The number of senior citizens submitting petitions and airing grievance that they had not received Old Age Pension (OAP) has risen of late, and the grievance day meeting held on the Collectorate premises here on Monday witnessed many such persons who had queued up in the hope of getting their grievance redressed.
R. Chinnaponnu (70), a resident of Thuvarimaan, said she had not received OAP of Rs.1,000 since July. “My husband is dead, and I don’t have any children. I don’t own a house, and various ailments have rendered me unable to work. I am struggling to make ends meet,” she said.
A majority of the senior citizens like her said they had not received the OAP since July. “I was working as a watchman in a private company till last year, but they suddenly asked me to go. Then I applied for and received the OAP but I have not received it from June,” said S. Manickam (80) of Goripalayam.
At present, eight pension schemes are being implemented by the State government which include Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) and Chief Minister’s Uzhavan Padhukappu Thittam (CMUPT) for the destitute, small and marginal farmers under which the beneficiaries should be aged 60 years or more.
Records show that Madurai district has 1.17 lakh people benefiting under the eight pension schemes. While the IGNOAPS has 34,734 beneficiaries, the CMUPT has 15,195 beneficiaries.
Asked about the increase in the number of such grievances, Collector L. Subramanian said if there were any eligible senior citizens who had not been receiving pension, their applications would be scrutinised and pension disbursed to them at the earliest.
A senior official of the district administration told The Hindu that there were many instances of senior citizens owning property and those well above the poverty line applying for pension.
“Intensive verification was carried out from July to weed out such beneficiaries so that pension is disbursed to those in need,” the official said. The number of ineligible beneficiaries identified from July 2013 to October 2014 stood at 36,888.
