Media overlooked or plain oversight!
The Secretariat complex that used to be an important landmark will soon be shut down totally with most of the departments having already shifted out to their allotted spaces in the BRKR Bhavan and other government office complexes.
The General Administration Department that undertook quite an exercise to allocate space to Secretariat departments in various government buildings and complexes, strangely has forgotten to mark any place for the media lounge. Media lounge is the place allotted for media persons within the Secretariat complex to file their reports and attend meetings and conferences called at a short notice or meet government officials in the allotted time. This has become a matter of discussion and dismay among journos or one is reading too much into it?
A decision has also been taken to close down the entrance to the Secretariat from Telugu Talli flyover side from September 1 leaving only the new entrance in the vicinity of Mint Compound till the existing complex is pulled down to pave way for the new construction, whenever it happens.
A political compulsion?
Shifting of senior IAS officer M. Dana Kishore from his post as GHMC Commissioner has raised many brows inside and outside the Corporation. Apart from the fact that the orders were issued when he was in New Delhi attending a water conference, his replacement by an officer who is much junior to him has ended up rubbing more salt into the wounds.
The unexpected development has left many guessing the reasons. A few felt it has more to do with performance pressure faced by the government. With no funds coming from anywhere, Strategic Road Development Project (SRDP) works have stopped midway, and double bedroom houses remained undelivered so far. The government needed a whipping boy to deflect the blame, an official opined.
Mr. Dana Kishore, meanwhile, amply vented his anger, by receiving relieving orders soon after he landed from Delhi, at midnight!
Worth emulating!
Former minister and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) legislator from Siddipet T. Harish Rao is known for maintaining regular touch with his constituents in different forms, which in turn helps him ensure better delivery of government services and higher reach of schemes. He finds new and innovative ideas to strengthen the connection. As part of improving performance of students studying in government schools he recently introduced tuition for students at Ibrahimpur in Narayanraopet mandal.
Recently, he gave a call for installing only one Ganesh idol in every village as part of Vinayaka Chavithi festival not only to minimise adverse impact on the environment by reducing the number of idols immersed in water bodies but also to save money spent in different forms, which otherwise is spent on setting up pandals, their decoration, illumination and others. In response, 40 villages in Siddipet Urban, Siddipet Rural, Narayanraopet, Nanganur and Chinnakodur mandals have decided to install only one idol for community celebration of the festival. Isn’t it worth emulating!
Infections have officials on the roll
Hyderabad District Medical and Health office is gripped with hectic activity because of high number of cases of viral fevers, and suspected dengue, malaria. For the past few weeks, officials and staff of the Health Department have been attending office even on Sundays. Majority of patients suffering from viral fevers are being brought to Fever Hospital and other hospitals.
To accommodate all the patients, administration issued orders to hospital staff to check patients, collect samples for diagnosis tests even on Sundays and public holidays. Officials and staff too are doing their part at the government hospitals. On their part the staff and officials see no respite from the hectic activity until the number of cases comes down.
(M.L. Melli Maitreyi, Swathi Vadlamudi, B. Chandrashekhar and K. Shiva Shanker)
