HYDERABAD: The deaths of two Dalits, one of which took place in Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's assembly constituency of Gajwel, rocked Telangana on Thursday. The other incident occurred in Mahabubnagar district.
Launching an attack on the TRS government, the Congress sought an in-depth inquiry into the two incidents and stringent action against the culprits.
In Gajwel constituency, a Dalit farmer, Bhlagari Narasimulu, unable to come to terms with reality after his land was taken over by the government for the construction of rythu vedika in Veluru in Vargal Mandal, took pesticide and died in hospital in the early hours of Thursday.
According to sources, the victim who originally had one acre and 13 guntas of land had sold one acre and was raising crops on the remaining part of the land for a long time. Since the land was not in his name as he inherited it from his father, he tried to change it to his name but could not succeed because of bureaucratic red tape.
Meanwhile, after the state government took a decision to construct rythu vedikas in all villages to provide a platform for farmers to meet and discuss the prospects of crops, officials took the 13 guntas of land from him, contending that they had the right to do so as it was assigned land.
With his source of livelihood having been snatched away, Narasimulu took pesticide in his field on Wednesday and later was admitted to a hospital in Siddepet where he died.
In the other incident, tension built up in Tirumlapur in Rajpur Mandal in Mahabubnagar district when a truck driver drove his vehicle over a 35-year-old Dalit farmer Kadi Narasimulu even as he was trying to stop it from smuggling sand from his field which is close to a local stream late on Wednesday night.
The lorry, which was on its way to the stream, mowed down the farmer and then even without stopping, went near the stream and stopped. The crew then loaded sand into the vehicle and as they were returning, villagers gathered and raised a hue and cry over the death of the Dalit farmer.
The villagers told The New Indian Express that the farmer had informed revenue and police officials several times that sand smugglers were transporting sand from his field but it fell on deaf ears. The police remained tight-lipped over whether it was a case of murder merely stating that they were still inquiring into the incident. The police, however, said cases were being registered against the crew for illegal mining of sand from the stream.
Meanwhile, TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy demanded that all those responsible for the deaths of the two Dalits should be brought to book and said the TRS government had failed in protecting their interests.
The TPCC chief demanded that those responsible for the Dalit farmer's death in Mahabubnagar should be brought to justice while in Gajwel, cases under SC and ST Atrocities (Prevention) Act should be registered against the culprits.
Later in the day, several Congress leaders left for Siddipet SA Sampath Kumar and DCC president Narasareddy and another leader Addanki Dayakar to commisserate with the family members of the victim.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister T Harish Rao, while expressing sorrow over the death of Narasimulu, slammed the Congress for trying to derive political mileage from a tragedy. He denied that the government snatched land from the victim and said that it went into the possession of the government when the Congress was in power in the undivided state of Andhra Pradesh.
He said that the government would allott one-acre land and pay Rs 2 lakh as ex gratia to his kin. The government would take care of the education of his daughter, he said and made it clear that an inquiry would be ordered into the incident and action taken against those responsible for his death.