Major Developments in Hyderabad – November 2012

The month of November was peaceful except for some communal clashes in the Old City which affected the normal life of people. Later, the occasions of Diwali and Muharram made the situation normal. Some of the major developments in the month of November include the official launch of the ambitious Metro rail project, announcement of schedules for Intermediate and SSC public exams, and the state government’s decision not to permit any more private Engineering colleges in the city.

Here is the list of detailed developments in the city

General

• In the first two weeks of the month, the city experienced a spell of severe cold with the minimum temperatures suddenly falling down by 6.5 Degree Celsius from the normal temperature. However, the temperature came back to normal by the end of the month.

• The city observed two festivals in this month – one was Diwali, the festival of lights, celebrated with great pomp and joy in all parts of the city. The second was Yaum-e-Ashura, the tenth day of Muharram, during which the annual procession was taken out on a caparisoned elephant, with the traditional Bibi-ka-Alam, which passed off peacefully.

• The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has received ‘Janaagraha G2C’ for offering best online services to the citizens. It stood first among all the civic bodies in the country. It was awarded best for providing online services like grievance readressal, issue of birth and death certificates online, online payments, trade licenses, and for providing information to the citizens.

• Hyderabad along with Varanasi and Ajmer-Pushkar has been selected for the Inclusive Heritage-Based city development programme on a pilot basis. The project was supported by World Bank, UNESCO, and City Alliance. The main goal of this project is to restore the past glory of the heritage structures in the city and to protect them from decaying and encroachments. Under the National River Conservation programme 17 km of Musi river will also be developed.

• The communally sensitive area of Old City once again boiled with clashes between two communities – Hindu and Muslim. The reason was the Bhagyalaxmi temple, adjacent to Charminar on which AP state High court had ordered that no construction activity be taken up at the site. The temple authorities erected a canopy over the temple structure violating the court orders. This made locals and MIM leaders protest against the illegal expansion. As a result violence broke out. However, by the end of the month the situation became normal.

• The Telugu film industry, second largest in India in terms of number of films produced, didn’t have a single good film to be screened at the 43rd International Film Festival of India, 2012 hosted in Goa.

Road, transport and pollution

• According to the latest survey conducted by AP Pollution Control Board (APPCB), Hyderabad is highly air polluted city this year. The permissible levels of air borne particles or RSPM is -60ug/m3. The highest level of -133ug/m3 is recorded at Punjagutta and at Charminar it is 126ug/m3. Only at Rajendranagar and University of Hyderabad the levels are normal.

• A new vent (two lanes) has been proposed at the rail-under bridge (RUB) at the Malakpet-Dilsukhnagar stretch to ease the traffic congestion. On completion of this vent it would become a six-lane stretch. Along with the vent, officials are planning to expand road on either sides of the bridge. It is combined venture by Hyderabad Metro Rail, South Central Railway, and GHMC.

• In a move to increase the women occupancy ratio in APSRTC city buses, the officials have decided to impose a fine of Rs.500, on men who occupy seats reserved for women. 40% of the seats are reserved for women in the city services, whereas 30% are reserved in rural services.

• The rates of prepaid auto service, currently available at Secunderabad station has been revised by the special committee appointed by the government and they would come into effect from 1 Dec’12. Officials also announced that the service would be soon made available at Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station, Kachiguda and Nampally railway stations.

• According to the AP pollution control board there was a steep hike in the noise levels on the day of Diwali. The festival of lights left the city with high noise pollution, 1,600 metric tonnes of trash and 50 families with burns and injuries.

• The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport has received Level-2 accreditation from the Airport Council International (ACI), for its efforts in managing and reducing carbon emissions.

• From 30 Nov’12, fuel outlets in the city started denying the supply of the compressed natural gas (CNG) for cars/vehicles without the required CNG compliance plates (CCP). The Bhagyanagar Gas Ltd (BGL), has chosen Sree Vidhya Gas, Ferozguda, Bowenpally as the authorised center to affix CCP.

• The Producers’ Council of the Film Chamber unanimously decided to stop publicising films using hoardings and vinyls. Considering the facts that these hoardings are leading to accidents, the chamber decided to put a full stop for such publicity which came into effect from 1 Nov’12.

Metro Rail Project

• The Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) project has been officially launched by the AP chief minister. According to the L&T officials HMR will be the first in India to run with fully automated communication based train control system which helps improve passenger safety and frequency of trains.

• One more interesting announcement by HMR officials is that they are planning to provide free bicycles at all the metro rail stations for the commuters to travel to nearby destinations. However, only those who have a valid metro rail pass are eligible for free bicycle.

• To make the metro rail project financially viable L&T is planning to develop real estate along the 72 km metro rail corridors. They are planning to construct shopping malls, multiplexes, office spaces, retail chains spread over 18.5 million sft. In the next 6 years it is planning to develop 6 million sft along rail routes in the depots at Nagole, Miyapur and Falaknuma.

Education

• The schedule for Intermediate and SSC public exams for the academic year 2013 has been announced. The Intermediate theory first year exams will be held from March 6 to 22, second year from March 7 to 23 and SSC exams from March 22 to April 9. Inter practicals will be held from February 6 to 25. The timings will be from 9 am to 12 noon for Intermediate and for SSC – 9.30 am to 12.30 pm . This year 9,83,418 students have registered for Inter first year, for second year it is 9,94,001 students, and 12.64 lakh students for SSC exams.

• After observing the mushrooming growth of state based private engineering colleges, a few of which were left with near zero admissions after the final counseling of EAMCET admissions, the state government has decided not to permit new private engineering colleges. The cabinet decided to impose a ceiling on the number of seats in BE/B.Tech, MBA/MCA courses and also decided not to allow new shifts in the existing colleges.

• The Department of School Education has decided to introduce Telugu as a compulsory subject up to Intermediate level in all the schools and Jr colleges including Kendriya Vidyalayas, irrespective of their medium of instruction. The officials are also considering introducing Telugu culture and art as subjects. Also students who take Sanskrit as their second language should write the exam only in Devanagari lipi (Sanskrit script).

• In order to encourage the overall development of children, the city based CBSE schools have adopted a new policy – Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE), in which up to 15% of marks will be kept aside for physical education for the final grades of students. Of the 36 CBSE schools in the city, 20 schools are already following this policy and the rest are planning to adopt it from the next academic year.

• Despite HMDA’s plea to all the engineering colleges in the city limits to get their land use changed appropriately and to regularise their college buildings after paying penalties, as many as 80 colleges have not submitted their applications. After repeated notices and serious warnings, HMDA has written to authorities like AICTE, JNTU, social welfare groups to derecognise the colleges, to cancel their affiliation, and to stop all the concessions and benefits to these institutions.

Health

• The Hyderabadi lifestyle with late night parties, dinners, and high stress levels has now turned to be a threat to the citizens. According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), one out of six people above 25 years in the city are suffering from diabetes. Further one out of every three is likely to develop in next 5-10 years. According to them the citizens are lacking diabetes awareness and following very poor lifestyles. Their dietary habits have drastically changed in the past few years, which replaced the traditional food with high-carb, low fibre foods.

• Another study done by National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), found that 17% of adults in Hyderabad are obese, the highest among all the other metros in India. 15% of school children found to be obese due to consumption of junk food and sedentary schooling. They also find that 85% of such kids are likely to become obese men or women. Patients with obesity possess high risk of getting diabetes, high blood pressure, heart problems, osteoarthritis, colon cancer, sleep disorders, etc.

• Around 2,000 water samples collected by the department of water and Waste Water Analysis from various parts of Hyderabad showed that drinking water was supplied to some areas in the city with out the addition of chlorine. These areas include Shaikpet, Bazarghat crossroad, Nampally, Jiyaguda, Goshamahal, OU campus, Saidabad, Uppal, Adarshnagar.

Real Estate

• The Andhra Pradesh Housing Board (APHB) has decided to restart the auction of plots in the city after a break of four years. The first phase of auction took place in November where the board auctioned plots in Kukatpally housing board colony phases 4,6,9, and 15. They are planning to implement next auction soon.
• According to National Housing Bank (NHB), housing prices in Hyderabad declined (-1.3 %) during the period of July-September along with the 11 other major cities like Bangalore, Kolkatta, Indore, Surat and so on. On the other hand prices in nine other places like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, etc., increased by up to 10%.

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