Citizens for Democracy (CFD) Secretary and retired IAS officer Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar has said that there is a need for a wide-range discussion on the need for a second phase of land pooling for the construction of the capital Amaravati.
Speaking at a conference organized by CFD in Vijayawada on the topic of ‘Constitution-Accountability’, he said that there are different opinions on the government’s announcement that it will acquire another 40,000 acres in the capital.
The former State Election Commissioner said that land acquisition is necessary, but some are of the opinion that this is not the time to do it. He made it clear that CFD is neutral on these issues. Nimmagadda said that civil society wants legal and good governance. He pointed out that officials have more responsibility than leaders in providing corruption-free governance to the people.
However, he expressed regret that officials are working for the benefit of the political leadership at helm of affairs, but not for the well being of the people. He said that employee unions are only responding to their problems.
Ramesh Kumar alleged that not only the then officials during the previous regime, but also the present officials are not taking action on the incident that happened when he was the Election Commissioner.
Nimmagadda recalled that when he was in office, while the Election Code was in force, a minister from Krishna district used abusive language against him and the then opposition leader Chandrababu Naidu. He said that he has registered a case on this. He wondered that neither the present Election Commissioner Neelam Sawhney nor DGP Harish Kumar Gupta have taken any action on this yet.
Former Supreme Court judge Justice Lavu Nageswara Rao commented that it is outrageous that no decision has been taken in Telugu states so far against legislators who are defecting from parties. He deplored that the disqualification issue has become a black sheep.
He said that he is personally examining the developments taking place in the legislative assemblies of Telugu states. He wondered that members elected from one party are joining another party and even if the speakers complain to disqualify such people, they are not taking a decision.