Anantapur: The alarming rise in the deaths of Saudi migrants continues to impact families in the region. At least 10 persons, hailing from Rayalaseema, have died in different incidents in Saudi countries in the past few months. Particularly heart-rending was one instance —the condition of the Arava Venkatasubba Reddy family at Kamalakur village in Atlur mandal in Kadapa district, whose two children were orphaned after they lost their parents. Worse, they are still waiting to see the mortal remains of their father Arava Venkatasubba Reddy, who was killed in a blast in Najran area in Saudi Arabia.
Venkatasubba Reddy a small farmer, had lost land during land acquisition for Somasila reservoir in 1990. He used the compensation amount he had received to construct a house at his native place. He tried his hand at agriculture for a while, but it didn’t work out so he migrated to Kuwait after taking a Rs 3 lakh loan from private moneylenders 10 months ago. He returned to India for a while and went back to Saudi again to work at a car servicing centre by investing Rs 1.5 lakh tow-ards travelling expenses.
Venkatasubba Reddy, 38, was killed on April 7 during a bomb blast in Najran. The mortal remains of the deceased have not reached his village yet. His wife, 32-year-old Eeswaramma, troubled by the debt and shock following the sudden death of her husband, took her life by hanging herself from the ceiling at her residence on Wednesday. Her two young children are now stunned with grief after losing their parents.
One of them was studying in Class 3 and another was in the LKG at the local school. The body of their father will reach the village only after clearance and other formalities, sources said. REDS chairman Bhanuja saidt the government should intervene and provide moral and financial support to these bereaved families. “Two innocent children have been orphaned because of their mother’s suicide”, she said while urging the government to take steps to ensure such tragedies don’t happen again.
