First body builder from AP to compete in the Universe

Mir Mohtesham Ali Khan a body builder, hailing from Hyderabad winner of several titles in the country will take part in Mr. Universe Body Builder competition to be held in Miami, Florida on 19 June. Khan is the first body builder from Andhra Pradesh to compete in the Universe bodybuilding championship.

Mir Mohtesham Ali Khan, won the silver medal in the prestigious 90 kg plus category in Mr. World Championship event at the, Las Vegas last year. Over 400 body builders from 26 countries will participate in five different categories for Mr. Universe bodybuilding championship to be held from 18 to 21 June. From India 6 participants will take part one among them is Mohtesham.

The 6.2 ft tall Khan, who works in Indian Railways, His daily food intake is astonishing. It includes a kilogram of chicken, 30 boiled eggs, 12 oranges, a cup of sweet corn, 150 grams of oat meal, 200 grams of green salad and four glasses of sweet lime juice. Khan, who idolises Arnold Schwarzenegger, exercises for five hour every day.

But the irony is there is no appreciation or reward for him from the state government so far. Khan had long back kept a proposal of allotment of land for opening a bodybuilding academy in city but so far there is no word from the State government. Khan also alleges that he dint got same reward or appreciation in comparison to what Sania Mirza and Gopichand got for their work in their respective fields. The promotion letter and Prize award of Rs. Five Lakhs after winning World Body building championship from the then Railway minister Lalu yadav is yet to be cleared from the state government, he said.

The bodybuilder's achievements includes winning the bronze at the Mr. India competition. He also won thrice the Mr. South India title and is also eight time winner of Mr. South Central Railway, nine time winner of Mr AP and eight time winner of Mr. Hyderabad titles. Hyderabad bodybuilder Mir Mohtesham Ali Khan, winner of several titles in the country, including silver medal at Mr. World Bodybuilding Championship, last year.

"The record of Indian contestants at the international bodybuilding contests has not been too impressive in the past. I hope to improve it and bring laurels by gaining gold medal to our country," he said.

Premchand Degra is the only Indian to win the Mr Universe title, in 1988. Manohar Aitch and Mantosh Roy also won other world titles, but Indians have drawn a blank in the last two decades. The 30-year-old Mohtesham said he will try his best to put an end to the drought. Mohtesham, who exercises five hours a day, rued that bodybuilding does not get as much encouragement and patronage in India as in other countries." It is a good sport, which encourages youth to stay healthy and fit. It should be encouraged," he said.

The first bodybuilder from Andhra Pradesh and captain of Indian team by the Indian Bodybuilding Federation for Mr.Universe Bodybuilding Championship, Mohtesham said, "Government had not offered any sponsorship for this tour only the MP Anjan Kumar Yadav extended help to give one lakh rupees," he said.

Violation of Fire act in market areas of city!!!

It should take just three minutes for people to escape when a fire breaks out in any high-rise building, say the safety rules. But how many high-rise structures in city facilitate quick evacuation in case of an emergency? The tall structures which have mushroomed in the cities up market areas in the last decades have thrown all fire safety norms to the winds.
For instance the major market areas in like Sultan Bazaar, Badi Chowdi, Mozamjahi market, Begum Bazaar and Gujrati Gali are may be city’s pride and shopalcholic’s favourite haunt. For all its posh trappings, however, the numerous shopping complexes there hardly have any fire-safety equipment or follow the fire safety norms.

Next time there is fire accidents in Koti or Abids area don’t expect a fire tender to reach in time and start the rescue programme. An official from fire department says it’s impossible to take up a rescue programme in time in case of any fire mishap in these areas because of the narrow space and congested area due to numerous shops located in unplanned manner.

This was proven in Sunday’s fire accident in Gujrati Gali when fire-fighters were not even able to standby one fire vehicle to start the rescue programme. "Every time there is fire accident in these areas we have hard time as unplanned growth and development of this old market and huge complexes has left little space to fight fire in case of an accident keeping thousands of life in risk. Added to it most establishments in this complex did not have proper fire safety equipment", said P. Deen Dayal, District Fire Officer.

Every inch of available land required to be maintained as open space is claimed by developers. "So, despite possessing hazmat vehicles and hydraulic snorkels and other high-tech equipment, their usability is difficult in these areas. Where is the place to move fire engines?" adds, Deen Dayal.

As per National Building Code (NBC) rule, the property owner should approach the department to certify the building. If all specifications are followed, the department will give the NOC and in case of building below15-meters in height will be instructed to equip fire safety measures. Majority of buildings have not complied with the rules and lacks the clearance. But they continue to be occupied,'' he adds.

Surprisingly more than 100 high-rise structures owned by private builders are thriving in these areas, though they don't have a no-objection certificate (noc) from fire department.
"Over the past few years, several major showrooms and crores of rupees have been gutted in these round-the-clock busy areas. But well over half the buildings do not have all these arrangements In fact, most structures do not even have proper set back, evacuation and rescue facilities, he lamented.

Yet, when a major fire broke out in the electronic showroom in Gujrati Gali on Sunday evening, fire-fighters had a tough time rushing six fire engines through the narrow lanes dotted by illegal constructions and illegally parked vehicles.

Another major problem for firemen is that of traffic in these areas. Civic officials admit that response time has gone from three minutes in the 1990s to 10 minutes now. The road from Andhra Bank to Koti bus stop is encroached by vendors causing traffic snarls 24 hours. There are many such routes and market points in these areas but unfortunately the civic body as well as police turns a blind eye to this menace.

Prank calls to the fire emergency number 101

Fire-fighters in State Emergency Department accuse the police department of non-cooperation in tracing those who make blank or prank calls to the fire emergency number 101.

The fire office telecom operators are irked by the increasing number of futile calls. On an average only 10 per cent of the 1,000 calls received daily by fire- fighters are genuine and rest are prank calls.

There's no stringent rule in the country to take action against those who play with emergency services for the heck of it. Adding to their woes, blank and prank calls made by children are also causing nuisance. Some of the callers include drunkards. The problem hits a peak on Sundays and public holidays, when people prefer to stay at home.

In one instance, a woman used to repeatedly call the fire control room from Abids and then hand over the receiver to her baby, whenever the latter refused to eat. The department also used to receive calls from a youth. "He would give us as much abusive language as he could," said an official

"With the introduction of toll free calling from cell phones, the number of prank calls have increased," said the official. Many callers even request them to recharge their cell phones. "The government has provided toll free numbers for the benefit of people, but many are misusing them," he added.

Amazingly, a boy used to dial 101 at least 15 times a day and speak with firemen in a girl’s voice that she is alone in the house and requesting them to visit her. Unable to bear the nuisance, the fire officials gave a stringent warning to him and made it clear that a case would be booked against him if he did not stop the prank.

Fire personnel on night shifts have to tolerate hundreds of calls from inebriated people, who shower them with the abuses. "We disconnect the line in such cases. The problem is that a genuine caller might be trying and not able to get through to us. Unless some punishment or stringent action is taken against the culprits the problem will continue," one of the operators attending 101 calls said.

Lives of students put at risk

Lives of students put at risk by the management of schools and colleges who are running them in unsafe buildings prone to fire mishaps warn fire officials. In the latest survey conducted by fire department it was found there are nearly 40 government and private schools and institutions which lack basic fire safety norms.

Schools and colleges like Sr Chaitanya Junior College, Naryana Junior College Santosh Nagar, Pragati Degree College, Sultan-ul-uloom College, Deccan Engineering College, Deccan Medical College, Shadan Degree and Engineering College, Gowtham Schoola and College, krishnaveni Talent School, Rosary Convent Girls school, Little Flower, Owaisi Scholl of Excellence, Howard Public School, St. Francis High School, St. Joseph High School and St. Paul High school are some of the schools and colleges after giving notice from the state fire and emergency department still these schools and institutions are playing with fire safety act.

"We have served them notice to the management to install fire safety measures in their respective organizations but no action had been taken so far. We have given respective time limits to all these schools and colleges if they fall to install the fire safety equipments in the given time limits we can seal the school" said, P. Deen Dayal, District Fire Officer.

Recently the Supreme Court in a decision ordered that no new government or private school would be given affiliation if the building fails to have proper fire safety measures and earthquake resistant structure. The apex court has ordered installation of fire-extinguishing equipment and adoption of other safety measures in all government and private schools across the country within six months to avoid recurrence of incidents like the July 2004 school fire in Tamil Nadu that killed 93 children.

Ordering installation of various safety measures in all schools across the country, the apex court asked education secretaries of all states to file their compliance report of its order within one month after installing the safety measures.

The apex court also ordered all government and private schools to strictly comply with various safety measures prescribed by the National Building Code of India in 2005 and asked the governments of various state and union territories not to recognize the schools not complying with safety measures.

Before granting recognition or affiliation, the concerned state governments and union territories are directed to ensure that the buildings are safe and secured from every angle and they are constructed according to the safety norms incorporated in the National Building Code of India.

Instruction by TRAI

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) instructed to all the service providers, to clean up their Value Added Services within 45 days of its order comes. TRAI’s move is to eliminate customer complaints claiming accidental activation of caller ring back tunes through the facility of "Press star to copy hello tunes" without their explicit consent. The regulatory body’s recent survey showed that almost all operators offered this service where a pre-recorded song plays out before the called party answers.

TRAI ordered directing all telecom operators to maintain transparency in Value Added Service offerings including BSNL and MTNL. The direction states that in all cases of subscription to VAS offers through "pressing of star key or other keys," the service provider shall, subsequent to the pressing of the key by an interested user, convey to the subscriber in writing or through sms or fax or email details of the VAS scheme.

The information should include terms and conditions and applicable charges as well to obtain explicit consent of the customer prior to activation of the service. TRAI has also directed service providers not to activate chargeable services during a customer initiated call to a third party unless the subscriber’s consent had been obtained.

The order also states music or video related value added services such as caller ring back tune, background music, wallpaper shall not be provided, even if it is free of charge, without taking consent of the consumer . TRAI’s contact details should also be displayed in monthly bill statements and at customer service centers.

A BSNL official said the move was welcome even from a service provider’s perspective as it removed room for users to activate a service and then claim that it was accidental.

City lashes in rain

Two hour of rain was all that required to throw the traffic in the city off track on Friday evening. With the clouds opening up just when office-goers were leaving for home, a few inundated roads and two-wheelers rushing to escape from being drenched threw the traffic at several spots in the city into chaos.

Motorists plying on the Tarnaka-Secunderabad, Tarnaka-Mettuguda routes were caught in traffic jams as vehicles moved at snail’s pace Tarnaka-Mettuguda-Lalaguda stretch and the Saroornagar-Dilsukhnagar route were jammed for over two hours. This is not the first time, every time it rains, the fragile nature of our civic infrastructure is revealed.

As the rain continued, the situation only worsened in the usual problem areas like the Begumpet stretch, Panjagutta and Karkhana, to name a few places. Traffic came to a grinding halt for several hours in many areas including Punjagutta, Khairatabad, Somajiguda, Lakdi-Ka-Pul, Ameerpet, Raj Bhavan, Dilsukhnagar, Saidabad, Paradise, Ranigunj, and MG Road. Adding to the calamity was frequent shut down of Power supply in many localities.

According to Met officials, the total rainfall received in city during the spell was 13.4 mm between 6. 30 pm and 8.30pm. They said scattered rain would continue for more two days under the influence of a feeble off-shore trough extending from south Karnataka coast to Kerala coast rainfall activity will occur over west coast in areas like Guntur, Nandyal, Vishakhapatnam, Khammam , Kurnool and some more areas of Coastal Andhra and Telangana. However monsoon is yet to arrive in city, this is pre- monsoon rains weather officials said.

The chief amounts of rainfall recorded in state are Gooty 5cm, Srisailam 4cm, Gudivada and Kalyandurg 3 cm each, Alur, Mandasa and Rayadurg 2cm each and Machilipatnam, Chilamattur and Kanekal, Chintalapudi , Eluru, Kaikalur , Prathipadu and Sullurpet one cm each.

The maximum temperatures significantly fell at many places over Coastal Andhra Pradesh and fell at a few places over Telangana and Rayalaseema. They were above normal at a few places over Telangana and normal over Rayalaseema but significantly below normal at a few places over Coastal Andhra Pradesh. The highest maximum temperature of 42 degrees Celsius was recorded at Ramagundam.

Historic Charminar to be closed

The city police wants entry of visitors into the historic Charminar closed. The cops fear that the 400 plus years old monument may soon turn into a favourite suicide or murder point. They cite the case of Sameera, who was pushed from the first floor of the monument by her lover, in their defence.

The police have requested Archaeology officials, reminding them that four members of a family committed suicide by jumping from the monument in 1986, following which entry for visitors was banned.

It was reopened in 2003 but again a housewife jumped from the monument in 2005. "We have requested Archaeology and Tourism officials to ban the entry into Charminar to prevent such incidents, said Charminar Assistant Commissioner of Police K Babu Rao.

However, the Archaeological Survey of India and the Tourism Department are in no mood to stop entry of visitors into the edifice. "Security should be increased and measures should be taken to prevent such incidents. Restricting visitors is not the solution," officials said.

"We are not going to close Charminar for tourists because of such incidents. The closure of Charminar is not a solution and it will not stop such incidents in future. Hyderabad is synonymous with Charminar and if it is closed the city will lose its charm. Charminar is not a jail. It’s an historic monument and closure of its access to the public is not justified," said K Veerabhadra Rao, superintendent of ASI.

"Security at Charminar is not enough. ASI should plan to increase the security around Charminar to stop such incidents in future. The security guards around Charminar are never on duty during such incidents," said Mohammed Afzal, member of The Peoples Union for Civic Action and Rights.

"It is high time the custodians of Charminar made some stringent rules for safety of tourists coming there. ASI and Tourism department should take initiative of creating awareness among tourists. These kinds of incidents will put a black mark on the historical value of Charminar," said Veda Kumar, president of Forum for Better Hyderabad.

On an average 3,000 persons visit Charminar every day and 10,000 on weekends. There have been instances when foreign tourists have been harassed by local youth to pose for a photograph with them. The police remained spectators.

Girl pushed from Charminar

An 18-year-old girl, Samira, was pushed down from the first floor of Charminar, allegedly by a youngster, Arshad, along with whom she came, on Thursday evening. Samira, who fell on the steps of the monument on Sardar Mahal side, is battling for life at the Osmania General Hospital having suffered multiple fractures. Police initially thought she might have accidentally slipped or attempted suicide.

But Charminar Inspector R. Karan Kumar Singh, who was among the first to reach the spot, and his sub-ordinates were shocked when the woman said she was pushed by Arshad.

The woman with injuries from the toe to the temple was not in a position to explain how the incident happened and what could be the motive for the attempt on her life. All that she could tell the police was her father’s name is Mohammed Yousuf from Talabkatta and she came to Charminar with Arshad, believed to be her lover.

As her condition was critical, police did not disturb her. After speaking to the private security guards at the Charminar and from what they gathered through her replies, the police believe Samira and Arshad came to Charminar and went up the first floor.

Few minutes later, she fell on the steps between the two minarets. Though there were other visitors when the incident occurred, they left the place by the time police came there to collect details. No family members of Samira contacted police when reports last came in.
Police launched a hunt for the prime suspect,Arshad.

Layout Regularisation Scheme (LRS) Mela

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) on Monday organised a Layout Regularisation Scheme (LRS) Mela in local circle offices for regulation of unauthorised layouts and plots. The GHMC has asked applicants to collect the intimation letters for payment of balance amount and approval letters in circle offices by producing a copy of the LRS acknowledgement on Monday.

As many as 3,800 applications were expected to be cleared on Monday. The number of applications received circle office-wise are Alwal (700), Qutbullapur (700), Kukatpally (670), Seri Lingampally (455), Rajendranagar (186), LB Nagar (573) and Kapra (603).

"The applicants, who provided all the required information and paid the balance penal amount, were given approval letter on the spot. The date of disposal of balance of LRS applications will be intimated shortly, said GHMC Chief City Planner (CCP) Purushotham Reddy .

So far GHMC had received Rs 1.8 crore and is expecting to get additional Rs 50 crore to Rs 60 crore in the next mela. The applications will be disposed of within 3 months. Meantime, the last date for submission of applications for Layout Regularisation Scheme has been extended up to June 30 with 10 per cent additional penalty.

Sample results of Sai Krupa Hotel

The officials from Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation are waiting for sample results of Sai Krupa Hotel which have been sent for bacteriological analysis to the Institute of Preventive Medicine, Narayanguda.

"On Monday we will get the results from IPM. We will cancel the license of Sai Krupa Hotel if the authorities are found accountable. Meanwhile we have sealed the Kitchen of the hotel" said, M. Jayram, Chief Medical Officer of Health, GHMC.

Fifteen MBA students of New Horizon College from Bangalore after consuming dinner on Thursday night complained of frequent motions and vomiting, a case of food poisoning. The students were admitted to Gandhi hospital for treatment.Following news of the food poisoning case at Sri Krupa hotel, its kitchen was sealed by food inspectors. Meanwhile 115 eating establishments were inspected throughout the city by GHMC officials. Notices were issued stating to rectify the defects mentioned within 10 days or otherwise, the establishments will be closed.

"We have warned owners of the eating establishments if the hygiene of the kitchen is not maintained well as to endanger the public health, it will be closed without any notice" adds, Mr. Jayram.

This inspection was carried in A.S Rao Nagar, Dilsukhnagar, Malakpet, Moosarambagh, Bahadurpura, Zoo park, Nampally, Nallakunta, Barkatpura, Sanathnagar, Masibanda, Kondapur, Miyapur, Madhapur, kukatpally, IDPL junction to Jagathigirigutta Road, East Anandbagh to Safilguda and MG Road, Secunderabad.

Conflict between the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and its

The ongoing conflict between the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and its electrical contractors association has finally been resolved, following assurance by civic authorities that they will clear all the pending bills within a month.

The contractors did not switch on streetlights on Friday causing a virtual blackout in twin cities. The contractors resorted to sudden strike to put pressure on the GHMC to clear long pending dues. They were also seeking extension of their contract by one more year. The present contract expired in February.

There are about four lakh streetlights in the city. The GHMC owes Rs 4 crore to the Electrical Contractors' Association.On April 22 the GHMC Electrical Contractors' Association wrote a letter to the civic authorities stating that they would stop maintenance of streetlights from May 1 if the pending bills were not cleared immediately. The striking contractors were arrested for allegedly damaging government property.

GHMC Special Commissioner MT Krishna Babu said "we assured the contractors that we would look into their demands after the election process is completed."

"We have been continuing the work despite the contract period coming to a close, just on the request of the engineers and other officials. They also pointed out it was for the second time the issue was brought to the notice of the Commissioner but no steps were taken to resolve the issue," said Sudheer Agarwal of the association.

Water levels in Nagarjunasagar reservoir have come down drastically

Water levels in Nagarjunasagar reservoir, considered as the lifeline for several districts including Hyderabad in the State, have come down drastically. If the levels go down beyond the minimum draw down level, drinking water supply to Hyderabad and its suburbs will be hit.

The current water level in the reservoir is 503 ft which is at its lowest in recent years. At this level the water can be drawn only for two or three more days. However, officials are now trying to run emergency motors to lift water and pump it into supply chain to ensure uninterrupted drinking water for twin cities. There is a shortage of 100 tmcft of water in the reservoir when compared to that of last year's.

The Nagarjunasagar dam, an 11,472 million cubic metres reservoir, serves as one of the primary irrigation and hydroelectric projects. Besides providing water for irrigation Nagarjuna reservoir also caters the daily water needs in city. The state government seems to have exhausted all water for irrigation and power generation.

The water levels in the dam now stand at 194.33 tmcft as against 234.10 tmcft this day last year. There is no water available in the reservoir for irrigation, according to the officials from Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board.

"The water level in the reservoir has decreased to 503 ft due to which as of now we have stop catering water for irrigation. However, there is no problem as far as supplies for drinking are concerned. As of now 1.5tmcft water is stored in Akkampalli reservoir, from which water is drawn for twin cities. Hyderabad also gets water from Singur, said G Rameshwar Rao, chief general manager, transmission circle, HMWSSB.

Though the Rabi season has come to a close, water will be required for filling of drinking water tanks in Guntur, Eluru, Machilipatnam, Gudivada and hundreds of villages in Krishna delta, before the summer is over. There is 194.33 tmcft water in Nagarjuna reservoir which can be pumped using lifts in case of an emergency.

Lack of Fire Staions in city!!!!

If you didn't know, Azamabad Industrial area does not have a fire station! In an emergency one has to depend on fire tenders coming all the way either from Secunderabad or Malakpet. Which takes nearly 30 minutes to reach the spot.

Azaamabad is not the only place without a fire station. There are many such industrial areas or highly density population area in city, which do not have fire stations and are forced to wait for fire fighters to arrive, from several kilometers away.

For example, if there is a fire accident at Himayatnagar in the city, fire tenders have to be rushed either from Musheerabad or Gowliguda, which are at a distance of four to five km respectively. And, if it is rush hour, then one can imagine the loss of time.

As per the norms of the Standing Fire Advisory Council, an area of 10.24 sq. km with a population of 50,000 must have a fire station. Data compiled by the Ministry of Home Affairs says, as against the requirement of 27,506 fire stations needed, State has only 252 Out of which 13 fire stations are in Hyderabad.

"It is impossible to have so many fire stations because of the fund crunch, inadequate manpower and above all, lack of interest shown by the Government in allotting land," said, a Fire Department official.

While 10 susceptible areas in the city were identified by the fire department and a proposal to set up fire stations in these areas was sent in 2006, the government is yet to sanction them.
To avoid longer response time, a fire station needs to be set up in all 1,158 mandals in the state. Officials, however, said there are just 252 fire stations across the state.

"There are very less fully equipped fire stations in city to combat fire accidents in twin city. A proposal has been sent to state government for allotment of land for new fire stations in city" said, P. Deen Dayal, District Fire Officer (DFO).

Meanwhile the training of fire-fighter for newly bought Hazmat Vehicle from Finland in completed. Registration of these vehicles will take more three days of time and once the registration is completed the vehicles will be stationed in Gowliguda, Madhapur and Secretariat fire stations. Adds Mr. Dayal.

BSNL NOVA net PC service

In a bid to make computing and internet an affordable and hassle-free experience, the public sector Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), in collaboration with Novatium Solutions Private Limited (NSPL), today launched ''BSNL NOVA net PC service'' in Andhra Pradesh circle.

Addressing a joint press conference on Saturday in city, BSNL Chief General Manager, T N Sudhindra Kumar and NSPL Chief Technical Officer, Vinod Kumar said, the device along with BSNL broadband connection enabled customers to access value-added services, including internet, downloading of documents through acrobat pdf viewer, education, news, entertainment and games for offline play, round the clock through Novell optimised open office.

The BSNL will provide modem for broadband connection free of cost. The customers with an initial investment of Rs 3900 and recurring monthly charge of Rs 193 could access internet and computing applications, hassle free, leaving any hardware and software problems for handling by the NSPL server functioning round-the-clock.

This unique facility will provide maintenance free computing experience to customers. BSNL subscribers now need not worry about hardware crashes, virus attacks, data loss and regular upgrades.

"Now these would be taken care of by a remote server client computing model maintained by Novatium. The service would increase the broadband penetration and decrease the digital divide in India by making broadband and internet available to rural customers also in large numbers "said, T N Sudhindra Kumar, BSNL Chief General Manager.

"With our huge connectivity and infrastructure, BSNL hopes to give a new wind to the computing and broadband revolution in the country through bundling with products like Novatium netPC", He adds.

BSNL plans to attain a subscriber base of 2 lakh by the end of the financial year 2009-10.

Fish prasadam in city....

The famous fish prasadam, believed to cure respiratory disorders, was administered to thousands of people suffering from asthma by the Bathini family here on Monday.
The fish prasadam, earlier known as fish medicine, is given once in a year at the onset of Mrugashira Karti, heralding the southwest monsoon. The prasadam, whose formula is held in secrecy by the Bathini family for decades, is put in the mouth of a murrel fish before it is slipped into the throat of asthma patients.

The Bathini family members, dressed in a traditional attire, started distributing the fish prasadam at 11.00 am. The distribution will continue non-stop will 11.00 am on Tuesday.
The murrel fingerlings were sold for Rs 10 each and were distributed across 32 counters including one for VIPs, physically handicapped, at the sprawling Exhibition Grounds in Nampally here. However, the number of patients this time was comparatively smaller than that of previous years.

However, allopathic doctors, medical researchers and even Ayurveda experts opposed the fish prasadam saying it's unscientific. They said the prasadam is not efficacious and will not cure asthma or any respiratory disease.

Film actor Dr Rajasekhar staged a protest at the venue saying that the fish prasadam has no scientific standing. His actor-wife Jeevita too participated in the protest-cum-awareness campaign. "The way of administering the medicine is harsh and patients are vulnerable to contagious diseases. It has no scientific basis too," said Dr Rajasekhar.

He charged the Bathini family members with neglecting hygiene. People should take precaution while taking the medicine as there's a risk of contacting infectious diseases. The saliva of a patient might stick to the hand of the person administering the fish prasadam and when the person gives prasadam to another patient, it might transmit bacteria, germs or viruses to the latter through the salivary contact", he adds.

Jeevita said she was not in favour of the government supporting distribution of fish prasadam. She alleged that the Bathini family was not ready to prove the medicinal value of the fish prasadam or disclose the ingredients of the medicine. "I doubt there is any scientific basis for this alleged cure and somehow I feel the number of persons coming here is also decreasing because of the unhygienic way of administering the medicine," she adds.

However, patients have a different version to tell. Dr GD Gupta, an ENT specialist from Guwahati who has been suffering from asthma for the last 12 years, said "I have taken this medicine for four years, and I am now completely cured. It is really a miracle medicine for asthma."

"There's nothing wrong in the way of administering the prasad, it is an holy prasad no one can claim it wrong. The Bathini Goud family has been administering the unique treatment free of cost to millions of asthmatics for the last 163 years. Every year lakhs of people come here, not just from different parts of India but even from different countries (Mostly NRIs) which proves that the medicine is curable" claims Mr Bathini Harinath Goud.

For vegetarian people who cannot swallow the live fish, the brothers also offer the Karti medicine, which is in the form of a paste and equally helpful for the disease.Bathini Harinath Goud, along with his brothers B Vishwanath Goud and B Shiv Prakash Goud and family members administered the fish Prasad. The distribution will also later continue at the family residence in Doodhbowli for those who could not take the prasadam.

BlackBerry services in the city

Here is good news for mobile savvy. The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is all set to launch its BlackBerry services in the city by this month-end.BlackBerry services have earlier come under scrutiny after Central security agencies expressed concern that the data being transmitted through the device could not be intercepted due to the high encryption codes involved.

The Department of Telecommunications has earlier asked telecom service providers, BSNL and MTNL, to stop providing 3G services till call-monitoring is available to Intelligence agencies. 3G services provide high-speed data and video streaming. However, BSNL now got approval from the Central government and it will launch BlackBerry services in city.

"We have got the required approvals from the government and will launch BlackBerry services in Hyderabad soon. We have already launched it in other metros," said Chief General Manager, AP Telecom Circle, T N Sudhindra. Sudhindra clarified that monitoring 3G services has not been put on hold. "It is possible to monitor 3G services. BSNL BlackBerry Internet service will be offered to individual customers and BlackBerry enterprise service for corporate customers".

The postpaid monthly rentals will range between Rs 299 and Rs 875. BlackBerry handsets will be available from BSNL. This is the first blackBerry solution for enterprises as well as individual customers are available on the 3G network.

"Initially about 1,000 handsets will be made available in the market. Blackberry combined with the 3G network will help us boost growth this year" added Sudhindra.

A Grand Wedding

They say gods and angels shower their blessings from heaven when two people get married. But at a wedding in city, there was also one helicopter. As the son of a rich plastic businessman Pramod Tibrewala went on a baarat (procession) to take his bride, the chopper showered flowers on the entire hotel area.

It was a one hour adventure, the helicopter made 20 rounds within a half kilometre of Hitex Novotel Hotel, showering rose petals. The Baarat was attended by as many as 200 people and the unique wedding by 2,500 guests.

This was Mr Vikas Tibrewala’s the bride groom and Manisha Kedia the bride’s biggest moment. "We wanted to do something different for our brother’s wedding. It is a great feeling to do something unique which is eye catching," said Ashwin Tibrewala.

It was also a sign that Indian weddings, perhaps the most elaborate ones globally, have become a veritable industry in their own right and offer a compelling opportunity for entrepreneurs. Hiring a helicopter and showering flowers from it is the cherry on the cake, a booming wedding industry with a turnover of roughly Rs 40,000 crore per year.

"It was not easy to get permission for the helicopter we need to clear many formalities before hiring it from the aviation department. We got permission only for one helicopter"

"Helicopter weddings are primarily becoming a fad and it is easier to land a chopper or shower flowers through helicopter in city without hassles. It adds an modern twist to an age-old practice. It is a niche business market, but still growing. "There are around a dozen helicopter operators in South India, each rents out one helicopter for at least three weddings each year," said Amit Bhardwaj, CEO, Webvivah, wedding planner in city.

Historical Kamans of Charminar lie neglected

The beautiful and historical Kamans of Charminar lie neglected for want of proper maintenance. For over a decade nothing has been done by the State Archaeology and Museums department and the Tourism and Culture department to conserve and restore the Char Kaman.

Char Kaman, which served as the gateway to the Zilu Khana (ante chamber) of the royal palace and are named Machli Kaman, Kali Kaman, Sher Gil Ki Kaman and Char Minar ki Kaman, is surrounded by footwear, cosmetic and other utensil shops.

The Sher Gil Ki Kaman on the western side of Charminar was actually the gateway to the Qutb Shahi palace situated in the north western quadrant. Mir Momin, the then Prime Minister of the Qutb Shahi rulers, is believed to have decorated this gateway with a huge tapestry of gold. He is also stated to have got some magical chant engraved on a stone pillar right next to the kaman. This was intended to protect the palace, which housed the royal "zenana", from witchcraft. Anyone trying to get past the arch with an evil desire would be foiled in his attempts. But today this place is full of tiny shops dealing in a variety of footwear.

Cement plaster on arches is peeling off. Graffiti on the walls by tourists has spoiled the splendid visage. The area around it has become a dumping ground, littered with food packets and used water bottles. "We all know that the old city is known for its colour and thriving business but all these can happen at some distance from the monument and arches," alleged a tourist.

The road to Charminar is clogged and hawkers have surrounded it, Some tourists complain that government negligence and the greed of shopkeepers are degrading the architectural beauty. It is in a very bad shape compared to a few decades ago.

Mr P Chenna Reddy, director, state archaeology and museums department, said, ``elaborate exercise has been planned for the conservation of Char Kaman. Besides restoration and conservation plans of arches, a health centre, communications centre, heritage centre, travel help-desk and tourism customer care centre will be set up.''

Rain welcomes monsoon

The city received heavy rainfall on Sunday, a day ahead of the official date for the southwest monsoon to set in over the area. The usual date for the onset of the monsoon is June 15. The city recorded 17.8 mm rain by 8.30 pm. Youngsters danced with joy and a few unfortunate two-wheeler riders skid on the rain-drenched roads. The rain had its flip-side and showed that the city was ill-prepared.

Several low-lying areas were inundated and traffic was thrown out of gear. Traffic crawled in Punjagutta, Khairatabad, Somajiguda, Lakdi-ka-Pul, Ameerpet, Raj Bhavan, Dilsukhnagar, Saidabad, Paradise, Ranigunj and MG Road, Begumpet and Mettuguda as motorists gingerly negotiated sections covered by stagnated water.

“The early onset of monsoon is good for farmers, especially those in drought-hit parts of the state. For the last three years the southwest monsoon has been arriving here late June. But this time it has set in early,” said G. Subba Rao, meteorologist, Hyderabad Met Centre. The four-month monsoon season began on May 26, earlier than the usual date of June 1.

Meteorological reports said the monsoon would also cover Telangana and coastal AP by Monday evening. These areas can expect heavy rainfall due to formation of a so-called “upper air cyclonic circulation” over Telangana and Karnataka.

Monsoon takes another break

The monsoon is delayed yet again, and the sunburnt city will have to wait for another week for soothing rain and lower temperatures.

The monsoon had covered south Rayalaseema and some areas of coastal Andhra by June 1. It was expected to cover the city by June 8. In fact, a downpour the previous day had swamped the city. But that is where the story ended. Met officials now say the monsoon may take another week to hit the city. There was no significant movement in its progress over the last two days.

“The weak phase of monsoon is likely to continue. Consequently, the advance of monsoon over east, north peninsular and central India will be delayed” said Mr G. Subba Rao, meteorologist at the Hyderabad Met Centre.

“The advance of southwest monsoon is generally not a systematic feature. It accompanies surges in the strength of southwesterly winds over the north Indian Ocean,” Mr Rao said.

“Rainfall is revived in association with each surge. After each wet spell, there comes a hiatus of about 6 to 8 days in which the rainfall activity gets subdued, and northward advance of monsoon is also halted,” he explained.

All this means that the city will have to bear with temperatures touching 40ºC. The met department has given a heatwave warning for coastal Andhra and Telangana for the next two days. The city may witness occasional thunderstorm activity during the night.

No record of archaeological sites

The state archaeology and museums department does not have land records of archaeological and historical sites in the state. Heritage sites like Qutub Shahi tombs, Paigah tombs, Toli mosque, Hayat Begum Bakshi mosque and Hasmathpet megalithic burial compound have been encroached upon. Residential colonies have sprung up on the land belonging to these sites.
The department does not have land records to stake claim on these lands. In the absence of records the department is unable to evict the encroachers.

“There is, however, no comprehensive record in the form of database by which we can prove that the encroached land belongs to the archaeological department. As a result this finite, non-renewable and irreversible resource of our state is fast disappearing without any record for posterity,” said Mr P. Chenna Reddy, the director of state archaeology and museums department.

Mr Chenna Reddy admitted that there was an urgent need for a proper survey of such resources. “Many of the sites belong to the period of Nizams and there were no records maintained since that period. In some areas the land has been sold by the revenue officers to the local residents without the consent of the archaeology officials and now they are not ready to vacate the area. We feel helpless,” said Mr G. Ramakrishna, the deputy director of the state archaeology and museums department.

“Action will be initiated to remove the illegal structures at the earliest with the assistance from the revenue and police officials. Once the encroachers are evicted we will start the documentation of these sites for future reference,” said Mr Chenna Reddy.

Aila sucks up monsoon

The southwest monsoon, which was expe-cted to enter the state three days ago, will get delayed by a few more days.Aila, the recent cyclonic storm in the Bay of Bengal has put the brakes on the advance of monsoon into Andhra Pradesh.

“There was no further advance of monsoon till Friday,” said Mr G. Subba Rao, meteorologist at the Hyderabad Meteorological Centre. “Numerical weather prediction models indicate that further advance of monsoon is not likely during the next 4 to 5 days. Monsoon activity is likely to remain subdued.”

The southwest monsoon advanced till Monday, when Aila began to form in the Bay of Bengal. By the time the storm dissipated, the damage had been done. Sweltering heat continues in AP. In fact, the weather men issued a heat wave warning in Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and Medak. Hyderabad recorded maximum temperature of 42ºC on Friday. The weather will remain the same in the next two days.

The highest temperature of 45ºC Celsius was recorded at Adilabad and Rentachintala, though the days began to get cooler in coastal AP. Meteorologists also predict some rain over coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema

Ban goes up in smoke

The ban on smoking, which came into force from October 2008, remains ineffective. The Union health ministry’s directive seems to have gone up in smoke in the state.Even as ‘No Tobacco Day’ will be observed on Sunday, the state government has not done enough to enforce the law. The government is caught between the compulsions of making money and playing the moral police.

The state government has neither assigned any special officers nor has it strictly implemented the ban. So far, only 39 cases have been registered and Rs 3,900 was collected as fine by the Hyderabad district medical and health office.Unlike other states where state tobacco cells have been formed, the state government is yet to come up with its own structured tobacco cell despite such a provision being compulsory for every state. There are clear-cut rules on making “no smoking signboards” with certain dimensions but in most public places in the city these norms are not complied with.

Speaking on the initiative taken by the district medical and health officer, Ch. Jaya Kumari, said, “We are opening Tobacco Intervention Initiative Centre (TIIC) and Exclusive Tobacco Cell in the district medical and health office as directed by the WHO.”

Structures razed at heritage site

The State Archaeology and Museums department inspected the Hasmathpet megalithic burial site near old Bowenpally on Friday and removed some encroachments.

The protected site covers in an area of 28.27 acres of land and is spotted with cairn circles dating back to 1000 BC. Some of the burials were excavated by the department in 1934. It later erected a shed on one of the excavated burials for the benefit of the scholars and visitors.
When the department tried to construct a compound wall around the protected area in 2003, people staying near it filed a petition in the High Court. The High Court then passed orders to both the parties to maintain status quo.

Over the years, many encroachers made attempts to occupy the peripherals of the protected site by constructing sheds. But on receiving information, the department immediately removed the structures.

On Friday too, officials of the department removed some temporary structures with the assistance of the police. “There are more illegal structures to be removed,” said,” said Mr P. Chenna Reddy of the State Archaeology and Museums Department.

“Several boulders have also been deposited on the protected site. We will take steps to remove the illegal structures within a week with the assistance of revenue and police departments.”

Trai notice to help Netizens

Internet service providers and telecom operators will now be forced to ensure minimum required broadband speed to their customers because of the latest regulations from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

Recently the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) issued guidelines to ensure that internet service providers and telecom operators provide the minimum required broadband speed to their customers.

The regulator has fixed a minimum ‘contention ratio number’ of users who can share the same bandwidth to ensure that customers get better and higher broadband speeds. Earlier, there was no such restriction on operators and they were offering service at a contention ratio of 1:80 to 1:100. Under the new guidelines, the contention ratio for broadband at home has been fixed at 1:50 and for business at 1:30.

With this regulation the customers fear that there will be an increase in the broadband tariffs as operators will have to buy more bandwidth to maintain the new norms which may lead to increase in rates.

“There will be no increase in the tariffs. Its obvious that we need to buy more bandwidth to combat the customer ration but if we provide good speed connectivity automatically it increases our customer ratio, so there’s no query of increasing the tariff” said, V.V. Prasad, Divisional Engineer, BSNL Broadband Services.

In its guidelines, Trai has stated that, “There have been complaints from the subscribers regarding inadequate broadband speed being provided by the internet service provider (ISPs) and majority of the complaints allege that the available broadband speed is lower than the subscribed speed. Following complaints from subscribers TRAI has issued guidelines for better Internet or broadband services.

We have not yet started implementation of the new guidelines from TRAI. It is a time taking process most probably by next month we may start, but one thing is for sure as of now we are not going to change the tariff rates” said, official from Airtel Broadband Service.

Fire fighters to get special training !!!!!

About 21 fire-fighters in the State Fire and Emergency Department will be given a week-long training in combating fire using hydraulic platforms at the Fire Training Centre at Vattinagulapalli. The department recently acquired three state-of-art hydraulic platforms to beef up its fire-fighting prowess in high-rise buildings and malls.

The training would enable them to deal with fire accidents in high rise buildings, particularly of the kind witnessed in the Secretariat recently, more efficiently than by the conventional methods adopted till now.

The sophisticated hydraulic platforms and turntable ladders provide greater flexibility and manoeuvreability in fire fighting operaions. These platforms can reach up to 54 meters height to put out fire. The department work, hitherto, is severely hampered by lack of advanced equipment to deal with fire accidents.

"The department has just one snorkel which can reach up to 10-storeyed buildings. The new imported platforms can reach up to 18 floors within three minutes to rescue people in case of any fire mishap. The vehicles are at present kept at the Fire Training Centre, Vattinagulapalli. Once the training is over, the vehicles will be stationed one each at Madhapur, Gowliguda and at the training school at Vattinagulapally, " said Mr P. Deen Dayal, district fire officer.

The hydraulic platforms cost Rs 5 cr each. The specialised vehicle `Hazmat,' from Germany costing Rs. 5 crore, which is equipped to deal with chemical, biological and nuclear disasters, is on the way, and it will be stationed in the new fire station at Secretariat.

Nearly 21 senior fire fighters will be trained in the hydraulic platform operations at the AP Fire and Emergency services Home guard Training School in Vattinagulapally under the supervision of Sunil Kaul, Engineer, Brijbasi from Delhi. The firemen will require a week long training to operate the vehicle and each of the vehicles will require seven firemen for operation.

GHMC undecided over Pushpanjali

Few months back, when the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) had declared the Pushpanjali Complex in Koti, which houses more than 200 shops unsafe, it had also issued notices to the shop owners to vacate the premises in three days.

However, even after three months the GHMC is still sleeping on the issue.According to the notice, the shop owners were told to vacate as the Pushpanjali Complex was to be sealed off.Since, the building was in a dilapidated condition and did not possess proper fire-fighting equipments, the civic body had ordered for its closure.

The first major fire had broken out in the complex on February 5, 2006 causing severe damage to property and the building. The second fire mishap took place on February 4 this year.After the first incident, a technical committee was appointed by the GHMC to make a report on the structure and take a decision on the restoration.The report stated that structure was “very weak and unsafe” and suggested its strengthening.But, the GHMC officials are now delaying the matter with their excuses.

“Since we were short staffed and busy with election work, Pushpanjali Complex was not on our priority list,” said Mr Purusotham Reddy, the chief planning officer, GHMC.

Meanwhile, the shopkeepers too are not ready to vacate their shops. “We have been running our shop here for several years. We will experience heavy losses if the shops are shut down. We shall seek legal aid if we are forced to vacate,” said Mr Chandhrabhan Singh, owner, Rajhdhani shop.

Power cuts halt ticket booking

Frequent power failures are playing havoc with the computerised reservation system at the Kacheguda Railway Station. This is not only delaying booking of reservations but also compounding the suffering of people.

Mr Binoy Jacob, an employee with a multi-national company said, “I came to the station at 7 am for tatkal reservation of a ticket to Kerala. It is more than two hours and still did not get the reservation as the system broke down due to power failure. It is annoying and I have no idea how much more time it will take. It seems the systems here have no back-up power facility.”Adding to the woes only four counters are working at any given point of time of the seven existing ones.

“Whenever I come here for reservation, I find myself stuck in the queue for not less than two hours. Last week, I had to wait in the queue for more than 90 minutes to book a ticket to Delhi. I need to take time off from my office everytime I have to book tickets,” said Mr Ravi Kumar, a marketing executive in a pharmaceutical company.

The chief station inspector, Mr K. Srinivas Rao, said, “There is rush at the counters because of summer season. Normally, it does not take more than 20 minutes for one to get ticket. When there is power cut, the systems go out of order. We have brought the problem of frequent power tripping faced by the station to our headquarters.”

“There is need for opening more counters, keeping in view the rush. There is also need for regulating the queues at the station,” said Mr Tarun Rao, an employee with GMR.

One in five teen surfers falls prey to paedophiles

Children, particularly teenagers, who browse Internet regularly, are falling prey to paedophiles. According to recent survey by International Telecommunication Union [ITU], over 60 per cent of children and teenagers talk in chat rooms on a daily basis. Three in four children on-line are sharing the information about themselves and their family in exchange for goods and services. And one in five children are being targeted by a predator or paedophile each year.

Teenager from 14 to 18 years are the worst affected due to large usage of community sites like Orkut, Face book ,Hi5, Beebo, MySpace and many more. "Even bullying has become a common phenomenon in cyber space with nearly 72 percent of teens reporting at least one incident of cyber bullying every month. Most of the bullied teens don't tell their parents about the on-line incidents. They try to deal with the problem on their own with a fear of parental restrictions on Net use. This some times leads to social mishaps, sometimes with tragic consequences," said Mr Suraj Prasad Agarwal, President, Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

"Because of the generation gap in electronic communication, however, parents and educators need to better understand both the positive and negative functions of teen on-line behaviour. Websites that give such dangerous information to children can cause much harm, and while such sites have to be regulated, parents should be alerted about what children are doing in their free time," added Mr Agarwal.

To combat with the increasing number of such cases the ITU's Child On-line Protection (COP) initiative is in line with its mandate to establish the foundations for a safe and secure cyber world for future generations and in this view a seminar is organised in city on Sunday to celebrate the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day. Every year a specific theme is chosen to celebrate this day and this year because of the importance and urgency for preventive measures for children and teenager from cyberspace the theme is, "Protecting Children in Cyberspace".

"To ensure that children and teenagers can safely access the net and its valuable resources without fear of falling prey to unscrupulous predators in cyber space this seminar is being organised. The seminar discussions are meant for ICT professionals, sociologists, lawyers, parents, students, teenagers and law-makers and enforcers."

Careless smoking causes fire

Rise in fire accidents due to careless smoking in public places, residential buildings and commercial complex in city is giving sleepless nights to the State Fire and Emergency Department.

The department had so far recorded more than 200 fire accidents in this year due to careless smoking at public places. Last year out of 1002 fire mishaps recorded 681 were incidents were caused due to careless smoking in twin cities.

The department officials say, luckily major disasters have not taken place so far this year since many of the incidents is either being reported at night or in the early hours when the offices are shut or less public is present at the spot.

The officials from department also say that the health officials should be strict on awareness programme of Ban on Smoking in public places once the law is fairly implemented the accidents can be reduced to a extent because most of the incidents recorded are in public places only.
Careless smoking is the main factors for increasing fire accidents in twin cities this year. This was confirmed by the Fire and Emergency Services Department after a detailed study conducted on the reasons for fire accidents that were reported during the last five months.

"Whether it is a residential building or commercial complex or a public place, smoking causes a majority of accidents and huge loss of properties too. Smokers casual in extinguishing the strike also contributed to the mishaps as thrown away butts still alight could spark the fire especially in open places" said, District Fire Officer, P.Deen Dayal.

Shockingly so far after the implementation of Ban on smoking in public places only 39 cases from twin cities have been booked by health officials. However District Medical and Health Officer Dr. Ch. Jaya Kumari, says "We can’t stop people smoking in public garden, railway platform or other open places we can only file cases against people smoking in pub, office or malls, not other places".

"Recently the fire accident in Falaknuma timber depot and Osmania university where people were present in large number cause due to careless smoking must have turned into major incident if the fire fighters would have not done fast action. Recently more than 30 huts in Shamshabad area was gutted due to careless smoking" said, official from fire department.

No foul play in ‘D’ block fire

The three-member official committee headed by the principal secretary (political), Mr R.M. Gonela, on Friday, ruled out any sabotage in the fire accident in the ‘D’ block of the state Secretariat.

The committee, in its report to the government, has suggested implementation of fire safety measures in all the blocks in the Secretariat at the earliest. It also wanted rectification of electric wiring system as a short circuit caused the mishap.

“No important files or data stored in computer was destroyed and net connectivity has been fully restored to all the 400-odd computers in different sections of the two floors. A detailed report will be submitted by the CID investigating the case,” said Mr Gonela.

“The Secretariat will have an exclusive fire station on its premises. Two garages, office and storerooms will come up on a 1,000 square yards land adjacent to the ‘K’ block. It will be operational in a couple of months. A ‘Hazmat’ emergency vehicle, which is used to respond to hazardous material accidents, and two more fire tenders will be stationed in Secretariat,” the director-general of fire services, Ms Aruna Bahuguna, said

Files gutted at Secretariat

Fire broke out in the D-Block of the Secretariat housing finance and information technology departments on Thursday afternoon destroying computers and peripherals.This is the fourth fire that broke out in the Secretariat this year. The Mahakutami was quick to allege that the fire was deliberately triggered by the ruling Cong-ress which wanted to dest-roy “sensitive” documents as it faced electoral defeat.

The senior Telugu Desam leader, Mr Kodela Sivapra-sad Rao, said he suspected foul play behind the fire and demanded a high-level inquiry. “The IT department is under scanner for the Satyam and Maytas deals, forest department for Obulapuram mining and finance department has key papers on the economic situation,” he said.

In the wake of these allegations, the state government asked the CBCID to constitute a Special Investi-gation Team to investigate the fire mishap.The fire broke out in the computer server room in the second floor at 2.30 pm. Soon thick smoke engulfed the whole area, causing suffocation to four employees who were rushed to the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) for treatment.

Though the building has been issued no-objection certificate by the Departm-ent of Fire and Emergency Services, it did not even have mandatory fire sprinklers.Firefighters broke the window panes of the second floor to let the smoke out. It took nearly two hours for 12 firefighters to bring the flames under control. Three of them sustained minor injuries in the incident.

It took nearly half-an-hour for the fire department to bring its newly imported snorkel right behind the D-Block where the flames were coming out of windows. “Several employees including women were trapped inside the building and some were caught in lifts,” said Mr G. Jacob, director of the AP Secretariat Employees’ Cooperative Society. “All were rescued.”

“We suspect that it was a short circuit in the server room which caused the fire but it needs a full investigation,” said Ms Aruna Bahuguna, DG, Fire and Emergency Services.

State evicts 17 families from Paigah Tombs site

About 17 families staying on the premises of Paigah Tombs at Ghouse Nagar were evicted from their houses and the government took possession of the land.Descendants of the 17 families, to whom the plots were sold by the nobles of the erstwhile Nizam state, have been residing at the Paigah Tombs site.

The property came under government control following court intervention.“Without notice, we were evicted from our homes in which we have been staying for the last 25 years. We bought these plots long ago and have all the papers with us. The government promised to provide us with flats, but single room units were provided at Ghouse Nagar.

These dwellings lack basic amenities,” said Mr Lateef Anees, one of the evictees.“I was allotted a dwelling six years ago. We had paid the amount to the government. We have not shifted to the dwelling as it lacks basic amenities. We locked the house. We were shocked to find the locks broken and others in there,” said, Ms Rehmati Bi.

“We have shifted the families to Ghouse Nagar Colony temporarily. Basic amenities will be provided soon. It’s not our fault that the plots were sold to them decades ago by the Paigah nobles of the Nizam state. The Paigah Tombs are under the control of state archaeology and museums department,” said, Mr Naveen Mittal, the district collector.

Meanwhile, the museums department has begun the demolition of houses in the Paigah Tombs. “We have been trying to evict these people for decades. The families will be rehabilitated after eviction and this takes time. We have already started demolition of Paigah Tombs. Once the demolition is completed, restoration will be taken up,” said Mr P. Chenna Reddy, the director of state archaeology and museums department.

Elephant carvings on Tank Bund wall

The state archaeology and museums department has found carvings of elephants and lions on the abutting wall of the Tank Bund. These carvings were found on two sides of the wall.The department, however, is yet to ascertain the origin of these carvings.

“We have started the verification process. It may take some time to find out the origin of these carvings. As of now, we can say that these carvings must have been brought from some other place to be incorporated into the wall,” said P. Chenna Reddy, the director, state archaeology and museums department.

The officials say that there is no specification of these carvings. They may even belong to the 14th century they say. A sweeper, who saw these carvings, informed the department.

Fire department to crack whip on towers

The state fire and emergency department has issues with cellphone towers being installed on residential buildings. The department along with the GHMC has decided to come up with rules for putting up towers in the city.

According to the officials, at present there are no rules which deal with tower installation in the city and there is no provision for taking No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the GHMC or the fire department.On Wednesday, a fire broke out on a Vodafone cell tower at Ashoknagar due to short circuit.“We have taken up this issue on priority basis as these cell towers can prove to be dangerous to people residing there. Wednesday’s fire accident would have turned into a major mishap if the fire fighters had failed to put off the flame in time” said, Mohan Reddy, additional district fire officer.

We will also ask the telecom authorities so as to formulate rules for installing cellular phone towers on vacant land, taking into consideration proper structural standards with proper fire safety measures, added Mr Reddy.Meanwhile, the residents of Ashoknagar have decided to cancel their lease with the authorities of Vodafone cell tower.

Many cell towers in city are erected in the residential areas or in commercial areas. The towers were not constructed in such a way that it is difficult to facilitate free movement of fire service vehicles in case of any emergency.

Two more days of heat for city

The Indian Meteorological Department has issued a heat wave warning in Adilabad, Karimnagar, Nizamabad and Warangal districts.Officials from the city Meteorological department predicted similar weather conditions in the rest of the state for the next two days.

There would be no relief from the scorching sun with temperature likely to touch 41 degree Celsius.The strong north-westerly winds are said to be the reason behind the increase in temperatures in the state.The maximum temperatures rose at one or two places over coastal Andhra Pradesh and changed little over Telangana and Rayalaseema.

They were significantly above normal at one or two places over Coastal Andhra, above normal at many places over Rayalaseema and at many places in the remaining districts of Telangana.The maximum temperature of 46 degree Celsius was recorded in Adilabad and Rentachintala.However, for the past one week the state has been recording five degrees above normal temperature. This has led to heat wave conditions.

On Thursday the maximum temperature recorded in city was 42 degree Celsius.Meanwhile, the department also issued a warning of severe heat wave conditions in some parts of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha and Delhi, some parts of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, south Uttar Pradesh, north Madhya Maharashtra, interior Orissa, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir and isolated heavy rainfall is likely over Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.

City sweats out at 43.1 degrees

The city is sweltering under the summer sun with the maximum temperature touching 43.1ºC on Saturday, the highest in this season.

Officials from the city meteorological department have predicted the possibility of severe heat wave conditions in city if the high temperatures persist for the next two days. The city had last suffered heat wave conditions in 2003 and 2005.

Mercury soared high and is hovering above 40ºC at a number of places in the State as a result of dry north-westerly winds blowing from the Thar Desert in Rajasthan and from Maharashtra.
Districts such as Adilabad, Ramgundam and Rentachintala are already in the grip of heat wave and the maximum temperature may touch 45ºC if the dry winds continue.

Temperatures are two to three degrees above normal in several places in Guntur, Krishna, Prakasam, Nellore, Nalgonda and Warangal districts. Last year, the highest maximum temperature recorded in city was 41.9ºC in May end but this time the temperature had already crossed 43.1ºC on Saturday.

“It is not possible to predict whether there would be any sudden fall in temperature after two days,” said Mr Subbarao, assistant meteorologist of Hyderabad. “Fall or rise in temperature depends on the change in wind pattern.”

On Friday, the maximum temperatures rose at a few places over Telangana, at one or two places over Coastal Andhra Pradesh and changed little over Rayalaseema. They were significantly above normal at one or two places over Coastal Andhra Pradesh, above normal over Rayalaseema and in the remaining districts of Telangana. The highest maximum temperature of 46ºC was recorded at Adilabad and Rentachintala.

Bid to evict mosque encroachers

The state archaeology and museums department has written to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and the state government seeking eviction of ten families residing on premises of the Hayat Bakshi Begum mosque in Hayathnagar.

The encroachments have been hampering the department’s plan to take up renovation works on the mosque, which is in a dilapidated state.The department had faced similar problems when it was trying to renovate the Paigah tombs sometime ago.

Mr P. Chenna Reddy, director, State Archaeology and Museums Department, said the families have been staying illegally in the area for many years.“They refused to move out when they were told to do so. We will take up the renovation work once these people are shifted,” he said.

The department’s restoration work involves clearing wild shrubs and debris, strengthening the foundation of the monuments and the peripheral wall on the mosque’s premises using traditional methods.It will also recast the worn-out ornamental works and remove the decayed plaster on the walls. Other works the department plans to carry out are construction of internal pathways with granite slabs, providing public amenities and rest house and interpretation centre.

Hayat Bakshi Begum mosque is a fairly large mosque with a façade of five arches.It was constructed in 1672 during the reign of Abdullah Qutub Shah. It has a large Caravan Sarai and Hathi Bauli, a very large structure in the north-east of the mosque.

Files gutted at Secretariat

Fire broke out in the D-Block of the Secretariat housing finance and information technology departments on Thursday afternoon destroying computers and peripherals.This is the fourth fire that broke out in the Secretariat this year. The Mahakutami was quick to allege that the fire was deliberately triggered by the ruling Cong-ress which wanted to dest-roy “sensitive” documents as it faced electoral defeat.

The senior Telugu Desam leader, Mr Kodela Sivapra-sad Rao, said he suspected foul play behind the fire and demanded a high-level inquiry. “The IT department is under scanner for the Satyam and Maytas deals, forest department for Obulapuram mining and finance department has key papers on the economic situation,” he said.

In the wake of these allegations, the state government asked the CBCID to constitute a Special Investi-gation Team to investigate the fire mishap. The fire broke out in the computer server room in the second floor at 2.30 pm. Soon thick smoke engulfed the whole area, causing suffocation to four employees who were rushed to the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) for treatment.

Though the building has been issued no-objection certificate by the Departm-ent of Fire and Emergency Services, it did not even have mandatory fire sprinklers.Firefighters broke the window panes of the second floor to let the smoke out. It took nearly two hours for 12 firefighters to bring the flames under control. Three of them sustained minor injuries in the incident.

It took nearly half-an-hour for the fire department to bring its newly imported snorkel right behind the D-Block where the flames were coming out of windows. “Several employees including women were trapped inside the building and some were caught in lifts,” said Mr G. Jacob, director of the AP Secretariat Employees’ Cooperative Society. “All were rescued.”

“We suspect that it was a short circuit in the server room which caused the fire but it needs a full investigation,” said Ms Aruna Bahuguna, DG, Fire and Emergency Services.

Earlier this year, three minor fire accidents took place in B-block. A few weeks ago, another minor fire broke out in the B-block due to electrical short-circuit. The electrical wiring in the block, which was done decades ago, has developed several defects due to voltage fluctuations caused by installation of a large number of air-conditioners.

GHMC undecided over Pushpanjali

Few months back, when the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) had declared the Pushpanjali Complex in Koti, which houses more than 200 shops unsafe, it had also issued notices to the shop owners to vacate the premises in three days.

However, even after three months the GHMC is still sleeping on the issue.According to the notice, the shop owners were told to vacate as the Pushpanjali Complex was to be sealed off.Since, the building was in a dilapidated condition and did not possess proper fire-fighting equipments, the civic body had ordered for its closure.

The first major fire had broken out in the complex on February 5, 2006 causing severe damage to property and the building. The second fire mishap took place on February 4 this year.After the first incident, a technical committee was appointed by the GHMC to make a report on the structure and take a decision on the restoration.

The report stated that structure was “very weak and unsafe” and suggested its strengthening.But, the GHMC officials are now delaying the matter with their excuses. “Since we were short staffed and busy with election work, Pushpanjali Complex was not on our priority list,” said Mr Purusotham Reddy, the chief planning officer, GHMC.Meanwhile, the shopkeepers too are not ready to vacate their shops.

“We have been running our shop here for several years. We will experience heavy losses if the shops are shut down. We shall seek legal aid if we are forced to vacate,” said Mr Chandhrabhan Singh, owner, Rajhdhani shop.

Beware of fancy mobile numbers

Think twice before buying a fancy mobile number since they seem to attract more blank calls and SMSes than ordinary numbers. Though owning a fancy mobile number adds to your status, it comes at a price. And we are not talking about the hefty amount you pay for the number. Service providers get sundry complaints from customers who have fancy or unique numbers about blank calls and SMSes at odd hours.

“I bought a Tata Indicom fancy number paying Rs 1 lakh but now I regret it,” said Mr Vimal Kumar, manager of Hot Tracks. “I am fed up with the daily SMSes and blank calls. I have complained to the service providers but to no avail.”
Vodafone, Spice, BSNL and Tata Indicom have all raked in additional revenues by auctioning VIP numbers. Last week BSNL closed its auction of numbers for pre-paid cellular subscribers. The numbers up for sale were 94928-88888, 94927-44444 and 94927-77777. The auction was closed with highest bidding rate of Rs 1.7lakh for the number 9492888888 against the reserve price of Rs 25,000. The auction was done on SMS.

“Three months ago, I bought a postpaid premium number from BSNL by paying Rs 1.12 lakh thinking that it will add to my status but unfortunately it gave me sleepless nights with continuous calls,” said Mr Suman Kumar, proprietor of Suman chit fund. “Finally I deactivated my number.”

Mr. G. P. Reddy, general manager, Cell One, said that high-class consumers were going for fancy numbers since owning a mobile was no more a status symbol.

No machines to clean lake

Though the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) has allocated Rs 300 crore for cleaning the Hussainsagar lake, the authorities do not have machinery to clean the algae. They are depending on workers to clean it. Infested with water-hyacinths and aquatic weeds, the lake not only emanates a terrible odour, but has also turned into a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

However, the HMDA authorities squarely blame the algae. Mr Chandra Mohan Reddy, OSD for the Buddha Poornima Project, HMDA says, “The foul smell is due to the sudden bloom of the blue-green algae in the lake water. We are cleaning the lake water on alternate days. The workers have started the cleaning process that includes a simple skimming operation to remove the algae.”

“It may take more than two years to complete the Hussainsagar cleaning project. Till then, we are taking care of untreated sewage coming from nalas for better maintenance. Also, we are going to manually remove the hyacinth and other floating garbage from the lake as we don’t have specialised machinery,” he added

The senior environmental engineer, Mr Rajendar Reddy, said, “Some blue-green algae produce toxins that could pose health risk to people when they are exposed to them in large quantities.”

Former firemen in big demand

Many builders in the city are employing retired fire officers for designing fire safety measures and for maintenance of equipment as there is a shortage of fire engineers in the city.
According to the National Building Code, every commercial complex such as malls should have a fire safety manager or a fire officer.

“There are very few colleges which offer courses on fire-engineering. Even the few graduates from the National Fire Service Colleges prefer to work in the private sector due to higher salaries,” said an official.

The National Fire Service College at Nagpur is the only institute in the country offering a bachelor course in engineering (fire) and it has an annual intake of only 30 students. There are, however, some institutes which offer diploma or certificate courses in fire safety.
In the city many buildings provide fire safety equipment but they do not have experts to help in case a situation arises.

“According to the statistics of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and the state fire and emergency department, more than 300 buildings in the city lack adequate means of access, escape routes and other fire safety norms,” said Mr P.V. Ramana, the regional fire officer.

Historical sites go ‘missing’ in city

Officials of the state archaeology and museum department are not able to trace some of the listed archaeology sites in the city.
Searches in recent times by the officials revealed that many of these sites have been encroached upon and commercial establishments built in their places.
The officials said some sites date back to 1678 AD and 11th century. “In Kukatpally there are some megalithic burials listed in our records, but we can’t find them now,” officials said. They were also not able to trace Akkana Madanna temple in Kukatpally, neolithic site in Begumpet, fortification and Baradari in Malkajgiri.
“To prevent further encroachments, we have begun documenting each and every site which falls under the purview of the department,” said an official.

Colony shocked as tar burnt near LPG depot

Families residing near the Hindustan Petroleum gas godown in Mahendra Hills are literally living on a tinder box.The godown stocks over 1,000 gas cylinders at any given time and the workers are often careless and callous.
The other day, local residents were shocked to see them burning a huge fire near the cylinders apparently to melt tar.If something untoward happens, there is enough fuel in the godown to blow up the entire area.There is no fire fighting equipment in the godown except for two small fire extinguishers.
“Last month, we woke up one morning to a pungent smell coming out of the gas godown,” said Ms Shalini Saincher, a resident of Mahendra Hills.“We contacted the manager, who came and found that there was a problem with one of thecylinders.”Residents also complain that the loading and unloading of the gas cylinders causes much noise pollution in the area.

“We have been doing this business for more than half a century and if houses have come up alongside, we cannot be held responsible,” said an HP official. “We follow all safety measures as stipulated by HP.”Mr Mohan Reddy, assistant district fire officer, said his department would inspect the godown and take action if the owner was found to be violating the Fire Act.

Nearhop!!!!!!!!!!

Just one click and everything is now in your mobile phone from restaurants phone numbers to 3-D games. Then why not city bus or local train routes? Nearhop has developed a mobile application that can be downloaded and installed onto your mobile. You need to have a mobile phone with JVM (Java Virtual Machine). So you can see the city bus routes on your mobile phones at any time or any place with absolutely free of cost. Initially it has been started for city bus routes.

You can download all the ways to reach from one place to another in city using bus routes. Download the navigator of city. Using the navigator you can see the city bus route numbers on your mobile. Just install it on your mobile. Your mobile does not need any internet connection for using the navigator. Nearhop provides all these downloads to its beloved customers for free.

www.nearhop.com is India’s first travel engine with biggest database. You can find all the buses/flights/trains departing from arriving to your city. It provides you city bus and local train routes for major cities in India. You can also book Air Tickets, Bus Tickets, and Train Tickets at service provider's site.

Installing your midlet via the web is very easy. Your phone needs to be a java enabled phone. Firstly, download a .jar file from the web onto your PC. Secondly, upload the midlet onto you mobile phone. Once you've found the .jar file, just download it somewhere onto your PC. There are several options of transferring the files from your PC to phone like explicit physical connection via USB cable, Direct Infrared connection and Direct Bluetooth connection.

“You can easily download bus, train routes and flight routes in your mobile within seconds. In last three weeks more than 500 people have downloaded the intercity bus routes. The mobile application consists simple user interface where the user needs to enter the source and destination places in the city. If the two places are connected by a train or bus, the corresponding route numbers will be displayed,” says Venkata Rao Chimata, CEO, nearhop.com.

“Its very easy and quick way to download information from the website. I am in search of job and daily I need to travel to so many places in the city for interviews. It’s very useful for me I just need to click on the options on my phone and gets to know about the bus routes,” says Sushobita Btech student, Dilsukhnagar.

“I came to know this from one of my friend and it’s really time saving. You can see the city bus routes on your mobile phones at any time or any place with absolutely free of cost. The best part of it is you don’t even need a net connection for using the navigator,” says Rita Choudhary, MNC Employee.

Anubha k Singh

Installing the CNG kit in place of Petrol?

What are you planning to do? Installing the CNG kit in place of Petrol. Just check about the availability of CNG bunks in your area and then proceed. There are very less CNG bunks to cater to thousands of CNG borne vehicles in the city which is major cause of problem for the city people .The long queue outside CNG bunks in the city is daily routine for the vehicle users.
“I regret on the day when I have converted my car into CNG. Initially I thought it’s a good idea and it’s going to help me in all ways but I was very wrong. I don’t know why the government is keeping quiet on this topic why are they not opening more CNG bunks in the city for easy accessible of CNG gas. Every alternate day I have to stand in queue at least for an hour and on Sundays it has been never less than two hours standing in queue. I can’t again convert my vehicle into diesel from CNG will cost me more plus it’s not good for life of my vehicle.” says, Navneet Goyal, Goyal Trading Company.

“It’s a regular problem for us there are very less CNG bunks in the city and standing in a queue for more than an hour is irritating. Before implementing a rule government should lay the infrastructure. Some of the bunks are equipped with just one tank. We have to stand in a queue, until the tank is refilled. Bunks should have atleast two tanks” says Harish Patel, Shri Vishwakarma Timber Deepo.

“I converted my Esteem into CNG from diesel last three months back but this month again I have to convert my vehicle into Diesel just because of the long queue in CNG bunks. There are very less number of CNG bunks in the city and due to that I used to stand for more than a hour every alternate day to fill tank and I used to get late for my office. Now I am planning to buy a new car but not atleast CNG fitted cars” says Saurabh lahoti, Director Shrinath Rotopack pvt ltd.

“Now a day almost all the cars are coming up with CNG fitted. Since 2007 number of CNG fitted cars have been going on increasing but there’s no increase in number of CNG bunks in the city. I usually travel to Vijaywada side there are lots of CNG bunks over there I don’t what our state government is doing why are they not opening CNG bunks in the city. Every Sunday I need to stand in queue not less than 2 hours to fill CNG gas in my vehicle government would have first laid the infrastructure and then would have implemented the CNG kit plan.” Says Sanjay, student, Amity University.

“Earlier many customers use to convert their vehicles into CNG but now there are many people who come to convert their CNG fitted vehicle into Diesel or Petrol. The major problem for that is less number of CNG bunks in the city. Many people do their vehicle gas conversion in just a span of two or three months which is not good for their vehicle but they do that because of the CNG bunks problem in the city.” Says, Mohammed Safi, Perfect Motors, SSV Car Gas Conversion.

“Due to area problems and safety norms by government there are very less CNG bunks in the city. Present bunks are the earlier ones but to open a new bunk we need an open space area which is not easily possible due to development programs in the city. At present the CNG pipeline is only till Vijay Wada and some areas of Hyderabad. Reliance is planning to open more pipelines and then we can have sufficient number of CNG bunks in the city says”, Prabhakar Reddy, President AP petroleum Dealers Association.

Anubha k Singh.

Hacking on High!!!!!!!!!!

Hacking into an email account is becoming a common practice in city especially among the kids. With young kids becoming Internet savvy in the rapidly emerging world of computer technology, misuse of Internet has also taken an upward curve. One such misuse of technology is hacking the email ids. There are many such kids who learn hacking and do it for fun sake without knowing the harm of that.

They are unaware of the implications of their illegal activities or unconcerned about the consequences of their actions. The hacking tools used by them can be easily found or downloaded from the Internet. Most of the time they do hacking just for fun and craze for learning new technologies to compete their friends.

“You can easily hack any email id especially Yahoo messenger, Gmail, Rediffmail and all other famous sites. It doesn’t need any special classes or more of your time to learn hacking. I hacked one of my friend’s ids through software given by him. You just need to download the software and you got to create a fake website. Follow the steps and your work is over. I was very keen to learn hacking as one of my ID was hacked by my friend and I was furious to learn the process of hacking to take a revenge on my freind,”says Shruthi, Naryana Concept School.

“For me it was very easy to learn hacking. I was just going through my orkut profile and I found a link of hacking Email Ids in one of my friend’s profile. So I tried it and I was succeeded. I just did it once and it was a fun to learn hacking in just few minutes. I had tried it three to four times on one of my friends id to prank on him,” says, Anish, DRS School.

“A friend of mine found out about the hacking process by way of a family member. Initially I was afraid but later on my friend said there’s nothing to lose in learning the process so lets just try it and if it works its a bumper! I had tried it thrice and there has only been one incident that it didn't work for us and that was because the person had some sort of protection installed on all of their passwords. We usually keep competion among our friends to see who can hack ids faster than else, says Ankita, Krishnaveni School.

As parents, we're far less savvy than our kids when it comes to the Internet and electronic gadgets. It's almost impossible for us to know if our kids are doing homework, harmlessly socializing, being victimized or victimizing others. We want to believe the best about our kids, but maybe we need to make more of an effort to see what's going on.


Anubha k Singh

3G cell service to take more time

hyderabad
March 29: The wait for 3G and 2G services in the city seems to be endless.The much-awaited 3G services will be not be launched before July this year. The service has already been introduced in Delhi and Chennai.Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited plans to launch 3G services in 29 cities in the country.

Interestingly, there are many dealers in the city who claim to provide 3G and 2G services on BSNL mobiles. BSNL officials, however, contradict the claim and said they have not yet introduced the facility here.“So far we have not yet received the equipment, so there’s no possibility of providing 3G and 2G services in the city by any dealer,” said Mr V.V. Prasad, divisional engineer, BSNL.

“Launch of 3G and 2G services will provide value-added services like mobile television, mobile broadband and subsequent services like mobile commerce. They will help save cost and time for users,” said Andhra Pradesh Telecom Circle chief general manager T. N. Sudhindra Kumar.

BSNL is expected to spend Rs 780 crore for 3G and 2G equipment in the state.“Besides upgrading mobile data speeds to 2 mbps from the present 144 kbps, we will also offer video screening of calls, video on demand, mobile surveillance, live TV, movie downloads etc on our 3G platform,” Mr Kumar said.

Toll-free number yet to become functional

Hyderabad, March 30:
The toll-free distress helpline (1091) for women is yet to be implemented in Cyberabad because of lack of connectivity.The facility provided by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is already in operation in Hyderabad.The police department has also sought conversion of the helpline to a three digit number but there has been no response from the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited so far.As such, there are many complaints that when 1091 is dialled there is no response.

“I was standing at the Basheerbagh bus station when some eve teasers came there,” said Ms P. Rajani, an MNC employee.“I called up the toll free number but there was no response from the other side,” Ms Rajani complained.However, a Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited official told this correspondent that the service was active and lack of response was only an occasional problem.

The official further said that the police request to convert it into a three-digit number could not be effected since it is a centralised number being used throughout the country.“A policy decision at is needed at top level to convert it into a three digit number,” said Mr V.V. Prasad, divisional engineer of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited .

The divisional engineer also said that the department had not got any request from the police department to give a separate connection for the Cyberabad zone.The Inspector General (CID), Mr S. Umapati, said that the proposal to convert the helpline to a three digit number had been submitted long back.

Students await voter ID cards

March 29th, 2009
By Anubha K. Singh

Hyderabad, March 28: College students disappointed over Election Commission’s apathy. In the forthcoming elections, a lot of students will be destitute of their right to vote as their voter I cards had so far not issued by the Election Commission.

Many students have applied to online registration of voter I cards plus filled up the forms but so far not received the card. Now students are planning to approach to the EC to get their voter cards before the elections.

"With an excitement to vote for the first time and bring a change in the state by voting for the correct person more than 1200 students from my college submitted the forms but unfortunately we have not yet received our voter id card" said, Chandra Mohan, Student from CVR college of Engineering.

"Many of us applied online plus filled up the forms to get a voter id card but so far we have not received our cards. Now we all are planning to complain the Election Commission on this regard so that we can get our id cards before elections. There are more than 1000 students in my college who applied for the voter id cards but unfortunately there names are not even there in the enrolment list " said, Ankita Kumari, Student of Aurora PG College.

"I have been a resident of Hyderabad since many years. I have submitted my details by representatives. My details and photos were taken last 3 months back. I have not yet received my voter id card yet" said, Anil Reddy, student.

It seems getting a voter ID card is not that simple in the city. There are many students who are still doing rounds to get their voter ID cards even after applying more than once, there are many first time voters who are feeling disappointed on election Commissions lethargy.

Hospitals to get fire unit notice

March 12: The fire and emergency department is planning to issue notices to several super-specialty hospitals in the city that are blatantly violating fire safety norms.These hospitals have been functioning happily without obtaining the mandatory no-objection certificate from the department. They also have branches all over the city.

The department had issued alerts to more than 20 such hospitals in city and is now planning to issue them notices asking them to comply with fire safety norms within 30 days.If the hospitals don’t take necessary steps, the department will launch prosecution. As per rules the defaulting hospitals can even be seized.“An opportunity will be given to all hospital authorities to install fire safety measures,” said the additional district fire officer, Mr P. Mohan Reddy.

“If that is not done, we will prosecute them. The Act has enough teeth and we can even seize and close the premises if the instructions are not complied with.”Sources said that the department may even extend the deadline to three months to give ample time to the hospitals to implement safety measures. Rules stipulate that every hospital must have at least three fire extinguishers in its premises and proper emergency exit. But no super-specialty hospital has followed these rules.Fire officials warn that a major disaster would occur if fire breaks out in any of these hospitals.

Thunderstorms may not bring down heat

Hyderabad, March 20: Meteorologists have predicted thunderstorms in the coming days, but the temperature has been soaring in the city and other parts of the state.The average maximum temperature is three degrees above normal during daytime whereas nights are warmer by an average of four degrees in the city.“We have already moved into the summer season and even if temperatures come down, it will only be by a couple of degrees and not more,” said an official of the meteorological centre.

“Now, the days will only get warmer.”Weather has been dry all over the State. On Thursday, the maximum temperatures rose at a few places over Telangana and changed little over coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema.The highest maximum temperature of 40º Celsius was recorded at Anantapur, Hanamakonda and Kurnool. Minimum temperatures rose at one or two places over coastal Andhra Pradesh and changed little over Telangana and Rayalaseema.

Isolated rain or thundershowers likely to occur in Telangana and mainly dry weather is likely to prevail over Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema.“The city and neighbourhood generally will see cloudy skies,” said Mr M. Satya Kumar, director of the Indian Meteorological Department in the city. “There are chances of rain or thunderstorms in some parts of the city too.”

No radiation proof in cellphones: Trai

Hyderabad March 21: The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited launched its personalised ring-back tone services for landline connections on Saturday. This facility will be extended to about 2.65 lakh customers in Hyderabad and Secunderabad on a fixed monthly subscription of Rs 25 and Rs.12 for song selection.As of now this service will be available in six languages—English, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil.

In its first phase, the service will be launched in 12 cities in the state.Customers can get free services if they avail the scheme before April 30.While launching the service, Mr T. N. Sudhindra Kumar, chief general manager of BSNL in Andhra Pradesh, dismissed reports that that mobile signals radiated by cellphone towers affected the health of general public.

“There has been no authentic report so far,” he said. “The radio frequency emissions from mobile phones and base stations are 50,000 times lower than the levels at which the first health affects begin to be established.”He pointed out that mobile handsets radiated only 0.2 to 0.6 watts of power, which was lower than the power radiated by microwave, radio transmitter and TV transmitter.

In an earlier report, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had also declared that there was no conclusive study confirming that health was adversely affected by radiation emitted by mobile phones.“The Kerala, Haryana and Punjab High Courts have also dismissed these allegations,” said Mr Sudhindra Kumar.

BSNL delays IPTV by 6 months

Hyderabad, March 22: The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited’s (BSNL) which delayed the launch of the full-fledged Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) service in the city has now deferred it by another six months.

The IPTV services were to be launched in Hyderabad last year. The delay was because the BSNL was searching for a content partner even as the purchase process for the equipment required for downloading signals and distribution is underway.

IPTV allows users to get television programmes through their broadband Internet connection. Currently, we are receiving television signals in India through cable lines. IPTV will give the user a lot of flexibility than the cable TV. Television viewing can become highly interactive and personalised.

However, the tariff of IPTV subscription from BSNL is likely to be highly competitive to grab a sizeable share in the market and preempt users from subscribing to new players.
BSNL planned to release 3.3 million broad band connections in urban areas and two million-plus connections in the rural areas.