Warangal: All eligibles will get Aasara pensions

Warangal: It's time to notice the kind of development and welfare taking place in the State, Minister for Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Errabelli Dayakar Rao said, drawing comparison between the TRS government and previous regimes. The minister on Thursday toured several villages in Palakurthi constituency and enquired whether they were receiving the Aasara pensions or not. He also distributed pension papers to the new beneficiaries. The number of pension beneficiaries has crossed 50 lakh in the State, the minister said. "Before the formation of a separate State, the number of beneficiaries was 20 lakhs. The number of beneficiaries went up to 40 lakhs after the formation of Telangana. With the government taking the decision to provide pensions to the aged above 57 years, the number of beneficiaries crossed half-a-crore," he said. Those who were not in the beneficiaries list need not have to worry, he said, assuring that all the eligible will get the pensions in the near future.

No previous government looked after the welfare of the farmers, but it's totally different since K Chandrasekhar Rao had become the chief minister, Errabelli said.

"KCR will not allow fixing meters to agricultural motor pumps even though the BJP-led Central Government was exerting pressure in the name of power reforms," Errabelli said.

Telangana has become a beacon for other States, he said referring to the welfare and developmental programmes carried by the TRS Government. He urged people to compare the welfare and developmental programmes carried by the KCR government with the BJP and the Congress ruled States. He said that KCR not only fulfilled his election promises but also introduced several other initiatives. Later, the minister had lunch with the new Aasara beneficiaries. Jangaon district collector Ch Siva Lingaiah was among others present.

In another programme at Kodakandla, the minister said that earlier the District Central Cooperative Bank (DCCB) was mired in corruption and it started to work efficiently under the chairmanship of its chairman Marneni Ravinder Rao. He distributed education loans extended by the DCCB to the beneficiaries on the occasion.