Hamirpur (HP): Social security pension scheme of the state government has become handy for many people who were leading painful lives earlier due to various reasons.
A 50-year-old Tripta Devi widow of Bhiad village of Bhoranj sub-division is one such recipient of the pension and is happy with it. She says that this scheme has helped her during the CORONA crisis.
Similarly, 94-year-old Bhakti Devi of the same village thanked the State Government and especially the Chief Minister Jairam Thakur for increasing the amount of old-age pension and thereby making herself sufficient.
Under the scheme, the state government has increased the pension money for the elderly of this age group from 700 to 1500 rupees per month.
In the case of other pensioners, this amount has been increased from 700 to 850 rupees per month. The pension of widows has been increased to one thousand rupees per month.
In the Hamirpur district, about 37,147 eligible beneficiaries are being provided the benefit of various social security pensions. About three thousand new pension beneficiaries have been added during the last three years. During this period an amount of about 146.59 crores was provided as pension in the district.
In the year 2018-19, 34,282 pension beneficiaries in the district were provided a pension of about Rs 42, 32, 63,000.
During the year 2019-20, their number increased to 34,731 and about 48, 07, 44,500 rupees were provided as pension.
Similarly, during the year 2020-21, till January 15, 2021, about 56, 19, 26,411 rupees were provided under the social security pension of 37,147 pensioners.
After increasing the social security pension of old age, widows, and disabled and reducing the age of old-age pension from 80 years to 70 years without any income limit, the state government has now started a new Golden Jubilee Nari Sambal Yojana. Under this, a thousand rupees per month pension will also be provided for women in the age group of 65 to 69 years without an income limit.
Following the policy of Sarvajan Hitayya, the State Government is committed to ensuring public welfare till the last person in the row. In the last three years, many public welfare schemes have not only been implemented but due to their effective implementation, positive changes are also visible in the socio-economic life of the people, claims Sanjeev Sharma, the District Welfare Officer of Hamirpur.