‘Timing of Visakha Utsav very inappropriate’

Even as the poor whose lives have been shattered by cyclone Hudhud are crying for the succour promised by the Government an extravaganza has been thrust on the city by a few who are in power, secretary Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee Dronamraju Srinivas and former minister P. Balaraju said.

The devastation wrought by cyclone Hudhud has left the residents with little resources to celebrate the traditional Sankranti festival, the two said at a media conference here on Sunday.

At this juncture it is not appropriate that the Government organises an extravaganza like the ongoing three-day Visakha Utsav which is funded by the tax payers’ money.

On the one hand Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has been shouting from the rooftops that the Government is facing a massive resource crunch and does not have money to pay salaries, on the other it spends on the festivities which could have been organised some time later. It appears that the festival has been organised at the behest of only a few persons in power and it is not clear whether it has the approval of the Chief Minister, Dronamraju Srinivas said.

The GVMC and VUDA which are facing a massive resource crunch have been asked to shell out Rs. 50 lakh each and PSUs have been asked to chip in.

All these are taxpayers’ money, he pointed out.

In the district the situation is worse, at the behest of Telugu Desam party workers many names of genuinely eligible beneficiaries have been struck off the list of beneficiaries for old age, widow pensions on flimsy grounds like discrepancies in names entered, absence of bank accounts.

Some of the persons who have been getting pensions from the time when Telugu Desam was in power have found their names missing, Mr. Balaraju pointed out.

It would have been right for the Government to organise such a celebration after paying out compensation and repairing damaged facilities. The festival would have been a celebration of the victory of the spirit of resilience of the people of the city, they said.

City Congress president Behera Bhaskara Rao, City Mahila Congress president P. Ramana Kumari, Vengala Rao and others were present.

When the government is facing severe resource crunch it is spending money on festivities, say Dronamraju Srinivas and

P. Balraju