Bezawada.co.in

Headline

Good response to Biofest 2010 at Nalanda

[ Saturday, December 11, 2010 | 0 comments ]

Students of life sciences from nearly 16 colleges from across the State participated enthusiastically in the events held as part of ‘Biofest 2010’ at Nalanda Degree College here on Saturday. Poster presentations made by the participants on various aspects of bio-technology and related sciences were put on display on the occasion. 

Models on wonder microbes, transgenic plants and animals, molecular biology, genetic engineering, fermentation of wine and other topics attracted the attention of the visitors.
Principal M. Anuradha said that participation in the events would give a lot of exposure and learning experience to the students and help sharpen their skills to do well in their future careers. She said there was good response to the fest from students of colleges in Bhimavaram, Khammam, Kakinada, Guntur, Vuyyuru, Eluru and other places. 

Addressing as chief guest at the inaugural function, U. Satyanarayana, a professor at Dr. Pinnamaneni Siddhartha Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Foundation, said that the students would do well if they concentrated on further studies and research after completing their graduation. He said that higher studies and research activities would create plenty of opportunities for the students and they should be ready for that from the beginning. 

Prof. Satyanarayana, who has published several books and currently doing research on stem cell, said that the youngsters should develop the habit of cultivating general and communication skills so that they would be able to get a mastery of the subject they were studying. Revolutionary changes were sweeping across the field of research to the extent that future held the promise of vending genes across the counter at a pharmacy store just like medicines being sold nowadays. Though a number of ethical issues were involved in gene applications, anything would be possible going by the intensity of the research nowadays, he added.

Showers bring down temperature

| 0 comments ]

Several parts of the city received showers from the early hours of Monday, taking people by surprise. The skies opened for a brief spell around 6.30 a.m., and the sky remained fully cloudy throughout the day and it continued to drizzle on and off. 

It was a different climate that many woke up to, as the city was greeted by cold breeze forcing the people to remain indoors. The cool breeze and unexpected showers brought down the temperature considerably. Those who had to venture out braced themselves up for cloudy skies and shallow fog in the early hours. They dusted off their pullovers to protect themselves from vagaries of weather. School children were seen going to schools in pullovers and jerkins. 

The rain played a spoilsport with the de-silting work proposed by the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) at the 10-MGD water treatment plant at Ramalingeswara Nagar. The Corporation officials could not commence the work due to rains. The workers did not turn up as expected, and the officials could not make the necessary arrangements for the works. As a result, works were postponed to Wednesday. The Corporation is likely to put in place necessary equipment on Tuesday if the weather conditions favoured, and the de-silting works would be taken up on Wednesday.

Farmers pour out their woes

| 0 comments ]


Protests by farmers and a few activists of the Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (MRPS) greeted Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on Thursday on his maiden visit to Krishna district after assumption of charge.

Mr. Reddy arrived by helicopter and landed on the Guntur district side of Mandali Venkata Krishna Rao Vaaradhi that connects Puligadda in Krishna district and Penumudi in Guntur district. Ministers, MPs, MLAs and other elected representatives of the two districts received him.

Soon after reaching a place designated by the officials at Mopidevi for the farmers who came from different villages to assemble and pour out their grievances, a few farmers raised slogans demanding that the Chief Minister visit Koduru and Nagayalanka mandals that suffered the maximum damage.

Mr. Reddy quickly interacted with a handful of farmers and addressed them standing on an elevated platform. Revenue Minister N. Raghuveera Reddy, Minister for Secondary Education K. Parthasarathi and former Minister Mandali Buddha Prasad were present.

Even as he was clarifying the issues raised by the farmers, a few MRPS activists raised slogans demanding categorisation of scheduled castes. “I will come back to your issue later,” Mr. Reddy said in a bid to silence them, but did not touch upon the subject later.

Farmers, speaking to the media, expressed their displeasure at the very little time Mr. Reddy spent with them. They said that the officials had not visited them till now. “I have two acres and spent Rs.20,000 on each acre. All that has gone down the drain,” said Goriparthi Venkataramaiah with anguish.

Balamuralikrishna felicitated

| 0 comments ]

Doyen of Carnatic music Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna appeared modesty personified when he said, in response to the grand manner in which he was felicitated here on Sunday evening, that “many think I know music, but the truth is that music knows me.” The octogenarian vocalist was felicitated on the premises of Ghantasala Venkateswara Rao Government College of Music and Dance that he nurtured as its principal, at a programme organised by Gayaka Sarvabhowma Sangeetha Parishad in association with Laila group of companies, Agri Gold group and Maa TV. The occasion was the 128th birth anniversary of Parupalli Ramakrishnayya Pantulu, the guru of Mr. Balamuralikrishna. The vocalist mesmerised the packed audience with a variety of compositions during an hour-and-half-long concert that followed the felicitation.
“This felicitation is very special to me because it is here that I grew up as a musician,” Mr. Balamuralikrishna said, going down the memory lane. As a child, he recalled, he was admitted into a school by his father to wean him away from music, but the teacher soon realised that music was in his blood and it was difficult to separate him from it.


Laila group chairman Gokaraju Ganga Raju and Agri Gold chairman V.R. Rao Avvas felicitated Mr. Balamuralikrishna.

Municipal corporation's revenue collections take a hit

[ Monday, November 22, 2010 | 0 comments ]

The opposition parties and tax payers lament that the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) received a mere Rs. 7.24 crore under non-plan grants from 2005-06 to 2009-10. But the sordid fact is that the Corporation has not laid any emphasis on taxes as well, if the collections were any indication.

Barring Vacant Land Tax (VLT) collection, there is a drop in revenue collections under all major heads like property tax, water tap and sewerage. The fall in revenue collection is not limited to any one circle.

All the three circles in the city fared in similar fashion. The property tax collection during the first half of this financial year (April 1 to September 30) dwindled to Rs. 20.72 crore from Rs. 21.91 crore recorded for the corresponding period of last year. The water tap collections slipped to Rs.31.87 crore from Rs.33.05 crore and the sewerage charges too dropped to Rs. 8.2 lakh from last year's Rs. 8.7 lakh, officials say.

A glance at the performance of the VMC in the first half of the financial year from 2005-06 to 2010-11 indicates that the revenue wing of the Corporation has always fallen short of set targets. Neither was it placing emphasis on ?under-assessed' and ?un-assessed' properties. For instance, property tax collections rose to Rs. 12.65 crore in 2006-07 from Rs. 8.83 crore in 2005-06.

Then Municipal Commissioner Natarajan Gulzar succeeded in revising the ?under-assessed' and ?un-assessed' properties.

When property tax rates were revised in 2006-07, collections jumped to Rs. 18.73 crore. Since then the emphasis on PT collections continued, and the collections reached Rs. 21.79 crore in 2009-10.

A similar emphasis was laid on other heads like vacant land tax, water tap and sewerage charges.

Official sources said that the higher-ups have not reviewed the performance of revenue wing on a regular basis so far.

The demand and collections were earlier reviewed at least every fortnight. The Corporation used to rely on revenue receipts before the State government introduced the Building Penalisation Scheme (BPS).

In the recent past, BPS collections assumed significance as thousands of applications were filed under the scheme.

There is an increase in the VLT collections, sources say, as the Corporation collected the arrears and some new assessments have been added to the list.

The VLT collection came down to Rs. 1.58 crore in 2009-10 from Rs. 2.61 crore in 2007-08. Now, it again touched Rs. 2.15 crore.