BENGALURU: Revenue Minister V Srinivasa Prasad on Thursday said that his department has prepared a proposal to disburse pension to persons living with Human Immonodeficiency Virus (HIV).
He was speaking at a Statelevel public consultation on ‘Social Security issues Related to Pension’ organised by CIVIC, an NGO, and Karnataka State Pension Parishad here on Thursday. He said the file related to the issue is pending with the Chief Minister for final approval. Prasad said the government has already covered sexual minorities under Mythri scheme. He also said the Revenue Department is providing Rs 2,780 crore to 47 lakh pensioners under different beneficiary schemes.
“We have covered almost 97 per cent pensioners under various schemes,” he added. The pension schemes cover widows, differently-abled, elderly and unmarried single women from marginalised communities in the state. The government is contemplating to increase the minimum pension from Rs 200 to 500, he said.
Karnataka State Pension Parishad state convenor Nalini Shekhar appealed to the officials to conduct camps so that the process of scrutinising the applications, verification and sending sanction orders could be implemented in a quick manner.
CIVIC’s executive trustee Kathyayini Chamaraj urged officials to inform applicants the status of their applications and reasons for rejecting them by sending SMSes. She called for a single window agency for processing applications and delivering pensions, regular ‘adalats; should be held at hobli and ward levels to address the grievances of pensioners.