Stampede Deaths: Pawan Asks TTD Chairman, EO to Tender Apology

Vijayawada: Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan has asked TTD functionaries – the board chairman, executive officer, additional executive officer and board members -- to tender an apology to the people for the death of six pilgrims in Wednesday night’s stampede in Tirupati.

“The death of devotees pained me a lot. This happened when our newly elected government was celebrating the ‘first’ Sankranti festival,” he told a public meeting at Pithapuram in Kakinada district on Friday. This government was elected by the people. We should be accountable to the people,” he said.

“I tendered an apology to the people for these deaths, even as some people who are a part of the government committed mistakes,” he said.

PK said TTD chairman BR Naidu, EO Shyamala Rao and AEO Venkaiah Choudhary were in high positions and “there is nothing wrong on their part tendering an apology to the people by owning the moral responsibility for the deaths.”

“If the TTD top brass tender an apology, the deceased may not come back to life. Yet, it would be in the fitness of things if they come before the people and accept the responsibility for the lapse,” he said.

He exhorted the youth to be mindful of the painful situation before them and stop shouting loudly in joy after seeing him.

He called upon TTD officials to stop giving VIP treatment to leaders and advised them to instead focus more on providing better services to the common people. The six-months honeymoon period for the new government was over, he asserted.

With regard to Pithapuram assembly segment, the Dy CM called upon the police to strictly maintain law and order, and take to task the youths who trouble women and are getting addicted to ganja.”

Earlier in the day, the Dy CM inaugurated 12,500 Gokulas set up across the state as part of Palle Panduranga-Panchayat week-long programme at Pithapuram. He called for development of dairy farmers on the lines of those in New Zealand. He vowed all support to these farmers to see such a growth in their dairy business. “The newly set up Gokulas would help the small dairy farmers earn Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 per month,” he said.

He said the NDA government was clearing wages to 97 lakh workers under MGNREGA to the order of Rs 5,193 promptly, except for the pending wages of Rs 2,000 crore.

When the Dy CM was proceeding to Pithapuram from Rajahmundry airport by road, he stopped at Mukundavaram village of Rangampeta mandal, where two youths -- Charan and Manikanta-- were killed in a road accident.

The youths were returning home on a bike after attending the pre-release event of Game Changer. PK spoke to their relatives and inquired about the incident with officials