HYDERABAD / NALGONDA: Rich tributes were on Saturday paid to Lt. Col. VVB Reddy, who was killed in a helicopter crash while on an operational sortie at Mandala in Arunachal Pradesh earlier this week. Chief of the Army Staff General Manoj Pande paid homage to the late officer by visiting his residence at Malkajgiri in Hyderabad. Later, Lieutenant General Ajai Kumar Singh, the General Officer-Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) Southern Command, paid floral tributes to Lt Colonel VVB Reddy. Both the officers expressed their condolences to the grieving family.
Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan also paid rich tributes to the mortal remains of the late officer by visiting his residence. Consoling the family, she said that the brave officer’s services and sacrifice would be forever remembered by the nation. The Governor offered her condolences to the bereaved family and tried to console them.
Later, the mortal remains of the officer were brought to his native village Bommalaramaram in Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri district for the final rites. At the village, Energy Minister G Jagadish Reddy, along with local MLA Gongodi Sunita Mahender Reddy, Bhuvanagiri MLA P Shekhar Reddy, Nakrekal MLA Chirumarthy Lingaiah, Yadadri Zilla Parishad chairman Alimineti Sandeep Reddy, Collector Pamela Satpathy, Rachakonda Police Commissioner DS Chauhan and a large number of villagers paid tributes and participated in the funeral procession.
Bhanu Reddy was then cremated with State government and military honours.Meanwhile, Bhongir MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy requested the state government to support the family members of Bhanu Reddy by giving them one member of the family a government job and Rs 50 lakh ex gratia.
Bhanu Reddy’s wife Spandana is working as a dentist in Army and the couple was blessed with two daughters, Hanika and Harika. Venkat Reddy said that the State government has the responsibility to support the families of soldiers who died while serving the country.