Enroll non-Aadhaar pensioners by March-end, govt asks officials

BHUBANESWAR: The State government has extended the deadline for generating new Aadhaar IDs in respect of non-Aadhaar social security pensioners to March 31.The decision to extend the deadline was taken after some of the districts found it difficult to enroll the non-Aadhaar beneficiaries due to institutional hurdles and internet connectivity issues.

The field officials have been instructed to identify all existing non-Aadhaar pension beneficiaries and take expeditious measures for providing them Aadhaar within the stipulated time period. As decided, the districts will have to constitute one team for each panchayat/ward for disbursement of pension. At the time of disbursement, an official from the team will take personal responsibility to collect Aadhaar applications from the non-Aadhaar social security pensioners along with all supporting documents.

“Once the application and documents are collected, those will be forwarded to the Aadhaar team engaged at block/ULB level for necessary verification and generation of Aadhaar enrollment,” said an official of Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disability (SSEPD) department.

As the social security pension scheme covers elderly persons, cured leprosy patients, differently-abled persons (especially pensioners with critical problems in their iris and fingers), failed Aadhaar cases are galore. The department has fixed the responsibility of Aadhaar enrollment on field officials who belong to the pension disbursement team to collect applications and follow up with the Aadhaar team for generation of new Aadhaar ID.

“If any social security pensioner is found receiving pension without Aadhaar post March 31, show cause will be issued to the  field official concerned and further action initiated,” the official warned.Meanwhile, the IT department has been urged to deploy Aadhaar teams in Malkangiri, Sonepur, Sundargarh, Jajpur and Bhubaneswar for expeditious enrollment.

While three blocks each in Malkangiri and Sundargarh and two blocks in Jajpur do not have any team, there is only one Aadhaar team in Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, where pendency of Aadhaar enrollment under Madhu Babu Pension Yojana (MBPY) is huge.

Although the State government has been attempting to make Aadhaar seeding mandatory for pensioners under both NSAP and MBPY since August last year, it is unable to implement it as more than five lakh beneficiaries are still without Aadhaar number. Both the schemes have around 49 lakh beneficiaries in the State.