Governor celebrates birthday with poor children in Vijayawada

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Governor Biswabhushan Harichandan celebrated his 86th birthday on a grand note at the Raj Bhavan here on Saturday. Ministers Kodali Nani, Vellampalli Srinivas, Perni Venkataramaiah and MLA Malladi Vishnu extended greetings on behalf of the State government to the Governor since Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy was away on pilgrimage.

Chief Secretary L V Subrahmanyam, BJP State president Kanna Lakshminarayana and other leaders met the Governor and greeted him. Priests of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) and Durga Malleswara Swamy Varla Devastanam blessed the Governor with Vedic chants.

Governor's secretary Mukesh Kumar Meena presented a portrait of the Governor along with his wife on the occasion. The Governor took part in several social events and spent time with children, tribal and Dalit students. He distributed new clothes, sweets and notebooks to the children. Children offered roses and took photographs with him.

Several programmes including Kuchipudi dance was performed under the aegis of the Department of Cultural Affairs. The Governor later attended a blood donation camp at Andhra Loyola College organised by the Red Cross Society. He said that as the president of the Indian Red Cross Society, he was happy to see many young people participating voluntarily in blood donation camp as they wouild shape the future of our nation.

He said that the Indian Red Cross Society was a humanitarian organisation that serves and supports poor and helpless with concern. The Red Cross is running 18 blood banks which is providing 82,000 blood units a year. The Red Cross is also running a cancer hospital, yoga centres, old-age homes, orphanages, generic medical shops and first aid training centres.

He said Andhra Pradesh Red Cross unit served victims of fire accidents, floods, and other natural calamities. Thousands of young volunteers were trained in the first aid. They offer their services to create a better and humane society, the Governor said.

District Collector Md Imtiaz, DGP Gautam Sawang, city Police Commissioner Dwaraka Thirumala Rao, Additional DG Law and Order Ravi Shankar Ayyanar, Raj Bhavan Joint Secretary Arjun Rao, principals and correspondents of various colleges participated along with functionaries of the Indian Red Cross Society.