The Hindu : Ticklish Chittoor district issues await CM

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 12, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

Ticklish Chittoor district issues await CM

By Our Special Correspondent

TIRUPATI April 11. As the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, flies into his home district of Chittoor tomorrow as part of his ongoing "Jalachaithanya Yatra,'' two major problems would confront him -- the acute drought stalking the district and the district TDP unit's intertia marked by increasing Congress-type internal bickering.

As for the drought it has been acknowledged as the worst ever one in the last four or five decades. It had left a long trail of devastation --- made water table touch the rock-bottom, made crops wither, left vast extent of arable lands fallow, reduced farmers into farm workers, forced farm workers desert their villages and migrate into nearby urban areas after either indulging in the distress sale of their livestock or sending them to slaughterhouses. But the situation was reversed to some extent after the district administration at the instance of the Chief Minister put in place a multi-pronged plan of action more than a month ago to effectively tackle the situation and arrest at once two things -- migration of villagers and distress sale of livestock.

Amid typical complaints of inadequate and tardy relief operations from Opposition parties and the media, the district administration has been going ahead with its plan of action which included opening up of cattle camps for a cluster of drought-hit villages, indenting of fodder and grass from coastal districts and transporting them by lorries to the affected villages, providing of labour to the idling rural hands and distribution of rice for the work, supply of drinking water through private agricultural wells, digging of new borewells and restoration of defunct ones, distribution of fodder seed. Despite all this, the picture emerging from the affected districts is none-too-satisfactory with situation reportedly deteriorating particularly in the chronically drought-hit western tract of the district contiguous to Anantapur district where desertification is said to have already set in.

Further, the on-going "Jalachaitanyam'' programme though is coming to a close tomorrow has not been implemented with the enthusiasm it deserved with even the ruling party cadres cold-shouldering it for some reason or other.

Except during the last two days there has been a marked lull vis-a-vis the programme in the ruling TDP camp in sharp contrast to the party supremo, Chandrababu Naidu's lone full-steam campaign for water conservation.

Mr. Naidu's visit tomorrow also assumes importance coming as it does in the midst of two disturbing factors -- a marked lull and insensitivity in the district TDP camp and bickering in some pockets, especially in Tirupati where the open fracas between the local MLA, Ch. Krishnamurthy, and the Municipal Chairman, K. Sankar Reddy, has become a daily feature. This despite Mr. Naidu' s repeated warnings and the disciplinary action committee's advice to them that it was time that they buried the hatchet.

This apart there is this Ramamurthy Naidu factor -- the estranged younger brother of the CM who rather curiously enough is planning to launch a 2-day 'Bikshatana' programme in the Chandragiri and Tirupati constituencies from tomorrow to provide "alms and succour'' to the drought-hit. It is not known whether its timing tomorrow on the eve of the CM's visit is a mere coincidence or a planned one.

But it is sure to add a new dimension to the row between the estranged brothers and give a handle to the CM's detractors to go for his scalp.

Taking advantage of his visit tomorrow, the District Minister, B. Gopalakrishna Reddy, who today inspected a site near Urban Haat to be the venue for the TDP's "Mahanadu,'' State-level jamboree, may broach the subject with the Chief Minister to get his approval.

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