GUNTUR: Guntur Municipal Corporation (GMC) received as many as 128 applications from prospective beneficiaries of social security pensions on a single day on Tuesday. Since the State government announced the enhancement of the amount of social security pensions for elderly, widows, physically-challenged, single women and chronic kidney disease patients, besides reducing the age limit for elderly beneficiaries from 65 to 60 years, district officials have invited applications from eligible residents to avail the pensions.
As many as 4.14 lakh people in the district are eligible to avail the benefits of the YSR Kanuka pension scheme. Bapatla MPDO Netaji has appealed the eligible people to apply for the social security pensions within June 30. He asked them to submit a copy of their Aadhar card or ration card along with the application at mandal parishad office after which the applications will be scrutinised.
Earlier, officials have distributed Rs 104.85 crore to beneficiaries in the district. The YSRC government has hiked the monthly social security pension amount for financially poor from Rs 2000 to Rs 2,250, for differently-abled persons in all categories from Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 and for kidney patients from Rs 3,500 to Rs 10,000, which will be implemented from July 1 onwards.
There are nearly 300 beneficiaries with kidney ailments in the district.Over 300 applications for the social security pension scheme are pending and the officials are scrutinising them. The civic body’s in-charge commissioner AVNS Murthy directed the officers to complete the scrutiny on time.