TDP president, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, on Friday complained to Chief Secretary, K S Jawahar Reddy, on the delay in distribution of social security pension to the beneficiaries thus subjecting them to harassment only for the benefit of the ruling dispensation.
In a letter to the Chief Secretary, released to the media, Chandrababu Naidu felt that it is highly objectionable and barbarous that a government officer, who should function responsible for the welfare of the people, even without an iota of thought, advocating one particular political party resulting in causing great inconvenience to the people. Pointing out the memo issued by the poll panel on April 2 that the pension be distributed on time to the beneficiaries without causing any inconvenience to the old, the physically challenged and the widows, the TDP supremo said that neglecting this memo totally these beneficiaries were forced to stand in long queues last month before the village secretariats resulting in the death of 33 innocent persons and harassed lakhs of pensioners.
This month too these pensions are forced to make rounds to the banks under the scorching Sun causing a lot of inconvenience to them, he said. Though the entire rural parts of the State has a system that can easily distribute the pension in just a day, the pensions are deposited with their bank accounts but the message was sent personally to the beneficiaries through the secretariat staff members, Chandrababu Naidu said.
Instead of sending personal messages to them by the secretariat staff members, these employees can be asked to pay the pensions amount directly to them, the TDP supremo pointed out and felt that this is nothing but a political conspiracy. On the one hand the bank accounts of lakhs of pensioners have been frozen as they have not been active since long and on the other the banking staff members are demanding the pensioners to produce either their Aadhar cards or PAN Cards for the KYC which again forcing them to make rounds to the banks in this hot summer, he said.
This apart, some pensioners have both individual and joint accounts, and they are not aware in which account their pensions have been deposited, Chandrababu Naidu said. The official machinery did not even think about the problems to be faced by the pensioners like what are the cash reserves in the bank, how the pensioners can reach their respective banks and other issues, he felt.
Chandrababu Naidu firmly believed that it is part of the conspiracy to deliberately subject the pensioners to various kinds of problems as the officials have to extend the benefits of the welfare schemes to the people without causing any kind of trouble. “This is part of your agenda to benefit the ruling dispensation and this clearly proves your partisan attitude towards the diabolical game being played by Chief Minister, Jagan Mohan Reddy,” Chandrababu Naidu said in the letter.
Over 65 lakh pensioners are being subjected to various kinds of troubles forcing them to make rounds to the banks which are located at their respective mandal headquarters in this scorching Sun, Chandrababu Naidu said. “Though the problems being faced by the pensioners are really heartrending and what is the actual secret behind you, being the Chief Secretary and head of the administration, could not feel this,” the TDP supremo asked.
While 33 pensioners died last month and now in a single day six persons lost their valuable lives, Chandrababu Naidu said and held Jagan as accused number one and Jawahar Reddy as accused number two for all this as the State is now recording 44 to 48 degrees Celsius temperature wherein the pensioners aged above 60 are being asked to collect their pensions from banks.
Advising the Chief Secretary and the State Government to stop politicising the issues using the valuable lives of the pensioners, Chandrababu Naidu demanded immediate measures to be initiated to distribute the pensions to the beneficiaries at their doorstep without causing any inconvenience to them.
