Widows’ pensions sanctioned to men
5.54 L people out of 71.12 L pensioners, the ration card number was not even included in the pension database
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-09-07 01:14 GMT
Hyderabad:Men were sanctioned ‘widow’s pensions’ that are meant for women who have lost their husbands. This is but one example to show how the government schemes are being implemented.
The Andhra Pradesh government on Saturday placed the Controller and Auditor General’s reports in the Assembly. The CAG listed out many irregularities in the implementation of various pension schemes in the undivided Andhra Pradesh.
Incidentally, widow’s pensions were sanctioned to 4,543 men, the CAG said. The government implemented old-age pension scheme to the members of ‘Below Poverty Line’ families who hold white ration cards.
The CAG said that 14,225 pink ration card holders, who are members of ‘Above Poverty Line’ families and are not eligible for pensions, were also getting pension as per the details recieved on December 2012. The state has already paid Rs 19.63 crore and will have incur an amount of approximately Rs 3.41 crore annually on this account.
Moreover, it is needed for the pensioners to mention their age in the form. But 4,786 pensioners indicated their age as zero in the database. The minimum age stipulated for sanctioning old-age pension is 60 years for the Central government scheme and 65 years for the state government scheme.
The age of 5,754 persons who were sanctioned pension under the Central government scheme was less than 60 years, and that of 17,462 persons drawing pension under state government scheme was less than 65 years of age.
CAG also said weavers’ pensions were sanctioned to 244 individuals in Chittoor district who had not crossed the mandatory age limit of 50 years.
The CAG said pension schemes are available only to BPL population who posses white ration cards which is a primary condition for eligibility of pension. In case of 5.54 lakh people out of 71.12 lakh pensioners, the ration card number was not even included in the pension database.