Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday ordered immediate release of pending old age pensions, with strict instructions to regularise payment to the beneficiaries.
The directions were issued during a meeting to review various schemes of the Department of Social Security and Women and Child Development.
Expressing concern over the non-payment of old age pension in many places since April 2017, Capt Amarinder expressed the hope that the process of payment would be regularised by March, with the directions to make December payment by January 31.
Pointing out that the government was burdened by Rs 110 crore liability per month on account of pension arrears, he directed the Department to start releasing the arrears in a staggered manner.
Capt Amarinder also directed the Department to sort out the cases of absentee beneficiaries at the earliest, so that all eligible persons are included in the list, which now stands at 16,24,269, against the earlier 19,87,196.
The meeting was informed that 93,521 cases (4.71 percent) had been found to be ineligible, while another 1,96,478 were absentee cases. The ineligible cases related to those who did not fulfil the eligibility criteria, an official spokesperson disclosed after the meeting.
The issue of vacant Group A, B, C and D posts for the disabled in all government departments was also discussed, and the Chief Minister was apprised that 287 of the 899 vacancies had so far been filled by the Department. Capt Amarinder has ordered the remaining vacancies to be filled by April 30.
As part of the 100 percent centrally-sponsored One-Stop Centre scheme, in the first phase, six centres have been set up in Punjab at Bathinda, Jalandhar, Muktsar, Patiala, SBS Nagar and Gurdaspur.
In the second phase, eight new One Stop Centres have been sanctioned by the Centre at Ferozepur, Fazilka, Sangrur, SAS Nagar, Roopnagar, Hoshiarpur, ludhiana and Amritsar, while the remaining will be covered in the next financial year 2018-19 by the Central Government, according to the Department officials.
NO CM’s PICTURE ON BICYClES
Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Tuesday ordered to remove the Chief Minister’s picture from the free bicycles being distributed to girl students of government schools. Besides, he has also ordered to get the latest specifications, including colour, for the bicycles. Earlier, during the SAD-BJP rule, the Chief Minister’s picture was pasted on these specially coloured blue and saffron bicycles.