Gaddar’s funeral procession begins, CM to attend final rites

Hyderabad: Funeral procession of revolutionary ‘Balladeer’ Gaddar began from L B Stadium. It will pass through Gunpark, Ambedkar Statue, via Tank Bund before it reaches Alwal. His body will be cremated at family run Mahaboodhi Vidyalaya, Bhoodevinagar at Alwal. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao will be attending the final rites.

Following State government’s decision to perform last rites of with full State honours the Government departments including police, GHMC and other departments are making all the arrangements for last journey of the Gummadi Vittal Rao, who died while undergoing treatment at a Corporate hospital at the age of 74 on Sunday.

Earlier during the day thousands of his fans, scores of political leaders, artists and celebrities paid respects to his mortal remains which were kept for public viewing at L B Stadium. Amongst the prominent who paid him respects include MA & UD Minister K T Rama Rao and Union Minister G Kishan Reddy. Activists and artists poured in from across Telangana to L B Stadium to have a final glimpse of their idol, who had inspired generations of them and gave them the fighting spirit.

The yatra after reaching Gunpark will witness paying of homage from artists in different folk forms. This will be part of the gratitude and as a mark of respect for his contribution to Telangana movement. The specially made vehicle with flags representing different social and political ideologies is slowly moving towards Alwal. On the way it will also stop at Ambedkar Statue and other landmarks all along the route before it reaches Alwal.

Meanwhile, the State government received criticism from Anti-Terrorism Forum (ATF), which questioned the decision to conduct final rites of Gaddar with State honours. Ravinuthala Shashidhar, secretary of ATF in a statement emphasised that the government’s decision will upset families of martyred policemen. He suggested that the Police Officers Association should also seek withdrawal of the decision, as this will hit the morale of the police force.