NEW DELHI: Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva on Monday stated that the announcement of adding 80,000 more beneficiaries to the new Old Age Pension scheme in the city is a result of BJP’s efforts and political pressure. “Over the past ten years, the Aam Aadmi Party government has not issued any new pensions. Moreover, existing pensioners have faced months of delays in receiving their pensions,” he said.
The Delhi BJP president emphasised that if the new pensions are to be issued regularly, the announcement must come as an administrative decision from the chief minister or the social welfare minister. Instead, the announcement by former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal highlights that it is merely a political gimmick, which might be shelved post elections.
Sachdeva said that the announcement also proves that Atishi is merely a dummy CM and the government is effectively being run remotely by Kejriwal. He further accused Kejriwal of lying during the pension announcement. Kejriwal falsely claimed that the pensions provided in Delhi are the highest in the country. In reality, Haryana’s BJP government provides the highest pension of Rs 2750 per month.
He stated that there are over one million senior citizens in Delhi in need of pensions. Despite the announcement of 80,000 new pensions, the benefit has not reached half the seniors. This clearly shows that the new pension announcement is insufficient to meet the needs of the elderly population.
The saffron party has maintained that all the freebies which AAP government has implemented or promised to roll out are nothing but welfare schemes which are being packaged as charity. It is the duty of every government to ensure that welfare schemes reach every citizen but Kejriwal’s language makes it seem like he is distributing ‘charity’, Sachdeva hadsaid.