Bhubaneswar: Following the Chief Minister’s announcement to enhance the monthly social security pension by Rs 500 from this month, SSEPD Principal Secretary Bishnupada Sethi today asked all the District Collectors to ensure that all beneficiaries will get the enhanced pension this month.
Writing a letter to all the Collectors and Commissioners of Municipal Corporations, Shri Sethi said that Government have been pleased to enhance monthly pension amount by Rs. 500 in all categories of pensioners under both the Social Security Schemes i.e., Madhu Babu Pension Yojana (MBPY) and National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) with effect from February, 2024.
He asked the Collectors to issue necessary instructions to concerned officials to ensure smooth disbursement of pension to all the beneficiaries.
All the beneficiaries under MBPY will receive an additional amount of Rs. 500 over and above their existing pension amount. Under NSAP, DBT has already been processed in favour of the beneficiaries for the month of February, 2024. An additional amount of Rs.500 will be credited to their accounts in the month of February, 2024 through DBT, he directed.
The Principal Secretary further instructed to disburse the pension to the MBPY beneficiaries between February 20 and 25, 2024 positively only for this month i.e., February, 2024.
However, from March, 2024 onwards pension will be disbursed on “Jan Seva Diwas” as per previous practice, he added.
Earlier, when the State Government decided to hike the coverage of beneficiaries under Madhu Babu Pension Yojana (MBPY), Principal Secretary Shri Sethi pursued the issue vigorously at District Level
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik getting feedback from 5T and Nabin Odisha Chief V K Pandian, decided to enhance the present coverage of beneficiaries under Madhu Babu Pension Yojana (MBPY) Scheme by 4 Lakh extra from February, 2024.
Following this decision, SSEPD Principal Secretary Shri Sethi swing into action for pending applications at the districts and include the new beneficiaries within stipulated time.
Therefore, he urged the Collectors to issue necessary instructions to concerned officials to scrutinize every application and sanction all eligible applications on priority basis.
All the scrutinized applications as well as remaining unverified/ new applications should be processed expeditiously for sanction, he said.
The pending applications under NSAP are to be sanctioned first against the available vacancy. After exhausting all the vacancies in NSAP, the remaining applications are to be forwarded to the Block Social Security Officers (BSSOs). These applications will be considered under MBPY for sanction of pension, he pointed out.
The Principal Secretary informed that pensions under MBPY are being distributed physically whereas pensions under NSAP are being credited online to the bank accounts.
“If for some reasons, old and disabled people need to be paid physically due to banking issues, such cases may be transferred to MBPY on priority,” he directed.
If pensioners are eligible for a higher amount after fulfilling age criteria, they should be sanctioned the same automatically. After covering all the eligible pending applications, any left-out genuine person identified during BBSA camps or surveys should be included in the pension scheme as per criteria, he said, adding, all eligible persons from Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) should be saturated on priority basis.
Shri Sethi made it clear that all the newly sanctioned beneficiaries will get their first pension amount in February 2024 without fail. He urged the Collectors to complete all the necessary formalities for sanction of pension for these beneficiaries prior to that.
Continuous efforts made by the SSEPD Principal Secretary and the Collectors, it has resulted in successful enhancement of MBPY Coverage, admit officials.
With this inclusion of 4 Lakh new beneficiaries number has gone up to 36.75 Lakh under MBPY.
