AgSri Agricultural Services Private Limited, the Hyderabad-based social enterprise, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the US-based Driptech Inc, the makers of low-cost drip irrigation systems, to help small farmers in Andhra Pradesh. Priced at Rs 12,000 per acre, the system scores high in acceptance due to its easy installation and maintenance.

Sounding a note of caution, about the adverse impact of underwater sand mining, Chief Justice Madan B. Lokur asked the advocate-general to seriously reconsider its policy on allowing it. The Chief Justice was hearing a batch of writ petitions on sand mining along with Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar. The High Court had put a ban on sand mining across the state with effect from April 1 and the state government had filed an appeal, urging the court to lift the ban.

The Water Board and the Secunderabad Cantonment Board are accused of minting money by selling water through mobile tankers instead of supplying it by the pipeline network.

Citizens naturally wonder why, if water is available for thousands of trips made by tankers, it is not available though the pipeline distribution system.

Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on Wednesday expressed concern over the increasing water woes in the state.

The ban on use of below-40 micron plastic carry bags has gone for a toss in the city with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation seemingly uninterested in enforcing the ban.

In a significant step, the state government on Tuesday notified Kawal Wildlife Sanctuary as a tiger reserve despite serious objections from pro-Telangana political parties. The core area of the Kawal tiger reserve has been declared as 892 square kilometer with a buffer zone of 1123 sq. km which falls under Adilabad district. Approximately 21 habitations within the buffer zone are excluded from the tiger reserve.

Brace up for a relatively parched summer, as drinking water supply is likely to take a nosedive with both Osmansagar and Himayatsagar fast drying up. According to officials, water available in the two reservoirs will be sufficient for supply only up to May, after which reserves will reach dead storage levels, forcing use of high-power motors to pump water.

But the quality of water at dead storage level is hardly satisfying, given the experience. Residents had earlier complained of ‘stinking and discoloured water’ supplied from these two reservoirs.

The Survey of India, compiled in 1975, marked around 1,000 water bodies with unique aquatic flora and fauna in the state capital. In fact, Hyderabad then was called the “City of Lakes”. But that was then.

When the HMDA did a count a year ago for the Lake Protection Committee, the officials could list only about 400 lakes in areas within its jurisdiction. Signi-ficantly, experts said, the number of waterbodies that have disappeared would be higher, considering HMDA’s jurisdiction comprises four districts. And if the ‘disappearance’ of about 600 lakes in 35-odd years isn’t alarming enough, even waterbodies that still exist have shrunk, with encroachments on the periphery.

About 44.5 lakh out of 2.43 crore consumers will benefit

Extending some relief to lower middle class power consumers aggrieved over the recent tariff hike, the government has announced an additional subsidy of Rs.175 crore to insulate them from any extra burden.

The hills and valleys are as scenic, their tribal inhabitants as abject, the industrial interests threatening them as powerful and rapacious.