NEW DELHI: Social welfare minister Rajendra Pal Gautam on Tuesday warned district-level officers of lax working especially in cases which involved pensions and other assistances given by the government.
In meeting regarding the pending cases of pension, Gautam was seemingly dejected about the lack of progress in officers resolving cases related to pending pension since the last three years, which the government is yet to provide.
Interestingly, the BJP earlier in the day announced that it would raise the delay in disbursal of old age pension, in the upcoming Assembly session. The minister issued a whip to all district officers under both the departments — Social Welfare and Women and Child Development — to resolve all pending projects in their respective districts in a time-bound manner.
“Failure to do so, will lead to legal action against the district officer. Our department is a vital one. We are directly looking into the welfare of the citizens. We should not make them stand in lines and be occupied in these administrative tasks on a day-to -day basis,” said Gautam.
Directions were issued to every district officer to submit a weekly performance report of their respective district offices. In this report, the officer has to specify how many applications were received, how many queries raised and how many cases resolved. This report has to be positively submitted every Friday evening and will then be assessed by senior officers.
Gautam said strict action will be initiated against the district officer in case of unexplained poor performance. Financial Assistance to Persons with Special Needs, Scheme of Old Age Assistance, the Delhi Family Benefit Scheme are some of the programmes under the department.