Owing to widespread protest, the State Government has decided to put on hold its decision to make Aadhaar card mandatory for availing of various welfare pensions.
The Finance Department had earlier interlinked distribution of various welfare pensions with the Aadhaar card and made it mandatory to submit the details to avail of pension and welfare benefits pending from July this year.
‘’The State Government has received several requests from pensioners to extend the date of submission of Aadhaar card as many are yet to get the card. The matter was examined in detail by the Finance Department and it has been decided to put on hold the decision making Aadhaar card mandatory for availing pension and other benefits,’’ said an order issued by the Finance Department.
Based on the several requests including those from pensioners associations, the State Government has now extended the date of submission of the Aadhaar card to December 31, 2013.
‘’From January 2014, the Aadhaar card will be made mandatory for getting pension benefits, ‘’ said the new order.
The government had decided to do away with the present system of distributing welfare pensions and planned to distribute them through e-payment gateway.
Concurrently, the Finance Department had issued orders to all departments to ensure that all welfare pensions are distributed through e-payment gateway.
As per the new system, the pension would be transferred to the recipient through Electronic Benefit Transfer to bank or post office account of the beneficiaries.
‘’The Finance Department also received requests from other departments for the extension of the deadline to shift from the present system to the e-payment mode,’’ said an official of the Finance Department.