Bedlam ensued at the maiden meeting of the Visakhapatnam District Zilla Parishad here on Friday with YSR Congress Party faulting the Government for not taking up relief works in Agency areas of the district.
As the ZP meeting began Minister for HRD Ganta Srinivasa Rao urged all the members to rise above party affiliation and take up discussion and work for the development of the district.
A TD MLA wanted a resolution to be passed praising Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for his timely relief to those affected by Cyclone Hudhud. YSRCP MLA from Araku Valley Kidari Sarveswara Rao took objection to the resolution pointing out that no relief had reached the affected persons in Agency areas. Not even a water packet has been distributed by the Government agencies even 10 days after the cyclone had caused extensive damage in the area, he said.
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Cyclone relief was restricted only to the city and its surroundings and nothing had been done for the improvement of the lot of the tribals who were still cut off, he said. The remarks resulted in a war of words between the members from YSRCP and the ruling Telugu Desam party. The ST MLA took umbrage to a reported remark by a former minister and staged a sit in at the podium.
The meeting was disrupted for over an hour with all the YSRCP members and MLAs participating in the sit in. They finally relented after some MLCs and other senior leaders urged them to allow the meeting to take up important issues on the agenda.