Punjab to clear pension arrears, root out fake beneficiaries

Tuesday, 04/04/2017

http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=175462&boxid=58699&uid=&dat=2017-04-04

Chandigarh : Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday directed officials to clear pension arrears till March 31 of existing 19.08 lakh beneficiaries and undertake detailed scrutiny to eliminate fake or undeserving candidates.

He also announced the government will put in place a new mechanism for verification of future applicants, and effect amendments in the eligibility criteria with effect from April 1, 2017.

The announcements followed a high-level review meeting of the Social Security Department chaired by the CM.

Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, Chief Secretary Karan Avtar, Chief Principal Secretary Suresh Kumar were present at the meeting, among others.

It was also decided that all pensions be paid through banks from November this year in order to streamline the process, and to ensure timely and smooth payments, an official spokesperson said later.

Besides changes in the verification process for future beneficiaries, the meeting also agreed to carry out detailed scrutiny of the existing beneficiaries to root out the fake or undeserving ones.

The CM directed the department to ensure elimination of all such cases, irrespective of the political affiliations of the beneficiaries concerned.

“The genuine people should get the benefit of pension, notwithstanding their political affiliation,” the Chief Minister emphasized, pointing out that the previous SAD-BJP government “had deprived many beneficiaries of their due on account of their political ideology.”

As per the data on January 1, 2016, there are 19.08 lakh beneficiaries in old age, widows, handicapped and orphan kids categories, the spokesperson said.

Under the existing rules, a prospective beneficiary applies to the SDM, who directs release of provisional pension within three days. Verification is done later.

This, at times, results pension landing in wrong hands, which the department later finds difficult to retrieve, it was pointed out at the meeting.

Singh directed the Social Security department to work out modalities for the new eligibility criteria and verification system.

The meeting also discussed backlog of vacancies for the handicapped in various government departments.

CM directs officials to crack down on spurious seeds sale

Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday directed the agriculture department to crack down on sale of spurious pesticides and seeds to cotton farmers in the state.

He directed the officials concerned to ensure that only 33 approved varieties of seeds are sold at monitored prices to prevent loss of crop on this account and also coordinate with neighbouring Haryana to ensure that the same quality seeds are sown in the region.

Chairing a meeting of the agriculture department here, Amarinder said he would write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking price support to compensate the farmers for the loss incurred due to the difference between maize’s market price of Rs 1,100 and the government’s Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 1,300.

Though the central government declares MSP for maize, it does not directly buy the produce, he said.

The Chief Minister directed the agriculture department to explore the possibility of tying up with a commodities exchange or set up an exchange for trading of commodities like potato and cotton to ensure guaranteed sale and save farmers from distress selling, an official spokesperson said here.

Amarinder expressed concern over declining cotton yields in the state due to whitefly infestation and told the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) to explore possibilities of introducing better quality Egyptian and Australian cotton varieties to increase profits.

Referring to cotton as ‘white gold’ of southern Malwa region, he underlined the need to educate farmers on the use of less insecticides and pesticides.

Directing the officials concerned to ensure sale and use of only PAU-approved pesticides and recognised seeds, the Chief Minister said the agriculture department would need to reach out to 1,500 villages to educate the farmers and create awareness about the threat of whitefly.

At the meeting, the agriculture department informed that it has sufficient quantities of seeds, pesticides and fertilizers for the coming crop season.