25% old age pensioners found fake in Muktsar
Names of 13,410 of 52,782 beneficiaries deleted
Archit Watts
Tribune News Service
Muktsar, May 19
Over 25 per cent people, who availed the benefit of old age pension scheme in Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s home district Muktsar, have been found fake and their names have been deleted from the list of beneficiaries.
The information procured from a senior officer in the district administration revealed that the maximum number of fake beneficiaries was detected in the Gidderbaha block, where 5,849 people were found availing the benefit illegally. It was followed by 2,867 fake beneficiaries in the Lambi block, 2,466 in Malout block and 2,228 in the Muktsar block.
Sources say the reason behind such a large number of fake beneficiaries was the result of political pressure. The number of deleted beneficiaries included those not fulfilling the age criteria, absent or dead.
The verification process of pensioners had started in December last year. The task of verification and re-verification of beneficiaries had been given to the Sub-Divisional Magistrates (SDMs) who had further assigned it to the tehsildars and other officials.
The total number of genuine beneficiaries after the re-verification process is 39,372 in Muktsar district. It included 17,178 in Malout and Lambi blocks, 14,113 in the Muktsar block and 8,081 in the Gidderbaha block.
Genuine beneficiaries are awaiting pension since September last. Naresh Kumar, District Social Security Officer, Muktsar, said, “The re-verification process has completed and above 13,000 pensioners are found ineligible. Their names have been deleted from the list of beneficiaries now.”
“Further, the department will release the pension amount of four months - September to December - within a week,” added Kumar.
Courtesy: The Tribune
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