Shivananda Reddy, an ex-army man and Kargil war veteran
His Lokayukta complaint in 2022 alleged that Rs 10 lakh had been demanded to process his land allotment application. Because he had earlier complained to Lokayukta about corruption, at Friday’s press conference, he alleged that revenue officials were deliberately sitting on his file. Bengaluru/Chikkaballapur: For more than two decades, retired army soldier Shivananda Reddy knocked on govt doors seeking a piece of land that had been recommended to him in recognition of his service. Friday, after years of petitions, protests and assurances, the wait reached a point of desperation. Four years on, Reddy was still waiting. Following the complaint, three people, including two govt employees, were arrested. Yet, the land he had been seeking for years remained out of reach.
Moments after addressing a news conference in Chintamani (80km from Bengaluru) alleging official apathy and corruption in the revenue department, the 58-year-old veteran consumed pesticide at Pravasi Mandir. Reddy joined the army in Oct 1987 and served in several sensitive areas, including the Kashmir Valley, Poonch, Nowshera, Gujarat and Punjab. In 1999, while the Kargil War was underway, tragedy struck during a night patrol in the Poonch sector. Reddy and four other soldiers slipped and fell into a 50-foot gorge. He was discharged from the army in 2004 with full retirement benefits. What followed was a 22-year struggle to turn that recommendation into reality. In 2022, he announced a march to the chief minister’s residence.
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Reddy repeatedly approached local legislators, ministers and even the chief minister, according to people familiar with his case. They, however, said no land was available in and around Chintamani and this had been intimated to Reddy. The ex-serviceman had rejected allotment of two acres of land on the grounds that it was uncultivable, sources in the department said. A revenue official said the authorities had offered Reddy a residential site, which he rejected.
Reddy, a resident of Rayapalli village in Chintamani taluk, was rushed first to a local govt hospital and then to Chikkaballapur district hospital. As his condition worsened, he was shifted to Bengaluru Saturday evening for advanced treatment, where he is now recuperating. He suffered severe fractures in his legs and underwent major surgeries in Udaipur and Pune. his injuries left him with a permanent limp Although he returned to service briefly in Kashmir. Along with his discharge, Reddy received a strong official recommendation for a land grant in recognition of his military service. When official channels failed to yield results, he took his demand to the streets, holding demonstrations, sit-ins and padayatras. The tahsildar intervened and persuaded him to withdraw the protest, assuring him that his application would be considered sympathetically. After narrating his long ordeal to the media, Reddy consumed pesticide, leaving those around him shocked. He is now recovering in a Bengaluru hospital. ——- Box Land not available at Chintamani: Officials Revenue officials cited rules which stipulate that land could be given to ex-army personnel. Download the TOI App.