Family members of B. Sailu, the man allegedly mowed down by a tractor transporting illegally mined sand in the Karegaon village of Pitlam Mandal in Kamareddy district, asserted that the deceased was discharging duties as Village Revenue Assistant when he was killed.
Disputing Minister for Mines and Geology K.T. Rama Rao’s claim that Mr. Sailu was not a VRA, and that the tractor was not laden with sand, wife of the deceased B. Sayamma, his daughter B. Lavanya, and son B. Vittal, along with his father B. Shivaiah, at a press conference by T-MASS on Monday, vouched that he had been performing VRA duties for the past seven months. State Secretary of the Telangana VRA Association V. Ramulu said Mr. Sailu was wearing his VRA badge when he was run over, and there was documentary proof that he had been assigned the day’s duties by the Tehsildar.
“In 1992, my father B. Narayana was given the order as VRA. But recently, MRO asked me to take over from him as the government wished to appoint a literate person for the job. I had performed the duties till June last year , after which Sailu assumed the charge,” B. Santhosh, cousin of the deceased said. Boina Hanumandlu, whose father was a cousin of Mr. Narayana, said the right of VRA-ship was surrendered to Mr. Narayana’s lineage years ago for a monetary consideration.
“Sand smuggling is done every night on the sly. We had witnessed the tractor with sand, and caught the driver too. In fact, another tractor trailing the one that had killed Sailu could not proceed further due to the accident, and the driver unloaded the sand in the nearby field before fleeing,” Mr. Narayana said.
Balladeer Gaddar demanded an explanation from the Chief Minister. CITU State vice-president Sudha Bhaskar expressed doubts that the TRS government was hand-in-glove with the sand mafia. John Wesley from T-MASS demanded an apology from Mr. Rama Rao, besides ₹25 lakh compensation, double bedroom house, three acres of land, and job for a family member.
