Resume disbursal of old age pension to all do not leave some beneficiaries out, urges AIDWA

MADURAI

Members of All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) staged a demonstration in front of the Collectorate here on Wednesday demanding disbursal of old age pension to former beneficiaries who were left out citing various reasons.

Led by former Dindigul MLA and CPI (M) leader K. Balabharathi, the members said that a few women pensioners above the age of 60 were left to suffer as the State removed them from the beneficiaries list in the past 10 months.

Ms. Balabharathi said that many women who had been receiving pension for as long as 26 years had been removed as beneficiaries citing various reasons. “Those with two cylinders, and those whose names have been added to the ration card of their grandchildren are no more pensioners. The information is only communicated in person and there is no official memo issued to the pensioner concerned before it is stopped,” she noted, adding that most beneficiaries were below the poverty line and were living alone.

State secretary R. Sasikala noted that over 12,000 pensioners in Madurai city have been affected and the numbers would exceed 20,000 across the State.

They also urged the State to implement the monthly financial assistance of ₹1,000 to women family heads. The members also submitted a bunch of old age pension applications that were getting rejected.

Ms Balabharathi noted that fresh applications were only considered when any of the current beneficiaries die which was a “wrong policy” and called for the State to allot more funds in this regard.

Their other major demand was that the State through the civic bodies should take swift measures to provide job opportunities for women. “Camps were held in a few places in the city a few months ago and nothing materialised out of it. The authorities must ensure that urban women are provided with jobs through schemes like how MGNREGS benefits rural women,” said Ms Balabharathi.