CM K Chandrasekhar Rao announces reward for Malavath Poorna and Sadhanapalli Anand Kumar

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has announced a cash reward of Rs 25 lakh each to Malavath Poorna and Sadhanapalli Anand Kumar, who climbed Mount Everest last month. Mr Rao made a statement to this effect in the state Assembly on Saturday.

He also announced a cash reward of Rs 25 lakh to B. Shekhar Babu of Nalgonda, who trained both the students in mountaineering. Both students hail from poorer sections and are studying in state-government run social welfare schools. The Assembly lauded the students’ achievement by passing a resolution unanimously.

They will be rewarded with five acres of agriculture land, free borewell and power connection and agriculture investment for one year. “Both the students brought laurels to Telangana and made all of us proud. They have created a world record by climbing Mount Everest at a tender age.

The government is happy to announce cash reward and agriculture land for them,” Mr Rao said amid applause from all the members. Poorna, a Class IX student, created a record by becoming the youngest girl in the world to climb Mount Everest at the age of 13. She is a tribal girl from Nizamabad district.

She was accompanied by 18-year-old Sadhanapalli Anand Kumar, a Class IX student from Khammam district. Shekhar Babu was the first Indian to climb the Mount Everest on his own and not being part of any team in 2007.

Despite hailing from poor families, Poorna, the daughter of farm labourers and Anand, who is the son of a cycle mechanic, reached the highest peak with sheer determination and hard work. An avalanche during their expedition in April, which claimed 16 lives, forcing many climbers to abandon their plans to ascend the Everest, could do little to shake their determination.