60% widow pension beneficiaries in Puducherry village found faking claim

PUDUCHERRY: Puducherry Social Welfare Department stopped dispensing widow pension for 60 per cent of beneficiaries in the village after finding them faking their claim, Lt Governor Kiran Bedi said.

Following a  complaint from a whistleblower that some women in a particular village are receiving widow pension when they are not eligible, Bedi directed the Social Welfare Department to conduct an inquiry. “The whistleblower even gave the names of such women and households”, said Bedi who did not disclose the name of the village.

“On cross-checking, social welfare secretary Uday Kumar reported via a virtual meeting that 60 per cent of the households verified were found to be faking their eligibility. They were claiming the pension for a long time falsely”, said Bedi. 

While their pensions have been stopped forthwith, sending recovery notices are being considered after checking the records for how long they have been receiving such a pension. ( approx Rs 2000 per month) , she said

The whistleblower in his petition has also mentioned that this kind of deception was going on under some protection of “influential persons”. The petition had given specific names of the women. Hence it was easy to go to those houses directly, she said. 

The Secretary informed that he will devise a regular survey team to inspect on a random basis to save government funds being cheated in this manner when more needy cases may be waiting to be included.