Delhi govt to disburse social security pensions every month

New Delhi, June 19: In a major relief to over 6 lakh beneficiaries of old age, disability and widow pensions, the Delhi government has decided to disburse these every month from July, doing away with the practice of making quarterly payments.

The government's move is intended to ease the financial problems faced by the beneficiaries. Over six lakh people currently receive such pension from the Delhi government. These include 3.88 lakh old people, 1.6 lakh widows and 63,000 persons with physical disabilities.

"We have decided to disburse beneficiaries of old age, physical disability and widow pensions on a monthly basis from next month instead of making quarterly payment. The decision will benefit lakhs of beneficiaries," Ashwani Kumar, Principal Secretary of Social Welfare Department and Women & Child Development Department, said.

He said that the new system will ensure time-bound pensions to beneficiaries every month. Due to existing quarterly payment method, beneficiaries had to wait for three months for the pension to be released and, in several cases, their wait extended up to five-six months if there were errors in their documents.

The Delhi government disburses Rs 1500 to each beneficiary under all the three categories. However, it makes a distinction between old people with those between 60 and 70 years of age entitled to a monthly pension of Rs 1000 and those above 70 getting Rs 1500.

PTI