Andhra Pradesh: Three Commit Suicide, 30 Lakh Continue To Suffer Due To Slump In Construction Sector

The delayed rollout of a new sand-mining policy of the current Jagan Mohan Reddy led – YSRCP government has left around 30 lakh construction workers unemployed in the last 4-5 months in Andhra Pradesh.

At least three people from various pockets of the state who were in the construction sector have committed suicide this month. Their deaths have been linked to the tepid activity in the construction sector due to the change in the state’s policy on sand which is used extensively for strengthing structures.

Soon after coming to power, Jagan Mohan Reddy announced new rules under which the previous administration’s “free sand policy” was discarded and the material was made available only from government-owned stockyards.

These rules impacted adversely on construction and real estate businesses. Polepalli Venkatesh, who was a plumber from Guntur’s Gorantla village hanged himself to death on October 2. Just before hanging himself, he recorded a selfie video where he said that he was going to kill himself because he was unemployed and had no other means of earning a living. Raashi, Venkatesh’s wife said that they were dependent only on the construction business. She said that Venkatesh was unemployed for over four months and that their one year-old-son needed medical assistance.

His video surfaced on social media only October 28. Ex-Chief Minister – Chandrababu Naidu shared the video with a lacerating caption against the current government. He wrote, “mind-boggling to see workers committing suicide.”

అయిదు నెలలుగా పనులు లేక, కుటుంబాలు పస్తులు ఉండడం చూడలేక మనోవేదనతో కార్మికులు ఆత్మహత్యలు చేసుకోవడం మనసును కలచివేస్తోంది. సెల్ఫీ వీడియోలతో ఆత్మహత్యలే తమకిక శరణ్యంగా పేర్కొనడం చూసైనా ఈ ప్రభుత్వం మేల్కొనాలి.పనులు కోల్పోయిన కార్మికులకు పరిహారం చెల్లించాలి. pic.twitter.com/NhQAYHFQF1

— N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) October 28, 2019

Most people in Gorantala village earn their living through constructing sector. However, several of them have been unemployed now.

On October 25, Nagar Brahma Ji, a 34-year-old mason from Tanali and Venkata Rao of Mangalagiri committed suicide citing financial constraint due to unemployment.

Concerned about the current condition of the state – Pawan Kalyan, the founder of the Jana Sena Party has sought centre’s intervention to provide employment to 30 lakh people directly or indirectly. The Telugu Desam Party which is the opposition party in Andhra Pradesh has asked the state government to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation. However, the YSR Congress has said that the lack of sand in Krishna Basin is responsible for the slump in the construction sector and not the sand mining policy.

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