Amaravati, the so-called world class capital city of Andhra Pradesh, is back in the news for wrong reasons again.
The heavy rains that have been battering the state, particularly Vijayawada and Amaravati areas exposed the chinks in the construction of the Interim Government Complex (IGC) at Velagapudi in Amaravathi on Monday.
The offices of Human Resources Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao and Industries minister Amarnath Reddy located in the fourth block of the Secretariat witnessed continuous leakage of water from the roof.
The ceiling in their chambers came off leading to seepage of water. The false ceiling in the entire complex got damaged due to rain water seepage, obstructing the official work in the building.
This is not the first time that the top-class construction of Amaravati was exposed. Last year, too, several buildings in the Velagapudi Secretariat complex got damaged due to heavy rains and the officials do take up temporary repair works every time it happens.
In June 2017, rain water seeped into some chambers including that of Leader of the Opposition Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and the corridors on June 7 through a PVC pipe which was carrying AC cables forcing the staff to put plastic buckets at the leakage points.
The leakage turned into a political issue with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) alleging foul play by the YSR Congress leaders.
The Opposition hit back attributing it to substandard work. Assembly Speaker Kodela Sivaprasada Rao even ordered a CID enquiry.
The CID, which investigated the incident, suspects that the negligence of workers in not covering the pipeline properly might have resulted in the seepage.
What is worse, the much dreaded Kondaveeti Vagu, a rivulet has also reached danger levels posing threat to inundation of Amaravati capital region. Irrigation officials are looking for alternative ways to divert the flood water.
