The Hindu : CM's monumental shoot

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 03, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad

CM's monumental shoot

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD May 2. A strange spectacle of the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, being given a dab of rouge by a make-up man greeted denizens of the Old City early on Friday morning. The Chief Minister, minus the normally large entourage, walking past the historic Charminar and speaking into the cameras took early risers in their somnambulant stage by surprise. They watched rubbing their eyes in disbelief as he mouthed some more sound bytes. Mr. Naidu and film shooting?

However, it turned out to be a shoot for an English national news channel against the backdrop of the hoary Charminar. Even as the denizens could recover from this `surprise visit', the Chief Minister was back to his usual self, carrying out a surprise inspection of the civic amenities in the surrounding areas.

He walked into the labyrinthian lanes of Lad Bazar and Sardar Mahal to see for himself the civic amenities there and also the progress of the Charminar Pedestrianisation Project. He instructed officials to expedite works on creating a buffer zone around the 400-year old sentinel.

He wanted the officials to speed up the road-widening programme in the area, particularly on the stretches leading to the monument.

"We need at least 50 feet here and let the businessmen, who will be affected by the road widening, be provided alternative locations. We can provide alternative shopping complexes to them,'' he said.

He wanted them to study the feasibility of setting up an underground shopping complex in the area, introduction of night shopping and declaring the area a pollution-free one. He asked the Archaeology authorities to clean up the structure without harming the original architecture.

The Superintendent, Archaeological Society of India, informed him that the acid wash of the Charminar would be completed soon.

The MCH Commissioner, Chitra Ramachandran, the Director, Tourism, G. Kishan Rao, were also present.

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