There was no respite for hundreds of anxious people, who waited for hours together to submit their applications for social security pensions across Telangana on Thursday also.
Long queues, old men and women struggling hard to submit their applications, differently-abled sweating it out to complete formalities and students waiting endlessly outside government offices was a normal scene in several districts.
In Karimnagar, rural masses were seen forming serpentine queues to secure Aadhaar cards in various parts of the district.
Senior citizens were forced to wait for long hours at the Meeseva centres to secure the Aadhaar card. Bandla Pochamma and her husband, Rajaiah, of Renikunta village of Thimmapur mandal, arrived at Alugunur Mee seva centre to obtain an Aadhaar card.
“Earlier, we used to get pension regularly. But now, the government has stopped pension and instructed us to apply afresh. We are not sure of securing the old age pension as there is no one to assist us,” they complained.
“I had applied for the Sadarem camp disability certificate and the authorities had also taken my photograph. But, still I have not received my certificate. Now, the authorities say that I will not get pension if I don’t have certificate. I am running from pillar to post in search of Sadaram camp certificate, but in vain,” said Raju, a disabled person.
Physically-challenged persons and old people continued to face an ordeal in submitting applications at the designated centres in Khammam district, in the absence of proper mechanism to help them submit their applications as per the prescribed procedures in a hassle-free manner.
Several old people and physically-challenged persons thronged the Khammam urban Tahsildar’s office and Municipal Corporation Office. Some of them, who arrived at the centres without any attendants, were found moving around the premises of the designated offices, seeking assistance to write down their details on a piece of paper, attach the copies of relevant documents such as Aadhaar cards and drop the forms at the specified boxes.
In Nizamabad, the situation was quite different with some centres wearing a deserted look in the absence of applicants. A report from Adilabad said officials are not expecting many more in the coming days. There was some problem of the old and infirm reaching the designated places on the first two days but the process stabilised later as representatives of pensioners were allowed to submit the forms.
Adilabad Municipality councillor Bandari Satish said the number of pensioners being about 50 per cent less than the white ration card holders, there was hardly any rush at the counter opened in the ward to collect the applications.
In Medak district, extension of deadline resulted in easing the mad rush at mandal offices, to some extent.
The administration has also erected barricades to facilitate the formation of queues to submit applications. Arrangement for drinking water was also made at Sangareddy mandal office. However, many mandal headquarters were not so lucky. At places like Narayanakhed, people were forced to submit applications with the Aadhaar card number mentioned. This led to a heavy rush at Meesava centres to secure Aadhaar cards.
(With inputs from S. Harpal Singh (Adilabad), K. M. Dayashankar (Karimnagar), P. Sridhar (Khammam) P. Ram Mohan (Nizamabad) and R. Avadhani (Sangareddy)
