Shankar Rao blames State for sun-stroke deaths

Former minister Dr P Shankar Rao on Saturday blamed the State Government for the deaths due to sun-stroke across the State.

Talking to reporters in the Assembly premises, Dr Shankar Rao said that the State Government failed to take precautions to prevent deaths due to heat wave. He said that an awareness campaign should have been launched to minimise the damage. However, he said that the State Government totally failed to prevent the loss of life due to severe heat wave conditions.

Dr Shankar also threatened to approach the court if the government fails to take measures to prevent further deaths. He said he would approach the court in the capacity of a medical practitioner. He also slammed Revenue Minister N Raghuveera Reddy for his statement related to deaths due to sun stroke in the State.

The former minister demanded payment of Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia to the families of the people who died due to sun-stroke.

Commenting on the decision of the three Congress MPs from Telangana region to join the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, Dr Shankar Rao said that the MPs or other leaders should not quit the party and should fight for the Telangana State by staying in Congress party. He also requested Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to take an early decision on the statehood issue to prevent the Congress party from further damage in the Telangana region.