political-sparks-fly-in-andhra-over-office-fires

A political controversy has broken out in Andhra Pradesh over a string of office fires and instances of burning of government files, with ministers in the TDP-led NDA government and the opposition YSR Congress Party leaders trading charges against each other.

 

While the ruling party leaders accused the opposition of instigating arson to gut sensitive files, the YSRCP alleged that the administration was trying to divert public attention from its poor governance record.

 

On July 3, two people were caught by some Telugu Desam party workers, burning files and hard discs on the banks of the Krishna River on the outskirts of Vijayawada. Then on July 21, a fire at the sub-collector’s office at Madanapalle in Chittoor district gutted 2,400 crucial files and records about land ownership and infrastructure projects, said special chief secretary (revenue) RP Sisodia.

 

The same night, a fire broke out at the chambers of the deputy executive engineer of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) at its administrative building in Tirupati. Finally, on August 17, nearly 96 documents about the Polavaram project allegedly perished in a fire at the Polavaram Rehabilitation and Resettlement office in Dowleswaram, near Rajahmundry.

 

To be sure, police don’t allege that the incidents were linked or that a common motive was involved. It is not clear if government files were involved in all four incidents, or if even serious wrongdoing was suspected in all of them. In the August 17 incident, for example, the authorities said the documents burnt were photocopies and the originals were safe. In the TTD case, a digital backup of the documents existed.

 

But the ensuing political controversy has rocked the state, prompting the state government to step in. On August 22, chief secretary Neerabh Kumar Prasad wrote to all departmental heads, warning of criminal action if there were any further fires in their respective offices, said a senior official in the state secretariat.

 

The government has also suspended seven employees.

 

Following instructions from the chief minister, Prasad asserted that no files shall be burnt or no computer discs be destroyed by the officials without informing the higher authorities. If the authorities give any such permission to destroy the old files, all such documents should be first scanned and saved in the computers.

 

In the July 3 incident, police arrested two people and said they came in a government vehicle to the river bank, took out several bundles of files and computer discs, and set them afire. The files and discs belonged to the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) and the AP Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC), said Penamaluru MLA Bode Prasad.

 

Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, who also holds the portfolio of environment and forests, ordered a probe into the incident. “He asked the authorities to find out who was behind the burning of the files and take appropriate legal action against them,” a statement from his office said.

 

YSR Congress leaders called it a diversionary tactic to cover up a failure in protecting law and order. “The files burning allegations are a mere diversion tactic aimed at shifting focus away from their inability to fulfil the pre-election promises and also safeguard law and order in the state,” YSRCP leader and former MP Margani Bharat said.

 

In the July 21 case, the chief minister rushed Director General of Police P Dwaraka Tirumala Rao and Crime Investigation Department Chief Ravi Shankar Ayyanar to Madanapalle by helicopter hours after the fire.

 

Special chief secretary (revenue) RP Sisodia, who also visited the Madanapalle sub-collector office the next day, said 2,440 crucial files were destroyed. “We are in the process of recreating the files, which is possible as they are recent files and the information would also be available at the revenue divisional offices and the collectorate,” he said.

 

The case was subsequently handed over to CID and the government suspended three officials — former revenue divisional officers M Murali and Hari Prasad, along with senior assistant Gowtham Teja. The CID probe revealed that it was not an accidental fire, but arson.

 

The police also questioned 10 suspects and conducted searches in several locations, including the residences of former Madanapalle MLA Nawaz Basha, MLA Peddireddy Dwarakanath Reddy, and former minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy’s assistant Sashikant in Hyderabad.

 

“It is definitely an incident of sabotage at the behest of Ramachandra Reddy, who has been facing allegations of illegal acquisition of hundreds of acres in Tirupati, Chittoor and Rajampet areas,” state revenue minister Anagani Satyaprasad said.

 

Former minister Ramachandra Reddy hit back, accusing Naidu of creating drama to defame him. “There is no need to make so much fuss,” he said.

 

On August 17, a fire broke out in the chambers of the deputy executive engineer of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) at its administrative building in Tirupati. An oil lamp lit for a puja caused the fire accident, leading to the burning of a few files.

 

TTD chief vigilance and security officer S Sridhar said all the digital records remained intact and a case was registered by the Tirupati East Police. “All the files have a complete backup in the e-office format,” he said.

 

After the August 17 fire, the authorities said the documents burnt were photocopies of the files related to the Polavaram main canal, but the state government initiated action because the employees had not taken prior approval for the destruction of the files.

 

East Godavari district collector P Prasanthi, who conducted a preliminary inquiry on August 18, suspended four employees –– senior assistants K Kanuka Raju and Karam Baby, special revenue inspector Kalajyothi and subordinate Rajasekhar –– for failing to follow due procedure.

 

The collector issued show cause notices to deputy tahsildars A Kumari and A Satya Devi asking why they hadn’t taken prior approval of the project administrator. On August 18, the East Godavari Police registered a case against employees of the Polavaram Rehabilitation and Resettlement office at Dowleswaram for criminal negligence and launched an investigation.

 

Jana Sena Party leader and state tourism and cinematography minister Kandula Durgesh said the burning of files could be the handiwork of some YSR Congress leaders to destroy evidence about alleged irregularities in the payment of compensation to families displaced by the Polavaram project.

YSR Congress leaders hit back. “The files burning allegations are a mere diversion tactic aimed at shifting focus away from their inability to fulfil the pre-election promises and also safeguard law and order in the state,” YSRCP leader and former MP Margani Bharat said.