Chandrababu Naidu decries delay in aid to Lance Naik family

Mangalagiri: TDP national president and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday urged the chief secretary to ensure that the required financial assistance be handed over without further delay to the family of Lance Naik the late Laveti Umamaheswara Rao, who laid down his life for the country in Ladakh.

In a letter sent to the chief secretary here, Naidu said that one year has passed but the assistance has not yet been given to the bereaved family. The government should realise that Lance Naik made a supreme sacrifice that should not go unrecognised.

Stressing the need for recognising the sacrifice, the TDP chief said: "It is our duty to honour the dead in general and people who sacrificed their lives for giving a better life to us in particular. One such sacrifice was made by Laveti Umamaheswara Rao, a Lance Naik in the Indian Army, from Srikakulam, on July 18."

Naidu said that Umamaheswara Rao served in the Corps of Engineers for 17 years and on the fateful day, he was killed while trying to defuse a bomb in Batalik Sector in Ladakh.

Umamaheswara Rao is survived by wife and two daughters. Strangely, the family of Umamaheswara Rao did not receive support financially or otherwise from the state government till now, he noted.