120-year-olds among Haryana pensioners

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Chandigarh, August 11

The Comptroller and Auditor General has pointed out glaring errors in the record of beneficiaries of three different pension schemes in Haryana.

In 15,646 cases, the beneficiary’s age has been mentioned either between 120 years and 2,068 years or “zero” and “null”. The anomalies have been detected in the data of beneficiaries of three Centrally-sponsored schemes — Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme, Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme, and Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme.

“Of 15,646 beneficiaries, 3,145 are related to old age pension scheme, wherein the data in the age field was entered incorrectly. It is either less than 60 years or more than 120 years. The remaining 12,501 beneficiaries pertain to divyang and widow pension schemes. Here, the age column has ‘null’ or ‘zero’ entry in the database,” said the CAG report, which was tabled in the state Assembly on August 8.

The audit of the record was conducted for the period starting on April 1, 2017, till July 31, 2020. The report said,

“If the age mentioned is less than 60 years, the person is rendered ineligible for the scheme and if it is more than 120 years, the same is subject to investigation. However, no correction or checking in these cases was done by the department concerned even after 39 months of digitisation of the record.”

As per the schemes, both Central and state governments contribute funds for extending benefit to the eligible persons. The CAG said since the state government was not aware of the age of beneficiaries in these cases, the amount sought from the Centre as reimbursement would be incorrect and could cause loss for the state government.