IIT-JEE TOPPER IS A `RANCHO' WITH A TOUCH OF `CHATUR':

IT'S not surprising that IIT-JEE topper A Jithendar Reddy's favourite film is 3 Idiots. He says he is more Rancho than Chatur. He did submit himself to the rigours of preparing for IIT-JEE as Chatur, the industrious one in that film, would have, but at the same time he was more likely to stay away from classes, like Rancho, the prodigal, if the proceedings were a bit dull. At heart, though, the boy from Warangal, Andhra Pradesh, identifies himself with Aamir Khan's character in the film, and wishes to follow in the footsteps of Rancho and become a renowned scientist in electronics and communications engineering (ECE).

To make it to the top in IIT-JEE, Jithendar put in stiff 12-hour days at his training institute topped up with two hours of study at home. Yet he found time to play, watch IPL matches, chat with friends and watch movies. He too had fanciful notions of becoming a cricketer like M S Dhoni or a celebrity like Shahrukh Khan, but in the final stretch to IIT-JEE, he homed in on his real metier: Science and Mathematics. Jithendar is clear what he will do at IIT, opt for ECE. And then, higher studies at Massacussetts Institute of Technology.Later, I will return to India to work for my country," he says. "I want to harness the latest ideas in electronics and communications for the benefit of our people."

Jithendar was always a topper, Chemistry and Math being his favourite subjects. Mum and Dad are proud. Father A Ramachandra Reddy, is a professor at National Institute of Technology in Warangal.Mother Sobha is a government school teacher. "He got the top rank due to his intelligence rather than hard work. We never forced him to take up IIT-JEE. We encouraged him to do what he likes," says `Dad'. 

Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

Now, swine flu alert for city

With the Met Department forecasting a fall in temperature and likelihood of more rain in the coming days, doctors have warned of  possible Swine Flu (H1N1) outbreak in the twin cities as the virus spreads faster during monsoon and winter seasons.“The virus has been mild so far, but it is a well-known fact that it could change its behavior. And if that happens, then the virus could become dangerous. Swine flu can spread rapidly during monsoon and winter months. Therefore, we could see more infections in the coming days due to cool weather conditions,” SV Prasad, superintendent of Andhra Pradesh Government Chest Hospital, told expresso.“Surveillance and screening has to be given high priority and special medical staff and testing centres are being made available at various parts of the twin cities,” he said. He, however, pointed out that there was no need for panic. People need to be more vigilant and take precautionary measures. “It is likely that the virus could spread in a community or in clusters like schools or localities,” he opined.If people living in a community or a cluster exhibit similar illness symptoms, they should be screened for the virus so that in case of any positive signs they could be administered the anti-virus, Tamiflu medicine, in time.“Every season 10 percent of the population is affected with common flu, and if the number in the coming season rises to 25-30 percent then it is a cause of concern. We should have a database of the swine flu patients in the State and also the twin cities to check against any unusual outbreak,” Prasad added.Dr BSV Manjula, superintendent of Fever Hospital, said sufficient staff and stocks of medicines are available to cope up with diseases which commonly erupt during advance rains. “We maintain proper stock of medicines for diarrhoea, normal fever and other communicable diseases,” she added.Over 787 cases were detected in the State and nearly 55 persons died of swine flu H1N1 influenza since its outbreak last year. At least 80,000 doses of vaccination have been released and the entire medical staff of the Chest hospital were vaccinated recently. All government hospitals, including those in the districts, have been given sufficient doses of the vaccine for immunisation of health workers.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

RTC takes a low blow from Laila

Laila has cast a shadow on the cash reigsters of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC). It has not only forced it to withdraw 900 services across the state but also threw a spanner in its attempts to make extra bucks by operating additional buses on Thursday since several marriages were scheduled.With tanks and rivulets overflowing, RTC was forced to cancel several of its rural services, officials said.Prakasam district was particularly badly affected by the heavy rains.Bathini Ravindra, regional manager of APSRTC, told Express that the transport utility suspended 420 bus services out of 630 in the district as more than 16 interior roads were badly damaged. Volvo bus services between Chirala-Chennai were also damaged temporarily.``We instructed the respective depot officials to cancel bus services to cities like Chennai and Hyderabad. We are also refunding ticket fares to passengers who have already reserved tickets to travel to those destinations. Due to heavy rain, the loss to RTC is estimated at Rs 40 lakh in just Prakasam district,’’ he said.A few RTC division officials plan to increase the number of bus services on Thursday as a number of marriages are scheduled to be held in Krishna, Guntur, West and East Godavari districts.A Koteswara Rao, regional manager of RTC Vijayawada, said they had planned to increase services from Vijayawada to other cities on Thursday but the havoc created by Laila forced them to withdraw regular services too.``We suspended as many as 284 bus services temporarily out of our 1,530 services.We also planned to operate more buses as a numbers of marriages have scheduled to be held today in neighboring towns but the cyclone dampened our plans,’’ he added.In Guntur, as many as 65 bus services were suspended which ply to rural localities with roads damaged partially.K V R K Prasad, regional Manager of RTC, Guntur said they suspended bus services from Guntur to Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ongole, Nellore, Kavali due to the rains.Meanwhile, the East Godavari and West Godavari regional managers of RTC told Express that trasportaion in their district was affected badly due to heavy rain. They, however, did not suspend bus services as hundreds of marriages are taking place today.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

Black gown dreams, white shroud reality

They were looking forward to seeing him in a cap and flowing black gown, taking his MBA degree in front of a cheering audience.But their dream has died with the passing of their son, P Vijay Kiran Reddy, in the US recently.Vijay’s elder brother, Jeevan, an IT employee in Atlanta who came visiting to the city just ten days back, told Express that it was at the insistence of their father, Lakshma Reddy, a retired superintendent engineer in the APCPDCL, that Vijay pursued the MBA course even as he worked as a software engineer in Boston.``Vijay’s convocation was scheduled for May 23 and my parents, Lakshma Reddy and Vijayalakshmi, had already booked their tickets,’’ said Jeevan.Then came the shocking news on Saturday morning, conveyed by their daughter, who also lives in Boston, that Vijay had been found dead in his house under mysterious circumstances.Jeevan, however, refused to divulge any details about what those circumstances were.He said he was in the temple town of Tirupati when he learnt of his brother’s death. ``I came to Hyderabad 10 days ago from Atlanta to spend some time with my parents -- to be together with them in dark days, as it turned out,’’ he added.Reminisced a neighbour of the Reddy family who live in Bharat Nagar near Moosapet: ``Vijay Kiran was not just academically inclined.He was sociable too and actively involved in the colony dos. We cannot believe he is no more.’’ Vijay’s uncle, P Venkat Reddy, spoke of his pride in his brother’s three children doing well in the US, and added: ``Vijay was generous by nature and helped many a student in our native Gollapalli village in Yellareddypet mandal of Karimnagar district continue their education.’’ The grief-stricken family is waiting for the body, which is expected to reach Hyderabad on Friday night or Saturday morning.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

Kya hot hai hum

First the bad news and then the good. The intense heat wave scorching the state is likely to continue for a few more days, with temperatures in Telangana and Rayalaseema continuing to rule above 44 degrees C in the days ahead. The good news, according to met officials, is that it’s all building up to a spell of thunder showers.Met director Sudhakar Rao said the state is being roasted by winds blowing in from Vidarbha.‘‘The reason for the high temperature in Hyderabad is the advection of winds from the north and subsidence winds prevailing abnormally.Due to these sudden changes in the atmoshpere, high temperatures will be registered in the twin cities in the next two to three days.’’ Even the met department is surprised by the heat wave in the city. While they had forecast a maximum of 44.5 degree Celsius for Wednesday, the day turned out to be much hotter. MeT officials said it is likely to touch 45 degrees C, the highest in 10 years, this May. The city had recorded a high of 45.5 degree Celsius on June 2, 1966. Sudhakar Rao said the only time the city had crossed the 44 mark in recent times was in May 1999, when it shot to 44.4 degrees C.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

Petrol stations flout safety with impunity

Over 70 percent petrol filling stations in the city do not comply with basic fire safety norms putting at risk lives of hundreds of people, including customers, staff and those who work and live in the surroundings.Alarmingly, this is just a conservative estimate by the Hyderabad district fire officials.More distressing is the fact that the fire department has no power to act against the fuel filling stations which are permitted and regulated by the Union ministry.“Every petrol filling station should have fire extinguishers installed, a 4.3 metre-tall compound wall and boards displaying information on fire safety for customers. Vehicular traffic should not be allowed around the station,” Hyderabad district fire officer P Deendayal told expresso adding that over 70 percent of managements did not adhere to these basic safety norms and regulations.According to officials, there are over 170 petrol filling stations in the city and about 300 if clubbed with Ranga Reddy district.“We can serve a notice asking them to take up the fire safety measures. But we cannot recommend any action if they fail to comply with the orders,” the DFO said.Once the Union ministry issues a permit, the licence can be cancelled only by the Centre.“As we do not have the power to act against them, the managements tend to ignore our notices,” a senior official said.Fire inspectionsMeanwhile, in view of the spate of fire accidents this summer (five occurred in the last couple of days), the fire services department has taken up inspection of buildings in the city for fire safety under the the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Fire Service Act, 2000. In Ranga Reddy district, the fire service officials have decided to make a comprehensive study of fire safety norms in industrial areas.Krishna Kumar, assistant district fire officer, Ranga Reddy told expresso that they would inspect high-rise buildings, godowns, theatres, educational institutions, hospitals, hotels and other business establishments to check whether they are following safety measures.“A three-member team comprising officials from revenue, police and fire department will conduct a special drive and prepare a report on the fire safety measures being followed. The report will be submitted to the district collector for necessary action,” he said.  

FIRE REPORT 2009* 

As many as 25,427 fire accidents were reported in the State.* Of them, 1,686 took place in the city and its surroundings. About 370 were injured while over 673 were rescued.* Over 8,000 occurred in residential complexes and 1,200 in commercial buildings.

By Mouli Mareedu,

moulimareedu@gmail.com

Spurious LPG kits could be bombs ticking in car!

The family of Ch Anantha Ram, an IT employee, was shocked when their car suddenly blew up into flames just as they entered the Khairatabad flyover a few weeks ago.Luckily, all of them survived the blast unhurt.In a similar case at Begumpet earlier, one N Sudarshan suffered mild burns when a taxi exploded.Both the incidents had a common cause: gas leak from fake LPG kits fitted to the vehicles.The explosions not only reduced the vehicles to ashes but even endangered the lives of the riders, though they had a providential escape.It is now no secret that hundreds of cars and auto-rickshaws equipped with fake and unauthorised Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) kits have been plying freely in the city.However, the substandard equipment started to wilt under intense summer heat leading to various mishaps in the last few days.Taking a serious note of such incidents, the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) has decided to take up a special drive to check use of spurious gas kits.Simultaneously, the department will also educate public on safety measures to follow while using LPG-fitted vehicles.Violators of the norms, be it kit vendors or vehicle owners, will be dealt with severely, transport officials said.“We decided to organise awareness camps on gas conversion kits and asked all authorised gas kit dealers in the city also to do the same before selling kits to customers and after fitting them to vehicles,” said B Venkateswarlu, Joint Commissioner of RTA.As per the RTA data, about 40,000 fourwheelers are plying in the city on authorised LPG kits and over 3,000 autorickshaws are using Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).The regional transport officers and inspectors will conduct checks and register cases against violators of LPG use norms.In the case of dealers, their licences will be cancelled.There are about 20 authorised gas conversion kit dealers in the city who sell gas kits for cars and autorickshaws as per the RTA rules and regulations, the official said.According to section 115-C (3) of the Motor Vehicle Act, a number of checks like mass emission test, engine performance test and constant speed fuel consumption test are conducted by a test agency before certifying a conversion kit.The certification has to be renewed after three years.According to officials, many prefer to go for unauthorised gas kits as they come cheap at Rs 7,000 to 9,000 as against the certified kits that cost not less then Rs 15,000, including RTA registration expenses.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

‘Dry dhabas ’ drive away custom

Dhabas on the city outskirts wear a deserted look these days, quite uncharacteristic in summer when they are usually flocked by youngsters and families alike for a relaxed evening aimed at pampering their taste buds with some variety dishes and, of course, a liberal flow of their choice spirits. These places, though, were never supposed to serve liquor, they had been doing it on the sly for years.What brought the sudden change of scenario is the police crackdown on these joints, about 40-odd at Bowenpally, with a strict warning that they should not serve liquor to their guests.The orders sounded almost death-knell to the businesses.Most of these dhabas on either side along the National Highway 7, on the stretch from Bowenpally to Kompally, sport either a family restaurant kind of look or a rustic setting just to justify their existence as truck stops offering various eateries.Till a few days ago when they were serving liquor, these dhabas were the best venues for party animals looking at celebrations that do not burn a hole in their pockets as the prices here are obviously much lower than the swanky bars and restaurants in the city.With the dhabas made a strict no-liquor zone, they present a totally different picture now. A midnight visit to a few of these joints revealed that they indeed stopped serving any alcoholic beverages, be it beer, vodka or whiskey.“We stopped serving liquor inside the dhaba as police asked us not to allow consumption of alcoholic products by customers. Summer is a good season for us to make some money on sale of liquor. With police issuing a stern warning, customers too are looking the other way,” said Rama Chander, manager of Sony International Family Dhaba at Bowenpally.Sekhar Babu, administrator of Akruthi Dhaba at Kompally, said they had to remove half of the staff due to bad business this summer. “Around this time last year, we had about 400 guests walking in every day but now there are not even a few dozen.” Bowenpally Inspector C Venugopal Reddy told Expresso that they had issued notices to all dhaba managements in the Bowenpally locality not to sell or serve liquor inside the premises as per the Excise and Prohibition Act.“We will take stern action against violators. Our teams are keeping an eye. A couple of days back, we arrested 11 persons for consuming liquor in front of wine shops,” he said.

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com

Hyderabad: Security buzz at hospitals

Waking up to the security needs after the kidnap of a six-day infant from a private hospital at Chaderghat recently, city hospitals are strengthening the security apparatus to avoid such incidents.Both government and private hospitals are planning to enhance the security on their premises while a few of them are even considering installing surveillance cameras.Dr Zaibunnisa’s Imtiyaz Hospital at New Malakpet, from where the infant was kidnapped, has decided to go for Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras to monitor the movement of visitors.Hospital manager Amer Akbar told Expresso that they will soon be having five woman and seven male security personnel guarding the patients and premises. “The kidnap was an unfortunate incident but it ended on a happy note. To prevent such incidents in future, we have decided to hire private security personnel and instal CCTVs at strategic points in the hospital,” he said.Meanwhile, the government hospitals, including the Niloufer and maternity hospital, have increased the head count of their security staff. This correspondent, when he tried to visit a few wards in these hospitals, was promptly stopped by the security guards. Visitors were being allowed only to the out-patient (OP) wards.“After the kidnap at the Imtiyaz hospital, we have instructed all the security personnel to keep a strict vigil on the visitors and maintain a register to record details of visitors, attendants and relatives of patients visiting the hospital. Besides, there is a police outpost at the hospital. If necessary, we will also instal CCTVs to track the visitors,” Niloufer hospital Resident Medical Officer (RMO) Usha Rani said. The Government Maternity Hospital, Nayapul also has tight security in place and visitors are not being allowed into maternity and other emergency wards. “We issue entry passes to visitors and patient relatives. Our security staff will permit only the pass-holders to go inside the maternity ward, intensive care and emergency care units,” said Dr Hymavathi, RMO.At the Gandhi general hospital, however, things are very different. In the absence of any security, theft of personal belongings of patients and attendants is quite common there. When approached, the hospital authorities were reluctant to speak on the security arrangements.The hospital caters not only to the needs of the city folk but also to patients from surrounding districts.Meanwhile, Hyderabad District Medical and Health Officer Dr Jayakumari said they have asked the managements of all hospitals, private and government, to take precautionary measures to prevent any untoward incidents. 

Family disputes behind infant's abduction? 

Even as the Chaderghat police are still in the dark about the motive behind the kidnap of an infant on Monday, they do not rule out family disputes being the reason for the abduction.The six-day-old baby, kidnapped by two women from Dr. Zaibunnisa's Imtiyaz Hospital at Chaderghat, was found abandoned, in a bag, at Madhapur on Tuesday.Police suspect that the differences between the infant’s mother, who came back to the city from Saudi Arabia, and her in-laws could have led to the kidnap. Special teams are on a hunt for the two accused.

Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com