Children prefer dignity not support

Bhadrachalam: It is really a heart-rending situation. The rules framed by the YSRCP government have become a bane for the family of Pingali Venkayya. The only family member who gets pension in the family is Gantasala Seetarama.

Laxmi Bhargav told Hans India that the only help they got from the AP government was sanction of a pension to his brother Seetarama. But then the problem is that the Andhra Pradesh government’s rule is that only those who draw full ration will get pension. “Pension is certainly some help for us but what is not correct is the condition that we should draw full ration,” Laxmi Bhargav said. Neither the governments led by Y S Rajasekhara Reddy or N Chandrababu Naidu had imposed such illogical rule, he added.

He had appealed several times to the AP government and met Eluru Collector and RDO regarding their financial issues and their land issues, but no officer responded, he explained.

“This is how the government was treating the family of the man who designed the national flag. No one is bothered about the common man,” he said with tears in his eyes.

They said their upbringing was such that they would prefer living in poverty and die in poverty but would not ask for any financial benefits from any government using family name.

But what they want is the honour and recognition Venkayya deserves. Bhargav further said that the most painful experience for him was to see that the students did not know who had designed the national flag. “When I asked some schoolchildren as to who was India’s flagman, they replied Gandhi.” This is how history is being taught, he added.