Andhra Pradesh - Nellore   

History on the verge of collapse

K. Mrityunjaya Ram

The house of P. Sundaraiah, a leader of the working class movement, has been left to rot. Even the library started there by the late leader had to be shifted due to the building's condition

UNCARED FOR: The house of P. Sundaraiah at Alaganipadu in Nellore

NELLORE: Alaganipadu, a village in Nellore, that produced a great leader of the working class movement and founder-member of the Communist Party of India Puchalapalli Sundaraiah, will soon be deprived of its famous son's home. It has been in a dilapidated condition for several years. And, the successive Governments have religiously ignored villagers' request to renovate the home.

According to villagers, Sundarayya, popularly known as Comrade PS, converted this house into a library in 1937 and named it after Bala Gangadhar Tilak. It continued to be one of the best libraries in the district till his death in 1985. After his death the maintenance of the library was neglected. Books started gathering dust. Cracks have developed at many places in the building due to improper maintenance, a villager Dasari Venkatakrishnam Raju said.

With no Government help forthcoming, the villagers were forced to shift the library from Sundaraiah's home to the village `chavadi' in 1995. "But the Revenue Department is now pressuring us to shift the library to some other place," said librarian Parankusham Krishnaiah. The villagers are looking for assistance to renovate the library so that it remains a memorial for the late leader for generations to come.

No political leader turned up at the village on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Sundaraiah in his hometown on Monday. But, villagers offered tributes to the leader. They also plan to organise programmes to commemorate the leader's death anniversary on May 19.

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