Social security pensions hiked in AP as New Year gift

VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh government has hiked the social security pensions by way of a New Year gift on Saturday. Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the increased pension disbursement programme and celebrated New Year with a set of beneficiaries at Prathipadu in the Guntur district.

The Chief Minister said the social security pension had been increased to Rs 2,250 by his government after the YSRC came to power, fulfilling an election promise. Now, the government has increased the pension to Rs 2,500 as a New Year gift, the CM said.

The Chief Minister said the Opposition is trying to create hurdles in the way of every welfare and development programme in the state, if only to spite the government. He released Rs 1,570 crore for January towards disbursement of the enhanced pension at Rs 2,500 per beneficiary under the YSR Pension Kanuka.

The Chief Minister said there were a lot of people who criticise the government even when it does good things. “They do so even when we provide financial support to those who couldn’t earn a living.” He recalled how the Opposition went to court against the house site distribution in Amaravati, citing 'demographic Imbalance', although they were demanding that it be made as a sole state capital.

He said that such critics were also objecting to the OTS scheme, out of jealousy, as it enabled the poor to gain full rights on their houses. Terming the Opposition as “anti-poor”, the Chief Minister said the Opposition also politicises the introduction of English medium, distribution of house sites for the poor, and even the price regulation on cinema tickets.

The Chief Minister said that almost every promise that his party had made in the election manifesto was being fulfilled in the last 30 months. There has been door-step delivery of pensions to over 62 lakh people, each of them getting Rs 2,250 so far every month.

Drawing a comparison between the present YSRC government and the previous TD rule, Jagan Mohan Reddy said that during the TD rule, pensions were provided to only 39 lakh beneficiaries, at the rate of Rs 1,000 each, the monthly expenditure being Rs 400 crore. The YSRC raised the pension to Rs 2,250 soon after forming the government and has been door-delivering this to about 62 lakh beneficiaries at a cost Rs 1450 crore to the exchequer every month. He said with the fresh enhancement to Rs 2500, the monthly expenditure goes up to Rs 1,570 crore.

Besides providing social security pensions to older people, widows and the disabled, the government is also giving pensions to patients who are suffering from critical illnesses. Andhra Pradesh is the only state to come up with such an initiative. On YSR Pension Kanuka alone, the government had spent over Rs 45,000 crore, since its inception, without any cuttings or any corruption, the chief minister said and said the government has added over 18.44 lakh fresh beneficiaries.  

In case of any difficulty in receiving pensions, the Chief Minister said the people should contact the village/ward secretariats or volunteers immediately or call the toll-free number 1902 for help, the Chief Minister said.