VIJAYAWADA: A day after Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu left for US on a week-long visit, the Interim Government Complex (IGC) at Velagapudi wore a deserted look on Thursday with none of the ministers turning up there. Much to the disappointment of the public, who came from far away places, most of the officials, too, not arrived at the IGC.
Even as Naidu during the TDP coordination meeting recently directed the ministers to make it a habit to visit the IGC at least twice a week to make themselves available to receive grievances of public directly. But none of the ministers, including the Chief Minister’s son and Panchayat Raj and Rural Development and Information Technology Minister N Lokesh appeared at the IGC.
Though, it is not mandatory for the ministers to visit the Secretariat, in view of the criticism that most of them are organising review meetings of their respective departments in hotels in Vijayawada and are arriving at the Secretariat only for attending Cabinet meetings, the CM instructed the ministers to be available at the Secretariat for at least two days in a week.
However, most of the ministers seem to have taken the directions of the Chief Minister lightly as he was away in the US. After the recent Cabinet reshuffle, the Secretariat had been abuzz for the last one month with ministers holding review meetings with officials.
Very few officials attended a meeting held by Chief Secretary Dinesh Kumar in the Secretariat on Thursday.
Security measures relaxed
The security personnel, too, appeared in a mood of relaxation as there was no presence of VIPs in the IGC. Generally, the security personnel will check the identity of every person and only then they allow visitors inside the IGC. Similarly, they will also allow vehicles. But, the police did not enforce any such measures on Thursday.