Twin cities to get 4 commissionerates soon: DGP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                   
                                       

Hyderabad, March 13:

The twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad will soon get four police commissionerates under Greater Hyderabad Commissionerate, Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police V Dinesh Reddy said today.
Addressing a press conference here, he said the four new Commissionerates-- Hyderabad Commissionerate, Hyderabad South, Secunderabad Commissionerate and Cyberabad Commissionerate-- will have equal number of Commissioners of Police and it would be headed by Chief Commissioner of Police (CCP).
Mr Reddy said the new commissionerates will be established after merging the existing Hyderabad and Cyberabad Commissionerates.

The committee of police officers will examine the structure and functioning of Mumbai and Chennai police commissionerates to adopt better administrative principles in the proposed new commissionerates.

“The proposal requires no new infrastructure like buildings, vehicles or resources. The present policemen and officers will be disbursed equally among the four new ones,” the DGP said.

However, it is not yet decided whether to bring the traffic police under a single umbrella after the unification and continue that system.

The possibility of each commissionerate having a separate traffic police wing akin to other units like Task Force cannot be ruled out. But, the city traffic police would have a new dress code on the lines of their counterparts in Bangalore.

After analysing the report, steps would be taken to set up the Commissionerates by issuing notification, the DGP said, adding as per the overhaul,the police stations in Urban Areas in Hyderabad will remain the same and in rural areas, there will be some changes like shifting the police stations to another place.

Railway Budget 2012 highlights

                                                              
New Delhi:  As he presents his first rail budget, Dinesh Trivedi has his task cut out. His focus, he says, is three-pronged: "Safety, safety, safety."  Following very closely behind are consolidation, decongestion and modernisation.

The following are the highlights the employment opportunities and passenger friendly measures that the Rail Budget 2012 proposes:

• Exp train fare up by 5 paise per km, 10 paise per km for AC chair car, 10 paise per km for AC 3-tier, 15 p per km for AC 2-tier, 30 paise per km for AC First class.

• No steep increase in passenger fares; 2 paisa per km for suburban trains; 3 paisa per km for mail and express trains. 
• All Garib Rath trains to have one special AC coach for differently abled persons.
•  All out efforts to improve hygiene in trains and stations in next six months.

•  Special housekeeping body to be set up to maintain stations and trains.

• Improvement of passenger amenities at a cost of Rs.1,112 crore; regional cuisines to be introduced.

• World Bank funding of R.6,500 crore firmed up for dedicated freight corridors; land acquired for 3,300 km; first contracts to be handed out during 2012-13

• Standard of hygiene needs to be improved substantially; all out efforts will be made on this in the next six months; duty bound to provide high standard of services; special housekeeping body to be set up for stations and trains.

• Corrosion from night soil being discharged from toilets on tracks costs Rs.350 crore annually; green toilets to be installed in 2,500 coaches in the next one year.

• Independent tariff authority suggested; needs serious debate; experts panel established; decision after debate in parliament.

• GRP/RPF personnel deployed on 3,500 trains.

• Free travel by Rajdhani express for Arjuna awardees.

• Targeting freight carriage of 1,025 million tonnes to bring in Rs.89,339 crore; passenger earnings estimated at Rs.36,073 crore; gross receipts estimated at Rs.1.32 lakh crore.

• Excess of Rs.1,492 crore after meeting expenses/dividend payments not adequate for meeting costs of several projects.

• Dedicated railway design wing at National Institute of Design with a contribution of Rs.10 crore.

• New passenger services: 820 new items; 75 new express trains; 21 new passenger trains; 75 new services in Mumbai suburban system.

• Guru Parikrama trains to be run to Amritsar, Patna and Nanded.

• Passenger fare for sub-urban trains hiked by 2 paise per km, mail trains by 3 paise per km.

• Platform tickets to cost Rs. five.

• 50 per cent concession in fare in AC classes to anaemia and sickle cell disease patients.

• Body of experts to examine setting up of an independent Railway Tariff Regulatory Authority

• No steep increase in passenger fares: Railway Minister.

• Finance Ministry agrees to loan Rs. 3,000 crore to Railways at 8.55 per cent interest: Trivedi

•  Gross rail traffic targeted to increase by Rs. 28,635 crore to Rs. 1,32,552 crore in 2012-13.

•  Passenger earnings to increase to Rs. 36,200 crore. Gross traffic receipts Rs. 1,32,552 crore.

•  Railways to carry 55 million tons more freight at 1025 million tonnes in 2012-13.

•  Surplus with railways at Rs. 1,492 crore in current year as against targeted Rs. 5,258 crore.

• Expansion of suburban rail networks and addition of more services in Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

•  Guru Parikarma special trains to cover Sikh pilgrimage centres of Amritsar, Patna and Nanded.

•  75 new express passenger trains to be introduced.

•  Railway Board to be restructured, two more members to be included.

•  Railways to recruit more than one lakh persons in 2012-13.

•  Railways to replace open discharge toilets with green toilets. 2,500 coaches will be equipped with bio-toilets next year.

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• Two thousand one hundred specially designed coaches manufactured to meet needs of the differently abled; aim to provide one such coach in each express train.

• Electrification to be undertaken over 6,500 km at an allocation of Rs.8,000 crore during 12th Plan.

• Conversion from DC to AC power supply completed in Western Railway corridor of Mumbai suburban rail system; conversion of Central Railway corridor to be completed in 2012-13.

• Elevated corridor from Churchgate to Virar in Mumbai being firmed up.

• Government should consider dividend payback to railways.

• Thirty-one projects over 5,000 km being implemented with state governments sharing costs.

• Capacity augmentation to get Rs.4,410 crore during 2012-13.

• Eighty-five new line projects to be taken up during 2012-13.

• One hundred and fourteen new line surveys to be undertaken during 2012-13.

• New line projects to get Rs.6,870 crore in 2012-13.

• Gauge conversion to be undertaken over 800 km with an allocation of Rs.1,950 crore.

• Focus during next five years on five areas: tracks, bridges, signalling, rolling stock and stations.

• Signalling to be improved over 19,000 km.

• Investment of Rs.1.70 lakh crore on rolling stock in next five years.

• Attempt to increase train speeds to 160 kmph; journey time from New Delhi to Kolkata can be brought down to 14 hours from 17 hours.

• Improvements to railway stations can provide employment to 50,000 people.

• Outlay of Rs.60,100 crore during 2012-13, the highest ever.

• Railways will require Rs.14 lakh crore in the next 10 years for modernisation.

• Aim to bring down operating ratio from 90 percent to 84.9 percent in 2012-13 and to 72 percent by 2016-17.

• Time has come for formulating national policy for railways on the lines of that for defence and external affairs.

• Railways should grow at 10 percent annually for sustained GDP growth.

• Railways to invest Rs.7.35 lakh crore during 12th Five Year Plan period (2012-17), a quantum jump from the Rs.1.92 lakh crore invested in previous plan period.

• Railways must attract 10 percent of the Rs.20 lakh crore government expects to spend on infrastructure during 12th Plan.

• Railways expect gross budgetary support of Rs.2.5 lakh crore during 12th Plan.

• Collective challenge to formulate viable funding mechanism for modernisation.

• Railways should contribute 2 percent of GDP from the present 1 percent.

• Stress on strengthening safety. Has to be be benchmarked with the best in the world.

• Target of reducing accidents from 0.55 to 0.17 has been met.

• Special purpose vehicle to be set up on safety protocols.

• Independent railway safety authority to be set up as statutory safety body.

• Investment of Rs.5.60 lakh crore required for modernisation.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/railway-budget-2012-highlights-185843&cp

Hyderabad:Passport verification delay costs government dear

HYDERABAD: The delay in verification process of passports has just not cost the applicants dearly but also the state government. According to a recent finding through an RTI application, the state government has lost about Rs 10 crore which it was entitled to from the central government in the last five years due to the delay in police verifications. According to him, the delay in the verification process is taxing for citizens and giving rise to corruption. However, special branch officials blame the lack of manpower and overburdened staff for the situation. A senior official attached to the Special Branch said, "The passport verification is only an additional duty for us among many others. On an average, the Cyberabad and Hyderabad zones receive a total of 40% of the total passport applications of the state. Each officer has at least 10 applications to verify at any given time and each verification takes at least one hour. At this rate we would only be doing passport verification throughout the day." He also said that there could be practical problems leading to the delay, including difficulty in finding the address of applicants, change of address, credentials and background verification from different departments.
The central government through the Regional Passport Office (RPO) pays Rs 100 per verification to the state government if it is done within 21 days but pays only Rs 25 if it gets delayed for more than that stipulated time. The verification is undertaken by the Special Branch of the AP police. Even after consistently losing close to Rs 2 crore every year the government seems to have done little to ensure better inflow into the state coffers.

The loss of funds is indicative of the bigger problem that passport-seekers go through. The RTI query has revealed that the passport applications verified within 21 days stood at just about 6.5% in 2007, a lowly 2% in 2008, only to hit an all time low of 0.7% in 2009. In 2010, only 2.5% of the total applications were verified within 21 days. However, 2011 figures were a little better with 25% of the verifications done within 21 days time. On an average, 2.5 - 3 lakh passport applications are received by the Hyderabad RPO.

RTI activist P Ramakrishna, who has been filing RTI applications on this issue for the last six months, said "I wanted to know the exact reasons for the delay in processing passport applications. I learnt that it was mainly due to police verifications but I was shocked to know that the state government was losing a considerable revenue due to the delay in the process. Hence, I decided to get the exact figures for the last five years." He adds, "Is it that difficult for the government to improve the situation by employing a few more people (for verifications) and earn at least a part of the revenue?"

40% rail promises only on paper

                                                                   
The Railway Budget for the current year is due to be announced on Wednesday, even as barely 40 per cent of the promises made in last year’s budget remain unfulfilled. The much-hyped AC Duronto Express between Secunderabad and Vishakapatnam, which was to run thrice a week, has not materialised. The strengthening of the suburban railway system of Hyderabad-Secunderabad by implementing six projects under the MMTS Phase-II is yet to see the light of day.

The wagon workshop which was to come up in Kazipet remains only on paper only. “The project is stuck because land is not available. Also the proposed multi-functional complex at Secunderabad station is yet to come up,” said a senior railway official. Meanwhile, the Kerala Samiti has lobbied for a new train from Hyderabad to Kerala. “At present tickets have to be booked three months in advance. The biggest problem lakhs of Malayalees face today is transport. The Sabari Express that runs between Hyderabad and Trivandrum is the only train currently,” said Libby Benjamin, chairman of the Kerala Samiti.

Although new railway lines between Nadikudi-Srikalahasti, Gudur-Dugarajapatnam and Guntur-Tenali have been sanctioned, estimates are yet to be drawn up and therefore no work has begun on these as well. Turning Secunderabad and Tirupati into world class railway stations, proposed two budgets back, also remains in the realm of fantasy.

CBI to put 6 mantris, babus on witness list

                                                               
The Central Bureau of Investigation is likely to file a counter in the disproportionate assets case of Kadapa MP Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy in the Supreme Court after it receives the notice. The Supreme Court had on Monday issued notices to six ministers and eight IAS officials in the YSR’s government who were responsible for issuing the controversial Govern-ment Orders (GOs).

Mr Venkataramana will be appearing before the CBI on March 15. Meanwhile on Tuesday, IAS official C. Partha-sarathy, who served as Commissioner of Information and Public Relations, appeared before the CBI.
He was questioned for around three hours in connection with advertisements given to Sakshi newspaper which belongs to Jagan Mohan Reddy. The CBI has so far arrested Jagan Mohan Reddy’s auditor V. Vijay Sai Reddy in the case. The YSR Congress chief has been named as Accused No. 1 in the case.


investigation procedure, the CBI will, meanwhile, question the ministers and IAS officials who had issued the GOs that had allegedly benefitted the investors of firms belonging to Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy. A senior police official said, “They have already called minister Mopidevi Venkataramana. The other ministers are also likely to be called for questioning. They have interrogated several IAS officials like Samuel and others in the case. It is, however, unlikely that the CBI will add these ministers and IAS officials as accused as of now. If they find any wrongdoing on part of the ministers and IAS officials they can be added as accused later. Most of them are likely to be made witnesses in the case.”

Upwardly mobile: More Indian homes have phones, laptops and other gadgets...BUT some of them don't even have a toilet

                                              

Though half of all Indians do not have a toilet at home, well over half own a telephone, new census data released on Tuesday show.

These and many other contrasting facts of life have come out in Census 2011. The data on housing, household amenities and assets cast new light on a country in the throes of a complex transition, where millions have access to state-of-the-art technologies and consumer goods — but a larger number lacks access to the most rudimentary facilities.

It shows Indian society is overwhelmingly made up of nuclear families. They have ever more access to electricity and gather their information from television, rather than radio. At the same time, women are forced to rely on traditional smoky fuels to cook, and less than a third of the population have access to treated drinking water.

The stark gap between the 'haves' and the 'have nots' in India got an official confirmation on Tuesday when the Census 2011 data, released by the Union home secretary, revealed that a large number of Indian homes have a phone but not a toilet. But there's reason to cheer for Delhiites.
The national Capital, along with Chandigarh, ranks on top as far as access to facilities such as laptops, computers, mobile phones and cars is concerned.
Census 2011 was the first time that citizens were asked during the house-to-house surveys if they possessed a laptop, computer or a mobile phone.

But in Delhi, 29 per cent of the 33.4 lakh households have a laptop or computer while 17 per cent have an Internet connection. Chandigarh fared even better than the national Capital and was on the top in the entire country.
Every third family in the city, or 33.2 per cent households, has a computer and 18.8 per cent has an Internet connection. Surprisingly, IT hubs such as Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh reported poor Internet distribution, with only 12.8 per cent and 8.4 per cent homes respectively having computer at home. Mere 2.6 per cent households in Andhra Pradesh reported to be having an Internet connection.
The new Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav, better deliver on his poll promise to give free laptops. His state has only 8 per cent households with computers and a shockingly low 0.9% having Internet connection.
'We have to do a lot more for the penetration of computers and Internet,' Dr C. Chandramouli, Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner, said while releasing the figures. The Census data also shows that as many as 86 per cent of Indian households live in their own homes while the rest live in rented accommodations. In Delhi, however, nearly 28 per cent families live in rented houses while the percentage is even higher, 47, in Chandigarh. As many as 93.7 per cent households in Chandigarh and 75 per cent in Delhi drink treated water - which was also a new question posed during the Census exercise this time.
The data shows that nearly 32 per cent families in Delhi live in one-bedroom houses. In 70 per cent of households in the Capital, only one married couple lives, pointing to the increasing trend of nuclear families.

Mayawati among richest politicians

                                                                        
According to the details of her moveable assets submitted for the RS polls, the BSP president has Rs.10.20 lakh cash in hand. She has five savings bank accounts: in the Union Bank of India, Moti Bagh, New Delhi which has Rs.3.7 crore, Bank of India
Outgoing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, who filed her nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha elections on Tuesday, is worth Rs. 111.64 crore, making her one of the richest politicians in the country. This has been revealed in the details of moveable and immoveable assets given by Ms. Mayawati along with a sworn affidavit at the time of submitting her papers. Since the Bahujan Samaj Party president considered number 13 to be her lucky number, she submitted her papers on Tuesday (March 13).

Yuvraj reaches last leg of chemotherapy

                                                             

After he was diagnosed with the illness, Yuvraj has not taken part competitive cricket since November last, when he played two of the three home Tests against the West Indies.

He has scored 8,051 runs in 274 one-dayers and 1,775 runs in 37 Tests since his international debut in 2000. He was named Player of the Tournament in the World Cup last year for scoring 362 runs and grabbing 15 wickets in nine matches.

 The flamboyant left-hander has said that only four days are left for his chemotherapy.

"My last stretch 4 more days to go... can't wait for it to end set me free dear lord," Yuvraj tweeted.

Yuvraj had last month stated that the tumour between his lungs is almost out of his system.

Yuvraj, who has been in Boston since last month, is expected to be back on the field in the first week of May, according to his doctor. 

Cricketer Yuvraj Singh, who is undergoing chemotherapy in Boston for a rare germ-cell cancer, is in the last leg of his treatment and eagerly waiting for it to end in the next four days.

The left-hander has said that only four days are left for the chemotherapy session to end. “My last stretch 4 mor dys to go Can't wait fr it to end Set me free dear lord,” he tweeted.

Last month, he said the tumour between his lungs was almost out of his system.

Yuvraj, who has been in Boston since last month, is expected to be back on the field in the first week of May, according to his doctor.

The 30-year-old has gone bald during the treatment, which will go on till the last week of March, before rehabilitation begins in April.