HYDERABAD: Rythu Swarajya Vedika (RSV) has announced that it would be holding a ‘public hearing’ at Dharna Chowk near Indira Park from 10 am till 4 pm on Monday, to bring to the fore the issue of 3,15,262 beneficiaries waiting for their Aasara pensions to be approved since 2018.
In an RTI filed by B Kondal Reddy of RSV, the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) has replied disclosing that there were 64,749 old age pensioners, 1,59,452 widows, 55,619 differently-abled, 6,351 toddy tappers, 3,297 weavers, 5,620 beedi workers, 10,997 single women, 5,485 HIV positive and 3,692 filaria sufferers who had applied for Aasara pensions after 2018, whose applications were yet to be approved by the state government.
Reddy clarifies that 64,749 old age pension applications were based on the senior citizens in the age group of 65 and above, which was the criteria for pensions before the State government had issued GO MS No 17, on August 4, 2021, lowering the age of old-age pensions from 65 to 57.
He stated that the number of old age pension applicants could be much higher (around 7 lakh), the data which was with MPDOs and was yet to be submitted to SERP. “People who want to understand the plight of those genuine beneficiaries are welcome to attend the public hearing,” Reddy said.