Tag: public

Gadkari bats for public transport, says road traffic generates 40% air pollution

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Mumbai: Making a strong case for improving and promoting the use of public transport, Union Minister for Highways Nitin Gadkari said that road transport alone is responsible for 40 percent of the air pollution in India, here on Thursday.
Addressing the 11th Biennial International Conference on Ports, Shipping and Logistics, Gadkari said that the government is implementing various measures to promote public transport as ecology and environment are the ‘highest priority’.
He referred to the double-decker buses in Mumbai and Bengaluru bus services as examples of these measures, and road projects worth Rs 65,000 crore underway in and around Delhi.

Besides, approval has been given for 260 ropeways and cable cars and other public transport modes to reduce road traffic congestion and air pollution, the Minister said.
The Centre is also trying to construct electric highways, and along with electric vehicles, make use of vehicles with flex engines.
Since hydrogen is the fuel of the future, there should be no hassles running trucks and buses using methanol as fuel even in Mumbai to reduce fuel costs and pollutants, Gadkari said.
The government has also started 36 green highway projects and paid more than the market value as compensation for the lands being acquired for these ventures, removing all hurdles in this process.
“We are working to reduce logistics cost to 9 per cent — which is currently 14-16 per cent — by 2024. Better roads and lower logistic costs will help in enhancement of trade business and industry,” said Gadkari.

He said that 5-6 logistics parks will be set up in Maharashtra, and the work of construction of dry ports at Jalna and Wardha in the state has been completed and now the work of construction of similar dry ports in Nashik and Pune is being undertaken.
Gadkari urged that if water transport can be launched between Mumbai and Goa, the entire picture of transportation in this region will change as its very cost-effective compared with road and rail, and if alternative fuels are used, the cost of water transport will further reduce.
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#Gadkari #bats #public #transport #road #traffic #generates #air #pollution
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 13, 2023
Oklahoma officials deny Catholic public charter bid, for now

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“Funding Catholic charter schools would be unfair to taxpayers who do not share these Catholic religious beliefs,” said Clark Frailey, a co-founder of the Pastors for Oklahoma Kids public education advocacy organization, to board members as they met in Oklahoma City.
“Taxpayers will be subsidizing the indoctrination of students to a belief system that condemns their own religious faith, or lack thereof,” he said.
Walters, a nonvoting member of the charter board, pushed board members to approve the application.
“You all have heard from a lot of different folks, and you’ve heard from some radical leftists that their hatred for the Catholic Church aligns them [against] doing what’s best for kids,” Walters said. “We should distance ourselves from allowing radicals to inject their way into this and overly politicize this decision.”
Catholic Church officials formally asked Oklahoma’s virtual charter school board early this year to open the St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, accelerating months of debate over government support for sectarian education that has divided educators and Republicans.
Two Oklahoma attorneys general have issued divided, but nonbinding, opinions on the issue. Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt and Walters have supported the church’s application.
Stitt in February declared his “strong disagreement” with Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s decision to scrap a landmark legal opinion that opened the door to publicly funded religious charter schools and also staked a claim in a legal fight over charters that could be addressed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
But a last-minute memorandum from the charter board’s attorney delivered just before Tuesday’s scheduled vote warned that Oklahoma’s Constitution prohibits the use of public funds for religious or sectarian purposes, and said church officials could resubmit their application for reconsideration within 30 days of receiving formal word of its denial.

With their initial denial on Tuesday, charter board members asked the church to resolve questions about its special education programs, pedagogical approach, funding and governance structure — plus the legal arguments it believes supports its case to open.
Yet as the Supreme Court weighs taking up a separate court case with significant ramifications for the country’s charter school system, an eventual final vote is expected to prompt a fresh lawsuit from the project’s supporters or opponents.
“If we ultimately prevail, it changes education entirely across the country,” Brett Farley, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma told POLITICO last month.
“For some reason, because of this specious separation of church and state idea that’s not in the Constitution, we think somehow that we’ve got to have some sort of quasi-monopolistic setup in the educational market. And we do that to the detriment of our kids.”
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#Oklahoma #officials #deny #Catholic #public #charter #bid
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 12, 2023
Delhi HC upholds ban on gutka, pan masala for public health reasons

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New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has upheld a ban on the manufacture, storage, and sale of gutka, pan masala, flavoured tobacco, and similar products in the city, citing their direct and harmful impact on public health.
The ban was initially imposed by the food safety commissioner, but was later quashed by the high court in September 2022.
The Centre and Delhi governments appealed against the decision and a bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma has now set aside the earlier decision and upheld the ban.

The court rejected objections raised by entities in the tobacco business against the ban, stating that there was no justification for the quashing of the notifications.
The court has declared that there was no justification for the previous decision to quash the notifications, and has rejected objections from tobacco business entities against the ban that was in place from 2015 until 2021.
“We find ourselves unable to sustain the impugned judgment rendered by the learned Judge. These appeals shall consequently stand allowed. We find no merit in the challenge raised (against the ban). It shall, in consequence, stand dismissed,” said the bench, also comprising Justice Yashwant Varma.
“It becomes necessary to observe that the writ petitioners (manufacturers of tobacco related products, etc) did not dispute that both cigarettes as well as smokeless tobacco have a direct and pernicious impact on public health. Once it was found and conceded that both categories of tobacco constituted substances which had a direct impact on public health, the impugned notifications clearly did not warrant being quashed,” observed the court.
In its 176-page judgment, the court noted that the Supreme Court has already urged governments to ban the manufacture and sale of gutka and pan masala, and the previous single judge’s decision could not have deemed this not applicable in the current case.

Regarding the objection raised by tobacco businesses that the ban was discriminatory because it only applied to smokeless tobacco and not cigarettes, the court rejected this and stated that the ban was implemented because of the “larger number of users of smokeless tobacco” and that food safety authorities were authorised to impose such prohibitions.
The court also mentioned that Article 14 could not be used to argue that since a specific type of tobacco had not been banned, there should be no prohibition on other similarly harmful products. It noted that there were 163.7 million smokeless tobacco users in the country compared to 68.9 million smokers.
The court also mentioned that products such as pan masala, chewing tobacco, and gutka were not exempted from the definition of “food” under Section 3(1)(j) of the FSSA.
The court noted that the petitioners had operated under the mistaken belief that the notifications aimed to ban or prohibit tobacco, when in reality, they sought to prohibit the addition of tobacco or tobacco products to food products.
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#Delhi #upholds #ban #gutka #pan #masala #public #health #reasons
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 11, 2023
Iran installs cameras in public places to identify women breaking dress code

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Tehran: The Iranian authorities will use cameras in public places to identify women who violate the country’s hijab law, state media reported, according to CNN.
Notably, under Iran’s Islamic Sharia law, imposed after the 1979 revolution, women are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes to disguise their figures. Violators have faced public rebuke, fines or arrest.
Iranian women who don’t cover their hair risk being arrested. As part of the widespread protests, many have been disobeying the mandatory dress code, following the death of a young woman while she was being held for allegedly breaking hijab laws.

Yet, authorities don’t appear to be changing their stance on the matter.
“Kn an innovative measure and in order to prevent tension and conflicts in implementing the hijab law, Iranian police will use smart cameras in public places to identify people who break the norms,” the state-aligned Tasnim news agency quoted police as saying, CNN reported.
After the women have been identified, they would be sent warning messages which detail the specific time and place they had “violated” the law, reported CNN.
“In the context of preserving values, protecting family privacy and maintaining the mental health and peace of mind of the community, any kind of individual or collective behaviour against the law, will not be tolerated,” CNN reported quoting Tasnim.
Earlier this month, a viral video showed a man throwing yoghurt on two women for not wearing their hijab.

The video shows a male staff member removing the suspect from the store. The two women were arrested after being issued an arrest warrant for failing to wear the hijab in public, according to Mizan News Agency. Iranian officials said the incident is under investigation, and the male suspect has been arrested for a disturbance of order, reported CNN.
Later, both women were arrested for violating Iran’s dress code.
Describing the veil as “one of the civilizational foundations of the Iranian nation” and “one of the practical principles of the Islamic Republic,” an Interior Ministry statement said there would be no “retreat or tolerance” on the issue.
It urged citizens to confront unveiled women. Such directives have in past decades emboldened hardliners to attack women without impunity.
In September 2022, Iranians took to the streets nationwide in protest for several months against Iran’s mandatory hijab law, and political and social issues across the country, following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police.
Women have burned their headscarves and cut their hair, with some schoolgirls removing them in classrooms.
Those arrested for participating in anti-government demonstrations have faced various forms of abuse and torture, including electric shocks, controlled drowning, rape and mock executions.
(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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#Iran #installs #cameras #public #places #identify #women #breaking #dress #code
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 9, 2023
After LS disqualification, Rahul’s first public meet postponed to April 16

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Bengaluru: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s event, which was supposed to take place on April 10 has been postponed further and now it will be held on April 16 at Kolar, Karnataka Congress unit president D K Shivakumar said on Saturday.
Gandhi had planned to address people on April 10 at the same place where his speech during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections had led to his disqualification from the lower house of the Parliament, Shivakumar told reporters here.
However, due to the Assembly election-related works and the selection of candidates, the party leaders requested he extends it by a week.

“We had requested Rahul Gandhi to extend the public meeting by a week and he gave his consent. Gandhi and all leaders will come on April 16 for the Jai Bharat event at Kolar,” Shivakumar said.
He added that this will be Gandhi’s first public address in Kolar after his disqualification from the Lok Sabha. He also said that Gandhi’s disqualification was an insult to democracy.
“Cancelling the Lok Sabha membership of Rahul Gandhi, who had won with a margin of seven lakh votes, is an insult to the entire democracy,” Shivakumar said.
According to Congress sources, Gandhi’s event was earlier planned on April 5, which was changed to April 6. Then it was again planned on April 9, which clashed with Prime Minister’s Project Tiger event in Mysuru. The date was then rescheduled to April 10 and now once again it has been postponed to April 16.

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#disqualification #Rahuls #public #meet #postponed #April
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 8, 2023
DCW’s surprise inspection leads to seizure of 50 lt acid from public toilet in Delhi

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New Delhi: In a surprise inspection conducted by the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) led by its chief Swati Maliwal, officials have seized around 50 litres of acid from a public toilet located opposite the G.B. Pant Hospital in central Delhi.
The operation was carried out on Thursday and the officials confirmed the seizure of the acid on Friday.
Maliwal has now asked the concerned officials from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to appear before the commission on April 11 with a detailed report on the matter.

“I was shocked to discover huge quantities of acid kept in the open at a public toilet in Delhi. It could have been used by people for criminal activities. The fact that acid is being used in public toilets for cleaning purposes on a large scale is unacceptable and shameful,” said Maliwal.
“Strict action should be taken against the authorities for encouraging the use of acid for cleaning in toilets. Also, there should be no fee for using public toilets. All the toilets should be functional at all times, and if any toilet is non-functional, strict action should be taken against the official(s) responsible for it,” she added.
During the inspection on Thursday, the commission had noticed that Rs 10 was being charged from the users each time they used the toilet.
“The commission was also informed that the toilet closes down at 10 p.m., rendering women and girls vulnerable to open defecation,” said a DCW official.

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#DCWs #surprise #inspection #leads #seizure #acid #public #toilet #Delhi
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 7, 2023
Govt Defers Restructuring Of Public Works (R&B) Department Till Further Orders

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SRINAGAR: On Wednesday, the government decided to postpone the restructuring of the Public Works (R&B) Department until further notice. The restructuring included reorganization of the cadre and rationalization of the jurisdiction of its subordinate and field offices to align with the territorial boundaries of the Jammu and Kashmir divisions, districts, and blocks.
The government order states, ‘The restructuring of the Public Works (R&B) Department by way of re-organisation of cadre and rationalization of jurisdiction(s) ordered in terms in Government Order No. 22-JK (GAD) of 2023 dated 06.01.2023 is hereby deferred till further orders.’
As per the January 6 order, the Development Commissioner Works (Ex-officio Secretary Tech. R&B Department) was re-designated as Engineer-in-Chief (Secretary Technical R&B Department). Similarly, the Mechanical Engineering Department Jammu and Kashmir was renamed as Mechanical and Hospital Directorate J/K.
Also, one post each of Chief Engineer in the Mechanical Wing and Chief Engineer of the Mughal Road Project were transferred to the Civil Wing. The government ordered the conversion of three posts of Chief Engineers, one each from SKUAST-Kashmir, SKUAST-Jammu, and SKIMS Soura, from deputation posts to duty posts by abolishing these posts from the concerned subsumed/merged engineering wings of departments.
Mechanical Engineers were posted in the Civil Wing of R&B, except in the Jammu zone, for the purpose of snow clearance and other works, as follows: Each Chief Engineer (Civil) R&B (Zonal Office) was to have one Executive Engineer (Mechanical); Each Superintending Engineer (Civil) R&B (Circle Office) was to have one AEE (Mechanical); Each Executive Engineer (Civil) R&B (Division Office) was to have one AE (Mechanical) in their offices, and each Assistant Executive Engineer (Civil) R&B (Sub Division Office) was to have one JE (Mechanical) in their offices.
The government also ordered the conversion of eight (08) deputation posts of Superintending Engineers (Civil) to duty posts by abolishing these posts from the concerned subsumed department(s) for their adjustment in new territorial jurisdictions identified for these Superintending Engineers (Civil).
It ordered the conversion of deputation posts of Superintending Engineer (Meeh) (01), Executive Engineer (Meeh) (05), Assistant Executive Engineer (Meeh) (04), Assistant Engineer (Mech) (04), and Junior Engineer (Meeh) (14) from subsumed departments into duty posts by abolishing such posts from the concerned subsumed/merged engineering wings of departments.
The government also ordered the conversion of deputation posts of Executive Engineers (Civil) (36), Assistant Executive Engineers (56), Assistant Engineers (19), Junior Engineer (82), and Draftsman (Civil) (48) into duty posts by abolishing these posts from the concerned subsumed/merged engineering wings of departments.

It also ordered the formulation of new cadre strength as per the revised structure for inclusion in the respective Schedule-II of Gazetted/Non-Gazetted Engineering Recruitment Rules by issuance of corresponding notifications, thereby revising SRO-661 (Gazetted) and SRO-654 (Non-Gazetted) dated 25.10.2019, respectively.

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#Govt #Defers #Restructuring #Public #Works #Department #Orders
( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )

April 5, 2023
Govt defers restructuring of Public Works (R&B) Department till further orders

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Srinagar, April 5: Government on Wednesday deferred till further orders restructuring of the Public Works (R&B) Department by way of re-organisation of cadre and rationalization of jurisdiction of its subordinate and field offices by making them co-terminus with territorial limits of divisions, districts and blocks of the Jammu and Kashmir.
“It is hereby ordered that the restructuring of the Public Works (R&B) Department by way of re-organisation of cadre and rationalization of jurisdiction(s) ordered in terms in Government Order No. 22-JK(GAD) of 2023 dated 06.01.2023 is hereby deferred till further orders,” reads a government order, a copy of which lies with GNS.
By virtue of the January 6 order, the Development Commissioner Works (Ex- officio Secretary Tech. R&B Department) had been re-designated as Engineer-in-Chief (Secretary Technical R&B Department).
Similarly, Mechanical Engineering Department Jammu and Kashmir had been renamed as Mechanical and Hospital Directorate J/K respectively.
Also, one post each of Chief Engineer Mechanical Wing and Chief Engineer Mughal Road Project was transferred to Civil Wing.
The government had also ordered conversion of three posts of Chief Engineers of SKUAST- Kashmir(01), SKUAST-Jammu(01) and SKIMS Soura(01) from deputation post to duty post by abolishing these posts from the concerned subsumed/merged engineering wings of departments.
Mechanical Engineers had been posted in Civil Wing of R&B, except in Jammu zone, for the purpose of snow clearance and other works, as under: Each Chief Engineer (Civil) R&B (Zonal Office) shall have one Executive Engineer Mechanical; Each Superintending Engineer (Civil) R&B (Circle Office) was to have one AEE (Mechanical); Each Executive Engineer (Civil) R&B (Division Office) was to have one AE (Mechanical) in their offices and each Assistant Executive Engineer (Civil,) R&B (Sub Division Office) was to have one JE (Mechanical) in their offices.
The government had also ordered conversion of eight (08) deputation posts of Superintending Engineers (Civil) to duty posts, by abolishing these posts from the concerned subsumed department(s) for their adjustment in new territorial jurisdictions which had been identified for these Superintending Engineers (Civil).
It had also ordered conversion of deputation posts of Superintending Engineer (Meeh) (01), Executive Engineer (Meeh) (05), Assistant Executive Engineer (Meeh) (04), Assistant Engineer (Mech) (04) and Junior Engineer (Meeh) (14) from subsumed department into duty posts by abolishing such post(s) from the concerned subsumed/merged engineering wings of departments.

The government had also ordered conversion of deputation posts of Executive Engineers (Civil) (36), Assistant Executive Engineers (56), Assistant Engineers (19) and Junior Engineer (82) and Draftsman (Civil) (48) into duty posts by abolishing these posts from the concerned subsumed/merged engineering wings of departments.
It had also ordered formulation of new cadre strength as per revised structure for inclusion in respective Schedule-II of Gazetted/ Non-Gazetted Engineering Recruitment Rules by Issuance of corresponding notifications, thereby revising SRO-661 (Gazetted) and SRO-654 (Non-Gazetted) dated 25.10.2019 respectively. (GNS)
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#Govt #defers #restructuring #Public #Works #Department #orders
( With inputs from : roshankashmir.net )

April 5, 2023
Modi in Hyderabad: Vande Bharat, AIIMS & public meet key events on PM’s visit

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Hyderabad: The BJP’s preparations for Telangana Assembly elections scheduled later this year are likely to get a boost with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Hyderabad on April 8 during which he is expected to address a public meeting and launch various development projects.
The BJP leaders expect that PM Modi’s visit will boost their morale in the runup to the Assembly elections. The party expects that he will set the tone for the party’s poll campaign.
The Prime Minister is expected to launch an attack on Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government for its various acts of omissions and commissions.

PM Modi is likely to target BRS and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao over corruption, especially in the wake of questioning of his daughter K. Kavitha by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the Delhi liquor policy scam.
He is also likely to hit out at the BRS government over the Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) paper leak, which has heated up state politics.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has also taken up state-wide protests over the paper leak, alleging involvement of KCR’s son and state minister K.T. Rama Rao.
The Telangana unit of the BJP has huge expectations from PM Modi’s visit in view of his recent statement about the state.
“In the south, we have always been strong in Karnataka and in Telangana, people now have confidence only in one party, BJP, and in Andhra Pradesh also people are looking towards us,” Modi had said on March 28 while inaugurating the residential complex of the party in Delhi.

Modi will be launching various railway projects at Secunderabad Railway Station and later a public meeting at Parade Grounds in Secunderabad.
Union Minister for Tourism and Culture G. Kishan Reddy along with state BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar and party MP K. Laxman on Tuesday visited Secunderabad Railway Station and Parade Grounds to take stock of the preparations for the Prime Minister’s visit.
Kishan Reddy, who is also an MP from Secunderabad, said the PM would lay the foundation stone for the re-development of Secunderabad Railway Station. The station is being revamped at a cost of Rs 719 crore and will provide world-class railway infrastructure and amenities.
He will also lay the foundation stone of the new block of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at a cost of Rs 1,336 crore.
Kishan Reddy said this would give a big boost to health infrastructure in Telangana. The expansion and new facilities include academic blocks, auditorium, staff quarters, hostels and guest houses. The hospital block renovation is also underway.
Meanwhile, Telangana Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari on Tuesday reviewed arrangements for PM Modi’s visit. She instructed the officials to make foolproof arrangements.
Presiding over a coordination meeting, she said that all the departments have to work in close coordination and make the brief visit of the Prime Minister a success.
The police have to make adequate security arrangements, law and order, traffic and bandobast arrangements as per the blue book.
The fire department was asked to arrange adequate fire fighting equipment and fire tenders should be positioned at the venue. Medical staff, ambulances and other facilities should be kept ready at all the venues.
The Chief Secretary asked officials to repair roads to be used by the Prime Minister’s convoy. Uninterrupted power supply at all the venues should be ensured, she said.
DGP Anjani Kumar, senior police officers and officials from various departments including railways attended the meeting.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Siasat staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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#Modi #Hyderabad #Vande #Bharat #AIIMS #public #meet #key #events #PMs #visit
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 4, 2023
Hyderabad Public School now has an Olympic-sized swimming pool

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Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet on Friday inaugurated its world-class Olympic-size swimming pool. The goal of the school is also to provide international training on artistic swimming and aquatic acrobatics to its students along with producing ace swimmers in all disciplines.
With this, The Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet became the first and only school in the country to not only join the select set of institutions in the country to have an Olympic-sized swimming pool but also offer artistic and acrobatic swimming training, the school said in a press release.
To mark the occasion, globally renowned ‘Kazakh Synchro Stars’ an artistic swimming troupe comprising world and Olympic-level champions were invited to the Hyderabad Public School. The pool was inaugurated today by chief guest Vakati Karuna, IAS, Secretary to Government of Telangana, Department of Education, Chairperson, Board of Governors of HPS, Begumpet.
Other dignitaries present at the event included Guest of Honour, Monal Chokshi, Secretary General, Swimming Federation of India.
The Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet has earmarked an investment upwards of Rs. 25 Crore towards creating a sporting ecosystem that includes modern infrastructure, the right coaches and trainers, and the knowhow in these areas to mould their students into world-class sportspersons capable of winning at the Olympics. The School will focus on cycling, swimming, badminton, table tennis, hockey, and shooting as part of this objective.
Speaking on the occasion, Gusti J. Noria – President, of The Hyderabad Public School Society said, “In tune with our objective of creating excellence in academics and extra-curricular activities, HPS has embarked on an ambitious mission to produce world-class sportspersons. The inauguration of the Olympic-size swimming pool and introduction of the artistic and aquatic training programs today is another step towards realizing our vision.”
The Olympic-size pool is housed in the HPS swimming complex and is 50 meters by 21 meters, with a deck area of 16,000 square feet with 8 lanes. The complex has the capacity to seat around 1,000. A significant portion of the investment has been made by the alumni community. HPS has a strong Office of Alumni Relations that has a large network of alumni globally linked to the school. Contributions/Donations made to HPS for infrastructure development or scholarships are eligible for tax exemption under 80G of the Income Tax Act.
Adding further Mr. Noria said “It is a matter of immense pride that our HPS alumni have been actively supporting the development of the institution. I thank all those who have generously contributed towards the swimming pool.”

Kazakh Synchro Stars enthralled the audience with their artistic and acrobatic moves. The members of the national Kazakh team comprising of Yrenchenko Valentina; Bronze medalists in Team Technical Routine – Aida Meimantay and Yekaterina Simonova; Asian champion in artistic synchronized swimming in free solo (women) Akhbasheva Adelyem. Other notable swimmers such as Aliya Karimova, Alexandra Nemich, Yekaterina Nemich, and Arna Toktagan, who had stellar Olympic duet appearances, also joined in the display of yet another stellar performance for the school.
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#Hyderabad #Public #School #Olympicsized #swimming #pool
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 31, 2023