Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that his government’s pension bill per month is more than ₹1,500 crore against just about ₹500 crore during the TDP term.
This reflected the YSRCP government’s commitment to the welfare of the pensioners, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said during a short discussion on the direct transfer of benefits under various schemes in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday.
The Chief Minister pointed out that the old-age pension paid by the TDP government till its fag end in 2019 was a paltry ₹1,000 per month, which was increased to ₹2,250 immediately after YSRCP came to power.
Till October 2018, the number of pensioners was roughly 44.33 lakh. It went up to 61.94 lakh over the last 18 months, he said.
These statistics exposed the TDP’s claim to be the saviour of the pensioners, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy stated amidst loud thumping of desks by his party MLAs.
Earlier, TDP MLA Nimmala Rama Naidu sought to know why the government failed in paying ₹3,000 as promised by Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy during his 2019 election campaign.
He said it was the former Chief Minister, N.T. Rama Rao, who had given a whole new meaning to the welfare schemes for the poor by taking certain path-breaking initiatives.
Minister Kodali Sri Venkateswara Rao, and Kolusu Parthasarathy and other YSRCP MLAs said the Chief Minister would fulfil his commitment soon in spite of the severe financial crunch faced by the government.
Kodali’s snipe at Naidu
Mr. Venkateswara Rao’s comment at this juncture that Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy was not an escapist like his predecessor and TDP national president N. Chandrababu Naidu evoked strong condemnation by the TDP MLAs and resulted in yet another round of mutual recrimination.
