Pensioners in the town woke up to a pleasant surprise when village/ward volunteers knocked on their doors on Saturday morning.
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The pensioners were given ₹2,250 as monthly pension by the volunteers. Earlier, the pensioners were forced to visit post offices or banks to collect their pensions, but in a first, they received their pension at their doorstep.
In Guntur, 4,170 ward volunteers attached to 207 ward secretariats distributed pensions.
Chief Minister Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy, in a tweet, expressed his joy after pensioners received their money on the first day of the month. “I am happy that instead of the earlier amount of ₹1,000 that pensioners used to get before the elections, a pension amount of ₹2,250 has been given to the elderly on the first day of the month. Our government has also reduced the maximum age limit of pensioners from 65 years to 60 years and we have increased the number of pensioners to 6.11 lakh. We will raise the number of pensioners further,” Mr. Jagan tweeted.
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The CM also congratulated the village/ward volunteers who worked tirelessly to achieve the target of pension disbursal.
In Guntur, Collector I. Samuel Ananda Kumar and Municipal Commissioner personally handed over the pensions to beneficiaries at Srinivasa Nagar Colony.
“I am happy that the elderly pensioners are getting their monthly social security pensions on the first day of the month. This practice will be continued every month,” Mr. Samuel said.
Municipal Commissioner C. Anuradha said that the ward secretariat system would be fully functional and all government benefits would be delivered at the doorstep of beneficiaries.