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Witnessing a tremendous delay in the disbursement of elderly pension over the last one and half years, the Delhi Legislative Assembly’s petition committee Friday directed department officials concerned to ensure that pension gets disbursed before Diwali.
The petition was filed by Saurabh Bhardwaj before the committee requesting action on the elderly pension that had stopped four months ago.
As per the committee, elderly pensioners have not received the allowance since July as the central government allegedly did not release its share of funds in the last one and a half years and the AAP government is covering the entire expenses including the Centre’s share. “There are 1.19 elderly pensioners in Delhi who receive a monthly pension of Rs 2,500. Out of this amount, the central government is required to pay Rs 150 to the elderly aged between 60-70 years, and Rs 500 to the elderly aged above 70 years,” it said.
“Moreover, officers of the social welfare department told the committee that the delay was caused because of changes in rules and regulations regarding the issuance of pension. Earlier, all the pensions were issued from the headquarters. There was a change in the rule as per which the pension would be issued district-wise and district social welfare officer will oversee the process. However, it could not be implemented due to technical issues,” they said.
The committee remarked that they should have continued the old system of disbursing pension under the signature of the director until the new system came into force. Pension stopped because the officers put a halt to the old system without bringing in the new system. This is a criminal act and those responsible should be punished, said Delhi Legislative Assembly in a statement. “Despite this, the file to implement the old system was processed on September 29 and was approved on October 7. The director delayed the disbursement of pension despite receiving the funds. The committee expressed its displeasure over the working of the director,” said the officials.
“Despite this, the file to implement the old system was processed on September 29 and it got approved on October 7. The director delayed the disbursement of pension despite receiving the funds. The committee expressed its displeasure over the working of the director,” said the officials.
Chairman of the petition committee Akhileshpati Tripathi said, “There was a delay in processing the file for issuing pension due to the old system. This is a criminal act. Taking cognizance of this, the committee will take strict action by fixing the responsibility of officials concerned. We will not tolerate such insensitivity towards the elderly. The secretary of the department is directed to ascertain if there was an intentional delay to deprive the elderly of their pension.”
The committee has further sought Assembly-wise details of pension from the social welfare department in 15 days.
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