Nellore: TD leaders and district officers received a dressing down by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu during a review meeting here on Saturday. Mr Naidu demanded to know why the official machinery had not reacted when it received a warning four days back on the possibility of heavy rains.
“The fact that you were not able to go to flood-affected areas even four days after the rains lash-ed the district is an indication of failure. There is lack of coordination between the officers and the people's representatives,” the CM observed.
Stating that the image of the government was crumbling because of their lethargy, he chided the party leaders for their inability to distribute food in the affected areas.
“Are you not in a position to provide a plateful of food? The victims would have remembered you for life if you had fed them during the crisis. You have lost a golden opportunity to build rapport with the public,” Mr Naidu said.
He had a word of praise for Venkatagiri legislator K. Ramakrishna for arranging food for flood victims.
Officials blamed the 70 cm rainfall in three days in Nellore for inundation of the town, but the CM remained unconvinced. He said that the situation could have been avoided if they took precautionary measures like de-silting of irrigation canals, referring to his directions to the municipal corporation officials during his recent visit.
The CM drove a JCB, which was clearing an irrigation canal, for a while in the evening at Kondadibba in Nellore.
Meanwhile, Mr Naidu decided to stay back in Nellore to monitor the relief operations. He said that they would take steps to remove all encroachments on irrigation canals within three months, during his visit to the rain-affected areas in Nellore.
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