VIJAYAWADA: The selfie video of a plumber purportedly taken before ending his life as he was ‘rendered jobless’ due to scarcity of sand in the State, has sparked a political slugfest with the Opposition parties lashing out at the government for making sand a scarce commodity, while the ruling YSRC refuted the allegations of the Opposition stating that the situation arose due to heavy rains, which have filled all the rivers and canals to the brim.
Polepalli Venkateswarlu (29), who hails from Gorantla on the outskirts of Guntur city, allegedly hanged himself to death on October 2. But the video surfaced on Sunday night. In the video, he said, “There is no work to do to maintain the family. On being questioned by my family members and others, I am saying that I can run the family somehow, but the fact is that there is no work to do. I am ending my life in despair as I am not in a position to feed my family.”
His wife Raasi said Venkateswarlu was rendered jobless for the past four months. “We are under severe financial distress. In this turbulent times, making matters worse, our son fell sick and he needs to undergo operation,’’ she said, adding that she was unaware of the fact that Venkateswarlu took a self video before committing suicide, which came to light Sunday night.
The YSRC government is under fire for its ‘failure’ to ensure adequate supply of sand, which hit the construction activity in the State. Tweeting the video, which went viral, Opposition Leader N Chandrababu Naidu said, “Depressed to see that workers are ending their lives in despair. The government should at least now wake up and provide compensation to the construction workers, who were rendered jobless due to scarcity of sand.”
Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan, who called for a march in Visakhapatnam on November 3 against the YSRC government’s ‘failure’ to come to the rescue of the construction workers, appealed to all the opposition parties in the State to wage a united fight for the cause of daily wagers. “As responsible political parties, we all should join hands and fight for the cause of lakhs of construction workers. Already, BJP and Left parties have taken up the cause of workers. I appeal to all other parties to join our proposed march in support of the workers, who have been rendered jobless due to scarcity of sand,’’ Pawan Kalyan said.
Sand scarcity will be solved soon: Jogi Ramesh
Lashing out at TDP supremo and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan for their ‘malicious propaganda’ against the State government with respect to its alleged failure to supply sand, YSRC MLA Jogi Ramesh on Monday said people are well aware of the circumstances that led to the scarcity of construction material. The Pedana MLA said, “It has become very difficult to mine sand in Krishna and Godavari rivers due to floods and heavy rains. The government does not need to create artificial scarcity of sand. Will artificial scarcity bring good reputation to the government?” Ramesh questioned.
The Pedana legislator said, “It is a fact that there is a sand problem in the State. The government is working hard to improve the supply of sand to meet the demand and avoid any inconvenience to the construction sector. The sand scarcity in the State will be solved soon.”