All Sections Of Society Feel Cheated By Chandrababu  

Dharabhogapuram, Visakhapatnam District: The sorrowful tale narrated by a retired government teacher from Dimili, was indeed pitiable. This government employee, who had served as a teacher all his life, was afflicted with throat cancer. Whatever little he had got from government as retirement benefits, had already been spent.

Without a rupee of his own, he borrowed some money to get himself treated in Visakhapatnam. As per rules, the government is supposed to reimburse Rs.98,000 to him and accordingly, he went to government officials hoping to get the amount reimbursed. He submitted all his medical bills substantiating the expenditure. He was in tears as he described to me how the indifferent government officials have not moved an inch over all these years in the matter.

He met chief minister Chandrababu Naidu when he visited Anakapalli and poured out his woes. Chandrababu assured him of speaking to the officials concerned. That was two years ago, but there has been no progress in the matter. “I, who had been a teacher for many years, learnt a bitter lesson after I described my plight to Chandrababu,” he said.

His statement reflected the futility behind the exercise. ”Sir, I am now waging a struggle through Lokayukta, with everything I have. I am hopeful that you will do justice to me when you come to power,“ he added. Chandrababu‘s apathy towards government employees can be gauged from this one instance. And there are thousands such. Contrast this with the haste with which the reimbursement for AP finance minister’s simple dental treatment in Singapore to the extent of Rs. 2,88,823 was done! Moreover, it was neither an emergency nor a life-threatening condition. And when a retired government teacher is afflicted with throat cancer, the amount legally due to him from the government is denied to him!

Also Read:I Don’t Trust Chandrababu On His Promises: TDP MP JC Diwakar Reddy

For the smallest medical problem, Chandrababu’s men rush to Singapore for treatment. But government employees, who had spent their entire lives serving the State, are treated with condescension and their problems ignored.

Government employees and the public at large have come to understand Chandrababu‘s attitude and his pattern of deception and betrayal very clearly. They are prepared to teach him a lesson in the upcoming elections.

The farmers of Dimili and Pallapunati villages have learnt a bitter lesson by trusting Chandrababu and taking his promise of loan waiver at face value. The chief minister conveniently went back on his election promise of loan waiver made to these farmers, but banks continue to hound them with notices and interest as the loans keeps mounting all the time, they complained. “While we are in this miserable state, Chandrababu goes around announcing that he has waived all loans of farmers and that we are happy and prosperous,“ they said. “Chandrababu does not pay our loans and said that the documents and ornaments including mangalasutra, would be returned to us, brought to our doorstep. We believed him and did not go in for renewal. The loan waiver did not come about nor did the insurance amount due on account of the damage caused by Hud Hud cyclone.” In this manner they expressed their anguish to me. Chandrababu, who is driven purely by selfish objectives to gain power at any cost, could not care less for the problems of these farmers.

Fishermen from the Naval Base of Rambilli and S. Rayavaram mandals met me and complained that the commitments made to them as per an agreement, had not been fulfilled. They were not allowed to go fishing even though the sea was close by, they lamented. It is unfortunate that Chandrababu, who was a BJP ally in the NDA government for four years, did not even attempt to do justice to these poor fishermen.

I have a question for the chief minister—you had bragged about waiving loans of farmers of Andhra Pradesh on a scale that no other state has done. You claim that farmers of Andhra Pradesh are a happy and prosperous lot. If this is indeed true, why is it that farmers in village after village complain that there has been no loan waiver? Why is the loan amount of each farmer growing, if there is any truth in your statement? Why are farmers forced to run around banks? What reply do you have to farmers who say that they have been deceived by your statements and have not been given even the crop insurance amount due to them?