The Yogi Adityanath government re-introduced pension for Yash Bharati and Padma awardees with 50 per cent reduction and strict riders.
A notification in this regard was issued on Friday.
As per the notification, awardees will get Rs 25,000 as monthly pension, only if they are not drawing any other government pension and were not income tax payers.
The previous Samajwadi Party government had formulated a pension scheme for Yash Bharti awardees and entitled them for a monthly pension of Rs 50,000.
Principal Secretary, Culture, Jitendra Kumar said in lucknow on Saturday that the government has amended UP Yash Bharati and Padma Awardees Monthly Pension Rule -2018 and implemented it with immediate effect. He said that a pension holder should be a native of and working in UP to avail the pension.
“They would avail the facility of pension for the rest of their lives. Every year they will have to give life certificate in the beginning of the financial year,” he said.
The government also set up a five-member committee, headed by Director of Culture, to decide and check the eligibility of awardees applying for monthly pension. The committee has been given the mandate to either accept or reject applications for non-fulfillment of norms. The decision was taken on Friday, a day after Yash Bharati /Padma award winner and poet Gopal Das Neeraj died after prolonged illness. Neeraj had recently met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and appealed to him to re-start the pension.
