Karnataka - Bidar

1,500 turn up at Janata Darshan

Staff Correspondent

Bidar: Kalavati Veeranna is 10 years old. She has no one to call her own. Orphaned early in life, she has no home too. She does odd jobs for the housewives of Vanjhara village in Humnabad taluk who feed her in return.

Shankarevva Halle is a widow. She lost both her legs to polio in childhood. She runs a roadside tea stall on Humnabad-Hudgi Road. Old age and failing health have reduced her power to work and she is looking for assistance.

Indumati teaches in a private high school in Ambesangvi in Bhalki taluk. She is suffering from cancer for over two years. Her application for regularisation of service is pending before the Government for as long a time as that.

Chandrakala Venkat Reddy is 20. She lives in Bijapur with her mother. She lost her husband a year ago in a bus accident near Alamatti in Bagalkot district. The Government sanctioned compensation to all the 50 killed in the accident, except her husband Venkat Reddy who drove the bus. She has been visiting the Vidhana Soudha seeking relief but in vain.

Ramanna Biradar and Basavaraj Shankarappa are physically challenged. However, their names do not appear in the Government's list of disabled persons in Bidar taluk. Hence, they do not get the monthly pension given by the Government to the disabled.

Five-hour wait

All these and many people such people turned up to plead their case before Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy during the Janata Darshan in Humnabad on Tuesday. The nearly 1,500 people waited for over five hours at the Inspection Bungalow, for the Chief Minister to arrive. The Janata Darshan went on for over three hours. The queue moved slowly and most of the people came with a letter typed in Kannada. They folded their hands, prostrated, and even cried endlessly while trying to explain their problems and worries.

Issues bothering the physically challenged dominated the Janata Darshan.

Next in line were complaints about pensions for senior citizens and widows.

There were many who sought employment. And there were some just demanding on-the-spot financial assistance.

Mr. Kumaraswamy received memoranda, assured them of action and asked his staff to document and file the complaints.

He promised to put Kalavati in a boarding school, help Shankarevva get a loan, promised Indumati of quick regularisation, Chandrakala of relief and monthly pension to Mr. Biradar and

Mr. Shankarappa. He directed the district officials to monitor the progress made in their case.

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