AMARAVATI: The Andhra Pradesh government is taking special measures to do justice to those who have not received pension. A special drive would be conducted for a week to identify eligible persons for pension who were left out.

In a statement, minister for panchayat raj and rural development Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy said MDOs and municipal commissioners would personally visit the houses of applicants who have been left out and after scrutiny, if the beneficiary is eligible for pension, he or she would get two months pension in March including that of February.

In all, 54.68 lakh beneficiaries identified as part of Nava Sakam survey ,the minister said and added that volunteers had personally disbursed pension of Rs 1320 crore at the door-steps of the beneficiaries on January 1 which amounts to nearly 87% of the pension and thereby created a record in the disbursal of pension.

A record number of 6.14 lakh new beneficiaries have been identified this month for pension as part of Nava Sakam survey in the state. The names of 4.80 lakh people who were ineligible were deleted. The minister said the government aims at providing pension at desirable level as part of YSR Pension Kanuka.

He said if any eligible person has not received pension, there as no need to panic, as a comprehensive survey was being conducted on the eligibility criteria and Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has given a assurance that all those eligible would get the pension.

The minister said caste, religion, region and political affiliation had nothing to do with the selection criteria. Nearly 31,672 persons who are chronically ill were given pension and as per category they were given a pension varying from Rs 3,000 to Rs 10,000. Moreover, the eligibility criteria was relaxed to include all those who were eligible and the permissible age was relaxed from 65 to 60 years.

The pension being given by the previous government was increased from Rs 1,00 to Rs 2,500 to make the pensioners happy. The minister said that the Chief Minister has promised to increase the pension by Rs250 every year till it reaches Rs 3,000.

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