Bangalore, Aug 14 - As teenagers, they were inspired by the call of Mahatma Gandhi and took part in India's independence movement. Now, 62 years later, Karnataka's freedom fighters continue their lonely battles against poverty.

'I actively took part in the Quit India movement in 1942. I was a student in Mysore's Maharaja College at that time. I was part of the non-violent brigade and a part of various protest marches against the British rule. I was also jailed for a few months,' a visibly proud 88-year-old freedom fighter, now settled in Bangalore told IANS, on condition of anonymity.

'Today I sell newspapers and tea in a stall. I get only Rs.3,000 as a freedom fighter's pension from the state government. It's difficult for me and my wife to survive with a paltry sum of money. It is a hard life for us,' he lamented.

Echoing a similar concern, H.O. Sreenivasaiah, another freedom fighter and president of the Karnataka Freedom Fighters' Action Committee, told IANS that selling tea and newspapers on the roads has become the livelihood for several freedom fighters in the state.

'We request better treatment for freedom fighters. Freedom fighters have given their blood and soul to get India's independence. Now, in their old age, freedom fighters deserve an increase in their pension and medical benefits', said Sreenivasaiah, 85. After meeting Mahatma Gandhi in 1934, as a nine-year-old in Malleswaram in north Bangalore, he had decided to take part in the freedom movement.

'If state MLAs (members of the legislative assembly) can get a hike in their monthly salary from Rs.22,000 to Rs.44,000, why have the freedom fighters been ignored?' asked Sreenivasaiah, who is also president of Gandhi Bhavan in Bangalore and worked as an underground activist here, during the Quit India movement in 1942.

The assembly last month approved doubling of its members' salary and a hike in some allowances.

Currently, the state government is giving a pension of Rs.3,000 per month to Karnataka freedom fighters.

Freedom fighter and veteran journalist K.S.Subramanya, 87, who is currently general secretary of the committee, said the state should immediately increase the pension of the freedom fighters and take care of their medical needs.

'All the freedom fighters are above eighty years old.