News

Volume 4 Issue 16 - August 15, 2006

85-year-old man fights for 45 years; yet not given disability certificate

D.N.I.S. News Network – This can happen only in India! An 85-year-old man, who lost both his arms and an eye in the early 60s, has been trying for the last 45 years to get himself a disability certificate from the Himachal Pradesh Government, to earn a paltry pension. And all in vain.

Tulsi Ram, a labourer from Bilaspur district, had lost his arms and an eye due to a dynamite blast during the construction of the Bhakra Nangal Dam in early 1960s. Ever since, he has repeatedly requested the State Government to certify him as disabled. But the concerned health department officials have continuously refused to issue him a disability certificate, effectively making him ineligible for a monthly Government pension of Rs. 200.

“We have been at it for almost half a century but have not got the certificate,” says Tulsi’s son. All four sons of Tulsi Ram are unemployed and barely make a living from their small agricultural plot. They said: “Now we have almost given up hope.”