NTV Survey- 78% Support For Jagan

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According to a survey conducted by a private television channel, NTV, in association with Nielsen ORG Marg states that Jagan has got a huge 79% support from people as prospective Chief Minister.
Out of which 75% support has come from Telengana region, 80% from Coastal Andhra and 82% from Rayalaseema region.
And many other surveys are also stating that Jagan is getting anywhere between 60 to 80 percent of support from public to enthrone CM’s chair.
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Emergency locator device traced, in damaged condition

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A week after the helicopter of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy crashed, the police finally traced the key alarm instrument — Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) — from the debris near the site, but it was in a damaged condition.
Kurnool Superintendent of Police Ch. Srikant told The Hindu that the damage to the ELT was confirmed by a technician of the A.P. Aviation Corporation Limited.
However, it would be shown to the team from the office of the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) that arrived in Kurnool on Wednesday. The ELT of the helicopter did not emit any signals after the crash to assist the search and rescue operations.
Notwithstanding the damage, a senior police officer here said the ELT would be despatched to the DGCA headquarters in New Delhi. The police had handed over to DGCA the cockpit voice recorder, flight operation documents, report of the bomb disposal squad, CDs containing the video and photos of site and police panchanama.
He said that the Crime Investigation Department (CID) was veering round to the conclusion that there was no sabotage in the crash by a process of eliminating probabilities. However, the weather report had not been obtained yet and a thorough understanding of the professional skills of pilots S.K. Bhatia and M.S. Reddy still held the key to further investigation. The CID believes that it was either bad weather or pilots’ error or a combination of both that led to the tragedy.
Copter airworthy
A significant outcome of investigation by CID so far was that there was nothing wrong with the helicopter before it took off from the Begumpet airport. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will formally take over investigation of the case from the CID on Thursday.
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CM for market intervention schemes to bring down prices

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Though the state government feels that the prices of essential commodities like superfine variety of rice and tur dal have stabilized, the market reality is quite different. While superfine variety of rice continues to be sold at Rs 34 per kg, tur dal is still being sold at Rs 100 a kg.
Chief minister K Rosaiah, who reviewed the prices of essential commodities on Wednesday, directed officials to go in for market intervention schemes and intensify raids on hoarders and black-marketeers. He also directed that the revamped Food Advisory Committees and Price Monitoring Committees should meet regularly and monitor the price situation in the state.
According to a press release, officials had informed the chief minister that 500 gms of tur dal per month was being supplied to white card holders at the rate of Rs 45 per kg. From October 1, the white card holders would also get one kg of chana dal at Rs 30 per kg per month.
It was also decided to convene a meeting of dal and rice millers to seek their cooperation in selling them at reasonable prices even in the open market. The officials told Rosaiah that the civil supplies department had opened 496 counters for selling rice and dal at lesser rates than the open market. The chief minister expressed concern over the rise in the price of sugar and asked the officials to see that it was stabilized particularly in view of the festival season ahead.
The government will also issue a GO on incentives to be provided to the informants who report the hoarding and black-marketing, and to the officials who raid and seize the stocks in two days. The informants and the officials will be given two per cent of the value of the seized goods. The state government has written to the Centre on the need to fix maximum prices of preferred variety of rice and tur dal so that the seized stocks could be released into the market.
Interestingly, the prices of preferred superfine rice, fine/common variety rice, black gram, green gram, bengal gram, tamarind, chillies, onions, groundnut oil, sunflower oil and palmolien oil increased this month compared to last month. The price of red gram, however, showed a downward trend.
Further, according to the government, retail prices of Tomato, Brinjal, Bhendi, Greeen Chillies, Bitter Gourd, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Carrot and Onions remained the same as those in September last year. However, there has been a slight increase in the prices of Potatoes, and Ribbed Gourd.
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Memorial for YSR at crash site not feasible

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The state government’s proposal to erect a memorial for the late chief minister, Dr Y. S. Rajasekhar Reddy, at the site of the accident in the Nallamalla forests is likely to run into rough weather on two counts.
The area falls in a protected wildlife sanctuary that is home to the highly protected tigers, and it is also inhabited by Maoist groups.

The Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, who chaired a cabinet meeting immediately after swearing in the cabinet, had announced that the government would construct a memorial in Hyderabad as well as at the accident spot in the Nallamalla hills.
Another memorial is also planned on YSR’s Idupulapaya estate near Pulivendla.

The place where the Bell 430-helicopter crashed, killing Dr Rajasekhar Reddy and four others, at Pavuralatippa, 30 km from Atmakur, is located in the core tiger area known as Gundla Brahmeswara Wildlife Sanctuary.
Tigers, panthers, sloth bears, wild dogs,hyenas, jungle cats, langurs, bonnet monkeys, marsh crocodiles, pangolin, sambar, nilgai, chowsinga, chinkara and mouse deer are some of the species found here.

Sources in the forest department said all types of construction activity is banned in notified sanctuaries. “It’s true the accident spot is located in a notified tiger sanctuary, the Gundla Brahmeswara Wildlife Sanctuary. All construction activity is banned in a tiger reserve unless permitted by the central government and the Central Board for Wildlife,” said Mr A. V. Joseph, additional principal conservator of forests (Admn).

The cabinet, it seems took a hasty decision. If a memorial is constructed here roads will have to be laid and basic facilities such as a guest house, lighting arrangements, drinking water and other facilities that are not permitted in reserve forest areas, will have to be provided.

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KvP meets PM for Jagan’s CM claim

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K V P Ramachandra Rao, who is leading the campaign for Y S Jaganmohan Reddy’s claim to Andhra Pradesh chief ministership, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday to strengthen his bid for the state’s top job.

Rao, a confidant of the late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, was closeted with Singh for 30 minutes at the Prime Minister’s Race Course Road residence here.

"The Prime Minister knows everything about the political situation in the state. He is also aware of the people’s and party men’s sentiments. I do not have to explain the details to him," Rao told reporters after the meeting.

On his discussions with Singh, Rao said the Prime Minister was particularly concerned over the health and the mental state of family members, relatives and friends of Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, who died in a helicopter crash last week.

"The Prime Minister particularly enquired about their state of health and whether the family members, especially his wife, have resumed their normal life after YSR’s sudden demise," Rao said.

He said Singh advised him to devote more time to family members and shared his grief and also asked him to convey his condolences to all family members and supporters of YSR and party workers in the state.

Rao’s meeting with Singh came a day after he met Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who assured the YSR camp that she will consult all concerned, including the Prime Minister, before taking a final decision on the leadership issue in the state.

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152 MLAs back Jagan as CM

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The former home minister, Mr K. Jana Reddy, joined the “Jagan as Chief Minister” campaign on Tuesday.

The media had hitherto reported that Mr Jana Reddy was not interested in projecting anyone as a Chief Ministerial candidate as he wanted to support a nominee chosen by the party high command.

Mr Jana Reddy called on Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy and his mother Vijayalakshmi on Tuesday at the late chief minister’s residence in Begumpet. He handed over a letter of support to request the high command to choose Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy as the next Chief Minister.

Another former minister, Mr J.C. Diwakar Reddy, also gave his letter of support to Mr Jagan.

With this, 152 out of the 154 Congress MLAs are supporting Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy. The former minister and Sanathnagar MLA, Mr M. Shashidhar Reddy and the Khairatabad MLA, Mr P. Vishnuvardhan Reddy have not signed any letter so far supporting Mr Jagan Mohan.

Meanwhile, the APSRTC chairman and former minister, Mr M. Sathyanarayana Rao, issued a statement urging the party high command to select Mr Jagan Mohan for the top post.

‘With all my seniority and experience in the party for over five decades I have come to a conclusion that in this hour of crisis, the Congress high command should nominate Mr Jagan Mohan as the Chief Minister,” he said.

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YSR chopper’s Cockpit Voice Recorder ’partly damaged

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The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) in the ill-fated Bell-430 helicopter of Andhra Pradesh government, which crashed in Nallamala forest on September 2 killing chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and four others, was found to be in a "partly damaged" condition. Indian representatives of the Bell helicopter company were asked to decode the CVR, but since it was in a "partly damaged" condition, decoding proved difficult, the state government’s Crisis Management Committee informed home minister P Sabita Indra Reddy late tonight. An official press communique later said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has informed that the CVR would be sent to the US for decoding in case the exercise became difficult here. The CVR-38 solid state model was manufactured by Universal Avionics Systems Corporation, TucSon-AZ, USA. The committee is chaired by the Chief Secretary with Director General of Police, Principal Secretary (Home) and other top officials as members. The CMC held a meeting with the home minister late in the night to discuss the issue. The condition and other details of the Emergency Locator Transmitter would come to light in the inquiries by DGCA, state Crime Investigation Department, CBI and the two-member expert committee, the CMC said.
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