GVMC SPENDS RS 20 CRORE FOR INDOOR SPORTS ARENA : The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) will develop an indoor sports arena on an area covering about 4,776 square metres, in MVP Colony under the Smart Cities Mission. Estimated to cost about Rs 20 crore, the sports arena will be equipped with the latest indoor sports amenities. Besides, it will also have a swimming pool, jogging track, children play area, kids pool and play area and open gym etc. outside the indoor sports arena. Volleyball, basketball, badminton courts will also be built. In all, the sports arena will have a built-up area of 4,181 square metres and external development area of 3,323 square metres. It is one of the joint ventures being taken up by the Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (Vuda) and GVMC under Vizag Smart City project. The land on which the sports arena will come up belongs to Vuda. It allocated Rs 3 crore for the sports arena in its recent budget. According to preliminary designs, the basement floor area (2,107 square metres) of the structure will be earmarked for parking as well as for creating other supporting facilities. The ground floor area (1,449 square metres or approximately 30% of the site) will house the key amenities of the indoor stadium such as badminton, basketball and volleyball courts. The first floor will have a built-up area of 550 square metres, followed by the rooftop area of 70 square metres. GVMC commissioner M Hari Narayanan said it has been proposed to develop a sports arena at MVP Colony based on the theme of "A Resilient and Healthy Metropolis for People" under the Smart Cities Mission. Vuda is also contributing to it and has allowed the Greater Visakhapatnam Smart City Corporation Limited (GVSCCL) to construct the sports arena on their land, said Hari Narayanan. The sports arena is expected to promote healthy lifestyle and provide an opportunity to the residents of MVP Colony and surrounding an ideal venue to get fit . The GVMC has already introduced open gyms in several parks to encourage public to take up physical activities on a regular basis.

APEPDCL SETS UP 1,076 TRANSFORMERS IN VISAKHAPATNAM TO PROVIDE UNINTERUPPTED POWER : To provide uninterrupted power to over 25 lakh consumers across five coastal districts, AP Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (APEPDCL) has improved its power supply network. Under the centrally sponsored integrated power development scheme (IPDS), the Visakhapatnam based discom has established 2,363 transformers at an expenditure of Rs 60 crores. Out of them, 1,000 transformers were set up to augment the capacity of the existing transformers at Rs 27 crore. The rest of the 1,363 additional transformers were provided for Rs 33 crore. These works were taken up from 2016 till date. APEPDCL chairman and managing director HY Dora said the discom has set up the 2,363 transformers under the IPDS schemes across the five coastal districts. Within the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) limits covering Visakhapatnam core city, Anakapalli and Bheemili 1,076 transformers were set up. Based on consumer feedback, the discom will be ready to supply more power by enhancing the capacity of the transformers. With this regard Dora said, "Consumers who are utilising unauthorised additional domestic loads can regularise it by declaring the same voluntarily. They will get a 50% discount on development charges. This offer is valid from May 1 to 31." Dora said that the discom has already communicated about the offer to the consumers, who can regularise their additional load by paying only Rs 600 as development charge as against Rs 1200 per KW. "The main objective is to provide quality power, besides preventing failure of transformers in the respective areas," Dora added. Usually, most of the consumers have more contracted load than actual connected load owing to the use of various gadgets or appliances without informing and regularising the extra load with APEPDCL. Dora explained that the sudden and erratic rise in load leads to overloading, which further leads to voltage fluctuations, blowing of fuses and failure of distribution transformers. This, in turn, affects the quality of power supply to rule adhering consumers.

BIOINFORMATICS INFRASTRUCTURAL FACILITIES - A RESEARCH CENTRE IN ANDHRA UNIVERSITY : The Andhra University has a Research Centre under the name Bioinformatics Infrastructural Facilities, sponsored by the Dept. of Biotechnology, Government of India. This is running with a project worth of Rs.70.0 lakhs. The Advisory Committee meeting was held on 19 th April, 2018 which was attended by Dr. T.Madan Mohan, Senior Advisor, Dept. of Biotechnology, Govt. of India as a DBT Nominee and Prof. P.Goutham from Anna University as an Expert Member. The progress of the research work carried out in this centre was reviewed. The nominee of the DBT advised the University to make a proposal for the upgradation of Bioinformatics Infrastructural Facilities. As a follow up, Andhra University is constituting a Committee of Experts to make a proposal for Marine Aquarium, Centre of Excellence and for a facility for preservation of Marine Organisms. The proposal shall be to a tune of Rs.50.0 crores. At the end of the meeting Dr. Madan Mohan and Prof. P.Goutham were felicitated by the Vice-Chancellor. The meeting also was attended by the Dean (Research & Development) Prof. K.Venkata Subbaiah, APSET Member-Secretary Prof. K.Srinivasa Rao, Smt.K.Uma Devi, Coordinator of Bioinformatics Infrastructural Facilities and others.