The “living dead” receiving social welfare benefits in Punjab has been a matter of conjecture since long, but the data collated by the State Government revealed the deadly reality of more than 72,000 persons receiving pension benefits.
As many as 72,928 “dead beneficiaries” were detected during the verification process initiated by the State Government in 2017, months after the Congress party took over the reigns of the state.
Maximum number of dead beneficiaries were found in Sangrur (7726), followed by Jalandhar (7429), Ferozepur (6478), Gurdaspur (6396), and Amritsar (5897), to mention a few.
In all, 93,521 beneficiaries were found “ineligible” to get the pension benefits, but were receiving the same. Bathinda, the home constituency of Union Minister and SAD MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, topped the list with 13,516 ineligible beneficiaries, followed by Sangrur with 12574 such cases, and Tarn Taran with 9796 cases.
The Congress Government had issued the orders regarding initiating the process of verification of beneficiaries under the Old age pension and other financial assistance schemes on June 16, 2017.
During the verification, as many as 1,96,478 were found to be the “absent cases”, out of which 96,525 were due to wrong address, and 99,953 due to absenteeism.
“The Department stopped the pension of the beneficiaries from April 2017 who were found with wrong address, or absentees, or who were found to be dead or were not eligible to get the pension,” a senior government official told The Pioneer.
It was decided that the beneficiaries who were found ineligible and absent during verification, would be given a chance to hear.
“As the Department decided to stop the pension for ineligible or dead or alike, such beneficiaries were given a chance to approach the authorities with a clarification within a month’s time, and the matter would then be sorted after thorough verification,” said the official.
For the purpose, the Committee have been formed at the district level, which are headed by the respective Deputy Commissioners. “When an application was submitted by a person to reconsider their case, the Committee takes the decision after examining all the facts,” said the official.
As per the data, as many as 75,784 beneficiaries were found eligible after examining all the applications received for the same, while “the rest of the cases are still under process”.
In Punjab, there are a total of 19.89 lakh beneficiaries of social security pension scheme, under which the State Government pays Rs 750 per month to the elderly, widows and the physically challenged.
For the same, the state exchequer has to a bear around Rs 49 crore annually for disbursing the pension.
Even as the official refused to share the details if any action has been initiated against any of the Department’s officer of employee, it was made it clear that in case anyone was found giving the benefit to the ineligible beneficiary, “strict disciplinary action would be taken against them”.
Rooting out the fake and ineligible beneficiaries was one of the topmost priorities of the Congress Government. So much so that Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had himself issued orders to eliminate all such cases, irrespective of the political affiliations of the beneficiaries concerned.
It was also decided that the Government would soon put in place a new mechanism for verification of future applicants, and effect amendments in the eligibility criteria with effect from April 1, 2017.
However, certain steps have already been initiated by the Government to streamline the process including paying pensions through the banks under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).