DHARWAD: Meet Yallappa Hulagannavar, a blind second-year PU student, who is being made to run from pillar to post at the district government offices for the monthly pension he and his family are entitled to.
Yallappa has two siblings — Vasanta (14), who too is blind, and Praveen (16), who is blind, deaf and mute. The family hails from Kusugal village in Hubli taluk and has been cared for by Yallappa’s mother ever since his father’s death some years ago.
The state government gives a monthly pension of `1,200 to those who are completely blind. Both Yallappa and Vasantha have disability certificates from the Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), but have been getting only `500 as pension every month. This is barely enough to make up for the cost of their rail and bus passes and they have been seeking `1,200.
However, in whichever government office they go, officials have allegedly been demanding bribes to help them or approve their papers. Yallappa, who came to meet the Deputy Commissioner on the matter on Saturday, told Express that officials from the Kusugal village accountant to the Shiraguppi Upa Tahsildar have been demanding money to get the paperwork done.
“Giving bribes is illegal and I have refused to give in to their demands. So they are blocking our applications on various grounds,” he said.
Yallappa had secured 79.84 per cent in his Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examinations and currently studies at JSS College. He is also associated with ‘Samarthanam’, an organisation dedicated to the differently-abled.
Vasanta is a Class 7 student at the Belgaum Maheshwari school for the blind. But Praveen, given his condition, has to be cared for throughout the day by his mother and this has made it impossible for her to find a steady job and earn a livelihood for the family.
Yallappa said the officials have been demanding bribes saying that his family owns some immovable property. “But the land is co-owned by another family and we have the smaller share,” he clarified. He said the officials have even threatened to withdraw their current pension if he refuses to relent.
Now, Yallappa can only hope that his pleas don’t fall on deaf ears.