Don’t dismantle welfare pension system: Vijayan targets UDF govt

CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday criticised Kerala’s decision to end doorstep delivery of social security pensions through cooperative banks, alleging it would weaken the welfare scheme. The government has mandated DBT to Aadhaar-linked accounts, except for bedridden beneficiaries

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.

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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using the Centre’s guidelines as an opportunity to weaken the pension scheme itself, Vijayan demanded that the order be withdrawn immediately and the doorstep delivery of pensions through cooperative societies be restored for all beneficiaries who require the service.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.

Sharing similar views of Vijayan, senior CPI (M) leader and former Finance Minister K N Balagopal alleged that the government’s move was part of an attempt to gradually weaken and eventually dismantle the welfare pension system. The present order would disrupt the distribution of welfare pensions and could result in beneficiaries not receiving their pension on time, he said.

“Earlier, there was an attempt to distribute pensions through post offices. However, that system was replaced with cooperative banks as beneficiaries were not receiving the payments promptly,” he told reporters here. Balagopal said in Kerala, only around 8.40 lakh beneficiaries receive any welfare pension from the Central government, and the amount is only between Rs 300 and Rs 500.

These beneficiaries have already been receiving the Central share through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), he said. “If there are irregularities, they should be addressed. Action should be taken against institutions found responsible for lapses. But it is not right to dismantle the entire system citing irregularities in a few places,” he said, adding that the order should be withdrawn at the earliest.