VISAKHAPATNAM: Following the trifurcation of the erstwhile Visakhapatnam district, memorials of revolutionary leader and freedom fighter Alluri Sitaramaraju are in three districts.The memorial at his birthplace at Pandrangi in Padmanabham mandal is in Visakhapatnam district, that at Mampa Madugu where he was caught by the British forces, and Rajendrapalem, where he was martyred, are in Koyyuru mandal in Alluri district. The theme park at KD Peta, where his and lieutenant Gam Gantam Dora’s tombs were built, is in Golugonda mandal of Anakapalle district.
However, all the six police stations, which were raided by the freedom fighter during the rebellion (pituri), are in Alluri district National president of Alluri Sitaramaraju Yuvajana Sangham V Subrahmanyam said Alluri did not get the recognition like other stalwarts. A demand for the installation of his statue in Parliament’s central hall still remained unfulfilled. Permission for installing Alluri’s statue was given along with the nod given for the installation of NTR statue. The then union minister Purandareswari got the statue of NTR installed in the Parliament central hall.
The Alluri Sitaramaraju Yuvajana Sangham has come forward to bear the expenses of the statue and the same was informed to Union Tourism Minister G Kishen Reddy, who referred it to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Prakash Birla.The sangham is installing a 18-foot Alluri statue at Mampa Madugu at a cost of `13.5 lakh and a foundation was laid by the commissioner China Veerabhadrudu.
Bodi Dora, the grandson of Gam Gantam Dora, is living in a thatched house. He stays along with his daughter Malleswari and son in-law. The condition of descendants of a freedom fighter was so miserable that they do not have a pucca house. They will be happy if their daughter, who is studying final year degree, is given a government job, Malleswari said.