Jolt to Naidu: Dadi meets Ganta, triggers talk on exit from TD

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, April 12, 2013: If speculations are to be believed it’s a major jolt to TD Chief N Chandrabbau Naidu, as he walked into Vizag during his walkathon ‘Vasthunna Meekosam’, as party senior leader, Dadi Veerabhadhra Rao held a closed door meeting with ports and infrastructure minister, Ganta Srinivasa Rao here on Friday and reportedly expressed his intention to join the grand old party.

The meeting lasted for around half an hour at the government circuit house and speculations are rife in the political circles here in Vizag that the estranged TD leader, Dadi Veerabhadhra Rao who openly burst out at Naidu for denying to re nominate him as MLC, has been sulking, keeping away from the party activities and not interested in continuing in TD.

His term would be ending on May 2 and his meeting with Srinivasa Rao gave enough fodder to the rumour mills. 

The leader of opposition in legislative council, Rao, on March 10 in Hyderabad openly criticized Naidu’s leadership stating ‘poor’ BCs doesn’t have space in the party and he had waited like a dog to meet his leader, during the politburo meeting held on March 9 in Krishna district.

“I was waiting outside his bus like a dog. Yet, he didn’t even have the minimum courtesy to call me in and inform me. We, the poor BCs look for some self respect not posts. I should have been informed well in advance about the party’s decision to replace me with Yanamala Ramakrishnudu.” said Rao immediately after the news broke that he was denied MLC seat.

Rao also said he was deeply hurt for not denying renomination, but due to the humiliation caused to him by not conveying it in a proper manner. Dadi’s last month’s open criticism had left local cadres in disarray. Many activists in Anakapalli, Dadi’s stronghold said to have threatened to resign from the party.

On Friday morning both Srinivasa Rao and Dadi Veerbhadhra Rao came out with smiling faces after the meeting. “I met the minister only for sanction of funds for the developmental activities in Anakapalle. We have also discussed about allotting place for setting up TD founder NT Rama Rao’s statue in Anakapalle. There is nothing more to our meeting,” said Dadi Veerabhadra Rao.

Political analysts, however, observed that Dadi would add strength to Congress which lost a strong leader from the ‘Gavara’ community strong in Anakapalle, Konatala Ramakrishna to YSR Congress.

Interestingly Veerabhadra Rao’s son, Dadi Ratnakar, who is TD district unit, president, is actively taking part in making arrangements for Naidu’s pada yatra, which would continue in Vizag for the next 12 days and end on April 27. 

Once bitten, twice shy on land allotment to HPCL

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, April 12, 2013: Not willing to take any chances again, Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) authorities are now waiting for a written assurance and firm commitment from the state owned oil major Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) on the latter’s application to re allot the land taken back by the state government.

APIIC in May last year cancelled the allotment it made to the HPCL for its proposed 15 million tonne refinery with an investment of Rs 45, 000 cr for delay in grounding the project on time.

HPCL was allotted around 1,500 acres at Atchyutapuram in AP Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) for setting up of Greenfield oil refinery and petrochemical complex.

While the project was proposed in 2005-06 as an anchor project of Visakhapatnam-Kakinada Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR), land was allotted in 2007.

Land was allotted after HPCL formed a consortium with Gas Authority of India Ltd., Oil India, Mittal Energy, and TOTAL of France.  But due to reasons unknown, HPCL could not ground the project forcing the APIIC to cancel the allotment last year.

Recently, HPCL senior officials approached the APIIC with a revival plan seeking re allotment of the land. This time the oil company proposed to set up a 9.5 mtpa refinery, which will cost around Rs 20,000 crore initially, instead of 15 million tonne as envisaged earlier.  However, HPCL is said to have informed APIIC that subsequently capacity would be doubled to 18 mt in the coming years.

 “This time we are looking for a timeline written assurance. And now there are no any land acquisition pangs as land is readily available which we have acquired earlier for the same project and also as part of PCPIR. It doesn’t take much time for us to re allot the land but we are waiting for a written commitment from HPCL,” a senior official of APIIC looking after PCPIR activities told this correspondent. 

Wild reaction: New rhino in Vizag zoo breaks free, creates panic

By SNV Sudhir


Visakhapatnam, April 11, 2013: The scene seemed straight out of a movie — except that it was all too real. Staff and visitors at the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park here panicked after a rhinoceros ran amok, coming out of the moat in which it had been kept for acclimatisation. Authorities had to close the zoo for the day after the incident.

The 12-year-old male rhino, named Nakul, had arrived at Vizag zoo on Wednesday evening from Kanpur zoo after a punishing four-day journey in a small cage, loaded on a truck. The cage had to be kept small because if the animal made even a small movement the truck would turn turtle.

Nakul was kept at a ‘night house’ at the local zoo for him to acclimatise to his new surroundings.

The night house is located away from the regular enclosures and visitors are not allowed there. A guard on duty at the night house suddenly heard some loud grunt on Thursday morn

ing and saw the rhino break out of its enclosure and enter a muddy pool.

The zoo authorities fell into a frenzied state, for they anticipated it would attack people. The staff members suffered minor injuries in the melee that followed.

The staff had to use tranquillisers to bring the animal under control, which took at least half an hour.

The zoo authorities said the rhino had been rescued by the Kanpur forest authorities and it would take it some time to get used to the new environment.

“The four day journey

confined in a small cage, that too in summer, may have stressed the rhino.

Rhinos generally like to be in muddy waters for long hours and it had been away from it for a few days,” said Pradeep Nath of Visakha Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

“Nakul is now resting at the night house. We have also called for a doctor from Hyderabad zoo to chalk out a strategy to tame it and to put it into an enclosure for public view. We evacuated the zoo as a precautionary measure so that no visitor is harmed due, said zoo doctor P. Srinivas.

Row over naming of park

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, April 10, 2013: A controversy is brewing in Vizag over naming a public park being developed by Vuda in 20 acres of old jail area in the heart of the city. While the Congress government wanted to name it after its demised towering leader, YS Rajasekhar Reddy probably in a bid to counter the claims of YSRC cadres that his image has been tarnished by the ruling party, veterans, senior citizens and NGOs want the park to be named after Alluri Seetharama Raju belonging to this region who fought against the British and sacrificed his life.

They are of the opinion that Alluri symbolises the pride and identity of this region. However, ports and infrastructure minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao had recently ruled out changing the name from YSR-Vuda Park. He made it clear by stating that a decision in this regard has already been taken and there will not be looking back at a recent visit to the park, which is being developed.

Staff of Vuda engineering wing is sweating it out since more than two years to develop the park into a global attraction. The Park has been taken up in an area of about 20 acres with a cost of Rs 35 crores and very innovative attractions such as Jurassic Park, Bamboo Garden, Sky Gardens, Event Lawns, Children Ply Area, Cycling and jogging tracks and plazas with unique arrangements were taken up

Special focus has been given to develop greenery and landscaping to extend rich eco surroundings not only to the park but also to the surrounding areas.

“We want Vuda and government to name the Central Park after Alluri Seetarama Raju. Any deviation from this we will not hesitate to knock doors of the courts again. It should be a tribute to him who fought for independence. At that time he could inspire so many tribals without much innovation in communication technology.  His heroic epic should be passed onto the next generations so that they stay inspired. Unfortunately until now government had done nothing in the memory of Alluri Seetarama Raju. We don’t want any politician’s name to please somebody but we want a true freedom fighter” said Praja Spandana founder president, for IES officer, CS Rao.

It was Praja Spandana, a civil society organisation that played an important role in seeking judicial intervention on the way the Old Central Jail land should be used. Earlier there were proposals that the old jail road be given to private parties on PPP mode to develop commercial complex, mall with multiplexes. But Praja Spandana filed a PIL at High Court and got an order that the land should be developed as Park as a lung space.

“Congress leaders wanted to name the park after YSR and planned a grand opening to send a message to public that the party still considers him as their leader to counter YSRC campaign that the ruling party has dumped YSR though he served Congress for his lifetime. Now it turned interesting let’s see what’s going to happen,” observed an YSRC leader

Deo accuses state on tribal displacement

 By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, April 10, 2013: In yet another scathing attack, on the state government, the union tribal affairs minister, V Kishore Chandra Deo, in a letter to the chief ministers of all the states on implementing various provisions under Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006, accused the state leadership for deliberately pushing aside alternative proposals to entail least displacement of tribes, by constructing the multipurpose Polavaram project.

Deo on April 4 wrote to the chief ministers of all the states urging them effective implementation of FRA in their respective states. While he said that Maharashtra and Odisha making changes in their policies with respect to bamboo transit rights are partial, in other states there is still a complete vacuum in empowering tribals.

Dwelling upon non cognizance of viable alternative propositions among various other problems fettering the effective implementation of FRA, Deo said there are certain propositions/proposals for amicable  settlement of rights of tribals and forest dwellers, but it is disconcerting to note that there isn’t an iota of consideration of these even before implementation of FRA.

He further said “for instance in Andhra Pradesh in the context of Polavarm projects, there already were some alternative proposals for resolving issues arising there from. These proposals were not considered worthy even a look although they offer viable solution which if opted for would entail least displacement of tribals, with considerably less area under submersion of water, and related Relief & Rehabilitation options. This is nothing but a deliberate conscious apathy by our own state authorities for problem resolutions. This aspect calls for serious consideration.”

It may be worth mentioning here that in another letter to the governors of states having schedule V areas recently Deo, accused the state government of trying to brazenly distort the constitutional safeguards against the interests of tribals.

He also earlier reportedly wrote a letter to the Congress president Sonia Gandhi calling the chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy ‘ineffective’, besides terming PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana a ‘mafia don’.

This was after there was no response from the Chief Ministers Office (CMO) to his directives to the state government to immediately cancel the MoUs it signed with ANRAK and Jindals on supply of bauxite ore proposed to be mined in Vizag Agency by APMDC.  

Maoist threat: House panel cut short visit to Vizag Agency

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, April 9, 2013: Fearing the Maoists and resistance from anti mining groups, members of the legislative committee on petitions had to cut short their trip to Vizag Agency tracts.

The committee was scheduled to visit parts of Vizag Agency for an on the spot study of the proposed bauxite mining areas in Anantagiri and GK Veedhi Agency mandals on April 8 and 9 based on the petitions it received on the proposed mining. However they could visit only Anantagiri on the way to Araku on Monday and returned to the city last night.

On Tuesday they were supposed to visit Jerella division in GK Veedhi Mandal, a known Maoists hotbed.

All party forum which was launched in Agency region to protest bauxite mining had called for a bandh in Jerella and Sapparla divisions protesting committee’s visit. They have also vowed to stop the committee members at any cost entering their region. It may be worth mentioning here that JC Kala committee too which was appointed by MoEF to study the ground situation of the bauxite mining areas before according second phase of  clearances had to take a aerial view from a chopper in 2011 December as similar resistance was showed by the local tribals. 

The committee members were also scheduled to hold a review meeting with revenue, mining and ITDA officials at Araku on Monday morning. But it was held here at government circuit house in city on Tuesday.   

The committee chairman, Mallu Batti Vikramarka at the review meeting with the officials found fault with the APMDC for reaching into agreements with private firms on supply of ore without getting requisite clearances for mining bauxite from MoEF. 

The visit of the committee also raised many an eyebrows. The same committee earlier held detailed discussions on the MoUs signed by APMDC with private companies, in Hyderabad on January 8, 2013. The discussions were in response to a petition filed by former legislator Ch Babu Ramesh of Rampachodavaram through Telugu
Desam MLA, A Revanth Reddy.
Then the committee unanimously concluded that the proposed bauxite mining would harm the interests of the state while immensely benefitting the two private companies.
“We are here to know the ground situation, gather information, listen to the objections as we have received petitions on the proposed bauxite mining issue. But the situation is very tensed in Agency tracts with the bandh call given by the locals. Not to hurt their feelings we had cut short our programme without going to certain parts. We will submit a detailed report to the assembly keeping in mind all the sentiments, feelings of the locals attached to the region,” said deputy speaker at state assembly and petitions committee chairman, M Batti Vikramarka.

TD cadre bank on Naidu's pada yatra

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, April 8, 2013: Cadres of Telugu Desam, which turned a divided house in the district, seems to be banking on their chief N Chandrababu Naidu’s pada yatra, which is scheduled to enter Vizag on April 12, to revive the fortunes of the party in the region.  

The three districts of north Andhra Pradesh was once considered as strong bastion of the Telugu Desam, ever since the creation of the party by N T Rama Rao.

But if the recent spate of incidents are anything to go by, the party seems to be losing its hold in this region. 

Naidu also chose Vizag to conclude his 208 day and 2,900 km long historic walkathon Vasthunna Meekosam, which he launched on October 2, last year at Hindupur in Anantapur. In Vizag he will take part in the pada yatra for 12 days barring two Sundays and will conclude it on April 27 at Gajuwaka.

Naidu is expected to walk 120 kms in his 12 day tour in Vizag. As a mark of conclusion of his walkathon, Naidu would unveil a pylon of 100 ft in Gajuwaka on April 27. Later he will address a public meeting in city, for which venue is being finalised. TD leaders are planning to hold the public meeting either in AU engineering college grounds or Indirapriyadarshini Grounds in Old Town.

TD leaders here have designed pada yatra in such a manner that Naidu would walk only in rural tracts avoiding urban constituencies and areas. Their strategy is that party urban workers and activists would concentrate more on making the public meeting a grand success by gathering more supporters to revive party fortunes.

TD almost swept the polls in the three districts during the 1983 to 1999 polls, but the party started seeing a downward trend in the 2004 polls. In the 2009 elections, it had won a meager 7 Assembly segments of the total 34 Assembly constituencies spread across the three districts. While there are around 15 Assembly segments in Vizag, TD could win only 4,  out of 9 in Vizanagaram, the party bagged only 2 and it could win only one constituency out of 10 in Srikakulam. 

In the same district, the lone MLA from Ichapuram Sai Raj shifted his loyalties to  the new regional force, YSRC this year, reducing the party tally to zero. 

In Vizag, though the party has only 4 MLAs, leaders and activists are divided into too many factions both in rural and urban units. The party is now divided into two groups in the district. A group loyal to party politburo member Ayyana Patrudu and another owing allegiance to his arch rival, party state vice president Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy. 

“We want to make the concluding programme of our chief’s historic pada yatra, in the city a grand success. We are fortunate that he chose Vizag to conclude his marathon walkathon and we are seeing this as an opportunity, chance to boost the morale of the cadre. He will address the public across the state from Vizag on April 27. It’s going to be an historic moment for all of us,” TD urban president, Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar.

Naidu is also expected to celebrate his birthday with party cadres in Yelamanchali on April 20.