The protests for new districts in Telangana refuse to die down as a 26-year-old man from newly-created Kamareddy district immolated himself on Saturday, demanding the inclusion of Nagireddypet mandal in the reorganized Medak district.
The New Indian Express reported:
The deceased was identified as Raju (26), a dalit beonging to Maltummeda village of Nagireddypet mandal of newly-created Kamareddy district. Raju is survived by his two sons. Around 3 pm on Saturday, Raju came to Tank Bund holding a bag containing news papers, representation papers and a bottle filled with petrol.
"As he reached the Thyagaraya statue, he committed suicide by pouring petrol and setting himself ablaze," Gandhinagar Inspector A Sanjeeva Rao told TNIE.
Raju was severely burnt, and died while undergoing treatment at the Gandhi General hospital.
The Times of India reported:
On Friday , a 19-year-old girl Budige Soni, had allegedly committed suicide for the creation of the Gattuppal mandal in Nalgonda district. However, police termed her death a murder. Raju's immolation came days after another youth two days after another youth Yadaiah set himself on fire at a protest meeting in his village demanding creation of Gattuppal mandal. He is critical and being treated for burn in juries at the Gandhi Hospital.
Last week, Telangana added 21 new districts, taking the total number of districts in the state to 31.
Barring Hyderabad, the existing 10 districts have been split into three or four districts.
The government last month issued draft notification for creating 17 new districts but later decided to create four more districts in view of strong demands from various sections.
Though the protests were on for creation of more districts in different parts of the state, the government made it clear that there will be no further addition.
On an average, each district will have population of two lakh to four lakh families, except Hyderabad where the number is much larger.
The chief minister said that the purpose of creating new districts is to improve governance, bring transparency and ensure better delivery of welfare schemes.
"The district collectors will have details of all families on their fingertips," he said.
Inputs IANS