HOSAPETE: The Tricolour fell off the country’s tallest flagpole at Hosapete, the headquarters of Vijayanagara district, during the Republic Day celebrations on Sunday.
The problem occurred because of lack of maintenance of the 405 ft flagpole and district incharge minister Zameer Ahmad Khan ordered a probe and instructed the deputy commissioner to submit a report within two days.
The flag fell as the cables attached to it and operated with a remote control snapped midway. Also, the flagpole had not been tested before the flag was hoisted on the important day. A technical team rushed to the spot and investigated why the flag malfunctioned. The flag has not been hoisted on the flagpole over the last few months and it was not in regular use and that might have caused the problem. The video of the malfunctioning flag went viral on social media sites.
Zameer Ahmad, who is also the housing minister, said it is unfortunate that the national flag malfunctioned on Republic Day. “It made me personally unhappy about the flagpole management. I have told officials concerned to conduct an inquiry and submit the report to the deputy commissioner. As a district incharge minister, I had hoisted the flag at Puneeth Rajkumar ground. Never such an incident has occurred. Once the report is submitted, necessary action will be taken against officials responsible,” he added.