Do politicians have to be actors? Yes, being a politician, one has to be able to act at times, concedes IT Minister K. Taraka Rama Rao.
At a recent function, the much publicised WiFi facility around Hussainsagar Lake was launched where KTR had an interaction through a video link with the Union IT Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, who was in New Delhi. There were not many buttons to push or cords to pull to unveil the project and the television cameramen were not satisfied with the footage that they got. One of the cameramen suggested that KTR handle the laptop on the podium as if launching the WiFi project. The idea amused the young Minister and he smilingly obliged the cameramen while quipping, “Some say, politicians are but actors. Yes, being a politician, one has to act at times!”
Naidu comes back ‘lighter’ post tour
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu apparently became lighter after his close to a week-long China tour.
Admitting this in a lighter vein, he said he checked his weight after his return and was 2 kg lesser. Not because Mr. Naidu did not relish the food but it was less oily and spicy compared to home food. “Not only me, the rest of my delegation too shed weight,” he said. As his wont, Mr. Naidu did not waste a minute after his return on Friday midnight and spent the next day taking stock of various flagship programmes, specifically the Neeru-Chettu programme. Later, in the press conference, giving a detailed account of his impressions about China’s growth story, he said, “In China, the government speaks about completion of projects in terms of days.”
An impromptu lesson
Handling the Hyderabad Metro Rail Project is no easy task and the man at the helm seems to have only turned wiser with experience. Recently, Hyderabad Metro Rail MD N.V.S. Reddy was giving a lecture when he spotted a bunch of college students busy fiddling and talking on their smart phones.
Deciding to reprimand them in an effective manner, Mr. Reddy paused his lecture and sternly addressed the youngsters by talking about the hard work put in by the Indian government in the 1990s to usher in the telecom era.
“Those in the government went with a begging bowl to every country with a request to help improve telecommunication in this country. Please do not misuse cell phones,” he ended. The impromptu lesson won him applause from the audience, including students.
Worrying times for Government doctors
Surprise visits of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to Fever Hospital and subsequent visits of Ministers, including Health Minister Laxma Reddy to Government hospitals, have set tongues wagging among doctors and other healthcare workers. While many welcome the decision of sudden inspections, doctors also have doubts over the ‘real’ intentions of the visit of top politicians to the hospitals. The visit of the Chief Minister to Chest Hospital, Erragadda, and the subsequent decision to shift the hospital, including other health institutions located in the vicinity, has managed to sow seeds of doubt among health care providers in other Government hospitals. With more VIPs visiting the hospital every other day, healthcare professionals worry and fuss whether they too have to face a similar fate, as did their counterparts in the Chest Hospital.
And the INTACH award goes to…
South Central Railway owes the INTACH Heritage Award bagged by its Lallaguda Railway Carriage Workshop last week to one perseverant Scottish gentleman who came exploring his ancestry. Nicholas Graves from Aberdeen visited the workshop in mid-February to learn about his maternal great-grandfather, who worked at the workshop in the early 20{+t}{+h}century.
It was fortuitous for SCR that word of Mr. Graves’ visit prompted historian and INTACH convener P. Anuradha Reddy to make her maiden visit to the workshop. The workshop fascinated Ms. Reddy and the rest they say, is history.
Reporting by T. Lalith Singh, M.L. Melly Maitreyi, Rahul Devulapalli, M. Sai Gopal and Rohit PS
