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 16^th
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)