January, 20202MIDNIGHT REPORTER

IAS

Appointments

The 1986 batch IAS officer of MP cadre, Anil KumarJain, Secretary in the Ministry of Coal has been givenadditional charge of the post of Secretary in the Minis-try of Environment, Forest & Climate.

The 1986 batch IAS officer of AM cadre, RaviCapoor, Secretary in the Ministry of Textiles has beengiven addl charge of the post of Secretary in the Min-istry of Women and Child Development.

The 1987 batch IAS officer of MN cadre, BarunMitra, Special Secretary in the Dept of Defence Pro-duction has been given addl charge of the post ofSecretary, Dept of Justice.

The 2009 batch IAS officer of Tripura cadre, MilindRamteke has been selected for the appointment asDeputy Secretary, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Acad-emy of Administration(LBSNAA) in Mussoorie.

The 1992 batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre,Biswanath Sinha has been posted as Principal Secre-tary, Printing Stationary and Sainik Welfare Depart-ment in the Govt of Kerala.

The 1987 batch IAS officer of MN cadre, BarunMitra who is currently posted as Special Secretary inthe Dept of Defence Production, Ministry of Defencehas been appointed as Officer on Special Duty(OSD)in the Dept of Justice under the Ministry of Law & De-fence.

The 1985 batch IAS officer of MP cadre,Radheshyam Julania, Secretary in the Dept of Sportshas been given addl charge of the post of Secretary inthe Dept of Youth Affairs.

The 1985 batch IAS officer of MP cadre, AnilSrivastava will continue work for the National Missionon Mobility & Battery and Principal Consultant in NITIAayog.

The 1987 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, RajeshBhushan has been given addl charge of the post ofChairperson, National Authority Chemical WeaponsCOnvention(NACW), Cabinet Secretariat. He is cur-rently posted as Secretary(Coordination), CabinetSecretariat.

The 1987 batch IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre,Nagendra Nath Sinha, currently posted as Secretary,Dept of Border Management has been given addlcharge of the post of Secretary, Dept of Official Lan-guage under the Ministry of Home Affairs with imme-diate effect.

The 2005 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre, Dr.Vikrant Pandey has been appointed as Director in theInter State Council Secretariat(ISCS) under the Min-istry of Home Affairs.

13 IAS officers appointed as Special Secretary inthe Govt of India.

11 IAS officers appointed as Secretary in the Govtof India

IPSAs many as 12 IPS officers are going to retire in

December 2019. The officers are: R J Savani ofGujarat; Surinder Kumar of J&K; Ranjit Kumar Prasadof Jharkhand; Mohd S Yasin of Kerala; V. K.Suryavanshi of MP; P P Mutyal of Maharashtra; AmarSingh Chahal of Punjab; Dr. Bhupendra Singh ofRajasthan; Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar and Pramod Kumar ofUttar Pradesh; M Hari Sena Verma of West Bengal.

The 1984 batch IPS officer of UP cadre, S. JaveedAhmad who is currently posted as Director, NICFShas been given premature repatriation to his parentcadre with effect from 31 December 2019.

Girish Kumar, currently posted as DIG, CRPF hasbeen appointed as Private Secretary to the Ministerof State for Parliamentary Affairs and Heavy Indus-tries and Public Enterprises, Arjun Ram Meghwal inthe Dept of Heavy Industry.

The 197 batch IRS(C&CE) officer, Ms. Suchitra Sharma, hasbeen given extension of additional charge of the post of CVO, Engi-neers India Ltd(EIL) for the period of six months.

The 1989 batch IRS(IT) officer, Abhay Damle, Joint Secretaryin the Ministry of Road, Transport & Highways has been given pre-mature repatriation to his parent cadre.

The 2008 batch iRS(C&CE) officer, Prashant Kumar Jha hasbeen appointed as Officer on Special Duty to the Minister of State(I/C) for DoNER and MoS for PMO, PPG&P, Atomic Energy and Space,Dr. Jitendra Singh in the Ministry of DoNER.

An IRSME officer, Anant Mohan Singh who is currently postedas Chairman in Railway Recruitment Board in Kolkata has beenhanded over addl charge of the post of Chairman in Railway Re-cruitment Board in Bhubaneshwar.

Devesh Srivastava has been taken charge as Chairman andManaging Director(CMD), General Insurance Corporation of India

An IRS(IT) officer, Vidyasagar R. Patil who is currently postedas additional CIT in Pune has resigned from Indian RevenueService(IRS) of Income Tax cadre.

Anirudh Prasad has been appointed as Director(Finance), Elec-tronics Corporation of India(ECI) Ltd. He is currently posted as Gen-eral Manager, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd(MTNL).

The 1987 batch IFS officer, Sanjay Bhattacharya has been ap-pointed as Secretary(CPV & OIA). He is currently posted as Am-bassador in Turkey.

The 1986 batch IFS officer, Vikas Swarup has been appointedas Secretary(West) in the Ministry of External Affairs.

Professor Ashutosh Sharma has been appointed as Secretaryin the Dept of Science and Technology wef 8 January 2020.

Bhabesh Sarmah, Joint Director(Interpretation), Lok SabhaSecretariat has been appointed as OSD to the Minister of State forFood Processing Industries to Rameswar Teli.

The 1998 batch IDES officer, Ravi Shankar, Joint Secretary atDirector level in Union Public Service Commission(UPSC) has beengiven premature repatriation to his parent cadre.

The 2000 batch IOFS officer, Sanjay Kumar Singh, currentlyposted as Director, NITI Aayog has been given premature repatria-tion to his parent cadre wef 31 March 2020.

Pramod Kumar Gupta, General Manager in Engineers IndiaLtd(EIL) has been appointed as OSD to the Minister of State(I/C)for Labour & Employment, Santosh Kumar Gangwar.

Harsh Vardhan Shringla appointednext Foreign Secretary

Indian Ambassador to US HarshVardhan Shringla has been ap-pointed the next Foreign Secretary.

Shringla will take over as For-eign Secretary from Vijay KeshavGokhale on January 29. An IndianForeign Service (IFS) officer of the1984 batch, Shringla has held sev-eral important positions in his diplo-matic career spanning 35 years. Hehas served as India’s High Commis-sioner to Bangladesh and Thailand,apart from serving in France, India’spermanent mission to the UnitedNations in the US, Vietnam, Israeland South Africa.

Shringla has graduated from St.Stephen’s College, Delhi University

and schooled from Mayo College, Ajmer. He has worked in the Cor-porate and Public Sectors in India prior to joining the prestigious In-dian Foreign Service.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved theappointment of Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Ambassador in WashingtonDC, as Foreign Secretary with effect from January 29, 2020, uponcompletion of the two-year term of Vijay Keshav Gokhale as ForeignSecretary on January 28, 2020, an official release said.

Atul Karwal appointed NPA directorAtul Karwal, a Gujarat cadre IPS officer, has been appointed as

director of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy. Ac-cording to the Ministry of Home Affairs order on Wednesday, theappointments committee of the cabinet has approved the proposalof the Ministry of Home Affairs to appoint Atul Karwal, a 1988 batchIPS officer of Gujarat as director of NPA.

Atul is presently working as Additional DG of CRPF. He is ap-pointed as Director, SVP NPA by temporarily downgrading the postto the level of Additional Director General up to December 5, 2021,the date of combined deputation tenure of Karwal or until furtherorders whichever is earlier.

Sanjay Krishna appointedchief secretary of AssamThe Assam government on Tuesday appointed se-

nior IAS officer Kumar SanjayKrishna as the new chief secre-tary.

A state government ordersaid that Krishna, a 1985 batchIAS officer at present the addi-tional chief secretary Home,Political and Disaster Manage-ment will take over as the chiefsecretary after the incumbentAlok Kumar retired on 31 Dec.

Vijay Kumar appointedSenior Security Advisorin MHA

Former advisor to theGovernor of the erstwhilestate of Jammu and Kash-mir, K Vijay Kumar, hasbeen appointed as a se-nior security advisor in theMinistry of Home Affairsheaded by Amit Shah, anofficial order said. The1975-batch IPS officer will“advise the ministry on security-related matters of UnionTerritory of Jammu and Kashmir and Left Wing Extrem-ism (LWE) affected States,” the order said. The appoint-ment order issued by the Union Home Ministry on De-cember 3 stated that 67-year-old Kumar will be in theposition for a period of one year from the date of his tak-ing charge. Kumar has served as the Director-General ofthe Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Director of theNational Police Academy in Hyderabad and his mosttalked-about stint was as the chief of the Tamil Nadu po-lice special task force that killed forest brigand Veerappanin 2004. After his retirement from service and as DG,CRPF in 2012, Kumar was appointed as senior securityadvisor (LWE) in the Home Ministry then headed byRajnath Singh.

Vijay Kumar appointed newIGP of Kashmir

Senior IPS officer Vijay Kumar will be the new In-spector General of Police, Kashmir, replacing SwayamPrakash Pani, according to an official order issued.Theorder to this effect was issued by the Principal Secre-tary (Home) Shaleen Kabra here.Kumar is a 1997-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer who is pres-ently posted as IGP (Armed). He will replace Pani whotook over as the youngest IGP at the age of 41 yearsin February 2018.

January, 20203MIDNIGHT REPORTER

‘High Light’ happening2019 was a full of meetings & trips

for Dr.Andrew Fleming,Dy. High Com-missioner of UK for both the states,from which the recent Andhra trip is ahigh light one including the atmosphere, culture, political and official meetings.Presenting one of the cultural event pic-ture, in which girls can be seen in thetraditional dresses.

In the picture Gautam Swang can beseen, who is in news for the best per-formance, as the crime graph has comedown in Andhra, revealed in the annualround-up. Hat’s off to the entire team.

SwagatamSuswagatam

President of India Shri.Ram NathKovind visited Hyderabad during hissouthern sojourn and graced a coupleof events in the city. During President’svisit Dr.Tamilisai Soundararajan, Gov-ernor of Telangana has received atHakimpet Airport.While receiving theGovernor & the President are exchang-ing the namaskars with each other, thebest & the timely picture wasclicked,hence swagatam suswagatampicture is the picture of the month.

Metro ki YatraJoel Reifman, the Consul General

of US in Hyderabad experienced theHyderabad Metro Rail yatra to make onthe last day of 2019.This is the onefrom his ‘Hyderabad Bucket List’.Afterthe travel Mr.Joel said that “I enjoyedmy first trip at HMR”.And said that whatshould I add to my bucket list for 2020?.Might be ‘Tange Ki Savari’ ! He also vis-ited Botanical Garden.

Experience is ExceptionalYes experience is the most valuable treasure and

the appointment of Chief Secretary Dr.S.K.Joshi as theAdvisor to the Government of Irrigation soon after hisretirement is the best example of it. How come the gov-ernment can leave such a knowledgeable seniorofficer.So, Mr.Joshi will serve as Irrigation Advisor tothe Government. Best wishes to the simple & the so-ber bureaucrat.

New Year -New Happening

New year & new happening for IRS of-ficer N.Balram. Yes, the officer has been pro-moted from Dy. Commissioner to Joint Com-missioner rank. Presently the officer is serv-ing as Director, Finance , Singareni CollieriesCompany and will continue on the samepost.Many more to come. Best wishes to thesincere officer, who stands first when itcomes to helping others & social initiatives.

The ‘Second Inning’Begins

The retired IAS officer K.Ratna Prabha’ssecond inning has began.The lady officerserved as Chief Secretary of Karnataka State,recently appointed as Chairperson ofKarnataka Skill Development Authority.Thisis nothing but a return gift from the Karnatakagovernment for her best performance, sin-cerity & hard work. Infact government needsthe experienced senior officers like RatnaPrabha.Best wishes.

‘Operation Smile’on screen

Many more initiatives & happenings tookplace in the year 2019 in the regime of DGPM.Mahender Reddy, in fact many more suc-cess stories will be added in the list of2020.The Chief’s endless efforts & keenmonitoring has made the state police profilehigher & bigger. Presently operation smile ison screen, as the entire January month thisinitiative will be executed on state level,where including last 5th phase 32,621children’s were rescued.Many reached totheir homes.

Another BoundaryOne more boundary from Hyderabad Po-

lice Commissioner Anjani Kumar.News is,in the year 2019 overall crime is reduced to3%.Amazing one , but not an easy task toachieve this reduction.So, when it comes toother details bodily offences, property of-fences & chain snatching too were reducedcompared to last year. Kya baat hai !.Whatelse, many more happenings in his regime.Kudos to the CP & his entire team.

What A ‘Stunning Start’ SK new Chief Secretary

The new year, the 2020 has entered withthe big happening, brought the luck,the topcoveted post of Chief Secretary for seniorbureaucrat Somesh Kumar.Till the announce-ment it was a discussion in the corridors ofpower, that which officer will were the crown,but finally Somesh Kumar has been made the5th chief secretary of the state.Another newsis he will serve on the post till 31st December2023, the longest ever term.So, the 1989 batchIAS officer is all set to make his term tremen-dous. Many wishes to the new CS !.

4 January, 2020MIDNIGHT REPORTER

Yes it’s a news, amongthe routine developments& commitments the ‘greenchallenge’ is moving rap-idly on its own way fromone place to another. Nowthe ground initiative is onthe screen !

The happening IPS of-ficer D.S.Chauhan,Addl.CP(L&O) accepted the chal-lenge and planted the sap-lings with the team officers.Coming back to the news,Mr.Chauhan is playing vitalrole in Hyderabad city po-lice. Yes, 24/7 he will be ontoes to co-ordinate with theteam officers and puts allhis efforts to control & totackle the routine tasks.Best officer !

Dr.Gaurav Uppal, Resi-dent Commissioner, Tela-ngana Bhavan planted thesapling and has thrown thechallenge to the next per-sons. As a Collector ofNalgonda Mr.Uppal hasdone tremendous work.The resident of the districtstill appreciate his efforts.

The Wanaparthy districtCollector Swetha Mohanty& Narayanpet SP Dr.Chetana has also acceptedthe challenge and plantedthe saplings. And it’s anews that both the lady of-

The ‘Green Challenge’ Continues

The ‘Jewel Of Punjab’Honorary Consul of The Kingdom of Lesotho, Southern Africa Namdhari Surat

Singh Malhotra recognized as “Jewel of Punjab”.The said award was presentedby former Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh.The honor is presented to the se-lected personalities from the entire India, whose roots are basically from Punjaband who has reached the high peaks in their own respective fields.Best wishes tothe big man Mr.Malhotra and the entire Namdhari family.

ficers are ‘on screen’ for their hard work & sincerity.Role models !

Exceptional AwardFor C.V.Anand

‘Exceptional Contribution Award’ for hap-pening IPS officer C.V. Anand, who is on cen-tral deputation and presently serving at Cen-tral Industrial Security Force. So, this awardis from Gfiles for distinguished police ser-vices & revolutionary reforms in PDS in theTelangana state. The Central minister NitinGadkari was chief guest of the event. Theofficer Mr. Anand is on central deputation andone has to take the permission from MHA toreceive any award, when applied it has beenrejected. That’s the reason the officer didn’treceived the award. But officer Mr.Anand’sperformance is always ‘on screen’.Bestwishes.

Superr Se Uparr !Hat’s off to Rachakonda Police Commissioner

Mahesh B.Bhagwat !and this time for Gyan-KeyLibrary initiative. Yes, recently in collaboration withsocial entrepreneur Pradeep Lokhande-basedNGO Rural Relations, a library has been inaugu-rated at Uppal police station and the Zilla ParishadHigh School in Uppal.Plans to open such librariesat 44 Law and order police stations in Rachakondaand 25 government schools shortlisted for theStudent Police Cadet programme in Medchal-Malkajgiri and Yadadri-Bhongir districts.In theGyan-Key libraries plans to keep the books relatedto law, personality development, values, leadershipetc., in both English and Telugu.Kya baat hai ! Su-per se upar..!

New Posting For SarfarazIn a minor reshuffle of IAS officers, the State govern-

ment has transferred Karimnagar Collector SarfarazAhmad and posted him as Prohibition and Excise Direc-tor. Mr. Sarfaraz Ahmad will replace senior IAS officerSomesh Kumar who has been holding the full additionalcharge of the post. He will be replaced by Jogulamba-Gadwal Collector K. Shashanka. Wanaparthy District Col-lector Swetha Mohanty has been placed in full additionalcharge as Jogulamba-Gadwal Collector until furtherorders.MCRHRD Institute Additional Director GeneralBusani Venkateswara Rao has been posted as Revenue(Disaster Management) Principal Secretary and he will bereplaced by A. Ashok who is waiting for posting.

DM Rides ‘Hero Cycle’‘Hero Cycle’ and the Nizamabad District Col-

lector C.Narayana Reddy are in talk. One has toagree that he became the happening Collector ofthe Telangana State, in fact his initiative is high-lighted by National media also.The news is , theCollector Mr.Reddy moved for a surprise visit tothe Nizamabad government hospital by riding thecycle,might be ‘hero cycle’ in the early hours.Hevisited the hospital without showing his identityand enquired about the medical facilities.Entirehospital doctors & staff were in shock after know-ing the entire story.The DM recently took over thecharge and showed his working style. Kya baat !

Sindhu Becomes BinduWorld Badminton champion P.V.Sindu be-

comes bindu, it means in Hindi the center ofattraction, not just in sports, but also in corri-dors of power.Yes recently the Andhra govern-ment has appointed the young Deputy Collec-tor P.V. Sindhu as Officer on Special Duty (OSD)at the Lake View Guest House in Hyderabad.The post of OSD has been upgraded to DeputyCollector.For clarification, no special courts atLake View, as she will be practicing badmintonat her own place.

One More ChargeAnother charge for Commissioner of

Commercial Taxes Department NeetuKumari Prasad ! Yes recently, the lady of-ficer is appointed as Vice-Chancellor ofPotti Sreeramulu Telugu University. Allmajor state universities are now beingheaded by babus, with the additionalcharge of being Vice-Chancellors of thevarsities. Let’s see how this new trend willwork !

Naam Hi Kafi hai…!When it comes to 2019 performance report,

Naam hi kafi hai…! tag line suits to the happen-ing officer V.C. Sajjanar, Commissioner of Police,Cyberabad. Koi shak ! When it comes to 2020, childand women safety is the first and the top priorityof the CP. Many more to come...!

New year pledge !“New hopes, new commitments ! Let’s commit

ourselves to Women Safety in this new decade.Sayno to the harassment of women.” says Shikha Goel,Addl.CP (Crime & SIT).The same teaser is makingrounds on social media.Women safety first !

5MIDNIGHT REPORTER January, 2020

Diwali - Festival Of LIGHTS

The Ark Group celebrated its30th anniversary on a grand scalefollowed by the announcement of‘Vision 2030’.The Group’s Chair-man G.Ram Reddy welcomed theguests and further focused on thevision.The Group has set the vi-sion to reach the five thousandcrores bench mark by the year2030. Amazing ! The Indian author& columnist Chetan Bhagat’s talkwas high light of the event, the ‘In-credible India’ theme culturalprogramme & the laser show wasthe major attraction of theevening.Group CEO MeghnaGummi & Smt.Sarla Ram Reddyalso addressed the gathering.Whowho’s of the town & the happen-ing personalities from other statesalso graced the occasion. Finallyit was a fun filled anniversary cel-ebration inspired many of them.

Ark Group CMD G. Ram Reddy with Guest Speaker ChetanBhagat, Smt. Sarla Ram Reddy & Group CEO Meghna Gummi.

(Left to Right) N.B. Srinivas V.P, ITC, Vadiraj Kulakarni COO, ITC Bhadrachalam, Vinay Maheshwari,Director JBM Group & Anil Mathur from TATA Boeing.

Launch picture of ‘ARK - Above & Beyond’ Dr. B. Janardhan Reddy

Badminton Coach Gopichand with Guest Chetan Bhagat & Jayesh Ranjan

Shankar Shastri, CREDAI Karnataka &Srikanth bolla, Bollant Industry.

Ramchandra Reddy, CREDAI Telangana & AnandSinghania from Naya, Raipur.

Mahavir Sound Room &Rajeshwar Rao Art Galleryorganized a ‘Mixed MediaExplorations’, a group artshow recently at MahavirSound Room ,Madhapur, inwhich 25 contemporary andcelebrity artists of India ex-hibited their awesome pieceof arts in various forms in ce-ramics, textiles, wood, steel& fiber.The well known inte-rior designer Supraja Raofocused on the new trends ofart and said cutting-edgedesign, including sound en-gineering , can transformspaces, art adds to it all bygiving them life.So, the who,who’s of the town moved tothe art show , which went onfor three days. Amazing col-lection ! Yeshwant Jhabakh& Jaleel Sabir welcomed theguests.

Amazing Art Show

Supraja Rao, Jaleel Sabir & YeshwantJhabakh lighting the lamp.

Kubra Altinors

Madhulika, Amulya & Prashanti

Hari, Ambareesh & Jitender

January, 20206MIDNIGHT REPORTER

Despite strong support from thegovernment, residential sales thisyear are yet to reach pre-demonetisation levels in most cit-ies but Hyderabad remains an ex-ception, according to real estateconsultant JLL India. WhileHyderabad registered the maxi-mum sales, Delhi witnessed lowestlevels during January-September2019 period. Mumbai remains anexception to recovery in sales, itsaid.

The real estate sector has suc-cessfully weathered the storms ofpolicy interruptions and economicdownturns, JLL India said in a state-ment, adding, the year 2019 has sofar been so good for the realty sec-tor. While the top three metropoli-tan cities of Mumbai, Delhi andBengaluru have been the major fo-cus of real estate activities, JLL re-search showed that Hyderabad iscatching up fast.

Hyderabad topped the list with

Hyderabad tops residential sales at 36%

a 36 per cent sales penetration followed by Pune at 34 per cent. Delhi registered the lowest sales penetrationrate at 13 per cent followed by Kolkata at 17 per cent. The city level analysis shows that Chennai registered itshighest ever sales penetration since 2014 in the first nine months of 2019 at 33 per cent.

All other cities except Bengaluru have registered an uptick in the January to September period as com-pared to the same period last year. The impact of demonetisation was prolonged only in Kolkata which regis-tered a sales penetration of 17 per cent in January-September of 2019, considerably below the pre-demonetisation sales penetration level of 28 per cent. Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai showed strong revival insales along with other cities limping back to pre- demonetisation levels. Hyderabad was one of the worst-hitcities, but it has not only recovered from the slump but also crossed the pre- demonetisation level and had thehighest sales penetration level out of all the cities in the first nine months of 2019.

Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennailead with 30 mn sqft office spaceabsorption in 2019

Bengaluru, Hyderabad andChennai saw a 23 per cent risein demand for office space in2019 as compared with lastyear, with gross absorption at30.6 million square feet.

This strong growth demandis led by expansionary activityin the technology and IT-BPMspace, ramp-up by flexibleworkspace players and invest-ments of companies in globalcapability centers.

“As per our expectations, asustained leasing momentum, coupled with continued demand from tech-nology and flexible workspace operators once again helped Bengalurusecure the number one position in terms of overall leasing in 2019. Overthe last few years, Hyderabad has seen unprecedented growth in com-mercial leasing activities owing to infrastructural push from the govern-ment, strong demand and attractive rentals. The city has been a majorlocation for global investors who are scouting for ready stock with highyield rates,” said Arpit Mehrotra, Senior Director, Office Services(Bengaluru & Hyderabad) at Colliers International India.

Bengaluru continued to be the market leader with gross absorptionof about 15 million square feet in 2019, an increase of 6 per cent from2018. Technology and IT-BPM sector accounted for 39 per cent of thetotal leasing during the year, followed by the engineering and manufac-turing segment’s share at 16 per cent and the flexible workspace shareat 15 per cent. During the year, Bengaluru saw supply infusion of 10.9million feet.

Hyderabad marketHyderabad witnessed 9.5 million square feet of gross absorption

during 2019 registering a 38 per cent y-o-y growth in office space de-mand when compared to 2018. This new peak in office demand is drivenby technology and flexible workspace players accounting for 51 per centand 32 per cent respectively, during 2019.

Interestingly, the flexible workspace players have ramped-up opera-tions in the city with almost a four-fold increase in leasing activity during2019 compared to previous year.

“The year (2019) has ended on a high note with Chennai andHyderabad hitting an all-time high. Vacancies in the south cities hover-ing in single digits, signalling strong occupier sentiments. Overall, thisyear should see demand of about 52 million square feet, again a newhigh, as occupiers continue to remain enthused about India. We expecttechnology companies to continue their strong streak in 2020, with flex-ible workspaces slowing their expansion phase,” said Megha Maan,Senior Associate Director, Research, Colliers International India.

2019 sees sharp increase in buildingpermissions in Hyderabad

As hoped andexpected, real es-tate in Hyderabadcontinue to surgeand a reflection ofthe positive senti-ments happens tobe the sharp in-crease in thebuilding permis-sions in the year2019.

The GreaterHyderabad Mu-nicipal Corpora-tion (GHMC) gen-

erated nearly Rs 980 crore through building permissions till December24 as against Rs 850 crore generated during the last financial year.

With three more months to go before the closure of current financialyear, there are expectations of revenue through building permissioncrossing Rs 1,000 crore. This will be perhaps the first time, GHMC rev-enues through building permissions cross Rs 1,000 crore mark.

In all, 16,801 building permissions were issued till December 24against the total permissions of 14,415 last financial year. As many as1,902 residential apartments permissions were issued with a total builtspace of 63,49,766 square metres for total dwellings units of 37,328flats. Similarly, 236 commercial buildings were issued a total built upspace of 32,32,416 square metres. In tune with the State government’s‘Look East’ initiative, the eastern parts of the city, specially LB Nagar,Hayathnagar and neighbouring areas are witnessing hectic construc-tion, if the building permissions issued by the GHMC are taken intoconsideration. Leading the chart, Serilingampally zone issued 423 resi-dential building permissions and 38 commercial building permissions.But LB Nagar Zone does not lag far behind with 342 residential buildingpermissions and 25 commercial building permissions issued betweenJanuary 1 to December 24.

Allianz, SP Group fundbuys Hyderabad businesspark for US$250m

A fund co-owned by Allianz Real Estate andIndia conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji (SP)Group has purchased the WaveRock businesspark in Hyderabad, India for US$250m. The dealcomprises four office towers offering 2.4m sq.ft.of total leasable area in the Gachibowli finan-cial district, a high-growth IT hub and estab-lished employment corridor, Allianz announcedin a statement.

Completed in 2017, the business park isfully let and home to Apple, TCS, Accenture,DBS, GAP IT and other tenants. “This invest-ment is in line with our vision of creating a sus-tainable commercial real estate portfolio acrosskey metros in India,” said Rajesh Agarwal, CEOof Shapoorji Pallonji Investment Advisors.

The SPREF II fund acquired the asset bypurchasing all of the securities in the park’sowner, TSI Business Parks (Hyderabad).

SPREF II is a Singapore-domiciled fundtargeting office assets across Mumbai, Banga-lore, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and NationalCapital Region.

The fund, which has USD$500 in equitycommitments, is building a long-term, cash flowproducing office portfolio through develop-to-core, forward purchases, and stabilised orstabilising asset deals.

“This is one of the marquee commercial de-velopments in India and is a terrific addition toAllianz’s office portfolio in 24/7 global cities,” saidRushabh Desai, Asia Pacific CEO of AllianzReal Estate.

“Our first investment in SPREF II, SP InfocityPune, is outperforming its business plan. Of-fice investments in India continue to offer at-tractive risk-adjusted returns.”

The transaction takes place as office take-up increased 2% year-on-year and rents rose3.1% across the top seven cities in India dur-ing H1 2019, according to Colliers.

The deal comes after Allianz Real Estateteamed up with Indian conglomerate GodrejGroup and committed US$150m to Indian of-fice developments in August.

Allianz made its first real estate investmentin India in 2017, when it established its officeinvestment platform with SP Group.

7MIDNIGHT REPORTER January, 2020

Simple Minds-Treasure Of Innovative Designs

Presenting the most happening interior de-signer of the industry -VINOD BACHALA,whose firm ‘Simple Minds’ stands to it’s ownidentity.

‘Simple Minds’ is a studio Boutique Inte-rior Design firm with expertise in Hospitality& Residential projects for more than two de-cades.

“We are best known for creating polishedspaces that are timeless and has consistentlyrecognised for variety of innovative design so-lutions that impeccably blend functional &aesthetic needs.” said Mr.Bachala.

When asked that how ‘Simple Minds’ getsthe creative ideas, Mr.Bachala said “my pas-sion for travelling helps me to learn and seenew inspirational ideas & spaces. At the endit’s truly satisfying to bring clients vision tolife, in fact that is our objective”.

VINOD BACHALA

Design by ‘Simple Minds’

January, 20208MIDNIGHT REPORTER

Publisher/Printer/Editor/Owner: Dr. CHAITANYA SINGH, Printed at COLOUR GRAPHICS, 3-1-351, Nimboliadda, Kachiguda Station Road, Hyderabad - 500 027, Telangana State.Published at H.No. 13-6-249/3, Jafferguda Post Kulsumpura, Karwan, Hyderabad-06, Telangana State. Cell : 8008175000. E-mail : mrnewseditor@yahoo.com.

Women Empowerment‘Zindabaad’

Consulate General of the Republic of Turkey, Dr.Adnan Altay Altinorsand wife Kubra Altinors organised a talk on ‘Women’s Empowerment andFashion’ at the Turkish consulate premises.The guests pointed the prior-ity of education and equal opportunities.On stage Her Royal HighnessPrincess Esra Jah, actress Lakshmi Manchu , Tv anchor Suma Kanakala,Kubra Altinors and Suchita Ahuja focused on many aspects, which arehelpful for the overall development of the women. Sayeeda HajiAnwarrunissa also expressed her experience. Many known feminines at-tended the power packed talk planned in association with Neerus. Guestswere treated to a spread of Turkish snacks and the Baklava was the crowd’sfavourite.Hindi songs were the attraction at the talk.

Avnish & Priya

Lakshmi Manchu & Suma

Suchita Ahuja Sodagam Aparna

Shagun Ali

Princess Esra Jah

Dr. Adnan & Kubra Altinors

Sabiha Ali

Sudha Jain

Nisha

Abdur Rahman

Mohib Baig & Hasnain SaberiAnanya Simlai

Mohd. Khaleequr Rahman

Selva & Ulu

9MIDNIGHT REPORTER January, 2020

MR’s ‘Dhoom December’is out with a bang

Midnight Reporter’s ‘Dhoom December’edition is out with a bang released by hap-pening bureaucrat Mr.Arvind Kumar , IAS ,Principal Secretary, MAUD andMr.N.V.S.Reddy,IRAS, Managing Director,Hyderabad Metro Rail.

Click the link for epaper :<www .midnightrepor ter .com/Main/

december/>

A Walk Like None OtherStanding at an elevation of 5364 mtrs (17,594 ft) above sea level, the Everest Base

Camp is positioned at a precarious center of Nepal and India borders. This is one of themost popular trekking routes in the Himalayas and is considered highly challenging, espe-cially after a devastating avalanche swept through Everest Base Camp in 2015, killing 17trekkers.

This however, does not perturb adventure seekers like Praveen Agarwal, MD - Meraqee,who along with a team of 10 brave hearts, led by the Himalayan savvy mountaineer, SatyarupSiddhanta, ventured on a 8 day long trek covering an elevation based climb of over 2500mtrs, which starts at Lukla. The trek involving a series of testing landscape and erraticterrain, is considered a trekker’s real test. For a businessman however, this trek not onlyposes a formidable challenge, but also packs in a lifetime of extraordinary learnings. The10 brave hearts are Ali ,Amit, Anand ,Ankit ,Kamal ,Naman, Satyarup, Praveen, Sandeep &Vishal.

Vaneeta - Innova-tive Teacher

Sri Aurobindo Society pre-sented the ‘Teacher InnovationAward’ to Vaneeta Bhasin forsustainable efforts towardspromoting joyful & experimen-tal teaching.Kudos to the Zero-Investment Innovations ForEducation Initiatives platformfor the recognizing such tal-ents. Congrats to Vaneeta !Many more to come…!

Operation‘Aishwarya’good initiative

Operation ‘Aishwarya’, Anew initiative by Dietitician,Yoga Ratna & Author JyotiJashnani along with HighCourt Advocate Mr.ShivaGanesh who also teaches SelfDefence to WOMEN safety inthorough partnership with Film& Tv personality Mr.Kapil Deevhas been launched on an aus-picious note in accord of ‘SHETEAM’ of Rajendranagar Policelimits at Govt. VeterinaryCollage,Rajendranagar.

The trio are keen to em-power 20 Lakh children &women of Hyderabad aged be-tween 12 yrs to 45 yrs inSAFETY, SECURITY, TECH-NOLOGY KNOW HOW & HO-LISTIC EMPOWEREMENTwhich would protect them fromevil forces of the society keep-ing in lieu of the recent plightof VICTIM #Disha.

5th Anniversary WishesBeautiful couple Chukkapalli Avinash & Bhavana

Jarubula celebrated their 5th wedding anniversary.Theday which comes with all sweet memories from the dayof wedding to the present time.Anniversary,the daywhich makes the relation & bonding more closer & moretrust worthy. Lots of wishes & blessings for the couple.

Mounika‘On Screen’

After a big gap MounikaReddy is on screen ! YesMounika Charitable Founda-tion’s Founder Mounika is seenwith actor Dr.Ali. Occasion was“PADMAMOHANA SWARNAKANKANAM VISISHTADAMPATHULU LIFETIMEACHIEVEMENT AWARD - 2019”,where she has received the ‘Ex-cellence Award’ from Dr.Ali forher social services.Great goingMounika, many more tocome.Best wishes.

Ek Duuje Ke Liye…!Shaadi Mubarak to the newly wed

couple Ankur & Namrata. Grand decora-tion & the arrangements were on thescreen ! Friends, family members & thewell-wishers had good time at the wedding& blessed the couple.Let’s dedicate thebeautiful song to the couple…! Hum banetum bane ek duje ke liye….!

Yes ! Prateek isengaged

It’s a news that Prateek,the handsome chap is nomore a bachelor , yes he isengaged to Ashita.The cer-emony took place recently.Family affair ! Very soon thewedding date will be an-nounced. So, guys get readyfor the baraat ! Best wishes.

Rab Ne Bana Di JodiWedding season continues ! Prateek &

Shruti wedlock recently.The venue & the ar-rangements were fabulous. Planned perfectly! Lot of wishes & blessings showered to thenew couple.So, finally- Rab ne bana di Jodi…..!

BirthdayWishesMeenu

Meenu Sonicelebrated herBirth day with near& dear friends. De-licious food, livecounters & offcourse mocktailswere awesome.And the best mu-sic made theevening memo-rable. Kya baat !

10 January, 2020MIDNIGHT REPORTER

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11 January, 2020MIDNIGHT REPORTER

Public Sector

Bharat Petroleum Bags FIPI Award

Bharat Petroleum bagged “Oil Marketing Company of the year” Award at the FIPI Oil andGas Awards 2019. At a glittering award ceremony held in Delhi on 2nd December 2019,Shri. Arun Kumar Singh, Director (Marketing) BPCL, received the award at the hands ofShri. Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon’ble Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel.

The “Oil Marketing Company of the Year” award recognises BPCL’s leadership in perfor-mance in marketing of petroleum products in India. This award honours BPCL for their lead-ing performance in direct as well as retail sales through customer centric initiatives.

BPCL ranks 275 in the Fortune Global 500 list for 2019, a jump from last year’s 314.BPCL ranks 628 in the Forbes Global 2000 list for 2019, a considerable rise from 672 in

the 2018 list. For its outstanding global, financial and industry performance, BPCL has beenranked among the top 20 Oil and Gas Refining and Marketing Companies in the Platts Top250 Global Energy Company Rankings 201

NMDC is allocated with two coal blocksin Jharkhand State

Recently Ministry of Coal has allocated two coal blocksto NMDC, the Rohne and Tokisud North under Section5(1) of Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act 2015 for com-mercial mining. Both these blocks are located atHazaribagh District of Jharkhand.

The Rohne coal block has extractable reserves of 191million tonnes and planned production capacity of 8 mil-lion tonnes per annum. The Tokisud North coal block hasextractable reserves of about 52 million tonnes of thermalcoal and planned production capacity of 2.32 million tonnesper annum. Both the blocks are located at aerial distanceof about 10-15 kms. Rohne coal block has coking coalwhich may require washing of coal for feeding into steelplant and hence NMDC is exploring the possibility for set-ting up of coal washeries. NMDC is going to execute allot-ment agreement of Tokisud Nor th coal block on24.12.2019. The Rohne coal block allotment agreementwould be executed as per the directives from Ministry of

Coal with respective execution date.Expressing his happiness, Shri N. Baijendra Kumar, IAS, CMD, NMDC thanked Govern-

ment of India especially Steel Ministry and Coal Ministry for reposing faith on NMDC fordiversifying into coal.

LIC pays Rs 2,610.7 cr asFY19 dividend to govt.

The Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) on Fri-day paid a dividend of Rs 2,610.74 crore for the financialyear 2018-19 to the government

In a tweet, the Finance Ministry said: “Union Finance Minister @nsitharaman receives acheque of Rs 2,610.74 crores from M.R. Kumar, Chairman of LIC, as government’s share ofsurplus for Financial Year 2018-2019 here today. Rajeev Kumar, Finance Secretary, wasalso present.” Another tweet by the ministry said that in the last fiscal, LIC generated avaluation surplus of Rs 53,214.41 crore, with an annual growth of 9.9 per cent.

“…It has a market share of 76.28 per cent in number of policies and 71 per cent in Firstyear Premium as on 30.11.2019,” it said. The state-run insurer had expanded its annualsurplus by 10.1 percent to Rs 48,444.82 crore in fiscal year 2017-2018 and had paid Rs2,430.19 crore as the government’s share in FY18.

GAIL, Former CMD, B.C.Tripathi receives‘Best CEO’ Award

B C Tripathi, former Chairman& Managing Director of GAIL (In-dia) Limited, was honoured as the‘Best CEO’ in the Public SectorUndertakings category at theBusiness Today Best CEOAwards. The award was presentedby Minister of Petroleum & Natu-ral Gas and Steel, ShriDharmendra Pradhan yesterday.

Shri Tripathi, who was at thehelm of affairs at GAIL for a de-cade, was recognised as the long-est serving CMD of a PSU. Hejoined GAIL in 1984 as a DeputyManager and rose through theranks to hold crucial portfolios likeExecutive Director (Projects) andDirector (Marketing) before taking

charge as CMD in 2009 at the age of 49 years. During his tenure as CMD, GAIL earned thecoveted ‘Maharatna’ status, becoming the youngest company at the time to do so.

Shri Tripathi superannuated on July 31, 2019. Throughout his career, he championedthe benefits of Natural Gas as an environment friendly and economic fuel. The ‘Best CEO’Award recognised his role in expanding the reach of Natural Gas across the country andmultiple cities.

BHEL wins Indian Green Energy Award 2019

BHEL has won the Indian Green Energy Award 2019 in the category, OutstandingRenewable Energy Generation Projects (Solar) for its 7.5 MWp Solar PV Plant at Trichy.The award was received by Sh. Anil Kapoor, Director (HR), BHEL from Sh. Nitin Gadkari,Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways and MSME, in the presence of Dr. RajivKumar, Vice Chairman, Niti Aayog.

The award has been instituted by the Indian Federation of Green Energy (IFGE), apartnership of committed groups of visionaries and stakeholders from diverse industriesand services, for creating a sustainable ecosystem and mitigating challenges and con-cerns.

NHPC signs MOA with IIT(ISM), Dhanbad

A Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) for R&D Works was signed between NHPC andIIT(ISM) Dhanbad on 27.11.2019 in the august presence of Shri Janardan Choudhary,Director (Technical), NHPC and Prof. Rajiv Shekhar, Director, IIT(ISM) Dhanbad. ShriGobinda Baidya, Executive Director (R&D) and Prof. Shalivahan, Dean (R&D) signed theMOA on behalf of NHPC and IIT(ISM) Dhanbad respectively. Under the scope of the agree-ment IIT(ISM) Dhanbad would provide Research and Development and Consultancy ser-vices within its expertise to NHPC.

Speaking about this collaboration, Shri. Janardan Choudhary, Director (Technical),NHPC emphasise the need of the industry-academia collaboration to derive maximumbenefits for mutual growth. NHPC, India’s premier hydropower company is providing bal-ancing requirement of the grid, through both base as well as peak power supply. With theproposed large scale integration of the renewable energy in the system, the requirement ofhydropower would further increase as it provides stability to the grid. He further added thatNHPC in its plants is also facing problem of erosion in turbine parts and also issues relatedto silt handling, where collaborative research can be of use to NHPC.

NLCIL honours Padmashri Smt P. Chinna Pillai

Women in Public Sector (WIPS), Neyveli chapter, under the aegis of NLC India Lim-ited organized special program on Micro Finance & Development of Rural Women, wherein,Padmashri Smt. P. Chinna Pillai participated as Guest of Honor and spoke on theoccasion at Neyveli. During the occasion, Shri Rakesh Kumar CMD, NLCIL, Shri R.Vikraman,Director (HR) Shri Shaji John,Director (Power) and Shri T.Venkatasubramanian, CVO,NLCILhonoured Padmashri Smt. Chinna Pillai. Shri R. Vikraman, Director (HR) in his felicitationaddress, recalled that NLCIL has seen many renowned personalities as guests of theorganization, but having Padmashri Smt.Chinna Pillai as guest of honor itself is a proudmoment and great motivation for the Neyvelians .

He lauded her efforts in making own banking system-Kalanjiam-a microcredit move-ment, which has empowered hundreds of women and their families. Pullucheri Village hasbecome a model of self-sufficiency, he added. Shri Shaji John,Director (Power) and ShriT.Venkatasubramanian ,CVO,NLCIL also felicitated on the occasion.

Presiding over the function, Shri Rakesh Kumar CMD, NLCIL stated that PadmashriSmt P. Chinna Pillai is an Iron lady with selfless courage and determination, which not onlyhelped her but the entire deprived womanhood especially, rural women to successfullycome out of their problems and break the bonds of oppression created by vicious circle .

Nine awards for NTPCNTPC India’s largest power generation company,

has won 9 awards at the Annual PRSI National Awards2019. As many as 26 leading companies from both publicand private sectors participated in the awards. NTPCSimhadri has been declared a winner in the category

for Branding-PSU organisation implementing CSR and also for ‘e-Newsletter’ (e-Darpan)while NTPC Unchahar triumphed (1st position) for Event Management Branding for ‘Kumbh’.NTPC has won the 2nd prize in four different categories: Newsletter (Hindi), e-Newsletter,Coffee Table Book and Best CSR Project for Women’s Development.

NTPC Corporate Communication, New Delhi won the ‘Special/Prestige PublicationAward’ for “Lighting Smiles, Energising Lives” coffee table book and in ‘Branding-Best CSRProject for Women’s Development’ and NTPC Raipur bagged prizes for ‘Newsletter (Hindi)’(Anchalika) & ‘e-Newsletter’ (e-Parikrama). NTPC Dadri & NTPC Rihand also won prizesas second runner-up in Branding-Best CSR Project for Childcare and Corporate Film (Hindi)respectively.

12 January, 2020MIDNIGHT REPORTER

Legendary Emirati hospitality makesUAE a tourist paradise

Emirati hospitality is legendary. It has its root in the ancient Arabian custom of welcom-ing desert travellers with warmth, kindness and generosity. From the traditional serving ofArabic coffee to making sure that guests are comfortable, the UAE has continued its hospi-tality tradition with keen devotion to the highest standards of modern service. This has madeit one of most visited countries in the world. Let's take for instance Dubai - from its humblebeginnings as a fishing village in 1833, it has transformed itself into one of the top 10 metro-politan tourist destinations and is home to around 200 nationalities and cultures. Dubai isthe seventh most visited destination in the world and number one in Middle East and Africa.It has so far attracted more than 16.3 million tourists this year, according to EuromonitorInternational's Top 100 City Destinations 2019 report. The once small creek-side settlementwelcomed 15.92 million visitors last year and is targeting 20 million tourists next year, intime for the six-month long Expo 2020 which begins in October 2020. Dubai is also aimingto host 21 to 23 million tourists by 2022 and 25 million visitors by 2025. Several reports showthat Dubai is racing ahead to surpass New York City, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur and Rome, interms of tourist arrivals. Analysts also say that Dubai will reach its ambitious tourism targetbecause of "greater investment in the tourism sector as well as in infrastructure, and morefocus on delivering initiatives that promote tourism".

Thailand breaks tourism recordThailand has broken its tourism record

with the arrival of 39 million internationaltourist in 2019, up from about 38 million inthe previous year. Tourism and Sports Min-ister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said thatthe kingdom remains one of the all-timefavourite destinations of global travellers.

He noted that in the closing days of2019, 140,000 tourists are expected toarrive every day, raising the total numberof foreigners to Thailand to 39.6-39.8 mil-lion by the year’s end.

This year, the Tourism Authority ofThailand (TAT) is expecting Thai tourismto achieve a growth rate of 4 percent in

both volume and value to 39.7 million foreign tourists who generate 1.96 trillion THB (64.9billion USD) in income for the country. The agency forecasts the number of tourists willreach 40.8 million in 2020, an increase of 2.5 percent, contributing 2.02 trillion THB to theeconomy, up 3 percent year-on-year.

Brussels sees a record year for tourismThe sector in general saw overall growth of 7% in 2019, up from 8.8 million overnight

stays in 2018 to 9.4 million this year. But for Brussels alone, the increase in overnights was11%, pushing the total to record levels. The tourism industry is finally finding its formervigour, following the disastrous double blow of terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015,which depressed all tourism from non-European countries, followed by the attacks in Brus-sels and Zaventem in March 2016, from which the Belgian tourism industry is only nowrecovering. The main driving force behind this year’s record numbers has been the numberof conferences organised in the Brussels region, visit,brussels said.

“That has allowed us almost to come into a balance between business tourism andpleasure tourism,” said Patrick Bontinck, CEO of visit.brussels. For 2019, according to theagency, business visitors made up 37% of the trade, with holiday tourists accounting for48.22%. “That’s better if we want to guarantee a constant occupation of hotels, instead of asuccession of peaks and troughs.

Tourism

2019 brings Cappadocia highest-ever number of touristsCappadocia, one of Turkey’s top destinations, has welcomed a record 3.7 million tour-

ists in the January-November period this year, according to official data.With the arrivals, the region crossed the 3-million threshold for the first time in history.Tourists in Cappadocia, which has been on UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage List

since 1985, get to view the famous fairy chimneys, natural rock formations, undergroundsettlements, rock-cut historical monasteries, as well as stay at boutique hotels and go onhot air balloon tours. More than 559,618 tourists took hot air balloon rides during the first 11months.

The Göreme Open Air Museum was the top touristic site in Cappadocia with 1.4 millionvisitors so far this year. In January this year, 11,210 visitors had the opportunity to view theriches of the region from the sky on hot air balloons that rise at sunrise each morning fromGöreme and the surrounding areas, while the figure peaked in September with 77,767,declining slightly to 50,100 in November.

Balloon tours - which made an annual contribution of 33 million euros ($37.1 million) tothe economy in 2016, 43 million euros in 2017, and 70 million euros in 2018 - yieldedapproximately 43 million euros in the first six months of this year.

Phuket Sky Way cable car will providetourists with a new view of the island

The committee of economy develop-ment, bringing together both governmentand private sectors, has agreed to allow acable car project on Phuket as the island’snew landmark. It has been revealed that thecable car design is finished and the Envi-ronmental Impact Assessment will be com-missioned soon. At the moment the work-ing title for the project is The Phuket SkyWay. The committee chaired by Phuket ViceGovernor Wongsakorn Wongchukhan saysthat the cable car will be able to be con-structed and operated as a new attractionin Phuket but it will “need to be legal in every respect”. JH Thailand Cable Car, the owners ofthe project, proposed the attraction to the committee to get government support. JH Thai-land Cable Car announced to the meeting that the cable car design is done and they will dothe EIA soon. The group hasn’t unveiled the location of the new attraction but they guaran-teed that the view will be spectacular along the way. (The artists impressions provide a fewclues). The committee said that they support the project and can see that a cable car attrac-tion will be another project to evolve tourism and the economy in Phuket.