We're giving pensions like no other State: Errabelli Dayakar Rao

Hyderabad: Panchayat Raj & Rural Development Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao on Friday said the KCR State government was giving Aasara pensions like no other State in the country. He also said they were giving pensions to all eligible persons in the State.

The Minister made these remarks while replying to questions raised by MLAs Guvvala Balaraju, Padma Devender Reddy, Jajula Surender, Jaffar Hussain and Danam Nagender during question hour in the ongoing budget session in the State assembly. He said they were addressing the software issues in districts, where problems were being faced in the processing of the pension application forms. He made it clear that they were not cancelling the pensions by observing the cars and tractors of the applicants but by observing their financial status.

The Minister said they would take steps for holding more number of camps every month for the convenience of the disabled persons. He said they were giving new pensions to 9,08,498 people of the State. Reminding that the budget for the pensions scheme used to be only Rs 861 crore, he said they had increased the budgetary allocations for the implementation of the pensions scheme to Rs 12,000 crore per annum. He alleged that while only 60 to 70 people from a village for every 1000 people in the BJP ruled States were being given pensions, the KCR government was giving pensions to 600 to 700 persons in every village for every 1000 persons.

Targeting the BJP, he asked that party leaders as to why it was not providing a pension of Rs 3000 per month in the BJP ruled States in the country. He alleged that the BJP leaders tried to mislead the people of the State by promising to give Rs 3000 per month as pensions to the eligible people after coming to power. He said that while the BJP ruled Manipur had increased its pensions from Rs.200 to Rs.500 per month, the BJP ruled Asom had increased the pensions from Rs.250 to Rs.550 per month. Rao said that the state governments in Nagaland and Mizoram were giving Rs.200 per month and Rs.300 per month as pensions to their people. Speaking further, he said that the BJP ruled state government in countrys' largest state Uttar Pradesh was giving only Rs.1000 per month as pensions and added that the BJP led state government in Guajrat, which is the native state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, was giving only Rs.1250 per month as pension.

Intervening at this juncture, the ruling BRS party MLA Padma Devender Reddy heaped praises on the CM of the state KCR and said that the CM had issued orders for the provision of the pensions to one of the spouses on the death of the other. She thanked the CM for issuing the orders in the House.