So far, the police officers trying to implement the helmet rule offered flowers and gifts to bike riders to encourage the use of headgear. Now, some officers are directly offering helmets to the public, explaining them the need to use helmets for safety.
Joint Commissioner of Police B.V. Ramana Kumar and Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) T.V. Nagaraju, during a special drive, even gave money to some people who claimed it as an excuse for not buying a helmet. Interestingly, some honest guys came back in the evening with a helmet, and returned the money.
Ignorance helps, these schoolgirls believe
Teenage is the most difficult phase to resist temptations that abound in this technology-driven era. Social media networking sites and cell phones are big baits that are landing many innocent girls in serious trouble. Cautioning students against falling prey to it, at a girls’ high school in Vijayawada, Joint Commissioner of Police B.V. Ramana Kumar advised them to keep cell phones at bay. He asked the students (from 7th to 10th classes) who owned a cell phone to raise a hand. Not a single hand was raised. Pleasantly surprised, he then asked how many of them knew how to use a cell phone. None in the crowd seemingly knew. The JCP in disbelief then asked if any of them would use a cell phone after passing out of school. The girls vigorously turned their heads side to side. Sensing that the girls were trying to find an ‘easy way out’ to avoid embarrassment, the police officer pleaded with them to ‘speak the truth’ with a promise that he would not bombard them with a ‘sermon’!
GST: traders, taxmen not on the same page
Just over 100 days after the Goods and Services Tax (GST) kicked in, businessmen are refusing to buy the Prime Minister’s argument that it is a ‘good and simple tax’ saying the processes have become more cumbersome and there are multiple taxes to grapple with under the new indirect tax regime. In a maritime logistics summit held in the city a couple of days ago, Anil Yendluri, Krishnapatnam Port Company Limited CEO, said the GST was neither simple nor good as, for instance, service tax returns needed to be filed only twice a year but now it has been made a monthly affair.Customs Commissioner K. Sudha had a different take on this. She told the gathering that the monthly returns were intended to obtain data real time and pass on the benefits envisaged under the GST system without any delays, which, she suggested, was the hallmark of the previous dispensation.
When cafe ‘stages’
a launch
A Bistro & Cafe has been recently ‘launched’ at Bharathi Nagar in Vijayawada. A Minister, in the presence of local MLA, corporator, owners and a huge gathering of media personnel opened the eatery. However, confusion came in when the fact that the eatery has been running for years was raised and a majority of the gathering, including the ones who inaugurated it, seemed unaware of the fact. The media interaction went off successfully with the speakers expressing happiness over the ‘arrival’ of the eatery and congratulating the owners. The actual development was that the eatery once run by a franchise holder is now directly taken up by the brand. Not even the owners spoke about ownership change and pulled it off as a new venture. However, for foodies, nothing changes including the quality.
Rajulapudi Srinivas, P. Sujatha Varma, V. Raghavendra and Tharun Boda
