Odisha Channel Bureau
Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has clarified that no eligible beneficiary shall be denied pension for not having Aadhaar.
A letter in this regard was sent to all District Collectors by the Social Security & Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Department (SSEPD) on Thursday.
“The State government has now decided that an eligible beneficiary should not be denied pension for not having Aadhar. If somebody is alive and identifiable as a beneficiary he/she should not be denied pension for not having Aadhaar,” said Bhaskar Sarma, Secretary, SSEPD, in his letter to the Collectors.
Referring to an earlier letter from the Department which requested the local administration to ensure that no eligible pensioner with Aadhaar be deprived of his/her entitlement, Sharma, however, said it was found that pensioners without Aadhar are facing difficulties in receiving pension.
“It will be the responsibility of the local administration to identify these cases and provide them Aadhaar ID before the next phase of disbursement. A web based system has now been put in place by which this data will be captured and monitored,” said Sarma in his two-page letter.
He further said in the letter that that Block/Urban Local Body wise database of pensioners under the National Social Assistance Programme and Madhu Babu Pension Yojana who don’t have Aadhaar will be made available in the Department website (www.ssepd.gov.in) for the purpose of monitoring and reporting.
The Block/Municipalities will collect application forms for Aadhaar enrollment/update from all these beneficiaries along with other documents, such as mobile number and bank details is available, Sarma said in the letter.
The Secretary stated that the “responsibility will lie with the Block/Municipal authorities for providing Aadhaar cards to them before the next round of pension disbursement”.
He directed the local administration to identify those pensioners whose Aadhaar cannot be processed due to their disability such as blind persons/leprosy patients/very old persons/mentally retarded persons etc. “Approval of competent authority may be expeditiously obtained for Aadhaar generation in such cases.”
All date regarding disbursal of pension to beneficiaries without Aadhaar will be captured and reported both through email and through the web portal, Sarma said in his letter.
