A few tribal people, who were reportedly being denied pension, appealed to the MPDO of Ravikamatham for justice, alleging that village secretariat staff has removed their names from the list of beneficiaries. They staged a protest, under the aegis of the Girijan Sangham and handed over a memorandum to him.
They said that they had also complained to the District Collector during the Spandana programme in January this year but no action has been taken so far.
Dola Vali (70), a tribal, has been receiving pension for the past 10 years but now his name has been removed from the list on the ground that he has 60 cents of land as per the records. He sought revival of the pension, which was stopped eight months ago.
Similarly, Appili Rajulamma (70), who lost her husband two years ago, and D. Ramulamma (50), who lost her husband two years ago, are not getting pensions, though they had applied for the same.. Guda Chintalli of Gadduva Panchayat, who had applied for old-age pension, was also not sanctioned the same.
While Rajulamma has not been sanctioned the pension, Ramulamma has not received her pension money though her name was in the list. The tribal people said it was unfortunate that Government Whip Karanam Dharmasri, who was telling the people during his ‘Gadapa, gadapa ku YSRCP’ programme that the State government was extending ‘Navaratnalu’ to all beneficiaries, irrespective of their party affiliation, but they were being denied benefit despite fulfilling the eligibility criteria.
AP Girijan Sangham leader K. Govinda Rao took the issue to the notice of the MPDO, who promised to get an inquiry done and ensure justice to the tribal people.
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