Sharmila interacts with the challenged

Appayapally (Mahabubnagar Dt), Dec 4, 2012: Smt. Sharmila, who has been undertaking Maro Praja Prasthanam Padayatra on behalf of YSR Congress chief Sri Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, has said that Dr. YSR was the only chief minister who granted pensions to both mentally and physically challenged persons.

Interacting with the mentally and physically challenged persons at Appayapally in Mahabubnagar district during the course of her Padayatra on Monday, Smt. Sharmila became one among them and tried to instill confidence in them.

In the wake of the International Day of the Handicapped, she felicitated Venkataiah, former Sarpanch of Chandapur village in Vanaparthy Mandalam of the district. Venkataiah, who participated in the Padayatra of Dr. YSR in 2003, is now accompanying Smt. Sharmila from Idupulapaya to Ichchapuram.   

Smt. Sharmila slammed the Government for its failure to come to the rescue of the mentally and physically challenged persons. “During the regime of Dr. YSR, all handicapped people including the mentally challenged ones used to get monthly pensions but now the present Government has abandoned their welfare,” she charged. Smt. Sharmila earlier interacted with women at a Rachchabanda Programme at Obulaipally.

While some of the mentally and physically challenged persons complained they were not getting their monthly pensions, others said they failed to get jobs under the Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu scheme.

YSR Congress MLA Mekapati Chandrasekhara Reddy, party leaders KK Mahender Reddy, Jyoghula Nehru, Ambati Rambabu, Vasireddy Padma, Jitta Balakrishna Reddy and others accompanied her during the day’s Padayatra.