ONGOLE: The Prakasam district administration has ordered a comprehensive e-KYC survey to confirm eligibility of existing beneficiaries of various social security pensions under various categories. As per the directives of the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), the district administration has ordered the e-KYC survey and all village, ward volunteers and secretariat welfare assistants are busy in this regard.
Earlier, the SERP authorities identified nearly 12,990 beneficiaries, whose documents did not match, were getting social security pensions under the single women/widow category. So it directed the administration to conduct a comprehensive e-KYC survey and tally the information with the particulars and directed the field staff to complete the survey by July 16. Meanwhile, it is reportedly known that recently around 3,000 beneficiaries were found ineligible and their pensions were temporarily stopped.
As per the official information, around 4.29 lakh beneficiaries get monthly social welfare pension in Prakasam district. Of them, 1.96 lakh belong to the old age and 1.42 lakh belong to the single widow categories, while the remaining fall under other categories such as the trumpet artists, Abhaya Hastham beneficiaries, artisans, eunuchs, disabled among others. All village and ward volunteers are taking thumb imprints/iris authentication of the beneficiaries and distributing pensions to them every month.
As per the SERP directives, the full details of each beneficiary, including their biometric/ thumb/ finger imprints, iris authentication along with their Aadhaar card, ration card among others are being collected to complete the e-KYC of each beneficiary. By linking the Aadhaar to the biometric of the person, the authorities will know have the full details of the beneficiary and decide his or her eligibility (to get pension).
“We have ordered all the village/ward volunteers to collect full details of each and every social welfare pension beneficiary of the district and cross check their e-KYC details with their eligibility documents i.e., their Aadhaar card and Ration Card data. We ordered the staff to finish this e-KYC survey by taking finger imprints and iris authentication by July 16. This will assure complete transparency in the social security pension system,” District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) project director B Babu Rao explained.