Nalgonda accident: Selfless act turns tragic for autorickshaw driver

Kottam Mallesh, the autorickshaw driver who lost his life in the road mishap in Nalgonda on Thursday, was always there to take sick villagers to a hospital in his vehicle

Nalgonda: People of Chinthabai Thanda never expected that the seven-seater autorickshaw that used to transport the sick in the village to hospitals in emergency conditions would finally claim the lives of nine villagers.

The autorickshaw owner, Kottam Mallesh, was always there to take sick villagers to a hospital in Devarakonda since there is no bus facility available in the village. He also never expected money for the service. Villagers told Telangana Today that there were at least 15 recent instances when he had shifted sick villagers to Devarakonda.

Unfortunately, nine persons, including Mallesh and eight agriculture workers, died in the same autorickshaw when it met with an accident at Angadipet in Peddavoora village on Thursday. Mallesh’s mother and wife also died in the accident that has rendered his two children orphans.

For the past 20 days, Mallesh was taking 20 agriculture workers, all relatives, to Ranga Reddy Gudem for paddy transplantation work since the daily wage paid there was relatively higher. Mallesh had removed the back seat in his autorickshaw to accommodate maximum number of labourers.

As usual, 20 agriculture workers who left the village at 8 am on Thursday were returning home in the evening when the accident took place. Mallesh had earlier worked as a construction labourer and purchased the autorickshaw 10 years ago and was plying it for his livelihood.

Speaking to Telangana Today, village Sarpanch N Venkatanarayana said Mallesh had the streak in him to help the people of his village. “If anyone knocks at his door in the middle of the night seeking help, he would never say no and start his vehicle without uttering a word,” he said, adding that the villagers would only go to Mallesh during emergencies even though there were seven other autorickshaw drivers in Chinthabai Thanda.

Nomula Suresh, a youth from the village, said political parties offered him opportunities to contest as a ward member during Gram Panchayat elections because of his good nature, but he always rejected their proposal.

Of the 152 families in Chinthabai Thanda, about 140 belong to Yadav community and 90 per cent of them are involved in sheep rearing.

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