FREEDOM FIGHTERS PENSION
QUESTION
(a) whether the Government has agreed to sanction freedom fighters pension to the freedom fighters of Telangana Region who had participated in Hyderabad Liberation Movement;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether the Hyderabad State Screening Committee had recommended over thirteen thousand names of Telangana freedom fighters for grant of Swatantrata Sainik Samman Pension;
(d) if so, the present status thereof;
(e) whether the Government is aware of the slow pace of work in this regard;
(f) if so, the details thereof; and
(g) the details of the measures being taken to expedite the same?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS (SHRI JITENDRA SINGH)
(a) & (b): In 1985, it was decided to sanction Swantantrata Sainik Samman Pension (SSSP) to the freedom fighters who had participated in the Hyderabad Liberation Movement.
(c) to (g): All eligible applicants whose claims for sanction of samman pension for participation in Hyderabad Liberation Movement had been recommended by the Hyderabad Special Screening Committee under the Chairmanship of Shri Govind Bhai Shroff have already been sanctioned samman pension. Subsequently, another Committee was set up under the Chairmanship of Shri Rajeshwara Rao. This Committee recommended cases of about 13,500 applicants. Complaints were received that Shri Rajeshwara Rao Committee had recommended the cases of bogus applicants including those who were not even born or were toddlers at the time of the Hyderabad Liberation Movement. Hence, all claims recommended by Shri Rajeswara Rao Committee were referred to the Government of Andhra Pradesh for re-verification. For expeditious disposal of the re-verified cases and for ensuring that the claims of genuine freedom fighters are not overlooked, the claims of applicants fulfilling eligibility criteria for sanction of samman pension, along with the re-verification reports sent by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, in each case, are scrutinized by a Committee of Eminent Freedom Fighters constituted for this purpose. Since the re-verification reports from the Government of Andhra Pradesh are yet to be received in a number of cases, the recommendations of Shri Rajeswara Rao Committee in such cases have not yet been processed. The State Government of Andhra Pradesh has been advised from time to time to expedite the re-verfication of cases referred to them so that the State Government’s re-verification reports along with the claims of eligible applicants for sanction of samman pension could be placed before the Committee of Eminent Freedom Fighters and disposed off expeditiously.