Andhra home minister visits YSR chopper crash site

Hyderabad, Sep 13 (IANS) Andhra Pradesh Home Minister P.Sabita Indra Reddy Sunday visited the hillock in Nallamalla forests in Kurnool district where a helicopter crash Sep 2 killed Chief Minister Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy and four others.

It was an emotional visit for the minister, whom the late chief minister called his younger sister and would launch all his programmes and campaigns from her assembly constituency of Chevella.

With tears in her eyes, Sabita, who was appointed the state's first woman home minister after Congress retained power in the recent assembly elections, paid floral tributes to YSR, as the chief minister was popularly known.

Sabita, the first minister to visit the crash site, announced that the government would construct a befitting memorial for the late chief minister.

She told reporters that the investigations into the crash were on and some vital clues were already collected.

The minister said the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) had launched its probe besides the investigations by the federal Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the atate's Crime Investigation Department (CID). The government has also set up a two-member expert committee for a comprehensive probe.

Sabita said she was sad at not being able to attend the last rites of YSR at his native town Pulivendula in Kadapa district. The minister was caught in a huge traffic jam and could not reach the site in time for burial.

YSR, his special secretary, chief security officer and two pilots were killed when their helicopter crashed on a hillock in the forests. The chief minister was on his way to Chittoor district from Hyderabad to launch a mass contact programme 'Racchabanda'.

'I feel that launching this programme from Chevella could have saved his life,' she said.

YSR had launched 1500-km state-wide 'padyatra' from Chevella in Ranga Reddy district near Hyderabad in 2003. This walkathon helped him storm to power in 2004 and since then he launched every major scheme and poll campaign from Chevella

indianachu - 09