Citizens brave cold, queue up for Prajavani 18 hours early

Braving the nip in the air, Upender waited patiently. Like dozens of others, Upender, a mechanic working at the Kodad RTC depot, marked his ‘territory’ on the Begumpet-Greenlands footpath in the queue for Prajavani. It was 2am on Tuesday.

As he didn’t want to miss the three-hour window for Prajavani, scheduled to begin at 10 am, Upender, like several others from rural hinterland of Telangana, was one of the first to arrive at Praja Bhavan at 4 pm on Monday. His grievance? “I am being hounded into taking voluntary retirement. I have been working with the RTC for the last 30 years and now they want me out. There are many others who are facing a similar predicament,” Upender said, hoping his tales of woe would be heard at Prajavani.

Unlike others who wrapped themselves in blankets in the long queue, Upender totally forgot about the ‘Hyderabad chill’ while leaving home. He just hopped on to a bus to make the 180-km long journey. He had to forgo his dinner — just to retain his place in the queue.

THE EARLY BIRDS

Like Upender, thousands of people with grievances ranging from jobs to land and pension to health stood in the line in the fervent hope of Revanth ‘anna’ solving their problems during Prajavani, which is held every Tuesday and Friday.

Standing a few steps behind Upender in the unsaid but mutually understood slots was Srinivas, a farmer from Medak. The 40-yearold is days away from being displaced from his farmland owing to the Sangareddy canal, branching out of Kondapochamma reservoir.

“Earlier, officials had assured me that the canal won’t pass through my land. Now, they have rejigged the plan,” said the resident of Gollapally near Narsapur. “I have no time and had to rush here as the contractor has already marked the alignment,” he rued.

STORIES OF STRUGGLE

Srinivas’ wasn’t an isolated case. Parvata Rao, all of 80, from Ajjapalle in Kamareddy has been running from pillar to post in the last four years to get a patta for his land which, he said, was illegally usurped by someone in the village. “The elderly man reached the city late in the afternoon and was struggling to find his way to Praja Bhavan. Luckily, he found a person who too was on his way to Prajavani,” said Murali of Saidabad.

Murali himself stood in the queue, seeking help for his health issues. He arrived at Praja Bhavan at 8 pm on Monday. “I used to drive an auto. But due to leg swelling I had to quit and income took a beating,” said Murali. “I approached many hospitals but in vain. A friend said I should try my luck at Prajavani,” he said. While the CM is likely to decentralise Prajavani in the wake of last Friday’s experience, the sea of people knocking the Praja Bhavan doors didn’t seem to end till afternoon. “They just kept coming and besieging the Praja Bhavan,” a young cop on duty summed up the mood.