Congress govt. did not even spare the differently-abled from its betrayal, alleges Harish Rao

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BRS leaders at a meeting of the differently-abled persons held in Hyderabad on Saturday. | Photo Credit: By Arrangement

Deputy Floor Leader of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in the Assembly T. Harish Rao has alleged that the Congress Government has not spared even the differently-abled from its betrayal as it has failed to keep any of pre-poll promises made to them.

He, along with P. Sabita Indra Reddy, T. Srinivas Yadav, D. Sudheer Reddy, Manchireddy Kishan Reddy, K. Vasudeva Reddy, G. Devi Prasad, and Errolla Srinivas, participated in a ‘Samara Shankharavam’ of the differently-abled persons held here on Saturday.

Mr. Harish Rao said the Congress Government had shown no basic concern for the differently-abled. “During the BRS regime, the social security pension was increased from ₹500 to ₹4,016 and they were treated with dignity and not merely as vote bank”.

He explained that the previous BRS Government had spent around ₹54,000 crore on Aasara pensions during its nearly 10-year tenure. Of it, about ₹10,300 crore was spent specifically for differently-abled persons. He said pensions were paid regularly every month and recalled that the KCR Government had also provided 5% reservation for them in double-bedroom houses and 4% reservation in education and employment.

Telangana had received a national award in 2015 for its effective implementation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, showing its commitment towards the welfare of differently-abled persons, the BRS leader said. In contrast, the Congress Government did nothing for them.

He sought to know the status of ₹6,000 per month pension, free RTC bus travel facility and filling of backlog posts reserved for them among others promised to them before the 2023 Assembly elections. They were not even being paid pension every month. He stated that there were about 5.11 lakh differently-abled persons in the State.

The dues of promised enhanced monthly pension for the last 33 months now amounted to ₹66,000 per person, he pointed out. The government did not enhance their pension even slightly, though it had made ₹30,000 crore from sale of lands alone.

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