Heavy security arrangements for Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s visit to Suryapet town on Tuesday cost a woman her life as she could not be admitted into the hospital on time, an allegation refuted by police.
The chief minister, who was travelling in a special bus to Khammam district to inaugurate a lift irrigation project, had a stop-over at Suryapet in the afternoon to have lunch at the residence of energy minister G Jagadeesh Reddy, who represents the constituency.
In view of the visit, Suryapet police made heavy bandobust in the town, imposing restrictions on the movement of traffic on the roads leading to the minister’s residence at Sitaram Nagar Colony.
According to witnesses, at around 11am, Soma Anjaiah, a farmer from Vardhamankota village, about 25km from Suryapet, brought his wife Lakshmamma (65), an asthma patient, in a car to Gayatri Nursing Home located in a lane adjacent to the minister’s residence.
However, the police stopped the vehicle 100 metres from the hospital, stating that the chief minister’s convoy might arrive any moment.
“Anjaiah and others who were with him requested the police to allow the vehicle to go to the hospital, but the police did not allow them. In fact, there were other approach routes to the hospital, but the police put up barricades blocking all the roads leading to the minister’s residence. It was only after KCR reached there and went to Reddy’s residence 45 minutes later did the police clear the route,” a local journalist of a vernacular daily Ch Srinivas, who witnessed the incident, told HT.
{{/usCountry}}“Anjaiah and others who were with him requested the police to allow the vehicle to go to the hospital, but the police did not allow them. In fact, there were other approach routes to the hospital, but the police put up barricades blocking all the roads leading to the minister’s residence. It was only after KCR reached there and went to Reddy’s residence 45 minutes later did the police clear the route,” a local journalist of a vernacular daily Ch Srinivas, who witnessed the incident, told HT.
{{/usCountry}}In the meantime, the husband rushed to the hospital on foot and brought a doctor to the vehicle. “By the time doctor came, Lakshmamma suffered a cardiac arrest and died in the vehicle itself,” Srinivas said.
Anjaiah and his relatives protested the high-handed and inhuman attitude of the police. “Had she been taken to the hospital in time, she would have survived,” Anjaiah told the local media.
However, Suryapet superintendent of police J Parimala Hana Nutan claimed that the police had not stopped the vehicle of Lakshmamma on account of the chief minister’s visit.
“In fact, the police not only provided safe passage to the vehicle, but also helped her husband and others to shift her to the hospital by arranging a stretcher. But the doctors declared her brought dead. Apparently, Lakshmamma was suffering from severe health problems and was in a critical condition when she reached the hospital,” she said.
Anjaiah and other relatives left the town with Lakshmamma’s body after the minister and local TRS leaders assured all possible help to his family from the government, besides suitable monetary compensation.