According to the latest reports, Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister KT Rama Rao slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday for calling pensions for physically challenged and elderly persons as freebies and opposing them.
To protect the interests of the people, the state government provided Aasara pensions. Modi, on the other hand, was opposed to such pensions, calling them “freebies,” after distributing hearing aids, smartphones and laptops as well as two-wheelers and wheelchairs to physically challenged people in Sircilla.
The State government, led by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, provided various forms of assistance to people with disabilities, spending Rs 1,800 crore per year to assist 5.16 lakh people. Pensions alone accounted for Rs 1,540 crore in expenditure. During the last nine years, a total of Rs 10,310 crore has been spent.
While Telangana provided the highest pension to persons with disabilities at Rs 4,016, Chhattisgarh provided only Rs.200, while Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra provided Rs 300. Pensions in Gujarat ranged from Rs 600 to Rs 1,000.
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Persons with disabilities used to receive Rs 30,000 in financial assistance under the ‘Economic Support’ scheme in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. This was increased to Rs 1 lakh after Telangana was formed, with Rs 36.86 crore given as financial assistance in the last nine years, he said, adding that Rs 37.83 crore was given for marriages of disabled persons.
He stated that these could not be perceived as freebies or opposed.
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