Tribal Woman Rape: Explain, Govt Told

State Legislative Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar, on Wednesday, directed the state government to give a statement on the alleged gang rape of a tribal woman in the agency areas of Visakhapatnam by security personnel.

The Speaker issued these directions while intervening in a debate during Question Hour. The discussion was actually on teachers, but Opposition Leader N Chandrababu Naidu raised the issue, stating that the government has failed to take action against the culprits involved in the gang rape of a tribal woman during a Jatara.

Following Naidu's accusations, the Speaker directed Tribal Welfare P Bala Raju to give a statement on the issue on Thursday.

Earlier, replying to a question raised by MLA A Suresh, the Tribal Welfare minister said that as against the sanctioned 10,742 teachers' posts in ITDA units in tribal areas, the government has filled 7,761 posts. As many as 2,981 teachers' posts are still lying vacant, he said.

The minister said that 2,937 new posts were created in 599 Ashram schools in the tribal areas.

The minister also said that the government was providing additional HRA and Special Compensatory allowances to employees working in the scheduled areas.

However, M Narasimhulu of TDP and G Kishan Reddy of BJP slammed the government for the lack of infrastructure and other facilities in the tribal schools.

They also accused the government of diverting the funds meant for Tribal Welfare to other departments.

Intervening on the issue, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy assured that the state government would try to bridge these gaps, and asked the Opposition party members to point to specific irregularities whenever they are found. (INN)