Karimnagar: With the decision taken by the Telangana government to distribute enhanced pensions from July 20, as many as 5,41,966 people are going to reap the benefit under Social Security Scheme, ‘Aasara’ here in the undivided Karimnagar district.
As per the GO. Ms No.34, issued by the Panchayat Raj and Rural Development department, the Telangana government has issued orders to enhance the pension amount from Rs 1,000 to Rs 2,016 for aged, widowed, weavers, single women, toddy tappers, persons suffering from HIV-AIDS, encephalitis, beedi workers, while the pension for disabled will be enhanced from present Rs 1,500 to Rs 3,016.
Apart from enhancing the pension amount, the government has reduced the minimum age for ‘old age’ from 65 to 57 years and ordered the concerned officials to identify the real beneficiaries under the scheme.
The government had promised the beneficiaries that it would distribute enhanced pension amount for the month of April and the beneficiaries would start receiving it from May onwards. But due to various reasons, it was delayed and the government has taken the decision to implement its poll promise from tomorrow, July 20.
As many as, 5,41,966 people in erstwhile Karimnagar district are going to reap the benefits with the government’s decision. In Karimnagar district about 1,24,469 members, in Rajanna Sircilla district 1,16,081 members, in Peddapalli district 83,487 members and in Jagtial district about 2,17,929 members will receive the enhanced pension amount.
Receiving the orders from the government, the officials prepared the list of beneficiaries taking the voters list into consideration along with the Aadhaar card to determine the age of the beneficiaries. The officials took steps in identifying the real beneficiaries and to keep a check on ineligible persons by following the guidelines issued by the government strictly without giving any scope for irregularities.
The annual income of a family of the beneficiary in rural areas must not exceed more than Rs 1.5 lakh per annum and in towns the family annual income must not exceed Rs 2.5 lakh per annum. The persons who own fertile land that measured more than three acres and those who owned dry (barren) land measuring more than seven acres along with the aged persons whose children were government employees and those who had retired from government services, were not eligible for old age pension.
With the age consideration reduced from 65 to 57 years, another 1.5 lakh of the new-aged people will reap the benefits from Aasara pension scheme in the united Karimnagar district.
In the Karimnagar district, about 48,431 members used to get Aasara pension earlier and now the new ‘old age’ being 57 years, the number of beneficiaries has increased to about 61,110. Meanwhile, the beneficiaries have expressed happiness with the decision taken by the TRS government to distribute enhanced pension amount from July 20, even thought it has come late.
