‘Kotta Vantena’ book released

A journalist’s observations through his articles during the period 2000-02 about the changes happening in the society, especially with respect to the transformation of Telangana region and the reasons for the people’s voice of dissent, have been compiled into a book named ‘Kotta Vantena’ translated into English as ‘A New Ladder.’

The book, written by K Srinivas, a senior journalist, was released by Prof Kodandaram here on Saturday. Prof Haragopal, Ganta Chakrapani, senior journalist Allam Narayana, Varavara Rao, Shahjahana, a poet, and Jupaka Subhadra of Telangana Mahila JAC were present.

Prof Haragopal drew a parallel between flyovers and the World Bank proposed development model in Hyderabad, said that once a person gets on a flyover, there would be no outlet and one would have to go on it till the end. He said that our developmental model, just like the flyovers, had become difficult, if not irreversible, to get off.

He said that all the articles in Kotta Vantena were written with a feeling of concern for the poor, especially about the injustice being meted out to the people of Telangana. However, he expressed his displeasure about the political culture, which hasn’t changed even after such a huge movement.

Prof Kodandaram said that the people should understand how they get influenced because of the domination of one region over the other, which can be seen in this book.

Shahjahana read lines from various articles in the book, where the author had very poetically written about the Musi river, the depletion of natural resources of Telangana, degeneration of Bathukamma festival and analysis of various political personalities.