The state government on Wednesday decided to continue the controversial cloud seeding operations for another five years. Tenders have been called to select the company which will conduct the operations. A top official said that there was actually no scientific reason for continuing the programme but added that there was

The Rajiv Arogyasri scheme has come as a boon for the poverty stricken parents of seven-year-old Lavanya of Sanjeevapuram in Bukkara-yasamudram mandal. The little girl was suffering from congenital cardiac problems and her parents, Mr Thimmappa and Ms Bhagyalakshmi, did not have the Rs 1,00,000 required to repair her heart valves through surgery.

In a major move, the state government has shelved the proposed Krishna Phase-III project and replaced it with the Godavari project to bring 10 tmc of water in phase-I from the Sripada Sagar reservoir in Yellampalli in Karimnagar district. The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board has invited tenders for the execution of the Rs 3,300 crore project to bring Godavari water to the city.

ALTHOUGH the mighty Godavari river passes through the Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh, it remains parched much of the year.

Even as resentment is brewing among the farmers of the SRSP tail-end areas in Peddapalli division over the alleged denial of water supply, the SRSP officials have stepped up vigil in association with the police to prevent unauthorised tapping of water from the main canals in the division to ensure water to the tail-end areas. The aggrieved farmers of the tail-end areas of Dharmaram, Sultanabad, Velgatur and other mandals in Peddapalli division organised agitations in the last week demanding water supply to save their crops. They raised objections over the alleged illegal tapping of water by using the electricity pump-sets in the upstream areas of the main canals and sought action to check the menace. In this backdrop, the SRSP officials released water from the project into some of the reservoirs in an effort to cater to the water requirements of the farmers in the crucial rabi season. The officials have pressed into action special mobile teams along with the police to check illegal tapping of water from the main canals and other untoward incidents to ensure water supply to the tail-end areas. The farmers of the remote areas of Kamanpur mandal have joined the operation to ensure smooth flow of water without any hindrances. Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Kisan Morcha state president P. Sugunakar Rao demanded that the SRSP officials should convene a meeting of the elected representatives of the water users associations to chalk out a strategy to ensure equitable distribution of water to all the farmers up to the tail-end areas of the canals. He warned that the Morcha would launch an agitation if the authorities failed to initiate steps to supply water to the farmers, especially of the tail-end areas, to save their standing crops.

Does away with middlemen; ten States keen to replicate model The implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) through biometric smart cards in Andhra Pradesh has attracted nationwide attention, with many States planning to adopt a similar method. Financial Information Network and Operations Ltd (FINO), a Mumbai-based technology solutions provider, is presently implementing NREGS in five districts of Andhra Pradesh by paying wages through biometric smart cards. "The hassle-free mode of payment sans middlemen has become a hit with the unskilled manual labourers. Encouraged by the feedback, at least 10 other States, including Orissa, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, are showing interest in adopting similar methods,' Mr Rishi Gupta, Chief Financial Officer and President (Sales), FINO, told Business Line over phone from Mumbai. Implementation After a successful pilot programme in eight mandals of Warangal and Karimnagar districts, the payment of pension and National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme wages are now being paid through smart cards in 259 villages

The Karimnagar Municipal Corporation has embarked on construction of a new filter bed at an estimated cost of Rs 1.30 crore near the Lower Manair Dam (LMD) in the town. The new water purification mechanism is being installed as part of a comprehensive plan to meet the drinking water requirements of the rapidly expanding town with a futuristic vision, sources said. Karimnagar mayor D. Shankar formally launched the construction works here on Monday.

THE first thing to note about the Mulkanoor cooperative is that it is an exception, not the rule. Given the otherwise dismal state of the cooperative movement in India, how many cooperative societies can boast of a turnover in excess of Rs 55 crore? Or have one of its members go on to become the prime minister of the country (P V Narasimha Rao, in this case)? Or not have a single defaulter on the roll of its hundreds of borrowers, with total lending in a year exceeding Rs 20 crore? Or have operations ranging from dairies to a modern rice mill.

April 8: The Central government has given clearance for expansion of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Ramagundam unit. Construction of the eight and ninth units at 500 mw each is likely to begin in the near future and authorities have prepared plans to complete the project by 2013.