Nellore district has become a difficult terrain to survive for officials as well as employees. Complaints of mounting pressures galore as people are increasingly finding it tough to cope with the stress.
‘Smart’ is the word for those who want to survive here. Many senior officials, including IAS and IPS officers, have become victims of ugly political games played here.
It all started with former district Collector N. Srikanth, who was shifted to the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) from here. Later, former SP Senthil Kumar was also moved out of the district under political pressure. Most recently, Municipal Commissioner Chakradhar Babu also moved out. Former SP B.V. Ramana Kumar had to face a lot of embarrassment before he was shifted amid much bitterness. The going remains tough in Nellore.
Assistant Director disabled?
The weekly grievance cell meeting held here gave some moments of amusement to those who attended it. Even while the officials discussed the poor turnout of their colleagues, the District Revenue Officer A. Prabhavathi took everybody by surprise by calling out on an Assistant Director-level officer to address a query raised by a visitor.
When there was no response, she further raised her voice to draw the attention of the respective officer calling him ‘Assistant Director Disabled’. She was actually referring to the Assistant Director of the Department of Disabled and Senior Citizens’ Welfare to be present before her to discuss the status of a grievance. Even as people in the vicinity broke into laughter, looking for the official concerned, the Assistant Director, Disabled and Senior Citizens’ Welfare Department Satyanarayana emerged at the scene.
Hardly amused by the joke, he said people often called him ‘Assistant Director for Disabled’.
(With inputs from
G. Ravikiran and
T. Appala Naidu in Machilipatnam)