Telangana leaves four categories out of new Cheyutha pension enrolment

Telangana’s new Cheyutha pension enrolment drive has excluded senior citizens, HIV patients, beedi workers and beedi thekadars. While nearly 41 lakh people currently receive pensions, officials expect three lakh applications in the current phase for seven eligible categories.

Hyderabad: Amid the Congress government’s campaign to extend new pensions to different categories shortly, senior citizens, HIV patients and two other categories have been denied the opportunity to enrol for financial assistance.

Nearly 41 lakh people are currently receiving pensions under the Cheyutha scheme in the State. The scheme covers 11 categories, including senior citizens, widows, persons with disabilities, toddy tappers, weavers, HIV patients, filaria patients, dialysis patients, beedi workers, single women and beedi thekadars. Officials are expecting three lakh applications to be filed in the current phase.

However, applications for new pensions are currently being accepted in only seven categories. Senior citizens, HIV patients, beedi workers and beedi thekadars have been left out of the enrolment process.

The BRS government had reduced the eligibility age for old-age pensions from 65 years in 2014 to 57 years in 2022. It also increased the monthly pension from Rs.1,000 in 2014 to Rs.2,016 in 2022.

During the BRS government, nearly 16.44 lakh senior citizens were receiving the Rs.2,016 monthly pension. The number has now fallen to 14.31 lakh for various reasons.

Officials, however, said applications were being received from senior citizens, but their details were not being uploaded online. An official from the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) said there were no instructions from the government on senior citizen pensions. The applications may be processed and sanctioned in the next phase, the official surmised.

Beedi workers and thekadars have also been denied the opportunity to enrol for new pensions. At present, nearly 4.20 lakh beedi workers and 3,749 beedi thekadars are receiving pensions.

Asked why beedi workers were being excluded from the new enrolment process, officials maintained that the workforce was largely concentrated in parts of the erstwhile Nizamabad, Adilabad and Karimnagar districts. They added that fewer people were taking up the profession now.

The exclusion of HIV patients is also significant. During the BRS government, more than 37,000 HIV patients were receiving pensions. The number has now increased to over 46,000. Despite the rise in beneficiaries, the government is not allowing new names to be enrolled under the category.

The changes have come after the Congress government renamed Aasara pensions as Cheyutha pensions. During the 2023 elections, the Congress had promised to increase the monthly pension from Rs.2,016 to Rs.4,000 for beneficiaries across all categories.

Nearly three years later, the Congress government has not fulfilled the promise made to beneficiaries in different categories.

The State government has decided to sanction new pensions under the Cheyutha Social Security Pension Scheme to eligible persons from vulnerable sections of society on a priority basis in the first phase.

Applications received during Praja Palana, the 99-Day Pragathi Pranalika Gram Sabhas and Prajavani will be processed through the Cheyutha portal. Applicants who have already submitted applications with the required documents need not apply again.

The applications will undergo online data entry, field verification and departmental confirmation wherever required. They will then be scrutinised and approved by the District Collector. After approval, online sanction proceedings will be generated and distributed to beneficiaries as per protocol, officials said.