Hyderabad: Telangana DGP Shivadhar Reddy on Tuesday handed over house site pattas to the families of the police personnel martyred in the 2008 Balimela Maoist ambush, ending an 18-year wait for ownership of plots promised by the govt. The pattas were distributed at the DGP Office, where about 33 beneficiaries received title deeds for 200-square-yard plots in Gajularamaram.Recalling the predawn ambush on June 29, 2008, in which Maoists opened fire and hurled grenades at a launch ferrying a Greyhounds combing party across the Balimela Reservoir in Odisha, Shivadhar Reddy said the incident occurred barely two months after he took charge as DIG of the special intelligence branch (SIB). He added that the loss of 38 personnel, including 32 elite Greyhound commandos, still haunts him.The original land allotment in Gajularamaram, sanctioned in 2013, ran into encroachment issues. A replacement parcel in the same area also became entangled in survey discrepancies. The issues were addressed last year through an amendment, GO 132, under which new survey details were regularised, clearing the way for the distribution of title deeds.Additional DGP (Greyhounds) Anil Kumar said the house site allotment symbolises the state’s recognition of supreme sacrifice and assured further support to the bereaved families. Senior officers, including Additional DGP (Intelligence) Vijay Kumar and IGP (SIB) B Sumathi, also attended the programme.During the event, the DGP also congratulated Greyhounds Group commander J Raghavender Reddy, senior commandos T Rakesh and U Mallayya, and junior commando G Sai Kumar on winning the 2024 Union home minister’s ‘Special Operation Medal’ (Dakshata Padak).
