Heavy downpour played spoilsport at the foundation stone laying ceremony for the administrative complex at Rayapudi village in Thullur mandal of Guntur district on Friday.
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had to end his speech abruptly. The people began to move out as thick cloud formations engulfed the skies. But the police made them sit in their chairs. Soon, the skies opened up drenching them.
The police did not allow the people to leave the venue saying the way would be cleared once the VVIPs left the premises. The people were forced to use the chairs as cover, while a few others removed the flexis erected there to use them as umbrellas. A police officer announced, “Think that you took a shower in the evening and bear with the situation.”
No car owner could leave the car parking lot unless it was dragged out literally. Some of the cars and ambulance were stuck in thick mud and could not be towed away. The VIPs and people were just waiting by their vehicles to come out of the mud. The car drivers and police were forced to push the cars through the mud and sodden ground. A couple of OB vans of satellite channels were left at the venue as towing was next to impossible. Many villagers endured a nightmare for a few hours as they became stuck in their vehicles or got stranded on roads. The traffic came to standstill. The police stopped every vehicle passing through Rayapudi and its surroundings urging the drivers to drop a few villagers.
