Tea vendor claims officials asked him to close the shop for a day; municipality says its staff checked the stall's documents on Collector's order, and did not ask the shopkeeper to down shutters.
Published Feb 19, 2025 | 8:55 PM ⚊ Updated Feb 19, 2025 | 8:55 PM
KTR Tea Stall
Synopsis: The tea stall owner said the municipality officials, who asked him to close the shop bearing KT Rama Rao’s name, said they were acting on the district Collector’s order. The municipality Commissioner said the Rajanna Sircilla Collector did ask to check the shop’s documents but denied issuing a closure order. Incidentally, KTR had earlier called the Collector a nincompoop.
The Sircilla municipality’s alleged order to shut down a tea stall at Bathukamma Ghat has sparked a controversy in Telangana.
The stall owner, Bathula Srinivas, too, raised the same allegation, saying the municipality officials asked him to down shutters on Rajanna Sircilla district Collector Sandeep Kumar Jha. The tea stall — operating for the past few years — was named KTR after former minister and BRS working president KT Rama Rao.
Meanwhile, officials refuted the charge and said they visited the shop as part of verifying documents.
#Telangana: “They’re targeting my tea stall because of KTR’s photo,” Sircilla’s “KTR Tea Stall” owner Bathula Srinivas alleged.
At 8 am this morning, Sircilla Municipality officials showed up at his shop in Bathukamma Ghat, claiming to have received directions from the Collector… pic.twitter.com/Cl8kFuEalU
— South First (@TheSouthfirst) February 19, 2025
“I’ve been running this shop with my wife for the past four years, ” Srinivas said, adding that he sold tea in the market from a flask while his wife oversaw the stall. “We make about ₹700 a day,” he told South First.
He used KTR’s name and a picture of the leader out of love. “I consider him my brother, that’s the reason I have his (a picture) face in my shop,” he said.
“This morning, the Collector visited Bathukamma Ghat and passed by my shop while returning. Soon after, at 8 am, municipal officials showed up and asked me to shut the shop. They refused to reveal any reason but said they were acting on the Collector’s order,” the tea vendor claimed
“I kept demanding them to cite a reason, and I was confused. However, I had an inkling that it was because of KTR’s photo. After pestering them for a long, the officials said I was operating without a licence,” he said.
However, Srinivas said that the timing was suspicious. “Why today? Why just my shop? Why did they not reveal the reason at first?” he asked, saying he was specifically targeted.
Later, on a few friends’ advice, Srinivas removed KTR’s image from the shop. “They told me to remove the image to avoid problems in the future. I did so with a heavy heart,” he said.
Srinivas said after the image was removed, the officials asked him to close the shop for a day. “I don’t know what will happen tomorrow,” he sounded concerned.
When contacted, Siricilla Municipality Commissioner S Sommaiah said the civic body inspected Srinivas’s shop on the collector’s directive.
“We went to the location to verify the documents. The Collector asked us to do so in the morning,” Sommaiah told South First.
“We went to the location and checked the documents. We did not harass him,” he said. The commissioner also denied the charge that the officials had asked Srinivas to shut down the shop for the day.
Incidentally, KTR had in November 2024 called Collector Jha a nincompoop, drawing criticism from the IAS and IPS fraternity.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
