Hyderabad, April 30: The state secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI), Mr K. Narayana, on Wednesday appealed to the CPI (Marxist) to reconsider its decision to support the Telugu Desam in the upcoming bypolls. Speaking to mediapersons, the CPI leader, however, said his party would accept the support extended by the CPI(M) in Huzurabad and Medaram Assembly constituencies. Mr Narayana hinted that the party might field its candidate from Aleru in Nalgonda district in addition to the two seats. The move is likely to put CPI(M) into trouble because the Telugu Desam already decided to field its senior leader, Mr M. Narasimhulu. “The CPI(M) will be forced to choose between the Telugu Desam and the Left unity,” a senior leader pointed out.

The state secretary also said the party was actively considering the alternative option of supporting independent candidates or Lok Satta candidates wherever they were strong.
Though CPI was sympathetic to the cause of separate Telangana, there were certain reservations in working with the leadership of Telangana Rashtra Samiti, added Mr Narayana. While Congress is still dodging on the issue, there is no significant change on the TD’s stand, he said. Asked whether TD will support its candidates as was the case in CPI(M), Mr Narayana said the question of the Telugu Desam’s support would not arise because the CPI did not join any electoral alliance with it. Reiterating the party’s stand of equi-distance from the TD, the Congress and the TRS, the CPI leader said the Congress initially proposed to allot Medaram to his party.

Hyderabad, April 30: The Congress government has decided to allow beneficiaries of Indiramma Housing to purchase cement from open market at a higher price in view of shortage of supply by the housing department and to avoid any backlash just before the bypolls. “We are stepping up supplies and if the shortage persists, the beneficiaries can buy from open market,” said the housing minister, Mr Botsa Satyanarayana on Wednesday. With the construction work reaching its peak in summer the state will have to spend Rs 1 crore additionally per day to buy from the open market. The beneficiaries will have to pay Rs 200 per bag, which is Rs 50 more than what they were paying before. Mr Satyanarayana said the state had already increased the unit cost by Rs 3,000 following the price escalation in cement and steel.

It has also decided to engage rail wagons to supply cement in districts like Anantapur and Chittoor where incidences of shortage were reported. At a high level review meeting, the housing minister directed officials to take immediate steps for transportation of cement through rail wagons. But officials were believed to have kept on hold the proposal to use rail wagons as it would cost Rs 10-Rs 15 extra on each bag of cement. But it was later finalised at the meeting. “Cement companies have been supplying 11,000 metric tonnes everyday. “Though they are in a position to supply another 9,000 metric tonnes, we are not able to lift stocks due to transportation problem,” said the housing minister at the meet.

Kakinada, April 30: A third year MBBS student of the Rangaraya Medical College committed suicide by hanging on Wednesday, the first day of the third year written examinations. B. Srujana, 19, of Visa-khapatnam, left a suicide note asking her her father, Mr B. Bhujanga Rao, to forgive her for belying his expectations. Police said the letter mentioned that she had done badly in the practical examinations Police said Srujana may have ended her life when her roommate Papamma was away. Papamma found the room locked from the inside and there was no response to her persistent knocking.

She alerted hostelmates and left for college. The hostelmates informed the hostel electrician, Gurunatha Rao. They informed the police after their efforts to break open the door failed. The police, led by deputy superintendent of police, Mr S. Surya Rao, arrived at the spot and broke open the door and found the body hanging from the ceiling fan. Police found the purported note that Srujana had addressed to her father, Mr Rao, an LIC official in Machili-patnam. The police informed her parents and sent the body for post mortem to the government hospital.

Hyderabad, April 30: The advocate-general, Mr C.V. Mohan Reddy, is facing his father-in-law, Mr S. Venkat Reddy, in a case regarding the government taking over 200 acres of land under the Urban Ceiling Act. The government had acquired 200 acres of the 457 acres of land owned by one Rabia Begum of Bachupally at Qutbullapur municipal circle. Mrs Tahera Yousuf Kadri and Dr Qudsia Sajjad, daughters of Rabia Begum, moved the AP High Court stating that the government had acquired the land after the death of their mother. Justice N.V. Ramana on Wednesday started hearing the petition.

The petitioners sought directions to declare the acquisition as null and void as the legal heirs of Rabia Begum are still in possession of the land. The advocate-general said that the petitioners had approached the court after the repeal of the Land Ceiling Act with an intention to take back their lands. Mr Venkat Reddy argued that Rabia Begum had filed a declaration on September 16, 1976, stating that that 67.37 acres of the 457.14 acres was in excess of land permitted under the Land Ceiling Act. The special officer did not pass any order on the declaration then. In July 2004, 119 acres were issued in favour of the AP Housing Board.

Mr Venkat Reddy stated that the APHB alienated the land to Indu Projects Limited and Deccan Infrastructures and Land Holdings Limited to develop townships. He told the court that petitioners paid Rs 3 crore in 2002 seeking regularisation of their land but the authorities did not pass any order till date. The respondents had failed to file counters in spite of court directions. The arguments will continue on Thursday.

Hyderabad, April 30: Income-tax officials on Wednesday conducted a massive raid to unearth the unaccounted transactions of jewellers and pearl dealers in the city. The operation, according to I-T sources, will have far-reaching impact across the pearl and jewellery dealers in the country. A trading company’s five offices in the city were raided and I-T men seized huge stocks of unaccounted pearls and Rs 1 crore as cash. The operation, which began on Tuesday evening continued until Wednesday night. More than 100 officers from the state and another 24 from other stations were put into operation.

“The officers were not informed about the raid in advance, but on reaching the assigned placed, the higher officials handed over the address to be raided,” said an I-T official. All the records, including short notes on rough paper, were seized by officials as daily transactions are usually noted on tiny sheets of paper, he added. “We received information from our intelligence wing that many pearl and jewellery dealers have a turnaround of more than hundred crore and none of them pay the appropriate tax. The jeweller with five offices in the city has been coordinating these operations. We have seized documents that would prove the involvement of many city dealers,” a senior official in the income tax department told this correspondent. I-T officials are also investigating how these dealers transported the stock to different locations without legal documents.