Men shy away from FP surgery fearing losing ‘manhood’

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Oct 31, 2012: Despite government offering incentives and encouraging men to undergo sterilization surgery as part of Family Planning (FP) programme very few are taking up vasectomy in Vizag fearing losing ‘manhood’.

Statistics available at the medical and health department show that of the total FP operations done since 2009, vasectomy cases are too little throwing light that women alone are taking up the responsibility of keeping their families ‘small’ in Vizag.

It is the myth that man’s sexual potency may decrease after the vasectomy, is said to be preventing men to undergo the surgery. While vasectomy is a minor surgery involving almost no risk, tubectomy surgery for women, is a major operation involving elaborate preparation and lengthy hospitalisation. 

Of the 25, 212 FP operations in 2009-10, in the district the vasectomy surgeries are only 1,496. In 2010-11, the total FP cases are 21,750 and of them  less than 3 percent are vasectomies and in  2011-12 the total operations are 21,029 and there was a slight increase of 4 percent in vasectomy surgeries and from April to September this year-2012-a  total 7,993 operations were performed.

Interestingly the little raise in vasectomy surgeries though much less than the tubectomy cases in 2010-11, 2011-12 is due to the tribal men, who  are coming forward to undergo minor surgery due to the incentives offered by the government.

“We try our best to dispel the myths associated with the aftermath of vasectomy. Despite many awareness programmes men still prefer women to undergo tubectomy. But, this is changing in tribal areas due to varied reasons,” additional district medical and health officer (ADM&HO), Syamala Devi told this correspondent.

Government offers Rs 1,100 as incentive to men for undergoing vasectomy and Rs 600 to women for tubectomy. Statistics show that even money is not driving men to undergo FP surgery.  “Vasectomy doesn't make a man impotent or affect sperm count. Men can start working after a few days. These surgeries are done under local anaesthesia and are very safe,” said Dr Kutikuppala Surya Rao, internationally renowned researcher in HIV/AIDS.

SAMAIKYANDHRA ACTIVISTS' RED OVER KCR VISIT

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Oct 31, 2012: TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao might have not yet even decided yet on the invite extended by PCC chief Botsa Satyanayarana to attend his daughter’s marriage in Viziangaram on November 2, but resistance has already started brewing among the united AP protagonists.

Activists of Samaikyandhra JAC are gearing up to register their protest in case the TRS chief visits Vizianagaram to attend the wedding. They plan a series of protests, starting on Wednesday till the wedding day against the visit of the man who had been spearheading the demand for separate T-state.

The activists have already vowed to stop Mr Rao from entering North Andhra at Vizag itself. “He had earlier raised slogans like “Telangana wale jaago, Andhra wale bhaago” hurting the sentiments of Andhra settlers in Hyderabad. There were many other such slogans targeting Andhra people.

He should first apologise for the derogatory remarks, then only he would be allowed in Vizianagaram,” Samaikyandhra political JAC convener J.T. Rama Rao said.

Interestingly, there are many unsubstantiated reports, vehemently denied by Mr Rao’s family, that his ancestors originally hailed from Vizianagaram district. Reports say that the remains of a house that belonged to the TRS chief ’s forefathers are still lying in Buddipet village under Pedabogili panchayat of Sitanagaram mandal.

The reports say that Mr Rao’s grandfather Venkatrao and his great-grandfather Rama Rao lived in Buddipet.

The reports say the Kalwakuntla family migrated to Telangana due to drought conditions at the turn of the 18th century.

MURDER IN US: Raghu’s kin pin hope on TV footage to save him

By SNV Sudhir 

Visakhapatnam, Oct 29: Family members of Raghu Yandamuri, who was arrested on  charges of murdering 10month old Saanvi Venna and her grandmother in the US, are pinning hopes on a video footage of a local news channel 6abc.com in the US in which the accused said ‘am not the one’ while responding to a query by reporters on October 26.

They want a free and fair probe, covering all the aspects and angles which led to the double murder. Family members are of the opinion that there must be some ‘external’ force that acted on him, forcing him to accept the crime. 

With the given unblemished character and track record of Raghu, his family members are now planning to approach Indian embassy through local officials to talk to him directly to verify the facts.

“Of all the video clippings it is in this footage we noticed that answering a query by reporters before getting into vehicle at the FBI office he (Raghu) said ‘am not the one’. Why would he say so when he had confessed of committing the crime with the FBI,” questions Raghu’s brother, Satish Kumar Yandamuri, while speaking to this correspondent.

Family members and friends want to first talk to Raghu and sought permission from the US authorities. Satish added that even if there were some financial problems they could have been solved. For this Raghu would not have attempted a kidnap to demand ransom and resort to killings, he said.

“With this footage and evidences of previous track record of Raghu’s character, we are approaching local authorities and Indian embassy for a free and fair trail. We strongly feel that he might have accepted the crime coming under pressure by another person who also knew about this plot to kidnap for ransom,” said wife of Raghu’s brother, Jyothy. 

MURDER IN U.S. Killer’ s mom wants to contact son

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Oct 29, 2012: The grief-stricken mother of software engineer Raghunandan Yandamuri, who has been arrested for the murder of 10-month-old Saanvi Venna and the baby’s grandmother Satyavatamma, in the US on October 22, is shattered, and cannot believe that her son committed such a terrible crime.Yandamuri Padmavthi wants the authorities to permit her to talk to her son.
“After the news about Saanvi’s kidnapping and death and the grandmother’s murder broke, Raghu spoke to me twice. Raghu said he was helping the parents to find Saanvi. Then I came to know through the media that he has confessed to the crime,” Padmavathi said. “If he has really done this, he should be punished. But I want to talk to him once” Padmavathi said.
Padmavathi's husband, who was a constable with the Greyhounds, died in 1997. Since then, she has been working as a junior assistant at the district police office. Raghunandan studied in Visakhapatnam, did his B.Tech from Chilakuripeta in Guntur district and went to the US in 2007 to do an MS.
When she heard that her son was the killer, Padmavathi fell unconscious. “I struggled to bring up my kids. Raghu was intelligent.
He never harmed anyone and used to help poor students,” Padmavathi said.
She says her son never told her about financial problems. “We would have helped him if he had financial problems,” said Raghunandan’s elder brother Satish, who works for an IT company in Hyderabad.
Satish rushed to Visakhapatnam to take care of his mother as soon as news of his brother’s criminal act broke.
Others who knew Raghunandan find it equally hard to believe he could have committed the crimes.Relatives also rubbished media reports that Raghunandan was in love with Saanvi's mother Cenchu Lata and wanted to marry her. Raghu married Komali, his classmate, in April after a long courtship.
Meanwhile, the Indian community and Telugu Associations in the United States expressed shock over the twin murder of toddler Saanvi Venna and her grandmother Satyavathi and couldn’t digest the fact that the killer hailed from the community. “It is a very tragic incident. No one ever thought would happen in Indian community,” Budhavarapu, of the Telugu Association said.

Tollywood shift: Vizag, the new hotspot for film studios

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Oct 23, 2012: One man’s loss is another man’s gain. With frequent bandhs, strikes and protests due to the Telangana agitation in and around Hyderabad, many producers, directors and film personalities are opting for setting up film studios in Vizag.

Star producer and movie mogul Ramanaidu has opened his studios on Beach Road on a hilltop in the100 acres of land allotted by the state government. The re are also reports that the entire Telugu film industry, which is now spread across Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts, will very soon shift to peace loving Vizag.

Next in line is said to be megastar and Rajya Sabha member Chiranjeevi’s worldclass studio on Beach Road. Land acquisition for Chiranjeevi’s studio has begun and the entire process has been kept under wraps.

“Several film personalities are finding it difficult to set up studios in Hyderabad for various reasons. For them, Vizag offers a perfect solution with great locations, natural scenic beauty and many other attractions,” ports and infrastructure minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao said.

He also added that there are many applications pending with the government seeking permission to build studios in Vizag. Construction of Chiranjeevi’s studio is expected to begin next year and will be completed within three years. The actor turned politician had already roped in international repute engineers to design the studios to make it a landmark in the city of destiny.

Nagarjuna, Balakrishna, Muralimohan, Rajamouli, Puri Jagannadh, Ramana Gogula, R.P. Patnaik, comedians Ali and M.S. Narayana have acquired huge properties in Vizag to set up studios. The favourite spots for them are Bheemili, Sagar Nagar, Kapuluppada, Rushikonda.

Centre, AP spar over Vizag bauxite mining

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Oct 22, 2012 : The Centre and the state are on the warpath again with over the proposed bauxite mining in Vizag agency.The AP Mineral Development Corp. (APMDC) contends its mining licences are in line with the Supreme Court’s Samata ruling that state-owned agencies can operate in scheduled areas. The APMDC is said
to have submitted a report on the matter recently.The stance is in stark contrast to the Union tribal welfare ministry directive that the Alienation of Land Transfer Regulation (ALTR) bars non-tribal people from buying land, or even getting it on lease, in scheduled areas.
Slamming the state government last Saturday for issuing the mining licences, Union tribal welfare minis
ter Kishore Chandra Deo said the state would have to face the consequences if his directives, issued under powers vested with him by the Constitution, are ignored and the licenses are not cancelled.A committee appo-inted by the environment ministry to study various aspects of proposed bauxite mining in Vizag agency had submitted its report in May.
The panel recommended that under the Forest Conservation Act, a gram sabha or panchayat located within a 10-km radius of mining areas should be consulted, as per the Panchayat Act 1996, before licences are cleared.But in reply to an RTI query, the APMDC had said that no such consent is required from the gram sabha for mining of major minerals like bauxite.

Crackdown on ganja peddlers

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Sep 21, 2012: District police finally found a way to curtail ganja smuggling by investigating the lavish lifestyle of local ganja drug peddlers, to which they adapt overnight from the easy money made.

In the last 6 months, Narsipatnam division police alone seized around 6,000 kg of ganja and for the first time in the state, booked a local peddler under 68 (F) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act), which entitles police to seize the property acqui-red with the money earned by doing the offence.

Though police arrested many under the NDPS Act earlier, it did not yield result as those arrested were coming out of jail after some time and continuing smuggling ganja.

Recently police were astonished to find Rs.1.15 lakh in cash, 15 tolas of gold purchased very recently and documents related to the purchase of two acres at Rs.9 lakh per acre when they raided the residence of L. Thrinadh, who works as a petty auto driver in Benna Bupalapatnam in Rolugunta mandal.

“For the first time we have used this Section of NDPS and the seized property will be sent to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). We were surprised to see such a lavish lifestyle of a petty auto driver. He confessed to have peddled ganja,” Narsipat-nam ASP Tafseer Iqbal told this correspondent.

As smugglers from Tamil Nadu and Kerala have changed their modus operandi by engaging locals to transport ganja, 80 per cent of the households in a couple of villages in Rolungunta mandal have high end facilities, along with split ACs, most having earned money in ganja peddling.

“For an overnight consignment of transporting 100 kgs ganja, they earn around Rs.3 lakh. They earn this amount in just one consignment,” said the ASP. Interestingly the arrested auto driver flew several times to Chennai and Mumbai, the major hubs for the ganja trade. Police have also prepared a list of around 40 persons to crack down upon and seize properties.

You go to toilet daily, says Jairam

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Oct 8, 2012: Coming under attack from the BJP and Hindutva gro-ups, Union rural development minister Jairam Ra-mesh reiterated his rema-rks on toilets and temples and went a step further.

Answering a query at Paderu, near Visakhapa-tnam, on Sunday, Mr Ramesh said, “Toilets are important for any person after getting up early in the morning.” The minister who is pushing his mission to improve sanitation in the country, had earlier said in Wardha, Maharas-htra, that India has more temples than toilets.

“Even now 60 per cent of the people in this country do not have access to toilets,” Mr Ramesh said.

On the demand by some groups that he apologise for his remarks, the minister said, “The Opposition doesn’t have any issue right now, hence they are making it an issue.”

Mr Ramesh was in Paderu to take part in a programme organised by an NGO in the Hukumpeta Agency mandal.

‘He tried to burn me’

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Oct 6, 2012: Tired of being under her mother’s “control” and to escape the alleged “harassment” by her uncle, 19-year-old actor Divya ran away from home on Tuesday.

Divya shot to fame with her role in a low-budget film Oka Romantic Crime Katha. She is now starring as the lead in Pranayam, another low budget movie directed by Vinay Prakash.

“I can’t tolerate my uncle Raju, who is very close to my mother. He even threatened to burn me with acid for not listening to him. My mother never supported me and told me to obey him,” claimed the young actor.

Divya said Raju would always accompany her, even when she spoke with or went out with friends.

“I stayed on a railway platform without food or water,” said Divya who now approached a TV channel seeking help.

Divya’s mother Lokeswari, said, “We are concerned about her career as she is just a teenager. We only wanted to ensure that she is away from any ‘outside’ attractions. We want her back.”

PM Palem Inspector K. Venkat Rao said that the police has not received any formal complaint from Divya.But the cops did get Divya admitted in a hospital.

“Divya is suffering from depression. It will take at least two days for her to recover,” said Dr C.M.A. Zaheer Ahmed of the A.N. Beach hospital.

BHPV-BHEL merger awaiting Cabinet nod

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Oct 4, 2012: The much awaited merger of Bharat Heavy Plate and Vessels Ltd (BHPV) with BHEL is making the former firm’s employees restless as its fate hangs in balance at the PMO’s door.

It is learnt that the said merger is likely to get delayed by six months as it requires a Union Cabinet's approval.

The merger, however, has been recently approved by the BHEL Board which is scouting for a legal firm to facilitate the merger. The formal procedures for the merger have been completed and the file has been forwarded to the Prime Minister’s Office.

The BHPV-BHEL merger has been due ever since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced it in 2008.

Despite the announcement that BHPV would be completely merged with BHEL, the former was made only a subsidiary in May, 2008. Since then, BHPV’s trade unions and local representatives have been pressing for merger.

“It may take at least five months for Union Cabinet’s nod,” said a person close to the development.

Also, workers are skeptical that the merger will happen anytime soon. “Union ministers have been telling us that it will happen soon. But, nothing has materialsed yet,” said CITU president, Ajay Sarma. Meanwhile, rate contract vendors and around 25 ancillary units of the BHPV are bearing the brunt of this delay as the settlement of their bills is being procrastinated.

Plant agitators pin hopes on Deo

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Oct 3, 2012: With Union tribal welfare and panchayat raj minist-er V. Kishore Chandra Deo revoking the licenses giv-en to AP Mining Develop-ment Corporation (APMDC) to mine bauxite in Vizag Agency tracts, those opposing the proposed thermal power plant by a private company in Komarada mandal of Vizi-anagaram district are hoping that Mr Deo would now strive for cancellation of li-censes for the power plant.

Alpha Infraprop Pvt Ltd (AIPL) is likely to set up 2,640 mw thermal power plant at Kotipam village in Komarada mandal. While government acquired certain portions of the land and allotted it to set up the plant, the AIPL bought some more tracts in and around four panchayats in Komarada. Nearly 1,675 acres are needed to establish the power.

The environmental public hearing by APPCB was also held at Kotipam for the plant on December 4, 2009, which was opposed by majority of locals, fearing destruction to environment, ecology and loss of valuable agriculture lands. Several attempts by promoters of thermal plant to lay foundation stone were also resisted by locals.

On June 20, 2012, locals clashed with the plant staff when they tried to fence the area that was allotted to them by the government.

Mr Deo too wrote a letter to Chief Minister Mr N. Kiran Kumar Reddy in May this year, strongly opposing the thermal plant, stating that the proposed plant will lead to destruction of large tracts of cultivable and horticultural lands, besides causing damage to natural barriers.

“If licenses were issued for project which is detrimental for farmers of the region, such licenses can always be withdrawn,” he said in his letter to the CM, and also questioned why such licenses were issued in such a hush-hush and secret manner.

Mr Deo also criticised minister for forests Mr Satrucharla Vijaya Rama Raju for going public, saying that the plant would come up as licenses were already issued.

“We are hopeful that Mr Deo will not allow the plant to come up here against the interests of locals. There is unanimity among us on opposing the plant. None of us are for the plant. Everyone is opposing it. Now, that the Union minister revo-ked bauxite mining licenses, we are hopeful he wou-ld strongly fight against the plant,” said Kotipam The-rmal Power Plant Vyathir-eka Porata Samiti convenor Mr V Srinu Naidu, while speaking to this correspondent. The proposed plant comes under Mr Deo’s Araku Parliamen-tary segment.

Green project hits roadblock

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Oct 2, 2012: After the delay by various PSUs in grounding the ambitious “Green Visak-ha” project, now objections raised by encroachers in various parts of the city has become a matter of co-ncern in the implementation of this prestigious project as envisaged by Chair-man of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Environment, Science and Technology and Rajya Sabha member T. Subbarami Reddy.

In an attempt to check pollution in city which is surrounded by industries and PSUs, the project was taken up to plant 40 lakh saplings in the next five years with a target of eight lakh saplings each year.

Vuda is leading the project with its technical and supervisory support and AP Pollution Control Board and district administration are coordinating the project with the support of PSUs and industries.

Around 21 PSUs and industries were given target to plant saplings and post plantation care. While Coromandel and NTPC were almost up to the mark in planting saplings as per the target given, Visakhapatnam Port Trust and HPCL were lagging behind, which was found at a recent review of project in city.

“Initially it was some organisations not meeting the targets or not at all taking up the project that plagued the implementation of the project, now daily we get at least one objection being raised by encroachers on government land when that piece of land is visited by the staff to plant saplings. But we have instructed staff to go ahead with the work by keeping such objections aside,” said an officer monitoring the project on daily basis. Such objections are more witnessed in Gajuwaka and Autonagar.

The officer also said that these issues are being taken to the notice of district collector V. Seshadri regularly.

Sapling plantation is in full swing in Visalakshi-nagar, Hanumathawaka, industrial area, port area, Gajuwaka, Autonagar and many other places. Already three lakh saplings were planted out of target of eight lakh.

“We are hopeful that the remaining target will be achieved very soon. The concerned tahsildars are being approached by the staff if there are any problems locally,” Vuda’s divisional forest officer (DFO, B.V.A. Krishna Murthy told this correspondent.