Statues interrupting traffic to be busted

The traffic police who have of late been on an overdrive to streamline the unruly traffic situation in the city seem intent on clearing yet another hurdle to the free flow of traffic - statues of various leaders that stand right in the middle of almost all big and small junctions in the city. And to start with, they have chosen to target the yet-to-be unveiled statue of the late Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy at the busy Punjagutta crossroads.The wisdom and practicability of the choice aside, the police appear to want to make a determined beginning to prevent the city traffic from becoming a casualty to the proliferation of statues. It seems they believe in prevention is better than cure.Sources told Expresso that the traffic police officials will seek permission in writing from higher-ups to remove the statues which hinder the free flow of traffic.The 10-foot statue of Rajasekhara Reddy has been installed at Punjagutta reportedly by a fans’ association without the permission of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and traffic police.Officials say there are hundreds of such statues all over the city.Contacted by Expresso, Punjagutta assistant commissioner of police (Traffic) KM Madhu said he did not know whether permission was given to instal the statue of YSR.“No one from the Congress party or YSR fans approached us for permission to instal it at Punjagutta. It’s been erected at the junction recently and is ready for unveiling,” he said.Quite wary of the possible political backlash, other senior officials too remained tight-lipped on the legality of the statue and the growing opposition among their ranks to its installation at that place.The traffic police, in fact, stopped permitting statues on the roads for one year. It is mandatory to obtain proper permission and No Objection Certificate (NOC) from traffic police to instal any kind of statue or construct temples.Confirming the tough stance of the traffic police towards statue installations, T Subash Goud, son of former minister T Bala Goud, said he was being denied permission to instal his father’s statue at Himayatnagar or Indira Park. “I obtained permission from Chief Minister K Rosaiah and police commissioner AK Khan three months ago to erect a statue of my father but the traffic police are not giving the green signal citing traffic problems,” he said.Of the estimated 500 statues installed at various corners in the twin cities, at least 60 are said to be of former Khairatabad MLA P Janardhan Reddy and almost all of them were unveiled without obtaining permission from the GHMC and traffic police.
Removing roadblocksA whopping 500 statues, most of them unauthorised, play havoc with traffic 

Over 10 percent of them, around 60, are said to be of former MLA P Janardhan Reddy and few of them are permitted either by the GHMC or the traffic police 

A YSR statue ready for unveiling at Punjagutta crossroads has been installed by fans associations but no permission seems to have been sought 

Traffic police decide to take written permission from higher-ups to remove illegal statues    

By Mouli Mareedu
moulimareedu@gmail.com

Corporate schools running unfit buses

Checks by the road transport officials revealed that many corporate schools in the twin cities are plying their school buses without proper documents and fitness certificates. Besides, the buses are also carrying children in excess of the seating capacity violating the Motor Vehicles (MV) Act 1988.“At least 51 buses belonging to well-known corporate schools did not have proper fitness certificates and were seized as part of a special drive. Adherence to norms related to steering system,  brakes, physical appearance and windows were yet to be verified,” B Venkateswarlu, joint commissioner of the RTA, told Expresso.“Narayana, Chaitanya, Gowthami, St. Angels, Leo Royal, Madina and Sri Vidya are among the schools whose buses have been seized. A penalty of Rs 3.5 lakh has been imposed on them,” he said.There are about 3,000 schools in the twin cities - about 2,200 private schools and 800 government institutions. “About 1,000 private school buses are plying and most of them are unfit for transporting schoolchildren. The managements do not maintain them properly,” Venkateswarlu said.Taking a serious note of the violation, the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) has cracked the whip on errant school managements.The drive would be on till month-end, Venkateswarlu said and warned the school managements to comply with the traffic and RTA rules for students’ safety. Fitness certificate must be taken every year from two years after the date of vehicle purchase, he said.Stating that school autos should carry only up to six children, he said school managements should guide the parents in this regard. All school autos should be allowed into school premises to drop and pick up children.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

Crackdown on private buses

Private buses will no longer be allowed to park or halt for passengers at Ameerpet, Punjagutta and in the vicinity of the Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS). In order to avoid traffic snarls, the city traffic police have taken the decision in consultation with private travel agencies at a meeting held recently.“If any private operator violates the rule, the traffic police will seize the buses and documents besides imposing a fine of Rs 5,000. Further, we have restricted the entry of private buses into the city after 8 a.m and before 10 p.m,” Punjagutta assistant commissioner of police (traffic) B Kamalakar Reddy told Expresso.The police crackdown on private buses started a few days ago as scores of vehicles parked on the roads from the Gokul Theatre, Erragadda to NIMS hospital were severely paralysing traffic movement. “The drive will be on till the situation comes under control,” he said.As many as 30 private buses were seized and penalties imposed in the first three days of the drive, he added.“Over 200 private bus services operating from BHEL and Kukatpally to various parts of the state pass through the busy Punjagutta junction every day playing havoc with the traffic. We instructed the travel agencies to stagger their services allowing 50 buses at a time with an interval of 15 minutes,” the ACP said. Meanwhile, caught in the drive, passengers are having to put up with a lot of inconvenience. “Travel agencies should adhere to rules and avoid police action. They collect high fares from passengers but do not take care of them. It’s very difficult to wait for hours sitting idly in a seized bus,” said K Eswara Prasad, a passenger in a private bus who was stranded at Ameerpet as police seized the bus.Simultaneously, the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) officials also cracked down on errant private buses and seized more than five of them at Khairatabad. B Venkateshwarlu, joint commissioner, RTA told Expresso that they seized more than 20 buses as they plied without proper documents and additional seats.

Mouli Mareedu
moulimareedu@gmail.com

Chaotic first day

The re-opening of schools on Monday saw a surge of cars and autos on the roads throwing traffic out of gear at many places in the city. Around 1.30 p.m, traffic came to a standstill from Khairatabad Junction to Shadan College as autos and cars parked near the Nasr School for girls blocked traffic flow.Similar was the situation on the stretch of road from the SR Nagar police station to Umesh Chandra statue with vehicles and students pouring on to the road after school hours. Traffic came to a grinding halt for over two hours.Few school managements followed the advice given to them by the traffic police on ensuring safety of schoolkids and avoiding traffic snarls at a recent meeting with them, Expresso found when it visited various locations in the city.In some streets where promiment corporate colleges are located, only two to three traffic constables were posted to regulate traffic.P Sivannarayana, a traffic cop posted near the Nasr School, told Expresso that things were going out of control as a large number of autos and cars come at the same time to pick up kids. “Further, they park on the roads leading to severe traffic jams,’’ he said.Meanwhile, after a two-month break, children in shining uniforms with heavy bags on their backs were back on the road as a number of schools reopened for the new academic year. Many parents chose to drop and pick up the children themselves on the first day.Quite contrary was the siuation at the government schools with only a few students turning up. Teachers also were not in full attendance as many of them were drafted for the census work. Children returned home early because many schools could not conduct all the classes.On the other hand, the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) cracked the whip on school buses that did not comply with safety standards. The officials seized seven buses of different schools for failing to produce proper documents.B Venkateswarlu, joint commissioner, said they had seized seven buses as they did not have fitness certificates.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

New academic year, same old problems

It’s school time again from Monday and many government primary and high schools are waiting to greet the students and the new academic year with a plethora of problems, shortage of accommodation and teaching staff topping the list.That a number of government schools in the city are in near ruin is well-known and the latest update on this front is that they still remain so, despite promises to the contrary and the fact that the Right to Education will be implemented from the current academic year.Asserting that all the textbooks required by students would be made available at schools when they reopen on Monday, S Jagannatha Reddy, district education officer (DEO), said already 70 per cent of the stocks had been dispatched to school points.As many as 3,037 schools are running in the city. Of them, 802 are government schools.Buildings and other infrastructure would be provided to all schools with funds available under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund, NABARD and Sarva Sikha Abhiyan, he said.“The government had built over 100 rooms for dilapidated school buildings last year. The education department has identified hundreds of decaying schools buildings and decided to build about 350 rooms for primary and high schools this year, the officer said.On the positive side, however, due to incentives like free mid-day meals and textbooks the dropout rate has come down gradually in the primary level. “In order to maintain the progress, bills of the mid-day meal scheme will hereafter be cleared every month and quality of food served to students improved,” the DEO said.“We are taking steps to provide alternative accommodation for students in case they are inconvenienced by rain.In the city, there is no teaching staff shortage and we have instructed all teachers to join duties from Monday,” he said.Jagannatha Reddy asked the officials concerned to closely monitor attendance of students and teachers and ensure that Parent-Teacher Committees in each school functioned effectively. “Issues of dropouts, out-of-school children, quality of education and availability of trained teachers will be addressed in the short to medium term,” he said.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

After the hurrahs, back to the grind

Just a few days after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) X class results, these kids are already looking to hunker down for the swotting that could see them, two years hence, enter the portals of elite engineering or medical colleges.Toppers from Jubilee Hills Public School, Hyderabad, who secured A1 grade between 91 per cent to 100 per cent pass percentage, will all be having a shot at the IITs and such like.A1 ranker N Sumanth Sridhar told Express he had joined FITJEE. He is confident of making it, given the expertise of the faculty and the encouragement of his parents.And Jamily Sravya Keerthi is determined to be among the toppers in the EAMCET medicine stream. She has high praise for her schoolteachers, especially physics teacher, Uma. IIT is the destination of choice for most CBSE toppers.Akhila Varidireddy hopes to make it to IIT-Kharagpur. Especially keen on naval architecture and marine architecture, she is grateful to her parents for not pressuring her in any way and for not imposing their interests on her.Rohini Velaga, who is taking long-term coaching for the medical entrance, says she owes her success to supportive teachers and parents, as also her regular study habits.

By Mouli Mareedu,

moulimareedu@gmail.com