The absence of information even after 10 days of the missing of the Air Force AN 32 aircraft on the Bay of Bengal is putting immense pressure on the families of the NAD personnel who were on the flight, according to APCC president N. Raghuveera Reddy. Speaking after visiting the families of the eight NAD personnel who went missing on the aircraft, Mr. Raghuveera Reddy told The Hindu here on Sunday that the agony of the family members was indescribable.
“We pray a miracle happens and the missing personnel return home safe and sound, but in the meantime the management should make an ad hoc payment of Rs. 10 lakh to the families of each of the personnel,” he said pointing out that the families have to meet routine commitments. He wanted the government to look at the issue on humanitarian grounds and not be constrained by the regulations that wait for an official declaration on the status of the employees. He was accompanied by APCC general secretary Dronamraju Srinivas, City Congress president Behera Bhaskara Rao, City Mahila president Pedada Ramana Kumari, party senior leader Killi Ramamohana Rao and former VUDA chairman P.S.N. Raju and other leaders.
He praised the efforts of the INTUC in raising money through contribution of wages from member workers to hand over Rs 1.7 lakh to each of the eight families.
Assuring members of the families that the Congress would be with them in the hour of need, the APCC president told them that Congress MPs would meet the Defence Minister and raise the issue with him and if required even in Parliament.
“All the missing personnel are in their 30s and their children are all so young, one of the kids was making mock calls to his missing dad and asking him to come home to console his mother who was crying inconsolably,” Raghuveera Reddy said.
“The government should not delay making an announcement as the waiting is agonising and the families are likely to suffer a serious breakdown if the matter is stretched further,” he noted.
Naidu remarks decried
He condemned the reported statement by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on the middle-of-the night operation to shift the statue of former chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. “Mr. Naidu suggesting that the statues be installed in the homes of his supporters is in bad taste.” He could have given an official explanation or said he would order an inquiry, but such a comment was unbecoming of a head of the government, he said.
Teenager’s death
The parents of the 14-year-old, who was found dead after going missing from home, maintain that the victim was abused and pushed to her death and are unwilling to buy the argument that it was suicide, Mr. Raghuveera Reddy said after calling on the family of the victim.
The police did not respond to the complaints of stalking by one of the boys in the neighbourhood, the mother of the teenaged girl had complained.
If the police had taken preventive steps the tragedy could have been averted. Such cases indicate the deterioration in law and order in the State, the Congress leader said.
