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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | 3 youths ostracised for RTI expose

3 youths ostracised for RTI expose

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published Published on Aug 10, 2011   modified Modified on Aug 10, 2011

-The Times of India

 

In a brutal attack on Right to Information Act (RTI) activists, village elders of Gollalamamida in Pedapudi mandal in East Godavari district have imposed a 'social boycott' on three students, one of them visually challenged, for complaining against the local officers on their irregularities.

The students ran away from the village and met police commissioner of Vijayawada N Madhusudan Reddy here on Wednesday seeking protection. He assured them full security and promised to take them back to the village with police protection.

Three students of Gollalamamida - Nelapati Papireddy (who is blind by birth), Pachalla Suryanarayana Reddy and Kovuru Satyanarayana Reddy -- have been fighting against the irregularities of local tehsildar Yalamanchili Vijaya for the past few months. They secured the details of bogus pensions and physically handicapped certificates issued by the tehsildar and lodged a complaint with the APSRTC officials on the misuse of concessional passes for the physically handicapped.

Soon, the APSRTC officials lodged a complaint with the local police, who under pressure from the village elders gave a clean chit to the tehsildar. The unrelenting youth gathered more information about the irregularities of the local tehsildar using RTI. They collected detailed information on the misuse of crop damage relief where the officials showed even the survey numbers of houses as agriculture lands and claimed compensation with bogus names.

This time, the youth wrote a letter to the high court providing the details of the irregularities being done by the local officials with the backing of local elders. Sources said the high court directed the district collector to probe the irregularities of the Pedapudi tehsildar and the role of village elders of Gollalamamida.

Stung by the development, the village elders conducted an internal inquiry and identified the three as responsible for writing to the high court. Soon, they conducted an emergency meeting and imposed a social boycott. Even before the three youths left Gollalamamida, the elders took the help of Kakinada rural circle inspector Pilla Somasekhar and tried to attack them.

Out of fear, the students escaped from the village and reached Vijayawada. With the help of local YSR Congress leaders, they met the CP and lodged a complaint. "We fought against the corrupt practices of the officials only to see to it that all the eligible should get the benefits of the government schemes. We were targeted by the local elders," rued Suryanarayana Reddy.

Gollalamamida is a notorious faction-ridden village where even the local police think twice before entering the village. Sources said the villagers attacked a high-profile team of income tax officials when they tried to conduct raids on contractors way back in 2004.

Despite police opening rowdy sheets against village heads, nothing has changed as their writ runs large and unchallenged. A Reddy-dominated village, Gollalamamida is inhabited by rich contractors.

The Times of India, 11 August, 2011, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/3-youths-ostracised-for-RTI-expose/articleshow/9559059.cms


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