Leader of the Opposition Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy on Friday said that the YSR Congress Party would appoint a special committee to bring back normalcy to Garagaparru village of Palakoderu mandal in West Godavari district, where the issue of social boycott of Dalits by the other castes came to light recently.
“Camaraderie is the need of the hour in this village and our party will take the initiative to wipe out differences between the two groups and restore normalcy in the civic life,” he said after interacting separately with the two groups.
Dalit women brought to his notice that the installation of the statue of B.R. Ambedkar in the village was the epicentre of the trouble. They were ready to remove the statue if the statues of other leaders too were removed from the village.
Wondering why Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had not turned up to their village even after the issue came to light, the Dalits complained that neither the local elected representatives nor the officials were listening to their woes. Terming the social boycott as unfortunate, Mr. Jagan highlighted the need for preventing such incidents. “I have come all the way to this village to get first-hand information about the incident. I am happy that both the parties are wiling to live together,” he said. The livelihood of Dalits had to be restored immediately, he added. He advised Dalits not to brand all the other castes as anti-Dalits but give a chance to them to shun differences and bridge the gaps.
“Situation in
Agency bad”
Staff Reporter from Kakinada adds: In Kakinada, Mr. Jagan expressed concern over the absence of basic medical facilities in the Agency areas. He alleged that the ruling Telugu Desam Party was considering the tribal people as mere vote banks and not as human beings.
He interacted with the tribal people from Chaparai hamlet, who were undergoing treatment in the Government General Hospital (GGH) in Kakinada, and found that the absence of nutritious food and medical facilities were resulting in the deaths of tribal people.
He alleged that the government failed to provide basic amenities in the Agency areas following which tribal people were subjected to ill-health and deaths in large numbers every year. “The recent incident in Chaparai that claimed 16 lives is no exception,” he said.
During his interaction with doctors, Mr. Jagan wondered why some tribal people were discharged from the hospital hurriedly. Even as the doctors tried to explain to him that the condition of those who were discharged was improving, he stressed the need for providing complete medication to all those who were being brought to the hospital.
The tribal people brought to his notice that there was no road connectivity to their hamlet and facilities such as electricity, education and medical care were in a poor condition.
Mr. Jagan assured them that the infrastructure and facilities would be improved in all the Agency areas once the YSRCP was voted to power in the next elections.
