Elderly couple seeks mercy killing owing to mounting pension dues

Thiruvananthapuram: In further embarrassment to the left-front government in Kerala over mounting dues of social welfare pension of Rs 1,600 per month to over 60 lakh people from weaker sections, an aged couple at Idukki district in Kerala has put up a board in front of their house seeking mercy killing lamenting over financial crunches.

Sivadasan, 72, and Omana, 65, of Adimaly in Idukki said that they were forced to stage the novel protest on Friday as they had no means to take life forward.

Earlier also there were similar instances of elderly persons staging novel protests owing to the mounting social welfare pension dues. While two aged women staged a stir by begging on streets a couple of months back, an aged woman blocked the road by sitting in the middle of the road. All the incidents took place in Idukki district.

Adimaly panchayat president Anas Ibrahim told DH that it was a truth that many families who were depending on the social welfare pension were in dire straits owing to the mounting dues. Many like Sivadasan and Omana, even require regular hospital visits owing to health issues. In high-range districts like Idukki they need to travel long distances for hospital visits. The panchayat has been trying its best to provide support to such people through all possible sources like voluntary support, he said.

Even as the state government has been maintaining that the cut in funds by the centre is the reason for dues in payments like social welfare pension, the lack of any austerity measures by the government and huge spending on various accounts mass outreach programme and Christmas - New Year feasts are being pointed out by opposition parties and critics.

Meanwhile, the elderly couple at Idukki called off their protest after local leaders of the ruling left-front assured them assistance. Opposition political parties and various voluntary organisations also offered assistance to them. Even as the couple were eking out a living by running a bunk shop at their house, the fiscal crunches caused by the five month due in social welfare pension made it difficult to run the shop also.