NEW DELHI, Aug 23: Delhi Finance Minister Atishi on Friday said the elderly in the city have now started getting pension, and accused the BJP-led Centre of stalling it for the last five months by not contributing its share.
Out of the one lakh beneficiaries in the city, 90,000 have received their past dues on Thursday itself. The rest will also get in due course, she said.
“Under the scheme, the Delhi government pays Rs 2,200 and the Centre Rs 300 per month to the beneficiaries. The pension was pending for the last five months because the BJP-led Centre was not paying its contribution,” the minister claimed.
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The terms and conditions of the scheme are such that pension of one lakh beneficiaries was stuck because of pending payments, though small, by the Centre, she said.
Earlier in a post on X, Atishi said, “Good news for the elders of Delhi! For the last 5 months, the BJP central government had withheld the old age pension of 1 lakh elderly people of Delhi. The elders were very worried”.
“I am happy to inform that after a lot of struggle, the Kejriwal government has started the stalled pension of the elderly. Pension for the last 5 months is being deposited into the bank accounts of the elderly,” she added.
Persons above the age of 60 with an annual family income of less than Rs one lakh are eligible for the pension.
Under the scheme, beneficiaries aged between 60 and 69 are entitled to the old age pension with an additional Rs 500 per month being given to SC/ST/Minority community beneficiaries. Those above 70 years get Rs 2,500 per month. (PTI)
