TN to disburse pension via banks

The Tamil Nadu government will disburse social security pension through banks by opening no frill accounts.

According to a social welfare and nutritious meal programme policy note, which was placed by social welfare minister B Valarmathi, the government was disbursing social security pension through banks by opening no frill accounts of the beneficiaries utilising the services of banking correspondents at the village using biometric-enabled smart cards.

As a first step, the government has implemented a pilot project through public sector banks in three taluks namely, Kattumannarkoil (Cuddalore district), Manapparai (Tiruchirappalli district) and Thovalai Taluk (Kanniyakumari district) successfully.

The government has now decided to extend the project in other parts of the state in three phases.

In the first phase, all the villages with more than 2,000 population will be taken up and disbursement of pension will commence by June 30. In this phase, 4176 villages will be covered benefiting about 700,000 pensioners.

During the second phase, all the villages with population between 1,000 and 2,000 will be taken up and in the third phase, the rest of the villages and urban areas will be covered.