STATE

8|
Amaravati to cost Rs. 27,097 crore
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
HYDERABAD: An expert committee constituted by the Central
government has pegged the
cost of building Amaravati at
Rs. 27,097 crore.
Minister of State for Home

Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary informed the Lok Sabha,

in response to a written question, that in its report along
with the supportive document, the expert committee
had estimated that the capital
zone buildings would cost Rs.

10,519 crore and capital zone

infrastructrure Rs. 1,536 crore.
This is in addition to the city
infrastructure that will require an estimated Rs. 5,861
crore and another Rs. 9,181
crore for infrastructure extension. The Minister said the es-

timates placed the total requirement at around Rs.

27,097 crore, of which Rs. 1,850
crore had been provided to
the successor State of Andhra
Pradesh for its capital and infrastructure facility during
2014-15 and 2015-16.

HYDERABAD

THE HINDU

Former Congress MLA

booked in liquor case
RAJULAPUDI SRINIVAS
VIJAYAWADA: A day after five
people were killed and 29
were hospitalised after drinking suspected adulterated liquor at a bar in Krishna Lanka
in Vijayawada, police and prohibition officials swung into
action and booked cases
against the owners of the bar,
stopped the sale of nine
brands of liquor and conducted raids on liquor outlets
across the district. Of those
hospitalised with alcohol poisoning on Monday, the condition of at least one man was
said to be critical.
Among the nine persons
against whom cases have
been registered for violation
of liquor laws are former Congress MLA Malladi Vishnu
Vardhan and some members
of his family, who are said to
be partners in the Swarna
Restaurant and Bar located at
Nehru Nagar under Krishna
Lanka police station limits.
The others named in the
FIR filed by the police are
Bhagavatula Sarath Chandra,
Kavuri Purna Chandra Sharma, K.A. Lakshmi, Malladi Balatripura Sundaramma, Kalidasu
Venkata
Ramana,
Rajipindi Malakonda Reddy,
Tata Venkateswara Rao, Nunna Venkata Nageswara Rao
and Malladi Vishnu. Excise

officials said the bar is owned

by Malladi Kiranmayee,
mother Malladi Bala Tripurasundaramma, Bhagavatula Sarath Chandra and another
partner. Mr Vishnus election
affidavit on his property
states that Ms Kiranmayees is
a partner in the restaurant.
The cases have been registered under Sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 328
(poisoning with intention to
commit offence) of the Indian
Penal Code and Section 37 of
the AP Excise Act (adulteration of liquor causing death).
In the affidavit filed before the
EC prior to the Assembly
election for Vijayawada Central constituency in 2014, Mr.
Vishnu had mentioned that he
had a Rs. 34,722 share in Swarnamayee Restaurant and Bar.
Meanwhile, the victims family members alleged that the
Government is trying to suppress facts about the case to
shield the accused. The condition of five patients is critical and have been kept under
ventilator support, they said.
The Government should release the list of the victims,
the names of the dead and the
condition of the 29 persons
who are undergoing treatment in five hospitals in the
city, said a patients attendant
at a private hospital.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2015

WEATHER WATCH (City-wise reading yesterday)

For metros highlighted, readings show max temperature

Delhi | 26.9 C

Kolkata | 28.1 C

Mumbai | 35.7 C
Hyderabad | 30.7 C

Bengaluru | 28.7 C

Chennai | 29.3 C

Image & Data: India Meteorological Department

Forecast for Wednesday: Heavy rainfall would occur at isolated places over
interior Tamilnadu, south Kerala and Lakshadweep
Max Min
Agartala
Ahmedabad
Allahabad
Aizawl
Bengaluru
Bhopal
Bhubaneswar
Chandigarh
Chennai
Coimbatore
Dehradun
Gangtok
Goa
Guwahati

28.1
34.0
26.4
24.8
28.7
29.3
30.7
23.7
29.3
27.6
22.8
15.5
33.0
27.5

16.3
16.5
13.8
9.3
17.0
12.4
16.4
11.0
23.8
21.6
10.1
8.0
23.0
13.0

Max Min
Hubballi
Hyderabad
Imphal
Jaipur
Kohima
Kolkata
Kochi
Kozhikode
Kurnool
Lucknow
Madurai
Mangaluru
Mumbai
Mysuru

30.0
30.7
22.6
30.9
19.8
28.1
32.2
34.8
32.1
25.3
27.7
35.4
35.7
29.0

Jagan promises prohibition

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
VIJAYAWADA: Leader of the Opposition Y.S. Jaganmohan
Reddy on Tuesday demanded
that the government pay an ex
gratia of Rs. 20 lakh to the bereaved family members of
those who died after consuming spurious liquor on Monday. He was speaking to reporters after visiting the
Government General Hospital here.
Coming down heavily on
the TDP for taking a U turn
on several issues, the YSRC
chief said his party would impose complete prohibition in
the State if it were voted to
power.
We are giving an opportunity to TDP chief Mr. Chandrababu Naidu to impose a
ban on liquor, he said and
added that the YSRC would
fight for prohibition during
debates in the Assembly.
Mr. Reddy also wanted the
Chief Minister to extend apologies to people for the incident. He later interacted with
the bereaved family members
at the hospital. Mr. Reddy said
the government was encou-

17.0
16.2
8.2
12.2
5.8
19.5
24.4
25.3
19.2
10.5
22.8
24.2
17.9
19.3

Max Min
New Delhi
Patna
Port Blair
Pune
Puducherry
Raipur
Ranchi
Shillong
Shimla
Srinagar
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
Thiruvananthapuram
Tiruchi

26.9
23.3
30.9
30.2
27.7
30.9
26.2
16.8
16.6
14.6
31.6
30.6
30.6
24.9

12.0
16.0
25.8
12.9
23.9
14.5
12.9
8.5
9.7
1.6
19.0
21.2
24.1
21.5

Trader held,
explosives seized
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

YSR Congress president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy calling on

patients who developed complications after consuming
spurious liquor at a bar-cum-restaurant, in Vijayawada on
Tuesday.
ment had earned Rs. 6,632
crore, and it already earned
YSRC wants the
than Rs. 7,000 crore till
government to pay more
October this year, Mr. Reddy
an ex gratia of Rs. said.
Citing the example of Guja20 lakh to the
rat where liquor is prohibited,
family members of he said AP could ensure development without dependthose who died
ing on revenue earned from liafter consuming
quor sales. He said five-star
spurious liquor
hotels could be exempted
from liquor ban, as only high
raging liquor sales eyeing rev- income groups could afford
enue. In 2014, the govern- such luxury.

VISAKHAPATNAM: A day after the

conclusion of Peoples Liberation Guerrilla Army week
observed by the banned CPI
(Maoist), police in the Agency area arrested a cement and
hardware merchant and
seized from him 200 iron
shells, couplings and detonators with fuse wire bundles,
which are allegedly being
transported to the Maoists.
Superintendent of Police
Koya Praveen at a press conference he addressed along
with Additional SP (operations) Vishal Gunni at Narsipatnam on Tuesday, said Sk.
Dawood of G.K. Veedhi has a
long association with the
Maoists and was planning to
supply the material sought by
him when he was intercepted
at Turabalagedda between
Chintapalli and Narsipatnam
in the district on Tuesday.
The couplings are closed
on one side to be filled with
explosives and meant to be
used against the police in the
shape of mines.

Indiramma beneficiaries
feel left out
The size of the 2BHK structure is almost double that of Indiramma house

The unoccupied Indiramma houses at Indervelli in Adilabad district. - PHOTO: S. HARPAL SINGH
S. HARPAL SINGH
ADILABAD: The 2BHK housing
scheme of the State government seems to have infused a
sense of loss among the beneficiaries of earlier such programmes in Adilabad district.
They now wish the government replaces their existing
smaller houses with the larger
new ones.
Mesram Purnabai, a beneficiary of first phase Indiramma housing scheme from Keslapur in Indervelli mandal is
among those who strongly
feels that the dwelling she was
allotted should be replaced.
It is dilapidated and the
space is hardly sufficient for
my family, she points out.
Yes, beneficiaries of previous housing schemes are approaching us with the demand for a new house. They
claim that their houses, con-

CM
YK

structed about a decade back,

are in bad shape, revealed Talamadugu mandal Tahsildar
M. Rajeshwar Reddy as he
talks of the experience of his
team which is verifying the
status of Indiramma houses in
villages recently.
The heartburn among
beneficiaries of old housing
schemes is understandable as
not only the outlay for each
house has gone up manifold
but the size of the 2BHK
structure is almost double
that of the Indiramma house,
stated a sarpanch from the
ruling party who is constantly
faced with such demand from
beneficiaries of weaker section housing.
The government will not
accept the plea, he asserted.
When the weaker section
housing scheme was started
by N.T. Rama Rao in 1984, the
unit cost was just Rs.2,000.

This was increased to Rs.

8,000, Rs. 12,000, Rs. 15,000,
Rs. 17,500 and Rs. 25,000 between 1987 and 2004.
In 2009, the Congress government under Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy introduced the Indiramma housing scheme,
increasing the unit cost to Rs.
45,000, and subsequently to
Rs. 65,000, the plinth area of
the structure being 240 sq ft.
In contrast, the 2BHK house
costs Rs. 5.04 lakh and will be
constructed over an area of
about 540 sq ft.
The picture nonetheless is
not as gloomy for those beneficiaries from the old scheme
who have not received any
payment for the Indiramma
houses. The cases of 7,000
such beneficiaries short listed
after a CBCID inquiry have
been verified by Tahsildars in
the district aimed at their inclusion in the 2BHK scheme.
HY-HY