Elderly in AP raise issue over withdrawal of old-age pension

KAKINADA: The elderly in Andhra Pradesh are raising a hue and cry over the withdrawal of pension benefits to many senior citizens under different pretexts. The state government started downsizing pensions since last month.

The old-age pensioners who got no money in the beginning of September were hopeful they would get paid at the start of this month. This, however, has not happened.

The village volunteers and village secretaries had promised them last month that the government would do the needful soon.

As per the new guidelines issued by the government, there can be only one old-age person for a family or per one ration cardholder. Another condition is that the house’s power consumption per month should not exceed 300 units.

“The average power consumption is calculated for six months. If it exceeds 300 units on an average per month, the person is not eligible,’’ said an official of SERP.

However, there is a flood of petitions at the Spandana programmes organised by the government at the village and urban levels, appealing to the government to reinstate pensions to those who have been removed from the list.

Satyanarayana Murthy, 75, used to get a pension from the government and his wife was getting a pension from the state Brahmin Corporation. Last month, the officials deleted Murthy’s name from the list. “We are solely depending on the pensions and we have no other source of income. I am a diabetic and need money to purchase medicines,” said Murthy from Annavaram.

The same fate awaited Ramachandra Rao of Rajamahendravaram. He is suffering from cardiac, kidneys and neurological problems. He appealed to the government to continue providing him pension.

In Anantapur, harmonium artist Raghu Master and his wife lost their pension and are in difficulty.

Satyanarayana of Ravipadu village in Pentapadu mandal of West Godavari district was shocked as his name was deleted from the pension list by citing a reason that his power bill exceeded 300 units. “I was shocked. There is no power connection in my name. When I enquired, my aadhar number is linked to another power connection which is not related to me,’’ said Satyanarayana.

He appealed to West Godavari district collector Karthikeya Misra to restore his pension. Another beneficiary Nageswara of B Colony in Dwaraka Tirumala in West Godavari district also said his aadhar number is linked to another person’s power connection. He requested the officials to rectify this and give him the pension.

Kurnool district DRDA project director DK Venkateswarlu said that 4,42,009 beneficiaries have been given Rs 103.445 crore as pension for the month of October whereas 4,33,178 beneficiaries received Rs 101.29 crore in September.

Though the government stopped the pension to several old persons, the pension number has been increased by way of including new beneficiaries into the list.

 i) in Vizianagaram district, 2,000 old people urged the government to reinstate their pensions;

ii) 70 old people in Srikakulam, 10 in Visakhapatnam, 146 in East Godavari, 100 in West Godavari applied for restoration of the pension.

iii) 60,81,555 persons were given the pension in the state in October;

i) Vizianagaram: 3,28, 874 ii) Chittoor: 5,08,036 iii) Srikakulam: 3,74,537 iv) West Godavari: 4,53,671 v) Kadapa: 3,43,326, vi) Anantapur: 5,10,129 vii) Guntur: 5,89,513 VIII) Visakhapatnam: 4,72,494 ix) Nellore: 3,55,882 x) Krishna: 5,16,880. XI) Prakasam: 4,23,803 XII) East Godavari: 6,66,244