‘Govt committed towards welfare of toddy tappers’

Rangareddy : Ranga Reddy district K Shashanka, along with other officials, visited Lashkarguda village of Abdullapurmet mandal (Ibrahimpatnam constituency) on Thursday and took stock of issues faced by toddy-tappers.

The DC was accompanied by Deputy Commissioner Excise T Dashrath and RDO Anantha Reddy. During the visit, he observed that the tapper families across the State are making a living in a predominantly caste-based profession. During the process of collecting toddy, they regularly face accidents. Some incidents were found to be fatal, claiming many lives while leaving many permanently disabled. He said the government has taken a key decision for the welfare of toddy-tappers so that they don’t suffer the burden of such a fate. ‘Geetha Karmaka Life Saving Kit’ is to be made available to prevent such incidents. The collector said the kit will be made available to lakhs of tappers across the State. A toddy worker tried wearing a life-saving kit and carried out a trial run under the supervision of a trainer.

During the demo, the collector inquired about the durability of the kit from tappers after they completed the trial run. District Prohibition and Excise Officer Sarur Nagar Ujwala Reddy, trainer Shekar Babu, and local community leaders were present.