Following the directions of Chief Minister Harish Rawat, the Social Welfare department organised a camp for distributing identity cards to intended beneficiaries of pensions for senior citizens, widows and handicapped persons in Dehradun on Tuesday.
The negligence of the authorities has been causing difficulties for intended beneficiaries in procuring these cards. Realising this fact after assuming charge as Chief Minister, Harish Rawat had directed all the district magistrates to organise camps at Panchayat or ward level for providing such cards to intended beneficiaries.
Dalanwala resident Jasvinder Kaur who was at the pension card distribution camp held on Tuesday where 1,700 beneficiaries were given pension cards by the CM Harish Rawat, said that her husband had died in 2005 while her son died in the year 2007. Kaur said that she had approached the department concerned several times, but failed to procure either old pension or widow pension card so far. She had reached the camp on Tuesday with the hope of procuring widow card or old-age pension card.
Karanpur resident Preminder Gambhir said, “I had approached the department concerned many times in the past but have not received widow pension so far because my son's name was mentioned in the ration card. My husband had died around 20 years ago.”
She further said that her son is unemployed and does not live with her. She approached the food and civil supply officer to delete the name of her son from ration card after verifying it but the officer had not heard her grievances, she complained.
Some old persons who had reached the camp said that they have not procured the pension card so far. They came to know about this camp through municipal councillors.
Critics opined that district officers do not hear the grievances of the residents without political connections which causes difficulties for large number of intended beneficiaries in procuring such cards in the State.