The ongoing agitation against the proposed Mallannasagar reservoir on Thursday witnessed its first casualty — farmer Bachali Narsaiah (70) of Pallepahad in Toguta mandal committed suicide by hanging. According to villagers, Narsaiah was worried about being forcibly evicted from the village once the notification was issued by the government to acquire land for construction of the Mallannasagar reservoir. For the past few days, he had been discussing the issue with fellow villagers and reportedly said that it was better to die in the same village than somewhere else.
With this feeling, Narsaiah attempted suicide by hanging. Some locals brought him down and shifted him to a hospital at Gajwel and later to Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad. He breathed his last in the wee hours of Thursday. Narsaah is survived by wife and a daughter.
BJP leader M. Raghunandan Rao, TDP leader O. Pratap Reddy, and retired judge Chandra Kumar visited the hospital and consoled Budavva, wife of Narsaiah.
Retired High Court judge and Telangana Rythu Sankshema Samithi president B.Chandrakumar visited the mortuary of Gandhi Hospital and consoled the family members.
“Till yesterday, Narsaiah moved with us and was repeatedly asking us where to go. We couldn’t give any answer as we are also clueless about our future. Though we assured him that nothing would happen, he was not sure. The statement made by officials that notification would be issued for Pallepahad and Vemulaghat aggravated his worries,” said G. Raju of Pallepahad.
‘Murder by government’“This was nothing but a murder by the government in the name of Mallannasagar. The authorities were reluctant to heed the suggestions of experts despite repeated appeals, requests and ongoing agitation by residents of 14 villages,” said G. Bhaskar, convenor, Mallannasagar Land Oustees Struggle Committee.
Congress leader Marri Sashidhar Reddy urged the land oustees not to take any hasty step assuring them that construction of the reservoir would be stopped at any cost and farmers don’t have to worry about their future.
Meanwhile, Mr. Nagam Janardhan Reddy addressed a meeting of land oustees at Vemulaghat and demanded that a case be registered against Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao as he was responsible for the suicide of farmer at Pallepahad.
