Now Reading: Odisha to clear pension dues of 20.33 lakh elderly by October
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Odisha to clear pension dues of 20.33 lakh elderly by October
The Odisha government will clear pension dues of 20.33 lakh beneficiaries under the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) by October, state minister Nityananda Gond told the Assembly on Friday.
The Odisha government will clear pension dues of 20.33 lakh beneficiaries under the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) by October, state minister Nityananda Gond told the Assembly on Friday.
Gond said that due to technical glitches, some beneficiaries have not received payments for the past five months. The government is coordinating with the finance department, the central government and the treasury to release the pending amounts along with arrears by next month.
Odisha provides Rs 1,000 per month to senior citizens aged 60-79 under IGNOAPS, and Rs 3,500 per month to those aged 80 and above. The opposition BJD and Congress had earlier raised the issue of non-payment of social security pensions.
Indian Opinion Analysis
IGNOAPS is a central scheme fully funded by the Union government, but state governments often supplement the amount. Odisha is one of the few states that pays a higher pension to those above 80, doubling the central contribution. The technical glitches cited likely relate to the state's digital payment system, which has faced authentication and Aadhaar-linking issues across welfare schemes. The October deadline gives the government less than four weeks to clear backlogs for over 20 lakh people, or roughly 6% of the state's population. The Assembly will likely track monthly disbursement data to confirm compliance.
Source: livemint.com
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
