Ex-servicemen demand missing land

Hyderabad: Ex-servicemen from Telangana, especially those living in the Cantonment and its surrounding areas, met Col Ramesh Kumar, director of the Sainik Welfare Board for the state, on Saturday and explained their grievances.

Addressing the gathering, Telangana Congress ex-servicemen cell coordinator P. Rajendran highlighted a long pending problem. “The Centre government had allotted 5,977 acres of land for ex-servicemen in and around Rangareddy district in 1952 in the areas of Jawaharnagar, Malkaram and Shamirpet. Only 149 ex-servicemen got five acres each and the rest of the land has been missing.”

He asked the Sainik Welfare Board to take an interest and request the state government and ensure that the land is distributed to ex-servicemen.” Shanmugam Ravi, an ex-serviceman, said, “We have become old, we have been requesting for the land for several years, the government should see to it that we get our land back.”