CM K Chandrasekhar Rao’s absence at the accident spot angers locals

Hyderabad: The police had to resort to a lathi-charge at the site of the tragic bus mishap near Masaipet in Medak district on Thursday after locals demanded that Telangana CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao visit the accident spot and condole the victims’ families personally.

Incidentally, all the victims’ families belong to Mr Rao’s constituency: Gajwel. Villagers said even YSRC chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy visited them, but the CM had not. The victims belonged to Venkatapally, Islampur and Gundreddypally villages.

Hariranjan Sharma, a local school teacher, said students of other schools too crossed the same tracks every day. “This is the Chief Minister’s constituency, but still everything is so backward,” he said.

Villagers protested against Mr Rao for not visiting the accident site after the bodies of the 12 children were taken away in an ambulance. Locals even threw stones on some of the police personnel and staged a protest after which the police had to resort to a lathi-charge.

Sridhar Goud, another teacher working in Kompally, said, “We tried to help and save the children. The police only came after an hour, and beat us up.”
Irrigation minister T. Harish Rao visited the spot and termed the mishap as an unfortunate incident and said innocent lives had been lost due to the negligence of the driver. Locals however, were not happy.

As several hundreds of locals gathered at the accident spot, a five-km long traffic jam towards Nizamabad was witnessed. BJP TS president G. Kishan Reddy said that the Railways should take steps to ensure people’s safety.