Thiruvananthapuram: The city corporation has deprived many people of their livelihood by stopping their welfare pensions.
It has received over 400 affidavits challenging the results of the finance department's survey to weed out ineligible beneficiaries.
An 81-year-old woman from Karamana ward, who is facing eviction from her rented apartment, was one of those who did not get her pension this month. The frail woman, who preferred to remain anonymous, was shocked when corporation officials told her that she will not get her pension from now onwards because she had a vehicle. "I don't have the money to pay rent. I don't know how they decided I have a vehicle. In October, I will have to move out from my home," she said.
Corporation officials say that around 2,400 welfare pensions have been blocked following the survey conducted by Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation after it was found that many were drawing double pensions. There were cases of relatives of deceased beneficiaries drawing the money using debit cards. The survey was also supposed to list people who owned a 1000- cc vehicle or a 1200-sq-feet house.
Now that many have come forward challenging the survey results, officials have prepared a simple form. The data is being entered into an Excel sheet. The corporation has received around 400 applications so far. "Perhaps the rest are all ineligible and the survey was correct. If not, they would have come asking for their money. The genuine ones won't wait for many days after Onam. They would have been expecting their money by Onam," said an official.
Now, there is an assurance from the LSGD that the issue will be solved by September 15. The government is planning to conduct yet another survey with the help of Mahila Pradhan or SAS agents.
