The visit of a three-member inter-Ministerial central team during last week has brought to the fore the persistent problem of recurring drought in Prakasam district formed by bringing together the most backward parts of Kurnool, Guntur and Nellore districts. All the mandals, except for Ulavapadu and Yaddanapudi, have witnessed severe drought on a scale never witnessed in the last 45 years with 47 per cent deficit rainfall, pushing down further the groundwater table from 10.02 metre last year to 12.93 metre this year. The drought was very severe in the western parts of the district, which were part of erstwhile Rayalaseema, underscoring the need for drought-proofing of the district with a special development package and completing early the Veligonda irrigation project to bring the water from Krishna river from the foreshore of the Srisailam reservoir, to address the serious problem of high fluoride content in water.
Of hitting the bull's eye & ‘strumming’ in air
Two residents of Vijayawada have made it to the records with their remarkable feats and hit the headlines. Three-year-old Dolly Shivani Cherukuri and 32-year-old musician Raghu Malleti left everyone surprised and hogged the limelight by making it to the record books. The little Shivani entered the India Book of Records by punching 388 points in the recurve segment in two distances - seven and five metres - at the Volga Archery Academy. Shivani, the sister of late Indian archery coach Cherukuri Lenin, in the presence of the jury from the India Book of Records and the Archery Association of India (AAI), was in her elements as she went ahead, releasing 72 (36 each) arrows at the target. A day after, music teacher Raghu Malleti, turned upside down and sang songs for 40 minutes playing guitar to create a mark in the category. The pursuit was risky as it involved hanging in midair. The present record is held by a DJ for playing guitar by hanging upside down and Raghu is happy that he broke the record successfully He is in contact with Limca Book of Records and Guinness Book of World Record after sharing the videos and other technical details of his feat.
(With inputs from S.Murali and S. Sandeep Kumar)
