The Lord of Seven Hills will soon have a dedicated police force with a separate police superintendent, to ensure safety in the temple town.

The move comes even as intelligence reports have been warning of possible terror strikes in the state and Tirupati has always been high on the target list.

Along with Tirupati, Warangal, Guntur and Rajahmundry have been declared urban districts and will each get exclusive police force.

The police reinforcements will be in addition to a 1600-member Anti-terrorist squad ‘Octopus’, that was announced after the twin blasts in Hyderabad.

The specialised force is expected to be operational by the year end.

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“The high-calorie dish is a huge draw among NRIs in the Middle East and several other countries with a huge Muslim population. Demand far outstrips supplies in these regions. We want to leverage on our brand and patent Pista House’s haleem,” said Majeed, proprietor of Pista House.

Haleem is a semi-hot liquid made of wheat, meat, lentils and spices and relished in this part of the world during the holy month of Ramzan. There’s also a vegetarian version of haleem, with dry fruits and vegetables instead of meat. Traditionally, haleem was made by unorganised eateries. Over the last couple of years, the market for this dish has grown and lured many organised restaurants to jump onto the bandwagon.

Food chains such as Pista House, Paradise, Nayaab and Madina in Hyderabad now serve haleem. The domestic market for this dish is around Rs 100 crore. There’s huge demand for the delicacy in the Arab world, all South-east Asian nations and even in the US and UK. Pista House, for instance, recently tied up with Hyderabad-based logistics company Gati to market haleem in India and abroad.

Priced at Rs 335 per kg ($9) in India, the customised airtight haleem package tins of Pista House give the product a 15-day shelf life. Gati will start exporting Pista House’s haleem in a week’s time. The order book for the product is automated through Gati’s website. According to sources, Pista House is negotiating with some investors to expand business abroad.

Although Pista House made an attempt to export haleem last year, it could not succeed as airlines had problems transporting liquid ingredients, particularly after the terrorist attacks. But this year, the tie-up with Gati will enable Pista House to take haleem beyond the Indian shores. “Gati’s tie-up with DHL, Aramex and TNT networks enables us to transport haleem across countries,” Gati marketing manager Venkat said. Several Hyderabad haleem food outlets have also outsourced their cooks to the Middle East and South Asian countries .

Pista House was the first one to chalk out plans to expand its outlets to countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai and Hong Kong. It had earlier roped in the postal department to distribute haleem through its service in the state. There are over 1,000 haleem outlets operating in Hyderabad . Nearly 100 of them sell more than 3,000 plates a day. While most of the outlets limit haleem to Ramzan season, some restaurants prepare it throughout the year.

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Without passing any interim order, a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan sought reply from the Andhra Pradesh government whether the creamy layer has been excluded or not from the benefit of the reservation.

The court has fixed September 28 as the next date of hearing.

Senior advocate Arun Jaitley informed the court that the matter has to be heard urgently as the state government would finalise the admission process by September 30.

The petition filed by T Murlidhar Rao and K Sriteja has challenged the Andhra Pradesh High Court order declining to stay the Ordinance issued by the state government on July 6, 2007, under which it provided four per cent reservations to several sub sects within the Muslim community by treating them as Backward Classes.

source: The Times of India

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Chairman of Legislative Council A Chakrapani being
felicitated at the conclusion of the World Telugu Writers’
Conference in Vijayawada on Sunday.

VIJAYAWADA: The World Telugu Writers Conference resolved to urge the Central Government to grant ancient language status to Telugu.

The three-day conference jointly organised by Krishna Zilla Rachayitala Sangham, Andhra Pradesh Cultural Affairs Department and Hindi Academy received overwhelming rsponse as large number of Telugu writers from all over the world attended the sessions and aired their views.

The conference also passed resolutions demanding implementation of teaching of primary education in Telugu and revival of the Sahiti Academy. The writers demanded recognition of Telugu as second official language at the national-level and writers should be encouraged.

Speaking at the concluding session, former Union Minister Parvathaneni Upendra said: ‘‘Our MPs should work sincerely to achieve ancient status to Telugu language.’’ He said the Tamil MPs achieved ancient language status to Tamil through their continued efforts.

Earlier, releasing a special souvenir on this occasion, Chairman of the Legislative Council A Chakrapani said Telugu speaking State should be united. He said priority should be given to implementation of Telugu in official correspondence and a special department should be formed for this purpose.

AP Hindi Academy chairman Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad said that the conference would help interaction among Telugu writers all over the world. he said the NRIs were more interested in protecting our culture and they were running house magazines in Telugu highlighting our traditions.

Telugu People.com managing editor M Venkateswara Rao appealed to writers to expose their writings to the world using Internet. He said writers should change their mindset and start using Internet to take their writings to all parts of the world. He said the Telugu People.com also provides an opportunity of interaction among Telugu writers.

K Prabhakara Reddy, assistant secretary to Chief Minister said writers need not worry about the usage of words in newspapers and they should give importance to the content. He said foreign words should be absorbed for the expansion of the language.

Senior journalist Turlapati Kutumba Rao said efforts should be made to achieve ancient language status to Telugu. Andhra Jyothi editor K Ramachandra Murthy said steps should be taken to implement Telugu as official language. He said finding fault with usage of some words in newspapers fighting over a non-issue. He said foreign words should be absorbed in Telugu language for its expansion.

Former editor C Raghavachari spoke on official language-newspapers. Editor of India Today Telugu Rajasuka and others spoke.

source: Indian Express

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The worst hit areas are Visakhapatnam, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, East and West Godavari districts, which received heavy to very heavy rains under the influence of low pressure area early this week.

Standing crops on over five hundred acres of land and 15 thousand houses have been damaged due to heavy rains in the state, while over 40, 000 families are said to be affected.

Most of the rivers in the state are flowing above danger mark, although the officials said steps have been taken to prevent the river water from entering the nearby areas.

“The government has taken various steps to avoid floods. Banks have been built on both sides of the river and tenders are being issued to construct flood banks,” said G.Prasad Rao, Chief Engineer, North Andhra, Irrigation Project.

Meanwhile, the state meteorological department predicted more rains in next 24 hours in various parts of the state.

“Rainfall will continue in many places in next 24 hours, in three places heavy (rain) likely to continue. Strong winds on westerly direction, speed ranging 45 to 55 kilometres per hour, are also likely to continue for another 24 hours,” said D.Prasad Rao, Meteorological Department, Visakhapatnam.

source: DailyIndia

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Soon after the last Pakistan wicket fell, the city reverberated with the bursting of crackers. Hundreds of youths came on to the streets, shouting slogans and blowing horns of their bikes.

The historic win over archrivals added to the joyous mood prevailing in the city during the Ganesh festivities. Amid the drumbeats and to the tunes of ‘Chak de India’, people were seen dancing near Ganesh pandals after Team India’s win.

For many, God had answered their prayers. “We have been praying for India’s victory since morning,” said D. Suresh, a school student.

“We had an early exit in the One-Day International (ODI) world cup, but this victory is as good as winning the world cup. In fact, this victory has brought more cheers as the team has defeated Pakistan,” said Vinod Reddy, a 12th standard student, celebrating India’s win with his friends.

Earlier, several roads wore deserted look as people remained glued to their television sets to watch the final.

Fans standing in front of roadside shops were seen cheering every run scored by Indian batsmen and celebrating the fall of every Pakistani wicket.

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