The Saturday’s boat tragedy at Pasuvula Lanka of Polavaram block in East Godavari district in which two students died and six other persons were missing is attributed to the publicity mania of Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
According to the reports doing rounds in the social media, the victims were all school children who were forcibly taken to the school despite it being a holiday on account of second Saturday.
Reason: the district administration organised Vanam-Manam programme as per the directions of the chief minister.
“It was nothing but a publicity programme for Naidu. He is forcing everybody including the school children to participate in it, in the name of motivating them to develop greenery. Had the school students not been troubled, the accident would not have taken place,” a netizen said.
According to the locals, travelling by boat is the only means of transport from one island to another in the Godavari river.
The state government is constructing a bridge across the river, but the works have not been completed even after a year, say the locals.
