Vigilance staff neglect call of duty, doze off

Dharmapuri: The surveillance teams, including the static surveillance team (SST), the flying squad team (FST) and the video surveillance team (VST) might be on their toes ahead of the state assembly election, but a VST team led by deputy tahsildar were found enjoying a sound sleep, neglecting their call of duty.
Travellers on Dharmapuri-Pappireddipatty state highway spotted a team of four government officials lying under a tree after parking their official jeep beside them.All the four had been sleeping for nearly an hour.
A DMK functionary, who witnessed the scene, said state higher education minister P Palaniappan was campaigning just half-a-km from the place, where the officials rested.
He alleged that the officials did not monitor anything, as they were ruling party cadres. When contacted by TOI, district election officer and district collector K Vivekanandhan said he would initiate strict action against the VST team.
He said the team was supposed to take videos of political parties' campaigns and their movements and hand over the same to expenditure observers to calculate the expense incurred by a particular candidate.
Vivekanandhan said the VST has violated the election code of conduct as the higher education minister was campaigning just half-a-km away. "I will immediately order for an inquiry and will take strict action against them," he said.