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Officials ‘dishonour’ Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu’s image, probe ordered
The incident occurred during a review meeting of higher education department officials at the state secretariat in Velagapudi, Amaravati, on Monday.
The Andhra Pradesh government on Tuesday ordered a probe into an alleged attempt by some officials to dishonour an image of chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu the previous day. The offenders had reportedly piled used paper plates on Naidu’s framed photograph after partaking of snacks at an official event.
The incident occurred during a review meeting of higher education department officials at the state secretariat in Velagapudi, Amaravati, on Monday. The chief minister’s office took serious note of the incident, and ordered an inquiry by senior IAS officer B Udaya Lakshmi.
According to sources, the ministerial staff served snacks and sweetmeats to the participants but forgot to provide waste baskets for dumping the discarded paper plates. As a stopgap arrangement, they placed some framed photographs on the table corners and asked the officials to place their paper plates and empty water bottles on them.
It was only when attendants began clearing the tables that they realised how the chief minister’s framed photograph had been used as a refuse bin. Though there was no mistaking Naidu’s picture, none of the participants of the meeting seemed to have noticed it.
The attendants’ indignation only rose when they realised that several portraits of gods were piled under the chief minister’s photograph. Apparently, they were meant to be hung on the walls of the conference room.
The matter was brought to the notice of the higher authorities, who pulled up the organisers of the meeting. The chief minister’s office was later alerted to the issue.
Around that time, Naidu was instructing a senior batch of IAS officials on the importance of good governance at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration.
