Praja Sankalpa Yatra Diary, Day 37: When Government Turns Boot-Legger To Fill Coffers

Nadimigaddapalli Cross, Anantapur district: Hundreds of men and women walked with me all through the day. People marched shoulder to shoulder by my side be it children or the aged. Every individual had a host of problems to recount and many a challenge to contend with.

Meanwhile, a silent killer in the form of liquor consumption has been eating into the vitals of the social fabric here. There are liquor shops and belt shops everywhere. As if these weren’t enough, there are mobile supply services for delivering liquor at one’s doorstep.

In fact, at the women’s meet in Ravulacheruvu, hundreds of women in one voice demanded an end to the menace of liquor so that their families could be saved from the inevitable doom. Every single day, countless women recount the tragic tale of how liquor is ruining their lives.

A woman is the cornerstone of family life. How can any family remain happy or prosper, if the woman who runs the household is miserable? Can society progress if the institution of a happy family aspiring for prosperity, is destroyed? Unfortunately for us, it is the government whichis promoting liquor sales, delivering it to homes and has turned the entire exercise into its primary revenue source. Any Government worth its salt spends its resources for the welfare of its people. How can the sale of liquor become a primary source of revenue generation?

This afternoon, Jitendranath, an electrical assistant Engineer met me. He told me that though he had no vices, his liver had been badly damaged in his childhood due to the reaction of medicines that village quacks had given him for jaundice. He says an honest employee like him cannot afford healthcare costs. He had already spent close to Rs 10 lakhs and his family is now mired in financial problems.Doctors recommend liver transplantation, which would cost about Rs 30 lakh. The assistance from the department is minimal. “Where do I find resources for my treatment?,” he asked me as tears of helplessness and anxiety welled up in his eyes.

I cannot describe the pain I experience when I hear such real-life stories of misery. It is indeed unfortunate to see an honest government official suffer like this. Doesn’t the Government have any responsibility to help its employees? Who ought to help the people from the poor and the middle class backgrounds when they suffer from ailments which require prolonged and prohibitively costly treatment?

Finally, here is my question to the Chief Minister!! Doesn’t the Government have any responsibility to cover the healthcare costs of the ailing government employees who had spent their lives in the honest and committed service of the people? If this is the state of Government employees, what would be the fate of the common man?