Rise to the occasion or face action: CM to babus

Vijayawada: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu issued a strong warning to all officials that the honeymoon period of the new government was over and he had started cracking the whip against all those officials in case of dereliction of duty.

He said on Tuesday morning, a vacancy reserve (VR) officer who was drafted for disaster management works in Jakkampudi was suspended for his failure to rise to the occasion. He said during calamities, officials should adopt a humanitarian approach. They should remember that they were drawing salaries with taxes paid by the hard-earned money of the common man and when he was in distress it was the responsibility of political executives and officials to work round the clock for their welfare, he said. Naidu said an IVRS system is being used to get feedback on the ground situation and the response of officials in reaching out to the affected people.

The Chief Minister also cautioned the opposition YSRCP to stop politicising the issue and spreading false news. Referring to the statement of former CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy that the gates of Budameru were lifted to protect his house, Naidu said it is unfortunate that he does not know the facts. Budameru has no gates and secondly, Budameru water goes towards the Kolleru lake, not the house where he lives.

He further said presuming that water would have entered his house, what would have happened? He said this was not time for dirty politics.

He said the previous government was responsible for such disasters as it did not even bother to strengthen the bunds which were weak in the last five years.

He however took a potshot saying that for a change, the former CM who used to go on aerial surveys has at least walked in knee-deep water. It is a different matter that he did not extend any succour but tried to accuse the TDP-led NDA government.He further said that the YSRCP even tried to divert this issue by resorting to the false campaign that secret cameras were installed in the Gudlavalleru Engineering College and that about 3,000 videos of female students were recorded. The investigation so far revealed that it was a false propaganda. He said enough was enough and the government would now take stringent action against all those who created such panic among the engineering college students.