Centre favours pensions for freedom fighters who fought Nizam

The Centre would try to get pensions for freedom fighters who fought against the Nizam rule in Telangana, Union minister Hansraj Ahir said today.
"They (the state government) have the power to inquire (on eligibility for receiving pensions). Some (freedom fighters) claim they are intentionally kept aside. Let there be a revised check.
"It (eligibility to receive pension) should be inquired again. The state government should think of those who are (aged) above 85," he told reporters here.
The Centre has already referred the matter to the state government which should get back on it after conducting an inquiry, the minister of state for home said.

He was speaking at a party meeting held at the Telangana BJP headquarters where he felicitated a freedom fighter who fought against the Nizam, the erstwhile ruler of the princely state of Hyderabad.
The Telangana unit of the BJP has started a campaign for official celebration of the day (September 17) when the Nizam-ruled Hyderabad state was merged with the Indian Union in 1948.
The Hyderabad State included parts of the present-day Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had favoured celebrating September 17 officially before the formation of Telangana in 2014. However, he is not celebrating the day after he came to power due to "vote-bank politics", Telangana BJP president K Laxman alleged at the meeting.