VISAKHAPATNAM: DGP Gautam Sawang has issued an e-pass to Leader of the Opposition and TDP president Nara Chandrababu Naidu to visit Vizag on Monday. However, the TDP chief’s plan to visit the port city to meet gas tragedy victims stands cancelled as domestic air travel in the State will resume only on Tuesday.
In a late night statement, TDP leader Atchannaidu alleged that the YSR Congress government has deliberately deferred resumption of flight services to Tuesday only to prevent the former chief minister from visiting Vizag.
"It is only after Chandrababu Naidu’s schedule was announced that the State government deferred the resumption of services, that too only by a day. Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri’s tweets indicate the same," he claimed.
Earlier, in reply to a letter from Chandrababu Naidu, the DGP cited guidelines issued by the Union Health Ministry with regard to protection of persons aged above 65 and children aged below 10, night curfew between 7 pm and 7 am, and testing for persons coming from other States as per protocol on their arrival. He also referred to directives on COVID-19 management.
The DGP said that the request of Naidu for travel from Hyderabad to Visakhapatnam and from Vizag to Undavalli was considered as a special case and permission was given under essential service provider category.