YSRCP demands judicial inquiry into boat mishap

Speaking to reporters here on Friday, party spokesperson K Parthasarathi said, ‘the issue has been diverted and attempts are made to shield the actual people responsible and the fact that the issue concerns the irrigation department has been ignored and the role of irrigation, minister who has been getting his share for the operation of ferries, has not been brought out.

It is the irrigation minister, who is responsible as his ministry has Conservator of Rivers under whose purview the plying of boats and the safety measures would come. The incident occurred at a stone’s throw from the chief minister’s residence and irrigation department, and the river point has been projected as a tourist spot but the basic facilities were lacking.

The state has been pushing up the issue by shifting the blame on officials and project it as an issue of tourism department while it actually belongs to the irrigation department which has to supervise and certify the safety norms for any navigation on the river front, he said.

The irrigation minister has been getting his share of the cake and hence the issue was being buried and has been projecting as the failure of the boat driver and owner. How did the irrigation department allow the boat to ferry tourists is the first question.

The corruption of TDP leaders and minister has reached alarming proportions and social media is agog with posts that TDP is the most corrupt political party in the world and stands in the fourth place, he said.

We demand that a judicial inquiry should be ordered into the boat mishap to find out the persons responsible, negligence of the government, involvement of TDP leaders, lack of safety measures like life jackets, expert divers, rescue boats and the like, and why irrigation department has not done any review so far by the River Conservator,’ he said.