Hundreds of employees belonging to Telangana’s Revenue Department thronged Kothapet in Hyderabad to pay homage to their colleague Vijaya Reddy, the Mandal Revenue Officer (MRO) who killed on Monday, after a man identified as Suresh set her on fire.
Wearing black ribbons to mark their protest, the agitated employees chanted slogans against Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar during the funeral procession of Vijaya blaming him for the tragedy. The MROs accused KCR of instigation. They alleged that the Chief Minister’s blanket accusation that the entire Revenue Department is corrupt led to the ghastly murder.
“At several public forums, the Chief Minister has openly instigated the crowd against us. He has demonised us as a corrupt department, which is a baseless allegation; totally uncalled for. Emboldened by these grave charges, the farmers have turned against us,” alleged an MRO, who sought anonymity.
On Monday, Vijaya, the MRO of Abdullahpurmet, who was hearing public grievances, was killed by a man called K Suresh, reportedly over a long-pending land dispute. Suresh, who was allegedly carrying a bottle of petrol doused Vijaya and then set her ablaze. In the incident, he along with two others suffered injuries. While the MRO died on the same day, her driver, Gurunatham, who tried rescuing her succumbed to his burns on Tuesday.
Venting out his anger, another MRO from Mahabubnagar district alleged, “The Dharani (land records website) website is full of errors. Due to these errors, there are several litigations in the land records. When we apprise the District Collectors of the situation, instead of notifying these problems to the Chief Minister, they are asking us to handle the situation. And these farmers continue to make rounds to our office assuming that we are deliberately delaying their land issues, and we face their angst.”
“How can we patiently tell the farmers who are mostly illiterate about these legalities. And especially when hundreds of farmers come with the same problem. It is a structural problem. Without the intervention of Chief Secretary or any higher official, the Chief Minister has to meet us and learn about the problems in the land records. It is high time,” said the MRO. He said that only if the CM issues a public apology for the revenue officials, Vijaya will get justice.
Ramulu, Tahsildar Association State President alleged, “We don’t have enough security now. This incident has clearly displayed how the farmers feel about us. Since it was the Chief Minister who instigated the public against us. He should make a statement in favour of the statement and redeem our credibility.”
Meanwhile, the MROs have declared that their offices in the state would be shut for the next three days, mourning the death of Vijaya Reddy. “We will also be doing relay hunger strikes,” said, Ramulu.