Haryana finds 4 lakh ‘fake’ pensioners

Following a model that was first launched in Andhra Pradesh for a selected set of beneficiaries,Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda gave the nod for launching the scheme of electronic transfer of pensions with a mandate that all the districts of Haryana be covered under the scheme and beneficiaries of all the nine social security schemes offered by the department of social justice and empowerment benefit from it.

In the first lot,pensioners of 16 districts in the state were listed out to be a part of the scheme. Since the process involved the making of a biometric smart card for each of the beneficiary through the banks which were to disburse the pensions,the manual lists maintained by the department of social security and empowerment ended up being physically cross-checked.

In the last count of beneficiaries done on June 10 in these 16 districts,the total number of registered beneficiaries with the department was almost 16 lakh,out of which claims of pension by 11.8 lakh beneficiaries were found to be correct. The rest of the names were struck off.

“The government is going to save crores from this exercise and the same amount can be used to benefit so many other needy persons,” said Minister for Social Justice Geeta Bhukkal,adding that the rest of the districts are likely to covered by the scheme in the coming months.

“If any genuine cases have been left out of the final lists,they can can approach the village level service provider till July 31 and open their account. They will be given their pension in arrears from the day it was stopped,” Bhukkal said.

Director Social Justice and Empowerment Ashok Khemka said the no frills bank account opened for the beneficiaries was part of the financial inclusion scheme of the banks which had been leveraged to remit the pension of the beneficiary directly into his account.

“Through the bank account,the pensioner will get the entire amount he is entitled to,in time and in his village. He does not have to travel anywhere. The banks would disburse the pension through their business correspondents in the village itself. If the pension remains in the account,the beneficiary also earns an interest of 4 per cent on it,” added Khemka.

Terms for pension amended

CHANDIGARH: Haryana government has amended the terms and conditions and forms of various social security schemes related to Social Justice and Empowerment Department and these have come into effect from July 1.

An official spokesman said now applicants for widow pension,destitute women pension,handicapped pension,Ladli Social Security Yojana Bhatta and financial assistance to the destitute children would themselves have to fill up their forms and submit to the block development and panchayat officer concerned in rural areas and secretary,municipal council in urban areas along with required documents.

Income report under all the social security schemes would also be submitted by the applicant himself and checking would be carried out only in case of suspicion or receiving complaints,said the spokesman,adding that the team comprising tehsildar,naib tehsildar,medical officer and representative of district social welfare officer have now been disbanded.

The forms for Old Age Samman Bhatta would be accepted from October next. ENS