A life lost for a mere Rs 200 pension

A senior citizen visits the pension office to earn his hard earned money. He runs from pillar to post asking for his pension amount to be released. The government officials demand a bribe from him. Not being able to afford the same, the old man surrenders all his clothes only to put the bribe-seeking official to shame. Sounds familiar? Yes, this is the famous scene from the Chiranjeevi movie, Shankar Dada Zindabad.

But what's shocking is that the apathy of the government officials doesn't seem to have changed even after watching such movies. Two recent incidents stand testimony to this. Two people lost their lives after they were made to wait for hours in the Sun when they went to collect their pension amount.

Posani (70), a native of Bodhan mandal of Nizamabad district had gone to the post office to collect her pension amount. It is learnt that the woman died of heat stroke while waiting in the queue.

Unfortunately, this is the second sun stroke death in two days. Ambarpet-based Maya Lakshmi too lost her life yesterday unable to bear the heat after she was kept waiting at the pension office in Hyderabad.

It is learnt that it was Maya's third visit to the pension office. The woman went to meet the officials yesterday too. She collected a pension amount of Rs 200 after a long wait of 5 hours. However, she fell unconscious on the road while returning home. The doctors declared her brought dead. The relatives of the Maya Lakshmi blamed the government officials for her death saying the govt staff were being paid for not working.

- Siva@sakshipost