Pension woes; Endosulfan victims plan protest on September 28

MANGALURU: The woes of victims affected by alleged endosulfan poisoning continues with State Government still unable to give them timely assured relief. Now the Endo Virodhi Horatta Samiti, Kokkada, is planning to hold a protest in front of Deputy Commissioner's office here on September 28 if their problems regarding non-receipt of pension are not solved by September 25. Samithi president Sridhar Gowda said: As many as 3,100 victims who get pension from health as well as revenue departments have not received pension amount from the past four and two months from the respective departments. As per the HC directions, the victims with a disability of less than 60% should get a monthly pension of Rs 1,500, of which Rs 1,000 is from the health department and the rest from the revenue department. Those with above 60% deformity will get a pension of Rs 3,000, of which Rs 1800 is borne by the health department. Gowda said when he contacted the District Health Office, they replied saying that all papers have been sent to the Pension Department. The Pension Department claims that the bank codes are wrong. Gowda said pension is being disbursed from March 1, 2014 to the bank accounts of the victims. ``How come all of a sudden, the bank codes (IFSC) are mismatched,'' he questions. Gowda says that he gets close to 180 calls per day from victims regarding non-receipt of pension. ``The amount, however small, is very essential for the survival of the victims as they need to get medical facilities. And not getting the amount from four months from health department and two months from Revenue has put many in a quandary,'' he says. Their demand includes disbursal of pension at the beginning of the month; opening of a website and details of victims, the facilities given and being provided should be made available on the website. -TOI