Guntur: Many widow pensioners live with husbands

Guntur: Following instructions of the government, the district officials started verification of pensions in the district.

According to the official sources, there are 2,07,179 widow pensions, 28,000 single woman pensions, 52,511 physically challenged pensioners, 4,194 health pensions in the district.

Single woman and widows get Rs 2,250 per month, physically challenged persons Rs 3,000 per month. Paralysis patients confined to the beds will get Rs 5,000 pension per month, kidney patients undergoing dialysis Rs10,000, patients suffering from leprosy Rs3,000, patients suffering from other health problems will get pensions from Rs 3,000 to Rs10,000 per month.

There are complaints that some of the ineligible are getting single woman, widow and patients suffering from health problems are getting pensions with bogus documents.

Based on that, the government directed officials to verify the beneficiaries to weed out ineligible pensioners. The district officials have verified 14,095 beneficiaries of single woman and widow pensions.

During the verification, the officials found that some of the single woman pensioners have their husband's name on the ration card and getting rice quota.

Some of the widow pensioners are staying with their husbands.

Some of the physically challenged pensioners submitted bogus documents and drawing the pensions. Similarly, the officials of the DMHO office sanctioned health pensions without valid documents to some persons. The officials are verifying the SADAREM (Software for Assessment of Disabled for Access Rehabilitation and Employment) certificates issued by the medical officers.

There are allegations that some of the beneficiaries are getting pensions without valid documents. The officials will check the certificates uploaded by the medical officers. They will recommend the government to weed out bogus pensions to sanction the same to the eligibles.