TDP Vultures Prey Even On Cyclone Relief  

Gudem, Srikakulam district: Walking with the masses, I could cover three thousand kilometres with ease. I asked myself—did I walk 3500 km? To mark the event I planted a sapling near Ravivalasa.

Close by is the Telinapuram bird sanctuary. Siberian cranes, pelicans and other colourful birds make their migratory journey across thousands of miles navigating their way to this place. The locals treat them as their daughters and farmers in particular, welcome them as a good sign. By uprooting giant trees, Cyclone Titli has created a major crisis for these birds and the villagers are deeply troubled by this phenomenon.

Sattar Venugopal of Jayakrishnapuram hero-worships my father and walked along with him in the Padayatra. He felt as if he lost his own father at the time of my father’s untimely demise. He even performed rituals for the passage of the soul to the next world, as a son would for his father. Every year on the occasion of the death anniversary of my father, he holds a traditional ceremony and feeds hundreds of people.

He met me during the course of the walkathon today and recalling his admiration for and association with my father, became highly emotional. Over the past four years he lost his brother and mother to heart disease and his wife died of cancer. He expressed his anguish stating that he had to borrow lakhs of rupees to cover the medical expenses. If only Arogyasri was applicable as it was during my father’s tenure, he wished.

Workers of the Ferro-alloys factory which had been shut down, met me near Raavivalasa. The suffering which these workers and their families have been subjected to over the past two years, without salaries or arrears, is indescribable.

As it turns out, this 28-year-old factory was shut down twice and on both occasions Chandrababu Naidu was the Chief Minister. An odd coincidence is that the local MLA became the labour minister when the factory shut down completely two years ago. Workers of the factory were furious with him and said that being a representative of this constituency, he betrayed them instead of standing by them and taking up their cause.

When my father became chief minister, he brought down the electricity charges which were hiked arbitrarily by Chandrababu Naidu. My father ensured that the factory and others across the region, which had been shut down, reopened. It is because of his support, locals recalled, that there were 32 factories in his period. In contrast earlier, during Chandrababu Naidu‘s time, there were six factories.

I felt deeply saddened to learn that the same story repeated itself after Chandrababu Naidu returned to power in 2014. Factory after factory kept shutting down and thousands of families got impacted once again. Workers pointed their finger at Chandrababu Naidu for their sorry plight. I comforted them and assured them that we were on the cusp of a new tomorrow in which Andhra Pradesh would see better days. Nandigam mandal Sarpanches Nadupuru Shyamala, Chinni Joga Rao and Tamire Devender and others, met me. The cheque power of 26 sarpanches was withdrawn after TDP came to power, they said. The ruling party leaders claimed compensation stating that coconut and mango crops had been destroyed in 2700 acres in the cyclone, while there was horticulture only in 1690 acres in the entire mandal, they pointed out. A close relative of the minister owned 2.5 acres of land in Santoshapuram. This is a barren land with no trees on it. But they are claiming loss of paddy crop on an area of 4.95 acres showing this land, they said. What is even more shocking is that they also gave a submission saying that mango and cashew nut crops have been destroyed on this land! What can one say about these ruling party leaders and higher-ups in the government who are out to loot the state even in matters of cyclone relief, when they should actually be standing by the poor whose lives have been destroyed by it!

I have a question for the chief minister—is it not true that beginning with the Amadalavalasa sugar factory, to jute mills in the district to Ferro alloys factories, all these industries have been shut down in your rule? Workers point their finger directly at you saying that you are the sole reason for these industries across the region being shut down. While industries here are being shut down in your rule, you brag about bringing investments and industries to Srikakulam district. You boast at your so-called ‘Dharma Porata Sabha’ that Srikakulam will become a destination under your leadership for global investments, even as local industries are being shut down. Isn’t your tall talk a mere exercise in deception three months before the elections?