For Mt. Everest achiever, prize stays out of reach

February 15, 2017 03:14 am | Updated 03:16 am IST - PAKALA (Nizamabad District):

After scaling the peak, Malavath Poorna was honoured by Prime Minister Modi. File photo

After scaling the peak, Malavath Poorna was honoured by Prime Minister Modi. File photo

Malavath Poorna made history by becoming the youngest girl to have scaled Mt. Everest in 2014, but has found that getting the promised rewards for her feat from Telangana State officials is even more of a challenge.

The announcement of prizes made by Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao — of a three-room house and five acres of plot — has not been implemented.

Poorna, who was 13 then, climbed Mt. Everest on the morning of May 25, nearly three years ago. Aware that Telangana State was about to be formed (it came into existence on June 1, 2014), the young mountaineer unfurled the Telangana flag atop Mt. Everest.

Within days of her feat, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao made the announcement of prizes for the young achiever. A cash reward of ₹25 lakh was handed over to Poorna on the eve of Independence Day in 2014 at Golconda Fort.

Believed promises

“Since the cash reward came soon, I expected the other incentives announced by the government would materialise quickly,” said the teenager’s father Devidas.

Unfazed that it did not happen, he continued to meet officials. Since he already had a two-room house in Pakala village, the farmer represented that she be given a house either at Kamareddy or Nizamabad. “That would be useful to my daughter as she would not live in the village anyway,” he said. In 2015, authorities suggested land at Thippapoor of Biknoor mandal. Yet, the proposal was dropped. Two more proposals also failed, including one in Sirconda mandal, where he says he paid a ₹1 lakh advance.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.