Ensure payment of disability pension: SHRC

The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has directed the Chief Secretary to take steps to ensure the payment of disability pension by way of money orders to those with mental illnesses or disabilities.

The welfare pension cheques from panchayats can be encashed only if the beneficiary has a bank account. The mentally-ill cannot have bank accounts in their names and to start an account in the guardian’s name requires a long and complicated official process. For chronically bed-ridden patients too, there are difficulties when the pension is given only through a bank, SHRC Chairperson J.B. Koshy said.

The SHRC has asked the Chief Secretary and the Special Secretary, Social Justice, to appear before the Commission on July 5 and to give an explanation on the issue.