Elected representatives from the ruling Telugu Desam Party have expressed dissatisfaction over the functioning of the officials during the budget session of the Zilla Parishad and passed a resolution demanding action against District Educational Officer R. Narasimha Rao for making sarcastic remarks against politicians during the session.
The meeting that began smoothly at the Zilla Parishad conference hall on Tuesday morning passed the revised budget of Rs. 21.51 crore for the fiscal 2016-17 and an estimated budget of Rs. 22.08 crore for the financial year 2017-18.
The elected representatives – most of them from the TDP – started lodging complaints against the officials accusing the latter of not taking them into confidence while implementing the welfare programmes launched by the State government.
The slew of complaints began with Rajanagaram MLA Pendurti Venkatesh airing his dissatisfaction over the functioning of the Rajamahendravaram Sub-Collector.
He alleged that the Sub-Collector was taking unilateral decisions pertaining to the auction and sale of sand and the vacant lands.
TDP MLAs N. Ramakrishna Reddy, A. Ananda Rao and Vegulla Jogeswara Rao too criticised the style of functioning of the officials of their respective constituencies. The complaints galore caused a major embarrassment for Collector H. Arun Kumar, who chaired the meeting, in which ZP Chairman Namana Rambabu and Chief Executive Officer Padma were present.
Row over school
The situation tuned worse when mandal parishad territorial constituency member from Gangavaram in agency area Teegala Prabha sought to know whether the single teacher school at Lakkonda village of Gangavaram mandal would be reopened or not. Ms. Prabha (TDP) said a teacher allocated to the school was sent to another school by the DEO on deputation hampering the classes at the Lakkonda school.
She said she had brought the issue to the notice of MLA Reddi Subrahmanyam many a time.
This prompted Mr. Subrahmanyam to launch a tirade against the DEO for not responding to his telephone calls.
When the meeting sought an explanation from the DEO on the spot, Mr. Narasimha Rao made sarcastic remarks on the elected representatives that added fuel to the fire and made all the elected representatives to shift their focus towards the DEO and ask the chair that the official should be placed under suspension.
Expressing their resentment over the comments, the women members along with Ms. Prabha staged a protest.
The meeting passed a resolution unanimously seeking the State government’s involvement in the issue and taking appropriate action against the official.
