VIJAYAWADA: In a tragic incident, Palisetti Chandrasekhar (32) lost his life after heroically saving four people, and around 50 cattle in his dairy farm at Ajit Singh Nagar during the Budameru flash floods.
Chandrasekhar of Krishna Lanka was running the dairy unit in Kota Vari Street of Ajit Singh Nagar, along with his two brothers, for the past one year. In the early hours of Sunday, he received information from his elder brother Syamsundar about Budameru flash floods.
Chandrasekhar, an expert swimmer, rushed to Ajit Singh Nagar, and freed the cows and buffaloes in his dairy farm with the help of Syamsundar and another brother Koteswara Rao, and two workers as the floodwater submerged the entire cattle shed within no time.
While rescuing the cattle, he noticed that his two brothers and workers were being swept away by the strong water current. Immediately, he went to their rescue, and managed to take them to safety.
“After freeing the cattle and rescuing us, he tried to climb onto the cattle shed roof for safety. Unfortunately, he slipped in his attempt and hit a cement pillar, which caused him severe head injury. He was swept away by the floodwater within no time,” wailed his brothers.
Chandrasekhar left MNC job to run dairy business
The incident came to light on Tuesday as Chandrasekhar’s body was found 500 metres away from the dairy farm after the floodwater started receding. “Our son died heroically after saving four of us and 50 cows and buffaloes. Though he was a good swimmer, and participated in rescue operations during floods in Krishna Lanka earlier, he could not save himself from drowning,” Chandrasekhar’s family members grieved.
Chandrasekhar got married in 2023 and his wife is 8 months pregnant now. An MTech graduate, he set up the dairy farm to be a successful entrepreneur after leaving his highly paid software job in a multinational company. Having learnt about the tragic incident, Minister for Information and Public Relations Kolusu Parthasarathy visited the bereaved family on Thursday. He promised to extend all help from the State government.