Pension not received, Complaint filed to Minister, UP may take action against erring Officials
The Uttar Pradesh Social Welfare Department is working to address issues in the old age pension scheme by reviewing the officials responsible for mistakes in verification. This action follows a complaint from an elderly person to the Social Welfare Minister, Asim Arun, about the suspension of their pension. After investigating the matter, it was found that there were errors in the verification process, and the department is now taking steps to fix these problems and avoid them in the future.
At present, the department is checking the details of 61 lakh beneficiaries who receive the old age pension. Two key problems have been identified: first, some eligible senior citizens had their pensions wrongfully stopped due to incorrect verification; second, some individuals who pay income tax were wrongly receiving benefits under the scheme. The department is focused on correcting these issues so that only those who truly qualify for the pension are included.
To address these mistakes, the department will take strict action against the officials responsible after May 25. Furthermore, efforts are being made to remove the names of deceased individuals from the pension records and prevent similar errors in the future.
In addition, starting in June, the department will begin providing quarterly pensions of Rs 1,000 to those identified under the Zero Poverty Campaign. To support the growing number of beneficiaries, the state government has increased the budget for the Old Age/Farmer Pension Scheme from Rs 7,377 crore in 2024-25 to Rs 8,105 crore in 2025-26 — an increase of Rs 728 crore.
Kumar Prashant, the Director of Social Welfare, mentioned that a list of officials who submitted incorrect verification reports is being prepared, and strict action will be taken against them to ensure such errors are not repeated.
