Pathanamthitta (Kerala) | RJD State Secretary General Varghese George on Sunday criticised the Kerala government's decision to stop doorstep delivery of social security pensions through cooperative banks, saying it was an "impractical" move.
The UDF government in Kerala recently decided to stop distributing social security and welfare pensions through cooperative banks and make Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to Aadhaar-linked bank accounts mandatory for all beneficiaries except bedridden patients.
George, also a LDF leader, said that there were around 62 lakh people in the state who are receiving social security and welfare board pensions through cooperative banks under the existing system.
However, not even one-third of them have Aadhaar-linked accounts in commercial banks, he claimed.
He further claimed that the accounts created under the 'Jan Dhan' scheme of the Centre have been frozen due to lack of transactions.
Varghese also contended that if the pension comes into commercial banks, they will deduct a minimum balance amount from it.
"So, the beneficiaries will not receive the pension amount in full. The previous system was better as it was functioning effectively," he claimed.
The RJD leader said that the principal amount for the pensions comes from cooperative banks to whom the government pays nine per cent interest, and now they were being excluded from the disbursement process.
"It would be highly impractical to disburse pensions through the commercial banks and to ask people to open accounts in commercial banks before Onam to get the pension amounts.
"The UDF in its poll manifesto had promised to enhance the pension amount to Rs 3,000. Not only did they not announce an increase in pension till now, but they are causing hindrance in the easy disbursement of the same," he contended while speaking to a TV channel.
The Finance Department has given in-principle approval for disbursing all social security and welfare fund board pensions through the DBT mode.
The decision ends the existing system under which cooperative banks delivered pension amounts directly to beneficiaries' homes.
However, the government has said that bedridden beneficiaries and others who cannot be excluded from the doorstep delivery system would continue to receive pensions at their homes.
The order had also said the government had reviewed the existing system after repeated reports of delays in remitting undistributed pension amounts, failure to update records on time, reconciliation issues, and cases where pensions were paid more than once to the same person due to incomplete implementation of Aadhaar-based payments.
The government had also noted that it was incurring incentive payments to cooperative banks for doorstep delivery of pensions and that continuing the existing system could result in the state losing central financial assistance for not fully complying with the DBT norms.
Varghese said that the company which gives the pension amounts pays Rs 25 per beneficiary to its field staff who carry out the doorstep delivery work.
"In that manner, around 5,000 people work for a small salary of Rs 4,000-Rs 5,000 per month. This new directive will affect their livelihood also. We have requested the government to bring back the earlier system, and I believe other LDF constituent parties will raise similar demands," he said.
The RJD also said that if that does not work, then other political steps will have to be taken.
