In Punjab, 65,000 dead persons are getting pension, here is how

Further it was found that 42,437 people receiving the pensions are young, who do not meet the income category but a large numbers of them own properties worth lakhs.

More skeletons are expected to tumble out as the Punjab government ordered a probe into a scam in which it was found that more than 65,000 persons were getting pensions despite them being dead.

It was also found that 2,45,935 social security pension holders in Punjab, including old-age pension, widow pension and disability pension, are found to be fake. The total number of social security pension holders in Punjab is 20 lakh.

The scam came to light when the re-verification process of over 19 lakh pensioners across the state was undertaken. The government pays Rs 500 a month to every pensioner and yearly the expenditure is at Rs 49.51 crore.

The re-verification report stated that 65,743 dead people are registered under the old-age pension scheme. Around 45,128 people registered have furnished wrong address details which could not be verified by the officials, the report also found.

Further it was found that 42,437 people receiving the pensions are young, who do not meet the income category but a large numbers of them own properties worth lakhs.

Further it was also found that more than 10,000 people were rich senior citizens. It was ascertained that these persons were getting pension when the almost 80,000 of them did not take part in the re-verification process.

OneIndia News