Govt eases verification of social security pensioners

Ruchika M. Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 30

In a poll-centric move, the Punjab Government today eased the verification process for the enrolment of social security pensioners.

Now, it will take just a recommendation by the sarpanch, panchayat samiti member or sitting/former MLAs and MPs to get a person enrolled as a pensioner.

The state Cabinet, which held its meeting today under Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, approved the scrapping of the three-tier verification procedure for enrolling pensioners in various categories: old age, widow, destitute children, differently-abled children, and the new one — Dharmi yodha (those who protested during the Emergency and took part in the Punjabi Suba movement).

The Sub-Divisional Officer of the area concerned will enrol the pensioner within three days of receiving the application. The pensioner will instantly start receiving the pension, while the District Social Security Officer will get a 30-day window to verify the former’s eligibility.

The committee under the chairmanship of ADC (Development), constituted for the verification of old-age pension cases, will be abolished.

This year, the government will spend Rs 1,100 crore on the disbursal of pension to 18 lakh beneficiaries.

In a bid to woo the unemployed youth, the Cabinet approved the filling of 12,747 posts in seven departments – Home Affairs and Justice, Irrigation, Cooperation; Planning, Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes, Health, and Technical Education and Industrial Training.

Meanwhile, Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi raised the issue of exorbitant fees charged by private schools, following which the government has decided to set up an independent regulator to monitor the fee hike.