VIJAYAWADA: A delegation of leaders of Opposition parties on Saturday urged Governor S Abdul Nazeer to direct the Chief Secretary to make arrangements to deliver pensions at the doorstep of the beneficiaries by using the services of staff of Village/Ward Secretariats, teachers and the staff of other government departments.
In a representation to the Governor, leaders of the three parties said pensions can be comfortably delivered at the doorsteps of the beneficiaries without causing hardships to the aged in the summer by making use of the government staff.
Observing that it will not take more than two days for distribution of pensions at the doorsteps of the beneficiaries, the leaders said that each employee will be required to distribute only 20 pensions.
TDP and BJP leaders including Varla Ramaiah, Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, T Siva Shankar Rao, V Suryanarayana Raju and Lanka Dinakar appealed to the Governor to direct the Chief Secretary to make advance arrangements for drawing sufficient funds for distribution and transfer the funds to the MPDOs and Municipal Commissioners to keep the amount ready for distribution.
The leaders alleged that the Chief Secretary as per the directions of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy turned a deaf ear to their suggestion to deliver pensions at the doorsteps of the beneficiaries in April. This resulted in the death of 33 persons as they were forced to walk to the Secretariats in the hot summer to get their pension. Earlier, leaders of the tripartite alliance staged a flash dharna outside the chambers of Chief Secretary KS Jawahar Reddy at the Secretariat demanding the distribution of pensions to beneficiaries at their doorstep.