I had a lovely childhood in Vizag: Anton Bakhaev

Santosh Patnaik APRIL 22, 2017 00:00 IST UPDATED: APRIL 22, 2017 04:56 IST

The Russian Minister’s father had worked as an engineer during construction of the steel plant

It was a trip down memory lane for the visiting Minister from the Chelyabinsk Region of Russia when he arrived here on a day’s programme as part of a high-power delegation. “I am very nostalgic. This is my dream visit. This is the place where I spent my early childhood,” an emotionally charged Anton Bakhaev, Deputy Minister for Economic Development of the Chelyabinsk Region of Russia told The Hindu on Friday. When he was four years old, his father Alexander Bakhaev had migrated to Visakhapatnam to be an engineer in the construction of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. They had stayed for four years in the city, from the late 70s to early 80s. At the time of the VSP’s construction, which was commissioned with the collaboration of the erstwhile USSR, the foreign experts had been accommodated in HB Colony near and at a place on the Main Road, which subsequently became a corporate hospital. “I am very happy that I could make a trip to this wonderful city during my second visit to Andhra Pradesh,” Dr Bakhaev said. “I had a lovely childhood in this city, though I have vague memories of some incidents,” he said. He last visited Andhra Pradesh in October 2016. The Russian team, led by Chelyabinsk Region Governor Boris A. Dubrovskiy, visited the steel plant and the Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City on the first day of their two-day goodwill tour of Andhra Pradesh. On day-two, they would visit Vijayawada and Amaravati. “It was a great honour for my dad to be associated with the construction of the VSP. Our family feels proud of this unique honour,” Dr Bakhaev, who did his PhD in Law, said.

‘Mesmerising beaches’ He said the city looked very neat and clean and beaches were mesmerising. “The view when our flight was landing at the Visakhapatnam International Airport was very impressive,” he remarked. During the visit to the VSP, the team members were honoured by RINL officials led by Chairman-cum-Managing Director P. Madhusudan.