Elderly under MCDs may get pension from Kejri govt now

Over two lakhs old age beneficiaries who had not received pensions from municipal corporations for the last three years might get pensions from the Delhi government within next two months.

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the Aam Aadmi Party government to revise the cap it has put on the number of pensioners under its jurisdiction. Currently, over four lakh people get pensions from the city government.

The three corporations give pensions to over two lakh beneficiaries under their welfare scheme.

A senior official with the North Delhi Municipal Corporation said around 80,000 beneficiaries have not been given pensions for over two and a half years. While the cash-strapped East Corporation has not been able to give pensions to over 30,000 people for the last three years.

NGO Social Jurist had filed a petition in the High Court in this regard. “The MCDs have not scrapped their welfare scheme, but they don’t have funds to continue giving pensions to the beneficiaries. The court has asked the Delhi government to revise its cap on the number of beneficiates to include those who get pensions from the municipal corporations,” said Ashok Agarwal, petitioner, Social Jurist.

Experts feel around 10 lakh people in Delhi qualify the criteria to get pensions. “The court has asked the Delhi government to revise its cap and give clarification within two weeks.

Even the court has directed the city government to collect the list of beneficiaries from the municipal corporations in the next four weeks. So within two months, not only those two lakh people who have not been getting pensions but also others who are eligible under the welfare scheme will get pensions across Delhi,” added Agarwal, also an advocate.

The three mayors and Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhayay met President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday and informed him about the financial crisis being faced by the civic agencies due to acute shortage of funds.

They requested him to intervene into the matter and direct the Delhi government to pay the pending arrears of the Third Delhi Finance Commission to municipal corporations and implement the recommendations of the Fourth Delhi Finance Commission.

They told the President that the city government is not releasing the funds despite the court’s order, and the corporations are not able to pay salaries, pensions and continue with development work.