Law-makers use social media to tom-tom their rain relief measures
While the City’s flood situation had grabbed the national attention with PM Narendra Modi assuring to provide necessary assistance, the Ministers, who had been receiving brickbats from the Opposition for poor monsoon-preparedness, were utilising the social media for image building exercise posting pics of visits to rain-affected pockets and news reports that had covered them in action.
By : migrator
Update: 2017-11-07 20:18 GMT
Chennai
Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami was the first one to attract the ire of the Opposition as he conducted a pre-monsoon review from his native district Salem while the City here was being battered by the monsoon, which inundated both southern and northern suburbs.
Ministers, including O Panneerselvam, C Vijaya Baskar, Sellur K Raju, Vellamandi Natarajan, KA Sengottaiyan, Thangamani, and KC Karupannan were limiting their posts only to the official pictures released by the Directorate of Information and Public Relations (DIPR).
Curiously, Minister for Municipal Administration SP Velumani, who had been active in both Facebook and Twitter was found posting news items even those critical of the government besides thanking the media for the coverage and a candid advisory piece for Press Freedom, among others.
“Efficient pumping water systems ready relief shelters, being increased readily depending on the need,” Velumani tweeted.
“1,156 personnel working #chennairains day and night. Kudos. Good Samaritans,” another tweet read from his handle @SPVelumanic be read.
Writing a thank you note for the media coverage of rain-relief measures on Monday, Velumani observed that media had projected the work done without any bias and remained objective.
Wrong or biased reporting would have scared the people besides confusing them, Velumani claimed. He also took pains to list out the measures taken by the government regarding rain relief. On Tuesday, the Minister made a post on Press Freedom, which he claimed was not absolute.
While the DT Next could not verify the authenticity of the account as repeated attempts to reach the Minister had failed. A private Facebook chat with the page’s administrator rendered it to be the official page of the Minister, and official twitter handle.
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