Debt burden after ‘Indiramma Illu’ sanction ends in tragedy in Siddipet

A 28-year-old Indiramma Illu beneficiary from Siddipet allegedly fell into severe debt while constructing his house and died by suicide. His family claims inadequate financial assistance and rising construction costs pushed him into a crisis, leaving behind an unfinished house.

Siddipet: The meagre amount granted by the State government to a poor man to build an “Indiramma Illu” allegedly pushed him into deep financial trouble.

Unable to complete the construction of the house, the 28-year-old man died by suicide on May 19 this year. Bonakolluri Venkatesh (28) of Vattipally in Jagdevpur mandal was granted a house under the ‘Indiramma Illu’ scheme as he did not have a pucca house. Venkatesh, who owned one-and-a-half acres of land, had borrowed Rs 3 lakh in addition to the Rs 5 lakh granted by the government. However, he could not even complete half of the construction.

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After realising that he would need at least another Rs 10 lakh to complete the house, he decided to sell half an acre of land to complete the construction and clear his debts. However, Venkatesh could not find a buyer as there was a slump in the real estate sector even in villages. Unable to repay the loans, he died by suicide at his residence on May 19 when his family members had gone to the agricultural field. He is survived by his wife Sirisha (26), son Jaswanth (8) and daughter Nikshitha (6).

The deceased’s elder brother Kanakaiah said that Venkatesh had been living in Hyderabad until the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020. They both decided to divide the three acres of land between them and cultivate it separately to eke out a livelihood. Venkatesh borrowed around Rs 2.50 lakh by pledging his wife’s gold mangalasutra and drilled two borewells. As he got water from one of them, he started irrigating his share of the land.

However, he could not clear the debts, which later rose to Rs 3 lakh. In addition, the Rs 3 lakh borrowed for the construction of the house pushed the entire family into crisis. “He would not have ended his life had his family not been granted an ‘Indiramma Illu’,” a teary-eyed Kanakaiah said.

Now, Sirisha is working as a daily wager to support her two children, while the house remains incomplete, standing as an example of how government-designed programmes can push poor families into crisis rather than helping them.