Set to achieve pinnacle of glory

Set to achieve pinnacle of glory

• B.V.S. BHASKAR
• 

  Bhadraiah with ITDA project officer K.V.N. Chakradhara Babu releasing the logo of A.P. -Photo: S. RAMBABU
  Doodi Bhadraiah will perhaps be the first person from a poor tribal community in the country to climb Mount Everest, if all goes well. Mr. Bhadraiah is from the Koya community of Kothapalli village in Chinturu mandal that was recently merged into the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh from Khammam in Telangana.

  Mr. Bhadraiah, along with Konda Sahadev, a taekwondo coach, will start from Hyderabad on April 7. The expedition is scheduled to conclude on May 23.

  The road to becoming part of a two-member team was not easy for Mr. Bhadraiah.

  Last year, he visited the rock-climbing school at Bhuvanagiri in the Nalgonda district of Telangana, and met eight-times Arjuna Award winner and coach B. Sekhar Babu.

  The latter responded favourably to his plea to admit him in a 23-member team. After a training session at Bhuvanagiri fort, Mr. Bhadraiah emerged as one of the two persons selected to climb the Everest. After completing an industrial training programme from Kothagudem College, he worked for the Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation plant near Mothugudem on contract basis. “My parents are farm labour. Our habitations, except for a few colonies, will soon submerge in the Polavaram project” he said.

  On February 21, Mr. Bhadraiah lost all his academic certificates in a fire accident.

  K.V.N. Chakradhara Babu, ITDA (Integrated Tribal Development Agency) Project Officer, helped Mr. Bhadraiah get his passport and the financial support for the expedition .

Rang Barse makes its debut in Rajamahendravaram

Rang Barse makes its debut in Rajamahendravaram

• SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
• RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM, March 25, 2016: 
  

  College boys and girls taking part in Holi celebrations in Rajamahendravaram on Thursday.— PHOTO: S. RAMBABU
  A good number of students from GSL Medical College, GIET Engineering College and a few other colleges headed for Cherukuri Gardens near Best Price Mall on Thursday to be part of a four-hour extravaganza Rang Barse organised as part of Holi celebration.

  Organised for the first time by three young women entrepreneurs, the event did not get response on expected lines. “This is only the beginning. We want to replicate this in other two-tier cities in the newly formed State,” said B. Sujana and D. Silpa, organisers of the event. They said that they were encouraged by M. Sharmila Reddy, floor leader of YSRCP in Municipal Corporation.

  DJs from Chennai

  The venue was a coconut orchard which reverberated with music, dance and colours of Holi.

  Programmes like La Tomatina - throwing tomatoes at each other, colour-spraying frenzy and balloon fight were organised in a systematic and planned way. “There is not much crowd probably because of the pricing of the ticket (Rs.500), which is too much for a student”, said Sarath, a student from the GSL Medical College.

  Ms. Sharmila Reddy attributed the thin attendance to change in the holiday.

  She said that while the Central Government holiday was on Thursday, the State declared it on Wednesday.

  Holi is mostly celebrated by the members of Marwadi community, who generally close shops only on Sundays and participate in dandiya or any other such cultural programmes in the evenings.

‘Rang Barse’ in Rajamahendravaram today

‘Rang Barse’ in Rajamahendravaram today:

• SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

For the first time in the cultural capital of the State – Rajamahendravaram – Holi will be celebrated in a different way on Thursday, a holiday declared by the Central government.

A trio of women have organised a ‘Rang Barse’ programme at Cherukuri Gardens, besides Best Prize complex adjacent to National High, which will be held on Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon with a series of different, colourful programmes.

Speaking to The Hindu , the organisers – Medapati Sharmila Reddy, floor leader of YSRCP in Municipal Corporation of Rajamahendravaram, B. Sujana, and D. Silpa – said that the programmes include La Tomatina - throwing tomatoes on each other, colour war, balloon fight and other events. Though entry fee is Rs. 500, the event would entertain students, women, men and people of all age groups, with music by DJs from Chennai, they said.

Top priority to Polavaram, says Minister

Top priority to Polavaram, says Minister:

• B.V.S. BHASKAR
• 

  Minister for Irrigation Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao speaking to irrigation officials at Krishnavaram village near Kirlampudi on Wednesday.— PHOTO: S. RAMBABU
  Minister for Irrigation Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao has stated that high priority is being given to expedite the Polavaram project and right main canal works would be completed by June 2016 and water would be released by completing right main canal by July, 2017. He inspected the Polavaram left canal works along with irrigation officials at Krishnavaram village situated adjacent to the National Highway in East Godavari district on Wednesday.

  Speaking to reporters on the occasion, Mr. Uma Maheswara Rao said that the 1,518 km-long left main canal works were divided into eight packages to speed up the works. He mentioned that he would hold talks with the NH authorities with regard to the construction of a bridge to make sure that canal works would not be affected. He maintained that 8.5 tmc of water was lifted from the Pattiseema project in which 4.4 tmc of water was diverted to the Krishna delta and good yield from 40 to 50 bags were expected this season. He further said that 7 tmc of water which comes from the Polavaram left canal as well as from rivulets would be released into Eleru reservoir and another 3 tmc of water would be used to cater to the needs of Visakhapatnam.

  “Though the availability of water is less in the Godavari, the water from Balimela and Sileru reservoirs was diverted to cater to the needs of 8.70 lakh acres in the Godavari delta,” the Minister clarified.

  He further said that irrigation projects were taken up with Rs. 12,100 crore in the State and made it clear that the Polavaram project would be completed by 2018.

Quacks rule the roost in Agency area

Quacks rule the roost in Agency area

B.V.S. BHASKAR

Number of deaths due to treatment by quacks is on the rise in the Agency areas of Rampachodavaram. Four persons, including a woman and her baby, died last month alone.

An enquiry report by Y. Ramavaram mandal Tehsildar Md. Yusuf Jilani has revealed lapses in Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and non-medical practices by a few under the garb of private medical practitioners. The enquiry was conducted based on the complaints lodged by Rampchaodvaram MLA Vantala Rajeswarai, upa-sarpanch of Boddagandi village in Y. Ramavaram Banam Nooka Raju and MPTCs of Donkarai, Boddagandi and other villages against RMP Maddela Yacob at Donkarai village.

The report says Mr. Yacob runs a clinic for the tribal people in the vicinity and collects huge amount from them. It has also recommended criminal action against him who reportedly produced fake certificate to the Deputy District Medical Officer, Rampachodavaram.

Drawing the officials’ attention to the fact that medical officers never available in the PHCs at Y. Ramavaram and Mangampadu, Mr. Jilani recommended conduct of medical camps in the region to make medical services accessible to the local tribal population.

Four deaths in a month were reported from Mangampadu, Boddagandi and other villages in Y. Ramavaram and Donkarai mandals respectively. Those who fell prey to lack of proper medical services and wrong medication include an 18-year-old Kollu Somi of Rollagadda village, who died along with her baby, Vikasa Varma Reddy, an eight-month-old son of Bujja Reddy and two-year-old son of Maregala Balayya, a tribal from Boddagandi.

The report quoted Mangampadu PHC doctor Abhishek as saying that Kollu Somi was hale and healthy until the sixth month of her pregnancy and she used to visit the PHC for regular check-ups. But at the time of delivery, she went to Mr. Yacob who referred her to a private doctor in Bhadrachalam in a very critical condition.

Bujja Reddy alleged that he lost his son first due to delay in treatment and later due to wrong medication. He said, from Mangampadu PHC, he shifted his son to Bhadrachalam and from there he tried to bring him back to Rampachodavaram but he died on the way. Maregala Balayya has alleged that wrong treatment by Mr. Yacob led to his death.

Centre committed to helping A.P: Amit Shah

RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM, March 7, 2016: P-1 Story

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Centre committed to helping A.P: Amit Shah

• SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

BJP president Amit Shah with a plough presented by partymen at a public meeting in Rajamahendravaram on Sunday.— PHOTO: S. RAMBABU

BJP national president Amit Shah assured Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu of due support from the Central government for development of Andhra Pradesh while claiming that the Centre has given Rs.1.43 lakh crore for various projects and institutions in the State.

He said the Modi government would ensure that the Polavaram project is completed by 2019.

“I request Mr. Naidu to be not afraid of the Centre reneging on its commitments,” he said in a public meeting here on Sunday.

On the occasion, Mr. Shah said the Centre was fully committed to bailing A.P out of the crisis and listed some of the projects, which include Rs.1,500 crore for immediate development of the capital city at Amaravati and Rs.22,000 crore for industrial parks.

Mr. Shah said the Congress owed an explanation on what it did for the people of A.P. and for the country during the last 60 years. It would do well to see what the BJP government has done in 19 months.

“Except carrying the shoes of Chief Ministers what the Congress did for people?” Mr. Shah questioned.

The BJP leader accused the Congress of making a mockery of Parliament by its conduct. It was bent on settling political scores in Parliament, he alleged.

Silent on railway zone

Mr. Shah was non-committal on party State president K. Haribabu’s plea for an assurance on railway zone as the issue is reportedly under the consideration of the Railway Board. While launching a tirade against the Congress, Minister for Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs M. Venkaiah Naidu condemned the incidents that took place at JNU and Hyderabad Central University. He particularly denounced the ‘praising of Afzal Guru by some student leaders.’

Earlier, Mr. Shah and Union Ministers Naidu and J.P. Nadda were received at Madhurapudi airport by party’s A.Pin-charge Sidharth Nath Singh, Ministers P. Manikyala Rao and Kamineni Srinivas, MLC Somu Veerraju, and MLA Akula Satyanarayana.

Amit Shah’s meeting to focus on Central assistance to the State

RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM, March 6, 2016

Amit Shah’s meeting to focus on Central assistance to the State

• BVS BHASKAR

Bharatiya Janata Party’s national president Amit Shah will address a public meeting in the cultural capital of Andhra Pradesh. This will be Mr. Shah’s first meeting in Andhra Pradesh post-bifurcation. The party cadres mobilising workers and the general public from across the State exude confidence that nearly 1 lakh people will attend Sunday’s meeting.

“We have done a lot of ground work in the last one month. We took it as a challenge to make the public meeting a grand success,” said the party MP and A.P. State president Kambhampati Haribabu.

BJP’s State in-charge Sidharthnath Singh is camping here for the last three days and says that his party president’s main focus would be on BJP Government’s support to AP after the bifurcation of the State.

Last-minute arrangements

Reviewing last-minute arrangements at the sprawling grounds of Government Arts College in the heart of Rajamahendravaram represented by party MLA Akula Satyanarayana, Mr. Sidharth said the Centre would give special economic packages similar to the special status. “Our main concern is implementation of the AP State Reorganisation Act and release of funds to the tune of Rs.1.6 lakh crores for various projects, including the capital area development,” he said.

He said people would be explained at the public meeting about the proposed east freight corridor which would benefit people of Rayalaseema, a separate railway zone for Vizag and other commitments made by the Narendra Modi government.

BJP senior leaders P.V. Chalapathi Rao, Somu Veerraju (MLC), Ministers Pydikondala Manikyala Rao and Kamineni Srinivas, former MP U. Krishnam Raju and other leaders from Delhi are at the Arts College grounds to assist the senior leaders in overseeing the arrangements