VIZAG matters - Sohan Hatangadi's Blog

Lambasinghi from pristine to lawless This is a case study on how a beautiful, innocent, village can be ruined by dumb tourism and an administration that has no imagination. So much could have been done here but ... # ITDA   # PO   # COLLECTOR   # APTDC

By what I saw, when snarled in traffic for 2 hours on 31st night, there could be at least a lakh, drunken revelers, on bikes and cars on 31st night and early hours of 1st Jan. It is surprising therefore that only 287 were booked. Perhaps our wonderful men in uniform were lenient that night in the spirit of New Year. But if they booked, say 25,000 and penalized each Rs. 1,000/- they would have collected revenue of rupees 2.5 Crores! Even if there was an administrative expense of say Rs. 25 lakh for the deployment of manpower and the penalizing machinery we would still have a surplus of Rs. 2 crores. Perhaps we should consider outsourcing this activity next year at Rs. 50L for the contractor. Anything they make after expenses is theirs. Something to think about  😁

Vizag's Blue Flag aspirations Blue Flag for Vizag beach? Vizag's rather naive tourism department has been claiming from years that they will be getting a BLUE FLAG certification (https://www.fee.global/blue-flag) for Rushikonda beach real soon. They have spent several crores trying to fulfill all the 30 plus Blue Flag certification requirements. But with all the crap that comes down our geddas and floats up the sea from Vizag to the beaches in the North every day, keeping Rushikonda litter-free is a distant dream. Knowing how unlikely it will be to get a certification, it looks like some funny chap, erected a blue flag, on a heap of debris on the beach. This is across the road from Nethra Vidyalaya near Thotlakonda beach. Who says Vizagites don't have a sense of humor?

WHERE ARE ALL THE FROGS GONE? Where are all the frogs gone? Growing up and till recently, every time it rained we would hear the "GO GET DRUNK" ... "GO GET DRUNK" call of frogs from puddles, wet soils and from under the bushes in our backyard. Now we don't get to hear let alone see them. They have vanished from our cities and our villages too. Now, in our rural areas and hills, when I hear that once familiar croak of frogs, I am reminded of how quickly we are losing species. Extinction is a reality. Hundreds of species are lost every day. And we humans are the cause. That's something we can't be happy about. Teacher: Now children "F is for Frog Child: What's a "frog" teacher?

ONLY OTHERS KNOW BETTER Vizagites are not smart enough to know of our problems

Vizag police insist that the barricades they put up reduce accidents. Citizens have suggested that it will reduce accidents further if they completely close off our highways. As Vizag's traffic police are adamant about putting barricades on our highways and other roads, perhaps it is time to rename our city.

STOP DESTROYING OUR BEACH https://youtu.be/RU8I2rIFLh4 CLICK ON THE LINK ABOVE TO FIND OUT HOW VISAKHA UTSAV DAMAGES OUR BEACH AND SEA If we keep quiet we will lose the beauty of our beach and the Temporary leaders and bureaucrats don't give a damn about our real Vizag. Vizagites, please share this message. Let the authorities know that the destruction of our natural assets will not be tolerated anymore. Everything is not empty show business and commerce. Stop the madness now.

NO PET BOTTLES AT OUR WEDDING At every wedding, thousands of PET water bottles are used. A complete waste of resources and the extraordinary pollution of our ecosystem. Stop it now. Insist that you will not accept a wedding with PET bottles. Yesterday I  attended a wedding where no PET water bottles were served.  Felt overjoyed that the campaign to keep plastics out of weddings is gaining ground. Thanks to friends like you, the message is reaching far and wide. Please continue to support this campaign by broadcasting the accompanying message to your contacts.

With the heavy rainfall, it is natural to forget the tough times we had with water earlier this year. But everything is not tickety-boo. There is a constant decline in the water table and we are running out of water. We must focus on this issue and should never become complacent.

FORGET BHEEMILI UTSAV GO FOR STEADY DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM AMENITIES

World GDP history and where INDIA figured  India and China ruled the high growth economies for several centuries. Will our time come again? Let us see

ILLEGAL MINING IS DESTROYING OUR HILLS Everybody knows it is going on but nothing is being done to stop it! Click to see the video

WE WERE BLESSED BY ARAKU AND THEN  PROMPTLY TURNED IT INTO A FILTHY SLUM Araku Main Road after nightfall. Is this a hill station or a paradise for Dengue and Malaria? Click on this link to see what it is about. https://youtu.be/XPVk-7SobCE The sad thing is that all we have one God-given hill station which we keep milking in the name of tourism. Yet we are unable to maintain it. Araku main road is a filthy disaster. 

Plaster of Paris Ganehas, painted with lead-based paints, being immersed in the sea is a threat to our coastal waters. Please click on this link and see the video https://youtu.be/P9HMbxKTPak Ganesha idols made of Plaster of Paris is a menace to our sea. They are generally painted with lead-based synthetic enamel paints. After the festival, the Ganeshas are immersed in our water bodies and sea. The paint additives damage marine life due to their toxic nature. The old fashioned mud and clay Vinayakas are best. Let us ban PoP idols and go only for mud and clay Vinayakas from now on. GVMC and our AP Pollution Control Boards must take a tough stand on this issue.

21st September 2019 was INTERNATIONAL COASTAL CLEANUP DAY! Lawsons Bay Video Click on this link to see the video: https://youtu.be/D6q8oQ1O9ZY Here is what our famous Lawsons Bay looked like on International Coastal Cleanup Day. See these pics and the attached video. With so much rubbish landing up in our sea transported by our stormwater drains every day,  plus all the plastics in the sea coming back with the waves. it is impossible to ever clean up our coast. We have to stop plastics from getting into the sea in the first place.

PLASTIC EXCUSES This attached newspaper report gives multiple reasons why the corporation is unable to deal with the plastics crisis. 1. "The territory is too big" 2. "The quantity is too much" 3. "There are too many shops - it is difficult" 4. "80% is illegal, not locally made", (sounds like we are dealing with the NARCOS or arms dealers) 5. "The recycling facility is too low". (Why did you not make more and bigger facilities earlier?) Every issue has been discussed from years, in fact from 2008! Recently,  suggestions made by communities have been scoffed at or ignored. The corporation, despite appearances,  hates to acknowledge or accept citizen's inputs. GVMC themselves have pumped 8,00,000 plastic water sachets in a single day into the ecosystem during the recent  Giripradikdhana. The Simahchalam Devasthanam, supported by the administration, have pumped another 12,00,000 water sachets into the city a...

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO SEE DUSSERAH PANDALS IN KOLKATA 5-6 OCTOBER 2019 https://youtu.be/6PfxkThF8P0 Thanks to my hosts Sonali and Shivaji Gupto Roy, I got a chance to see some marvellous Puja Pandal art. I would have never imagined the beauty, the creativity and the spiritual passion this festival invokes. Truly Kolkata has been an eye-opener for me. Here is a video of what I saw. https://youtu.be/6PfxkThF8P0

Heritage walk - Ross Hill, Vizag Click on this link to see a video of the Heritage Walk https://youtu.be/x7ZB_L6FlSw Ross Hill Chapel, Mother Mary’s Church The entry to the harbour navigation channel of Vizagapatam is bounded on the west by the Dolphin’s Nose hill and on the east by three hills and the central and the highest hill amongst the three is named after a Mr. Ross who was a Sub-Judge who built a bungalow about 1848, on the hill which bears his name. In 1866, the then Bishop Msgr J.M. Tissot acquired the bungalow and on August 15, 1867, an altar was erected and blessed as a chapel,  by the then Vicar General Fr. Richard. Cyclones in 1870 and 1876 wrought havoc and affected the chapel too. Consequently, on 1st May 1877, a new statue of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart was placed upon the altar. The Church underwent many renovations to accommodate the increasing number of devotees. It was found that the Chapel on the Hill was too small, so Fr. Contat who w...