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 (Category A) 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.