Hyderabad is a city that is on the road to progress and looks like there is no stopping it. The city is all set to have another 15 major infrastructure projects that will take the Hyderabad one notch up on the development graph.Of course, the development activities will be taken up by or under the aegis of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), which has 15 projects lined up under the Strategic Road Development Plan (SRDP) Phase 2. The civic body has requested funding of Rs 3115 crore from the state government for these projects.The works under consideration include the construction of six flyovers, one underpass, four roads under bridges (RuBs), one Road over Bridge (RoB), a bridge across Fox Sagar surplus Nala, a Y junction, and a tunnel at Khajaguda. Incidentally, the Khajaguda tunnel will require about Rs 1080 crore.To execute the 15 projects, GHMC will not avail of loans but will seek the state government’s aid. Under SRDP Phase 2, five projects have been proposed in the Charminar zone, four in the Khairatabad zone, two in the Secunderabad zone, two in the Kukatpally zone, and one each in LB Nagar and Serilingampally zone.One major outcome of the projects would be the decongestion of heavy traffic roads and easing the commuting problems of people. Also, a tunnel has been proposed at KBR Park, for which a feasibility study will be done by technical consultants. However, prior to starting work on the tunnel, various aspects will be looked into, like safety measures, ventilation, illumination, etc.

GHMC Proposes 15 New Infra Projects Under SRDP Phase 2

OnlyPaithani is a store that is your one-stop shop in Hyderabad for lovely, exquisite Pythani weaves. While they have a beautiful and thoughtfully curated collection of Pythani sarees, the store also has a good collection of lehengas and dupattas.So in case you are searching for some authentic weaves, then head right here. OnlyPaithani is the baby of Arati Baandal, who decided to revive the centuries-old weaving technique through her label. Arati was an engineering student, and she was looking for an original Paithani saree for her wedding. Though she went to a lot of stores and weavers, she was not completely satisfied with the quality.Way back in 2006, Arati realized that there was an immediate need to showcase the weave in the right way and in newer colors. She wanted to bring in more people to appreciate the weave and also buy them for their trousseau. That’s when she started researching the entire process, from yarn to the final saree.It took her a good two years to understand what goes behind making one exquisite Paithani saree. Once she felt she was ready, she started with a small collection of 12 sarees under her label OnlyPaithani.Arati shares that Paithani sarees were part of her growing up years, just as Kanjeevarams are down south. She says no ceremony went without a Paithani saree. Her website was launched in 2011, and it started getting traffic in 2013. And in 2021, she opened her store in Hyderabad.Paithani comes from a village in Maharashtra called Paithan, which is about 300 km away from Mumbai. Arati emphasizes that the fabric is woven by highly skilled artisans. She says she works with weavers from Yeola and Paithan. Though the weavers initially did not like her inputs, they have, over the years, started experimenting to the extent possible.Her store in Hyderabad is just the beginning. Arati says she now has plans to open the store in various cities. Apart from her sarees, the store also has dupattas and lehengas. In the future, she intends to come up with different types of hand-crafted sarees and garments like Jamdani cotton and hand block prints in an affordable range.

Flagship Store for Weaves Straight from Paithan Village

Human trafficking is a rather disturbing aspect of society, and despite efforts by various NGOs, it continues to be a matter of concern for all those involved in rescuing them and rehabilitating women who have been sold as sex slaves. Prajwala, run by Sunita Krishnan, has completed its silver jubilee this year, and the NGO aims to eradicate the system in totality.During the recent silver jubilee celebrations of Prajwala at Uppal, Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat said that society must be free of human trafficking in the next 25 years. He added that there must be no need for an organization to rescue women in the coming 25 years.Bhagwat took the opportunity to call upon sex workers and other such victims to come forward and lodge a complaint against traffickers and agents who land them in the profession. He lauded the efforts of Prajwala over the years and said that during post-rescue operations, all victims are provided with rehabilitation in Prajwala Shelter Homes.And it is here that the process of assimilating them into the mainstream happens. The women are given financial aid and vocational training to lead a self-sustained life. Some victims are helped to get married and reintegrate into society.The Rachakonda anti-human trafficking unit, along with SOT, has rescued about 700 victims belonging to not just India but from various countries such as Uganda, Tanzania, Nepal, Bangladesh, and other countries.Speaking about her experiences over the years, Padmasri awardee Sunita Krishnan pointed out that the emotional, mental and physical trauma that a victim of human trafficking goes through is horrible and painful. She further added that Prajwala, along with the police, has helped in saving 24,500 victims from sex slavery.

Prajwala Completes 25 Yrs of Rescuing and Rehabilitating Trafficked Women

It’s raining ideas from young entrepreneurs in Hyderabad. Every day, one gets to read about a new entrepreneur making life easy for others. One such person is Bharat Gutta, who, along with his childhood friends Vineet Dontamsetty and Akash Chode came up with the idea of their start-up Nayaseva. The aim of Nayaseva is to enable people living in remote places with incomes less than Rs 3 lakh per annum to pay utility bills at their doorstep.While Gutta was already working on a financial inclusion product, his visit to his grandmother’s village threw up new vistas for him. He had to travel to the nearest bill payment center in the village to pay regular bills. That’s when he conceptualized Nayaseva. Gutta says his start-up reduces the burden on the billpayers and also gives bill collectors extra opportunities.Nayaseva has targeted the cable operators who act as a bridge between the payers and the billers. The start-up has three types of options – point of sale infra, Whatsapp bot, and doorstep collection using their proprietary app called NPay.Right now, the start-up is operational in the NPay and PoS mode. The Whatsapp bot will be operational from August 15. The bill payments are facilitated by Bharat Bill Pay, and the agent collects cash from the individuals. The payee gets a receipt through the PoS machine that is powered by MSwipe. Gutta says this helps in avoiding any fraud.However, Gutta adds that the Whatsapp bot is more user-friendly and provides a more seamless experience for paying bills online. The start-up is part of T-Hub’s T-Angel program and has tied up with cable operators in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu. By 2022, the start-up plans to have 90 more cable operators on board.

Hyd-based NayaSeva Makes Bill Payments Easy in Rural Pockets

Of late, the average lifeline of geriatrics is on the rise. With this, there is an increasing number of cases of chronic diseases among the elderly. To address this issue, technology-driven start-ups have started to offer platforms to address this issue.One company that is Hyderabad-based is LifeCircle which provides geriatric home healthcare solutions by training workers and nursing staff. Though there are some companies working in the domain, LifeCircle feels that the issue of geriatric care is not being addressed sufficiently. Priya Anant, who co-founded LifeCircle, reminisces, “When we started in 2013-14 from Hyderabad, the geriatric home healthcare segment was heavily unorganized. The companies at the time would send semi-qualified or under-qualified caretakers, and one had to call them. On the other hand, we thought of setting up a platform that not just supplies quality caretakers, but also helps train the workers and nurses who want to work in the geriatric healthcare segment.”Incidentally, both Priya and Anant have a medical background, with the former having done her courses in palliative medicine and home healthcare. The T-Hub incubated start-up recruits a skilled workforce who have been trained under the Skill India program by the Government of India. However, all recruits have experience. On the other hand, they also provide training to freshers and provide industry certification.And it’s not just physical care, LifeCircle also looks after mental illnesses, and they have on-boarded 500 service providers in five cities in the country. They presently have training centers in Telangana, Odisha, Assam, and Andhra Pradesh. Also, since security is an issue when it comes to old people, LifeCircle has partnered with a third-party verification platform to verify the workers before onboarding them.

LifeCircle Providing Healthcare Solutions for Geriatrics

City police who recently launched a Challan clearance scheme has launched another campaign to clear the pendency of cases registered during the lockdown. Petty cases have been registered under various sections of Disaster Management on various violations during the 2020-21 lockdown time.Fines up to Rs 1000 were imposed on the violators to ensure the Lockdown is strictly followed. Nearly Three lakh cases registered at that time were pending. People were not paying the huge fines imposed by the Police. To clear these, the police are now offering a huge discount.&nbsp;It is now enough to pay only Rs 10 for each section registered for violations.&nbsp;City Additional Commissioner of Police (Crimes) AR Srinivas said the opportunity would be available from the 2nd to the 8th and the violators should take advantage of it. The department is going to publicize this scheme extensively to educate the public.

Lockdown Penalties: Fines Reduced From Rs 1000 To Rs 10

A miscreant youth has created a commotion at the Secunderabad metro station. It has interrupted the services as well and Metro officials had to sweat hard to stop him. Authorities rushed to the scene and arrested the youth.A young man is found walking on the metro track. Despite many warnings, he refused to come out. Vigilant officers ran the services only on one track for an hour to keep him safe. This caused severe disruption to metro rail traffic. Commuters faced a lot of problems due to it.Authorities tried to convince the young man to come out for three hours but he did not come out. Finally, Musheerabad police were informed. They have brought him out and taken him into custody. Subsequently, Metro train services resumed from Secunderabad as usual. The police are yet to make a statement about the miscreant and the motive behind it.

Miscreant's Hulchul On Metro Track, Services Disrupted

Vishwak Sen's next, Ashoka Vanamlo Arjuna Kalyanam will be released on May 6. A prank video made by the film team for their movie promotions has gone wrong now. Going into details, Vishwak Sen was going on Filminger Road when a young man ran across a car and made a commotion threatening to kill himself.He pretended to pour petrol on himself and commit suicide. Vishwak Sen also made the drama as if he did not know all this. This video is currently being circulated. It has drawn severe flak from the public. Some have condemned the nuisance on the roads while some others felt this is a kind of promoting suicidal tendencies in the film buffs.The issue has now reached the state Human Rights Commission. An advocate Arun Kumar has registered a case with the HRC against the actor for creating nuisance on road for film promotion. In a complaint, it was stated that the police should not give permission to people to promote their movies on the roads. Reports are that Human Rights Commission has taken a serious view on this incident.

Actor's Publicity Stunt, Human Rights Commission Serious!

Optum Global Solutions India, which happens to be a part of Optum and UnitedHealth Group, has announced the launch of Optum Start-up Studio in India in partnership with the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H).The same was launched by IT principal secretary Jayesh Ranjan and Optum chief information officer Phil McKoy. The studio’s objective is to identify innovative ideas and start-ups that can help accelerate value delivery by seeking solutions to some of healthcare’s toughest problems.Optum has started similar initiatives in the US and Ireland, and the Indian wing is an extension of their end goal of amplifying the impact of the vibrant health tech start-up and innovation ecosystem in India. The start-up accelerator aims to explore the full potential of India’s promising health tech start-ups, mentoring them to maturity and support for fast-track pilots with relatively mature start-ups that already have market-ready solutions.IIIT-H will be the organization’s innovation partner. Ideas submitted by participating teams will be independently evaluated by industry and functional experts from Optum and IIIT-H for perusal and future funding.

IIIT-Hyderabad, Optum to Set Up a Healthcare Start-up Studio

Handlooms and weaves are being curated by some who understand the uniqueness and beauty of traditional weaving forms. Of course, given that the new generation believes in fast fashion, there are many who do not believe in investing in ‘costly’ handlooms. But one lady who has been involved in the revival journey is Lakshmi Ramakrishnan. And she has just opened a store in Banjara Hills to keep alive the exotic tradition of the country.Lakshmi Ramakrishnan happens to be the founder of The Aadya Collective and is known for collecting handloom sarees. She has taken the step to satiate her passion apart from keeping the tradition of weaving alive. She believes in keeping a limited collection to try and give the very best of the country’s craftsmanship.“There is so much happening in our country in terms of handlooms. Every state has its own weaves. Years back, when we used to visit General Bazaar, we would get lovely handlooms. But now, the same has been replaced by machine yarns, which is why I want to revive the art. We curate the most authentic ones to give an old-world feel, shares Lakshmi.Though Lakshmi started about three-four years ago, she had to shut shop during Covid-19. However, her newly opened store has Bengal cotton, Kanchi, Uppada, Kadhi, and Chanderi, among other weaves. She says her store is not about the profit motive, though she intends to expand when the sales increase.However, Lakshmi is worried that the weavers are no longer interested in their craft and passing it on to younger generations. To add to their problems, there is 5 percent GST. So, we plead to the government that they must focus on the handloom industry, says Lakshmi.

A Store Exclusively Meant for Handlooms and Weaving Community

Violations of the plastic ban in Hyderabad are a common sight, according to media reports. And many feel the GHMC’s lack of action is tantamount to encouraging the violations. While there is an umbrella ban on the usage of plastic bags owing to environmental concerns, one can see the usage of plastic bags in thousands on a daily basis.What’s more deplorable is the fact that low-quality, cheap plastic bags are also being used in large quantities, especially when one buys fruits or vegetables from street-side vendors. Some time back, in keeping with worldwide awareness against the usage of plastic bags, GHMC announced a ban to safeguard the environment and public health. However, this hasn’t stopped the companies from manufacturing cheap polythene bags from the outskirts of the city and even marketing them.This shows that the GHMC is definitely not serious about implementing the plastic ban in the city. If one looks closely, one can make out that plastic bags are not only being used by cart-pullers but also by restaurants and hotels that deliver food to customers.Various measures were taken up to discourage the usage of plastic bags in many malls in Hyderabad and Secunderabad, though the GHMC has failed to stop the usage of plastic bags in populated areas where they are widely used.Ironically, GHMC hasn’t been successful in stopping the usage of polythene bags that are less than 14 microns. When asked about the same, the civic body says it does not have the required manpower to implement the ban.