COVID-19 | Ward volunteer kills self due to loss of income

He has highlighted the travails of ward volunteers, who get only ₹5,000 per month honorarium.

A letter to Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was purportedly written by Porala Mahesh, 24, a ward volunteer in the 9th Municipal Ward of Rayadurg Municipality in the district who committed suicide on Thursday, but it surfaced on social media on Saturday morning. He has highlighted the travails of ward volunteers, who get only ₹5,000 per month honorarium, which was insufficient to support a family or for his own living. He requested the Chief Minister to ensure other volunteers do not meet such a fate. He is survived by four sisters and all of them are married. In addition to the honorarium, he used to get some money from tailoring work, but during the pandemic, there was no work or income. When contacted, Rayadurg Circle Inspector M. Veeranna told The Hindu that Mahesh’s parents from the weaving community, had died 10 years ago and he, however, took up tailoring and earned a living. He had taken some hand loans during sisters’ marriages totalling ₹2 lakh from known people and there was psychological pressure on him to repay them, the family members told the police.