Pb CM orders release of pending old age pensions

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today ordered for the immediate release of pending old age pensions, with strict instructions to regularise payment to beneficiaries, an official release said.
The chief minister issued the directives at a meeting to review various schemes of the Department of Social Security and Women and Child Development here, it said.
Expressing concerns over the non-payment of pension at many places since April 2017, Amarinder hoped that the process of payment would be regularised by March, with directives to ensure the payment for December was released by January 31.
Stating that the government was burdened with a liability of nearly Rs 110 crore per month on account of pension arrears, the chief minister directed the department to start releasing the arrears in a staggered manner, the release said.

Singh also directed the department to sort out the cases of absentee beneficiaries at the earliest, so that all eligible people were included in the list, which stood at 16,24,269, against the earlier 19,87,196, it said.
A proposal to implement the electronic benefit transfer scheme to ensure timely and smooth payment of pension to the beneficiaries was discussed at the meeting, it added.

In another decision, Amarinder ordered to get the latest specifications, including colour, for free bicycles being distributed to girls, with no photograph of the chief minister, in contrast to the existing practice of having the CM's picture on the specially coloured blue and saffron bicycles.

The issue of the vacant Group A, B, C and D posts for the disabled in all government departments was also discussed, and the chief minister was apprised that 287 of the 899 vacancies had been filled so far. Amarinder ordered the remaining vacancies be filled by April 30, the statement said.
The progress of the Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyaan), launched by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, was also discussed at the meeting.
The campaign was aimed at achieving universal accessibility for Persons with Disabilities in Built environment, Transportation system and Information and communication system.