What About All the Other Martyrs, Asks Congress

Deputy CLP leader in the Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir slammed Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for the errors in the list of Telangana martyrs.

Addressing a press conference at the Congress Legislature Party office on Tuesday, Shabbir Ali alleged that the list of Telangana martyrs prepared by the government was incomplete and full of errors.

He was referring to the GO Ms No 36 dated 27.10.2104 issued by the Revenue Department to provide Rs 10 lakhs as monetary assistance to the bereaved families of each of those who had sacrificed their life for achieving statehood for Telangana.

"While I would like to appreciate the fact that the State Government has sanctioned Rs 10 lakh each to the families of the Telangana martyrs, I regret to say that only 459 such families were covered under the scheme," he said in an open letter written to the Chief Minister.

Shabbir Ali reminded that the Chief Minister, on multiple occasions, had claimed that more than 2,000 persons had sacrificed their lives for the cause of Telangana. The same statement was reiterated by the Chief Minister on the floor of the State Legislative Assembly.

The cabinet ministers and even Swamy Goud, the present chairman of the Legislative Council, went on record to say that there were more than 2,000 martyrs of Telangana.

"When more than 2,000 people have sacrificed their lives for the statehood cause, why is it that the government is paying compensation to only 459 families? Why were the District Collectors able to identify and furnish information about only 459 cases while ignoring almost two-thirds of the martyrs?" he asked demanding that KCR issue a clarification in this regard.

Shabbir Ali also pointed out that there were blatant errors in the list of martyrs released by the State Government.

"The officials did not show any seriousness in preparing the list of martyrs. On the one hand, they left out a majority of the martyrs, and on the other they did not bother to collect the proper addresses of identified martyrs' families. For instance, of the 11 martyrs of the Hyderabad district, the officials wrote 'NA' (Not Available) for the addresses of five martyrs. These include K Venugopal Reddy, whose funeral was attended by hundreds of people.

"Similarly, 'NA' was written against the names of 17 of the 91 martyrs of the Warangal district," he said.

Further, he said that several cases of suicide for Telangana, which were reported prominently in the mainstream media, were left out. Citing some instances, he said that the deaths of Sheik Anwar (29) of the Nalgonda district, S Srikanth (23) of Hyderabad, and K Uppalaiah (30) and Sambari Navin (18) of the Warangal district that occurred between February 2010 and April 2012, and were widely reported by the media, were not included in the list of martyrs.

Demanding stern action against the officials who erred in preparing the list of the Telangana martyrs, Shabbir Ali asked KCR to tender an apology for the errors.

"You've occupied the seat of the Chief Minister due to the sacrifices made by the martyrs and their families. Therefore, the State Government should ensure that not a single one of the families of the Telangana martyrs is left out. Any attempt to neglect or ignore the martyrs' families would be an insult to all the people of Telangana," he said. (INN)