Aasara pension recovery notices irk beneficiaries in Kothagudem

In the district, recovery notices have been issued to 200 Aasara pensioners, who got pensions during the previous BRS regime, after conducting a survey recently.

Kothagudem: The Congress government’s decision to recover Aasara pensions from kin of government employees, retired and deceased staff has been drawing criticism from beneficiaries.

In the district, recovery notices have been issued to 200 Aasara pensioners, who got pensions during the previous BRS regime, after conducting a survey recently. The pension amount to be recovered ranged from Rs 1 to Rs 2 lakh depending on the recovery period.

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Those who are served notices by the officials are now worried over the pension recovery and how they could pay such huge amounts. For instance an 80-year-old widow, Dasari Mallamma of Babu Camp area in Kothagudem was served notice by the municipal staff on July 9 asking her to deposit Rs 1.72 lakh within a week in the municipal office, with a warning that legal action would be initiated against her in case she failed to do so.

The notice was served following the orders dated June 27 from the DRDA project director. She was sanctioned an old age pension after the Aasara pension scheme was introduced in 2014 by the then BRS government. Mallamma is now at a loss over the recovery notice served to her.

According to the officials Mallamma was sanctioned a dependent pension by the government in 2017 after her daughter, who worked in the health department, passed away. Hence she is not eligible for receiving Aasara pension.

Speaking to Telangana Today, her son Dasari Venkateshwarlu, a private employee, lamented that his mother, who is suffering from paralysis, has become utterly distressed after receiving the notice. He said his mother is tormented at the very idea of raising Rs 1.72 lakh to repay as she has no resources.

In 2018, officials conducted an enquiry and later there was no communication, all of a sudden they served a recovery notice. Aasara pension was sanctioned as per legal norms and if my mother is not eligible the officials should have stopped the pension soon after the enquiry, he noted.

The DRDA project manager Yadaiah said the notices are served as per the government directions. Meanwhile, in Khammam district the pensioners’ data collection is going on and a report would be submitted to the government for further action, informed DRDA district project manager, R Revathi.

BRS Khammam district president Tata Madhusudhan noted that the government should conduct a gram sabha to identify real beneficiaries, especially in the case of persons with disabilities as many genuine PwDs are not getting pensions.