`5 lakh ex gratia to MGNREGA workers' kin

Narayanpet: The State government finally relented to the demands of Tileru villagers and on Friday announced ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh, land, double bedroom houses, employment and education to the children to each of the 10 MGNREGA deceased families.

Announcing the relief to the bereaved families, Narayanpet District Collector S Venkat Rao said, "The government has decided to compensate the bereaved families and announced ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of the bereaved families, who lost their loved ones during an unfortunate incident in Tileru.

Earlier, the relatives of the deceased families and villagers, supported by members of All India Trade Union Congress, continuously held protests and blocked Mahbubnagar-Raichur highway for more than three hours, demanding an ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakhs, three acres land, double bedroom houses, job to one person in each family and residential education to the children of the deceased families.

"In fact, the government should have immediately announced the ex- gratia as soon as the deaths were reported.

As no one from the government was responding, the villagers were forced to take up the agitation and had to fight against the government.

They had even boycotted the elections aggrieved over the government's delayed attitude. Though late, the government took a good decision to announce the ex-gratia and other benefits.

It is the victory for the villagers as they had put pressure on to the government," said Kondanna, AITUC district president.