Welcoming Global Warming
Even as citizens in Hyderabad are stocking themselves with herbal swine flu kits and face masks, there appears to be some good news at last. Healthcare experts and government hospital doctors are saying that fewer deaths have been reported in the last few days. The rise in temperatures is key to curbing the spread of the virus, say doctors and pharma specialists. In the last couple of days, Hyderabad has become hot once again. The maximum temperature recorded recently rose to 35 degrees while the minimum was 17 degrees. While this is uncomfortable, signalling the onset of an early summer, doctors who have been treating hordes of swine flu patients and those showing similar symptoms, are heaving a sigh of relief. The official swine flu death toll in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana stands at 51. However, as a preventive measure, citizens are being asked to use masks, sanitizers, wash hands frequently and avoid shaking hands. Also, trips to crowded places ought to be avoided as far as possible, people are being told.
Is the TRS Joining the Narendra Modi Government Or Not?
That is the question on everybody's lips these days. There have been loud whispers that Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is keen to join the Modi Cabinet so that his daughter K Kavitha, Nizamabad MP, gets a ministerial berth. In return, the TRS might offer State BJP leaders some berth in the T Cabinet. KCR's son K T Rama Rao and Kavitha have been tight-lipped on the matter. Telangana Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy has denied reports that the TRS would join the NDA government. "There have been no such talks on the matter," he says. The Minister went on to add that his party would strive to have cordial relations with any government that is at the Centre. "We need funds for several projects and need the Centre's assistance for the same," he says. Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya too ruled out such a possibility. The ideologies of BJP and TRS are different. This is mere speculation," he clarified.
Bonhomie in Mumbai
KCR celebrated his 61st birthday on February 17 and the CM was visiting Mumbai on that day. During a meeting with his Maharashtra counterpart Devendra Fadnavis, KCR assured the latter that the Pranahita-Chevella lift irrigation project would be redesigned to minimize submergence of villages in Maharashtra. Fadnavis expressed concern that 740 hectares of land in his State including Gadbirowli and Chandrapur faced the threat of submergence in the Pranahita-Chevella project. KCR promptly responded that he would explore an alternative design. "This project was designed by the previous regime in united Andhra Pradesh and it is defective. We will explore an alternative route," KCR assured Fadnavis. They also discussed the Lendi project and agreed to share 6tmc ft of Godavari waters which will benefit farmers of both states. The two CMs agreed to build barrages near Pajapet, Rubha, Pepard on the Penganga project. Many are wondering if KCR will display the same of bonhomie in the ongoing water disputes with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.