Video of Disabled Man’s Removal Sparks Row in Jagtial
Collector says incident linked to family land dispute, denies staff acted harshly
Karimnagar: A video of a differently-abled man, identified as Raja Gangaram from Muthyampet village in Mallapur mandal, Jagtial district, being forcibly removed from a public grievance meeting went viral on social media on Monday.
In the video, collectorate staff and police personnel can be seen trying to remove Gangaram from the hall along with his wheelchair. When he refused to move, they pulled the chair with him seated in it out of the hall so that the Grievance Day programme could continue.
During the incident, district collector B. Satya Prasad, who arrived at the venue, saw Gangaram and instructed the staff to provide him with water and take care of him.
The video also stated that Gangaram was visiting the Collectorate for the past few weeks to seek help from officials. He claimed that his brothers had blocked the path to his house by building a wall, and despite repeated visits, officials had not responded to his pleas.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, collector Satya Prasad said Gangaram was intentionally trying to slip from his chair to create a scene. “By the time I arrived, Gangaram was sitting at one side of the door. I asked the staff what had happened to him, told them to take care of him, and asked them to give him some water,” he said.
The collector confirmed that Gangaram and his wife later met him and explained their problem, alleging that his brothers had taken over his land and built a wall on the road, causing harassment. The collector said he spoke to the MPDO, who confirmed the dispute had been ongoing for 11 years and was purely a personal matter between brothers and family members, with no involvement of government land.
Defending his staff, the collector said, “Why would the staff behave harshly with a disabled person? When the staff requested him not to create a scene, he refused to listen and was preventing others from presenting their grievances.” He added that since the land in question does not belong to the government, officials cannot intervene in the matter.
