By: S. Harpal singh
The happiness of poor people in Adilabad, who received the enhanced pension amount for the month of October, knew no bounds.
“Ee paisalatho balam vachindi,” (the money has empowered me) declares Ippa Adellu, a beneficiary from Bheemsari village in Adilabad rural mandal, his eyes wet with tears as he sums up the impact of the Rs. 1,000 he just received as old age pension (OAP) from the government. Yes, the increased quantum of pension has brought the desired social security to all the old and infirm and widows who are on the government’s list.
“I am now able to spend money for medicines,” reveals a beaming Bathini Gangamma, another OAP beneficiary from the same village. She says she does not have to look to her son for help, who himself is burdened with additional expenses every month.
Kushinepalli Ushamma, also of Bheemsari, lives with the youngest of her three sons who has no income of his own. “Ee veyyi rupailu mast aasara naku,” she asserted in the typical Adilabad Telugu accent.
Like many others of her kind, Ushamma first paid her debt to the local grocer. She had purchased on credit a meagre quantity of groceries during the period when her pension remained suspended.
Chiluka Purushotham, another OAP beneficiary from the same village, has started a recurring deposit at the local post office. “I am able to save money as I am now getting Rs. 1,000 instead of the Rs. 200 given earlier.
Adilabad Mandal Parishad Development Officer G. Jitender Reddy, who looks after disbursal of the Aasara pensions in his mandal, says the feeling of insecurity among those who were eliminated from the list was decreasing by the day. “We will cover all those who are eligible, even those women who were widowed only a fortnight back or so by the time we start disbursing pensions for the month of November,” he sounds confident as he talks of the current status of the pension distribution programme.
Source: The Hindu