The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Visakhapatnam News : Windfall for idol makers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 29, 2006

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

Windfall for idol makers

For devotees in the city Lord Vinayaka appears to be the favourite god. Several parts of the city had temples for the God of Obstacles. Still, pandals have come up in almost all the localities of the city. People thronged the pandals though the weather was inclement.

The earlier practice followed by old timers was visiting nine idols at others' houses. This is a custom, which combines religion with a social objective. Such visits build good relationship. But the practice slowly appears to be fading away. Now people prefer to visit the pandals because the organisers try to outdo one another. Idol-makers have never had it so good!

With Railway Minister Lulu Prasad's proposed visit to the city, the protagonists of a separate railway zone with Waltair as headquarters or merger of the division with the South Central Railway are in upbeat mood.

After waiting for several months and put to inconvenience due to slash in berth quota for Vizag and lack of attention to improvement in amenities, the supporters of merger/separate zone now want to impress upon Mr. Lalu. The merger/separate zone brigade mostly comprising senior citizens, also enjoys the support of senior MP N. Janardhan Reddy and Visakha-I MLA Dronamraju Srinivasa Rao.

Let's see whether Mr. Lalu responds positively to the demand or will choose to evade a direct response - the way his bete noire Ramvilas Paswan did when he visited the city as Railway Minister during NDA regime.

The Union Minister of State for Mines T. Subbirami Reddy was in his elements on Monday when he had come to lay the foundation stone for the new block at the Visakha Government Degree College for Women here on Monday. Motivated by the numerous cheering young women around him, the Minister not only sanctioned an additional Rs.40 lakhs from his MPLADS but he also found it difficult to conceal his blushes when the students literally gheraoed him for autographs.

At times he was seen striking a pose like a film star and asking the students, "Do you know who I am?" And each time he turned crimson when they screamed his name.

Dr. Reddy also asked if they have attained the voting age and in the course of his speech later promoted his party by saying, "Cast your valuable franchise in favour of people who help you not for the ones who sleep in their house."

Well, Dr. Reddy seems to go by the dictum, `Catch em' young'.

The assault on Dr. Bangaraiah, Casualty Medical Officer of the King George Hospital last week needs to be condemned but it has once again exposed the fact that all is not well in the KGH.

An enquiry, ordered by District Collector A.K. Singhal following the attack, revealed that contrary to the claims of the doctors, the CT scan was very much functioning before the attack. The patient was asked to get a CT scan at a private hospital which had resulted in `unnecessary' delay in the treatment and subsequent death of the patient.

Irate relatives of the patient, who were vexed with the `callous' attitude of the staff, lost their cool and vented their anger on the CMO.

A harmonious relationship can be ensured only when unholy nexus between private medical labs and Government hospitals is broken.

G.V. Prasada Sarma, Santosh Patnaik, Sumit Bhattacharjee and B. Madhu Gopal

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