It was exactly on this day last month when 24-year-old Padmamma hosted a get-together for her three sisters in her two-room house at Moulali. That day was memorable because all the sisters were meeting at one place after two years and they recalled their cherished childhood memories.
On Tuesday, one of the sisters Padmamma, along with her husband Venkataiah, was buried alive in the wall collapse incident at Moulali, along with four others. The couple’s children, Avinash and Anusha, however, had a providential escape. “We had planned to organise another get-together of our families next month at our parent’s home in Tandur. But fate had other plans. It’s a shock for us, and we are going to miss our younger sister…” Padmamma’s elder sister Yadamma wailed at the Gandhi hospital mortuary.
The couple came to the capital 10 years ago in search of a better livelihood. While Venkataiah worked as mason, Padmamma, worked as a domestic help.
Their death now has dealt a big blow to the children’s future, said Yadamma. “We request the government to come to the rescue of these two children and provide proper education,” she pleaded. It was an irreparable loss to the relatives of Mahadev, who died along with his wife also named Padmamma and their two children – Anil Kumar and Shivudu – both sixth class students, in the mishap. Lack of proper employment in his native village at Kotlabad, Mahabubnagar district, forced the couple to become construction workers. “Every month, he used to send a part of earnings to his family in the village,” said his relative Madhu. Former Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav consoled the bereaved members of the two families at Gandhi Hospital and gave away cheques of Rs. 25,000 each.
