Puri cares for the ‘dead’, gives them social benefits

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Puri: Dead people are being doled out benefits of social schemes and scores of beneficiaries are enjoying their allowances from more than one village. These are the two issues which hogged the limelight at a district level review meeting on social schemes here Tuesday.
At the meeting, chaired by additional collector Bibhuti Bhusan Das, it was revealed that around 26,033 beneficiaries are yet to be identified under various schemes like Madhu Babu Pension Yojana (MBPY), Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS), Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS) and Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS).
A source present at the meeting said that the issue of non-linkage of Aadhar with the bank accounts of beneficiaries for direct benefit transfer for various schemes was also discussed. “As a result, beneficiaries are duping the authorities and getting the benefits from multiple locations,” the source added.
Another source said that the administration has been unable to get records of the dead beneficiaries as a result of which it is still providing them their allowance. “Though it’s the responsibility of the block social security officers to file the records of the departed beneficiaries by 20th day of each month, it seems the officers have neglected their duties,” the source added.
The meeting also revealed that around 81,210 beneficiaries are covered under MBPY while the target for the district was 86,005. Similarly, 56,180 persons are being benefited under IGNOAPS against the target of 60,241. Under IGNWPS, 16,238 widows are being provided allowances by the government while the target was 17,713.
Besides, 3,262 persons with disability (PwD) are getting pensions under IGNDPS, though the target was to cover 4,854 PwDs.
Among others, sub-collector Bhabataran Sahoo, District Social Security Officer Trinath Padhi and block level social security officer were present at the meeting.