Arrears of social pensions of 62 lakh beneficiaries to be settled soon, CM promises

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday announced that the pending social pensions of 62 lakh beneficiaries in the state would be distributed within a specified time period. He also said the government plans to further increase the pensions.

Despite the financial challenges faced by the state due to the Centre’s policies and approach, the state government continues to implement its development programmes and welfare schemes, the CM said.

Addressing the state Assembly, Vijayan said each beneficiary is currently getting Rs 1,600 per month as social pension and five instalments are pending. He specified that two instalments would be paid in the financial year 2024-25 and the remaining three in 2025-26. The Chief Minister made this announcement in the Assembly under Rule 300.

Asserting that the arrears were not due to the policies of the Left government, he said they have been disbursing the payments without fail since March this year. “The state government has committed to completely disburse the arrears of social pensions. Currently, the total arrears amount is Rs 4,250 crore. Of this, Rs 1,700 crore will be disbursed in the current financial year,” Vijayan said.

He said his government has a duty to ensure that social welfare benefits are properly distributed among deserving people, so it will implement payment of arrears as a time-bound initiative. During the tenure of the UDF government, the total number of beneficiaries of social security pension was 34,43,414 and they were getting a monthly amount of Rs 600, he said.

“Currently, 62 lakh people are getting social security pension in the state. The pension amount has been increased to Rs 1,600 in a phased manner. The government intends to increase it further,” the CM said. The special statement also came down heavily on the Union government and its financial policies and approach towards the state.

After the current government came to power in 2021, the state faced a severe financial crisis due to the Centre’s discriminatory policies and it is still ongoing, he alleged. He also cited various issues, from lowering the state’s borrowing limit to reducing tax allocations, as evidence of the Centre’s discriminatory approach towards Kerala.
(With PTI inputs)