Vizag: Maoists blast main hydel power control room

In a daring attack, Maoists blasted the main control room of Donkarayi canal hydel power station in Visakhapatnam district late on Tuesday night.

According to sources, a group of 50 Maoists raided the power house located near the earthen dyke of the left flank of Donkarayi dam at the inlet of the power canal. They asked the AP Genco employees posted at the power house to leave the place and later blasted the main control room with explosives, thereby plunging parts of Visakhapatnam port city into darkness.

The power house, commissioned in 1983, has an installed capacity of 25 megawatts and generates half a million units of power every day. The damage to the power station due to the Maoist blast is being assessed.

The attack on the power house comes barely 24 hours after Maoists shot dead Visakhapatnam Zilla parishad vice-chairman T Ravi Shankar of the Congress during a jatra at his native Hukumpeta village in the tribal belt of Visakhapatnam district on Monday night. A group of 30 Maoists from Pedabayulu dalam (armed squad) had entered the village raising slogans and went to his house and shot him at point blank range.

The twin attacks came at the end of the "protest week" organized by Maoists against the proposed bauxite mining project. The police had sounded a red alert in all the agency (tribal) areas and deployed teams to track down the Maoists who had threatened to launch three-pronged attacks on politicians, police personnel and public property.

Courtesy : rediff.com

Land allotment case: Big B's fate in balance

A Faizabad court on Tuesday reserved the judgment in the alleged fraudulent allotment of government-owned agricultural land in Uttar Pradesh to actor Amitabh Bachchan by the Mulayam Singh Yadav government.

The case that has drawn much media attention over the past few days was listed for final hearing before Additional Commissioner Vidya Sagar.

After hearing the arguments and looking into the relevant documents, Sagar ruled at the end of the day: "The judgment stands reserved until May 31." He, however, did not give any reason.

Bachchan had received about 70,000 square feet of land in Barabanki, 35 km from Lucknow. What went against him was the blatant misrepresentation of facts to become and the way he used the allotment as a testimonial to establish his credentials as a 'farmer' in Maharashtra.

Sources said that the entire exercise was carried out at the behest of Bachchan's close friend and Mulayam's aide Amar Singh to enable the superstar to purchase a farmland in Maharashtra, where the rules do not permit the ownership of agricultural land by anyone other than a farmer.

It was a query by the Pune district collector in March 2006 to the Barabanki district magistrate seeking the authentication of the UP testimonial that exposed Bachchan.

The then Barabanki district magistrate Ashish Goel cancelled the allotment on the ground that the land revenue records had been fudged. Goel naturally earned the state government's wrath and was given the marching orders within a few days. He was replaced by a more pliable Ram Shankar Sahu, who agreed to sign on the dotted line.

However, since Goel's objections had become a part of the official records which could not have been destroyed, Sahu could not do much besides staying his predecessor's order and that too only "till further orders."

Since this did not end Bachchan's woes and worries about his 'farmer' status in Maharashtra where he has already bought a plush farmhouse, he sought a review of the DM's order by the commissioner, hoping to get the land clearly restored in his name. But with the elections announced and major bureaucratic changes affected by the Election Commission, Bachchan could not have his way.

The allotment, purported to have been made way back in 1983 was actually alleged to have been made by manipulating the land revenue records during the Mulayam regime, when Amitabh was also appointed the state's brand Ambassador.

RGV Ke Sholay

Shah Rukh Khan to play a cameo in 'Jhoom Barabar Jhoom'

Yashraj Films has announced that Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan will play a cameo role in their film Jhoom Barabar Jhoom .

But it is being kept under wraps as to what part SRK will play in the film that stars Abhishek Bachchan , Bobby Deol , Preity Zinta and Lara Dutta and has an extended special appearance by Bollywood mega superstar Amitabh Bachchan .

A Yashraj Films source said, "It is not clear what part SRK will play as Aditya Chopra keeps his cards close to his chest. But he will definitely be a part of the film!

SRK has been associated with the production house for a long while and he would never say no to Aditya."

The promos of the soon-to-be-released film already show Big B playing a special role in the film inspired by Johny Depp's character in the Pirates of the Caribbean series.

The promos for the film show Bachchan wearing multi-coloured patchwork long coat, a hat adorned with ribbons, flowers and feathers and beaded hair in the vein of The Pied Piper.

Abhishek too sports a new look in the film as far as facial foliage goes. His customary stubble has been replaced with by a tweaked moustache.

Bobby will also don different looks in the film. Some scenes have him in straight black hair. Others have him sporting long, blondish hair.

'Jhoom Barabar Jhoom' is directed by Shaad Ali who has also made successful films like Saathiya and Bunty Aur Babli .

'Jhoom Barabar Jhoom' is mostly set in England and France and is slated to release on June 15.

SRK will Rock this time in "Chak de India"

One man mentoring a hockey team of young and feisty girls. Their determination, ambition and skills are put to test in an ultimate contest with the world’s top teams. For the girls it is a chance to make their nation proud. For their coach it is a chance to reclaim his lost honour.

‘Chak De India’ is a film about the human spirit to fight and persevere. It is directed by Shimit Amin (who made the hard-hitting ‘Ab Tak Chhappan’) and it stars Shah Rukh Khan in the lead role as the coach of Indian girls’ hockey team.


The film’s story revolves around a coach who returns to the game seven years after he was disgracefully ousted from it as a player. Vidya Malvade plays a Sikh girl with a strong passion for hockey. She wants to join the Indian team but her conservative parents are against it.






Not all is hunky dory when SRK takes over as the coach of the girl’s team. However, he coaches the girls and they then go to Australia to play the women's hockey World Cup where their grit, determination and integrity is tested.











‘Chak De India’ has been shot at various locations in Australia, including Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. While shooting in stadiums, the movie’s producers Yashraj Films gave out invitations to people to come and watch the shooting from the stadium seats. This way they managed to gather in the stadium huge crowds that served the movie’s purpose well.

‘Chak De India’ has music by Salim-Suleiman. The screenplay is by Jaideep Sahni while the costumes are by Mandira Shukla.

The film is slated to release in August this year.





Courtesy : www.apunkachoice.com