70-yr-old rickshaw puller tries to immolate himself

Upset over not getting his pension of Rs 250, a 70-year-old rickshaw puller today attempted suicide by setting himself on fire in front of Dhilwan branch of Punjab National Bank here, police said.
Som Nath, resident of Dhilwan, who tried to commit suicide by pouring petrol on himself suffered more than 80 per cent burn injuries. He was first rushed to local civil hospital and later referred to a private hospital in Ludhiana, said Bholath DSP Mukesh Kumar.
The victim had been staging a dharna outside the PNB branch at village Dhilwan for the past few days in protest against alleged failure of the state government to pay monthly old age pension to poor and handicapped persons for the past three months.

The victim first went to the bank to check whether his monthly pension was credited to his account but was informed by the officials that his pension was not credited.
Frustrated over it, Som Nath tried to immolate himself, DSP said.
Kapurthala Deputy Commissioner Daljit Singh Mangat said the victim had last withdrawn the monthly pension on January 12 and his quarterly pension was due in April.
DC instructed the district Red Cross Society to bear all medical expenses of his treatment.