Old man tries to immolate self at Collectorate

Ongole: A poor old man from Singarayakonda, who claims to have been suffering from a land grabber for nearly 20 years, tried to set ablaze in the district Collectorate in Ongole on Monday, while attending the Spandana, a grievance redressal program by the government.

As per the details provided by the family of the old man, Thatikonda Venkata Ramanaiah, aged about 70 years, worked as a weaver for a long time. He had a wife and four children. He bought a piece of land in Bhairagimanyam at Singarayakonda about 20 years ago and constructed a shed with two rooms for living. But since then, the man, Bhagavan Das from Kavali, has been claiming that the land belongs to him and threatening the family to vacate the house immediately. The family claims that they have made several complaints to the police, filed a suit in Kandukur Court, but there is no use. They said that the alleged land grabber threatens them of attacks and sends thieves to loot their home when they are not in the house. The sellers of the land, claims no responsibility, as they couldn't care less.

Fed up with the harassment by Bhagavan Das, Venkata Ramanaiah poured petrol, which he brought with him, at the Collectorate and demanded justice for his kin at least after his death. The onlookers and police staff rushed immediately and poured water on the old man. The police shifted him to the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences for treatment, assuring that his plea would be taken to the notice of the Collector.

Last week, a former MPTC of Pullaripalem in Vetapalem mandal Koduri Venkateswarlu tried to commit suicide by consuming pesticide, alleging failure of district administration in saving him from the harassment of former Chirala MLA Amanchi Krishna Mohan.