NEW DELHI: Disgruntled councillors of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (MCD) have written to Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal saying that they should be able to enlist pensioners living under their jurisdiction on the government’s web portal for pensions, something that they were able to do till last year, MCD officials aware of developments said on Thursday.
Chairperson of the standing committee Veena Virmani wrote to Baijal a letter last month saying that the Delhi government has started a separate portal for reference of beneficiaries which can only be accessed by MLAs and not local councillors. There were 80,000 beneficiaries under the MCD in 2017.
The Delhi High Court had ordered the North and East Delhi Municipal Corporations to hand over the responsibility of pension payouts to the Delhi government last year. The corporations had been delaying payments because of their financial conditions. Since then, the Delhi government is paying our pensions to the elderly, widows and the physically-challenged among others.
The Social Welfare department of the government provides a quantum of `2,000 per month to beneficiaries between 60-69 years of age and `2,500 per month to beneficiaries of 70 years and above. Under its Assistance Scheme for Persons with Special Needs, the Delhi government provides `2,500 per month to persons with disabilities for all beneficiaries under 60.
The pensions are meant for all those residing in Delhi for a period of at least five years with an income of `1 lakh or less per annum.“Eligible pensioners are approaching area councillors to enlist their names through the portal, hard copies are not being accepted by the government and the online portal is just accepting names through MLAs , pensioners are running from pillar to post, your (Baijal’s) kind intervention is urgently required,” said the letter sent to Baijal.
Pensions provided by Delhi government
Up until last year, municipal bodies were able to enlist people for pensions from their jurisdictions
A 1,000pension amount of the MCD
80,000 beneficiaries in 2017 under the municipal body
A1 lakh per annum or less should be the income level of beneficiaries for them to be eligible for the Delhi government’s pension scheme