The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : A communication gap: Digvijay

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 31, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

A communication gap: Digvijay

By Our Staff Reporter

GUNTUR, DEC. 30. The All-India Congress Committee general secretary and in-charge of Andhra Pradesh affairs, Digvijay Singh, has said the kin of tsunami victims will be given Rs.1 lakh as compensation by the State Government and not Rs.50,000. There was a communication gap between officials and the Government in this regard, he said on Thursday.

The kin of the 11 dead in the district were given Rs.50,000 as compensation and only those below poverty line (BPL) were given additional Rs. 50,000 under Apatbandhu Scheme initially, which led to strong protest from people and political parties.

The Government would provide all help to family members of those who died in the tsunami, he told reporters here. Before addressing party workers here in the afternoon, he clarified that he had not intentionally kept away from the funeral of the former Prime Minster, P.V. Narasimha Rao. "I was away in Madhya Pradesh and later reached Hyderabad to visit the site of cremation and console the family members," he added.

Call to partymen

He gave a call to party workers to voluntarily serve those affected by tsunami in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. None should expect the party to make arrangements for their stay or boarding at the place of their service. They should be prepared to spend from their pockets, he added.

Mr. Digvijay asked party cadre and Seva Dal members to register with the District Congress Committee so that it in turn could get an allotment of the place of their service from the PCC. He complimented the Guntur II MLA, Tadisetti Venkata Rao, for contributing 300 quintals of rice for the relief work.

There was a necessity of volunteers in Machilipatnam in Krishna District and Vetapalem in Prakasam district, he observed. He, later, left for Bapatla and Vetapalem by road to assess the damage and the possible areas of voluntary service by party workers.

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