The 128th birth anniversary of B.R. Ambedkar, the architect of Constitution of India and crusader of the downtrodden, was celebrated across the State with rallies, formal functions and cultural programmes on Sunday.
In the erstwhile Adilabad district, top officials in the four districts — Adilabad, Mancherial, Niram and Kumram Bheem Asifabad — and citizens took part in the celebrations. In Adilabad, Collector D. Divya and Superintendent of Police Vishnu S. Warrier garlanded Ambedkar’s portrait at the SC corporation office and a statue at Ambedkar Chowk.
Dharna held
Collector Sarfaraz Ahmad and Commissioner of Police V.B. Kamalasan Reddy paid floral tributes to Ambedkar and cut a cake on the occasion. Leaders of Dalit organisations also paid homage to the leader and staged a dharna to condemn the incident of demolition of an Ambedkar statue in Hyderabad.
In Peddapalli, NTPC-Ramagundam gave away sports kits to 120 students of 25 government schools.
Caste no bar
Collector M. Hanumanth Rao paid floral tributes to Ambedkar and called upon people to follow the path shown by Ambedkar stating that he should not be confined to any caste. He said leaders should take initiative to establish libraries in localities where ST and SC population is pre-dominant so that they have access to life stories of inspiring persons.
SP S. Chandrasekhar Reddy, Collectors D. Krishna Bhaskar (Sidddipet) and K. Dharma Reddy (Medak) also participated in celebrations.
Call to youth
Observing the 128th birth anniversary celebrations of Ambedkar at a function here, Collector M. Ram Mohan Rao paid homage to Ambedkar by garlanding his statue at Pulong chowrasta and called upon the youth to follow in the footsteps of the leader. He said loans on subsidy basis would be given to Scheduled Caste youth through SC Finance Corporation after the election code is lifted. RDO Venkateswarlu and SC welfare executive director Sasikala were also present.
Third genders under the banner of the Third Gender Welfare Society also paid homage to Dr. Ambedkar.