The state government has given a shock to vehicle owners in the name of transport tax. As if the already increasing petrol and diesel rates are not enough, the government increased life tax rates on non-transport vehicles. The vehicles were divided into slabs and were taxed.&nbsp;The increase is between 2 percent to 4 percent per vehicle.&nbsp;Three schedules have been changed for this. Schedules three, four, and seven of the relevant act were revised. This was announced by the Special Chief Secretary of the State Transport Department Sunil Sharma releasing a G.O.The orders came into effect on Monday. According to the new tax, depending on the type of vehicle, an additional charge of Rs 3,000 to Rs 1.20 lakh will be levied. With the increased taxes, the government will get Rs. 1,200 crore to Rs. 1,400 Crore additional revenue.The government has increased the existing 2 slabs policy to 4 slabs. In the past, one tax was levied on vehicles valued at less than Rs 10 lakh and another on vehicles valued at less than Rs 10 lakh. The Department of Transport has decided to divide the vehicle values into 4 categories and collect taxes.&nbsp;An additional increase of one to 6 percent tax will be in effect as per the value of the vehicles. In the case of the two-wheelers, the tax was increased by 1 to 3 percent. Previously there was a 9 percent tax on new vehicles. A new vehicle worth more than Rs 50,000 will have to pay 12 percent tax. If a single person wants to register a second vehicle, he has to pay an additional 2% as in the past. Previously two-wheelers had vehicle categories with engine capacity of 60 cc and those exceeding 60 cc. It is now decided to levy tax on two slabs based on the value of the vehicle.Three, four-wheelers, motor cabs, cars, and jeeps, (non-transport) will attract a 13 percent tax for vehicles under Rs 5 lakh, 14 percent for vehicles under Rs 10 lakh, and 17 percent for vehicles under Rs 20 lakh and above Rs 20 lakh. 18 percent for existing vehicles. For transport vehicles, 15 percent has been fixed for vehicles below Rs 5 lakh, 16 percent for vehicles below Rs 10 lakh, 19 percent for vehicles below Rs 20 lakh, and 20 percent for vehicles above Rs 20 lakh.

Buying New Vehicle? Road Tax To Cost More!

Narayana Educational Institutions Chairman and politician Narayana has been picked up from their residence in Kondapur. AP CID and SIT officials have taken him to custody in a case related to the Tenth class question papers leak in Andhra Pradesh.As per the rules, other state police can make any arrests only after informing the local police but it did not happen here. He was taken to AP in Narayana's own car. Narayana's staff have registered a missing complaint with Raidurgam police who have alerted all the checkposts. Kothur police have stopped Narayana's car and have let do them only after taking all necessary documents and explanations.Chittoor SP later released a statement that Narayana has been arrested in the case pertaining to the Tenth Class Papers leak. "The paper was leaked on the 27th of last month, a case was registered in Chittoor One Town PS and a total of seven people were arrested in the case. All the accused were former employees of the Narayana organization," the statement read.

Narayana Institutions Chairman Arrested In Kondapur

Chicken prices are skyrocketing in the state. Kilo skinless chicken is selling up to Rs 300 in retail chicken shops. Chicken with skin also crossed Rs.280. Chicken prices, which used to fall during the summer season, have been rising for the past few years. Owners of chicken centers say the price is likely to rise further as weddings season is also coming.&nbsp;According to market sources, the shortfall was caused by high temperatures and declining poultry farming. Due to the summer, the farms have greatly reduced the breeding of chickens. Poultry sources say its impact is falling on prices.Chicken center managers say it is likely to grow further by next Sunday. Starting in the months of December and January, it takes 39 to 40 days for a chick to reach one and a half kilograms. But poultry sources say it will take 45 to 60 days for the chicks to take 45 to 60 days to grow from the chick stage to the chicken stage.With the temperatures rising significantly poultry production has dropped since March. The poultry owners have to use Coolers and ACs to keep chicks alive which is not feasible and is a costly affair. Farmers have drastically reduced poultry farming on farms due to a lack of water resources and other issues. With the gradual decline since February, production has so far been falling and prices are being impacted.

Can't Afford AC To Chickens, Prices Zoom! 

Biryani and haleem are high on the food list of Hyderabadis. But one other cuisine that the Hyderabadis crave is Chinese. They simply love their desi-style Chinese food, and one can easily guess its popularity from the number of restaurants that are sprinkled across the city.Apparently, many from Hyderabad craved to have some authentic Chinese cuisine. Park Hyatt has invited chef Yozou Han to stir up some ‘real’ Chinese dishes to satiate this craving. The Rika restaurant that serves Asian food at Park Hyatt has been hosting the chef for a while now, and he is working with chef Krishna Rana of Rika.Yozou Han says it took him quite a while to come up with a delectable selection of Chinese dishes that were both authentic and in keeping with the palate of local people. He shares that he had to work on recipes from scratch and look for ingredients available in India.The guest chef adds that they were getting Sichuan peppers and other exotic vegetables from other cities while they are sourcing other ingredients from the city. Incidentally, Yozou Han and Krishna happened to work together at China House in Mumbai, which is known for its Szechuan food and is quite popular with film stars.Rika will also be serving more meats like pork, crab, and duck as Hyderabadis love meat. Also, the meats give an authentic feel to the menu.

Tickle Taste Buds With Authentic Chinese at Park Hyatt’s Rika

The times are such that more and more people are taking to adventure sports and adventure camps from Hyderabad. There was a time when one indulged in such activities when abroad. However, it's not just adventure sporting that has increased, but what's interesting to note is the increasing number of professional adventurers from the city.Pawan Eraballi, 29, is a professional who quit a corporate job to take up the profession that is attracting more and more people, thanks to families and youngsters seeking adventure around the city. He shares that loving nature and one's surroundings are of primary importance. Then, of course, one has to have some basic fitness levels as one needs to set an example for clients.Since many from the city are keen on taking up adventure trips, quite a number of adventure companies have mushroomed in the city. While some adventure guides work with companies, others start on their own.According to Rahul, who has scaled Goecha La that was at 18,000 ft, a high mountain pass in Sikkim, and the southeast face of Kanchenjunga, the world's third highest mountain, the adventure companies have identified about 100 locations around the city so that people can indulge in various activities such as trekking, camping, rappelling and small workshops about activities such as setting up a tent, etc.The adventure guides or companies do a dry run at the site before taking groups for an activity. Another interesting development is women entering the terrain. Of course, all of them face family pressure as the parents fear accidents and safety. Then there is the classic situation where the group might find it hard to take orders from a woman guide.Despite the hurdles and the newness of the profession in the city, many are braving the odds to give memorable experiences to their clients.

Hyderabadis Craving For New Highs Post-Pandemic

Scent of a Woman is a well-known film by Al Pacino. While it has nothing to do with perfumes, it definitely has something to do with the sensory element of smell. In fact, fragrance, many a time, is the signature of a person. So, it is elementary to make sure one wears the right scent.Rajesh Sharma happens to be a secret perfumer in his alchemical lab in the old city, who experiments with over 1200 ingredients to make custom fragrances. At one time, he labored in the streets of Grasse, France, to learn to sniff the minute nuances of perfume, including the Chanel No 5, to blend custom perfumes that suit personal tastes.Perfumers say scents can retrieve memories faster than a sense of sight, more vividly. In fact, the perfumes carry various notes that make for an exciting study. Rajesh shares that each perfume has three redolent or three notes that can be sensed after the application of a perfume. There is a ‘top note’ which one smells instantly, a heart note remains the core of the scent, and then there is the least volatile ‘base note.’Like all perfumers in the business, Rajesh trained his nose to memorize thousands of scents while working in France. “It’s imperative to analyze the ingredients in their mind to understand which note is to emit which kind of fragrance. I am at that stage now, though it takes more than a lifetime to understand the scents,” says he candidly.Rajesh now has a collection of over 1200 ingredients from across the world and is now into making customized perfumes for his customers in Mumbai. He is also experimenting with coming up with his own brand of perfume. Wrapping up, he shares that musky and citrus notes are the season's fragrances.

The Secret Perfumer Who Makes Customised Perfumes

It’s already May and the monsoon season is just around the corner. Usually, Hyderabad has its first showers in June. But many citizens are dreading the arrival of monsoons, given the nightmarish experiences they had last year.While the GHMC claimed to have spent Rs 67,000 crore on various developmental works, including the construction of flyovers, drains, etc., out of it, about Rs 1447 crore was utilized for preventing urban flooding. However, when there was a brief spell of rain on May 4, there was flooding in 71 areas causing concern among people in several low-lying areas and those in the vicinity of lakes.However, with the Met department predicting heavy rains this season too, people are already prepping for tough days ahead. The GHMC has identified areas that suffer the most during the rainy season – Bahadurpura, Shastripuram, Chandrayanagutta, Hafez Baba Nagar, Yakutpura, Mecca Colony, Ganga Nagar, Goshamahal, MS Maqta, Anand Nagar, Malkajgiri, UBI Colony in Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, Rd No 2 and Rd No 10.Following flash floods in 2020, the state government allocated Rs 858 crore to GHMC to develop and maintain stormwater drains and nalas. Works have also been taken up to divert rainwater into rejuvenated lakes so that there is no flooding due to clogging of nalas.a

Is The City Prepared For The Next Monsoon Onslaught?

If you ever visited the Exhibition from the back, you would know there is a small lane that has many families housed in bamboo shacks. In fact, the entire lane is lined with bamboo sticks and people making various things out of bamboo.In this age of eco-friendly living, the bamboo craftspeople have their hands full with work. Everyone in the lane works with bamboo and makes interesting and user-friendly stuff. For most of them, it is an art that has been passed across generations, and many kids start early.However, almost all the kids in the lane go to school, though they are not particularly serious about it. They say they will take up the craft at some time in the future. While the craftspeople live in bamboo huts, they live on the roads.But it is interesting to note that it needs a lot of dexterity and time to make some of the premium products. For example, they get many orders for blinds. The process is arduous. They get the wood from Falaknuma, and then it is cut into pieces. These pieces are then turned into smaller pieces as per the measurements given by the customer. Once done, the blind is weaved using rocks and ropes. Then they stitch them with a cloth. And if the customer asks, they also paint the blinds in the color they want.Bamboo and palm leaf products apart, the community also sells wooden baskets made in Assam. They get regular orders and are not particularly concerned about the future. The government is also promoting crafts, they say with a smile.

Craftspeople Keeping Age-old Tradition Alive in This Street

You need not push your bike to the nearest petrol bunk if it runs out of petrol in the middle of the road. Students at St. Martin's College have unveiled a hybrid bike to reach destinations with the help of a battery in such conditions. Students of St. Martin's College of Engineering in Doolapally have been recognized nationally for their latest innovation.Students from St. Martin's College of Engineering recently showcased their talents at the national level "Innovation and Technical Expo-22" at Osmania University. The mechanical students of the college have successfully experimented with a new battery device that allows the vehicle to reach its destination with the help of a battery as soon as it runs out of petrol.The battery gets charged when the bike runs on petrol. The students won first place at the national level and got Rs. 8,000 cash prize. College Chairman Marri Lakshmareddy along with Executive Director G. Chandrasekhar Yadav and College Principal Dr. P. Santosh Kumar congratulated the students and wished they achieve more success in the future.

No More Pushing Of Bike If It Runs Out Of Petrol

Hyderabad has now emerged into a city where there is a lot happening in terms of arts, culture, and of course, food. As of now, one thing that has caught the attention of the art community and art lovers is flow art. In fact, there is a thriving flow art community in the city, thanks to the increasing number of connoisseurs.It is a kind of movement-based art form that integrates dance and creative exploration of movement with skillful prop manipulation. The movements include the likes of hula hooping, juggling, and fire spinning, among others. The community has made KBR Park its home, and if one takes a walk at the Park on Sundays, then you are bound to see them in their 'act.'There are quite a few artists for this nouvelle form of art, and we will be mentioning a few regulars here. One person happens to be Bhoomika Perti, social media marketing manager at Sacred Earth Cafe in Madhapur. She feels flow art is a type of body movement with the use of different props. She says it's all about living in the moment and trying to create different movements and flowing with different props. She uses a hoop and dapostar (a fun cloth spinning prop originating from Spain).The physical activity is a mind and body coordination routine where one trains the mind with different flexible movements. That's the whole idea of flow art. Bhoomika says these practices are grounding and reduce stress.Flow art artists use various props like a stick, fire poi, or juggling sticks. Then there is Kavya, another flow artiste who happens to be an account manager, who pushed herself out of a low phase by hooping. Though self-taught, she eventually got to know about the flow art community in Hyderabad and got associated with it. Another artiste Vinay Ameda who co-owns a supermarket, uses fire poi as his prop. He says there was a time when people knew nothing about flow art. But now, there is a lot of awareness, he shares.

It's Art That Needs You to Move With The 'Flow'

The government has given the green signal to proposals to build a huge cable-stayed bridge with modern touches, promoting tourism in the Old City. Designs are being prepared to build the bridge in a modern architectural style. The bridge will be longer than the cable bridge built over the Durgammacheruvu in the IT corridor.&nbsp;The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) has issued a tender notification the last week. Arvind Kumar, Special Chief Secretary, Department of Municipal and Urban Development, specially inspected the Mir Alam Tank on the Bangalore National Highway. The concerned authorities have been directed to draw up plans for the conservation of the pond as well as developing the areas surrounding the pond for tourism.The Mir Alam Tank is spread over an area of over a thousand acres after crossing the Bahadurpura-Zoo park on the National Highway from Hyderabad to Bengaluru. The Mir Alam Tank full tank level extends for about 2.5 km from the Bangalore National Highway on one side and the Attapur Inner Ring Road on the other to Chintalmet Road. The Mir Alam Tank is the largest water body in the heart of the city after Hussain Sagar. After that, Durgammacheruvu is the largest.&nbsp;There will be three types of benefits in building a cable bridge from the Inner Ring Road over the Mir Alam Tank. The first is to protect the pond, the second is to build a cable bridge to benefit tourism, and the third is to solve the traffic problems on the way from Bahadurpura to Attapur via Kishanbagh. HMDA has taken up its responsibilities as per the directions of the Municipal Department keeping in view of these benefits.