VIZAG matters - Sohan Hatangadi's Blog

For God’s sake! TOI 17 July 2016 It’s coming! It’s coming! The festive season is coming! It is the time when a wave of religious fervour sweeps over the population of our fair city. Devotees gather at temples, parks, beaches, community halls, in front of their apartments and at street corners to celebrate festivals such as Guru Powrnima, Mangala Gowri Vratam, Varalakshmi Vratam, Jandyala Powrnami, Sri Krishna Jayanthi, Vinayaka chaturdhi, Durga Puja, Diwali, Kartika masam, Nagula chavithi and so on. These festivals are a time for rejoicing, socialising, shopping (what would the retailer do if there were no festivals?) and communing with God. Over the years these festivals have grown from small family and community activities to huge public spectacles involving lakhs and lakhs of devotees. And due to our constant need to communicate with the divine and solicit His blessings, the numbers joining the festivities is growing exponentially every year. How is this explosion of faith...

Karthik Masam is here.   Starting at the end of October and stretching for a month. Hordes of picnickers will descend on Vizag's best green spaces and dump heaps of garbage everywhere. They think it is a spiritual communion with nature! Last year I made and circulated these flyers and posters. I will be doing it this year too. My tiny little bit to make my city clean. If you want to help, get vocal, protest if you see picnickers littering. Let them know you are unhappy. Keeping quiet wont help. Please pass this on to friends. More later, Sohan

Hi, Saw this news report in the Hindu on 20th April and thought to myself -  we are in deep trouble . The "development" brigade is marching again , Vizag is already over populated, over industrialized, over polluted, over loaded with traffic and over exploited. Vizag is bursting at its seems and in a constant state of chaos. There are no pavements that a pedestrian can use. All over the city small, school going children, scurry across the roads between traffic. Our beaches - one of the few recreational spots we have - is packed to capacity.  There is complete absence of public sanitation facility. Thousands urinate and defecate in the open everywhere. Look outside your window now and you will spot a a few on the job. Every gedda is choked with plastic waste. Our sewage system, serves only 30% of the population and that is already overloaded. Garbage overflows from municipal dustbins.  None of our pristine hills ...

--> "Erra matti dibbalu” Red Sand Dunes, Bhimunipatnam Tourism - at what cost? Sohan Hatangadi Date: March 13, 2009 There have been reports that Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) plans to put up a tourist facilit y at "Erra matti dibbalu" (“Red Sand Hills”) near Bhimunipatnam. The reports have caused concern among certain sections of the public as well as those from the scientific community. This site is the last remaining area having the unique red sand dune formations which are such a rarity. It is felt that establishing a tourism facility there will deeply impact the pristine nature of the area and seal the fate of this fragile ecological wonder. Where are the "Erra matti dibbalu “and what is unique about them? On the Bay of Bengal coast, to the south of the Bhimunipatnam ridge, is an area comprising deeply gullied red sand dunes of around 4 km length and 2 km width. It is bounded by streams “Chittigadda” in...