The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Orphans threaten to take extreme step

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 20, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Orphans threaten to take extreme step

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, OCT. 19. Four Dalit girls in their early teens created an emotional scene at a press conference addressed by naxalite leaders at the Government guesthouse here on Tuesday, saying their plight had driven them to choose between death or going into the forest with "annalu.''

The girls narrated their grim battle for survival in the last 95 days after they were allegedly thrown out of the Indira Seva Sadan orphanage near Santoshnagar. They were asked to speak to the media by the CPI (Maoist) and Janashakti State secretaries -- Ramakrishna and Amar -- after they made a representation to the leaders.

They expressed their determination to go into the forest with "annalu'' or die if the orphanage was not reopened for them.

The girls, who broke down repeatedly, alleged that the orphanage chairman, Ram Reddy, had abused them personally and by their caste while evicting them. Since then, they had been staging a dharna in front of the orphanage and feeding themselves with alms given by nearby shopkeepers.

They alleged that Mr. Reddy was closing down the orphanage in a phased manner and they were the last inmates left. They had no other shelter if it was closed down completely. The I.S. Sadan orphanage was opened by a former Minister, Sangham Laxmi, in 1955.

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