Thiruvananthapuram | Leader of Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday strongly criticised the UDF government's decision to stop doorstep delivery of social security pensions through cooperative banks, alleging that it was the first step towards weakening the state's welfare pension scheme.
In a statement, Vijayan said the move to make Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to Aadhaar-linked bank accounts mandatory for all beneficiaries except bedridden patients would dismantle a people-friendly system under which nearly half of the pensioners had been receiving their pensions at their doorsteps over the last 10 years without having to visit banks.
He alleged that the government was attempting to end the distribution of pensions through cooperative banks and that the move would particularly affect the poor, the elderly, persons with disabilities and those outside the banking service network.
The CPI(M) veteran described the order as a reflection of a "right-wing approach" that treats social security pensions as government charity rather than a right of beneficiaries.
Rejecting the government's justification that compliance with DBT norms was necessary to avoid losing central financial assistance, Vijayan said the Centre's contribution accounted for only about one per cent of the total monthly social security pension outgo in the state and benefited only around 13.5 per cent of pensioners.
He claimed that the state government funded the entire pension amount for around 86 per cent of beneficiaries and said the previous LDF government had resisted the Centre's insistence on fully implementing DBT to continue the doorstep delivery system.
Alleging that the UDF government was using the Centre's guidelines as an opportunity to weaken the pension scheme itself, Vijayan demanded that the order be withdrawn immediately and the doorstep delivery of pensions through cooperative societies be restored for all beneficiaries who require the service.
His remarks came after the state government issued an order ending the existing system under which cooperative banks delivered social security and welfare pensions to beneficiaries' homes.
According to the order issued by Additional Chief Secretary (LSGD) K R Jyothilal, the Finance Department has accorded in-principle approval for disbursing all social security and welfare fund board pensions through the DBT mode.
Under the new system, pensions will be credited only to Aadhaar-linked bank accounts of beneficiaries, while bedridden patients and others who cannot be excluded from doorstep delivery will continue to receive pensions at their homes.
The order said the decision was taken after repeated reports of delays in remitting undistributed pension amounts, failure to update records on time, reconciliation issues and instances of duplicate payments due to incomplete implementation of Aadhaar-based payments.
