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.