Devasthanam officials to appear before court tomorrow

Vijayawada, Oct 15 (UNI) The third Metropolitan Magistrate Court here today directed Kanakadurga Devasthanam Chairman P Narayana Reddy and EO S Chandrasekhar Azad to appear before the court tomorrow, in connection with the distribution of 300 packets of stale rpt stale ''Tamarind Rice'' prasadam to the devotees during the ongoing nine-day Navaratri festival.

The Magistrate Ch Rajagopal Rao, after taking up the petition filed by a city-based lawyer B Nageswara Rao, asked them to give an explanation on why it was distributed to the pilgrims.

The advocate filed the petition under the Public Health Act 1939 of Sections 138 and 108.

Two days ago, the devotees after tasting the rice expressed their anger at the devasthanam officials, as it was stale.

Later, the Chairman, after examining the rice, directed the officials to keep them aside.

The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation Food Inspector Shyam Raj after knowing about it, collected the samples of the rice and sent it to a laboratory in Hyderabad for testing.

UNI