CM, Ministers skip official Republic Day fete at Raj Bhavan
The Hindu
Celebrations continue to be low key for the second consecutive year
The 73rd Republic Day celebrations in Telangana continued to be a low key affair for the second consecutive year. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan hoisted the Tricolor at Raj Bhavan lawns amidst limited attendance at the venue. Neither Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao nor any of his Cabinet colleagues were present on the occasion.
The State government was represented by the Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Director General of Police M. Mahender Reddy and a few senior bureaucrats. The continuing incidence of Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was said to be the reason behind the low key celebrations.
The situation was not different from last year when the 72nd Republic Day celebrations were held at the Public Gardens. The Chief Minister and a few other Ministers however attended last year’s event. The Governor’s speech too today was brief as it ended in around 15 minutes but she made it a point to greet and interact with some of the ambulance drivers, sanitation workers and other frontline COVID warriors.

The municipal bus stand auditorium in Malappuram was packed. But nobody quite knew what to expect. After all, a new event was making its debut at the State School Arts Festival. The moment V.G. Harikrishnan started his rendition of Pyar bhare do sharmile nain..., everyone was convinced that Ghazal was here to stay. The student from GVHSS, Atholi (Kozhikode), was applauded loudly for his rendering of the timeless ghazal sung originally by Mehdi Hassan.

For the last few weeks, several wards in Madurai city have been getting piped drinking water through a new drinking water scheme. The sweetness of the generously supplied water has led to loss of business to several suppliers of canned drinking water in the city. But, not many know that the water supplied to the houses in Madurai is directly drawn from Lower Dam of Mullaperiyar Dam in Idukki district of Kerala.











