In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, lakhs of people belonging to weaker sections such as old age persons, widows, women in distress, transgenders and persons with disabilities (PwDs) are struggling for their survival and are on roads against the authorities who have failed to release pension in their favour since February this year.
For years together, Rs 1000 in the name of financial assistance was being provided to these people by the Social Welfare Department of Jammu and Kashmir but for the last several months, these people are without pension.
According to the reports, in September last year the authorities came up with new rules and asked all the beneficiaries to apply fresh to get the benefit of the scheme. Then, many including social activists, political leadership and beneficiaries expressed their dismay over the directive which forced these people in distress to rush from one office to another to get requisite documents such as Domicile Certificate, Age Certificate, Aadhaar and Disability Certificate to register themselves to avail the social welfare pension scheme.
Talking to media men, Sushil Sharma, Chairman of All J&K Welfare Trust, who himself is physically challenged said, the present administration has no mercy for handicapped persons. He said the administration is leaving no effort to harass the handicapped people. “For years we were demanding enhancement of the disability pension from Rs 1000 to Rs 3000 but instead of enhancing this meager financial assistance they have stopped it too.”—KMS
