HYDERABAD: Finally neither the State Government nor the Centre or for that matter Auastralian Government has come to the rescue of Chidambara Rao, father of Sravan Kumar who was grievously injured in a racist attack on last Saturday in Melbourne.
With the help of his brother Srinivas, who is a veterinary doctor, Chidambara Rao managed to get visas for both of them and mobilised finances for their visit but in the last minute he asked his brother to go alone as he was in a state of shock and was afraid he might not travel that far. Chidamabara Rao and Srinivas met Finance Minister K Rosaiah earlier in the day who assured them financial help and wanted Chief Secretary P Ramakanth Reddy to verify rules pertaining to helping people in such situations.
Chidamabara Rao reportedly brought to the notice of the Finance Minister even meeting airfare of Rs.51,000 (round trip) for each of them would be quite burdensome for him and wanted the State Government to help him out.
Chidambara Rao tried to meet Rosaiah yesterday but he could not since the Finance Minister was away in Tirupati.
Chidambara Rao and Srinivas later met TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu Khammam MP and TDP Parliamentary Party leader Nama Nageswara Rao who offered some help to them. Nageswara Rao, who has contacts in Melbourne, made arrangements for his transport and stay in the Australian city.
Still, Chidambara Rao is worried over the medical expenses for the treatment being given to his son. ``So far, hospital authorities have not asked us for payment for medical bills and I do not know if they would ask my brother to pay up,'' Chidambara Rao said.