Karnal: Errors in family IDs add to woes of 3K pension beneficiaries

Parveen Arora

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Karnal, September 19

As many as 3,000 beneficiaries of old-age and widow pension schemes are running from pillar to post to get their allowance restored it has been stalled allegedly due to the errors in their Parivar Pehchan Patras (family IDs).

Some beneficiaries alleged that their pension had been stopped as the family’s annual income had been shown above Rs 2 lakh in the ID, while several widows claimed that their spouses were shown alive.

CAMP TO RECTIFY details BEGINS

On the first day of the camp, 28 applicants came. Of them, 21 were widows whose details have been verified. But, one of them has died, and a recommendation has been sent to the higher-ups for the remaining widows. —Satyawan Dhilroh, District social welfare officer

“My wife and I have no source of income, still our pension has been stopped for the past 11 months due to incorrect information in the family ID,” said Om Parkash, a local.

Neeraj, a resident of Gharaunda, is trying to get his mother’s pension restored. He said his father had died and his mother was taking the widow pension. “Now, his father was shown alive the family ID, due to which the pension has been stalled,” Neeraj alleged.

“Likewise, Roshani Devi was earlier getting the widow pension, but now it has been stopped due to incorrect information in her ID,” said an official.

As per the data, there are 1.55 lakh beneficiaries in the district. Of them, the pension has been stopped of around 3,000 beneficiaries, including 1,100 widows and 1,900 aged persons. Of 1,100 widows, the data of around 600 had been corrected, said an official.

Taking cognisance of the issue, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has directed the Social Welfare and Empowerment Department to verify and rectify the data and restore the pension of all beneficiaries by holding camps from September 19 to 30.

As per the authorities, 28 such people came to the department to submit their complaints on the first day of the camp on Monday. Of them, 21 were related to widows and while seven to old-age pension.

“We have verified the data of all 21 widows. Of them, one has died while a recommendation has been to the higher authorities for the remaining widows,” said Satyawan Dhilroh, District Social Welfare Officer.

“The camp will conclude on September 30. I have assigned the duties to the employees to assist all persons coming to office for their pension-related issues,” he added.