Hundreds of disabled persons gathered at Nalgonda Government Hospital and staged a protest demanding that Saderm (software for assessment of disabled for access rehabilitation and empowerment) camp doctors sanction disability certificates at the earliest so as to enable them to apply under new pension scheme.

The protest continued for at least for two hours at Saderm office on the hospital premises and they attempted to gatecrash into the office. Superintendent of the hospital Dr. K. Harinath promised to resolve the issues. It appeared that the disabled were confused with the statements of the State government and district administration on the issuance of new pension cards and reached the Saderm camp office in huge numbers to obtain new certificates as they lack clarity whether the old certificates are eligible for applying.

Unable to tackle the crowd, some of the staff allegedly responded rudely with the disabled that sparked the protest. Finally, they called off the protest as Dr. Harinath explained that the government would accept all the old disabled certificates.

Dr. Harinath further said that they have also received 9,000 new applications seeking disability certificates. Fluorosis Vimukti Porata Samiti (FVPS) State convenor Kanchukatla Subhash said that the government was trying to restrict the number of pensioners by creating confusion among the disabled. Vikalangula Hakkula Porata Samiti (VHPS) district president Saidulu said the disabled who arrived from across the district were waiting for hours at the hospital as the last date for applying the pension was nearing.

Dr. Harinath explained that they would expedite the process of issuing disability certificates by conducting mandal level camps.

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