9,687 cases of social security pension approved in Kangra dist: MLA

In the current financial year, 9,687 new cases have been approved under the social security pension in Kangra district. Out of these cases 6,720 were approved under the old age pension, 233 under Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme, 97 under Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme, 1,943 for widow pension, 688 under handicapped relief allowance and in two cases leprosy rehabilitation allowance was given.

At present, over 1.75 lakh eligible people avail benefit of the social security pension in Kangra district.

Sanjay Rattan, district-level social welfare committee chairman and Congress MLA from Jawalamukhi Assembly constituency, stated this after chairing a meeting of the panel at Dharamsala today. He said a provision should be made to provide pension on the doorstep of senior citizens above 80 years of age. “Senior citizens are unable to visit post office or bank. Therefore, keeping their convenience in mind, departmental officials have been instructed to make proper arrangements to deliver social security pension at their homes,” the MLA said.

Rattan said during the current fiscal in Kangra district, under the Swarn Jayanti Ashray Yojana, 272 eligible persons from Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) categories would be given grant for house construction. He said 171 people from SC category would be given a grant of over Rs 2.56 crore, 20 from ST category would get Rs 30 lakh, and 81 from the OBC category would be allotted over 1.21 crore for construction of houses, he said.

Rattan said wide publicity of schemes and programmes run through the Social Welfare Department should be ensured at the panchayat level so that maximum number of needy and eligible persons could avail their benefits.

Rattan said under the Social Welfare Department, scholarship worth Rs 25 lakh would be given to physically challenged students in Kangra district. He said Rs 625 per month would be given to children with disabilities from Class I to V, Rs 1,875 for residential students, Rs 750 for children from Class VI to VII and Rs 950 for physically challenged pupils from Class IX to X.

Similarly, Rs 1,250 would be given per month as scholarship to students of Class XI and XII, Rs 2,500 per month for residential students,

Rs 1,875 for students pursuing graduation, Rs 3,750 for residential students, Rs 2,250 for postgraduate students, Rs 3,750 per month for residential students, Rs 3,750 for BE, BTech and MBBS students and Rs 5,000 per monthe for residential students.

He further said arrangements had been made to provide good coaching to students belonging to economically weaker sections and SC and OBC categories so that they could prepare for competitive examinations. Students belonging to the SC and OBC category whose total annual family income from all sources was Rs 8 lakh or less were eligible for benefits under the scholarship scheme.

A list of 116 applicants under this scheme from Kangra district was sent to the authorities concerned for further action so that coaching arrangements could be made for them, the MLA said.