Pension scheme to be streamlined

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, OCT. 8.

Stating that several measures had been taken by the Social Welfare Department for streamlining the Old Age Pension Scheme including reducing the scope of harassment and corruption, the Delhi Social Welfare Minister, Ms.Krishna Tirath, said today the anomalies found by the Public Accounts Committee and the Comptroller and Auditor-General pertained mostly to the period of the previous BJP Government.

Addressing a press conference here, Ms. Tirath sought to set the record straight by pointing out that most cases of irregularities in the Old Age Pension Scheme took place during 1995-98 when BJP was in power. The report, she said, covered 16 months of the present Congress(I) Government. ``It takes time to settle down and rectify the wrongs committed during the last few years. When I took over, everything was in a total mess and it took a lot of hard work and effort to restore order,'' she remarked.

Stating that a number of measures had been taken for senior citizens, Ms. Tirath said the Old Age Pension scheme and other financial assistance schemes have been decentralised in 10 districts to ease the workload and hardships faced by the old people. These senior citizens no longer are required to travel long distances. Now their grievances could be redressed through the district officers located near their residences. The whole data of the scheme had been computerised by the Department in the process eliminating the chances of duplicate or multiple payments.

To do away with the present mode of payment which often resulted in delay and hardship, the Minister said it was decided to remit the pension in the respective Savings Account of the beneficiaries maintained either in banks or post offices through the electronic clearing system of the Reserve Bank of India. To bring transparency and easy accessibility, the whole data of the scheme and other related schemes would be available on the website of the Department which is expected to take off by November. This would enable the senior citizens to download the forms and get information about the status of their applications without moving out of the house.

She said the practice of cash payments had totally been stopped and the payment was now being made through the electronic clearing system. Physical verification had been made compulsory in all cases. Fresh cases received for sanction of Old Age Pension would be disposed off within a fixed time frame of two months and the respective district social welfare officer would apprise the concerned MLA about the ineligible cases. Instructions have been issued to the officers to conduct surprise visits so that the staff of the postal authorities does not harass the beneficiaries.

Mr. Tirath said the computerisation process has enabled to detect cases of duplicate and multiple payments.the cases of multiple payments pointed out by the audit have been deleted from records. The reported death cases have also been deleted and the officers during whose tenure the shortage of cash was detected have been chargesheeted and follow up action was being taken.

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