Kodandaram is a Hitler: Komati Reddy

Now that the Congress has more or less come out of the Telangana Joint Action Committee, it has started attacking JAC convenor Prof M Kodandaram branding him as the TRS “postman.”While it was Congress MP Ponnam Prabhakar who had attacked Kodandaram on Tuesday, it was the turn of minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy to take him to task. He described Kodandaram as Hitler for dictating terms to the MLAs, MPs and MLCs and asking them to resign. “Who is Kodandaram to tell us to quit? We have our own strategy in the best interest of Telangana and the party. He is making statements at the behest of the TRS,” the minister alleged.Venkat Reddy took exception to Kodandaram giving a call to the Telangana activists to do “social boycott” of the MLAs and lay siege to their residences demanding their resignations. “It is highly unbecoming of a professor like Kodandaram to give such a call. Will he take the responsibility for the consequences if our party workers counter attack the Telangana activists?” he asked ======================================================

Hyderabad Airport Adjudged Amongst Top Five in World

The Hyderabad international airport has been named amongst the world’s top five in the annual Airport Service Quality (ASQ) passenger survey along with the ones at Seoul, Singapore, Hong Kong and Beijing.The survey, conducted by Airports Council International (ACI), an autonomous body representing world airports, adjudged the airport in the Andhra Pradesh capital as the best in the five to 15 million passenger capacity category and the fifth best amongst all airports, both worldwide and in the Asia-Pacific region.“The top awards in the worldwide category go to Seoul Incheon International Airport, Singapore Changi Airport, Hong Kong International Airport, Beijing Capital International Airport, and Hyderabad Rajiv Gandhi International Airport,” said ACI Director General Angela Gittens.The report was released in Geneva Tuesday.As a leading industry benchmarking tool, ASQ is designed to help participating airports to measure their improvement year on year.“2009 was a tough year for airports worldwide. It was a year of balancing tight budgets with high customer expectations for service excellence. The results of the year-long passenger survey help identify the leaders in meeting that challenge,”added Gittens.The Hyderabad International airport is managed by a public-private joint venture consisting of the GMR Group, Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad and both the State Government of Andhra Pradesh and Airports Authority of India,  (thanks,way2online)
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Paramilitary forces pulled out of Osmania University

Following the orders of Andhra Pradesh High Court, the state government Wednesday pulled out Rapid Action Force and other paramilitary forces from the Osmania University campus here.Hyderabad Police Commissioner A.K. Khan told reporters that the paramilitary forces were moved out of the campus.The court Tuesday reprimanded the state government while dismissing its petition challenging the earlier direction by a single-judge bench to withdraw the forces following the police baton charge on students and journalists on Sunday and Monday.The court has taken a serious note of the incidents, especially the beating up of girl students by the police, switching off electricity supply, and firing of teargas shells in darkness.While dealing with a petition of a television channel reporter who was assaulted by police, a single-judge bench termed the state police “lawless” and remarked that even the chief minister and his cabinet colleagues were helpless in controlling police.“Perhaps it is time for Amnesty International to report on rights violations in the state,” observed Justice Narasimha Reddy while directing Joint Commissioner of Police P.S.R. Anjaneyulu to appear in person before him to answer his questions on handling the situation on the campus.Scores of students and media persons were injured when police constables baton charged them on the campus during students’ protests over the demand for statehood to Telangana.Meanwhile, Home Minister P. Sabita Indra Reddy told the state assembly that investigations into the incidents were on and a report would be available in a week.Making a statement in the house, she claimed that police resorted to baton charge when students, who were trying to take out a procession violating prohibitory orders, pelted stones injuring three policemen.On the demand of opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to withdraw all cases against students and other protestors, she said the government would consider it after peace is restored.She said the government and police had apprehensions that anti-social elements in the guise of students had entered the university.She said the state witnessed disturbances over Telangana issue for 68 days during which 1,288 cases were registered and 5,000 people were arrested. “While 1,070 cases were booked in Telangana, 218 cases were registered in Andhra and Rayalaseema regions,” she said.TDP deputy leader N. Janardhan Reddy wanted to know why the government has turned Osmania University into a police camp. He said though union Home Minister P. Chidambaram announced on Dec 9 that all cases would be withdrawn, the state government had not taken any action.Deputy Speaker N. Manohar abruptly adjourned the house till Thursday even as TDP legislators were protesting over the “unsatisfactory” statement by the home minister.
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BHEL presents Dividend Cheque of Rs.364.66 crore

(PIB NEWS) A Dividend Cheque of Rs. 364.66 crores towards the interim divided for the year 2009-10 on the equity (67.72%) was presented to Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh, Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises by Shri B.P Rao, CMD, Bhart Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) here today. This represents interim Dividend of 110 per cent on the advanced Equity capital post-bonus for fiscal 2009-10. Shri Arun Yadav, the Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises and Dr. Satyanaranyana Dash, Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries were also present on the occasion. Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh said that the Government needs to protect the Domestic Power Equipment Industry by putting Custom Duties upto 10 per cent and special duties (SAD) of 4 per cent on import of power machines. CMD, BHEL said that the company has maintained its unmatched track record of earning profits rewarding investors by paying dividends uninterruptedly for over three decades without a break. Speaking on the occasion, he said that the growth momentum achieved by BHEL in 2008-09 is to be accelerated in the current fiscal. At the end of the third quarter, the company expects to achieve robust growth in future. Earlier in a meeting with the officials and workers of the HMT Machine Tools Ltd., the Minister said that the Government is abreast of the problems afflicting the Public Sector Enterprise HMT and studying all options available to see the turnaround of the company. He said that closure of any unit will be the last alternative. HMT will be provided Government support in coming out of the loss and utilize the expertise of HMT in making precession tools for Automobile Defence, Aerospace and General Engineering Industry. ======================================================