Suspected snake bite kills five-year-old at Khammam Anganwadi

Khammam: The death of a five-year-old child following a suspected snake bite at an Anganwadi centre in Tekulapalli, in the seventh division of Khammam Municipal Corporation, triggered protests here on Tuesday.

The deceased, Ayyadevara Dhanya Sri, was suspected to have been bitten by a snake when she went to the Anganwadi centre at Tekulapalli on Monday, her family members said. The Anganwadi staff called her parents and informed them that the child’s face had become swollen, without explaining the reason for her condition.

The child’s parents, Ayyadevara Ravi and Swapna, rushed her to a private hospital in Khammam and later to Hyderabad, where she died while undergoing treatment.

The family members, student organisations and BRS, CPI and CPM leaders staged a protest on the bypass road in the city, alleging that the child died due to the negligence of the Anganwadi staff.

They demanded action against the Anganwadi staff and ICDS officials, as well as justice for the child’s family. Student organisation leaders demanded that the State government pay a compensation of Rs 50 lakh to the family.

Speaking to the media, BRS leader Pagadala Nagaraju expressed serious concern over the poor conditions at government schools and Anganwadi centres, which he said were not being properly maintained.

The Congress government, the district administration and the three Ministers in the district, Bhatti Vikramarka, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and Tummala Nageswara Rao, should take responsibility for the child’s death, he said.

The protest, which continued for over two hours in the afternoon, caused a traffic jam on the bypass road. The protest was withdrawn after ICDS and district officials assured the protesters that justice would be delivered to the child’s family.