Preparatory works have been completed and the ground works have been commenced. The Project is scheduled to be completed in 2016.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Urban Development Shri Saugata Roy in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Talking to the media on Tuesday, Ravi, accompanied by the PCC president, tried to present a rosy picture of the party. “The party is intact. There are no differences between the CM and the PCC president. Nobody had complained to him of any differences,” he said, and refused to talk on the issue of disowning the legacy of YSR. “YSR was my friend. I am not supposed to talk to the media about the charges levelled against him,” he said.

Though police Monday night announced that there would be relaxation in curfew between 12 noon and 2 pm Tuesday, the same was withdrawn.

The indefinite curfew was imposed Sunday after communal clashes broke out following the desecration of a place of worship at Madannapet.

Police remained on high alert following the desecration of three more places of worship at Narayanguda and Kachiguda, both outside curfew-bound areas. A tense situation prevails across the old city due to sporadic incidents of violence.

An uneasy calm prevails in the densely populated neighbourhoods around the historic Charminar and Mecca Masjid as a sense of fear grips people. Business in the centuries-old markets in the old city has been badly hit.

Many people are apprehensive to go out for work and their daily chores outside the old city. Most of the buses of state-owned Road Transport Corporation are off the roads and only a few auto-rickshaws are plying.

Police Commissioner AK Khan has announced that prohibitory orders, banning the assembly of four or more people, would continue till April 14 in the city. Pillion riding on motorbike has also been banned during night hours.

Residents in the interior areas of old city are complaining that they are facing a tough time due to barbed wires erected by police on many roads.

The order sent officials of most of the companies in the area scrambling to figure out if the judgment would have any impact on their operations. Meanwhile, APIIC vice-chairman and managing director BR Meena said: “All the companies in the financial district will be affected.”

At least 5 vehicles were torched by unidentified miscreants including two on Auto Bahn road, one each near Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE), Tilak Charhi and Fakir Ka Pirh areas.

Some of the markets which opened in the morning were closed while transport disappeared from the roads.

The students returning from the three universities in Jamshoro were dropped at the city’s entrance by the point buses which did not enter the city out of fear of vandalism.

However, the markets and other activities remained unaffected in Qasimabad area and rural parts of Hyderabad.

These roads were not widened and developed for the past 10 years since formation of IALA, a wing of APIIC, during the late 90s. Some roads were proposed for widening in view of increase in traffic volume with several IT companies and other institutions establishing their offices and campuses in Madhapur and Gachibowli areas. The erstwhile Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (Huda) has even prepared a special development plan with an aim to develop roads where there is a concentration and cluster of IT companies and institutions under Cyberabad Development Authority. This was also approved by the municipal administration and urban development (MA&UD) department in October, 2001. However, the roads were not taken up either by Huda or APIIC.

Civil aviation minister Ajit Singh will inaugurate `India Aviation 2012′, which is being held from 14 to18 March 2012.

The theme of this year’s event is ‘India: The Emerging Aviation Hub’, which may look a bit exaggerated in the present context of the financial squeeze on India’s airline industry.

While the first two editions of ‘India Aviation’ in 2008 and 2010 were huge successes, this year’s industry response to the event looks unpredictable in the background of the airlines’ unending woes.

The latest edition of this premier international exhibition and conference on civil aviation will showcase and share with stakeholders growth opportunities in Indian aviation sector, an official release said today.

While dealing with a batch of writ petitions filed by owners of villas and flats in the Emaar Hills Township project challenging the state’s decision to not to allow the registrations of the plots, the judge expressed anguish at the way various governments in India have been inviting foreign companies even for developing housing projects. When advocate general A Sudarsan Reddy sought to defend the state’s decision by saying that the villa owners too had committed mistakes by purchasing the properties at just Rs 5000 per square yard despite knowing well that the prevailing rate was Rs 50,000 per sq yard, the judge asked as to why foreign companies were being invited for executing small projects. “Can’t our housing board do this job? You invite foreign companies for joint ventures and allow them swallow up public assets. Have you forgotten the fact that it took 200 years for us to get rid of a foreign company like East India Company”, the judge asked.

When the AG cited the ongoing CBI probe into the Emaar scam, the judge asked him not to raise the issue for everything. ” Who started this strange practice of state auctioning land for earning revenue? Why did the state ban allotment of house sites to poorer sections in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts citing lack of land as a reason? Was this only to hand over huge tracts of public land to entities like Emaar? It is you who have been encouraging all this. Today even a person with Rs one lakh salary per month is unable to purchase a flat in Hyderabad. Gone are the days where even an attender in the tehsildar’s office could construct a house of his own”, the judge remarked.

When the AG said the state would rectify the mistakes and set things right, the judge told him to first identify the ailment. Following a request by the AG who sought time to file a detailed counter, the judge posted the case to Wednesday for hearing.

Meanwhile, Tummala Ranga Rao, managing director of Stylish Homes, on Tuesday filed a petition in the CBI court offering to turn an approver in the Emaar scam case. He also sought pardon and cancellation of his name from the list of accused. It was his deposition that helped CBI make progress in the case and, hence, he wanted the court to pardon him. He said whatever wrongdoing he committed he did at the behest of main accused, Koneru Prasad. The CBI earlier did not oppose his bail. The court will hear his plea on March 2.

The Archaeological department officials headed by the director Chenna Reddy launched the treasure hunt on Sunday morning in the premises of a private school opposite the State Secretariat in Hyderabad, after a group of nine people including an official of Coal India Limited, Rama Raju, made a representation that treasure worth `20,000 crore was hidden there.

They filed a written affidavit saying that four members of the group had personally seen the tunnel with an iron gate  inside the school compound, adjoining the famous Naubat Pahad hillock.

The Vidyaranya School is the property of the family of Wanaparthy Samsthan, an erstwhile feudacracy. The building, earlier known as Green Gates, was home to Raja Rameshwara Rao-III, the last head of the Wanaparthy Samsthan.

The group apparently based its representation on the rumours reportedly sparked by a mason Mallesh who claimed to have seen the tunnel and a treasure trove four years ago during construction of a wall of an adjoining hotel.

Mallesh said that he gone up to the iron gate of the tunnel and saw two cupboards full of jewellery and other valuables but kept quiet fearing for his life.

Chenna Reddy justified the undertaking of excavation work using a JCB machine in the bottom of a hillock saying, “After we received the representation, it is our duty to ascertain the facts and verify the claims,” he said.

He said that many buildings in the area had such tunnels and one such tunnel was also found last year in Home Sciences College, Saifabad. But the reports of the presence of a treasure trove there also turned out false.

However the failure of the informants in correctly pointing out the spot of the tunnel has left the officials confused. After uprooting an old tree and digging the earth at one place, they moved to another indicating that they did not have any clear idea about the location of the reported tunnel.

The Minister for Archaeology V Vasantha Kumar also visited the scene of the excavation in the morning, indicating the Government’s interest in the matter. In view of the growing doubts, they decided to stop the excavation at 3 pm. Meanwhile some officials from NMDC visited the spot in the afternoon and promised to provide geological sensor and other equipment to help the search for the tunnel and treasure trove.

However, many archaeological experts and conservationists have expressed scepticism and doubts on the claims of treasure troves. The family, which owns the property also strongly criticised the Archaeology department for barging into the school and launching the excavation work with out any permission.