For 37-year-old Mulaparthi Ramaraju, who ekes out his living by driving an auto-rickshaw, winning a councillor’s post in the recently held municipal elections was a dream come true. He won the Ward 20 under which his native village of Lingapuram comes.
Life has not been kind to Mr. Ramaraju. Orphaned at a tender age, he was brought up by his ailing grandmother. He completed his graduation in humanities, a correspondence course from Andhra University in 2009, after which he undertook a welding course.
Days of struggle
Mr. Ramaraju started earning when he was a teenager to run his family. In 2011, he got married and later he attended an apprenticeship programme at the Hindustan Shipyard Limited for a year. However, he returned back to his village due to financial issues and started driving an auto-rickshaw in 2014.
Known as a kind-hearted person who always lends a helping hand to the people in distress in his village, winning the election in the village that has about 1,800 votes was not very difficult for him. His candidature for the post was recommended by the people in the village and the TDP gave him a ticket.
“I like to help the people in need. There were a number of occasions when I transported sick people to hospitals or to the nearest ambulance station at odd hours, free of cost. I also take poor and elderly people to the mandal headquarters or banks for free to get their work done. Now, I have a post which gives me ample opportunity to serve people. It is a big responsibility too. I will try to meet the expectation of the people,” said Mr. Ramaraju.
He is known in his village for his polite behaviour and rendering service such as transporting pregnant women and elderly persons free of cost. This service probably gave him the edge over his rivals in the elections.
Mr. Ramaraju said he is aware of the backwardness of his ward. Till about a few years ago, he said, there was no proper road connectivity to his village and people had to cross a flowing water body to get to the other side. “I have seen people getting drowned while crossing the water body during monsoon season. Now, we have a bridge, but still there are a lot of work to be done,” he said.
Focus on civic amenities
Speaking about his priorities, he said, “I always wanted to serve people as it gives me immense satisfaction. Being a councillor now, I want to address the issues in my ward and village. My village lacks proper road, burial ground, good drinking water facility, and these will be my initial focus areas,” said Mr. Ramaraju.
However, he said that he would not stop driving auto-rickshaw. “I will continue to ply the auto-rickshaw and attend council sessions too. I have requested the owner of the auto-rickshaw to grant me leave on Mondays, so that I can visit my ward and attend council meetings,” he said.
