Andhra Pradesh

Bitter experience

The visit to Pinnamaneni Siddhartha Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Foundation at China Avutapalli near the city turned out to be a bitter experience for a large number of reporters and photographers who were invited there to report the inauguration of telemedicine facility by former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam last week.

Even though names of reporters and photographers from each media organisation were taken by the officials of the Information and Public Relations Department well in advance, the Vijayawada Police refused to issue any passes on the grounds that the programme is a ‘purely private’ one. When a battery of mediapersons finally landed on the campus, they were surprised to see the grossly inadequate seating arrangements made at the venue.

A good number of them had to stand through the proceedings and jot down the points from the former President’s speech. Lensmen were shooed away from the vantage point they had chosen to take good pictures, and it needed considerable patience on their part to complete the job.

Mayor Mallika Begum had to be reminded of her duties by a corporator at the general body meeting of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) the other day, when she forgot to introduce to the meeting some of the officials who took charge recently.

Halfway through the proceedings, CPI floor leader P. Gowtham Reddy asked the Chair how he could see some new faces in the officials’ gallery. “Neither they have paid a courtesy call on us, nor you’ve introduced them to us,” he said, rather jocularly.

Quickly correcting herself, Ms. Begum asked Assistant Medical Officer of Health Sridevi, Urban Community Development Project Officer Shyamala and others to introduce themselves to the general body.

How many of us know that several countries observed the World Health Day, which falls on April 7, as ‘No Honking Day’ on Monday? The aim of this day was to create awareness among vehicle users and people at large about noise pollution that affects their health.

But, quite surprisingly, the Vijayawada Police seemed blissfully ignorant of the observance of the special day, as no effort was made by them to tell people about the debilitating impact that excessive noise levels can have on their health. There was not a single meeting and no poster was stuck anywhere to drive home the message. What’s more, several police vehicles moved on the roads honking their sirens rather frenzily while chasing owners of vehicles that were parked in ‘No Parking’ zones.

When political leaders try to defend something, they come out with stronger, bolder and surprising arguments that defy logic. After Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s son Jaganmohan Reddy launched his own news daily in Telugu, sections of the Congress leaders have started celebrating it in the expectation of better opportunities for his image makeover.

At a press conference he addressed the other day, Kankipadu MLA Devineni Rajasekhar did not hesitate to say that like all other political parties that had “their own newspapers, the Congress also has one at last.” When pointedly asked whether the daily is the official mouthpiece of the Congress, Mr. Rajasekhar retorted saying: “It belongs to Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy but it will not distort news.” To another question, Mr. Rajasekhar said though several newspapers are already there supporting the Congress, this new newspaper is “the only one supporting them locally.”

(K. Srimali, G.V.R. Subba Rao, J.R. Shridharan and G. Ravikiran in Vijayawada)