Opposition leaders touring the flood-hit Kadapa district have blamed the official machinery’s indifference and negligence for the Rajampeta tragedy in which 15 passengers of two APSRTC buses drowned and many others went missing after the gates of Annamayya project breached on Friday.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president Somu Veerraju, who toured the Annamayya project in Rajampeta constituency on Monday, expressed concern over the scale of damage and the huge loss to lives and public property.
Demanding immediate sanction of ₹5 lakh to every affected family, the BJP leader said: “We expect the Chief Minister to tour every affected village, not merely conduct an aerial survey.”
The party’s national Secretary Y. Satya Kumar accused the district machinery of remaining apathetic, in spite of the IMD’s(India Meteorogical Department) timely warning.
“The district administration has not conducted any review of its reservoirs. The Pincha and Annamayya projects suffered even in the past. It is clear failure of the administration to take preventive measures,” he said, wondering how the Chief Minister could visit weddings at the time of a disaster. The party expressed the view that the government had extensively focussed on making the most from the sand reaches and in the process, ‘compromised’ on the safety of its reservoirs.
Jagan’s uncle blamed
Former TDP Minister Kalava Srinivasulu blamed the Chief Minister’s maternal uncle and Kamalapuram MLA P. Ravindranath Reddy and his theatre on encroached land, for the flooding in Kadapa.
Speaking to mediapersons after touring areas alongside Buggavanka stream, the Minister said a retaining wall could not be built in view of the theatre standing in the way. He attributed the floods and the resultant damage to Mr. Jagan’s ‘lack of vision and inexperience’.
He insisted that the death toll had crossed 50 in Rajampeta alone and accused the district machinery of brushing figures under the carpet.
