Delay in disbursal of payments hits Aasra beneficiaries\, wage earners

Telangan

Delay in disbursal of payments hits Aasra beneficiaries, wage earners

Wage seekers and Aasra pension beneficiaries at the Indervelli sub post office.

Wage seekers and Aasra pension beneficiaries at the Indervelli sub post office.   | Photo Credit: S_HARPALSINGH

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People queue up at a few post offices for the payments

For the people who do not receive Aasra pensions as per schedule or for that matter their wages for work done under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), being a beneficiary of State welfare programmes is a pain. A few thousand of pensioners and wage seekers in former undivided Adilabad district fall under this category.

Then there are those like the physically challenged Mesram Jangu of Dhanora (K) village in Indervelli mandal of Adilabad who lose ₹ 100 every month of their ₹ 1,500 per month pension (old rate) due to the alleged ‘skimming’ off by post office personnel.

“During the last four months I have lost ₹ 400,” he alleged talking of the unfair practice of pension disbursement at Dhanora (B) post office.

Indervelli mandal in fact is an example of all that is wrong with disbursement of pensions and NREGA wages. Everyday there is a large crowd waiting for their turn to draw the money at the sub post office at the mandal headquarters and 16 branch post offices under its jurisdiction across the mandal.

For a small rural entity, the sub post office handles a massive 25,000 wage accounts a good number of them belonging to far flung villages in Adilabad mandal too and it is supposed to disburse a whopping ₹ 5.5 crore as wages per month.

It has two biometric machines, both out of service, not that it makes any difference as the machines hardly responded to the fluctuating mobile signals even when in good shape.

“As far as pensions are concerned, we could disburse about 90 % of the ₹ 60 lakh disbursed every month,” claimed sub post master Jameel Ahmed.

The crowd gathered outside the post office, however, speaks a different tale.

Pending payments

“Yes, about ₹ 74.6 lakh of pensions are yet to be distributed,” confessed Adilabad District Rural Development Officer Rajeshwar Rathod. “MGNREGA wages to the tune of ₹ 11 crore are also pending disbursal,” he added.

“The probelm will be sorted out in a day or two. Collector D. Divya has convened a meeting with all concerned to thrash out issues related with mobile signal in interior areas, vacancies of branch post masters and of course corruption in disbursal of money,” Mr. Rathod revealed.

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