India News | Officials Forcibly Seize Family's

Amaravati, April 21 (PTI): An assistant motor vehicles inspector and a home guard were on Thursday placed under suspension after they forcibly seized an SUV from a family for use during Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy's scheduled visit to Ongole on Friday.

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The incident, wherein a family proceeding to Tirumala Hills for fulfilling a vow to Lord Venkateswara was left stranded in Ongole upon seizure of their car, triggered a storm and forced the Chief Minister's Office to issue a statement claiming that Jagan became furious over it.

The opposition Telugu Desam and Jana Sena attacked the Jagan regime over the “atrocious incident,” saying it once again reflected the alleged anarchy prevailing in the State. A family from Vinukonda in Palnadu district was in its SUV on the way to Tirumala and stopped in Ongole for dinner late Wednesday night. A local policeman came to the SUV driver and told the latter that the vehicle was being seized for use in the convoy of the Chief Minister during his scheduled visit on Friday. The family, which included two children, pleaded with the policeman not to seize their vehicle as they were proceeding to Tirumala to fulfil the vow. Unrelenting, the policeman forcibly took the vehicle away, saying he was following orders of his higher authorities. The hapless family got another vehicle from their hometown and left for Tirumala. “This is a new type of rule of Jagan we are seeing,” Jana Sena Political Affairs Committee chairman Nadendla Manohar lashed out in a tweet, attaching a newspaper report on the incident. Reacting angrily to the incident, Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan wondered if the situation has so worsened in the State that the government was unable to arrange its own vehicles for the Chief Minister's convoy. “The government can't hide behind the suspension of two small officials. The Chief Minister's Office owes an explanation...,” Kalyan demanded in a statement. Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu too lashed out at the Jagan regime, saying it was a shameful incident. “It's atrocious to snatch a private family's vehicle for use by the Chief Minister. Why has the State been pushed into such a miserable condition? This only exposed the brutal administration of Jagan,” Chandrababu said. Transport Department officials, however, maintained that it was only a “communication gap” that resulted in the mess. “Actually, our officials seized the vehicle because it did not have a valid fitness certificate.

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The driver was asked to pay a penalty and also obtain a fitness certificate for the safety of the passengers,” a senior Transport official claimed. However, the assistant motor vehicles inspector and home guard were suspended over the incident, the official added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)