Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Drought relief works for sarpanches: Naidu

By Our Special Correspondent

TIRUPATI OCT. 11. The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, today asked District Collectors to avoid using bulldozers and such other earth-movers in the employment generation programmes in the drought-hit areas, but entrust relief works directly to the sarpanches.

He was addressing villagers of Sorakayalapeta in the semi-arid Piler constituency in his native Chittoor district where he earlier flew in by his chopper for a personal survey of the damage wrought by what he described as the unprecedented drought — fourth year in a row in the State.

He said the village committees headed by the sarpanches, comprising other members, would be entrusted with the employment generation-drought works in future to ensure a minimum of at least one work each in all habitations in the State spread over 23,000 panchayats and 70,000 villages. "There will be no contractors, middlemen and machines. Your own sarpanches will be in charge of the works and you collar him if he siphons off your funds,'' he told the villagers.

He considered the officials and non-officials who embezzled public money even in a crisis period like this to be "mean creatures'' for whom neither he nor the public should show any mercy, he said. "I will stand by you, you be sensitive and accost your sarpanch or whoever it is, if you notice any pilferage,'' he told the villagers amid a loud round of applause.

He cited in this connection the way his Government had geared up the ACB and the Vigilance wings to go after corrupt officials and non-officials, and asserted that none, irrespective of his standing, would be allowed to go scotfree.

Recalling the special package he had demanded from the Central Government during his recent meeting with the Prime Minister, A.B.Vajpayee, he said the Centre, which is currently vetting Andhra Pradesh's relief proposals for Rs.1,250 crores, would soon announce the package which, among other things, would include a waiver of interest on last year's loans, rescheduling of loans, loans for raising fresh crops besides releasing 25 lakh tonnes of rice to the State for distribution.

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