HYDERABAD: Panchayat Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao, on Thursday, refuted BJP’s claims of Aasara pensions in the State being funded by the Central government, and informed the Assembly that the Centre’s share was just 1.8 per cent of the total amount disbursed to the beneficiaries. The remaining 98.2 per cent, amounting to Rs 11,725 crore, was allocated by the State government for the year 2020-21, he added.
The Minister alleged that the BJP leaders were trying to confuse the citizens by claiming that the pensions were being provided by the Central government. He also made it clear that the Centre had disbursed only `210 crore towards the scheme for the entire financial year, while the State was spending `977 crore per month for Aasara pensions. He made these remarks while responding to questions raised by members B Mallaiah Yadav, D Chinnaiah and others during the question hour.
Stating that 38,32,801 people had been benefited from the scheme as on August this year, the Minister said that the State government had spent `31,902.91 crore for the implementation of the scheme. He said that the proposal of decreasing the agelimit of old-age pensions from 65 to 57 years was under the active consideration of the Chief Minister.
CM lauded for turning thandas into panchayats
Hyderabad: Praising Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for empowering the tribals, Panchayat Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao credited the former for converting tribal thandas and Girijan Adivasi Gudems into gram panchayats. The State has been allocating adequate funds to the local bodies with an aim to empower the tribals and Adivasis, he informed the House