The Hindu : Govt. stops pension to ailing sculptor

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 16, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Govt. stops pension to ailing sculptor

By T.V.Sivanandan

GULBARGA Feb. 15. Renowned sculptor and the winner of the prestigious Jakanachari Award and the Rajyotsava Award, Dhananjaya Shilpi, has been made to run from pillar to the post for a monthly pension of Rs. 500 sanctioned to him in 1986. That he has only one leg as his other leg was amputated because of gangrene has not made any difference to the heartless officials.

A chronic diabetic, the 69-year-old Shilpi explained his harrowing experience to The Hindu with tears in his eyes.

He said that for the last two years he had not received even single paise as pension from the Government. His inquiries to know the reasons for stopping pension elicited vague explanations from the officials here.

Shilpi, who was recognised as an acclaimed sculptor of his time, cannot perform his normal duties. If the stroke in 1991 partially incapacitated him, the amputation of his leg in 1999 left him crippled. His letters to the Department of Kannada and Culture and the Treasury Department for transferring his monthly pension have failed to move the bureaucracy.

The monthly pension was stopped two years ago by the Treasury Department without assigning any reason. Mr. Shilpi had opened an account in a local bank and had given an undertaking to the Treasury Department to transfer the monthly pension to his account. Since he had gone to Raibag in Belgaum District to get treatment for diabetes, he could not keep track of the deposit in his account.

After his return from Raibag last year, when he went to draw money from the bank, he was shocked to learn that the balance in his account was nil and that his pension had been stopped as he had failed to produce a life certificate.

Immediately, he submitted a certificate to the department and two more certificates from the bank to prove that he was alive. But the officials are yet to take cognisance of these certificates and restore the pension to him.

Mr. Shilpi, who lives with his son who is working as a part-time lecturer in a local college in a rented house, said that the Government had not kept its promise of giving him a site. Even the ancestral house owned by him is caught in the vortex of controversies with the bank, which had lent him money for the construction, claiming dues and taking over a portion of the building. "The only other income I have now is the rent of about Rs. 2,000 that I get from the ancestral house," he said.

Recently, a senior official from the Kannada and Culture Department visited him and promised to take up the issue with the Government for the early release of the pension amount. "I do not know when this promise is going to materialise," he said.

Mr. Shilpi is a recognised stone sculptor of eminence and has hundreds of works in Bronze and Plaster of Paris to his credit. Reputed film studios seek his advise on stone and bronze works. After completing his post-graduation in sculpture from J.J.Arts College in Mumbai, he worked as a lecturer in the same college for 15 years before returning to Karnataka, which recognised his work and honoured him with Jakanachari Award and Rajyotsava Award. But the monthly pension, which the Government sanctioned to this ailing sculptor, is yet to come to his assistance.

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