The Lok Satta Party commented, on Thursday, that the torrential rains this year have once again exposed how centralised administration plays havoc with common people's lives.
The administration has come to a virtual standstill with the Chief Minister ailing, the Cabinet divided on regional lines, a fight raging for the Chief Minister's seat, and some ministers being preoccupied with covering up corruption charges against them.
Speaking to the media, party leaders Katari Srinivasa Rao and Eda Chennayya said that as a result of the paralysis in administration, people have had to endure hardships ranging from fertiliser scarcity to flooded homes and fields, water and air-borne diseases, and cratered roads. Private hospitals and laboratories in coastal Andhra are fleecing fever-hit people in the name of platelet infusions.
The Lok Satta leaders said that people would not have undergone such hardship if the powers, responsibilities, resources and personnel had been delegated to local governments. They would have attended to problems as they arose and provided relief.
The remarks of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Mayor that officials had not heeded to her appeals for road repairs for the last one month testified to the centralised nature of administration, he said.
The party leaders said that district tours by ministers and the Chief Minister in the name of 'Praja Patham' would amount to an eye-wash as long as powers and resources are not devolved upon locally-elected people's representatives.