Pensioners storm Badal’s function

Archit Watts

Tribune News Service

Mohlan (Lambi), May 25

The delay in disbursement of old-age pension and allegations of deletion of the names of some genuine beneficiaries today rocked Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s Sangat Darshan programme at Mohlan village in the Lambi assembly segment.

The police personnel deployed there did not allow the protesting pensioners to meet the CM. Irate, they raised slogans and disrupted the Sangat Darshan programme. Notably, the pensioners have not got their monthly dues of Rs 250 since September last year. 

When the administrative officials and the police failed to convince the protesters, it forced the Chief Minister to announce from the public address system that the pension amount would be disbursed within two days.

He even sent Deputy Commissioner and Senior Superintendent of Police and SAD’s district president Dyal Singh Kolianwali to pacify the protesters.

When the protesters refused to relent, the CM got annoyed and left the venue in a hurry, saying, “I am sanctioning funds for the development of your village and you must sit silently.”

The elderly protesters alleged they never got the full pension amount. “We are never allowed to apprise the CM of the matter. If the state disburses pension for five months, we get it for two months,” alleged Bhagwanti of Mohlan village.

Another pensioner Bhajan Kaur alleged: “I am in my seventies, but they had declared me ineligible for old-age pension.”

Badal said: “The beneficiaries will get the pension amount within the next two days. The beneficiaries whose names have been deleted, but claim themselves eligible can approach the deputy commissioner concerned.” The officials concerned said the pension disbursement got delayed because of verification and re-verification of beneficiaries.