Veterans sweat it out to withdraw pension in Kerala

Treasuries in the district on Thursday witnessed heavy rush of pensioners looking to withdraw money from their accounts
Long wait outside the pension payment sub-treasury in Kochi on November 1 | Melton Antony
Long wait outside the pension payment sub-treasury in Kochi on November 1 | Melton Antony

KOCHI: Thursday was an unusually hard day for 78-year-old Kamalam, who has been drawing pension for over two decades. In her entire life, she never yearned for money as much as she did on Thursday, the first pay day post demonetisation. Kamalam’s impatient wait in the long queue at the Ernakulam sub-treasury began early in the morning, where some had turned up as early as 4.30 am.

Pension was distributed on first-come-first-served basis, and there was no token system. Kamalam, who had reached the treasury at 7.30 am, was still in the middle of the queue at 9 am. “I retired from service in 1993 as an attender at Maharaja’s College, and I collect my pension from the sub-treasury every month. This time, I was a little apprehensive that I might not get money.

But, I was relieved when I reached the counter around 12 pm,” she said, and raised concern over the hardships faced by the common man due to demonetisation. Retired assistant sub-inspector K C Thomas who landed in the city after a long journey from Bengaluru joined the queue around 4.45 am. “After retirement, I have been living in Bengaluru.

Every month on the pay day I reach Kochi early in the morning. Though I was a bit worried this time, owing to the demonetisation, I managed to withdraw Rs 16,500 without much difficulty,” says Thomas. Dharmadas, a retired police officer, says the Central Government’s decision has put pensioners in trouble. “At this age, after long years of service, we are made to stand in such long queues,” says Dharmadas. Lucy Antony, another pensioner who was visibly irked, said her cheque for Rs 14,780 was declined by the officials, saying that cash would be disbursed only in the 2,000 denomination.

Since I had brought a plain cheque leaf, I managed to withdraw Rs 14,000,” says Lucy. Muhammad Kunji, 71, of Chalikkavattom complained that he was forced to stand in the queue for around 4.30 hours for his pension, which he needed to meet some routine expenses. “How can I buy a bottle of water or a cup of tea with this Rs 2,000 note I got from the treasury?” asked Elamakkara-native Subhadra Devikunhamma, and complained that the government’s initiative to ‘secure the future’ had aggravated the woes of the common man. Even when the clock ticked 12.30 pm, more than 200 pensioners were still waiting in the queue.

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