TDP supremo and former chief minister, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, on Monday asked as to why pension is not being distributed to the beneficiaries at their doorstep despite having enough staff members to complete the task.
About 1.26 lakh secretariat staff members, 15,000 panchayat secretaries, 5,000 each of Velugu and agricultural department employees and 3,000 horticulture staff members are available at the village-level to perform this duty and if their services are properly utilised the exercise of distributing the pension can be completed in a single day, Chandrababu Naidu told media persons at the camp site in Gudur. The TDP supremo believed that Chief Minister, Jagan Mohan Reddy, is not discharging his bounden duties but is resorting to cheap politics.
The Chief Minister should initiate measures to distribute pensions at the doorstep but for his own political benefits he is now claiming that this is not possible, Mr Chandrababu said. Stating that it is a fact that the poll panel has directed the State Government not to utilise the services of volunteers for pension distribution, the TDP supremo said that Jagan, however, is politicising the whole issue as there are no enough funds.
Much aware of the fact of non-availability of funds, Jagan deliberately forced the old-age pensioners to make rounds to the village secretariats under the hot Sun, he remarked. With such conspiracies Jagan claimed the innocent lives of 33 pensioners, Chandrababu said adding that surprisingly the officials themselves revealed these facts.
The former chief minister felt that these deaths are official murders and the YSRCP has to certainly pay it back. What is more regrettable is that the officials too are becoming partners in these sins being committed by the ruling party, he said and stated that the YSRCP leaders are again planning such conspiracies.
“We have already brought to the notice of the Election Commission, the State Governor and the Chief Secretary that the entire State machinery should function under the directions of the Election Commission once the Model Code of Conduct comes into force. We, thus made an appeal to them to initiate measures to see to it that the pensions are distributed at the doorstep of the beneficiaries by ensuring that such tragedies do not recur,” Chandrababu told media persons.
Surprisingly, the State Government is not honouring even the poll panel directions and not distributing the pensions at doorstep with some lame excuses like the employees do not know the address of the pensioners, Chandrababu said. He asked how the employees suddenly came to know that the health condition of some pensioners is not good or how they got the bank accounts of the pensioners as till the other day they said that the pensioners do not have the bank accounts.
Holding the Chief Secretary, Jawahar Reddy, and other officers like Dhanujay Reddy, Muralidhar Reddy and Sasibhushan responsible for the delay in distributing pensions, Chandrababu made it quite clear that the official machinery too should not take into consideration the directions of the Chief Minister once the Model Code is into force.
How can the officials give the details of how many pensioners died without providing the details for how many persons pension was distributed, he asked. Chandrababu Naidu felt that if the pension is credited to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries there is every possibility that the respective banks smay deduct the amount if there are any dues pending payment.