It Is An Insult To Our Engineers To Say They Lack Competence To Build A World-Class Capital
Duvvapalem Cross, Visakhapatnam District: On the occasion of the birth anniversary of renowned engineer and recipient of Bharat Ratna, Mokshagundam Vishweshwarayya, I offered my homage to this great son of the nation at a get-together organised by hundreds of engineers in Visakhapatnam. The great engineer had a special bond with this city. There was a time when Dolphin Hill in Visakhapatnam was battered by waves from the sea, posing a serious threat to the harbour. The rulers of the day consulted engineers from Western countries, but no one could find the solution which the great Vishweshwarayya did. He saved the Visakhapatnam harbour by suggesting that a ship be sunk in front of Dolphin Hill, for it to face the fury of the waves which would then lose their intensity.
India has produced many great engineers and thinkers. It is shameful and disgraceful to see Chandrababu Naidu running around foreign graphics companies. It becomes clear that his own selfish objectives drive his efforts. His comment that our engineers are incapable of building world-class capital, is an insult. It is such rulers who undermine the ability and competence of our bright young citizens, and are singularly responsible for brain drain.
A frail old man, Nagavayya met me near Sri Krishnapuram. He has been suffering from BP and diabetes for some time. “Earlier, 104 services used to come into the city and we were given the required medicines along with treatment. Now there is no such thing. From where can poor people like me get medicines which cost thousands of rupees?” I felt deeply pained by his words.
I stepped into Bheemili, also popular as Bheemunipatnam, after completing my Padayatra in Visakhapatnam city. I recalled that the birthplace of Alluri Sitaramaraju, Pandurangi, was in this constituency. Once famous for its natural beauty, Bheemili has now been ravaged by the ruling party’s sand mafia.
Villagers of Adavivaram met me holding placards. The sought a resolution to the long-standing dispute between Simhachalam temple trust and five villages. They said that the chief minister‘s promise of solving the problem hundred days as per a decision taken in his cabinet, proved to be an empty one. It is indeed a tragedy that such a complex problem has not been addressed with the required sincerity.
It was sultry and humid during the day and in the evening, the heavens opened up as it poured. Lawyers from Visakhapatnam met me in this drizzle. They said that during the Bar Council elections, Chandrababu Naidu showered many promises on them which were soon forgotten. They expressed their anguish that they were also deceived by him, as were the common people of the state.
I have a question for the chief minister— Page 32 of your election manifesto says that lawyers would get a death benefit of Rs.6 lakhs, medical benefit of Rs.2 lakhs, house sites, loans, group insurance scheme and nominated posts, among other things. There are 18 such promises made by you in your election manifesto. Have you fulfilled at least one of them? When you could not deliver on your promise of death benefit of Rs.6 lakhs to lawyers made at the time of elections, was it not rank deception on your part to promise to raise it to Rs.8 lakhs, as you claimed you would, at the time of Bar Council elections?
