Negligence by Congress government exposed in flood response: S Niranjan Reddy

Former minister S Niranjan Reddy said that the Chief Minister only visited the affected areas on the third day, only to criticise the opposition rather than focusing on relief efforts.

Hyderabad: Former minister S Niranjan Reddy attributed the large scale damage during the recent floods to the State government’s negligence to the early warnings from the Meteorlogical department. He held Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Ministers responsible for gross mismanagement in responding to the floods, and ignorance to people’s suffering.

Speaking to mediapersons at Telangana Bhavan on Thursday, Niranjan Reddy said the government remained indifferent in the initial two days of the floods. He said the Chief Minister only visited the affected areas on the third day, only to criticise the opposition rather than focusing on relief efforts.

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“It is shameful that the Chief Minister chose to play blame games rather than addressing the needs of the flood victims. Why is the Chief Minister holding meetings to criticise the opposition instead of helping flood victims?” he asked.

The former Minister went on to point out the lack of coordination within the State administration, stating that the Chief Minister’s leadership was ineffective as his Ministers did not respect him and lack teamwork. He said three Ministers from Khammam district failed to safeguard the people, and yet the Chief Minister was busy playing blame games instead of addressing the real issues.

Criticising the government’s failure to deploy helicopters for rescue operations, Niranjan Reddy pointed out that while four helicopters were used for election campaigns by the Congress Ministers, none were deployed for flood relief. He stated that an earthmover driver emerged as a hero for his initiative in saving nine lives, while the entire Cabinet ended up being a big zero.

The senior BRS leader also questioned the government’s failure to act on the union Home department’s directive regarding calamity fund utilisation. Demanding immediate relief for flood victims and farmers, he said more than 18 lakh acres of crops had been lost. He sought greater transparency and accountability in the utilisation of disaster relief funds. He opined that the government appears to be more interested in sensationalism and diversionary tactics than actually helping the flood victims.