TDP State president K. Kala Venkata Rao has taken objection to the government’s decision to open distilleries in the State amidst extension of the lockdown.

“When the entire world has focussed its attention on developing a vaccine for coronavirus, the State government is concerned about liquor manufacturing and commissions,” Mr. Venkata Rao alleged in a statement on Sunday.

Questioning the rationale behind the decision to manufacture liquor at this hour of crisis, he urged the government not to open liquor shops or distilleries, regardless of the green or orange zones.

Accusing the YSRCP leaders of trying to make hay by illegally selling liquor, the TDP leader alleged that the ward / village volunteers were also involved in the process.

The government should, instead, reopen Anna Canteens as the daily wage earners, migrant and construction workers and other poor families were unable to have two square meals a day for the last several weeks because of the lockdown. It would also help the workers and their families who lost their livelihood, he observed.

A family had committed suicide in Rajamahendravaram reportedly unable to cope with the hardship. The YSRCP government should take the blame for it, the TDP leader said.

The government ignored TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu’s advice to provide ₹5,000 financial assistance to each poor family and ₹10,000 to each construction worker’s family, he alleged.

Stating that doctors played a crucial role in the containment of COVID-19, Mr. Venkata Rao wondered why the Chief Minister did not convene even a single conference to motivate them and other health workers. Private doctors were being asked to work round the clock and harassed in the name of lockdown restrictions, he alleged.