Jagan : Keep off pension pruning exercise

Hyderabad, Sept 23,
2014: YSR Congress Party president Sri Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has written an
open letter to the pension screening committees in AP asking them not to fall
prey to the machinations of the Chandrababu Naidu Government in drastically reducing
the number of eligible persons under some pretext or the other.

Saying that Chandrababu
Naidu has decided to reduce the number of pensioners and has since allotted
only Rs. 1300 Cr in the budget as against the actual requirement of Rs. 3600 Cr
to make pension payments to 43.12 lakh pensioners, he has appealed to the
pension committees not to cooperate with the Government in eliminating the
names of eligible pensioners.

“Naidu has promised to increase the monthly pensions
from Rs. 200 to Rs. 1,000 and from Rs. 500 to Rs. 1,500. But now, he is trying
to reduce the number of pensioners to avoid payments. If the number of eligible
social pensioners is reduced, lakhs of pensioners will suffer and find it difficult to
make their both ends meet,” Jagan Mohan Reddy said in his open letter, adding
that the screening committees should not be a part of the pruning exercise.

“Don’t be parties to the conspiracy hatched by the
Government to reduce the numbers,” he appealed to them.