Kadapa, May 16: The police on Friday raided several places in Proddutur, arrested 12 key persons engaged in cricket betting and seized Rs 11.70 lakh from them, besides 13 cellphones and 3 television sets.

Disclosing this at a press conference here on Friday, the superintendent of police (SP), Mr M. M. Bhagavath, said that ever since he had taken charge as SP, several complaints about cricket betting had drawn his attention and the same was rampant in Proddutur. He said that a special committee had been constituted with the deputy superintendent of police, Mr S.M. Basha, as its head, to deal effectively with gambling.

The committee was engaged in tracking kingpins of gambling and could arrest 12 key persons in this regard. The SP expressed surprise at such a large seizure of cash and added that he had not seen this even when he was in Hyderabad.

He said that records of 600 sheets of telephone calls were confiscated from them. The incoming calls tracked, suggested that they were getting hundreds of calls from Hyderabad, Rajampet, Pulivendula, and Nandimandal. He said that Laddu of Chennai was identified as the kingpin for promotion of gambling.

Among those arrested were Bhoomi Reddy, Nagi Reddy, Giridhar Reddy, Qureshi, Nazeer Ahmed, Dastagiripeta Sheikh, Mo-hammed Ghouse, Bachuri Saheb, Karimullah, Shiva, Bhoomi Reddy, Raghunath Reddy, Moola Narsimhulu, Chinnamuniswamy, Munn-awar and Sudhir. The SP said that cheating cases were being registered against the accused, apart from sections under gambling.  The circle-inspectors, Messrs Sreenivasulu Reddy, Venugopal, Shareef and S.V.Bhaskar Reddy, were part of the special team constituted by the SP to curb betting.

Anantapur, May 16: Narayana Yadav, 32, the Congress leader and follower of Maddilacheruvu Suryanarayana Reddy, the prime accused in the Paritala Ravindra murder case, was hacked to death by unidentified persons at Vidyaranyanagar here on Friday night.  Narayana Yadav, who had links with faction leaders, had been living in Lakshminagar in Anantapur for the last one year.

Five unidentified persons attacked him with hunting sickles while he was sitting on his two-wheeler at Kalyandurg Bypass Road. Narayana Yadav fled to Vidyaranyanagar after leaving his two-wheeler.  The accused followed him and hacked him to death. Narayana Yadav was accused in one or two cases and was staying in Anantapur due to threats to his life.

It is learnt that he came out of his house saying that he would return after giving Rs 200 to his friend. The attackers fled from the scene and are at large.  The officer-on-special duty, Mr Vijayakumar, the circle-inspector, Mr Vijay Kumar, and the sub-inspector, Mr Prasad Reddy, visited the incident site.

Nellore, May. 16: The Nellore Municipal Corporation (NMC) is in a limbo because of the feud between Congress corporators and the mayor. While the ruling party members are busy settling scores with the mayor and the latter is trying to protect her position, the administration in the fund-starved civic body has ground to a halt.

A senior official said that even the LIC policies of all the employees had lapsed because the civic body had failed to pay the premium even after deducting them from their salaries. Similarly, employee’s contributions pertaining to provident fund and income tax have not been paid for a long time even though deductions have been made.

Further, retirement benefits have not been given to about 150-odd employees who have retired during the last five years.  Officials had a tough time recently when income tax department seized one of the bank accounts of the corporation and recovered Rs 34 lakh out of Rs 54 lakh due to the department towards employee’s contribution.

"We have managed to release the account after paying the balance of Rs 20 lakh with great difficulty," said the official.  There are about 200 cases against the civic body in different courts including the AP High Court and administrative tribunal. This is one of the reasons for the commissioner’s post lying vacant for a long time since no top official was interested in taking the reins of the administration in Nellore and facing the wrath of the courts.

"Though we are not responsible for the imbroglio in the civic body, we are answerable to the courts because of our designation," said the official. The new commissioner, Mr T.S.R. Anjaneyulu, has admitted that the situation in the corporation was alarming but was optimistic of solving the problems with the cooperation of all concerned.

Speaking to this newspaper on Friday, commissioner underlined the need to improve the tax collection to place the corporation back on rails.  He said that he had paid Rs 25,000 each to the retired employees and cleared salary arrears, which have been pending for the last six months as a first step.

"We have also paid Rs 59 lakh towards provident fund and are trying to pool money to pay the balance of Rs 65 lakh," he said. "We also owe Rs 6 crore to contractors who have executed works long back."

Chittoor, May 16: Minister for medical education and health insurance, Ms Galla Arunakumari, pulled up Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (Svims) and Narayana General Hospital for lapses in providing treatment to the ailing under the Rajiv Arogyasri scheme.

Taking part in a review of the scheme at Chittoor on Friday, the minister threatened to send patients to hospitals located in the neighboring states for treatment if these hospitals failed to mend their ways.

Expressing concern over the attitude of some hospitals involved in the scheme, Ms Arunakumari said she was embarrassed when the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, pointed out that only a few people were benefited through the scheme in Chittoor district.

She took objection to the presence of some public relations officers of corporate hospitals in the review instead of responsible aut-horities. She openly expre-ssed her displeasure at Svims and Narayana Hospital authorities.

Mr A Babu, the CEO of the scheme, said more than 5.50 lakh patients had been screened under the Arogyasri scheme and 50,000 identified for surgeries during the last one year.

He said they had carried out surgeries for 30,000 ailing out of 50,000. "We have selected 183 hospitals incl-uding corporate hospitals in the state after examining the facilities out of the 400 hospitals who came forward to provide treatment. We have blacklisted 13 hospitals following several complaints against them," Mr Babu said.

Rajahmundry, May 16: East and West Godavari districts fared very badly in the Secondary School Certificate examinations held recently as the former slipped to the 11th position from the sixth, and the latter to the fourth from the consecutive three years' first position in state level rankings.

Paucity of nearly 30 per cent staff, including school heads and assistants, lack of commitment and orientation on the part of teachers in educating students and overdependence upon vidya volunteers are some of the important reasons attributed for the poor performance of students in the Class X examinations.

East Godavari stood in the sixth position in the SSC examinations for the academic year 2006-07 and for 2007-08, it slipped to the 11th position in the state. Nearly 58,531 students appeared for the Class X examinations and the pass percentage was registered at 77.4. Out of 717 government schools in the district, nearly 400 posts of school assistants and 200 posts of school heads are vacant at present.

School authorities appointed 4,469 vidya volunteers to overcome the shortage of teachers and heads. Lack of regular teachers and schools heads has had its impact upon the quality of teaching in the schools. The district education authorities maintain that some schools having full strength also fared poorly in the examinations.

This trend indicates that a section of teachers are non-committal in providing quality education to help students fare well in their SSC examinations. Students were given study material, special classes were arra-nged and a nutritious diet was also supplied to help students prepare well for the examinations and perform well.

East Godavari district education officer, Ms P. Parvathi said, "Though the overall pass percentage has gone up to 2.4 per cent, we slipped to the 11th position this time. We are analysing the lapses and working out a strategy to improve the performance of students for the ensuing academic year."

West Godavari, which secured the first rank in SSC pass percentage for three consecutive years, slipped to the fourth position this time. Out of 42,630 students who appeared, only 35,827 cleared their examination, registering 84 per cent pas-ses. Nearly 94 posts of sch-ool head posts are vacant in the district and these sch-ools are run by incharges. The district also has 30 per cent shortage of teaching staff, including school assi-stants. West Godavari district education officer, Mr G. Banerjee said, "We are expecting recruitment of teachers to overcome the shortage. We will also work out a strategy to improve our pass percentage in the next academic year."

Rajahmundry, May 16: The Anti-Corruption Bur-eau offiials trapped Integrated Child Development Scheme project officer, Ms M. Varalakshmi, while she was accepting a bribe of Rs 9,000 from a travel agent at her office at Kapileswarapuram in East Godavari district on Friday.

According to Anti-Corruption Bureau sources, the ICDS officer was supposed to clear travel bills worth Rs 26,000 for February and March at Rs 13,000 each a month.  Though the vehicle contract was in the name of contractor, G. Ratna Rani, her travel agent, Koppisetti Srinivasa Rao approached the officer to clear the bills.

The officer demanded Rs 10,000 as bribe.  Rao lodged a complaint with the ACB office and based on the directions of the officials, he settled the deal for Rs 9,000.  The ACB officials led by deputy superintendent of police, Mr G.S.N. Murthy laid the trap and caught the officer red-handed.  She would be produced before the Anti-Corruption Bureau special court in Vijayawada on Saturday, the deputy superintendent of police said.

Bhainsa (Adilabad)\ Nizamabad, May 16: The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, said Telangana issue would be solved only by the Congress and it was working on the solution to the issue. He reiterated that the issue was before the AICC chief, Mrs Sonia Gandhi.

Dr Reddy said separate Telangna state would not be achieved by the TRS which was just confined to four Assembly and four Lok Sabha seats. He called upon the people to confront the sincerity of the TRS leaders on the Telangana issue whenever they come seeking votes.

Addressing a public meeting in Bhainsa and Nirmal in Adilabad district on Friday as part of election campaign, the Chief Minister asked whether the TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao would have floated the the party if he was given Cabinet post in 1999.

He said that Mr Chandrasekha Rao set up the TRS just because he was denied ministry by the then chief minister Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu.

Dr Reddy promised to irrigate 50,000 acre of lands each in Mudhole and Nirmal segments from Pranahitha and Chevella lift irrigation through SRSP high level canal within four years at an estimated cost of Rs 1,100 crore.

He said admissions will be commenced from July, 2008 to the newly sanctioned medical college in Adilabad and added that establishment of medical college in the backward district was made possible only by the Congress government.

Earlier, the Chief Minister came down heavily on the TD and the TRS in his second day campaign in the Nizamabad district. While continuing his electioneering in Yellareddy and Dichpally Assembly constituencies on Friday, he called upon the voters to confront both the TD and the TRS over their failures in serving the people of the region.

PCC president and Nizamabad MLA D. Srinivas reiterated that the Congress party is strongly in favor of Telangana state. He criticised that the TRS chief had habituated to earn money as transport minister in erstwhile TD government. Losing the financial sources after being given deputy Speaker post, he had floated the TRS, Mr Srinivas said.

Congress nominees of Yellareddy and Dichpally B. Janardhan Goud, Akula Lalitha, minister for power and minority welfare Mohammad Ali Shabbir, MP Madhu Goud Yashki and others took part in the campaign.

Warangal, May 16: The byelection campaign scene in the district is getting hotter by the day. With all the top three leaders, the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, the Telugu Desam (TD) president, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, and the TRS president, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, campaigning for their respective parties in the district, the byelection campaign is just reaching the peak.

Considering the byelections as dress rehearsals for the next general elections, top leaders are toiling under the scorching sun.  Treating the bypoll as virtual referendum on his government’s performance in the last four years, the Chief Minister is embarking on a five-day tour schedule to the district in phases.

Dr Reddy will be launching his campaign from Parkal, where Mr Chandrasekhar Rao too launched his party’s campaign, on May 19 and he will make a night halt at the town and continue his tour the next day in Parkal, Shayampet, Narsampet, Wardhannapet and city constituencies.  After that, Dr Reddy will tour the district again in two more rounds on May 25 and 26 and will tour the Cherial, Jangaon, Station Ghanpur, Mahabubabad and Dornakal constituencies.

Meanwhile, Mr Naidu has already completed first round of campaigning in the district for two days.  He began his second round of campaigning in the district on Friday at Cherial, where he sought the votes for the alliance party, CPI(M)’s nominee Mr A. Malla Reddy and his party’s nominee for Lok Sabha, Mr B. Venkateshwarlu.  Mr Naidu will extensively travel in Hanamkonda Lok Sabha constituency jurisdiction on Saturday too.

Vijayawada, May 16: The implementation of Rs 2-a-kg rice scheme in the city is running into rough weather as the dealers’ network is not in the right place with a number of vacancies not being filled even after taking up the prestigious scheme.  The total number of ration shops in the city is 242 out of which 33 dealers were suspended two months ago.

The departments of civil supplies and vigilance had suspended nine dealers when they conducted raids. Investigation is going on against all the 42 dealers and their quota of rice was given to other dealers.  As a result, the 42 dealers who have been given extra quota are unable to do justice to both the shops.

The distribution of essential commodities and rice in particular has been affected badly in some of the ration shops. The card holders are making queues to get the subsidised rice and spending hours in the summer heat.  Some negligent dealers are not properly opening their shops and selling the rice in the black market.

Recently, a dealer was caught while selling rice to millers and was suspended. The officials shifted the quota to another shop. But the second shop dealer who was unable to manitain both the shops left it for the clerk of the suspended dealer. The clerk was also caught committing the same mistake.  Most of the dealers are selling rice in the black market for Rs 10 per kg. The rice is mainly sold to the mills where they mix it up with superior quality rice.

The millers were buying the goods directly from the stock points with an understanding with the departmental staff.  Though the police and vigilance officials are booking cases on erring dealers the civil supplies department is not taking any serious action against them.

Most of the dealers are getting re allotments of the ration shops. On many occasions, card holders are finding the locked shops and were returning with empty hands. Usually, some dealers do not maintain particular timings to distribute the rice. One has to make two or three visits to get the rice.

Guntur, May 16: The district collector, Mr B. Venkatesam, and the superintendent of police, Mr Mahesh Chandra Laddha, on Friday inspected the government general hospital to commence the construction work of the millennium block which will be build at a cost of Rs 10 crore.

The two officials held discussions with the hospital superintendent, Dr Phanibhushan, and other engineering staff. The government sanctioned a matching grant of Rs 4.75 crore for the construction of the millennium block while an NRI, Mr Podili Prasad, has already donated Rs 5 crore for it. All kinds of super-specialty services will be arranged in the proposed block for the patients.

The existing buildings are insufficient to cater to the needs of the patients who come from the four coastal districts.  Speaking on the occasion, the collector said that ground-plus-two-floor buil-ding will be constructed in the first phase. A mega foundation will be laid for the millennium block to add four more storeys.

Dr Phanibhushan expl-ained the proposed millennium block plan to the collector and the SP. They discussed the dismantling of some old existing blocks like leprosy ward and stores building.  The collector and the SP visited the orthopedic ward and operation theatre and verified the quality of rice, sambar, phulkas, boiled egg and butter milk being served to the patients.

Later, speaking to reporters, the collector said the inspection was made to start the millennium building construction work. Mr Laddha said many security lapses were identified in the hospital. He said that surveillance cameras will be installed in the hospital within one week to keep close watch on the movement of visitors in the hospital premises.  Mr Laddha said that a separate room will be provided with cameras, television sets and modern equipment in two weeks.

Visakhapatnam, May 16: The district telecom department of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is establishing video conference facility from the city to Paderu in the Agency area to facilitate telemedicine to the Agency areas.

The link would be established between the Government Regional Eye Hospital to primary health centre (PHC) in Paderu.  The project would be completed in a month’s time, said the BSNL general manager, Mr P. Nagarju. He said this would be extended to Yelamanchili and later to all the PHCs in the district in a phased manner.

Regarding wireless Internet facility, he said 16 centres including one in Anandapuram mandal on the outskirts of the city would be established shortly.  Giving details on the performance during the last year, Mr Nagaraju said the customer base has increased by 20,000 in the district during the last financial year along with the performance. The broad band connections went up from 5,430 connections to 14,096 by end of March 2008 and there was a waiting list of 1,186 which would be cleared shortly. About 24 cellular and 20 WLL towers were established during the last financial year and in April this year five WLL towers-four in the rural areas and one in the city were set up.

Depsite drop in the landline connections, the market share of the BSNL has increased from 3.7 per cent to 7.01 per cent by end of last financial year, Mr Nagaraju said. "There were 11,000 cellular connections in 2003 and went up to 26,391 by end of March 2008," Mr Nagaraju said.

In order to motivate the customers insurance coverage from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh was being offered to the subscribers depending on the nature of the connection. The BSNL has tied up with Bajaj Alliance, he said. Better service was being provided to the custo-mers by way of improving the grievances mechanism by establishing service and call centres, he said.

Visakhapatnam, May 16: Maoists shot dead two persons branding them as police informers in Visakhapatnam district on Friday. Maoists killed a tribal, Samireddy Pentaiah, 30, in Pulusumamidi village under G. Madugula.  Claiming the killing, the Maoists left a letter at the spot in which they said that Pentaiah helped the police at the Ammidelu encounter which took place last year.

Pentaiah was working as a cleaner of a jeep and is survived by his wife.  In a press release, the deputy superintendent of police (DSP) of Paderu Stalin said that Pentaiah was not a police informer as being alleged and he was eking out his living by working as a cleaner.

He was the sole earning member of his family. It was unfortunate that the Maoists killed him, the DSP said.  In a separate incident, the Maoists killed Rajendra Sahu of Gotlabhadra village of Gunupur Sam-iti in Orissa. His body was found about 10 km from Battili village of Kotturu mandal. In a letter left behind, the Maoists stated that Rajendra Sahu’s father, Narasimha Sahu was also killed by them for being an informer.