Telangana man dies by suicide alleging harassment by TRS councillor
The family of Ramesh, an autorickshaw driver from a Scheduled Tribe community, alleged that the councillor had denied allotment of a flat under the government housing scheme.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 06, 2022 – 15:19
In the video that Ramesh recorded of himself, he addressed the councillor Praveen and said, “I am dying because of you. I won’t let you play with my life. You live long and do favours for the (municipal) chairman. Goodbye.” Speaking to the media, his wife Lalitha said, “Our name featured in the beneficiaries’ list three times, but we were not given a house. Ramesh had gone to the district Collector’s office to ask why it wasn’t allotted this time too. The councillor Praveen had earlier taken money saying he would get us the flat. We’ve been making rounds for three years, but it wasn’t allotted each time. We had nothing but we still [arranged money and] gave.”
Ramesh’s death has triggered protests by both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress against the ruling TRS. Speaking to the media, BJP MLA Raghunandan Rao said that Ramesh was a farmer-turned-auto driver from the Yerukula comunity who had been living in Siddipet for 15 years, he did not own any land or house and had all the required documents to be eligible for the 2BHK scheme, and yet was forced to pay a bribe. BJP MLA Eatala Rajender demanded that the government must provide compensation to Ramesh’s family and a job to a family member.
