Hyderabad, (Samajweekly) Moved by the plight of a 75-year-old woman, Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Wednesday hosted a lunch for her at Raj Bhavan.
Bandipelli Rajamma, who hails from Laxminarayanapuram village in Palakurthi mandal of Jangaon district, has a dependent son, who is also a differently-abled person.
The woman, who belongs to a poor Dalit family, was homeless and was living on the streets and sleeping under the trees. She has witnessed a series of tragedies in her life, including losing her daughter-in-law and granddaughter for want of medical help at the hour of need.
The Governor was particularly anguished to know that the aged woman’s granddaughter died of snakebite and she could not get any medical intervention like anti-venom injections or other necessary medical care at that time.
Soundararajan gave a call to make all necessary medical facilities, anti venom injections, medical kits and trained personnel available in all rural primary health centres to prevent unfortunate deaths due to snakebite or other complications.
“Especially, the poor and other economically and socially underprivileged sections should not be denied of the necessary medical facilities and care in rural areas. Their economic or social backwardness should not come in the way of them getting proper medical care when needed in rural areas,” the Governor said.
The aged woman moved to tears on being invited to lunch at Raj Bhavan by the Governor.
Soundararjan also extended a financial help of Rs 50,000 to the needy woman and supplied provisions sufficient for two to three months.
She instructed the district branch of the Indian Red Cross Society and the local administration to look after the woman and her dependent son’s wellbeing.
The Governor appreciated the initiative of Gundrathi Satish, Sub Inspector of 2014 batch working at Palakurthy, for constructing a house for the aged woman by raising an amount of Rs 1.6 lakh, including his personal contribution of Rs 80,000. He recently got the house warming ceremony performed by the aged woman and her son.
On the occasion, the Governor felicitated the former sarpanch Manemma and appreciated the efforts of B. Krishna and an NGO activist Mahender, who also accompanied the aged woman to the Raj Bhavan.