All Sections Of Society Have Been Betrayed By Chandrababu Govt
Jinnam, Vizianagaram district: Today, my Padayatra proceeded along narrow, congested roads as it moved from Cheepurupalli to Gajapathi Nagaram constituency. These villages do not have any bus facility and if one has to go to a hospital, or for children to go to school, they have to go through veritable hell.
Students from the local government school told me about the many problems they faced on a day-to-day basis. They said that they were given midday meal with rice of the worst quality along with other equally inedible substances. “There are no fans in our schools, we don’t have enough benches to sit on, and as for toilets, they are simply not there," the students lamented. Perhaps, if this government had shown a fraction of the interest it does upon corporate schools, such a deplorable state of affairs would not be found.
Members of the Vadrangi or community engaged in carpentry work met me near Muchherla village. They told me about the difficulties they faced with respect to carrying out their traditional occupation with growing costs in all respects, beginning with electricity. While they used to pay Rs.300 a month during my father’s tenure towards electricity, the power bill they now pay is around Rs.1,000! They do not have the resources to procure raw material and no loans of any kind are forthcoming. In such circumstances, many of them have been forced to turn into daily wage labourers, giving up their traditional occupation, they regretted. Vinita and Navita, sisters who suffer from congenital deaf-mute condition came and met me this afternoon. Their impoverished parents went through a lot of agony bringing them up, more so because both these girls had this congenital disability. The biggest worry of the parents centered around the future of these girls.
It was at such a critical time that my father, introduced the pioneering healthcare initiative, Arogyasri, which came to their rescue. Under this scheme, my father ensured that cochlear implant surgery costing Rs.18 lakhs was done free of cost. Both of them now speak with ease, fluently and go to school. Meeting them gave me immense joy and a sense of satisfaction beyond words. However, the cost of maintenance of each device is Rs.30,000 per year— an amount which is beyond the means of their poor parents. My resolve to include the maintenance of these devices within the scope of Arogyasri so that such poor families do not suffer from the resultant financial burden, got strengthened even more. Villagers from Logisa and Jinnam told me that though many of them are eligible, they were denied pensions by the TDP government. It is indeed a shameful aspect of this government’s discriminatory attitude that people had to go to court to seek legal redressal to their problems such as pension, which is their right! A Dalit lady, Ramulamma told me that her husband passed away two years ago. She has since been living by herself. She ran around from pillar to post for her widow’s pension, but to no avail. She was not paid her wages for the work she did under the government’s employment scheme! I felt very pained to learn that she is forced to migrate to the Godavari district as a daily wage labourer, because she was left with no other option. What is the use of having government schemes on paper? What are governments for if not for the welfare of the masses?
I have a question for the chief minister— what happened to your election promise stated in your manifesto that you would support all communities engaged in traditional occupation, giving them the respect due to them? Is it not a fact that you have used these backward communities as vote banks making false promises? Is there a single segment of society which has not been deceived by you in this manner?