Pricol Travel plans two acquisitions

Hyderabad, June 27 : Pricol Travel, part of the Coimbatore-based Rs.1,500-crore Pricol Group, is looking at acquiring two companies and hopes for a three-fold increase in its turnover.Vikram Mohan, Director, Pricol Travel, told reporters here Monday that the company planned to acquire two firms in corporate and leisure travel over the next 24 months. The acquisitions are expected to be of the value of Rs.150 crore.The travel management company is already in talks and hopes to complete one acquisition by the end of the current financial year.Pricol expects Rs.120 crore revenues during the current year but with the acquisition it is likely to cross Rs.200 crore. The revenues in the third financial year will be Rs.350 crore, he said.The company, which is focused only in south India, plans to expand its operations to the north with the two acquisitions.It already has a boutique leisure resort in western Ghats close to Coimbatore and three other properties are under construction. "We will add eight new properties in five years under the Tamara brand in the form of boutique hotels, wilderness lodges, and luxury villas," Mohan said.With plans to enter cruise-cum-leisure segment in a big way, Pricol announced launch of CruiseBay lounge in Hyderabad. CruiseBay, which claims to be India's first cruises-only holiday company, will open the lounge at Pricol's office.Nikhil Thakurdas, CruiseBay director, said the lounge, the sixth such in India, would sell cruises for 28 cruise liners across the world. The firm already has sent over 500 passengers on cruise holiday from five cities.He feels cruising has a huge potential in India. The market is growing at 15 percent per year.Out of 12 million outbound travellers in 2010, only 75,000 went on a cruise holiday.He attributed this small number to misconceptions among Indian travelers about cruising as a holiday.
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Another Satya Sai Trust member questioned

Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, Jun 27: Police today questioned another Satya Sai Central Trust member V Srinivasan here in connection with the seizure of a huge amount of cash which was being taken to Bangalore.The trustee, Srinivasan, who received summons from police two-days back, arrived here from Chennai in the morning to be present before the police.He was questioning by the police at Satya Sai Deemed University administrative building in connection with the recent seizure of Rs 35 lakh from Puttaparthi in the district.As part of the probe into the cash seizure, police had so far questioned Trust member R J Ratnakar, who was also nephew of the late Spiritual Guru Sathya Sai Baba, besides Pradhan, Chief Security Officer of ''Yajur Mandir'' -- the private chamber of Sai Baba and one Venkatesh, personal assistant of Trustee Srinivasan.Police were also in the process of questioning one more person identified as Sadashiv, who is allegedly related to Harishnanda against whom they had already served a notice. However, he had sought some time to appear before the police.Three people were arrested in connection with the seizure of Rs 35 lakh in cash. However, the trio Harishnanda Shetty, Chandrashekhar Murthy alias Shekhar and engineer Sohan Shetty were granted conditional bail last week.Harishnanda Shetty was driver of a four-wheeler, allegedly belonging to the Sathya Sai Central Trust, which was transporting Rs 35 lakh and was confiscated during a vehicle check at Kodikonda check post under Chilamanthur police station limits bordering Karnataka on June 18.The cash was recovered a day after ''Yajur Mandir'' was opened at Prashanti Nilayam in Puttaparthi and it was disclosed that it contained 98 kg of gold, 307 kg of silver, apart from Rs 11.56 crore.
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Light to moderate rain in few places Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

Hyderabad, Jun 27: Light to moderate rain or thundershowers would occur at a few places over Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Telangana over next 48 hours, met office said today.Isolated rain or thundershowers would occur over Rayalaseema during the same period.The outlook for subsequent two days is-- there would be no large change.The sky condition would be generally cloudy over Hyderabad and neighbourhood and rain or thundershowers would occur in parts of city. Maximum and Minimum temperatures would be around 33 and 22 degrees Celsius respectively.Observations recorded till 0830 hours today said rain occurred at a few places over Telangana. Isolated rain occurred over Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema.Sirpur (Adilabad dist) recorded a heavy rainfall of 9 cm.The other chief amounts of rainfall recorded in cm are Asifabad (Adilabad dist) 5, Miryalguda (Nalgonda dist), Nizamsagar (Nizamabad dist) 3 each, Nalgonda, Nandigama, Banswada (Nizamabad dist), Paleru Bridge (Krishna dist), Perur (Khammam dist), Ramayampet (Medak dist) 2 each and Adilabad, Hakimpet AP, Ramagundam, Atchampet (Guntur dist), Boath, Chinnoor, Khanapur, Luxettipet & Utnoor (all Adilabad dist), Eluru (West Godavari dist), Eturnagaram (Warangal dist), Ibrahimpatnam & Tandur (both Rangareddy dist), Jagitiyal & Manthani (both Karimnagar dist), Kamareddy (Nizamabad dist), Madhira (Khammam dist), Nuzvid (Krishna dist) one each, the bulletin said.
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Final hearing on TDP rebel MLA's disqualification tomorrow

Hyderabad, June 26 : The final hearing on pending disqualification petition given by TDP over its rebel candidate MLA Nallapureddy Prasanna Kumar, is likely to be heard tomorrow while disciplinary action against Congress MLAs will be delayed futher.Speaker Nadendla Manohar will summon rebel TDP MLA tomorrow for a final hearing in connection with the pending disqualification petition submitted by TDP seeking his disqualification for anti-party activities, particularly moving with YSR Congress Party headed by Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, according to sources here.It is understood that the Legislature Secretariat had already sent final notice to Mr Reddy, who represents the Kovvur Assembly constitutency in Nellore district.The rebel TDP legislator and the Telugu Desam Legislature Party (TDLP) would appear before the Speaker tomorrow and day after tomorrow respectively and will decide the fate of Prasanna Kumar soon after hearing versions from the both sides, the sources added. Meanwhile, disciplinary action against Congress MLAs loyal to YS Jagan Mohan Reddy of YSR Congress is likely to be delayed further as the state leadership intends to wait till a decision by the Secretariat is taken on the disqualification petitions pending against K Surekha (Parakal), G Srikanth Reddy (Rayachoti), C Adinarayana Reddy (Jammalamadugu) and A Amarnath Reddy (Rajampet).Speaker Mr Manohar, who is leaving for foreign tour on June 30, would decide the ruling party petitions only after returning from tour.
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4 killed in road accident

Medak, Jun 27 : Four people were killed and three others injured, one of them seriously, when the lorry in which they were travelling overturned at Pulkal mandal in the district, early today.According to Jogipet Circle Inspector Krishna, the mishap occurred when the fertilizer-laden lorry proceeding to Allapuram via Sangareddy from Hyderabad overturned at Hunnapur village in Pulkal mandal. While three people were killed on the spot, another person succumbed to injuries on the way to local area government hospital.The injured were shifted to the local government hospital and the seriously injured lorry driver was shifted to Osmania Hospital in Hyderabad, police added.
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