Efforts to bring the dying aquaculture sector back onto the rails through an alternative to the virus hit tiger variety shrimp has been facing stiff opposition from aqua farmers across the coast. The Union government had allowed select hatcheries to conduct trials on white shrimp known as L.Vannamei about five years ago when tiger shrimp was plagued by various problems including a poor market rate.

The minister for women and child welfare, Mrs N. Rajyalakshmi, said that irrigation officials had not yet taken up the proposals she gave for some minor irrigation schemes in her Venkatagiri constituency in 2006. She brought this to the notice of the district in-charge minister, Mr Pinnamaneni Venkateswar Rao, during the district review committee meeting held on Tuesday.

A fresh petition was filed at the Andhra Pradesh High Court against the land acquisition for the proposed SEZ in Krishnapatnam in Nellore district. Mr T. Gopal Reddy of Nellore town filed the petition seeking a direction to suspend the notice issued by the mining department for termination of mining lease.

Residents of Bantlapalli in Atmakur mandal of Nellore district have been facing severe drinking water problem for the last few years. The village has 500 people and residents suffer from kidney and skin diseases, many becoming disabled as the water available in the village has high quantity of fluoride content. People who are in their 40s have aged and doctors have been advising them to leave the village instead of going for treatment. People have to walk nearly 1.5 kms to the adjacent Khansahebpet village of Marripadu mandal to fetch drinking water.

The Centre has accorded mega project status to the state-owned 1,600 MW Krishnapatnam Thermal Power Project. This means there would be Rs 600-crore savings in the project cost. Delighted over the upgrade, the AP Generation Corporation has decided to expedite opening of price bid by June 3 to built the project. The first super-critical thermal project taken up in the public sector is expected to be ready by June 2012.

The district authorities have proposed three more sites near Kavali for the proposed airport of Nellore. The new sites were proposed after an expert committee raised some objections over two sites recommended before because of the presence of water bodies. Sources said officials have identified 2,360 acres in north Rajupalem (12 km from Nellore), 1,627 acres in Racharlapadu (23 km from Nellore) and 1,785 acres near Damavaram (30 km from Nellore) in Dagadarthi mandal. Of the three, Damavaram site said to be suitable for the airport since the government owns large tracts of land.

Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy laid the foundation stone for the Caparo industrial park and a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) here on Thursday. Speaking after the ground breaking ceremony, the Chief Minister said these two facilities would herald a new beginning in the domain of manufacturing as the UK-based Caparo group would set up a world-class auto and aerospace component hub with an investment of Rs 3,500 crore in a phased manner. Luxury bus unit

The proposed coastal industrial corridor by the Infrastructure Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Ltd (INCAP) along the Andhra Pradesh coastline from Srikakulam to Nellore has attracted objections from the environmentalists, mass and some rights organisations.

Fisherfolk launched an indefinite protest on Monday to express their outrage at the official laxity in resolving the issues related to those displaced from the Krishnapatnam port area. Leaders of the fishermen forums declared that they would not relent till all their demands were addressed by the government. To emphasis their sorry state of affairs, the fisherfolk also brought pots and vessels and started cooking food on the premises of the fisheries office in Nellore town.

The Seetharam Sagar project, which is being launched by the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, on Tuesday, is a dream come true for the people of water starved Udayagiri. The proposal for the project has been in the air for a decade but it had not been taken up by successive governments. In the preliminary report of Veligonda project prepared in1989, the Seetharam Sagar project was proposed at the tail end of Veligonda western canal, with a storage capacity of 5 tmc.