Thiruvananthapuram: New welfare pensioners of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, who submitted their applications before Onam, are still waiting for their data to be entered. Officials say such is the case all over Kerala. The welfare pension website of the Panchayath Directorate says that data synchronisation from the local body to the pension web server as well as DBT-Affidavit Entry is closed as per directions from the Finance department.
It has been a couple of months since data entry was stalled, according to BJP councillor V.G. Girikumar.
“They have not allowed continuous data entry. The problem is the councillors have not been told when the site will become active again. By the time we get to know about it, and gather new affidavits, the site would have closed. They should inform us in advance,” he says. Another issue that several local bodies have been facing is the paucity of data entry employees. It is not possible for the data entry to be completed in the short window of time that the website is open. Even beneficiaries who were getting a pension were supposed to submit affidavits declaring that they were eligible.
The government introduced the affidavit system, as there were cases where relatives would continue receiving pensions even after the beneficiary died. There were also numerous cases of duplication. A widow after 60 is not eligible for both the widow pension as well as the senior citizen pension. But many take it. Officials say that sometimes when a beneficiary shifts to another address, like say their son’s or daughter’s home, even if it is in the same panchayath, they get two pensions at both the addresses.
Therefore local bodies have been insisting on linking Aadhar. It is to rectify such errors that the government has not been keeping data entry live throughout according to Welfare Standing Committee Chairperson R. Geetha Gopal. “However everyone whose welfare pensions were pending before January have now received their pensions. Some have received amounts as high as '24,000,” she says.
