New Delhi: A plumber allegedly died by suicide after hanging himself at his house in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh after blaming his woes on the state of unemployment in the construction sector in the state.
According to a report in the Indian Express, P. Venkateswarlu shot a video on his mobile phone where he said that he had been prompted into taking the extreme step after he was unable to look after his family due to lack of work.
“For the past few months, there is no work and it is becoming difficult to sustain the family. Hence, I am ending my life,” he said in a video clip shared by Telugu Desam Party chief and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu.
In the video, Venkateswarlu said that he hoped that his elder brother and sister-in-law would look after his son and that he wanted his wife to re-marry and live a happy life.
Expressing anguish over Venkateswarlu’s death, Naidu said that “it is heart-wrenching to see workers commit suicide due to lack of work in the last five months and unable to see their families starve”.
The state government should wake up at least now and pay compensation to families that have lost work, the former chief minister said.
TDP MLC D.M.V. Prasad, MLA M. Giri and other leaders visited Venkateswarlu’s house at Gorantla and offered his family relief of Rs 2 lakh from the party.
Venkateswarlu’s family has also alleged that the police remained indifferent when they sought to file a complaint after his death.
Also read: Is Jaganmohan Reddy Serious About Ending Sand Mining in Andhra Pradesh?
TDP leaders have claimed that a mason too died by suicide in the Guntur district a couple of days ago due to unemployment. “Construction activity has come to a standstill due to non-availability of sand. Lakhs of workers in the construction sector are suffering due to lack of work…,” TDP leaders said.
Jana Sena president Pawan Kalyan said that suicides by construction workers had shaken his conscience and appealed to all political parties to come together to support the 3.5 million construction workers. Kalyan also sought intervention from the Centre to resolve the crisis.
Unemployment is being attributed to the slump in the construction sector in the state following the cancellation of the free sand policy by the YSRCP government.
Last month, the YSRCP government, which came to power in Andhra Pradesh in May this year, cancelled the old sand policy, after alleging the existence of a sand mafia headed by TDP members. The new policy aims at addressing the issues of indiscriminate mining of sand, black marketing, hoarding, skyrocketing sand prices, artificial supply shortage and cross-border transportation. In April this year, the NGT had also slapped an interim penalty of Rs 100 crore for the state’s ‘inaction’ in preventing mining, which was later suspended by the Supreme Court.
At least three construction workers are reported to have died by suicide in a month following the state’s new sand mining policy, according to the Indian Express report.
Last Friday, TDP workers had held a protest in front of the Krishna district collectorate, demanding compensation for construction workers who were without work for the last five months,
(With inputs from PTI)