Hyderabad: Telangana high court on Monday wondered if ordinary citizens who took part in the agitation to carve out Telangana from AP could be equated with freedom fighters who fought against the British colonial govt and the Nizam of Hyderabad.While directing the state govt to spell out its stand, Justice B Vijaysen Reddy told a group of petitioners, “You might have worked hard and sacrificed (for the cause of Telangana), but without any enforceable right or govt policy, you cannot claim benefits like those of the freedom fighters.”The judge also told the petitioners present in the court that there could be no objection to the govt giving them a pension and land, but “what would happen if millions of people claiming to have participated in the agitation demand the same benefit?”.As many as nine people, including a woman, had approached the court stating they had fought to “free Telangana”. They sought directions to the state govt to allot them 250 sq yards of land, Rs 5 lakh to construct a house and Rs. 10 lakh as health insurance. They said political parties (without clearly mentioning Congress) had promised them these benefits while campaigning for the assembly election in Telangana in 2023.Justice Reddy said passing any orders on the petitions would open a Pandora’s box, resulting in lakhs of people demanding the same benefits. He added people affected by left-wing extremism, those who lost family members during the Covid-19 pandemic and those displaced by irrigation projects had received compensation and benefits because there were specific policies for these. However, there was no policy to give benefits to those who took part in the Telangana agitation.The petitioners’ counsel, Karunakar Reddy, informed the court that expecting the govt to keep its word on the election promise, his clients had submitted representations to the district collector of Hyderabad, which had been forwarded to the the principal secretary of the state revenue department who deals with the freedom fighters’ department.The petitioners alleged that two people had received 250 sq yards of land and a pension for taking part in the agitation a few months ago. But govt orders providing these benefits had not been made public.
