ward, called Call Centre and reported of non-functioning of two street lights in area. Later the issue was brought to the notice of concerned A.E. After that, A.E, without rectifying the problem, closed the complaint mentioning it as resolved on 19th October 2012. The issue came into limelight when the local news papers carried it in their publishings. GVMC Commissioner responded to it and took action against the A.E. after verifying all the details. He held a thorough inspection of all the facilities in Pendurthi and Bhimili Mandals along with local MLAs (Sri P. Rambabu and Sri M. Srinivasa Rao)

Visalandhra Book Fair

Visalandhra Book House will organise 13th annual book exhibition at Turner’s Choultry from November 1, the State Formation Day, said Mr. PA Raju, Manager Visalandhra Book House. Addressing the press conference at the venue on Wednesday, he said, that a grand display of 7,000 books authored by great writers would be on display. Mr. J. Purnachandra Rao, Commissioner of Police would inaugurate the exhibition. He said 11 literary meets would be organised during the exhibition. A discount of 10 per cent would be offered, a special coupon would be given to those who make over Rs. 500 purchases every time. For the first time, a lucky dip would be organised for daily visitors to whom a coupon would be given. The winners of this category would be given first and second prizes at the valedictory function. This exhibition will be continued till Nov 25, he added.