CONGRESS TO QUIT MAMATA GOVT TODAY
As the Trinamool Congress went ahead and withdrew support to the UPA in Delhi, the repercussions were felt in West Bengal on Friday, with the Congress announcing it would pull out its ministers on Saturday from the 16-month old Mamata Banerjee-led government. The knives were sharpened on
both sides, as the coalition partners traded vicious charges.
In a bid to gain from the break-up with the Trinamool, the state Congress demanded at least three slots in the union council of ministers including a cabinet berth for party MPs from the state.
Launching a scathing attack on Banerjee for her "dictatorial attitude", and claiming that the law and order situation in the state had been deteriorating, state Congress president Pradip Bhattacharya said his party would be "relieved" to leave the state cabinet.
At a media conference minutes after the Trinamool's ministers put in their papers to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Bhattacharya announced the party's decision to leave the Banerjee ministry and equated the chief minister with her Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi.
"Why will she repeat what Modi has to say about the Congress? A progressive and secular Bengal will not tolerate Modi's words coming out of Trinamool's mouth," Bhattacharya said.
The Congress is set to take a decision on Saturday about withdrawing support from the Banerjee government in the state.
But it would not have any impact on Banerjee's government, as Trinamool has a comfortable majority in the 294-seat state assembly.
The Congress has 42 members, two more than the Communist Party of India- Marxist's 40, and could stake claim for the post of leader of the opposition.
Bhattacharya said the chief minister's opposition to FDI in retail would spell doom for the state's economy.
"In her regime, the state is hurtling downwards, the law and order situation has steadily deteriorated, there are atrocities against women," he said.
"We are not being allowed to hold meetings. Since we were in the ministry so long, we were putting up with it all. We cannot anymore bear the dictatorial attitude of the government. We are relieved," he said.
Following the exit of Trinamool Congress' union ministers from the union cabinet on Friday, the Congress, tit for tat, declared that all six of its ministers - two of cabinet rank and four ministers of state - will put in their papers before Banerjee on Saturday.
Meanwhile, state Congress general secretary Om Prakash Mishra wrote to the Congress high command pleading for nominating at least three ministers, from among the party members in the state.
"The question of proportionate and adequate representation from the state is engaging the attention of the people," wrote Mishra.
Giving indications that the so long uneasy allies were fast turning bitter foes, Trinamool Congress chief whip Sovandeb Chattopadhyay said he will move a privilege motion against former Congress legislator Arunava Ghosh on charges of insulting assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee.
Ghosh, a fierce critic of Banerjee, has been a familiar face on television channels over the last few years
Miffed by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government's decisions over hike in diesel price and foreign investment in multi-brand retail, the Trinamool on Friday withdrew support to the ruling coalition at the centre.
In a bid to gain from the break-up with the Trinamool, the state Congress demanded at least three slots in the union council of ministers including a cabinet berth for party MPs from the state.
Launching a scathing attack on Banerjee for her "dictatorial attitude", and claiming that the law and order situation in the state had been deteriorating, state Congress president Pradip Bhattacharya said his party would be "relieved" to leave the state cabinet.
At a media conference minutes after the Trinamool's ministers put in their papers to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Bhattacharya announced the party's decision to leave the Banerjee ministry and equated the chief minister with her Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi.
"Why will she repeat what Modi has to say about the Congress? A progressive and secular Bengal will not tolerate Modi's words coming out of Trinamool's mouth," Bhattacharya said.
The Congress is set to take a decision on Saturday about withdrawing support from the Banerjee government in the state.
But it would not have any impact on Banerjee's government, as Trinamool has a comfortable majority in the 294-seat state assembly.
The Congress has 42 members, two more than the Communist Party of India- Marxist's 40, and could stake claim for the post of leader of the opposition.
Bhattacharya said the chief minister's opposition to FDI in retail would spell doom for the state's economy.
"In her regime, the state is hurtling downwards, the law and order situation has steadily deteriorated, there are atrocities against women," he said.
"We are not being allowed to hold meetings. Since we were in the ministry so long, we were putting up with it all. We cannot anymore bear the dictatorial attitude of the government. We are relieved," he said.
Following the exit of Trinamool Congress' union ministers from the union cabinet on Friday, the Congress, tit for tat, declared that all six of its ministers - two of cabinet rank and four ministers of state - will put in their papers before Banerjee on Saturday.
Meanwhile, state Congress general secretary Om Prakash Mishra wrote to the Congress high command pleading for nominating at least three ministers, from among the party members in the state.
"The question of proportionate and adequate representation from the state is engaging the attention of the people," wrote Mishra.
Giving indications that the so long uneasy allies were fast turning bitter foes, Trinamool Congress chief whip Sovandeb Chattopadhyay said he will move a privilege motion against former Congress legislator Arunava Ghosh on charges of insulting assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee.
Ghosh, a fierce critic of Banerjee, has been a familiar face on television channels over the last few years
Miffed by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government's decisions over hike in diesel price and foreign investment in multi-brand retail, the Trinamool on Friday withdrew support to the ruling coalition at the centre.
Haven’t seen you before, PM told TMC ministers
Excerpts from the secretly recorded communication between the Trinamool Congress ministers, who resigned from the ministry today, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (MMS). We don’t vouch for its veracity though. Warning: It could be some mischief monger’s handiwork.
TMC ministers: Hello Manmohanji, we are here to resign.
MMS: Really, but who are you? I haven’t ever seen you around.
TMC ministers: Sir, we are members of Parliament and ministers in your government.
MMS: Hmm…sorry, which party?
TMC ministers: Sir, we belong to the Trinamool Congress. That’s Mamata Banerjee’s party.
MMS: Oh, I see. But where’s she? She is not responding to my SMSes these days?
TMC ministers: Sir, she is upset.
MMS: Upset about what? I would be worried if she not upset about something or the other all the time.
TMC ministers: She is worried about diesel price hike and the FDI business.
MMS: She is upset. How come you guys are resigning? What difference does that make?
TMC ministers: Sir, we take offence. We were members in your council of ministers.
MMS: Really. How come I never met you before? Did you ever come to office?
TMC ministers: Errr…We worked from home, West Bengal.
MMS pulls out some papers and runs through them. “I see,” he says, “One of you is Mukul Roy, the guy who is supposed to be running the railways. Where is he?”
Mukul Roy: I am the one. I am Didi’s favourite and manage her affairs.
MMS: What about the railways? Did you manage it at all? What happened to Dinesh Trivedi? I thought he was still the railway minister. Sorry. The PMO guys just don’t keep me in the loop.
Mukul Roy: I take offence. (phone rings) Didi.. Yes, Didi… No, Didi.. Yes, Didi… I am with him. He is asking where’s Dinesh Trivedi?..Piece of my mind…? As you wish Didi. I will give a big piece.
MMS: Was it Mamata? I don’t understand her. She always misunderstands my silence, even during my phone calls. But sometimes silence is better than a thousand words.
Mukul Roy: We are resigning from the ministry and withdrawing support from the UPA. And that’s final. No further negotiation is possible.
MMS: Who is negotiating with you? And when were you ever part of the UPA? So far as I remember you belonged to the opposition.
TMC ministers in unison: Sir, you are insulting us. How can you say that? Without our 19 members you won’t be sitting here, talking to us. We got Pranabda elected President.
MMS: Thanks. Let’s forget Pranabda. But I hear Sensex has gone up 450 points after you decided to quit. Now that you have quit, I am sure it would go up higher.
TMC ministers: Now, that’s not fair. We did not pull Sensex down. Didi is not even aware of what Sensex is. Her fight is for Ma, Mati and Manush…
MMS: (gets impatient) Yes, yes. But what are you going to do now? You will be jobless.
TMC ministers: Don’t add insult to injury, Manmohanji. You are the man responsible for this. Had you not insisted on FDI and diesel price hike, we would still be ministers.
MMS: Still be ministers? Doing what?
TMC ministers: Don’t ask. Work, of course. Ministerial responsibility. But we can ask you the same question too. What were you doing the last eight years? People say you were snoozing while the country was being plundered by people you know.
MMS: Now, that’s harsh. Let’s not get personal. (phone rings) Yes Madam…No Madam…Yes Madam..Definitely Madam..piece of my mind. Don’t worry, I still have one. I need to take you out of the freezer…Thank you Madam.
TMC ministers: Was it Sonia Gandhi? Is she willing to change the decision on FDI and diesel.
MMS: Who else? Do you think I was talking to your Didi? And how does it matter to you? See I had enough of your nonsense. There won’t be any rollback of anything. Even I am not going to roll back the new me.
TMC ministers: (sounds of muffled giggling and some more of it).
MMS: Now, I don’t like that. I can giggle at your plight too. Please give me some peace.
TMC ministers: Why should we give you peace? Is it our responsibility anymore?
MMS: Was it ever? Enough. How are you going back to West Bengal and how soon? You want me book the earliest flight for you? I doubt whether the trains are running at all. Thanks to you for that, Mukul.
TMC ministers: No thanks. We will manage on our own.
Who’s the prettiest of them all?
An evening of fun, frolic and fashion took place as the City hosted one of the most-awaited events of the year — the I am She Miss Universe contest. The winner Urvashi Rautela will represent India at the 61st Miss Universe pageant to be held in December, this year.
The glamour quotient was at an all-time high at the Leonia Holistic Destination & Resorts, Hyderabad, as 20 beautiful girls from across the country contested for the coveted crown of I am She Miss Universe pageant and a panel of judges including actors Mugdha Godse, Harman Baweja, boxer Mary Kom, designer Neeta Lulla, photographer Santhosh Sivan, Dario group sales director from Istituto Maringoni and Richard Hyde from the British Council judged them.
After some gruelling rounds including swimsuit wear, evening gown and interviews, Miss India Universe 2012 and the two runners-up were selected. Urvashi Rautela, 18, from Uttaranchal was declared the winner. Shilpa Singh was adjudged the first runners up and Arlette Garo, the second runner up at the contest.
There were many memorable moments during the pageant that kept the audience on the edge of their seats. Cheering throughout for their favourite participants and enjoying the cultural extravaganza, the home crowd was seen having a gala time.
The winner of the show Urvashi had to face a question from one of the judges Harman Baweja. Not having heard the question right, she did not hesitate to ask Harman to repeat the question three times. She still managed to be in control and impressed the judges and audience alike with her confidence.
Another such moment was when Hyderabad’s very own Aneesha Chowdhary who made it to the top 5 gave a quirky answer. She was asked what came first chicken or an egg? Her answer was that she had the egg before chicken and that she liked to believe that the egg came first.
The judges too had their share of fun. Harman like a true charmer entertained the audience by asking the boxing sensation Mary Kom to dance with him and she played along by teaching him some boxing-inspired steps.
With 20 beautiful contestants and more glamorous judges, the founder of I am She, Sushmita Sen in a blue sequinned gown still managed to steal the show from all the others.
Why Hyderabad should save its Hussain Sagar Lake
Let’s begin with a statutory warning. Visiting the Hussain Sagar Lake in Hyderabad after the Ganesh immersion on 29 September could be injurious to your eyes, particularly if you are concerned about the state of India’s water bodies.
As luck would have it, the city is playing host to over 8,000 delegates from 193 countries at the prestigious 19-day Conference on Biological Diversity starting 1 October. This Global Biodiversity meet is billed as one of the biggest events to be held in India. And if any of those environmentalists visit the lake, they would find lumps of plaster of paris of 30,000 Ganesh idols floating around. There is no way the municipal workers can clear off the mess in less than 24 hours. Every year they take up to a week or even 10 days.
Even as Hyderabad indulges in window dressing for the conference, putting up temporary green cover to impress the delegates, the state of the 451-year-old lake would expose its tall claims. During the 10-day Ganesh festival, the idols translate into about 20,000 tonnes of plaster of paris and 300 tons of iron. A survey in 2009 showed that the Chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) in the lake (both measures to check the level of pollution in water) shot up dramatically after the festival. The COD jumped from 141 to 580 and BOD increased from 50 to 145.
But it would be unfair to make the Elephant God the villain of the piece. The fact remains that for years now the Hussain Sagar Lake has been a victim of the lust of land sharks and converted into a virtual garbage bin. During the times of the Qutab Shahi and Asaf Jahi rulers, building tanks and creating lakes was considered a sacred activity. The Hussain Sagar Lake built in 1561, thirty years before the Charminar, served as a drinking water source till 1930. The water body was famous for its aquatic life and the delicious murrel fish in particular. Now the biodiversity index report that will be released during the conference admits a huge decline in the number of fish species, from 78 to 12 in the city lakes. No wonder that when students of a school in Hyderabad collected water from Hussain Sagar Lake and Shamirpet lake as part of a project in January this year, they reported that the former was jet black while the latter resembled the urine of a person suffering from jaundice.
The original size of the Hussain Sagar Lake which for all practical purposes divides Hyderabad and Secunderabad, was 1,600 hectares. In 1995, National Remote Sensing Agency imagery declared its size was 416 hectares, which meant 3/4th of its area had been eaten away. Five years later, the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA) issued a notification, where it put the area of the lake at 549 hectares. Despite a directive by the Andhra Pradesh High Court in 2001 that no permanent structure should be built near the water spread or the catchment area of the lake, violations in the name of promoting tourism have been more the norm than the exception. A popular but sad joke is that one day, the Buddha statue in the middle of the lake would end up as a traffic intersection. Unfortunate for a city once known as the city of lakes.
Getting shrunk in the face of continuous onslaught is not the only problem. An equally big menace is that of sewage and pollutants being dumped into lakes all over the city. The Hussain Sagar Lake for instance has sewage from four nallahs dumped into it, with environmentalists dubbing the sewage treatment plant (STP) located inside the lake as an eyewash. The fear is that one day the lake will end up as a large sewage effluent tank in the heart of Hyderabad.
In fact, the groundwater of any area within a radius of 5 km from the Hussainsagar is highly contaminated. Residents who have got borewell water tested have found the E.coli presence 20 times more than the permissible limit. Take bath with this borewell water at your own risk, is the advice given to those living in Hussainsagar’s neighbourhood.
Worse is the abuse the Hussainsagar is subjected to. Studies have shown the cadmium level in the sludge of the lake is very high, thanks mainly due to industrial effluents from the unorganised sector of steel galvanising and electroplating units that come into it through different unmonitored nallahs.
In 2004, HUDA had announced a Rs 300 crore Japan Bank International Cooperation (JBIC) aided project to prevent pollution of the Hussainsagar. It even announced that by 2010, pollution in the lake will be a thing of the past. That has not happened and worse, the project is in fact encroaching into the lake area, with a new STP built on the lake bed.
At one point in time, if you claimed to be a good swimmer, you had to prove it by swimming till the Rock of Gibraltar in the middle of the Hussainsagar lake and come back. Today the feat is considered next to impossible, with the stench of the lake proving a huge challenge. International sailors in the past have grumbled about having to take part in a sailing championship in a lake of such poor water quality.
Perhaps some drastic action is what the doctor would order. Like in January 1922, when the entire water of Hussainsagar was taken out for desilting and then filled with fresh rainwater.
Hyderabad owes it to the Hussainsagar. The lake has been a witness to history as it was on the banks of the Hussainsagar that the first truce between Golconda ruled by Abdullah Qutab Shah and the Mughals commanded by Aurangzeb was negotiated in the mid-1600s. Four hundred years on, the lake is pleading for truce once again.
Fresh lease of life for lung transplant patient
Nearly two months after the first successful single lung transplant was performed on an Indian at a Mumbai-based hospital, a city hospital performed the second such surgery. The patient, a 34-year-old woman hailing from Pune, became the first lung transplant patient in Andhra Pradesh, according to the hospital .
Archana Shedge, a homemaker, was bedridden for about a year due to severe breathing difficulty and was living on external supply of oxygen. She was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis that leads to scarring of the lung. Initially, she sought treatment in Mumbai but the family was referred to Hyderabad, where she was told to undergo a lung transplant.
Put up in the city for the last one-and-a-half month, Archana finally found a donor in a 55-year-old brain dead woman. She underwent a lung transplant on the right side during the intervening night of September 8 and 9. The rare surgery that lasted for 14 hours was performed by a 30-member team led by Dr A G K Gokhale, cardiothoracic and transplant surgeon at Yashoda Hospital.
Speaking at a press conference, Archana's husband Rohit Das said that currently, 50% of his wife's problems had been corrected. "My wife could neither do household chores nor take care of our two children. After the surgery, she has stopped coughing and is able to talk. Doctors said she will be discharged in a couple of weeks," said Das, who runs a general store. The surgery cost the family around Rs 20 lakh.
Dr Gokhale, who incidentally also performed the first successful heart transplant in AP in 2004, said the surgery was risky since the patient weighed 100 kg. He added that Archana has to be very careful in the first six months. "There is a 10-year survival chance for 40% of the transplant patients," he said.
Doctors said that many lung failure patients are dying while waiting for a donor. "In the last five years, I am aware of four patients who have died waiting for lung donors," shared Dr Gokhale. But while there is expertise, there is a dearth of donors. Lungs of only non-smokers can be used for transplants.
Kurnool representatives to meet CM on water issue
People’s representatives from Kurnool district are preparing to confront chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Saturday with their request for release of water to Velugodu project through Pothireddypadu head regulator.
They are even preparing to stage a dharna in front of CM’s cabin, if necessary, to press their point and see that water from Srisailam is released to their district instead of Krishna Delta farmers through Nagarjuna Sagar project.
“We have already explained the need for releasing water to Velugodu project to the chief minister on Thursday and save the withering crops in the district,” Allagadda YSCRP MLA B Shoba Nagi Reddy told Express.
She, along with ministers TG Venkatesh and Erau Pratap Reddy, met the chief minister on Thursday and tried to impress upon him the importance of releasing Srisailam waters for the benefit of Kurnool farmers.
The chief minister, however, remained non-committal. “He said he would discuss the issue with concerned officials and take necessary decision,” the YSRCP MLA said.
When contacted, officials said that they were yet to get any direction from the state government with regard to release of water from Srisailam.
According to sources in agriculture department, encouraged by recent rains, farmers in Kurnool district had taken up cultivations in 4.35 lakh hectares against the normal cropping area of 5.52 lakh hectares. It includes groundnut in 1.5 lakh hectares, cotton in 1 lakh hectares, paddy in 1.80 lakh hectares. As there were no rains for last 20 days and no water available for irrigation, crops in several acres were withering out, worrying the farmers.
Having the same contention, leaders from Telangana region on one side and from Krishna and Guntur districts on other are also bringing pressure on the government for release of water to their respective regions on priority basis.
