AP IPS officer conquers Africa peak

Anantapur: Another record has come to Anantapur-based G.R. Radhika, additional SP from Adilabad in Telangana who was the first Indian woman police officer to climb Mount Everest in May. Now, in a new feat, she was among 18 members of an Indian team to reach the peak of Tanzania’s Mt. Kilimanjaro. The team reached the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro on August 14, between  7am and 10am (Tanzania time) and hoisted the Indian Tricolour of 20ft  length at the highest altitude of 1934 ft.

This broke the record of  the youngest Indian atop Mt. Kilimanjaro, and the team returned after singing the National Anthem as part of celebrations marking the 70th Independence Day. Radhika, a native of Anantapur, has been working as additional SP and currently serving in Adilababad. She was financially assisted by Adilabad collector. The team was led by Poorna Malavath, who is holding a record of youngest female ever to climb Mt. Everest.

Sources  said this was the first time a team of 18 women from India went up to Mt. Kilimanjaro. Poorna Malavath released a poster of her bio picture ‘POORNA’’ on top. The team consists of 10 KGBV students along with one PET, four students from Telangana Social Welfare Residential Schools and  two  students from tribal welfare residential schools who were  encouraged by the Medak collector Ronald Bose so as to empower the students from rural parts to improve their confidence levels and  leadership skills. “Our team started from Hyderabad on August 8 for hoisting the longest  National Flag at Mt. Kilimanjaro summit (19,341ft). On 13th night, we started climbing up to the summit, which is locally called as Uhru peak,” Radhika said.

The team was guided by Raji Thamineni, an accomplished  mountaineer from Hyderabad who had climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro last year. The team consists of Arjuna awardee in mountaineering Bimla Negi from Nagpur, a senior mountaineer and member of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation; and Gurumayum Anita Devi, who received  Padmashree this time from Manipur. The team was also accompanied by  Bachinepally Shekhar Babu, director of Transcend Adventures who led six successful Mt. Everest expeditions. Radhika, a mother of two sons, Preetham and Shashank, attributed her  success to her mother Balabharathi and her husband  Venugopal Reddy. She expressed her gratitude towards the Telangana government and police authorities for their support and encouragement.