Andhra Pradesh   

Pensions distributed to physically-challenged

- Photo: G. Krishnaswamy

Welfare move: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy presenting a cheque to a physically-challenged youth in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

HYDERABAD: The official celebration to mark the International Day of Disabled here on Wednesday saw a physically-challenged youth trying to commit suicide in the presence of Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

Twenty-seven-year-old Bonela Ganapati consumed rat poison while standing in a group by the side of the dais which was noticed by a couple of plain clothes police constables who quickly carry him away and later shifted to Osmania General Hospital (OGH).

The incident, however, did not attract the Chief Minister’s attention as he was busy talking to leaders on the dais.

The Central Zone Deputy Commissioner of Police P. Hari Kumar said a suicide note recovered from Ganapati, who belonged to a Scheduled Caste community, revealed that he was disgusted with life as he was unemployed despite having passed MA in Public Administration in first class in 2006.

He considered himself a financial burden on his family which was distraught.

The function was also notable for a group of physically-handicapped persons staging a protest outside the venue, Indira Priyadarshini auditorium, as they were denied entry due to overcrowding.

The Chief Minister later told the meeting that the monthly payout of Andhra Pradesh government towards pension for the physically-handicapped was equal to the annual budget allotted to the section by bigger States like Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The State government distributed pensions to the tune of Rs. 40 crore to 8.50 lakh physically-handicapped persons every month.

The annual expenditure to so many people at Rs. 500 per head worked out Rs. 496 crore.

Women and Child Welfare Minister N. Rajyalaxmi said the revised syllabus for hearing impaired in the teacher training courses would be implemented from the next academic year. It was being revised keeping in view the disability of the trainees.

B. Nandini Raju, chairperson of Satyam Foundation which partnered the event, spoke.

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