Pension hike only on paper, elderly suffer

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 31

Congress’ poll promise: Raise the social security pension from Rs 500 per month to Rs 1,500 per month.

Action: Budget provisions made to increase pension to Rs 750 per month from June 2017 onwards.

Ground reality: Pension to 19 lakh old age, widow, destitute children and differently abled pensioners stuck. Blame it on delay in verification of beneficiaries or reverting disbursal through banks. It is only last week that pensioners received three months’ payment (at the rate of Rs 500 per month) for November and December 2016 and January this year.

Ask elderly couple Jaswinder Kaur and Harnek Singh of Ghoniwala village in Faridkot, both daily wagers, whose major source of income is the old-age pension, which they have not received for months. Their son, Nachchattar Singh says in this age, his parents have to work more to make both ends meet. “My father got the pension for three months last week. But my mother has not received a penny yet. For a family like ours that makes Rs 5,000 a month, this pension is a major help,” he rued.

Mahinder Kaur of Majri Jattan village in Ropar, who gets widow pension, too did not receive any money since February, when she had got pension for October 2016. “I had been making rounds of the bank in Ropar to inquire about the pension, but it was last week that I got it. I have heard that the government is planning to hike the pension to Rs 750 per month. Wouldn’t it be better, if they just ensure that we get the pension on time each month, rather than making promise of hiking it, but not disbursing it?,” she asked.

Even those who were enrolled as pensioners recently, like 61-year-old Kashmir Kaur of Nathanwala village in Faridkot, have not yet started getting the pension.

“My mother became an eligible last year. Our monthly income is just Rs 3,000, and we were hoping that at least she will be able to pay for her medical expenses. But it was not to be,” lamented her son Amarjit Singh of Faridkot, who is a tenant farmer.

More than four months after assuming office, the Congress government is still grappling to put the system in place.

Sukhwinder Singh, Director, Social Security, told The Tribune that the matter was delayed as the new government had decided to start direct benefit transfer of pensions. “We have started the direct benefit transfer. The entire process is time consuming as a thorough verification of all pensioners is to be done. There are 19 lakh beneficiaries. It will take time for the process to be streamlined,” he said.

The previous government had reverted to the system of disbursing pension through sarpanches and other appointees to “reap political benefits”.