Rangareddy: Many disabled and elderly people who have been approved for the Aasara pensions are still waiting to receive their payments. Meanwhile, those who are already receiving the pension are upset because of frequent delays in getting their money on time.
The Aasara pensions are meant to help people, especially the disabled, cover their daily expenses and buy necessary medicines. However, these delays are causing significant problems for them.
Bandi Narasimha, a disabled person from Rajendranagar, shared his frustration, saying, “The delay in Aasara pensions has become a common issue. Despite trying to get the attention of officials, nothing has changed.” He explained that they received the pension for August only on October 4, and the pension for September is still pending. He also mentioned that earlier there used to be a fixed date, between the 20th and 22nd of each month, for pension disbursement, but now there is no clear schedule. This forces people to repeatedly visit the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) office to check the status.
Another disabled person, Syed Afroz, said the government had promised to release pensions between the 1st and 5th of each month. However, he pointed out that not only are the pensions delayed, but there has been no increase in the pension amount, which many had hoped for.
In addition to the delays faced by current beneficiaries, new applicants whose pensions were approved more than two years ago are still not receiving any money. One elderly person from Attapur, who applied for the Old Age Pension in 2022, said that their application has been stuck with the District Rural Development Office (DRDO) for over two years, and officials have been unable to help.
A senior official from the Collectorate in Rangareddy explained that the delays are due to issues at the government level. They can only release the pensions once the government provides the necessary funds.
When asked about the number of pending applications, the official revealed that there are around 10,000 to 12,000 approved applications in the Rangareddy district alone that have been waiting for over two years. The government has not yet made a decision on when to release the pensions for these beneficiaries.
