Pension beneficiaries’ bank accounts to be linked to Aadhaar

Mangaluru: The state government has decided to link the bank accounts of beneficiaries of various social security pensions in the state to Aadhaar to make sure that the money reaches those it is meant for.

Revealing this here on Monday, revenue minister, R Ashok, who was on a tour of Dakshina Kannada, said the Karnataka government,which spent about Rs 7,000 crore on various social security pensions in the state, was concerned about  bogus claimants.

“To weed out such claimants, we want to link Aadhaar to the bank accounts of the legitimate beneficiaries and transfer the money to them directly. This will help the state save about Rs 1,000 crore,” he said.

Claiming that there was no shortage of funds for  flood relief work in the state, Mr Ashok said  the government had already given advance payment of Rs 1 lakh to about 50 per cent of the  families whose houses were damaged in the disaster. "The government has allowed people to rebuild their houses and is giving them  Rs 5 lakh towards this," he added.

Later, speaking in Mangaluru, he said he had directed deputy commissioners of the flood-hit districts of north Karnataka to  provide Rs 10,000 immediately to the  victims. “For the first time we are providing those who have lost their homes in the floods  money to rent houses while we build 5,000 houses for them,” he added

Mr Ashok took strong objection to former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah opposing the Centre's move to posthumously confer the  Bharat Ratna on Hindutva icon, Veer Savarkar.

"Those against this are mentally unstable. Veer Savarkar was a freedom fighter. I have seen the cell in the Andamans where he was imprisoned. It does not have water or air.  He may have written a letter to the British, but so did Tipu. When you can celebrate Tip's birthday , why oppose Savarkar, who fought for the country?" he demanded.