Hyderabad man turns good samaritan, waives off rent for 75 tenants

A man from the city has turned good samaritan waiving off Rs 75,000 rent for tenants in the view of lockdown. Koduri Balalingam, a resident of Balanagar owns three buildings in the city.

As most of his tenants were workers from Bihar who resides in one-bedroom houses in the industrial areas, Balalingam understood their financial situation and waived off the rents of his 75 tenants i.e, a total amount of Rs 3.4 lakh.

"There have no means of earning as the lockdown extended and I thought of waiving the rent to bring them relief. I am also thinking of waiving rent for the next month as well," Balalingam said.

Besides waiving off the rents, he also distributed Rs 2.5 lakh 250 families in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Balalingam, who hails from Rajapeta village in Rajanna Sircilla district, has his own mechanical workshop in Balanagar since 2005. This is not the first time Balalingam helping the people. He has also granted scholarships to merit students, setting up water plants in his village. He also helped the families of RTC workers when they were on strike.

He moved to Hyderabad in 1996 to work as a helper in a lathe machine workshop in Balanagar. After working for about nine years, Balalingam set up his own workshop in 2005. Now, he provides employment to 10 workers.