Hyderabad: The governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have been engaged in a game of one-upmanship ever since the news of the students being washed away in floodwaters in Himachal Pradesh broke on Sunday night.
While the Telangana Cabinet decided to depute Home Minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy, along with other officials, to the accident spot to oversee the rescue operations, AP CM Chandrababu Naidu spoke to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was in the city to attend his swearing-in ceremony, and requested him to take all measures to rescue the students by sending special National Disaster Management troops.
From Monday morning, both governments initiated steps to send teams, special flights and helicopters to transport parents from RGIA to Chandigarh, and from there to Kulu.
The Telangana government sent a few parents on a regular Hyderabad-Delhi flight, and, from there, ferried them to Kulu. The AP government also arranged for a flight to take parents to Chandigarh. Both governments released press notes stating that they were doing it for the parents and students.
The Himachal Pradesh and Central governments have deputed teams for airlifting rescuers and the recovered bodies. Mr Naidu deputed minister P. Narayana and former MP Mr Kambhampati Rammohan Rao, while the Telangana government deputed Mr Nayani and senior officials B.R. Meena and Karthikeyan of Grey Hounds.
Telangana government political secretary Ajay Misra had asked private airline Air Costa to arrange special flights for the students and parents. The cost would be borne by the Telangana government.
Meanwhile, the AP government also claimed that Air Costa had agreed to arrange a special flight on their request. Both CMs have spoken to their HP counterpart, Veerabhadra Singh, and requested him to take immediate measures.
Meanwhile, the Telangana government has taken a “serious view” of the Himachal Pradesh incident. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao directed education minister G. Jagadish Reddy to order an inquiry into why the students were allowed to go near the dam when they were on an industrial tour. Preliminary inquiry by officials found that the college management had violated norms by allowing students to go on an excursion when it was meant to be an industrial tour.
Moreover, the norms stipulate that colleges should send students on industrial tours only after completion of their third year, while in this case, the students had just completed their second year. Many colleges are turning industrial and study tours into excursions against the norms and the government is likely to tighten the norms for industrial tours to prevent such incidents in future.
“The college is affiliated to JNTU-Hyderabad. The government has directed university officials submit a report on the violations by the management. The probe will also enable the government to stipulate norms that need to be followed by colleges during industrial and study tours to prevent such incidents,” Mr Reddy said.
JNTU-H registrar Prof. N.V. Ramana Rao said the university has begun a probe into the issue and a report will be submitted to the government shortly.
