Ahead of KCR’s visit, Kondagattu bus mishap victims’ kin stage protest
JAGTIAL: Ahead of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s visit to Jagtial to inaugurate the new collectorate complex and lay the foundation stone for a medical college on December 7, the families of the Kondagattu bus accident victims staged a protest at Kodimyal mandal headquarters on Monday, demanding more compensation and Aasara pension for those who have been rendered disabled.
On September 11 in 2018, 65 passengers had lost their lives and several others suffered severe injuries when a Palle Velugu bus fell into a gorge from the Kondagattu hillock.
While TSRTC paid Rs 3 lakh as an ex gratia, the State government extended a financial aid of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of those who lost their lives. The Centre sanctioned Rs 1.49 crore as an ex gratia to the families of all the victims.
However, the victims’ families claim that the compensation given by the State government was not adequate as some of them lost their sole breadwinners. Holding placards, the protestors lamented that the government did not keep its promise to provide jobs to one of the family members of the victims. They also expressed their unhappiness over the chief minister’s failure to visit to console them.
One of the youths who participated in the protest said that it would greatly help them if the government provides them jobs in the RTC as some of the injured persons have been confined to bed.
The entire compensation given by the government had been spent on medical treatment of the injured, they said and claimed that some of the children of the deceased have become orphans.