TIRUPATI: Union HRD minister Smriti Irani will lay the foundation stone for IIT, IISER and IIIT at Pangur village in Yerpedu mandal of Chittoor district on Saturday in the presence of chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Union urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu, state HRD minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao told newsmen here Friday.
Chandrababu Naidu allotted `250 crore from the funds granted by the Centre to the state for this purpose. On the occasion, debates would be organised among students to bring their aspirations to his knowledge, he said.
He stressed on the need to provide infrastructure at all the educational institutions through corporate social responsibility funds, apart from the funds released by the Centre. “We want to realise the CM’s vision to turn Tirupati as an educational hub. As part of it, all lapses in the industry would be weeded out, strict AICTE norms would be implemented and performance-based incentive system would be introduced to keep a check on teachers. All the new recruits to teacher posts would be made to take oath before joining,” he explained.
Collector Siddharth Jain thanked the landowners, who facilitated in pooling lands for setting up the premier institutes, and welcomed those who are willing to give away their land for such projects. “We need around 100 acres extra land for building IIT other institutes against the existing 500 acres. Land owners with constructive mindset would be encouraged and compensated for giving away land, for around `70 crore has already been allocated,” he said.
Forest minister Bojjala Gopalakrishna Reddy, higher education commissioner Udayalakshmi and Tirupati MLA Suguna were present.
Two Burglars Nabbed, `4.5 L Gold Recovered
The city police have arrested two persons — A Maddi Venkata Ramana and Chinta Srinivasa Reddy — near railway station here and recovered gold jewellery worth `4.5 lakh from them. According to police commissioner AB Venkateswara Rao, Ramana stole money and jewellery from houses while Srinviasa Reddy helped him sell the ornaments in the market. Venkataramana used to conduct recce of various areas and identified locked houses during the day time and at nights he would break the locks with rods and make off with jewellery. A number of cases are pending against the duo in Vijayawada and other places as well.
Man Knocked Down by RTC Bus, Dies
Vijayawada: A 65-year-old man died in a road mishap on MG Road here Thursday afternoon. According to III Town CI G Srinivasa Rao, the tragedy took place when the victim Uddanti Subba Rao (65), a resident of Krishna Lanka, was approaching the flyover at Police Control Room (PCR) Junction on his TVS XL moped along with his wife U Krishnaveni, when a City Bus of Vuyyuru Depot, hit the couple from the rear. The couple, who sustained injuries, were rushed to Global hospital by the bus driver with the help of other onlookers. U Subba Rao died while undergoing treatment and his wife Krishnaveni is recovering. She has been shifted to Time Hospital.
Mystery Shrouds Habitual Offender’s Death
M Sudhakar (50), a habitual offender was found dead under mysterious circumstances at Jakkulanekkalm village under Gannavaram police limits here Friday. According to police, on Wednesday night, some miscreants were transporting cattle which they stole in Ungatur to Gannavaram in a truck. When a cop noticed the vehicle, they fled fearing police chase by abandoning the vehicle near a real estate venture compound wall in Jakkulanekkalam village. Next day, alerted by locals, police rushed to the spot and found the body. The victim is suspected to be one of the cattle thieves, who got injured while trying to scale the compound wall and being a heart patient collapsed and died. However, the body has been sent for autopsy. A case has been registered and investigation is on.