The world is once again facing the consequences of the third wave of COVID. While Dr. Fauci of the US maintains that Omicron will be the end of COVID, one cannot really be hopeful as the virus is spreading fast in most countries. And this has crashed the travel plans of many regular travelers and business people as many countries have imposed a travel ban.In fact, according to many well-known Hyderabadis, post-Sankranti many people were planning to take off for a holiday or wrap up their business deals abroad. In fact, one tech entrepreneur says he was supposed to fly to the US, Australia, and Canada in February but feels unsure about when he can take up the trip in the future. He says he prefers doing business in person and adds that getting new accounts is no small task.Another IT engineer says he canceled the trip to Jalpaiguri as he did not want his parents to get expOmicronosed to the virus as they would be going through airports. He says he simply thought it was not worth the risk involved.According to Qureishi, CEO of Link Holidays, many of his customers planned for holidays in Maldives and Turkey but had to cancel their plans. He says that they did roaring business for Goa in the domestic domain, but now it’s a huge slump, he rues.

Unwanted Third Wave Scuttles Travel Plans of Hyderabadis

Hyderabad-based Doosra is currently expanding its user base and presence across India with an aim to touch one million downloads by the end of 2022. The start-up is also going to invest in product innovation to provide comprehensive protection to the users.&nbsp;Doosra, for the unversed, happens to be a first-of-its-kind solution wherein the company provides a 10-digit SIM-free mobile number that the users can share at any place where they have to share their personal mobile number, including on digital platforms.Aditya Vuchi, Founder &amp; CEO of Doosra, shares that they are reaching out to future users through wide-ranging digital channels. With over 1,00,000 downloads on Play Store, Doosra has, to date, blocked about 7 lakh calls and 2.5 million messages from more than 50,000 telemarketers in just 2021.Doosra is aiming at 1 million downloads by the end of this year. All incoming calls on the Doosra number are either blocked or are directed to a voicemail. While Aditya reiterates that there is no data monetization, Doosra is focused on privacy. The revenues earned are primarily through subscriptions. Apart from regular users, solopreneurs and small businesses find the voicemail feature beneficial, reveals Aditya.He further adds that their users, like CEOs and celebrities, feel highly secure while using their services. Aditya says that going forward, they will expand their reach to CXOs. The advantage of Doosra is that, unlike other caller verification apps/ platforms, this app takes explicit permissions for limited data access that it seeks. The company ensures that the platform is secured and the data linkages from the primary number to the Doosra number are stored in fragmented places. All SMSes are encrypted and can be decrypted only on the user’s device.Till now, Aditya managed his finances, but now the start-up has got funding from Omidyar Network India. Future growth will decide to raise more funds, says Aditya.

Doosra Aims to Hit a Million Downloads By End of 2022

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V._Srinivas_Goud">V Srinivas Goud</a>, Tourism and Culture Minister, has ordered officials to recover dues from the big entertainment and recreational establishments that were set up as part of PPP (Public-Private Partnership). For the past few years, these establishments have defaulted on a lease payment and revenue sharing.These establishments operate hospitality and tourism projects on government lands, which were leased to them during the undivided Andhra Pradesh era under the PPP model. According to the agreement, these establishments had to pay annual leases and ADP (additional development premium), also known as revenue share, every year to the state government.Prasad's IMAX Theatre was given on lease at Necklace Road, Trident Hotel in Madhapur, Expotel Hotel at Lower Tank Bund, Jala Vihar at Necklace Road, Snow World at Lower Tank Bund, Daspalla Hotel in Jubilee Hills, and a Golf Course in Shamirpet.The amount runs into hundreds of crores of rupees. The major defaulters include Trident Hotel Rs 75.05 crore, Prasad's Imax, which owes Rs 27.45 crore, Expotel Hotel Rs 15.13 crore, Jala Vihar, Rs 6.51 crore, Snow World, Rs 15.01 crore, Daspalla Hotel Rs 5.67crore, and Golf Course Rs 5.58 crore.Tourism minister V. Srinivas Goud reviewed the status of these PPP projects with officials on Thursday and issued orders to take stringent action against establishments and recover dues. Srinivas Goud has ordered officials to initiate legal action against those who defaulted on their payments. He asked officers to send notices and warn them of discontinuation of civic services if the establishments fail to clear their dues.

Trident Hotel, Others Warned of Canceling Their Licenses

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliya_High_School_for_Boys">Aliya</a> High School for Boys previously known as Madrassa-e-Aliya located at Gunfoundry, Hyderabad is Telangana's first-ever English medium school established in 1872 during the reign of the Nizams for the elite and served the city's nobility. The school continued to be one of the best schools in the city until the 1960s. Telangana Government had decided to give a facelift to the school now.The school is selected as the Pilot project for Mana Ooru - Mana Badi scheme. The Government has allotted Rs 35 lakh for the school. Currently, fans, switchboards, and wiring are being changed in all the classrooms. The walls are beautifully painted and beautiful, cultural, entertaining and science fiction toys are being arranged to attract the students and make their school stay joyful.&nbsp;Pathways are being built at the school. Continuous drinking water supply works are also happening. The dilapidated toilets are being completed revamped. Furniture is being arranged for all eighteen classrooms. Currently, the school has 348 students. The school management is confident that more students will enroll when the school's facelift is completed.

Telangana's First English Medium School Getting A Facelift

Hyderabad food safety officials carried out raids on the famous Vijetha Supermarket in RVRG Moosapet on Friday. During the inspection, the authorities found that the Supermarket is selling expired items. A customer Omkesh purchases Lassi from the store. He did not mind checking the Best Before date on the produce and fell ill after consuming it.&nbsp;The Lassi reportedly three months ago. Kukatpally Food safety officer, Niharika and her team carried out raids on the Vijetha Supermarket following Omkesh's complaint. During the inspection, the authorities found the warehouse infested with cockroaches and rats. Several expired items are also found in the shelves of the Supermarket.&nbsp;The victims also lodged a complaint at the Kukatpally police station. Vijetha Supermarket is one of the biggest Supermarket chains in Hyderabad and has around 60 outlets in the city. It is pathetic that even such a brand could not maintain hygiene and resorts to unethical trade practices.

Food Safety Officials Raid Vijetha Supermarket

Telangana’s MA &amp; UD minister KTR has sought the allocation of monies for projects in the upcoming Union Budget for the year 2022-23. To this end, he has written an elaborate letter to Finance Minister Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman asking for funds.&nbsp;He had requested Rs 8000 crore in all for various ongoing and proposed projects across Hyderabad.For starters, he sought funds for Mass Rapid Transit Systems (MRTS) along the KPHB-Kokapet-Narsingi corridor. While the project is supposed to cost Rs 3050 crore, he requested the Centre to sanction 15 percent of the project cost. The 30 km track will make commuting easy for 5 lakh people by 2030 and will have connectivity with the proposed Airport express at Narsingi and at Financial District.KTR also requested 20% of the total cost of the Warangal Metro-Neo project, which he said will be a milestone in Tier-II city. He mentioned the strategic road development program (SRDP) and Hyderabad road development that will improve connectivity and network not just in Hyderabad but in Hyderabad Urban Agglomeration (HUA).For the development of link roads improving connectivity to Outer Ring Road, KTR sought Rs 800 crore, which is 1/3rd the total cost. As Phase II of SRDP will cost about Rs 14,000 crore, the MA &amp; UD minister asked the union minister to allocate 10 percent of the cost.KTR also made a point to mention the Comprehensive Sewerage Master Plan (CSMP) taken up by the state government. This includes the building of 62 sewerage plants at an estimated cost of Rs 8684.54 crore and urged the Central government to release funds up to 1/3rd of the cost.

Telangana Requests for Funds in Union Budget for Development Projects

State-owned Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL) has announced a huge tender worth Rs 5,500 crore for the purchase of 5,580 electric buses. This includes 130 double-decker buses. CESL is a subsidiary of Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL). Proposals are invited from interested parties.According to CESL, e-buses will be available in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Surat, and Kolkata by July this year in the first phase under the 'Grand Challenge'. CESL MD, CEO Mahua Acharya said that this is the largest project in the world. Being an Asset Lite model, this will enable State transport companies to operate these buses at affordable prices and in large numbers. He said CESL will do its part to help State Governments to achieve the goals of e-buses. CESL has stated that it will contribute to the goal of bringing India to a neutral zero level in carbon emissions.A few months ago, a netizen asked Minister KTR to run double-decker buses in Hyderabad city. KTR immediately brought the matter to the notice of Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar. To this end, the RTC has also invited tenders for the purchase of double-decker buses. The proposal did not materialize due to various reasons. With CESL going to purchase 130 double-decker buses, hopes are high once again.

Double Decker Buses Dream Coming True

Over a lakh, people in Telangana have been taking power meter readings via an app on a regular basis to get insights on power usage to curb leakages and work towards energy conservation. The process began last May, and Sikinder Reddy Chandra, CEO of Bharat Smart Services (Coral Innovations), shares that the app comes in handy for self-generation of bills in case the meter reader’s schedule is delayed.The platform is also used by eight other utilities across the country, and in all, more than 3 lakh people use it, with Telangana accounting for more than a lakh users. The T-Hub-based start-up has created a platform that allows consumers to use their smartphones to capture the energy meter reading in real-time. The platform uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to make it foolproof for meter reading and billing.The data is sent to power utilities like the TSSPDCL and TSNPDCL of the state. It is also integrated with HMWSSB as well for getting water bills. According to Reddy, delay in issuing the bill extends the billing cycle for the utilities, and self bill generation addresses this aspect as well for the utilities, adding that it will also come in handy for industries and bulk users to plan their operations and maintenance.The whole process is simple as the meter is on the house premises and nowadays everyone has a smartphone. All one needs to do is click a picture of the display unit and submit it. Also, the best part is it can be used on all types of meters that are in use, and the bill is generated instantaneously. Reddy says their firm has set a target of reaching out to 10 lakh customers by March-end. He says it will also be ideal if bills cannot be manually generated just in case a lockdown is imposed.

T-Hub Start-up Eases Utility Bills Payment Process

Former badminton player and current chief national coach of the India National Badminton team Pullela Gopichand will now be playing a new role. Well, after being a player, coach, and mentor and having seen the game in 360 degrees, the sports star is now plunging into the business side of the game by becoming the co-founder of Hyderabad-based Matchday.ai, which developed a sports analytics platform using artificial intelligence.The artificial intelligence-based platform will give insights into shot accuracies, rate attacks and defense, court coverage, winners and errors, rally length, and also tells if it’s a forehand, backhand, or overhead shot, among others.Being associated with badminton for so long and having seen the game grow and players being more open to adopting technology, Gopichand feels it’s the right time to enter the domain. He shares that today’s youngsters read and decipher data much quicker, and that’s where Matchday.ai comes in. As of now, Gopichand will be taking care of the growth, channel partnerships, and new product development at the company that was founded in 2019.“The effort is to make sports analysis, which earlier was available only at the professional level, accessible at various levels and places. This is useful for players and can make a huge impact on the sport,” says Gopichand. “Today, Hyderabad is the badminton capital of sorts. It is only right that something is a product of the future that is developed here. We are on the cusp of producing an innovation that can disrupt badminton and also sports gradually,” he adds. Harsha Vardhan Kommana and Ganesh Yaprala are the other co-founders of Matchday.ai.According to them, more than 200 players have already used the product. Incidentally, the company rolled out the beta version during the Olympics and subsequently rolled out the analytics for most of the international tournaments thereafter. In India, it was rolled out for BAI senior badminton tournament in India, and the founders say that badminton federation coaches of Germany, Finland, Denmark, and the UK have shown interest in their product.However, their overall plan is to roll out to at least 100 academies in India in one year and scale to other sports eventually.

Pullela Gopichand Invests In A Sports Start-up

The clock tower in Secunderabad is a monument and a point for describing the directions in our twin city. Similarly, there are clock towers in other parts of the city, though some of them are less famous than the Secunderabad clock tower. Some decades ago, when the clock towers were in good condition, one would hear the chime at every hour of the day. However, like many things old, they too needed some repair, and many stopped working. Given the state government’s commitment to beautify and refresh the city, the clock towers are being revived at many places.In short, they are being winded to their past glory. There was a time when people solely relied on clock towers to keep check of the time. However, with technological advancements and smartphones hitting the market, not many bother to look at these beautiful pieces of history. Today, the situation is such that some clock towers are on the brink of becoming obsolete.However, that does not bother the likes of Laxman Chugani, who has been in the business of maintaining the clocks for years. He is known to be the only man in Hyderabad to have the precision to repair Swiss watches, and it was only last year that he brought back the famous Secunderabad clock tower to life.He says he spends most of his time working on big clocks these days. It’s thrilling and a challenge to repair the big ones, says Chugani. Incidentally, Chugani and his family also run the Ramesh Swiss Watch Company which has a wide variety of watches and services.Another of his recent works includes the revival of the clock on the tower in Hanumakonda. Today, it has become quite popular with the locals, with many visiting the Collectorate to simply listen to the chime. The 77-yr-old shares that the big clocks don’t need to be maintained once they are fixed. The hourly chimes can be heard up to 2km.Chugani has also fixed clocks at MJ Market, James Street, Nizamabad, Samalakota, Monda Market, and Indalvai in Nizamabad.

Clock Towers Being Revived As Part of City Beautification

Well, almost all stories towards the end of the year have to revolve around the pandemic, and the story of Hyderabad Metro Rail is no different. After heavy losses due to COVID, Metro Rail, run by L&amp;T, has sought financial aid in the form of a soft loan from the state government. However, even before the government could take any steps, L&amp;T managed to raise a record Rs 13,119 crore in one day.Regarding the same, L&amp;T released three different bond papers. Each bond paper was worth Rs 2872 crore, and in this way, it managed to secure Rs 8616 crore. The rest of the amount was got through commercial papers for which the State Bank of India acted as a partner. While the interest for bond shares ranges between 6.38% and 6.68%, the maturity dates were disclosed as three years, four months, four years, four months, and five years and four months, respectively.Given that Hyderabad has been witnessing immense growth potential, it made the task easier for L&amp;T, which did not have to wait for the state government’s decision.Meanwhile, Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HRML) got into a partnership with Rapido, a bike taxi service, for the convenience of commuters to improve last-mile connectivity. HMR managing director NVS Reddy shared that the bike taxi service will be provided at all metro stations.Readers also need to note that the timings of Metro Rail have been changed to suit the requirement of commuters.