GUWAHATI, Aug 12 - Differently-abled people of the State under the banner of the Pratibandhi Suraksha Sanstha, Assam (PSSA), will stage protests throughout the State on August 15 to press for fulfilment of their demand for their due under the Deendayal Divyangjan Pension Scheme.
With the imposition of the lockdown in the last part of March, many people became unemployed and the government took a number of initiatives to help the people in need.
But in case of differently-abled people, as alleged by the PSSA, the State government has taken a totally different stand and discontinued the payment to beneficiaries under the Deendayal Divyangjan Pension Scheme from April.
Under the scheme a beneficiary receives Rs 1,000 per month as monthly pension. According to PSSA secretary Nripen Malakar, differently-abled people of Assam have been deprived of the pension benefit due to apathy of the State finance department. He said that while the social welfare department has already released Rs 48,18,36,000 against 1,60,612 beneficiaries of the said scheme, the money has not yet been deposited in the beneficiaries� accounts.
Criticising the State government on the issue, Malakar added that as per government data, Assam has a population of 4.80 lakh differently-abled people, but till date only 1,60,612 such people have come under the purview of the scheme.
Meanwhile, the organisation also raised its concern over the rising incidents of atrocities against differently-abled people reported across the State. It demanded strict police action against the culprits involved in such atrocities.