Increase pension with age, beneficiaries urge govt

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 18

The Punjab Pensioners’ Union on Wednesday organised a protest and demanded that pensions of beneficiaries be increased with age.

The members raised slogans against the state government and said their demands had gone unheard for a long time. They gathered outside the mini secretariat and burnt the effigy of the state government.

The members said the arrears of dearness allowance (DA) of pensioners were pending for the past 23 months. “Three installments of the DA have also not been released,” Gurmel Singh, president of the union, said.

He said medical allowance of Rs 500 given to pensioners was too low because of the increasing expenses of medical treatment. The allowance should be increased to at least Rs 2,500, he said.

He said the old-age allowance given to pensioners should also be increased. The allowance should be increased to 10 per cent at the age of 65, 20 per cent at the age of 70, 30 per cent at the age of 75, 50 per cent at the age of 85 and 100 per cent at the age of 90, he demanded.