‘Development not in common man’s perspective’, says Former Union Secretary EAS Sarma

Sarma narrated an incident that happened in the State, where people were taken for granted by a corporate entity, but in the end, it had to bow down to the public will.
EAS Sarma, former Union energy secretary
EAS Sarma, former Union energy secretary

VIJAYAWADA: Former Union Secretary EAS Sarma has said development in the State is being conceptualised in the perspective of the elite group of the population, which is a minority, rather than from the perspective of the common man.

He was delivering the valedictory address at the two-day seminar ‘Understanding and reimagining Andhra Pradesh - A critical appraisal of developments after 2014’, organised by the Institute of Research on Andhra Pradesh (IRAP) here on Monday. “The real development can only happen when people are involved in the process, which unfortunately is not happening in the real sense leading to conflicts of interest, which in the long run is not good for the State,” Sarma said. 

Sarma narrated an incident that happened in the State, where people were taken for granted by a corporate entity, but in the end, it had to bow down to the public will.“In Dharmavaram village of East Godavari district, some 60 miles from Visakhapatnam, a corporate company came seeking land to establish an industry a few years ago. The villagers were told that the company is setting up a sugar factory.

As it means employment, the villagers readily agreed, but when they finally realised that they were duped and it was not sugar factory, but thermal power plant, they protested. Though the corporate entity tried to oppress them using political clout and police, they never backed down and finally the project got shelved,” he said and added it shows people have their own idea of development, .

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