Andhra Pradesh   

Sportive spirit

When Krishna District Handball Association secretary Satyanarayana finished his speech at the inauguration of the 33rd AP State women sports festival with a flourish by pointing out that many universities have allotted 10 grace marks for sportspersons and the Indian railways is offering jobs to talented sportspersons, little did he realise that he will face a rebuff from district in-charge Collector S. Suresh Kumar, the chief guest of the function.

The forward-looking official exhorted the players not to look for ‘short term’ gains while playing a game. He asked them to become a P.T. Usha or a Shiny Wilson and represent India in the Olympics. The affable Satyanarayana took the embarrassment in a sportive manner with a grin.

Drivers of the vehicles used in the sanitation wing of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) expected a solution to their long-pending problem of frequent breakdown of vehicles when they poured out their woes in front of their departmental head. The official, instead, suggested to them to take a cue from Lord Surya (Sun), who, he reminded them, rises every morning despite many hurdles.

The officer reminded them that the Sun travels on a chariot, which has only one wheel and is driven by a charioteer devoid of legs. Pat came the repartee from the drivers: “Don’t equate us with god. None would come forward to push a sanitation vehicle if it breaks down in the middle of the road.” Well, it certainly requires more than the quoting of a few examples from mythology to attend to serious problems in the sanitation wing of the VMC.

Cricket, more than any other, seems to hold fascination for people of all categories. Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency (ZPTC) members of panchayat raj system are no exception to this.

Many of them were seen watching the cricket match being played by two local teams at the Andhra Loyola College grounds, rather than get totally immersed in their regional meeting organised at Executive Club on the weekend.

Occupying seats in a balcony adjacent to the conference hall, the members had a feast of the batting skills and fielding prowess of young cricketers.

Some members, of course, took some time off now and then to check about the progress of the conference held to discuss about the future programme of their fight for powers and responsibilities.

Watching cricket really offered some solace to the hearts, which were starved of political power.

What inspired the Guntur graduate-trio to take to chain snatching while they were having settled jobs was no new story – it was the lure of the easy money and addiction to vices.

But what took the mediapersons by surprise were caustic aspersions on electronic and print media for spoiling them and luring them into this profession of chain snatching.

“The graphic details of various crimes shown on almost all TV channels – re-enacted by models inspired us to take to these ways and if we are here in the police station, it is only because of the media,” said Nagool Meera, one of the accused. “All those programmes spoil youth like us,” were the words coming from them.

If one expected a reasonable amount of debate on pressing civic issues at the stakeholders’ meet held by the Guntur Municipal Corporation, they would be a tad disappointed. First, the supposedly interactive meet began with a power-point presentation on a study of storm water drainage, sewerage and sanitation by a Lucknow-based consultant.

That was enough for the Opposition to raise a hue and cry. The TDP corporators stalled the proceedings saying they had not been informed of the presentation. Just when matters were settling down, a piqued representative from an NGO stood up and expressed his displeasure at not having been given a copy of the project report.

He was not alone and his plight was shared by many in the gathering. With both the Mayor and Commissioner not in attendance, it was left to the deputy commissioner to handle the situation.

J R Shridharan, G. V. R. Subba Rao and G. Ravikiran in Vijayawada and Ramesh Susarla and

P. Samuel Jonathan in Guntur

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