Thiruvananthapuram: A person with disability, when he or she turns 60, will be eligible for two social welfare pensions – disability pension and old age pension. However, the software used by District Panachayat Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) cell for entering the data of beneficiaries will not allow entering the data for the second pension. A government order issued by the Finance Department on July 15 says that a pensioner will be eligible to receive only one pension at a monthly rate of Rs 1,000. The ones getting disability pension are but one of the many exceptions to the rule.
However the software classifies such entries as ‘duplication’, and will not allow data entry in cases where one person is eligible for two pensions. Thiruvananthapuram Corporation Social Welfare Committee Chairperson R Geetha Gopal says, “The issue will affect all local bodies in the state. I am sure a system will be in place soon to solve the software glitch.” Members getting pension from Welfare Fund Boards which pay pension exclusively from the provision of beneficiary contribution are also eligible for more than one pension, as per the Government Order.
These include people receiving pension from Kerala Toddy Workers’ Welfare Fund Board, Kerala Headload Workers’ Welfare Board, Kerala Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board, Kerala Motor Transport Workers’ Welfare Fund Board and Kerala Abkari Workers Welfare Fund Board. The GO says that the rate of one pension will be at the enhanced rate of Rs 1,000 per month.
The second pension will be given at the rate at which the pension amount was disbursed before the enhancement of the minimum pension, it says. The provision to identify ‘duplication’ was introduced as many have been unfairly receiving more than one pension. This even includes service pensioners who have been enlisted as beneficiaries of old age pension, according to an official in the Finance Department. The government plans to streamline all Social Security pension and Welfare pension payments, after Information Kerala Mission (IKM) prepares a comprehensive database.
