Tank bund assumed patriotic hues on Saturday, with a large number of tricolours fluttering in the hands of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) workers and staff who participated in the Freedom Rally conducted by the civic body.
The rally was taken out from the GHMC headquarters and wound up at the Vivekananda statue of the Tank Bund to mark 75 years of Independence.
Sanitation workers and staff, entomology workers, teams of disaster response force, higher officials, staff, members of self help groups, students and cadets from NCC, NSS and Bharat Scouts & Guides, together with the police staff, joined the rally holding national flags of different sizes and shouted slogans of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’.
Ministers Talasani Srinivas Yadav, Mohammed Mahmood Ali, MP K.Keshava Rao, Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, GHMC Commissioner D.S.Lokesh Kumar, Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi, Deputy Mayor Mothe Srilatha Shoban Reddy, and several legislators were present at the rally. They later garlanded the statue of Mahatma Gandhi and released tricolour balloons, singing the national anthem.
Power utilities including the two discoms, TSGENCO and TSTRANSCO, celebrated the day by hoisting the national flag and taking out a huge rally of electricity employees with the tricolour in hand, as part of the fortnight-long Independence celebrations. CMD D. Prabhakar Rao has called for celebrations at all the offices of power utilities across the state.
The national flag was celebrated in other districts too. Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy participated in the Freedom Rally at Banswada that involved a 2,000-foot long tricolour. Students and youth participated in large numbers.
Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao participated in the rally conducted in Hanamkonda, and several other places. At Thorruru village of Palakurthi Constituency of Mahbubabad district, he rode a bike to enthuse the participants.
In Sangareddy district, Minister T.Harish Rao launched the rally with a 75 feet national flag. Bathukamma, Bonalu and Dappu were the added attractions in the rally.
Minister Vemula Prashant Reddy took part in the rally conducted in Nizamabad district headquarters, with a 750-foot tricolour denoting 75 years of independence.