No fest cheer for pensioners
Funds released but no pension disbursed in Nellore, Anantapur, Kadapa
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-01-10 02:09 GMT
Hyderabad: The Sankranti festival may become sour for most pensioners in Andhra Pradesh.
The state government had assured people that they would get their pensions on the 1st of every month like government employees. However, till January 9, about 50 per cent of the pensioners were yet to get their pension for December (20.45 lakh out of 40.90 lakh).
In Kadapa, Nellore and Anantapur districts, not a single pensioner has received pension. The government has not released sufficient funds to disburse pensions for some districts, while some did not disburse the pensions even though the government released the funds.
The state government had said that pensions would be credited in the accounts of pensioners on the 1st of every month. There are 40,90,956 pensioners in the state. Old-age pensioners number 21,01,684, widow pensioners are 13,86,592, disabled pensioners number 5,22,002, weaver’s pensioners are 69,392 and toddy tappers pensioners are 11,286.
The state needs around Rs 800 crore every month to pay their pensions. For December, the state government released Rs 474 crore, of which, Rs 225 crore has been disbursed till date.
In Guntur district, 73.62 per cent pensioners had received their pension, the highest in the state. In Vizianagram district, only 33.75 per cent pensioners had been covered.
In Kadapa district, there are 2,39,344 pensioners and the government has released Rs 25.36 crore. In Nellore district there are 2,49,076 pensioners and Rs 26.19 crore has been released. In Anantapur district, there are 3,77,580 and the government has released Rs 48.54 crore. Officials in these three districts, however, have not disbursed pensions to a single pensioner so far.