Auto LPG Master Meter launched in State January 05, 2012 15:50
In the wake of several complaints among Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) vehicle users regarding the true quantity of gas being delivered at filing stations, the State government has, for the first time, launched an ‘Auto LPG Master Meter' to test reliability of LPG dispensing units, here on Wednesday. “There has so far been no way in ensuring that dispensing units are delivering the true quantity of gas. This master meter, currently the only one in the country, will determine whether the meter reading in LPG dispensing units is genuine or not,” said D. Sridhar Babu, Minister Civil Supplies and Legal Metrology. Compare reading The quantity of gas to be filled into a vehicle through the dispensing unit will be passed through the master meter, and the reading in the meter of the dispensing units will then be compared to that in the master meter to determine its veracity. If both the readings are found to be same, the dispensing unit will be sealed as genuine. Valid for one year The seal is valid for one year from its date of issue, after which the meters will have to been re-tested, officials said. The Rs. 8 lakh mobile master meter will be used to test all 85 LPG dispensing units across the State; nearly 65 of which are in the city alone. “The auto master meter has been commissioned to carry out routine inspections on all LPG dispensing units, besides testing faulty meters on receiving complaints,” said Harpreet Singh, Commissioner of Civil Supplies and Ex-officio secretary, consumer affairs, Food and Civil Supplies department. “While autos form a huge majority of the vehicles using LPG gas, this will ensure that poor auto-drivers are not cheated by faulty meter readings. The master meter will not be permanently stationed at one filling station, but kept at the legal metrology office,” said Mr. Babu. Coriolis meters Officials informed that more such Coriolis meters would also be commissioned if there was a need.
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Is this the climax for Jagan? Arrest speculated, political motives January 04, 2012 10:53
Should we call it the clever cunningness of an young man to pull the unknown modus operandi to usurp funds, or should we call our ignorance for the late awakening. If democracy is the roof with people foundation, and if these people go by their senses worshipping a person, who as per government is accused of many illegal activities, then who will win, the government or the mass follower. This has been a question on any logical thinker’s mind across the state. The CBI on Tuesday alleged that the investments in the companies based in Luxembourg and British Virgin Islands were used for money laundering by the late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy and his son Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy. As per the report the money was laundered and pumped back into the firms closely held by the YSR family. The CBI is all set to probe Asia Infrastructure Sicar of Luxembourg and Whitehall Associates A.A of British Virgin Islands, in these angles. Also the investigating agency wants to look into the transactions of Mauritius-based companies — 2i Capital and Pluri Emerging Company, in aiding the laundering. CBI also feels that Mr. Vijay Sai Reddy, top associate of Mr. Jagan, as an auditor, has been instrumental in the proceedings. Hence the CBI requested Mr. Vijay’s remand for interrogation, who is right now in police remand. Luxembourg — a tiny country of about 5 lakh population in Western Europe situated between Belgium, Germany, and France — has a reputation as a tax haven due to its banking secrecy laws. It is on the “grey list” of nations with questionable banking arrangements by the G20. With the arrest of Mr. Vijay Sai Reddy, there are speculations that the king pin in the whole issues, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy could also be arrested, in a short while from now. But the CBI proposes to investigate him in the Gali and Emaar cases further to do the needful. Also in the meantime if Mr. Vijay Sai spills the beans, which is unlikely, then the case against the king pin might become stronger.
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Death report of Hyderabad on new year’s eve January 02, 2012 17:05
As sure as one year follows the next, Hyderabad sees a spate of accidents occurring during revelry on new year’s eve. This time, 10 people lost their lives in five separate mishaps in the city and its outskirts. All the accidents were attributed to drunken or rash driving. In Bowenpally, five youngsters travelling at a high speed on one motorcycle, crashed into a wall and fell into a nala. Police said that the driver Srikanth (21) “lost control at the steep curve near Tadbund road and crashed the bike into the compound wall of the old Begumpet airport runway. They fell into the roadside open nala and four of them drowned.” Apart from Srikanth, the other deceased are Bharat Kumar (20), Shiva Kumar (19), Suresh (18). The fifth youth Sai Manikanta, escaped with injuries. Meanwhile, three persons were killed and six injured in a head-on collision between two cars at Shamirpet. “Their car was hit by another car coming at a high speed from the opposite direction at the steep curve near CRV engineering college bus stand around 12.30 a.m.,” police said. Those killed were N Chandrasekhar Reddy (32), Syed Tafeem (32) and Sanjeev Kumar (29). In Kukatpally, a polytechnic student K Manikanta Venkata Swamy Naidu (18) was killed and his friend injured when his two-wheeler crashed into another vehicle. In the other two incidents, a 25-year-old welder Ramu died after he rammed his vehicle into a road divider and a private employee Venkataramana (40) was killed when he was knocked down by a vehicle at Uppal.
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Foreign Students Worried abt OU December 24, 2011 19:37
The foreign students worried over the postponment of PG semester exams by a month, students in Osmania University met vice-chancellor Prof. Satyanarayana and asked that the exam be held as scheduled. They are worried about visas, which is linked to academic schedule could expire if the exams are postponed. OU has about 1,000 foreign students. The exams were postponed as local students cited the T-stir.
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Biomass gasifier crematorium to be inaugurated on Dec.24 December 21, 2011 19:27
A biomass gasifier crematorium that costs Rs.45 lakh is set to be inaugurated in the Swarg Dham cremation ground in Alwal on December 24, a press release from the crematorium said on Tuesday. The crematorium uses wood chips instead of electricity to incinerate the dead bodies, but functions as effectively as an electric crematorium, the note said. Compared with the conventional cremation methods, it is 50 per cent economical and eco-friendly, it claimed. Coming to the functioning of the crematorium, four-inch pieces of wood will be put in the hopper of the biomass gasifier which, when fired with a limited amount of oxygen, will produce gas. The gas will be channelized to the cremation furnace where it will generate fire energy to incinerate the body between 800 and 1,100 degrees temperature. The process of cremation will be completed in about 60 to 90 minutes depending on the body size and other biological factors, the note said. Chairman of the Swarg Dham project Rajwant Singh Gulati claimed that this would be the first ever biomass gasifier crematorium to be set up in the State.
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Mumbai-based boutique owner held with cocaine December 21, 2011 19:04
A drug peddler, who smuggled in cocaine packed in an empty cool drink pack and managed to fly to Hyderabad, was caught by the police. Forty grams of cocaine, worth over Rs 1.5 lakh, was seized from Shaik Jaweed (36), police said. Jaweed runs a boutique in Mumbai and had come to Hyderabad to peddle drugs anticipating good demand for cocaine in view of the New Year celebrations. His ingeniousness worked to the extent of getting the contraband out of the airport, but a Task Force team caught him near Panjagutta, based on a tip-off. According to the Task Force DCP, Ch. Ramchander, investigations are on to find out how he managed to get the drug without being detected by sophisticated airport scanners. Police are also trying to find out his links in the city and foreign drug peddlers. Inquiries revealed that he went to Kuwait in 2002 and worked as a data entry operator for six years. He returned to Mumbai four years ago and started running a boutique at Bandra in Mumbai. He and his friend Parvez of Dubai got addicted to drugs and established contacts with some drug peddlers. On learning that there was good demand for cocaine in Hyderabad during the New Year celebrations, he came to Hyderabad and was planning to sell the drug at Rs.5,000 to Rs.8,000 per gram, officials explained. “It's a serious crime. We will take stern action if anyone was found to be indulging in such practices during the New Year celebrations,” the DCP warned.
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Two killed in fire at Rantus pharma factory December 19, 2011 14:04
The fire broke out at the chemical factory of Rantus Pharma in Pashamylaram industrial area of Patancheru in Medak district, about 50 km from Hyderabad. The factory was completely gutted. Two employees working at the factory did not return home Sunday. Their families lodged a complaint with the police. Investigators Monday found skeletal remains of the missing employees in the rubble. The dead have been identified as stores manager Ravindranath and worker Ram Singh. It was earlier believed that only six workers had been injured in the fire. According to police, the fire engulfed the factory after a reactor exploded due to an electrical short-circuit. The fire broke out in the evening, and spread to neighboring factories. Fire-fighting personnel had to battle for five hours to control the flames. This is the second such accident in three days. Four workers of a chemical factory were killed in a reactor blast at Polepalli Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Jadcherla in Mahabubnagar district near Hyderabad last Friday.
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Case against Jr.NTR's driver dismissed December 17, 2011 18:49
Tollywood hero Jr. NTR today attended a Lok Adalat hearing at Suryapet in connection with an accident case. The Lok Adalat, conducted at the Suryapet Munsiff Magistrate court in Nalgonda district, dismissed the case registered by the police sue motto against Jr. NTR’s driver. Jr. NTR attended the court as a witness in the case and after hearing his statement, the Lok Adalat dismissed the case registered against Mr Surapaneni Udayakumar, his driver. The young hero was present in the court for five minutes. There was heavy security at the court premises as thousands of people thronged the court surroundings to take a look at him. The accident took place on March 26, 2009 at Mote in Nalgonda district in which the actor was severely injured along with other actors Rajiv Kanakala and Srinivasa reddy. Jr. NTR’s leg was fractured in the accident and the hero underwent treatment for a few days in the KIMS Hospital in Hyderabad. Their car turned upside down while negotiating a curve on the main road during their return journey to Hyderabad from Khammam. (JUBS)
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Anna Hazare public meeting in Hyderabad on Dec 19 December 16, 2011 17:58
Anti-corruption campaigner and Gandhian Anna Hazare will address a public meeting at Nizam College grounds in Hyderabad on Dec 19. Addressing a media conference in Hyderabad today, Gandhi King Foundation Trustee Mr G Prasad said Anna will arrive in the city early in the morning on Dec 19 and straightaway visit the Bapu Ghat for paying tributes to the Father of the Nation. “Hazare will later address a media conference and meet with representatives of NGOs fighting corruption in the country,” Mr Prasad said. Prasad said the public meeting is being jointly sponsored by Art of Living Foundation, Jana Vignana Vedika, Lead India and National Alliance for People’s, Movement. “The public meeting will be held for two hours from 4.30 pm,” said Mr Prasad. (JUBS)
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Strict rules for hospitals in high-rises December 14, 2011 18:35
The government has come out with separate set of building regulations for hospitals in high-rises restricting them to 15 floors or 60 metres height, with each floor of four metres. New setback rules too have been issued for such buildings, depending on the height of the building. These fresh fire safety rules were issued to facilitate effective fire-fighting operations and to prevent fire from spreading to adjacent buildings during a mishap. All these buildings have to be built of mandatory fire resistant material from the walls, columns, beams, doors, etc., which can withstand fire for one to three hours. Smoke partition walls There would be no relaxation in open spaces even when road widening is taken up and abutting road on any side shall not be considered as open space for the purpose. Elevator lobbies on every floor are to be enclosed by smoke partition walls with a minimum fire resistance rating of an hour. This elaborate list of guidelines was prepared by the JNTU on being commissioned by the GHMC and the government. A fresh set of rules became imperative when the Fire and Emergency Services Department received two applications for hospital building of more than 15 floors. The National Building Code (NBC) has specified that buildings above 30 metres height are not to be permitted for educational, residential, assembly and mercantile occupancies. The department had then sought the government help for a new set of rules on a par with the multiplex guidelines following the international standards of design, construction and operational management. In the new rules, two exits for each floor and two exits from each smoke compartment with doors leading directly to the outside of the building, stairs, smoke-proof enclosures, ramps, exit passageways and horizontal exits have been listed. Emergency power systems and standby power branch circuits along with all the automatic fire protection systems such as automatic sprinkler system, portable extinguishers, hose reels, yard hydrants and wet standpipes, fire pumps and water supply tanks, are mandatory. Besides, fire detection and alarm systems, separate safety measures are necessary for dealing with flammable liquids, heating equipment and water heaters of the kitchen, laundry and oxygen nitrous oxide storage. Fire command centre, fire department communication system, risk management report, inbuilt fire station, safety plan, building evacuation supervisor and fire drills were also listed.
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Step up loans, Kiran tells banks December 13, 2011 13:38
The Chief Minister, Mr N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, on Monday asked bankers to increase loans to farmers during the rabi season as the state was reeling under a severe drought. Speaking at the 176th meeting of the State Level Bankers Committee, the Chief Minister expressed unhappiness over banks extending only loans of Rs 1,490 crore against a target of Rs 10,000 crore. In the case of licensed cultivators (tenant farmers) too, the banks did not cover even one fifth of them, he said. The SLBC president, Mr R. Ramachandran, said that the banks had rescheduled crop loans in the natural calamity hit mandals of the state in the last two years, and in many mandals, the calamities had hit for the third consecutive year, and this had enormously increased the debt burden, which was a cause of concern.
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Kenyan drug racket busted in city December 12, 2011 17:51
Police busted another drug racket in the capital on Sunday when they arrested a Kenyan, along with a resident of the city, working as corporate event manager, and seized nine grams of cocaine from them. The accused Kenyan, George Peter Kiprop Koech (35) was caught near Civil Supplies Bhavan when he came to deliver cocaine to Vikram Malhotra, 42, event manager, the Punjagutta Inspector Ashoka Chakravarthy said. Two mobile phones and Rs. 10,000 were seized from them. The Kenyan came to India 10 years ago and completed his Intermediate, degree and post-graduate courses at Patiala, Gwalior and Delhi. He claimed that he had come to Hyderabad a year ago to pursue Ph.D. in political science. “Investigation revealed that George came in contact with Bahseer, an Ugandan national, in the city who used to smuggle cocaine. Through Basheer, he began procuring cocaine and selling it to party-goers in Hyderabad,” the Inspector said. Meanwhile, the Ugandan national shifted to Mumbai where the event manager too got introduced to him. Basheer told Malhotra that drugs could be collected from George. On a tip-off, the West zone DCP special party led by Sub-Inspector Qaleel Pasha caught the duo. A hunt is on for Basheer.
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