Govt increases old-age pension to Rs 1,000

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, August 31

Aged persons, widows and persons with physical disabilities have hailed the state government’s decision of enhancing their monthly pension to Rs 1,000 from Rs 200.

The announcement was made by Minister for Social Welfare Sajad Gani Lone here today. Lone thanked the Chief Minister for agreeing with the decision of the Social Welfare Department to enhance the pension.

“Pensioners, while hailing the government decision, said the enhancement of the monthly pension had addressed their long-pending demand,” a government spokesman said in a statement.

“The beneficiaries said they had been raising the demand for enhancement of pension for the past many years, however, it was only the present government which had heard them and this was a step towards fulfilling its promise of uplifting the disadvantaged sections of society,” he said.

The state government has announced that the revised pension would be paid to the beneficiaries from April 2016.

The minister, while announcing the enhancement, said the pension would directly be deposited into the bank accounts of beneficiaries. He said the move would not only save the time the money takes to reach the beneficiary, but also nullify the chance of any kind of misappropriation.

He said the decision would benefit about 5.70 lakh beneficiaries currently registered with the Social Welfare Department.

Lone also said that any lapses from the officials in ensuring the benefits to the deserved persons would not be tolerated. He said the aim of the government was to uplift the living standards of the weaker sections and asked the authorities concerned to serve the people as per their expectations by ensuring proper implementation of various welfare schemes.