Minister shifts exam centre in AP

Denizens of Srikakulam have yet another reason to resent Dharmana Prasada Rao, minister for Roads and Buildings in Andhra Pradesh.

This time the minister pulled strings to shift an exam centre from a local college to accommodate his son Ravi Manohar Naidu's  wedding.

Rao allegedly abused his position in the government to shift the test centre for  the Village Revenue Officers and Assistants at Government Degree College at Srikakulam town, to a far-flung centre at Ichapuram.

Parent of an examinee died in a road mishap while driving his son to the Ichapuram centre in a motorcycle. G Hemalatha, the examinee, sustained injuries as well.  

Examinees complained of harassment as some of them were allocated centres at distant places like Ranasthalam, around 150 kms from Srikakulam town. Meanwhile, Telugu Desum Party politburo member and former union minister K Yerran Naidu, who belongs to Srikakulam, demanded  criminal proceedings  against Rao for his abuse of
office which had led to  the death of a parent. However,  the minister's office denied his involvement in shifting  of the venue.

Yeran naidu has found support in  E A S Sarma, a retired high ranking government official, who wrote to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, demanding punitive action against the minister.

The Student's Federation of India  took out a massive rally in Srikakulam to protest the minister’s indiscreet abuse of power.

On Sunday, the state government held the examination at 384 centers for recruiting 1,172 village revenue officers (VROs) and 6,063 village revenue assistants.

The results would be announced on March 12 and the appointment letters would be handed over to selected candidates on   March 24.

Rao has earlier ruffled feathers with his irreverent misuse of position as he has been accused of practising nepotism in granting leases for sand mines and hillocks for quarrying, apart from damaging boundary walls of an education institution.