Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad   

Evicted woman tries to immolate self in front of Dattatreya

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD Dec. 28. The Union Minister of State for Urban Development, Bandaru Dattatreya, was in for a shock on Sunday when a woman tried to immolate herself in front of him protesting against her eviction from Raj Mohalla in Himayatnagar by the revenue authorities on Saturday night.

Mr. Dattatreya had completed his speech at Sathyanagar, near Barkatpura, after inaugurating a community hall this morning and was just about to leave when a group of wailing women surrounded him pleading for his intervention. Even as he was trying to reason with them, a woman took out a kerosene can and sprinkled the fuel on her. Immediately, Bharatiya Janata Party workers and his securitymen snatched the can from her.

An annoyed Mr. Dattatreya admonished the group saying this was not the way to protest and added that he would talk the authorities on their rehabilitation. Earlier, the Minister, making a mention of the eviction, said he was disappointed with revenue officials for taking up the eviction drive despite his discussion of the issue with the Collector.

"Evicting people from homes without making alternative arrangements is not good," he said. He promised to talk to the RDO concerned and see that houses were allotted to the affected persons. The Minister said 9,000 houses were allotted to the twin cities under the Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana and 18,000 more units were being built for the poor. "My endeavour is to see that not a single hut should be visible in the city," he said.

Mr. Dattatreya also opposed the decision of the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad to close down slaughterhouses by December 31. "Communities depending on the trade cannot be forced to shift to Chengicherla, near Ghatkesar. The Government has to find a way-out to meet the deadline set by court," he said. The Minister said he would take up the issue with the Chief Minister.

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