KARIMNAGAR: Holi celebrations turned tragic for three students here on Tuesday. Battina Veeranyaneyulu, 16, Gonepalli Santosh, 13, and Pallepu Anil, 14, went for a swim in a pit near the Manair river here on Tuesday after celebrating Holi and drowned in the water. The pit was formed during the digging work for Manair River Front development project at Alugunur on the outskirts of Karimnagar.
The parents of the students are migrant workers from Cheemakurthi mandal in Ongole district of Andhra Pradesh, according to ACP (Rural) T Karunakar Rao. The grief-stricken parents of the victims said that their children would not have died if proper security was provided at the river. They alleged that the contractor failed to provide public safety measures at the work site.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and BC Welfare Minister Gangula Kamalakar expressed grief over the death of the three students. The State government announced an ex gratia of Rs 3 lakh each for the kin of the victims. Kamalakar also announced an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to them. Collector RV Karnan will hand over the bodies of the students to their parents on Wednesday.