Somerset torn apart by TNT

Bengaluru

Oct. 12: Having sealed a last-ball thriller against Deccan Chargers, Somerset couldn’t quite manage an encore against Trinidad and Tobago, going down by 44 runs in their Champions League T20 game at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Monday.
The Somerset batsmen did not learn from the mistakes they committed against Chargers and left it to the tail to eke out another win. But this time even first-match hero Alfonso Thomas couldn’t bail them out of trouble. Set 151 to win, Somerset never picked up pace and allowed the run-rate to creep up past the nine-run mark even in the power-play. Only Zander de Bryun provided resistance with a 39-ball 42 (3x4, 1x6), as the Englishmen were bowled out for 106 off the last ball of the match. Their future in the tournament hangs in balance, with T&T having to beat Charges on Wednesday for Somerset to qualify for the next round.
Much depended on the experienced pair of skipper Justin Langer and Marcus Trescothick, but Dwayne Bravo (4/23), who recorded a first-ball duck earlier, made amends with the ball. Sharing the new ball with Ravi Rampaul, Dwayne sent back Trescothick and and Craig Kieswetter, before Sherwin Ganga forced Langer to pull straight to William Perkins at square-leg. Struggling at 28/3 and with power-play completed, Somerset faced an uphill task, and never coped.
Earlier, Trinidad were inconsistent but managed to put out a competitive total on the board. Openers Lendl Simmons 22 (19b, 4x4) and William Perkins 20 (11b, 3x4, 1x6) had their share of fun in the first five overs, when they put on 43. Somerset’s seamers Charl Willoughby and Thomas took a pounding as Simmons and Perkins went berserk, even if unconvincingly.
Brief scores: Trinidad & Tobago 150 for 9 (Denesh Ramdin 39; Charl Willoughby 3/35) bt Somerset CCC 106 (Zander de Bruyn 43 n.o., Dwayne Bravo 4/23).
Source::DC

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Watch out for RP: Vaas

Hyderabad
Oct. 12: He called it quits from international cricket this year but Sri Lanka’s Chaminda Vaas remains an integral part of the Deccan Chargers’ bowling unit. The left-armer might have missed out during the Chargers’ first outing against Somerset CCC, but Vaas is excited to be part of the Bulls brigade.
Speaking on his international retirement, Vaas said, “You must know when to call it quits. It was important for me to make way for the youngsters in the team. And they are performing remarkably.”
When asked about his fitness levels since calling it a day, Vaas said, “I have been playing league games in Sri Lanka and that has kept me match fit and it is crucial. You just can’t walk into any form of the game without match fitness.”
Vaas is beaming with confidence when it comes to play for the Bulls. “It is quite exciting to be part of the Chargers unit. The best aspect of this team is that everyone wants to do well and we revel in each other’s success,” he said.
The Sri Lankan is quite confident of the Chargers show in the upcoming Champions League and pointed out that the conditions will play a key role in every team’s performances. “The conditions here will be different from what we have in other parts of the world. So, it will be interesting to see how the other teams adapt to that,” Vaas said.
Speaking about the cultural appreciation course that the Chargers had before the start of IPL-II, Vaas said, “It did wonders to the morale of the team. It broke the ice with the newcomers in the side. We all are one big family and this has helped us both on and off the field.”
On the bowlers to watch out for in the Champions League, Vaas picked up teammate Rudra Pratap Singh as his favourite.
“He (R.P. Singh) had a dream run in the IPL-II and has been amongst the wickets. If he gets the ball in the right areas, the batsmen could be in serious trouble. He is our trump card,” said the 111-Test veteran.
RP lived upto Vaas’ expectations picking three wickets for 23 runs in the Chargers’ first outing in the ongoing Champions League Twenty20 tournament.
Source::DC

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Royal rout for low-volt Otago

Bengaluru

Oct. 12: Royal Challengers Bangalore team owner Vijay Mallya jumped out of his seat and pumped his fist in the air as Brendon McCullum slowly trudged off the pitch. McCullum brings bad memories to the RCB team, having taken a pounding from the Kiwi opener in the 2008 IPL opener when he smashed an unbeaten 158.
However, history wasn’t to be repeated in the Champions League T20 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday as RCB skittled out Otago Volts for 108 in 17.5 overs and the danger-man McCullum managed just 5. The 80-run victory took RCB to the next round of the tournament from Group C, along with South African side Cape Cobras.
It was a must-win tie for RCB and the least they wanted was McCullum to fire on all cylinders, even though Otago Volts were chasing a daunting 189 for victory and a place in the next round of the inaugural event.
However, Jacques Kallis, who had earlier made an unbeaten 73 (59b, 4x4, 2x6), was RCB’s man as he got rid of McCullum, caught by skipper Anil Kumble at long-on. Two more wickets were to follow for Kallis as he capped a perfect day, finishing with an impressive 3/18 in four overs
The rest of the bowlers followed suit as none of the Otago batsmen gave a semblance of scare to RCB.
Earlier, Robin Uthappa 42 (31b, 5x4, 2x6) and Kallis entertained the near capacity RCB flag-waving crowd, with some good power hitting. Local boy Uthappa was off the blocks quickly, with a punch over the covers off Neil Wagner and followed it up with a huge one over long-on off Dimitri Mascarenhas. On the other hand, Kallis struggled with his timing but with Uthappa in good nick, the run-rate just soared.
Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 188/2 in (Jacques Kallis 73, Robin Uthappa 42) bt Otago Volts 108 (Jacques Kallis 3/18, Anil Kumble 2/20).

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Sensex rises 384 pt on Anil’s truce

Mumbai, Oct. 12: The markets on Monday soared by over 380 points to regain the 17,000-level after the investor sentiment was bolstered by the robust industrial production in August and hopes of a truce between Ambani brothers.
The markets witnessed a frantic rally soon after the news of 10.4 per cent growth in the industrial output, the highest in 22 months, came out.
Brokers said that the atmosphere was euphoric with a slew of goods news adding to the festive cheer.
The BSE benchmark index, Sensex, opened on a strong note after Mr Anil Ambani on Sunday extended an olive branch for peace with Mr Mukesh Ambani, fuelling investor hopes of an end to one of the most intense corporate battles.
The market also got support from the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh’s statement that the economic growth will accelerate. Brokers said that investors, fortunes of many of them are tied up with the firms run by Ambani brothers, cheered the development. Brokers said while the latest in the Ambani episode gave the push, what propelled the market to 17,000-level was 10.4 per cent industrial growth which had beaten the expectations. “Backed by good IIP figures, the positive news on Reliance front drove the market. Among the top 20 gains in F&O segment in the Nifty, four were from the Reliance pack — Reliance Infra, RNRL, RelCap and Adlabs. It is not easy to say that Ambani dispute will soon be over but at least some steps are taken towards it and that gave a positive boost to the markets, said SMC Global vice-president Mr Rajesh Jain.
The 30-share index finally settled the day at higher by an impressive 384.01 points or 2.31 per cent at 17,026.67
Source::DC

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Oil block auction flops

New Delhi

Oct. 12: India’s largest auction of oil and gas blocks on Monday got a muted response as only 36 blocks were bid for as against the 70 blocks offered.
The petroleum ministry blamed the global downturn as the main reason for the poor show. “You may think that the number (of bids) is less but if you look at the performances of biding through out the world this year, we have done better than many. Infact (the response India) got is one of the best,” said the petroleum secretary, Mr R.S. Pandey.
The Centre had launched the eighth bid round of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP-VIII) and fourth bid round of Coal Bed Methane Policy (CBM-IV) in April.
Reliance Industries didn’t bid for the oil blocks but only for one block in CBM.
Oil regulator DGH V. K. Sibal said the message India gave by holding the bidding is that in the downturn “we had guts to go to the market.”
Of 45 companies participated in the bidding, seven were foreign. As many as 20 blocks (eight deepwater, two onland and one in type-S block) got single bids, which no competition.
Results for the offshore blocks, which were available, showed ONGC getting 11 blocks, BHP Biliton of Australia three, Cairn Energy two, Onkar two and BG, Oil India limited and Bengal energy one each. In the onland blocks, ONGC got two, Jubilant two, Oil India one, Harish chandra two.
Source::DC

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Auditor says RCom has inflated revenue

New Delhi, Oct. 12: A government-appointed auditor is understood to have found inflation of revenues by Rs 2,915 crore by the Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Communications in 2007-08, besides evasion of Rs 315 crore in licence fee — findings termed as “biased” by the company.
When contacted the department of telecom (DoT) sources confirmed receipt of the report by auditors Parekh and Co and said that it is yet to examine the findings. The DoT would ask for RCom’s response later.
“RCom is in full compliance of licence terms and conditions,” a company spokesperson said, adding that “Auditors’ alleged comments are biased and appear instigated by corporate rivals... Premature leakage of confidential report to media reflects the Special Auditors’ prejudice/bias”.
“All revenues for FY’07 and ’08 are correctly reported in RCom’s audited account. Alleged comments of the special auditor do not reflect any under-reporting of revenue... licence fees.”
The spokesperson said revenues were correctly booked from securitisation of bad debts received from RIL in 2005 and from the sale of pre-paid cards in line with industry practice.
The special audit committee report that has been submitted to the DoT found that for the FY’08 actual wireless revenue earned by the company was only Rs 12,298 crore as against Rs 15,213 crore reported to the shareholders, which is an over reporting of Rs 2,915 crore.
It also found that RCom evaded the licence fee and spectrum fee to the tune of Rs 315 crore.
The DoT is awaiting the report of four other companies namely Tata Teleservices, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea from the respective auditors appointed by it and the government, if warranted, will take necessary action after examining the reports.
Sources, quoting the report, said that the telecom firm may have also violated the Trai and the DoT rules.
Alleging overstatement and fudging of revenues, the auditors have said that the company accounted twice, a revenue of Rs 617 crore in two different accounting years.

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Wife, son bare secrets of Osama

New York, Oct. 12: After years of hiding and social oztracisation, the wife and son of the Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden have come out with a no-holes barred book that reveals quite candidly the harsh life the family led under the gaze and zealous the terror kingpin.
According to the New York Post, Osama bin Laden's first wife, Ms Najwa, and fourth son, Mr Omar, reveal in the forthcoming book titled: Growing Up bin Laden about how on one night in Khartoum, Sudan, bin Laden decided to take his family — four wives and 14 children — on a camping trip. They said he drove into the desert, found an isolated spot, made his oldest sons dig ditches in the sand, long enough to fit each person, and told them to be gallant and not think about foxes or snakes, as he was of the view that there was a war coming between Muslims and the Western infidels, and this was a form of training for greater hardships.
“You must” he says. “Challenging trials are coming to us. Each child, including a few 1- and 2-year-olds, lies in a hollow. There is no water or food. As night falls, a child’s voice whispers in the darkness, ‘I’m cold’.”
He says: “Cover yourself with dirt or grass. You will be warm under what nature provides.”
Ms Najwa, doesn't like that idea, but, “I reminded myself that my husband knew much more about the big world than any of us. We were all pearls to my husband, and he wanted to protect us.”
Ms Najwa, who remains married to him, but now lives apart from him in an undisclosed Middle Eastern location, with the fourth son — of 11 children.
Ms Najwa says that “It’s a world where women are never allowed outside the house, 12-year-old daughters are married off to 30-year-old Al Qaeda fighters, pet dogs are used for target practice and the biggest household fight is over whether Islam allows refrigerators.”
She neither defends nor lashes out at Osama, as she says that terrorism is what he does for a living, and that all she needs to do is worry about keeping his house in order.
Source::DC

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Koirala’s daughter is deputy PM

Kathmandu, Oct. 12: The political complexities in Nepal are set to take a new turn with the new government of the Prime Minister, Mr Madhav Kumar Nepal, on Monday deciding to appoint the daughter of the former Premier, Mr Girija Prasad Koirala, as its second deputy prime minister.
Ms Sujata Koirala, 56, who was appointed foreign minister in June despite opposition from her father’s own party members, is now the second deputy prime minister and number three in the cabinet with the senior deputy prime minister being ethnic party leader, Mr Bijay Kumar Gachhadar, who also heads the physical planning and infrastructure ministry.
Monday’s announcement comes after a cold war between the Prime Minister and Mr Girija Prasad Koirala, who remains one of the most influential politicians in the country despite stepping down as the Premier in 2008.
Mr Koirala had reportedly been pressuring Mr Nepal to appoint his daughter as the deputy prime minister in a bid to keep the Koirala grip on Nepal politics alive.
The octogenarian leader still heads the Nepali Congress, the second largest party in Parliament after the Maoists, and has been resisting demands to relinquish the leadership to younger members.
Ms Sujata Koirala lost the election in 2008 though her father campaigned for her. She becomes the second woman to reach the level of deputy prime minister in Nepal.
The first was Shailaja Acharya, the niece of Mr Koirala, in 1998. Acharya died in June this year.
Ms Sujata Koirala’s rise in Nepal’s politics has given rise to comparisons with other daughters in South Asia who headed their nations, like Indira Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto and Sheikh Hasina.
The mother of two, however, says that her ascension is due to her own efforts and contribution.
Source::DC

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Taliban bomber kills 41 in suicide blast

Islamabad, Oct. 12: A suicide bomber killed 41 people in an attack on a Pakistani military convoy passing through a market on Monday as the Taliban claimed responsibility for a weekend raid on the Army’s headquarters.
Militant attacks have intensified over the past week as the Army prepares to launch a ground offensive on the Al Qaeda-linked fighters’ South Waziristan stronghold.
A suicide bomber on foot leapt at a military vehicle in Shangla district, near the Swat valley, the security officials said.
“The bomber hit one of three military vehicles that were passing through the busiest market in the district,” a top Shangla police official, Mr Khan Bahadur Khan, said by telephone.
The provincial information minister, Mr Mian Iftikhar Hussain, said 41 people had been killed, including 35 civilians and six soldiers, and 45 people were wounded.
The Army has largely driven the militants out of Swat and their leader, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed by a missile fired by a US drone attack in August.
The militants are hitting back.
The Army said the Pakistani Taliban commander Wali-ur-Rehman was behind Saturday’s attack on its headquarters in Rawalpindi.
Commandos stormed an office building near the headquarters and rescued 39 people taken hostage by militants after an attack at a main gate of the headquarters. Nine militants and three hostages were killed in the violence in Rawalpindi.
Source::DC

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Bihar: Maoists go on rampage

Patna/Ranchi
Oct. 12: A day after the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, reiterated that Maoists were India’s greatest internal security threat, the ultra-left extremists went on a rampage across Bihar and Jharkhand on Monday, killing two coal mine managers and destroying railway tracks as well as other public and private property.
In neighbouring West Bengal, a Jharkhand Party leader who was kidnapped late on Sunday night, allegedly by Maoists, was found murdered early on Monday. The main railway link between New Delhi and Ranchi was disrupted due to the blowing up of railway tracks.
Members of the outlawed CPI(Maoist), whose two-day shutdown in five states including Bihar and Jharkhand started on Monday, are believed to have shot dead an executive director of Panem Coal Co. Ltd, Dinanath Sharan, as well as the private company’s assistant mines manager, Sheetal Prasad, in Jharkhand’s Pakur at about 5.30 am on Monday while the two were out on a morning walk.
Meanwhile, in West Bengal, a Jharkhand Party member, Ananda Mahato, was abducted by Maoists from Kulabheda village. Both were members of the anti-Maoist “Maobadi Protirodh Committee,” the police said.
Jharkhand bore the brunt of the violence during the shutdown. The CPI(Maoist) rebels blew up a part of a railway track at Jharandih in Dhanbad district.
The Maoists also burnt down three trucks at Isri in Jharkhand’s Giridih district and damaged a bridge connecting Dumri to the Grand Trunk Road. Maoists also attacked a bus, injuring three passengers. In Bihar, the rebels blew up a mobile phone tower of a private telecom company by using dynamite at Salaiya village in Aurangabad district.
Source::DC

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Check abuse of RTI applications, says Prez

New Delhi
Oct. 12: President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Monday called for the need to check frivolous RTI applications flooding various government departments which, she pointed out, were severely limiting their response.
Speaking at the inauguration of the fourth annual convention of the Central Information Commission, the President said “A balance needs to be maintained between applications under the Right to Information to public authorities and also ensuring that public authorities are not flooded with applications, some of them of frivolous nature.”
The convention also marks the anniversary of implementation of the Right to Information Act in the country.
She also cautioned on the tendency to view government departments as adversaries.
“Rights given under this Act to our citizens are extensive and, therefore, it is important that there be a deep sense of responsibility,” she said.
The President said that the CIC had a critical role in maintaining the balance.
“There should be a sense of responsibility for more openness on the part of public authorities to ensure that applications are those that genuinely need immediate attention,” she stated. She also asked public authorities to ensure that RTI applications coming from marginalised sections of the society were given priority.
“Applications that result in public benefits, in the timely implementation of schemes; that bring relief and welfare to people; help in citizens getting what is theirs rightfully, should receive the uppermost priority,” the President said.She said efforts should be made to promote the Act in rural areas and by the disadvantaged sections of society.
Addressing the meet, Minister of State for Personnel and Training Prithviraj Chavan said efforts are being made to make changes in the legislation for strengthening the Act.
“An initiative has been taken to bring some legislative changes to make the RTI Act more user friendly,” he said.
Source::DC

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Maya moves SC to stall Taj scam trial

New Delhi, Oct. 12: The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Ms Mayawati, has moved the Supreme Court challenging an Allahabad High Court decision to entertain a lawsuit seeking revival of a corruption case in the multi-crore Taj Heritage Corridor scam.
Ms Mayawati approached the apex court over the weekend against the September 18 order of the Lucknow Bench of the High Court. The court issued notices to her and her Cabinet colleague, Mr Nasimuddin Siddique, seeking their stand on a public interest lawsuit questioning former governor, Mr T.V. Rajeswar’s June 2007 denial of sanction to the CBI to prosecute them for their alleged role in the corruption case.
The public interest lawsuit was filed by Lucknow residents, Mr Kamlesh Verma, Ms Anupama Singh and Mr Qateel Ahmed.
Source::DC

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TRS wants Jalayagnam files seized

Hyderabad

Oct. 12: The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) has asked the director-general of the Anti-Corruption Bureau to seize all the documents pertaining to the engineering, procurement and construction contracts under Jalayagnam programme before the government orders a high level
probe.
According to the TRS, thousands of crores of rupees had been swindled in the irrigation projects.
The TRS president, Mr K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who has decided to intensify his campaign on the issue, sent a letter to the ACB DG, Mr K. Aravinda Rao, through the TRS floor leader, Mr Etala Rajender, Mr T. Harish Rao, and others.
“EPC contractors of irrigation produced bogus, fabricated documents regarding eligibility, bank guarantees, experience and other stipulations,” he said in the
letter. “The loss of life, property, cattle, crops, houses, movables in the recent floods is the direct result of massive fraud in the EPC contracts. The floods have caused untold misery, suffering and trauma to the people.”
The EPC system of contracts was first introduced by the former Chief Minister, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu and was taken up by his successor, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy to award contracts for irrigation and other projects.
In a related issue, the TRS politburo member, Mr Madhusudhana Chary, said the TRS chief, Mr K. Chandrasekhar Rao, was ready for a debate on the issue and asked the major irrigation minister, Mr Ponnala Laxmaiah to fix the date, time and venue for it.
“We will prove that it was a man-made disaster,” he said.
Source::DC

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AP to complain against water panel chairman

Hyderabad

Oct.12: The state government has decided to lodge a complaint with the Central government against Mr A.K. Bajaj, chairman of the Central Water Commission.
Mr Bajaj in an interview to the media was stated to have observed that the floods in the state were man-made and alleged that the government had not responded to the alerts issued by the CWC, according to top officials in the government.
“This is absolutely wrong. The CWC regional officials were with us all through the floods. They had given us inputs which proved to be wrong some times, but they were with us and even attended meetings with the Chief Minister,” said Mr S. P. Tucker, principal secretary, irrigation department.
In fact, Mr Bajaj’s interview, aired by the BBC, caused considerable embarrassment to the state government.
Taking strong objection to it, the Chief Minister, Mr Rosaiah, asked the irrigation officials to contact Mr Bajaj in this regard.
Interestingly, the state government had submitted a report to the Prime Minister when he came for an aerial survey, praising the CWC’s support during the crisis.
“On September 29, CWC’s daily alert indicated 63,000 cusecs inflow to the Srisailam whereas we received 80,000 cusecs in which 71,000 cusecs was used for power generation and to canals,” explained Mr Rehman, engineer-in-chief.
“On September 30, CWC reading indicated 1.16 lakh inflow whereas we got a report that at Jurala the inflows had already crossed 2 lakh cusecs.”
“On October 1, the CWC alerted us about 1.75 lakh cusecs and by evening upgraded that to 8.12 lakh. But we received 6.4 to 12.37 lakh cusecs from 6 am to 12 midnight.”
“On October 2, we received 22 lakh and 25 lakh cusecs as against 10.95 and 15.89 lakh cusecs predicted by the CWC,” he said.
On the direction of the CM, the irrigation department sent a detailed report on the floods to the Centre, detailing hourly inflows and discharge.
Source::DC

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CM snaps at flood victims

Guntur/Kurnool

Oct. 12: The Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, was irked by the persistent complaints by flood victims on Monday, so much so that he told them, “If you want compensation, take it. Otherwise I will go.”
Mr Rosaiah came face to face with angry locals throughout his tour of Nandyal in Kurnool district and Repalle and Bhattiprolu mandals in Guntur on Monday. In many spots he faced “go back” slogans.
At different places in Guntur, women repeatedly told Mr Rosaiah that they had not received any relief from the government.
Mr Rosaiah pointed out at Penumudi village that the district administration would distribute 20 kg rice, tur dal and 5 litres kerosene apart from compensation.
An angry woman then asked, “What I should with the kerosene? Should I pour it on my head?” Mr Rosaiah was so upset that he left the village.
In Nandyal, flood victims obstructed Mr Rosaiah’s convoy. They wanted him to step down from his bus to visit their colonies. They blocked the CM with slogans like “CM down down” and “CM Go back.”
In other places too, the victims wanted Mr Rosaiah to go with them to their colonies to see the pitiable conditions. Mr Rosaiah said he had come to console them and lost his cool when they persisted
Source::DC

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Chiru’s image worries PR

Hyderabad

Oct. 12: The Praja Rajyam leaders are worried over the lukewarm response that the party chief, Mr K. Chiranjeevi, got when he toured Krishna and Guntur districts. Flood victims in both the districts were not very keen to explain their problems to Mr Chiranjeevi.
Lack of proper planning by district leaders and failure to give wide publicity to his tour were blamed for the poor response to the programme. The party high command is reportedly upset over the lack of interest among party leaders in organising the tour.
“Many flood victims have been shifted to relief centres. Some of them have gone to the houses of their relatives. That could be one of the reasons for the moderate response to Chiranjeevi’s tour. Moreover, fans and common people are not very interested to see an actor when they are in deep trouble,” a senior leader explained.
According to sources, Chiranjeevi did not visit many districts after the general elections as the cadres were not very enthusiastic.
He participated in an agitation against the Babli irrigation project constructed by the Maharashtra government. “Local PR leaders are not keen to make arrangements for Chiranjeevi’s tour as they have to spend lavishly. They always excuse themselves if any tour is planned in their respective areas,” said a PR source.
“After the demise of Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, Chiranjeevi is the lone leader who can attract huge masses. His tours will be successful if they are properly planned in advance. Tours are necessary to revitalise the PR as local body elections are scheduled for next year,” another leader said.
Source::DC

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Flawed data doomed states

Hyderabad
Oct. 12: Irrigation experts and policy makers were dumbstruck when they found that about 14,000 square kilometres in seven districts of both Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are not covered by rain gauging equipment.
This proved fatal in the recent floods, which surged quickly to submerge Kurnool, Mahbubnagar and Mantralayam. Some 200 mm of rain fell on September 29 alone in 7,000 square km of area below the Jurala and Roja, where no rain gauging facility is available.
This changed the complexion of the flood. The unaccounted water proceeded towards Srisailam. Twelve districts in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka received 400 mm average of rainfall on four consecutive days starting from September 29. This water also joined the flow to reach the Srisailam dam. Though there are rain gauging centres at some places for the economics and statistics wing, the information is never shared with the Central Water Commission (CWC). “Unfortunately the CWC did not receive information about the flash rains and their impact on the overall inflow as it does not have rain gauging equipment downstream of Jurala and Roja,” confirmed Mr Rehman, the engineer-in-chief, irrigation department.
The CWC and state irrigation department thus got no warning of the impending flood until September 30, when it descended on them. According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), the rainfall received during those five days was the highest known in the country since 1901. The river Krishna has never witnessed such inflows in its known history. In 1903, the river received 10.5 lakh cusecs inflow at the Prakasam whereas in the recent floods it received 10.9 lakh cusecs over just three consecutive days.
The Srisailam dam was built to discharge 13.5 lakh cusecs maximum, but was forced to discharge 24.8 lakh cusecs of water.
What would have happened if the Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar dams and the Prakasam barrage were not there? If the 25 lakh cusec inflow was let out in the absence of these dams and barrages, most of Krishna district including Gudivada, Tenali, and Repalle towns would have been submerged. Villages near the river Krishna in Nalgonda, Mahbubnagar, and Kurnool would also have been submerged,” said a senior official in the irrigation department. The CWC’s failure to provide accurate data about the river inflow only aided nature’s fury. The CWC report given to the Kurnool Collector on October 1, at about 4 pm, sounded the alert that the Tungabhadra was set to receive an “historical flood”. However, in a report sent to the irrigation department, the CWC said that only 26,000 cusecs would reach the Tungabhadra dam.
This imperfect information proved costly to the residents of the temple town where the highest number of deaths was recorded.


Source::DC

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