Pension scheme for poor postponed by one month

While officials said the postponement is due to panchayat elections,sources said the work related to opening of bank accounts for beneficiaries has also not yet been completed.

MMGAMY,one of the most prestigious schemes announced by Chief Minister Mayawati on her birthday this year,promises a monthly pension of Rs 300,to be paid biannually in two installments of Rs 1800 each,to the poor who do not get benefit of any government pension schemes.

The first installment under the scheme,which was implemented from April 1,was to be released in October.

The Social Welfare department,the nodal department for the scheme,will give this pension to 30 lakh poor in UP. The beneficiaries were selected through open gram sabha meetings and the task of selecting the final list of beneficiaries was completed by September 30.

The Principal Secretary (social welfare),Balvinder Kumar,said,“We were to release the first installment in October and our list of beneficiaries is also ready. But we are postponing this process by one month because of the forthcoming panchayat elections. Work will start immediately after completion of the elections and we hope to release the first installment in November.”

Incidentally,while the work of opening bank accounts of the beneficiaries was to be completed in September,sources said only 60 per cent of the accounts have been opened in nationalised banks.

An official of the Social Welfare department said,“In around a dozen districts,work related to opening of bank accounts for beneficiaries has not been completed. The officials got busy with the panchayat election work and the scheme took the back seat.” He said pensions cannot be released until all the beneficiaries have savings accounts.

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