HYDERABAD: Director General of Police (DGP) B Shivadhar Reddy on Tuesday handed over house site pattas (title deeds) to the families of police personnel who were killed in the Balimela incident.
Speaking on the occasion at his office here, the DGP said that the brutal massacre of 38 personnel, including 32 Greyhounds commandos, in the Balimela reservoir on June 29, 2008, in a Maoist attack, continued to remain a deeply painful memory for the police fraternity. He recalled that the tragic incident plunged the state police into profound grief.
The state government through a GO in 2013 sanctioned house plots measuring 200 square yards each to the legal heirs of the martyrs. Initially, two acres were allotted in Survey Nos 23 and 27 of Gajularamaram village in Quthbullapur mandal. However, due to encroachments, an alternative land parcel measuring 3.10 acres in Survey No 16 of the same village was subsequently identified.
Discrepancies between the survey numbers mentioned in the GO and the actual land location led to procedural hurdles in the registration process, resulting in prolonged delays. Addressing these issues, the government issued amendment orders (GO No 132) on October 18, 2025, regularising the land in Survey No 16, Gajularamaram.
The DGP said that the tragedy occurred within two months of his assuming charge as DIG, Special Intelligence Branch (SIB). He expressed satisfaction that a long-pending issue spanning nearly 18 years had finally been resolved. Shivadhar Reddy stated that this was made possible due to the special initiative taken by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy.
It may be recalled that on the fateful day, Maoists carried out a sudden and intense attack on a launch carrying around 60 Greyhounds commandos and police personnel in the Balimela reservoir, near Chitrakonda in Malkangiri district of Odisha.
The launch sank following heavy gunfire and grenade attacks from Maoists positioned on the surrounding hills.