Former minister and BRS leader Harish Rao today strongly criticized the Congress government for "discontinuing old-age pensions".
He condemned the decision, and said that reducing or stopping pensions only harmed the poor and vulnerable sections of the State, and took food out of the mouths of the elderly.
Rao was particularly incensed over an incident in the Nannuru gram panchayat of Hajipur mandal, Mancherial district, where an elderly woman's pension was cut because her son failed to pay house tax.
He described the move as "unfair and inhumane", and said that penalizing a mother for her son's actions was deeply unjust.
"The decisions of the State government and the attitude of the authorities are creating rifts within families. If the pension money is taken away as house tax, how is the elderly woman supposed to survive?" he asked.
He lamented that on one hand the government was reducing the number of pension beneficiaries and on the other pensions were being withheld or diverted for house tax arrears.
Rao reminded the public of the CM's pre-election promise to increase pensions to Rs 4,000 per month, and called it a betrayal to reduce even the existing Rs 2,000 pensions.
"We demand that the government immediately pay the pensions of 15 elderly individuals in Nannuru gram panchayat, and take the necessary steps to ensure that pensions are not stopped due to house tax or other reasons," he said.
filed in:BRS, Telangana Congress, Pensions, Social Welfare, Election Promises, T Harish Rao