Telugu film actor’s arrest imminent in shooting case

HYDERABAD, June 4: The arrest of Mr Nandamuri Balakrishna, famous Telugu film actor and son of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N T Rama Rao, is imminent for allegedly firing at two film producers with a licensed pistol last night.

The jubilee hills police, who have registered an attempt to murder case, may arrest the actor soon after his discharge from the hospital. The actor was rushed to the hospital after he complained of chest pain.

The police, who searched Mr Balakrishna’s residence in Banjara hills, picked up a cook and a driver for interrogation. The police suspect that Mr Balakrishna had used his wife’s weapon as it was empty, while the actor’s pistol was loaded. They seized both the weapons.

Film producer Bellamkonda Suresh and his associate Satyanarayana Chowdhary were injured when the actor opened fire. Both of them were operated upon at a leading corporate hospital in the city and their condition continues to be critical. They have been put on ventilator support.

Meanwhile, police sources said in a true filmi style, attempts were made to destroy the evidence. They also noticed blood stains had been cleaned in the room in which the alleged shooting incident occurred. The cloth used to wipe the blood stains was recovered from the cellar of the house.

When contacted, Dr Hari Prasad, one of the doctors attending on the producers, said Mr Suresh’s left kidney was damaged in the attack and he was operated upon. Mr Chowdhury had suffered a heavy blood loss as his liver was affected. He was also operated upon. The next 48 hours were crucial, the doctor added.

In the Assembly, raising the shooting incident, Mr M A Gafoor (CPI-M) demanded the arrest of Mr Balakrishna and said that "influential people should not be allowed to take law into their own hands". (UNI)

Indigenously built Satpura launched

MUMBAI, June 4: ‘Satpura’, the indigenously-built stealth warship and the second of the P-17 frigate, was today launched at the Mazgaon docks.

Looking resplendent in her colourful buntings, the 143 metre long and 16.9 m wide ship, slipped into the warm waters of the Arabian sea amidst the strains of ‘Saare Jahan Se Acha....’ after Harveen Krishnaswamy,wife of Air Chief Marshal S Krishnaswamy, Chief of Air Staff, pressed the trigger.

Shivalik, the first ship of this class, was launched in April last year.

The Satpura, which was built two months ahead of its schedule and expected to be commissioned by September 2007, will be fitted with latest surface-to-surface vertical launched missiles, surface-to-air missiles and state of the art radar and communication equipment, according to Admiral Madhvendra Singh, Chief of the Naval Staff.

"They will be powered by gas turbines and diesel engines to move at the speed above 30 knots and will operate two large helicopters for surveillance and anti-submarine operations," he said adding that "though the P-17 ships were smaller in size than the Delhi class destroyers, they would have more deadly and potent weapons".

Describing the launching as an important milestone, Singh said, the ship, named after the Satpura ranges, was expected to guard Indian waters like the silent sentinels.

The estimated cost of the ship was Rs 1000 crore, Singh said adding building the ship indegenously had radically cut down expenditure and also generated a lot of employment and boosted small industries.

Describing the naval dockyard as the right arm of the navy, Singh applauded the work of the dockyard in delivering the warship ahead of schedule.

The keel of the third ship of the P-17 frigate would be laid next year, Singh added.

In his welcome address, rear Admiral R M Bhatia, Chairman and Managing Director Mazgaon Dock said Satpura had a displacement of 4900 tons. The ship will have third generation communication systems, digitized versatile control systems, incorporating ATM based integrated ship borne data network with fibre optic capable netowrk.

Bhatia said the P-17 frigates represent a major landmark in showcasing the indigenous warship design and manufacturing capability resulting from the cooperation between Mazgaon docks and the design organisation of the navy.

The docks is trying its best to enhance the production capacity by various methods like technology adoption, outsourcing, additional infrastructure, workers participation. The new facilities at the docks would help it to move awary from traditional techniques of ship building and graduate to modular construction technology on par with international standards for economic construction of ships. (PTI)

Unemployment situation may lead to social instability: Kalam

BURLA (Orissa), May 4: President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam today called for a multi-pronged strategy to address the serious unemployment situation in the country which, he warned, would lead to instability in the social structure.

"Our employment generation system is not in a position to absorb the graduates passing out from the universities leading to increase in educated unemployed, year after year," Kalam said while addressing the convocation of the Sambalpur University at its Jyoti Vihar campus here.

There had been substantial growth in the higher education system and the country was churning out over three million graduates every year and another seven million youth, educated up to the 10 or 10 plus two level, he said.

"This situation will lead to instability in the social structure", he said adding "we need education integrated with an entrepreneurial spirit."

A multi-pronged strategy was needed to make education more attractive and simultaneously create employment potential, the President said and posed "how do we do that?"

Chancellor M M Rajendran presided over the function which was addressed by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

It is after a gap of 32 years that the President had addressed the convocation of this university, nestling on the foothills of a hill. Late President Zakir Hussain was the last President to have graced the convocation here.

The President said the educational system should firstly highlight the importance of entrepreneurship and prepare the students right from the school and college education to get oriented towards setting up of the enterprises which would provide them creativity, freedom and ability to generate wealth.

Apart from the entrepreneurship, the youth should have the spirit that "we can do it".

Secondly, the banking system should provide venture capital right from the village level to the prospective entrepreneurs for undertaking new enterprises.

Banks, he said, have to be pro-active to support the innovative products for enabling wealth generation by young entrepreneurs by setting aside the "conventional tangible asset syndrome".

This involved certain amount of calculated risks which could be eliminated by making an analysis of successful venture capital enterprises, he said.

Thirdly, Kalam said there was a need to identify marketable products and enhancement of purchasing power among the people.

This could come through the implementation of mega programmes such as ‘rural prosperity through connectivity (rupcon), interlinking of rivers, infrastructure missions, power missions and tourism, he said. (PTI)

MiG-27 wreckage found

NEW DELHI, June 4: The wreckage of a MiG-27 fighter aircraft which went missing on May 19 after taking off from Hashimara airbase in West Bengal, was today found 18 kms northeast of Bagdogra airbase.

An Indian Air Force helicopter located the wreckage but the fate of the pilot Sq Ldr V Sinha was not known, IAF sources here said.

The wreckage was located by the helicopter searching areas near the heavily forested Indo-Bhutan border, the sources said adding that the ground search teams were trying to reach the spot to retrieve it and find out the whereabouts of the pilot.

An extensive search operation was launched in the area after a Bhutanese villager yesterday reported in a Jalpiguri police station that he had sighted the wreckage in Samchi area of Bhutan.

An air force search team flew two sorties yesterday but could not find anything. The operation was called off yesterday due to bad weather.

The operation resumed this morning with the helicopter making sorties from Bagdogra and ground teams going from village to village to locate the wreckage.

The area searched today was totally new and had not been scanned earlier by IAF and army after the figher jet went missing in bad weather following take off from Hashimara to Bagdogra in West Bengal. (PTI)

SAD should keep itself away from SGPC poll: Umrao

JALANDHAR, June 4: Veteran Congress leader and former MP Umrao Singh today said that the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which is a political party should keep itself away from the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) election, which was totally a religious affair.

Since SAD is a political outfit and not even a purely Sikhs’ party, because its Constitution allows it to enroll non-Sikh persons also its member, it has no right to interfere of participate in the election of Sikhs’ supreme religious body SGPC Umrao Singh told PTI.

Badal who was making hue and cry for the possibility of Congress party’s interference in the SGPC poll should look upon himself first as he had always used the religious committee to achieve his political goals, he said appealing Badal for keeping his words that no non-Sikh political party should interfere in the SGPC election.

To substantiate his claim that SAD was not a purely Sikhs’, Umrao Singh said that it had given ticket to Muslim candidate for Malerkotla Assembly segments, to Hindu candidate for Jalandhar Parliamentary seat and even Hindus and Muslims were the members of the party.

Continuing his attack on former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Singh alleged that Badal was controlling the helm of the affairs of SGPC for the last eight years and during this period nothing was done for the betterment of the religion and Sikhs’ shrines, which was the main task of the religious body.

Badal should come out with the list of achievements by the SGPC, which has an annual budget of more than Rs 200 crore, he demanded.

What is the status of Khalsa heritage project of Anandpur Sahib, which Badal had announced with much fanfare, Umrao Singh quipped revealed adding that although the lakhs of rupees were doled out by the previous Union Government, the project could not be completed so far. (PTI)

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