A renovated Aza Khana Zehra awaits lamenters at Dar-ul-Shifa as Muharram, the month of mourning for Shias, begins.

The magnificent structure built by the seventh Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, to perpetuate the memory of his mother, Amtul Zehra Begum, has gone in for extensive repairs for the first time in its 67 year existence.Hectic activity is on to deck up the Ashoorkhana which will be swarmed by mourners for the next 68 days.

The cardboard ceiling of the colonnaded hall has been replaced with a plaster of Paris false ceiling and the four huge chandeliers repaired and lit up. They were badly damaged as the old ceiling cracked and fell at many places. “Though we started the repair work three months ago it could not be completed in time. Painting work remains and it will be done only after Muharram,” says Mir Baquar Ali Moosvi, assistant director, Umoor-e-Mazhabi, Nizam Trust. The Aza Khana Zehra, which is also known as Madar-e-Deccan, was built by the last Nizam in 1941. And since then it has been an important place for Shia worshippers. Four sacred battle standards known as ‘Alams’ are its prized possession. The gold and diamond-studded standards are installed after the Muharram crescent is sighted. They are offered the traditional ‘dhatti’ by the Nizam family members and other devotees.

One of the finest examples of Osmanian style of architecture, this house of mourning was bestowed the Intach Heritage award in 1999.

The renovation work cost a whopping amount and it was borne entirely by Sahebzadi Rasheedunnisa Begum, the grand daughter of the Nizam, according to Syed Hamed Hussain Jaffery, president, A.P. Shiya Youth Conference.

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Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Emirates Airline, has garnered over 50 percent of the air exports of hazardous goods out of Hyderabad, the Hindu Business Line reported.

The lion’s share of this comes from the drug, pharmaceuticals and chemicals industry. Hyderabad, is the bulk drug capital of the country and has a significant number of exporters.

Hazardous goods, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) having hazardous properties, chemicals, inflammable liquids used for industrial purposes, are some of the products carried by the Emirates SkyCargo.

By adding one more flight on the Hyderabad-Dubai route, taking the total to 21 flights a week from Hyderabad, the Airline has enhanced its trade and cargo movement capacity.

Currently, Emirates SkyCargo offers more than 300 tonnes of air cargo capacity a week for one direction on this route.

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With the visitor turnout of over two-lakh in ten days, and the maximum on a single day of 40,000, the Hyderabad Book Fair was marked with a more-than-usual success rate this year.

The visitor turnout, counted with the help of the metal detector, recorded a definite improvement over the last year when the total number of arrivals hovered around 1.5 lakh.

“The fair is a huge success. There has been a 15 per cent rise in sales over the last year. Over 40,000 visitors came on Christmas with similar numbers recorded on all holidays,” S. Srinivasa Rao, one among the organisers said on the final day of the fair.

Even on the last day, people were seen thronging the stalls selling children’s literature, and spiritual books. Progressive literature too had its share of admirers.

“Books about recession and about Barack Obama were sold like hot cakes. A remarkable growth in readership for Telugu novels was noticed. This shows a trend whereby people are slowly shifting from television to books,” said Mr. Rao.

However, the CPI(M) State Secretary B.V.Raghavulu, while attending the closure ceremony on Sunday, attributed the rush to the melt down. World is in a crisis and people are not in a position to go to malls and pubs. Hence the throngs at the book fair. This shows that books can be true friends in times of difficulty,” he said and described book reading as a good addiction.

Chief Guest Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development D.Purandeswari expressed regret that Internet, while being widely used for chatting and mailing, is not being exploited for its potential of disseminating knowledge. She advised parents to initiate their children to books at a younger age.

CPI MP Aziz Pasha said that enlightenment through books led to political activity and described the present generation as ‘explosion of knowledge’.

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HYDERABAD: Come 2009, police will just be an SMS away. Citizens can send a short message service (SMS) to 9010100100 to beckon the men in khaki in case of an emergency.

Briefing the media here on Tuesday, Hyderabad police commissioner B Prasada Rao said: "People are finding it difficult to access `100'. Though the caller hears the ring when he/she dials the number, the call was not landing at the control room, possibly due to technical problems," Prasada Rao said.

"To avoid that, the SMS facility will be introduced. The moment the message is sent, operators at the control room will alert the concerned police station," he added.

To a query on techie Mohammed Talha of Nadeem Colony, who was picked up by Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), Prasada Rao said the case was investigated by the Maharastra police and they do not share investigation details. "We only gave the requested assistance to ATS. Hyderabad police too questioned some people, but since Talha was working at Hi-Tec City, we transferred the investigation to Cyberabad police," Prasada Rao said.

He also said there was not much headway in the sensational Vikar Ahmed case. Ahmed fired on police personnel near a phone booth at IS Sadan and fled from the place. "We are still investigating the matter," he added.

Though they could not nab a terror suspect, the Hyderabad police chief claimed the city police was capable of thwarting a Mumbai-style terrorist attack. "A Greyhound team is already in the city and procurement of sophisticated weapons is also not a problem. Weapons will be procured under Megapolis," Prasada Rao said.

He also reeled out achievements of the police force in 2008. Fatal accidents came down in 2008 when compared to previous year, he said. According to him, 453 fatal accidents were recorded compared to 533 the previous year. Similarly, 22 history-sheeters, 68 robbers and decoits were nabbed.

However, there was a consistent decrease in property recoveries. In 2008, of Rs 21,64,44,137 property lost, they could recover property worth Rs 3,49,76,151 (16.15%). In 2007, property lost was Rs 13,93,97,961, recovered was Rs 4,57,50,080 (32.81%), while in 2006, the property lost was Rs 23,96,84,192 and recovery was Rs 11,70,92,995 (48.85%).

He said 99 surveillance cameras had been installed at various locations.

When questioned about the way police handled a GHMC personnel-MIM MLAs' tiff over demolishing of a property in Abids, leading to a major traffic jam, Prasada Rao said police reacted based on repercussions the incident might have on the city. "As the next day was Bonalu festival, we take a holistic view of the incident, repercussions it may have and then act accordingly," the IPS officer said.

According to him the Hyderabad police website was received well by people and till date it had registered 16 lakh hits. He also said that the City Security Wing (CSW) was short of gadgets, but procurement process has been set in motion. 

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