YSRCP slams govt for cutting pensions to disabled

Tadepalli, August 25: YSRCP MLC and Central Office Incharge Lella Appi Reddy strongly condemned the coalition government for what he described as inhuman treatment of disabled persons by removing their pensions. Speaking to media at the party office in Tadepalli, he said that the government was behaving with “mental disability” by failing to understand the pain of the disabled and playing politics with their survival.
Appi Reddy said that lakhs of pensions had already been cut, including nearly one lakh belonging to disabled persons. He pointed out that many were driven to suicides and attempted suicides after receiving notices, but the government remained unmoved. He criticized Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan, and Minister Nara Lokesh for spending crores on luxuries while denying meagre pensions to the poor. He said that pensions are people’s right and not the money of Chandrababu’s pocket.
He alleged that government doctors themselves had earlier certified the eligibility of the disabled, and now under political pressure they were reducing disability percentages to disqualify beneficiaries. He described the deaths of pensioners due to distress as “government murders” and cited several cases where disabled persons had died or taken their lives after losing pensions.
He assured that YSRCP would continue to fight on behalf of the disabled and warned the government not to remove any eligible pension from September 1.  
He appealed to disabled persons not to resort to suicides and promised that the party would stand firmly by their side until all pensions are restored.