Home Department signs lease deed with VM Home

Rachakonda Police Commissionerate on the premises set to be a certainty

The 114-year-old Victoria Memorial Home Residential School.

With the lease deed between Victoria Memorial Home Residential School and Home Department signed on Tuesday, the construction of Rachakonda Police Commissioner’s headquarters on the lands of the Home now seems to be a certainty.

The agreement was reportedly signed by the Home Secretary Anitha Rajendra on behalf of the department, and the Honorary Secretary Vasantha Lakshmi on behalf of the Home, while the Principal and the Superintendent of the Home signed as witnesses.

Meanwhile, 12 persons who conducted protests inside the VM Home premises on Wednesday, were detained by the Saroornagar police and released on bail.

Speaking to

The Hindu , the co-convenor of the VM Home Old Students Association Bheemagani Maheshwar informed that protesters from SFI, PDSU, AISF, Chaitanya Mahila Samakhya and others went to the Home under the banner of VM Home Orphans’ Land Protection Committee asking the students of Classes VIII, IX and X to accompany them to the MRO’s office for giving a representation. “We wanted to request the MRO to get the lands re-surveyed and protect them. But the principal lodged a complaint against us in the police station, due to which we were picked up,” Mr.Mahesh said.

However, sources from the Home informed that pressure was applied on the principal to send the students out, to which he refused, and lodged a police complaint.

The agitations are going on for some time, seeking withdrawal of government orders permitting lease of VM Home’s lands to the Home Department. A public interest litigation too was filed in the High Court against the government’s decision.

The decision to accommodate Rachakonda Police Commissionerate in 10 acres of VM Home lands is disputed, as it goes against the Nizam’s endowment.

The Home has a sprawl of 73 acres, and a heritage building for the school.