VIJAYAWADA: Home Minister Vangalapudi Anitha came down heavily on YSRC chief and former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and other leaders for criticising the flood relief works in Vijayawada Central and West Assembly constituencies.
She also clarified that the State government was not collecting any fee from the people for setting up Ganesh pandals.
Addressing a press conference at the NTR District Collectorate on Sunday, Anitha accused Jagan, YSRC leaders and the YSRC social media team of limiting themselves to criticising Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and the NDA government instead of helping the people affected by Budameru flash floods.
“Instead of extending their support to the flood-affected people, YSRC leaders are criticising us by distorting facts and creating panic among the public. The Chief Minister has been personally monitoring the flood relief operations for the past nine days," she explained.
Anitha flayed Jagan for his failure to focus on the maintenance of irrigation projects, which led to the flash floods.
“More than 3 lakh packets of food, 1.56 lakh water bottles, 1.83 lakh milk packets and other essentials were supplied to the flood victims on Sunday. Utmost care is being taken to restore normalcy in Vijayawada at the earliest,” she added.
When asked about the issuance of permission to set up Ganesh pandals, Anitha said it was done through a single window and no fee was collected from citizens.
“It was the YSRC government that issued a GO to collect Rs 100 for mic and other fees in 2022. After it was brought to the Chief Minister’s notice, we were instructed not to collect any fee,” Anitha explained, and urged the YSRC to refrain from indulging in false propaganda.