STATE

HYDERABAD

THE HINDU MONDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2015

|7

Officials sore over Naidu

remarks on sand episode

Manpower shortage
hits drive against red
sanders smuggling

Its unfortunate
that Vanajakshi
was targeted for
trying to protect
the public
resource, they feel

Y. MALLIKARJUN

M.L. MELLY MAITREYI

HYDERABAD: Has Chief Minister

N.Chandrababu Naidu jumped the gun by pronouncing

that both the Mandal Revenue
Officer and the TDP MLA
were wrong even as the inquiry committee is looking into
the incidents that led to the
assault on MRO Vanajakshi
by the supporters of the MLA
-- Ch. Prabhakar-- in the alleged illegal transport of sand.
The remarks of Mr. Naidu
on the floor of the Legislative
Council in the recently-concluded winter session that no
one should cross their jurisdiction apparently did not go
down well with the employee
community more so with Revenue Department officers and
staff.
Mr. Naidus response itself

Alert bus driver

averts disaster

appeared inadvertent in the

House as he made those observations during clarifications sought by the members
on the call money racket.
When the Chief Minister asserted that no one however
big one might be would be
spared if found guilty of harassing borrowers, CPI MLC
P.J. Chandrasekhar recalled
the incident when Ms. Vanajakshi was assaulted when she
rushed to check illegal transport of sand.
Awaiting report
Reacting sharply to the
MLCs query, Mr. Naidu took
every one by surprise claiming that both the MRO and
MLA were at fault. He felt the
MRO should not have crossed
her jurisdiction and entered
another district and the government was awaiting the inquiry committees report.
The Chief Ministers remarks became a serious subject of debate among officers
and employees outside. As a
public servant, the Musunuru
MRO in Krishna rushed to the
border areas of West Godavari on complaint of illegal

mining and transport of sand.

Instead of appreciating the officer for going the beyond call
of duty to protect the public
resource, it is unfortunate that
efforts are on to project as if
she was wrong, senior bureaucrats said.
It certainly demoralised the
government employees and
many see it as an indication
not to lock horns with politically influential persons even
if they were on the wrong side
of the law, an officer said.
The MRO merely asked
those transporting the sand to
show the permit to ascertain
if it was valid and as public
servant she was well within
her rights to do so for preventing illegal use of public resource even though the place
of incident did not strictly fall
within her jurisdiction, another official said.
It is surprising that the
Chief Minister made such remarks even before the inquiry
committee submitted its report. Does he have any report
from where the sand was
mined and where it was being
taken to blame the MRO with
crossing her jurisdiction, a

senior official wondered.

With the Chief Minister
making his mind known that
he was unhappy with both the
MRO and the MLA, could one
expect the inquiry committee
do a fair assessment of the incident even if the supporters
of political leaders or the peoples representatives themselves were in the wrong,
asked other officers.
Political interference
There were also allegations
that some peoples representatives directed the MROs to
fix rates for mutation of lands
and share with them. Such
practice of fixing the targets
were hitherto confined to the
Excise, Commercial Tax Departments from the traders
and contractors believed to be
tampering with the invoice
bills. But charging the general public coming to mandal
revenue offices for various
services was unheard of even
during tenure of the Congress
government.
People who had better expectations from the TDP government are getting disillusioned, said an official.

Camaraderie continues

STAFF REPORTER
CHITTOOR: It was a miraculous
escape for 42 passengers
when brakes of an APSRTC
bus failed.
The bus was on its way to
Kuppam from Tirupattur.
Around 12.30 p.m., the bus reached Pacchur village in Tamil Nadu when the driver noticed that the vehicles brakes
had failed. Using sense of caution, the driver negotiated a
10-km stretch between Pacchur and Mallanur by adjusting the gears. Whenever the
bus slowed down, some of the
passengers had alighted from
the vehicleTwo pedestrians
were slightly injured. The bus
came to a halt near Mallanur
when it entered a steep road.

WEATHER WATCH (City-wise reading yesterday)

For metros highlighted, readings show max temperature

50 p.c. of key posts of forest officials lying vacant

Anti-smuggling
operations against red sanders offenders in Andhra Pradesh are getting hamstrung
due to insufficient task force
personnel and base camps in
the forest areas bearing the
precious wood.
While about 250 task force
personnel are being currently
deployed in the field with six
armed platoons covering
large extent of Seshachalam
forest and other areas in Chittoor, Kadapa, Kurnool and
Nellore districts, proposals to
increase the number of task
force personnel, including the
platoons to 15 and operate at
least 15 base camps have been
stuck in the Finance Department for the past many
months. Official sources told
The Hindu that there was a
need to establish permanent
shelters for the base camps
with the required communication and other basic amenities, apart from improving the
road connectivity. Each base
camp would require one fullfledged platoon.
However, at present three
platoons were covering five
base camps and the remaining three were being deployed as armed strike parties
HYDERABAD:

at the exit and entry points,

the sources added.
Pointing out that shortage
of adequate manpower was
affecting the efficiency of the
field staff, the sources said
seven lakh hectares of forest
area needed to be covered, including five lakh hectares that
are endemic to red sanders
trees. About 50 per cent of the
key posts (around 1200) like
forest beat officers, assistant
beat officers and forest section officers have been lying
vacant. Those posts are crucial for curbing red sanders
smuggling. Stating that 1500
smugglers were arrested and
about 200 metric tonnes of
red sanders seized this year,
the sources said if the needed
manpower and infrastructure
were provided, the smuggling
activities could be completely
curbed. Another proposal for
setting up special courts to try
red sanders smugglers was also pending with the law department. With about 6,000
cases of forest and police departments piled up, trials
have not begun in most cases.
Additional courts or special courts needed to be set up
urgently. It would send a
strong message to smugglers
if conviction happens, the
sources observed.

Delhi | 21.5 C

Kolkata |23.9 C

Mumbai | 31.5 C
Hyderabad | 30.0 C

Bengaluru | 27.7 C

Chennai | 30.0 C

Image & Data: India Meteorological Department

Forecast for Monday: Rain or thundershowers would occur at a few places

over South Coastal Tamil Nadu. Isolated rain or thundershowers may occur
over rest Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and Lakshadweep. Dry weather will
prevail over Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana.
Max Min
Agartala
Ahmedabad
Allahabad
Aizawl
Bengaluru
Bhopal
Bhubaneswar
Chandigarh
Chennai
Coimbatore
Dehradun
Gangtok
Goa
Guwahati

24.4
28.2
25.3
24.3
27.7
23.6
25.6
20.5
30.0
31.0
22.0
12.9
33.3
23.4

8.00
11.9
7.40
6.30
17.9
9.60
13.0
6.20
23.4
19.0
6.60
5.30
20.2
7.80

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

29.0
30.0
22.2
25.7
-23.9
32.6
36.2
31.6
22.2
30.4
33.3
31.5
28.5

16.0
12.5
3.70
8.00
-13.6
25.6
23.3
18.2
5.50
21.7
21.6
20.3
17.3

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

21.5
23.5
30.9
26.9
32.0
24.9
23.4
15.1
15.8
5.1
29.4
28.8
32.2
31.1

7.60
7.60
26.6
6.80
23.0
10.7
7.50
5.30
9.40
0.9
17.0
17.0
23.2
22.4

Is Amul pattern a mirage for Telangana?

K. VENKATESHWARLU

HYDERABAD: How close is the

Telangana State in replicating
the success story of Anand or
the Amul pattern of robust
milk cooperatives of dairy
farmers, procurement, assured market, technology and
quality control system?
The refrain of the representatives of dairy farmers is that
though it may look like a distant dream, it is not an impossible task given the resourcefulness of the farmers and the
potential held by the dairy
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu (right) with his Telangana
sector in Telangana.
counterpart K. Chandrasekhar Rao during Ayutha Chandi Yagam in Medak on
Dairy farmers in TelangaSunday. PHOTO: PTI
na are already producing 30
lakh litres of milk a day but
most of it is in unorganised
sector. All it requires is the
governments intervention in
reviving the cooperatives and
infusion of capital and techDocumentary unfolds a peculiar tragedy in a Telangana village
nology for setting up processSo, the villagers have to ing plants and bulk milk coolTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM: At what
cross the busy bypass daily to
cost does development come?
reach the panchayat office,
If the welfare of the majority
community health centre,
is ensured, even at the exschool, and the nearest induspense of a voiceless few, can
trial area for employment.
the process be termed develThey have become victims P. RAM MOHAN
opment?
and not beneficiaries of the
It is this predicament that
development project, he NIZAMABAD: The historic Nizam
filmmaker Bijeesh Balann exadds. Mr. Balann, who has di- Sugar Factory (presently
plores in his 45-minute docurected several films for the called Nizam Deccan Sugars
mentary Village of Widows:
State government, including Limited) has been closed
The Strange Story of Highway
those on alcoholism, vector- down permanently throwing
44.
borne diseases and the Mulla- hundreds of families to the
The documentary touches
periyar dam, has handled the streets. The factory manageupon the tragedy of a tribal
cinematography and editing ment, which had announced
hamlet, Peddakunta Thanda,
in Mahabubnagar district of
for the documentary.
the lay-off two days ago,
Telangana. In the past five A still from the documentary
The others behind the locked out the factory on
years, nearly 30 persons of the Village of Widows: The Strange
work are T. Arun Kumar Sunday.
hamlet have been run over Story of Highway 44. (Right)
(script writer), Jayesh L.R.
With this, the 77-year-old
(production designer) and history of the factory which
and killed by speeding vehi- Bijeesh Balann, the director of
cles on a bypass stretch of Na- the documentary.
Abhilash Illikkulam (associ- provided employment to sevate director). Mr. Balann in- eral hundreds of workers and
tional Highway 44 which con- dren, during this period, Mr.
nects
Bengaluru
and Balann says.
tends to screen the film at cer- farmers came to an end. The
He says the bypass project
Hyderabad. The hamlet of
tain documentary festivals 40-day strike and relay hunand other related events that ger strikes of the workers to
around 40 families has be- was launched with the promwill be held in various parts of run the factory did not yield
come a village of widows in ise that a service road would
which the oldest surviving be constructed to facilitate chayat headquarters in Nan- the country. He also toys with result.
male in six years old. The safe passage for the people of digama, nearly five kilo- the idea of uploading the docThough all the political
women have lost their hus- Peddakunta Thanda and metres away. However, the umentary in YouTube at a lat- parties made it an election isbands, and some, their chil- nearby villages to the pan- promise was never fulfilled.
er stage.
sue and promised to ensure
the running of factory, no action had been taken on that
side. When crushing was in
full swing in the factory, Bodhan and its surrounding vilSWATHI V.
others who will lose their work, I bought a pump-set
farmlands to the project, and laid pipelines from the
these two Lambada hamlets Annameru stream. It cost me
HYDERABAD:
Eighty-year-old
will be acquired together with Rs. Six lakh. Who will pay for
Ramavath Jeedamma looks
homes and hearths. Peer pres- it? fumes Pathlothu Balu,
worried. A resident of Modusure from the Veerlapalem blaming the Revenue officials
gukunta thanda of Veerlaparesidents is what they are for forcing them to sign the
lem village in Nalgonda, she
blaming for their impulsive consent.
has as many memories associWhile district administradecision to agree for the packated with the place as the
age. While the compensation tion is claiming that only two SRIKAKULAM: Tremors caused
creases on her weathered
package is yet to be an- hamlets will be displaced for tension among residents of
face. And the creases only
nounced, Revenue authorities the project, sources from the Ponduru and Etcherla mangrew manifold with anguish,
have unofficially told the vil- Human Rights Forum, which dals of the district on Sunday.
upon the mention of separa- Ramavath Jeedamma from
lagers that a sum of Rs. Six has taken up a campaign in Tremors were felt for a couple
tion from the place where she Modugukunta thanda in
Nalgonda district.
lakh per acre will be offered Damarcherla against the pro- of seconds at 1.53 p.m. in Etchhas spent her eventful years.
for patta as well as assigned ject, claimed that two more erla, Kushalpuram, Faridpeta
We came here a long ago, PHOTO: SWATHI V.
even before the Nagarjunasa- vaging the situation. Her sons, lands. The rate is handsome hamlets, Saad Thanda and and a few areas on the outgar dam was built. We cleared along with others in her vil- compared with the market Dubba Thanda, too are set to skirts of Srikakulam. People
the land of boulders and ter- lage, have already conveyed price, but hardly enough to be displaced. Nalgonda Col- ran out of their houses fearing
mite hills, and began the culti- their willingness by signing acquire the same extent else- lector P. Satyanarayana Reddy major earthquake as tremors
vation. My four sons were the village resolution, accept- where. Further, the forest land clarified that the compensa- have been occurring freborn here. I dont wish to be ing the package in lieu of their diversion shown in the tion package is yet to be de- quently in these mandals.
driven out from here at this lands being procured for the TSGENCO project proposal cided, but will be in line with
Tremors were felt on DeYadadri Thermal Power Sta- consists of sizeable extent al- the Land Acquisition Act, cember 25 in the same areas.
age, she says.
She now has 20 acres of pat- tion at Veerlapalem. Many are ready cleared and cultivated 2013. Close to 6,000 acres of The Left party leaders have
by the villagers for decades, land is being acquired for the asked the government to
ta land and 10 acres of forest resenting the idea now.
Everybody was signing. for which they will not be 4,000-MW project, of which withdraw its proposal of conland that she is cultivating
4,676 acres is forest land. Only structing a nuclear power
without any documents, and So, we were forced to sign, compensated.
We realised it very late 835 acres will be acquired un- project in Ranasthalam mandug a whopping 18 bore-wells was the refrain heard in the
for which she borrowed lakhs two hamlets, Modugukunta that we cannot buy alterna- der the Act, while unauthor- dal since it is very close to
of rupees on high interest Thanda and Kapoor Thanda, tive land with water facility ised forest land cultivation Etcherla and Ponduru manbe
treated
as dals and comes under seismic
rates. Now, it appears that she set to be displaced by the pro- anywhere nearby. Only six will
zone.
has forgone her chance of sal- ject. While there are many years ago, after much hard encroachment.

Killer highway creates a village of widows

Experts see the

need for promoting
dairy farming both
to fight drought
conditions and to
check farmers
suicides in times of
agrarian crisis
ers, says K. Bal Reddy,
general secretary of the Progressive Dairy Farmers Association.
Of the 30 lakh litres, the
share of the State owned milk
federation that sells Vijaya
brand of milk and byproducts,
is just about 4 lakh litres.
The private milk industry
produces about 12 lakh litres
leaving the remaining bulk of
the production to the unorganised sector, where dairy
farmers produce and supply
milk directly to consumers in

urban and rural areas.

Huge demand
Though there is lot of demand with Hyderabad city itself requiring 25 lakh litres
daily, the Federations share of
4 lakh litres is very low. Its
share will go up phenomenally if the government lends
support, Mr. Reddy asserts.
Already the governments announcement of Rs. 4 a litre as
incentive last year has enthused dairy farmers and
some of them have shifted
their loyalties from private industry to the federation,
though there was considerable delay in the release of the
incentive amount.
Experts have been emphasising the need for giving a big
push to dairy farming in Telangana both to fight drought
conditions and wean farmers
away from taking extreme
step of ending their lives in

times of agrarian crisis.

Over 1,500 farmers have
committed suicide during the
last dry season caught in the
cycle of borewell and crop
failure and debt trap. Dairy as
an allied sector to agriculture
could have come in handy for
them to tide over the crisis.
In contrast to measly production of 30 lakh litres in Telangana, Amul pattern involved over 200 lakh litres
and Nandini brand of Karnataka Milk Cooperative Federation accounted for 70 lakh
litres.
Considering the projection
that Hyderabad alone may require 50 lakh litres of milk by
2020, it was time that Telangana government revived milk
cooperatives, kept its promise
of starting mega processing
plant near Hyderabad and
sets up a chain of bulk milk
coolers all over the State, Mr.
Reddy added.

Nizam sugar unit closed down

Power station to displace tribal hamlets

lages appeared to be very colourful with farmers coming to

the town with sugarcane and
going back with money and
commodities purchased by
them. Several hotels and
kiosks were thriving with
businesses. But, that glory
had faded out gradually over
the years.
After the then Telugu Desam government sold out the
factory to private management, the factorys downfall
began.In fact, farmers have always been ready to transplant
sugarcane but they could not
get encouragement in the
form of Minimum Support
Price and prompt payment.
Till now, their arrears to the
tune of Rs.27 crores have not
been cleared. The Assembly
House Committee that was
constituted when Y. S. Rajashekar Reddy was the Chief
Minister recommended that
the government take over the
factory from private management. However, for reasons

not known, it has not happened. Increase in input costs

and investment to grow sugarcane, absence of support
from banks and financial institutions and also the minimum support price issue have
led the farmers to give up
cane cultivation. Of late, the
farmers who transplanted
cane took it to factories in

Maharashtra where the minimum support price was higher than what the NDSL management offered here.
But they faced transport
and other problems. The NSF
has huge assets. It has its own
captive power generation
plant. It also earned money
through its by-products like
molasses.

Tremors cause
tension in
Srikakulam

CM
YK

HY-HY