The Social Welfare department has decided to cancel the name of 10,000 pensioners under the pension scheme of the Government who have not linked their bank accounts with Aadhaar card. The social welfare department provides pension under schemes for senior citizens, handicapped persons and widows with about 1,10,000 pension holders being registered under the scheme.
Having received complaints from some beneficiaries regarding non-receipt of pension amounts, the department had issued notifications in the past for linking of pension accounts with Aadhaar card. Different dates were earmarked for the linking of the documents in this year starting from March 31, June 30 and October 15, but all the pension accounts could not be linked.
The department has now decided to stop the release of pension amounts for the defaulters.
These defaulters did not attend even the multipurpose camps organised by the district administration. For facilitating the pensioners in making their Aadhaar card and linking it with the accounts, rural development and social welfare department organised camps in village block offices but 10,000 pension holders failed to reach the camps.
Speaking to The Pioneer, the district social welfare officer Deepraj Agnihotri said, “Those pension holders who have not linked their Aadhaar card with their bank accounts will be removed from the scheme. The department considers those beneficiaries as fake who did not come forward despite repeated reminders. A case will be registered against them.”