Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad   

Grand reception for Sir Arthur Cotton’s kin

Historic visit: Robert Charles Cotton with his wife.

HYDERABAD: Elaborate arrangements are being made by the government for the eight-day visit to the State later this month of Robert Charles Cotton, great grandson of Sir Arthur Cotton. During his eight-day visit from November 26 to December 3, he will be treated as a State guest.

Rekindling the memories of his great grandfather who gave Andhra Pradesh its first anicuts across the Godavari and the Krishna, converting it into a rice granary, the visit will also take the 84-year-old Robert Charles Cotton and his wife to Visakhapatnam.

Officials stumbled upon records which threw light on the hitherto unknown connections of Sir Arthur with Visakhapatnam, indicating that he had spent a few years on the Dolphin’s Nose atop which he built a church and prepared what was seen as the earliest design for the Visakhapatnam port.

A helicopter is being made available for the use of Mr. Robert Cotton and his wife to go about the places like Dowleswaram where the anicut built by his illustrious ancestor across the Godavari in 1840s stands majestically just a few yards downstream of the modern barrage constructed in his name later, and in Vijayawada, the site of another anicut on the Krishna. In Vijayawada too, a modern barrage has been constructed and named after Prakasam Pathulu, a few feet upstream of the old one.

Major Irrigation Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah told reporters here on Friday that a coordination committee has been formed with former MP Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad as chairman to oversee the arrangements. Dr. Prasad will accompany the couple during their visit. Mr. Lakshmaiah said farmers and others in Godavari and Krishna deltas, where nearly 30 lakh acres of lands today received water from the canals developed by Sir Arthur, were overjoyed by the news of his great grandson’s visit.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Drugs for affordable health care sought
Special trains to clear Sabarimala pilgrim rush
Dec. 31 fixed as deadline to release tuition fee reimbursement
Unqualified teachers in KU Informatics Dept.
SEZ fee waiver: response sought
M.S. Jayanth takes over as GM of SCR
‘State defence in OMC case weak’
Jagan’s debut raises campaign pitch
Grand reception for Sir Arthur Cotton’s kin
It’s curtains on International Children’s Film Festival
Tight security for GHMC polls
Venkaiah Naidu hits out at Congress, TDP
“Brothers, sisters… little brother here!”
Jagan ‘sure of succeeding YSR’
‘41 candidates with criminal background’
Commercial Taxes officials threaten stir
Vote for change, says Jayaprakash Narayan
Ban on candidates’ SMSes from Nov. 21
Balakrishna confident of Telugu Desam victory
For a feel of France
Appeal for fair elections
TDP lodges complaint against Jagan
Candidates not allowed to move in other divisions
Traffic diversions tomorrow
Student held on extortion charge
Case registered against supporters of Nagender
Expert blames corporate sector for increasing obesity
Postal employees stage dharna
TRS chief seeks Palvai’s support

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu