The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : AIDWA's complaint irks Dasari

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 28, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

AIDWA's complaint irks Dasari

By Our Staff Reporter

NARSAPUR (W.G. DIST.), DEC. 27. The Union Minister for Coal and Mines, Dasari Narayana Rao, on Monday lost his cool while convincing the victims of tidal wave on the relief operations under taken by the Government.

Even as the Union Minister, accompanied by the Minister for Industries, Botsa Satyanarayana, the Narsapur MP, Chegondi Harirama Jogaiah, and a battery of party MLAs and officials, was interacting with fishermen, an activist of the CPI (M) affiliated All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) confronted him on relief operations.

B. Poorna, divisional secretary of the AIDWA, complained to the Minister that the administration had miserably failed to provide even food to the victims. "It is the only generosity of some NGOs that helps the victims but not officials,'' she said.

Saying that the quantum of 25 kg of rice given to each family was quite inadequate, she highlighted the need to increase it to 50 kg. The Minister shouted at her expressing his ire at the woman activist for `politicising' the issue. Meanwhile, certain lapses relating to the Government assistance to the victims were to the fore during his visit.

Maila Somaraju and Koppada Ramaswamy of Chinamynamvnilanka, whose relatives were killed in the calamity, said they had received only Rs.1,000 towards funeral expenses as against the claim of Rs. 2,000 by the Government.

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