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T Congress Leaders to Wait Till Dasara to Resign

The steering committee of T region Congress MPs, MLAs and MLCs met on Friday and decided to submit their resignations if a decision is not taken in favour of a separate state by the Congress high command. This meeting was held by the steering committee in view of the warning issued by TRS leader K T Rama Rao to the Congress and TDP MLAs to resubmit their resignations or face the wrath of the people in the region. The steering committee, which met at the residence of Rajya Sabha MP K Keshava Rao, discussed the strategy to be followed after September 30, when the AICC deadline set for the announcement of its stand on Telangana expires. "A delegation will go to Delhi to meet the AICC leaders before September 30 to issue an ultimatum that the Congress MLAs and MPs would press for the acceptance of the resignations if a positive decision on Telangana is not taken," said senior leader K R Amos. Apart from Keshava Rao, the MPs present included G Vinod, G Sukhender Reddy, Komati Reddy Rajagopal Reddy and N Balaram Naik, ministers Jana Reddy and Basavaraj Saraiah, 12 MLAs and 2 MLCs. Extending full support to the T general strike, the meeting urged the state government not to take repressive measures against the striking employees as the general strike has been peaceful so far. "Arresting the leaders and attempting to crush the movement with police force will provoke the people and lead to unnecessary complications," asserted the leaders in the meeting.  

T MLAs, Ministers Photos Paraded on Donkeys

Protesting against the Telangana region MLAs and Ministers not resigning in support of separate state, the people of Adilabad exhibited their ire in a novel way. They took out a procession placing the photos of Telangana ministers and MLAs on donkeys and made them take round of the town. The protesters strongly resented against Telangana ministers and MLAs for not rendering resignations and said that if they don't resign immediately they will not be allowed to enter Adilabad. JAC leaders and TRS activist participated in the rally and demanded from the state and central government to immediately take a decision in favour of Telangana. They said Central government silence despite such a successful strike is unfortunate.

Telangana Hit Hard by Sakala Janula Samme

For the third consecutive day on Thursday, the ongoing 'Sakala Janula Samme' or the general strike has hit the Telangana region very hard. All services in the government domain remained affected, even as more affiliates of the Telangana political JAC decided to join the ongoing 'Sakala Janula Samme' in phases over the next few days. As per the latest schedule, private school managements in Telangana will shut down schools on Sept 16 and 17, followed by APSRTC strike on Sept 18 midnight. On September 19, employees from the power sector and Secretariat have threatened to take a direct plunge into the strike, followed by GHMC staff that too is eager to quit work for an indefinite period. However, in view of the banking examinations on Sunday, the siege to the national highways in the state has been postponed to September 19. With 1.75 lakh government teachers, 11,000 private schools and employees from energy sector, APSRTC, GHMC and Secretariat deciding to strike work, the shut down is certain to leave behind a trail of economic destruction not only in 10 districts of Telangana region, but the entire state. Preliminary estimates by the state government have put the average revenue losses at between Rs 900 and Rs 1,100 crore for the last three days. T-stir may hit industries and farmers hard.      

Telangana Jagruthi Plans 'Ooroora Bathukamma' Celebrations

In a meeting held at Telangana Bhavan on Wednesday, the Telangana Jagruthi chief Ms. Kavitha announced that this year's Bathukamma festival would be celebrated as 'Ooroora Bathukamma' from 27 September to 4th October. Speaking on the occasion, TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao described the 'Ooroora Bathukamma' celebrations as 'Cultural Renaissance' of the Telangana region and praised Telangana Jagruthi for taking up such a good cause at the right moment. Later, JAC convenor M. Kodandaram also spoke about Bathukamma festival and also about the ongoing Sakala Janula Samme.          

T-strike: Highway Traffic Comes to Standstill in Adilabad

The inter-state check post at Bhoraj in Adilabad district is the worst affected spot in the 'Sakala Janula samme', the general strike in support of separate Telangana, which started on 13 September, yesterday. With the check post staff also joining the strike, nearly 7-8 kms. long line of vehicles got stranded on either side of the Bhoraj check post since yeaterday. The coal production in Singareni Collieries also came to a grinding halt in Telangana region on Tuesday as employees were away from duties in support of the general strike called by the Telangana employees JAC demanding introduction of Telangana Bill in the Parliament. In Adilabad district, all the mines situated in Bellampalli, Srirampur and Mandamarri divisions wore a deserted look with the workers boycotting duties. There are 50 coal mines including 14 open cast mines under Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) spread across four districts - Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam in Telangana. About 1.67 lakh tonnes of coal are being extracted in the mines in four districts in Singareni in Telangana. Coal reserves are available only in this region in the whole of South India.    

Day One Sakala Janula Samme: Civic Services Affected

Day one of the general strike called by the Telangana Employees Joint Action Committee (JAC) seeking a separate state was near total in all the state government offices barring the Secretariat. In Hyderabad, work in the transport offices, water board, various offices of the GHMC, government junior colleges and schools was completely paralysed while the medical staff at the government hospitals attended to their duties wearing black badges. Even as the state government preferred not to act on the first day of the strike, the JAC said that their agitation will go on till Telangana is achieved. A two-day closure of the cinema halls in the region has been called for beginning Wednesday while the APSRTC employees are expected to join in the stir on September 19. The strike was near total in about 50 of Singareni collieries spread across four Telangana districts with the 70,000-odd workers (barring 2,500 officers) abstaining from work on Tuesday despite the state bringing them under the Essential Services Maintenance Act (Esma). As a result, production of 1.2 lakh tonnes of coal was lost on Tuesday. Singareni Collieries accounts for 35% of the total thermal power generation in the state and a power crisis could be in the offing if the strike by the coal miners continues for a few more days. Staff of Hyderabad water works, Central Discom, civil supplies and GHMC participated in large numbers hitting the delivery of civic services. In Telangana region, staff in all municipalities joined the strike resulting in total shut down of sanitation works. The state Secretariat in Hyderabad was the only exception with 85% of the total 6,000 staff reporting for work on Tuesday. Sources in the chief minister's office said that Kiran Kumar Reddy is closely monitoring the situation and that a call would be taken as to when to invoke Esma and GO 177 (No Work No Pay) depending on the intensity of the general strike in the next few days.

KTR Lambasts Madhu Yashki, Seemandhra Leaders

Speaking to the media at Telangana Bhavan TRS MLA K T Ramarao lambasted Nizamabad MP Madhu Yashki for his utterances that the TRS is 'manageable'. KTR said, people knew it very well - 'who is manageable and who is not'. He warned Yashki to be more careful while speaking in future. Reacting to the Seeemandhra leaders meeting with Gulam Nabi Azad, that took place yesterday in Delhi, KTR said that whatever the seemandhra leaders have told Azad are utter lies and concocted stories. "How can it be possible? In fact, when these seemandhra people agitated for 'Vishalandhra' and achieved it including Telangana region along with, then itself the nation got disintegrated. When students, employees, lawyers, doctors and all sections of the society are agitating here for a separate state, it is mindless and equally barbaric on part of seemandhra leaders to say that majarity of people in Telangana are against division of the State," he said.      

TDP Forum Leaders Dharna at Secretariat

The Telangana TDP  forum leaders today made an attempt to stall the activity in the state secretariat by blocking the main gate. Their agitation was part of the Sakala janula same (general strike) and indefinite strike by the government employees of Telangana region which commenced this morning. Raising slogans demanding for immediate tabling of the Telangana bill in Parliament the T-TDP leaders led by Errraballi Dayakar Rao staged a dharna at the Main gates. The police and secretariat security took them into custody  and shifted them to the Falaknuma police station in a special vehicle where again the T-TDP legislators staged a dharna raising demands for Telangana and also protesting against their arrest.      

KCR Garjana: No One Can Stop Telangana

Addressing the gathering called as 'Jana Garjana' held on 12 September at Karimnagar, Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao said "No force on earth can stop the formation of Telangana state. The Telangana would be a reality at any cost. I will prefer severing my head, than taking a step back on the Telangana," he said. KCR clarified that the general strike starting from 13 September was not confined to government employees, but all sections of the region would participate vigorously demanding statehood for the region. KCR warned the State Government of dire consequences if it tries to suppress the agitation. He said even the imposition of Essential Services Maintenance Act would not hamper the general strike. Regarding Banswada by-elections, KCR claimed that no other party except the TRS would secure their deposits. "It would be a repeat of what happened in Karimnagar and other seats in the Telangana region during by-elections," he claimed. He warned the Seemandhra leaders, particularly K Sambasiva Rao, Raypati Sambasiva Rao and TG Venkatesh, to be careful when they speak against the Telangana or its people.  

T Employees Strike: Govt Invokes ESMA, GO 177

To cope up with the strike call given by state government employees of the Telangana region, the government has invoked ESMA (Essential Services Maintanance Act) and GO 177, which states the no work no pay rule. In order to ensure that essential services are not affected because of the general strike, the state has invoked Esma in about 38 departments including health, GHMC and civic bodies, Hyderabad Water Board, various discoms and sanitation department. In a clever move, the state has also brought Singareni Collaries, which has about 70,000 employees, under Esma. According to state government sources, despite the existence of GO 177 and Esma, many employees from Telangana are likely to abstain from work. "Our intention by invoking Esma and no work no pay rule is to ensure that a large number of employees are deterred from joining in the general strike as under Esma, the services of the abstaining employee can be terminated while GO 177 would ensure no pay if they do not come to work," said a senior official. Meanwhile, the State government directed all T district collectors to act firmly against the striking employees. It has advised the Collectors to send daily report to the Secretariat about who are participating in the protest programmes, who are leading the strike and who are obstructing the employees from attending duties. It has also suggested that the Collectors should not allow any protest programme in any government office and those who participate in "ata-pata" programmes also should be punished under the available mis-conduct rules.

T-tangle: Govt - Employees Showdown Begins

With massive 'Jana Garjana' meeting held at Karimnagar on 12 September, the bugle has been blown for a major showdown between the state government and 2.4 lakh employees of Telangana with the latter calling for an indefinite general strike 'Sakala Janula Samme' beginning on 13 September (today). As an indication of how the tone and tenor of the agitation is going to be, the TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao warned that the Telangana region would turn into a fireball if the government invoked the Essential Services Maintanance Act (Esma) against even a single employee from the region. Addressing the massive public meeting 'Jana Garjana' in Karimnagar yesterday, KCR said the employees general strike would be a trendsetter in the history of the state as no bus would run, no train would move, no educational institution would open and no production would take place in the Singareni mines. The TRS chief warned that the entire administration would be brought to a screeching halt as they would replicate the Manipur bandh to bring the government to its knees. Pooh-poohing the government’s pressure tactics to apply 'no work no pay' rule to dissuade the employees from embarking on the strike, he thundered: "We would behead ourselves but not give up the Telangana movement. There is no compromise on separate Telangana state." Under the aegis of the Telangana Employees Joint Action Committee (TJAC), an umbrella of various state government associations, the T employees have given the call for the "Sakala Janula Samme (mass strike)". "To put it simply, the T employees will not report to work from Tuesday," said T Swamy Goud, president of the Telangana Employees JAC. Although the non-Telangana state government employees of the total strength of 6.38 lakh employees in the state will be working, some citizen services like registration of properties, birth and death related issues handled by GHMC and various municipalities, registration of vehicles are likely to be affected. The strike is expected to be partial in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts and total in the remaining Telangana districts.    

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Mumbai: Balcony collapses during Ganesh Nimajjanam, 1 dead

Tragedy struck Ganesh procession in Mumbai when a balcony full of devotees collapsed in Lalbaug, central Mumbai. One person died while several other were injured in the incident. A part of the balcony collapsed while they were watching the immersion procession at Ganesh galli. Lalbaug is thronged by many devotees during Ganesh procession.   The injured have been rushed to nearby hospital.                                                              SOURCE TV 9

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CBI Found a Treasure Chest in Gali House

The Central Bureau Of Investigation found 30 kilograms of gold and Rs. 3 crore in cash during its raids of former Karanataka Minister Gali Janardhan Reddy's house. Mr. Gali Janardhan Reddy and his brother-in-law BV Srinivasa Reddy, also the MD of Obulapuram Mining Company, are currently lodged in Chanchalguda jail. During the raids, the CBI officials were dumbfounded at the sight of the jewelry, gems, furniture, fleet of imported cars and other valuble artifacts. Here's the exclusive video clipping obtained by ETV showing the jewelry and other articles seized from Gali Janardhan Reddy's house.      

Gali's Bail Plea Hearing on 12 September

Mining Baron Gali Janardhan Reddy and his brother-in-law BV Srinivasa Reddy's bail petitions are adjourned for hearing on 12 September. The CBI has sought for a 15 days police custody of the accused for further interrogation. After hearing the day-long arguments from both CBI and Janardhana Reddy's counsel, the magistrate B Naga Maruthi Sharma adjourned the hearing for next Monday. As soon as the hearing commenced, CBI's counsel member B Ravindranath stated they arrested Janardhana Reddy and B V Srinivas Reddy on two main grounds - that both were indulging in illegal activities in the Obulapuram Mining Company and that they encroached additional places than actually allocated by the government. The CBI's counsel argued the accused had encroached land more than the allotted 68.5 hectares at the Anantha Gangamma Konda in Obulapuram. He also said they were involved in manipulating the iron ore stock which was excavated somewhere else and exported to various countries showing the authorisation of OMC. The CBI's counsel also argued that Janardhana Reddy also failed in providing certain details of his designation in the company. While Reddy initiated the process as applicant to obtain lease of the land and the authorisation letters were signed by B V Srinivasa Reddy as executive director, in the Income Tax returns, Janardhana Reddy mentioned his designation as director. Gali Janardhana Reddy and his wife Lakshmi Aruna had also mentioned in the IT returns that both are directors of the company and they draw annual salaries of `18 crore while Srinivasa Reddy who is holding the position of executive director received salary of about `2 crore per annum. “How it is possible and why will an executive director draw lower salary than directors?” the CBI counsel questioned. Meanwhile, opposing the CBI counsel’s argument, Janardhana Reddy’s counsels Uday Lalith, C V Nagesh and Uma Maheswara Rao stated their clients were never involved in illegal activities. They argued their clients did not encroach an inch of more land than what the government had allotted. In view of a case of boundaries relating to the OMC, Uday Lalith said the case is still pending in the Supreme Court and sought bail for Janardhana Reddy and Srinivasa Reddy. After hearing both arguments, Magistrate B Naga Maruthi Sharma adjourned the hearing to September 12.

CBI Going Abroad to Investigate Gali's Companies

The Central Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating the OMC illegal mining case, is planning to visit several foreign countires to probe Gali Janardhan Reddy's overseas business ventures. CBI investigations have revealed that Gali Janardhana Reddy and his brothers owned six companies in foreign countries including Mauritius and Virgin Islands. These companies diverted money paid by the Chinese companies for iron ore export. The CBI is now planning to visit China, Singapore and few other countries to verify the flow of funds into the country.        

CBI Unearths Jagan, Janardhan Reddy Links

Amidst denials by both Gali Janardhan Reddy and YS Jagan Mohan Reddy that there exists a nexus between them, the CBI has come out with certain startling facts during its investigation. The CBI has in its possession sufficient documentary evidence that shows flow of investments from Obulapuram Mining Company owned by Gali Janardhan Reddy to Jagati Publications (Sakshi Newspaper) owned by Jagan Mohan Reddy. During investigation, the money trail in to Sakshi newspaper led the CBI to Red Gold Enterprises and RR Global Enterprises. While the Red Gold Enterprises is owned by a Jagan loyalist Diwakar Reddy, his brother R Reddy, who is the executive director of the Sakshi Telegu newspaper owned by Jagan, is also the owner of RR Global Enterprises. These two companies are alleged to be the investment link between Gali Janardhana Reddy's Obalapuram Mining Company (OMC) and Jagan's companies. Both these companies and Jagan's Jagati Publications offices share the same registration addresses. The CBI also has the documents which show that Red Gold is a partner of OMC. According to a registered agreement, OMC was obliged to sell 50 per cent of all iron ore mined, at operational cost plus five per cent, to Red Gold. This was said to be for help in identifying deposits and getting licences and permissions. Critics have pointed out that such a consultancy being worth some Rs. 400 crore per annum is unheard of. The CBI also says that there was an amount of Rs 90 crore which the Red Gold Enterprises had earned through mining with the help of OMC and it had invested Rs 40 crore in Jagathi Publications. There is also a trail of Rs 30 crore which can be found to be invested in Indira Television by purchasing shares of this company.      

IAS Goof up Leads to Illegal Mining by OMC

During the tenure of Dr. YS Rajasekhar Reddy as chief minister, Obulapuram Mining Company, owned by Gali Janbardhan Reddy was issued with a mining license in an extent of 68.5 hectares in Anantapur district. Accordingly, a GO No. 151 was issued on June 18, 2007 by then secretary to AP government, Y Srilakshmi. Interestingly, The GO 151 issued by the Industries and Commerce Department opened the floodgates for illegal mining and export of iron ore. Taking advantage of the words 'captive mining' missing in the GO, the OMC used the lease for Anantapur ( where there is no ore) to actually carry out illegal mining in Karnataka's Bellary district. "In the records, the ore was shown as mined from Anantapur and over 30 lakh tones of iron ore was exported," said an insider source. Though there were six other contenders for the mining license, it was given to OMC as it had promised to utilise it for captive use. If the words 'captive mining' had figured in the GO, then the iron ore mined by OMC in the lease area in Andhra Pradesh would have gone only to the Bramhani steel plant proposed to be established by OMC. "In fact, OMC could not have mined the iron ore at Anantapur as the steel plant proposed by it was yet to come up," the sources pointed out. But in the files pertaining to the mining lease that were taken by the CBI last week as part of its probe into the Y S Jaganmohan Reddy assets case, the noting by then chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy clearly mentions that the license is only for 'captive mining'. "As a result, the CBI cannot hold YSR for any wrongdoing in the granting of the lease. The responsibility for the omission of the crucial two words in the GO is likely to fall on Y Srilakshmi, then secretary in the industries and commerce department, whose name figures in the GO," said the sources. Apart from Srilakshmi, the omission of the two crucial words was also overlooked by then mines and geology minister Sabita Indra Reddy. The fact that the words 'captive mining' was missing came to light when former chief minister K Rosaiah was forced to refer the mining issue to the CBI following tremendous pressure from the opposition parties in November 2009. A senior IAS officer who scrutinized the files at the time confirmed that the file notings on the mining lease issue specifically mentioned the words 'captive mining.'