Naidu Hauls up Officials Over Diarrhea, Milk Tragedy

The CM asked the municipal and health officials, “Will you go for surprise inspections? Should I start going? If you sit in rooms, you will not know the facts,” he underlined. He asked officials to go to the field level. ‘Go and talk to the people. Only then will their problems be known. If you do not go to the field level, I will start going,” Naidu declared.

Speaking on reactive governance, he said: “Responding after an incident occurs is of little use. Preventive surveillance and vigilance are essential to avert such tragedies,” he maintained, directing district collectors and officials to conduct regular surprise inspections.

The Chief Minister said collectors must remain among the people and undertake frequent field visits to activate grassroots-level machinery and enhance accountability across departments. Referring to the contamination of drinking water in Srikakulam, he observed that timely inspections could have prevented the outbreak.

Briefing the CM in this regard, the Srikakulam district collector said 129 diarrhoea cases have been reported so far. Of these, 107 patients are undergoing treatment in various hospitals and 20 have been discharged after recovery. An integrated control room is monitoring the situation round the clock. Piped water supply in affected areas has been halted and water is being supplied through tankers instead.

The collector said four engineering teams have identified 40 leakage points. Repairs are being carried out on a war footing, he stated.

Special wards have been set up at RIMS, KIMS and GEMS hospitals, with nephrologists and other specialists providing treatment. Officials said preliminary findings reveal that contamination occurred due to un-cleaned water tanks, pipeline leakages crossing drains and the use of motors to draw water during low-pressure supply.

On the spurious milk incident in East Godavari district, collector Kirthi Chekuri said the case came to light on February 22 when 20 people fell ill after consuming adulterated milk and five died. Fifteen are under treatment, with eight of them in a critical condition. Nine medical teams have been deployed in Chowdeswari Nagar and Swaroop Nagar. Authorities surveyed 110 houses and collected blood samples from 315 persons. As many as 957 individuals who consumed the milk are being monitored daily.

State government has announced ₹10 lakh ex gratia for each bereaved family. A criminal case has been registered against accused milk supplier, Addala Ganeshwara Rao, who has been taken into custody. State-wide inspections by Food Safety officials are underway.

Those who attended the review meeting included ministers P. Narayana, Kondapalli Srinivas, and Nimmala Ramanaidu, apart from union minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu.