Bandaru Dattatreya urged External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to rescue over 5,000 people from Telangana stranded in Iraq. He requested her to shift them to safer zones, open a cell with a Telugu-speaking officer to help families, and a 24/7 call center. Most of those stranded worked in construction or hotels and want to return but fear loansharks. Dattatreya also urged the HRD Minister to release Rs. 200 crore for Osmania University's 2018 centenary and include it in the government's 50 new centers of excellence plan.

1. 2
Steps will be taken to ensure there is no
scarcity of seeds and fertilisers
— AP Agriculture Minister P Pulla Rao
Pollution-free industrial areas should
dot Telangana State
—CM K Chandrasekhar Rao
STATE |HYDERABAD | SATURDAY 21 JUNE 2014
Ayana: Uttarayana
Ritu: Greeshma
Maasa: Jyeshta
Paksha: Bahula
Tidhi: Navami till 10.24 am
Then Dasami
Nakshatra: Revati till 09.45 pm
Varjyam: 09.47 am to 11.23 am
Durmuhurtham: 05.36 am to 07.21 am
Rahukalam: 09.00 am to 10.30 am
(Source: The Hans India
English Daily Panchangam)
JAYA (SAKA 1936)
NAMAAZ TIMINGS
TODAY
Sunday
Fajr Zohar Asr Maghrib Isha
4.33 12:27 4:54 6:58 8:15
am pm pm pm pm
VENKAT PARSA
New Delhi: BJP leader Ban-
daru Dattatreya on Friday
called on External Affairs
Minister Sushma Swaraj and
pleaded with her on rescuing
the over 5,000 people belong-
ing to Telangana, who are
stranded in Iraq. Bandaru
Dattatreya said he has urged
External Affairs Minister
Sushma Swaraj to shift the
people from Telangana,
presently located within the
radius of 40-50 km from
Baghdad, to safer zones. He
requested her to open a cell in
the Indian Embassy in Iraq,
with a Telugu-speaking offi-
cer in charge of it. He also
urged her to open a 24x7 call
centre to furnish information
about the Telangana people
stranded in Iraq to their fam-
ily members.
Since most of them do not
have valid papers, Out Pass
could be issued to them and
those willing to come back, a
special aircraft should be
made available. Most of the
people stranded in Iraq hailed
from Adilabad, Karimnagar,
Medak, Ranga Reddy and
Hyderabad. They are work-
ing as construction workers
or are employed in hotels.
Several of them have made
loans to go to Iraq and so far
they have not been able to
repay. Fearing the loan sharks
will catch up with them, they
do not want to come back.
When asked whether a loan-
waiver for their benefit is
possible, he said a study has
to be made by the State and
Central Governments.
New Delhi: Bandaru Dattatreya on Friday urged HRD Minister
Smriti Irani to release Rs 200 crore for Osmania University
centenary in 2018. The amount could be used for giving the
university, started in 1918.
HRD Minister Smriti Irani said Modi Government is for
starting 50 centres of excellence and she would include Osma-
nia University in it. The BJP leader also urged her to start
Adarsh Schools in English medium at Mandal level. The BJP
leader said soon a Telangana BJP delegation will soon meet
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and submit a memorandum on
issues relating to the newly-created State. Owing to sub-nor-
mal monsoon, when power cuts are expected to be more, Ban-
daru Dattatreya urged Power Minister Piyush Goyal to release
500 MW power from the unallocated Central pool for Telan-
gana. The release can be made from the NTPC unit in Rama-
gundem. It will help Telangana to tide over the power shortage
pegged at 462 MW. In Telangana, agricultural pump sets are
used extensively and as such there is greater demand for power
in the State. It is all the more reason why the Centre should
come to the rescue of Telangana.
‘Allot `200 cr for OU centenary’
Railways clarification
T.NO FROM - TO KMS PRESENT FARES REVISED FARES DIFFERENCE
1A 2A 3A SL CC 1A 2A 3A SL CC 1A 2A 3A SL CC
12723 Hyderabad – New-Delhi 1677 3835 2230 1535 590 4375 2545 1745 670 540 315 210 80
12704 Secunderabad-Howrah 1545 3605 2100 1450 555 4110 2395 1650 630 505 295 200 75
12728 Hyderabad- Visakhapatnam 711 2230 1320 930 360 2535 1500 1055 405 305 180 125 45
12785 Kacheguda-Bangalore-city 625 2030 1210 855 330 2305 1370 970 370 275 160 115 40
17032 Hyderabad-Mumbai 790 2290 1355 940 350 2615 1545 1070 395 325 190 130 45
12760 Hyderabad-Chennai 790 2370 1400 985 380 2695 1590 1115 425 325 190 130 45
12734 Secunderabad-Tirupati 661 2115 1260 890 345 2405 1430 1005 385 290 170 115 40
12738 Secunderabad-Kakinada 566 1895 1135 805 310 2155 1285 910 350 260 150 105 40
17256 Hyderabad-Narsapur 462 1535 910 635 240 1750 1040 725 270 215 130 90 30
17064 Secunderabad-Manmad 621 1950 1160 810 300 2230 1325 920 340 280 165 110 40
12806 Secunderabad-Visakhapatam 689 - - - 735 830 95
12806 Secunderabad-Guntur 282 - - - 415 460 45
12437 Secunderabad-Nizamuddin 1660 4685 2835 2060 5300 3185 2300 615 350 240
12220 Secunderabad-ltt Duronto 773 2770 1660 1210 3140 1875 1360 370 215 150
REVISED RAIL FARES
Continued from P1
At present, private medical colleges offer 60 per cent of their
PG seats (CategoryA) for Rs 60,000 while the fees for remain-
ing seats in the next two categories range from Rs 2.5 lakh to
6.5 lakh.
The fee regulatory committee revised PG fee structure pro-
posing 3.5 lakh for Category A and the private managements
insisted the government to implement the same. But the gov-
ernment turned down the proposal saying that it would put
heavy financial burden on the government in the form or fee re-
imbursement. The government is reimbursing fees for category
A (Rs 60,000) for PG students hailing from poor families. In-
creasing this figure by almost six-folds would be a huge burden
on the State exchequer, the Chief Secretary told the manage-
ments.
Talking to reporters after the meeting Ch Malla Reddy, the
Malkajgiri MP and chairman of Malla Reddy Institute of Med-
ical Sciences, said they batted for uniform fee structure.
He urged the government to allow private medical colleges
to conduct an entrance test for MBBS seats. He said the college
management would be meeting the CS again to discuss the issue
of entrance test. There are almost 480 PG seats in various private
medical colleges in Telangana. It may be mentioned here that
the AP government had held talks, a day earlier with medical
college managements from their State and decided to go ahead
with the same fee structure.
Continued from P1
Whenever the BJP
comes to power, it tries
and get a few people all
the advantage,” Lalu
Yadav said, demanding a
rollback.
AICC communica-
tions wing chairman
Ajay Maken said, “The
BJP has rewarded the
people, who voted for it,
this way. The Congress
condemns this move.”
Trinamool Congress
leader and former Rail-
way Minister Mukul
Roy said, “The hike is
anti-people. The Rail-
ways have social obliga-
tions. The hike will hit
the common people. We
criticise the way the fare
hike was announced, by-
passing Parliament.”
Congress leader Man-
ish Tiwari said it was
ironic that the same peo-
ple, who opposed the
previous government for
any important economic
decision on grounds of
burdening common peo-
ple, have resorted to this
move and in this manner.
The CPM politburo
stated, “This is a cruel
blow to the working peo-
ple who have been vic-
tims of relentless price
hikes in the years of
Congress misrule. In-
stead of bringing them
some relief as promised
in his election campaign,
the Modi Government
has put a huge burden on
the mass of people who
use the Indian railways.
The increase in freight
rates will have a cascad-
ing impact on prices of
essential commodities
which are transported by
rail across the country.”
Steep hike
in rail fares
VENU K KODIMELA
Hyderabad: The cup of woes
seemed to be overflowing for stu-
dents hailing from Telangana
state. Even as the Andhra students
face the test of nativity for admis-
sions and scholarships, the stu-
dents pursuing studies abroad
can’t proudly claim their state as
‘T’ state in their application for
visas as they might face the
prospect of rejection. The stu-
dents applying for visa to pursue
higher education in the United
States face a peculiar situation.
Their passports mention Andhra
Pradesh as their state while their
application for visas submitted
after June 2 might carry Telan-
gana state.
Parents and students expressed
concern that the officials at the
port of entry might send them
back if their travel documents
don’t match with that of visa pa-
pers. “To avoid problems during
admissions, I mentioned Andhra
Pradesh instead of Telangana state
as my application might land me
in trouble” said a student at the
passport office in Secunderbad.
He applied for passport well in
advance.
Ajay Kumar, whose son is pur-
suing intermediate, cautions, “the
US officials might send back any-
one found to be traveling with
documents with different set of
addresses on their arrival in the
US.” He said the external affairs
ministry should have informed
the students and parents about the
fallout of bifurcation of Andhra
Pradesh. The students applying
for visa after June 2 mention their
state as Telangana, but some of
them continue to mention Andhra
Pradesh to avoid clash of address
as stated in the passport. Will the
Telangana address affect the stu-
dent's application status? No, says
Ms April Wells, Public Affairs
Officer, US Consulate General,
Hyderabad.“All visa applicants
should list their current address,
including the name of the state.
However, how the state is listed
will not disadvantage a visa appli-
cant,” Ms Wells said.
T people may face visa problems
No fee hike for PG medical
Rescue T people in
Iraq: Bandaru
New Delhi (PTI): Faced with criticism of effecting a steep hike,
the Railways clarified late in the evening that the increase was
only 10 per cent in passenger fare and 5 per cent in freight
charges. It also insisted the hike was "as finalised by the previ-
ous government", and promised to "review" the additional bur-
den due to oil price fluctuation if the the price of oil decreases.
The ministry said in a press release that the figure of 14.2 per
cent hike in passenger fare and 6.5 per cent hike in freight rates
is inclusive of the Fuel Adjustment Component (FAC). It said
the FAC is 4.2 per cent for passenger fare and approximately
1.5 per cent for freight charges, which is done once in six
months "routinely", depending upon fluctuations in oil prices
similar to retail prices of diesel and petrol at petrol bunks.