Excelsior Correspondent
POONCH, Feb 3: Specially-abled people (Divyangs) of district Poonch held protest here today over re-verification of pension cases by the Social Welfare Department.
They were opposing re-verification and alleged that Department was harassing the specially abled people. They raised slogans against the District authorities.
While talking to media persons at the venue in Poonch, Mohd Fareed Malik and Abdul Rasheed Shahpuri, raised their voice over the issue and disapproved the Social Welfare Department’s decision to conduct yet another verification of disabled pensions.
This comes after a previous verification process that caused significant hardship and difficulties for the already vulnerable community.
The protestors criticized the Director of Social Welfare Jammu and the District Social Welfare officer Poonch for the repeated verification exercises, calling it “unnecessary harassment.”
They argued that Divyang persons had already faced numerous challenges during the previous verification, and this new round will only exacerbate their problems.
“We are already struggling with a meager pension and now these officers want to push us into further difficulties,” stated one protestor.
“We spent money from our pockets for these verifications, while our pension of just Rs 1000 is often delayed,” another protestor said.
They questioned the rationale behind targeting pensioners while neglecting to scrutinize government officers who, they alleged, are “sitting on chairs and drawing hefty salaries without working.” They expressed their frustration with the government’s apparent lack of concern for their plight.
They appealed to Social Welfare Minister, Sakina Itoo, to intervene and take immediate notice of the matter. They demanded an end to the “harassment” in the name of verification and urged the Minister to fulfill the pre-poll promise of increasing their pensions.
The protestors issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Social Welfare Director and the District officer to revoke the re-verification order, failure to do so, they warned, will result in a mass hunger strike by Divyang persons. “We will take to the streets if our demands are not met,” declared a representative of the group.
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