Rohith, rains, retests and district reorganisation: Telangana's 2016
Rohith Vemula: The year started with the death of University of Hyderabad PhD student who committed suicide on January 17 after he, along with four other students, were expelled for allegedly assaulting an ABVP student leader. The death sparked outrage and protests across the country for the alleged case of discrimination against Dalits. In his suicide-note, Rohith blamed the "system" for his death. In December, Cyberabad police say they are awaiting a response from revenue officials of Andhra Pradesh on the caste status of Rohith Vemula, to enable them to finalise investigation in the case.
Dist reorganisation: In a Dasara gift to the youngest state in the country, the Telangana govt decided to reorganise the existing districts in the state for “ease of administration”. The number of districts were increased from 10 to 31. In terms of area, Bhadradri is now the largest district with an area of 7,483 km2 and Hyderabad is the smallest with 217 km . Hyderabad district is the most populated district with a population of 3943323 and Rajanna Sircilla district is the least populated with 552,037.
Demonetisation: In the wake of the Centre's move to ban Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, Telangana government chose to support the initiative. To provide impetus to the move and ensure that the state becomes digitally enabled, the state government launched an e-wallet enterprise. The TRS government also decided to make Siddipet the first cashless transaction constituency in the entire country.
TS-Maha irrigation pact: In a historic agreement in August, Telangana and Maharashtra signed a pact for construction of irrigation projects across Godavari river, ending the inter-state dispute. Telangana will build a barrage at Medigadda as part of Kaleswaram project, Tummadihatti barrage on Pranahita river and Chanaka-Korata barrage on Penganga river
MoUs in TS: The state signed several important Memorandum of initiatives, most notably with Pharmas such as Johnson & Johnson (for making state TB free), Merck (for arresting infant diarrhoea), Pfizer (breast cancer screening), ISRO (education, irrigation), Apple (map development centre that will create 4,000 jobs), Microsoft (Cloud solutions)
GHMC elections: In February, the ruling TRS pulled off a spectacular victory in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections despite not even contesting the last GHMC polls in 2009. The party led by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) bagged 99 seats in the 150-member house. The AIMIM was the next best party by a distance with 44 seats followed by the BJP, INC and TDP winning seats in single digits.
Drought/Rain: Telangana was already reeling under severe drought for two consecutive years and the rain gods didn't show any mercy this year too. The official toll in 2016 due to sunstroke and heatwave stood at 300 with the highest number of deaths (90) reported from Nalgonda followed by Mahbubnagar with 44. The government, however denied any suicides by drought-hit farmers in Telangana in 2015-16. Almost surprisingly, but thankfully, there was a miraculous turn in the weather conditions as the state received 28 pc excess rainfall between June and September. Hyderabad led the state with 58% excess rains followed by Ranga Reddy and Nizamabad districts which recorded 47% and 38% excess rains respectively. The state government pegged the monsoon toll at 46 and overall loss at Rs 2,202 crore. Hyderabad suffered losses amounting to Rs 1,157 crore.
Road caving-in at Necklace Road: In the aftermath of rains, a large 10-foot deep sinkhole popped up near NTR Garden on Necklace Road in September, raising the eyebrows of denizens. It was later reported that the road collapsed suddenly due to incessant rains resulting in damage to a trunk sewer line. A similar incident was reported in Safilguda where a portion of a road dug up to lay a water pipeline caved in and two motorcycles fell right into it.
Building collapses: Earlier this month, a multi-storey building collapsed in Hyderabad's IT hub Nanakaramguda. Eleven people lost their lives in the mishap. It was later reported to be an illegal structure. Unfortunately, this was the sixth such incident reported in the city in 2016. Over 16 people died across the city due to building collapses.
EoDB: In sweet news for the two Telugu states, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh jointly topped World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) rankings. According to IT minister KT Rama Rao, Telangana received 2,550 investment proposals worth Rs 44,791 crore in the past two-and-a-half years, providing direct employment to 1.61 lakh people and indirect employment to over five lakh.
Hyderabad girl's Olympic medal: PV Sindhu became a household name across the country post the silver medal that she bagged in Rio Olympics. To felicitate the Badminton player along with her coach Pullela Gopichand, the city organised a gala reception. Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announced a cash reward of Rs 5 crore.
Apple's first technology centre in India: In a move to boost the Brand Hyderabad image, Apple announced that it would build its technology development centre outside the US in Hyderabad with an investment of Rs 170 crore, likely employing about 4,500 people. Apple's centre will occupy 2,50,000 square feet in WaveRock facility in the city's IT corridor.
125-ft Ambedkar Statue in Hyderabad: CM K Chandrasekhar Rao announced that a 125-ft statue of BR Ambedkar would be erected in Hyderabad which would be part of an Ambedkar Square. He claimed this statue would be the tallest in the world and the plan is to unveil the statue on April 14, 2017.
National Flag: Even before the Ambedkar Statue could be built to give you a crick in the neck, in 2016, Hyderabad -- and by extension Telangana -- became home to the country’s second tallest flag at 291 feet at Sanjeeviah Park. When first put to use in June on State Formation day, it bore 72 feet by 108 feet flag, largest in the country. Unfortunately, given the size, height and elements, the flag tore three times within weeks of being hoisted.
Nayeem: In August, notorious Naxalite-turned-gangster Nayeemuddin was killed in a police encounter. Investigation into the Nalgonda-based criminal’s activities initially indicated he had a finger in everything from the drug trade, child trafficking and even terrorism. Further, speculation was rife that his ties to politicians and top police personnel -- the latter believed to have “used” his services to neutralise Naxalites and other gangsters -- would either come into the open or would be hidden through a scuttled investigation. The whole affair came to a confusing end of sorts in the past few weeks with the Chief Minister telling Assembly that CBI would not be needed to investigate the case independently and then the State telling the High Court that the gangster’s activities had neither national nor international import, nor did he have ties to politicians or police. A burial of sorts, it appeared.
Eamcet 2: July was a trying month for students. The Telangana Engineering, Agriculture and Medical Common Entrance Test (EAMCET II) question paper was revealed to have been leaked. In an elaborate, cross-country scheme that involved coaching centres, brokers and medical professionals, students were taken to different parts of the country and trained to crack the exam based on the leaked question paper, for a fee. The exam was finally cancelled and an EAMCET 3 was held later.