Telangana: No Aasara since November; pensioners crest fallen

Nizamabad: Thousands of beneficiaries under the State government's Telangana Aasara Pension Scheme and other social security pensions in the Nizamabad district have been facing a tough time as they have not received their pension for the last three months.

Some of these beneficiaries last received their pensions credited into their bank accounts in November last. However, for the last three months, many of these people have not received their pensions. Most of these beneficiaries include elderly people, single women, differently abled people, and beedi workers, among others. Moreover, there are 25,000 new pensioner applications that are pending in the district.

It may be noted that the State government had approved and launched the Aasara old-age pensions in August last year and had reduced the eligibility age to 57 years from the earlier 65 years, making more people eligible for the scheme. The State government had already approved 48,000 new applications and many more are making their way to Mee Seva centres, mandal parishads, and District Rural Development Office to have their names registered for social security pensions.

According to Nizamabad District Rural Development Official Chandra Naik, Telangana government is providing Aasara pensions to 2,76,936 beneficiaries in the district every month for the past eight years. Some of these pensions are being disbursed through BPOs, he said. However, only a few of the 48,000 newly sanctioned pensioners are getting funds into their bank accounts, and more than 2,000 eligible people are not getting pensions.

Apart from that, the State government has recently announced that it has relaxed the old rules to provide the subsistence allowance to beedi workers. However, pensions are yet to be disbursed as per the new rules. The relaxation of old rules reportedly makes about 10,000 more beedi workers eligible to receive pensions.

Amidst all this, the portal for applying online for social security pensions has been closed, dashing the hopes of several new applicants from Nizamabad Municipal City Corporation, Armur, Bodhan Municipalities and Gram Panchayats.

Against this backdrop, aspiring beneficiaries follow the conventional method of filling out paper applications and submitting the same in the respective offices for approval.

Official sources pointed out that they have no clue when the state government gives directions to take new applications and give its approval. As of now, about 25,000 written applications are pending. Unofficial accounts put the number much higher.

When asked about the disbursal of pending pensions, Chandra Naik said pensions for November have been cleared in rural areas. For other beneficiaries, pensions will be deposited into their bank accounts soon. Pensioners need not worry as 58.26 per cent of the pensions have already been disbursed and the remaining will be disbursed among the beneficiaries in the same way soon, he clarified.