VIJAYAWADA: The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) proposes to disburse pensions to 5,088 beneficiaries at their doorsteps from April 1 using the ‘Iris Recognition System’ (IRS) on a pilot basis.
Stating this at a news conference here on Monday, VMC commissioner G Veerapandian explained that these 5,088 pensioners were among the 11,370 who did not have any bank account.
He added that the remaining such beneficiaries would be provided the pensions at their doorsteps by April-end using the IRS. He said that the thin circular-shaped structure in a beneficiary’s eyes would be filed for individual identification.
The commissioner said that in the case of the remaining 22,000 beneficiaries who had savings accounts in various banks, the VMC would directly deposit their pension amounts in their bank accounts. And, with the help of interoperability banking method, the pensioners could withdraw the amounts deposited by the bank coordinators after being subjected to the IRS.
He explained that the introduction of the IRS was necessitated by unreliability of the illegible thumb-impressions of the beneficiaries.
“Rupay cards will be given to the beneficiaries who already have bank accounts and to those for whom we will be opening savings accounts. These multipurpose smart cards will enable them to make payments for various products and services. The Rupay card is similar to the regular debit card and can be used at any bank ATM,” he said.
However, the YSRC and CPI Corporators are objecting to the implementation of the IRS for pension disbursal on the ground that majority of the aged people have eye problems. They say that the new system will be a disaster like the previous bio-metric system.