Four thousand new beneficiaries under Old Age Pension Scheme would be included in the current year for getting the pension. This was decided at a high level meeting chaired by Welfare Minister P Rajavelu along with Local Administration Minister N G Paneerselvam and Power Minister T Thiagrajan at his chamber on Wednesday evening.
The new inclusion would be in place of beneficiaries who died and others whose names have been deleted as they have been found to be ineligible. The total number of beneficiaries would remain at 1.19 lakh, official sources said.
The meeting also recommended the constitution of a committee of doctors to determine the age of elderly people who do not have any valid age proof for getting benefits under the old age scheme.
Further, the government decided to seek greater funds from the Centre for implementing the scheme. At present Puduchery gets `73 lakh per month from Government of India under the scheme, when the actual expense of Puducherry government is `12 crore per month. The government of India is giving `200 per month for people in the age group of 60 to 79 years and `500 for those who are 80 years and above. For widows the Centre gives `360. This is much lower than Puducherry government’s assistance of `1,000 per month for all categories of beneficiaries under the scheme.