In a first, TRS MLA Aroori Ramesh gets cash for Maoist attack

Hyderabad: TRS MLA Aroori Ramesh has got RS 44 lakh compensation from state government for damage to equipment sustained in 2011.

Mr Ramesh was a contractor doing road works in Warangal district in 2011, when Maoists burnt his proclainer (excavator). He applied for compensation but the Congress government kept it pending. He  joined the TRS and won from Wardhannapet Assembly seat in 2014. 

He applied for compensation after becoming MLA. The government asked the Warangal collector to submit proposals. The collector wrote to the government in May and August 2015 recommending compensation. The finance department issued orders in April 2017 authorising  the collector to pay Rs 44 lakh.

The Warangal Urban collector  wrote in June stating that the account head under which this  money was to be paid had no  funds. The pay order was not displayed on the District Treasury website.

The finance department then issued orders on July 27 sanctioning Rs 34.8 lakh, and asked the collector to pay Rs 9.99 lakh from the district’s budget.

All this was kept a secret, and not loaded on the website. Finally, the principal secretary to government, GAD (political), Adhar Sinha issued ord-ers on August 5, sanctioning Rs 44,78,963 to the MLA.

This is the first time that such a huge compensation has been paid to anyone for financial loss due to extremist violence. Normally, compensation is given to families of those killed or to those who sustained injuries in extremist violence.

Officials said since MLA cannot claim insurance for extremist violence, the  government had sanctioned compensation.