Pension beneficiaries demand deputation of more staff
Kulgam, Dec 14: Amid bone chilling cold, elderly pensioners, disabled and widows in South Kashmir’s Kulgam on Wednesday staged a protest against the health department for ‘not updating their documents on time’, resulting in immense hardships to them.
The Department of Social Welfare has made online verification essential for beneficiaries to get pension, who have to come from far-off places.
The protestors assembled in the premises of District Hospital Kulgam and sought updation of their documents at earliest.
The protesters told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that since last many weeks, they have been spending hours together on a daily basis outside District Hospital Kulgam in the bone chilling cold but their documents like age certificates and handicap certificates are not being updated at the hospital.
“We have been here since morning today and are waiting for our turn but the hospital staff has hardly checked documents for 2-3 hours and left the hospital without checking documents of others,” Abdul Rehman, an applicant said.
“I have been visiting the hospital for the last one week but still my documents are not completed. What can I do now? It is not possible for me to visit here on a regular basis as I am physically challenged,” he said.
Others, who were part of the protest, said that there are thousands of beneficiaries in district Kulgam and the staff deputed for the work is not enough due to which they have been facing immense hardships.
There is a need to depute adequate staff for the work to ease the process so that this process can be completed at an earliest, they said.
The protesters have appealed the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Deputy Commissioner Kulgam to look into the matter and direct concerned authorities to take immediate steps in this regard so that old and disabled persons could heave a sigh of relief—(KNO)
