Telangana government makes it tough for sop applicants

Hyderabad: The problems of people applying for food security cards and pensions in Telangana seem to be unending as the government continues to come out with controversial norms for submitting applications and identify beneficiaries.

The government has now asked people to apply for food security cards and pensions from the places where they had enrolled for the household survey in August. A large number of people who went to their native places for the survey are at a risk of losing their cards. The state has also asked people to stay in their houses with their family for 10 days from October 20 to 30 as verification officials may visit anytime for inspection.

Majority of those who seek these cards hail from the poorer sections and are daily wage workers who cannot make their ends meet if they do not work.

Daily wage workers are worried about staying at home for 10 days without going to work to get food security cards. However, panchayat raj minister K.T. Rama Rao defended the norms for getting the cards saying that they were aimed to ensure that only genuine applicants received the benefits.

Mr Rao urged people not to worry in case they failed to submit applications within the due date of October 20. “Though October 20 is the official deadline, we will continue to accept applications from eligible applicants. It’s a continuous process. Don’t think that the world will end after October 20.

Our aim is to see that no eligible beneficiary is left out and no bogus applicant is included in the beneficiaries list,” Mr Rao remarked while speaking to the media at the Secretariat on Thursday. He also asked collectors not to insist on submission of death certificates of their spouses to apply for widow pensions.