Sharmila dares rain, continues to walk
YSRCP chief Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s sister Sharmila, who is on a special mission of 3000-km walkathon Maro Praja Prasthanam to expose the conspiracy behind her brother’s jailing, is unfazed by the chilly weather and rain and has decided to bear with the vagaries of nature.
Daring continuous drizzling and sporadic rain, Sharmila continued her walk on the 16th day on Friday and mingled with people trying to understand their sufferings personally.
Sharmila walked through rain for 3 km on Wednesday and nearly 4 km on Thursday stopping on and off and interacting with women, farmers and handicapped people and spending time with them. Enthused by people’s response, even today she decided to walk despite the rain and continue her Padayatra.
On Thursday, groundnut farmers, cattle herders, agricultural labourers and some physically handicapped people met Sharmila and listed out their problems.
While groundnut farmers complained they are not getting crop insurance, cattle herders too complained they are not getting insurance for their dead sheep. “We used to get an insurance of Rs.1000 each for dead sheep on payment of a premium of Rs.18 each during the YSR regime but now there is no one to entertain our claims,” they told her.
One cattle herder told Sharmila that 180 of his sheep were crushed under a bus but he didn’t get any compensation.
Two handicapped persons requested Sharmila to ensure that proper roads are laid to Gotukuru to avoid accidents. “I have lost my legs in an accident due to badly maintained roads here," one Hariswara Reddy told her.
(Updated on Nov 2, 2012)