Thiruvananthapuram: Spar over delay' in social welfare pension disbursal

Thiruvananthapuram: The Opposition in the city corporation council continues to cast its doubts regarding social welfare pensions, even as the government has promised that everyone will get it on Wednesday, irrespective of the Kudumbashree survey. BJP councillor of Valiyavila, Girikumar says, “There are 57,000 social welfare pension beneficiaries in the corporation. Only 12,000 have received their pension so far, and we are sure that the rest of the 45,000 are not going to receive it before Onam.” There are many wards in which not even a single beneficiary has received their dues for months, he adds.

“Mine is one. There are 394 beneficiaries of social welfare pensions who have not got their pensions. Then there are almost 100 more eligible beneficiaries who are yet to be included in a list,” he says. Meanwhile, Kudumbashree officials claim that they have covered 80% of the beneficiaries in the corporation, of which the data of 60% have been entered. The delay in the survey was primarily because many of the beneficiaries were living in other wards, according to welfare standing committee chairperson R. Geetha Gopal.

“Around 10-15% of the beneficiaries are no longer staying at the address they have given. They are now with their children. Many times, ADS chiefs have had to visit the same house five or six times. Still, by Monday, close to 40,000 of the 57,000 beneficiaries have been covered,” she says. Those who are not covered by the survey will get their pension in their bank accounts, as before, according to corporation secretary M. Nizarudeen.