THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Opposition staged a walkout in the assembly on Monday over the government’s alleged apathy towards clearing the mounting pension dues to members of various welfare fund boards. Highlighting the issue through an adjournment motion, the Opposition alleged that the dues in various welfare fund boards had mounted to `2,011 crore and demanded its immediate clearance.
M Vincent of the Congress who gave notice for the adjournment motion said the backlog of pension disbursal ranged from 5 to 17 months and that 35-40 lakh workers were languishing without any assistance even after providing their contribution on time.
Finance Minister K N Balagopal told the assembly that the disbursal backlog has been brought down to three months in most of the welfare fund boards and added that the dues will be cleared by next year. In the construction workers’ welfare fund board, he admitted that the pension backlog was due to issues related to remittance by the members.
However, the issues will be sorted out soon as the government intends to streamline the functioning of welfare fund boards and make their operations more systematic. He also assured that the welfare fund board pensions would not be slashed, but increased.
Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan urged the government to clarify whether its priority was private investment or the welfare of ordinary workers.