YS.Rana :
SOLAN (HP)—Eighty-four percent pensioners of district Solan has been provided social security pension lump sum for the first quarter of this fiscal at their doorsteps through the Department of Posts as per the decision of the state government. As decided by the state government, all social security pension holders across the state will be provided a pension at their home.
As per the decision of the state government, the pension of April, May and June is being provided simultaneously to the social security pension holders. For this, the state government has released Rs. 12.44 crore to the district and so far, around Rs 11.50 crore has been disbursed as a pension.
As per government records, the Solan district currently has 33,940 social security pension holders. Of the total social pension holders of the district, 22,714 are old-age pensioners, 7424 widows, abandoned and divorcee while 3759 are disabled pensioners.
Besides, the social security pension is also being provided to 43 leprosy patients in the district. The district has 13,010 of old age pension holders in the age group of 70 to 79 years and 1584 pensioners above 80 years of age under social security pension. There are 8120 pension holders in the age group of 60 to 69 years.
Whether it is 80 years old Balak Ram of Gram Panchayat Bhumati of Arki sub-division or be it Ram or Baru Devi and Dayaram of Salyat village of the same Gram Panchayat, all have expressed gratitude to the state government’s decision to provide a pension at home. Kasu Devi of Dadal village, who is getting a widow pension, says that it is good that our state government has reached out to our houses at such a time to fulfill our requirement.
Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Dr. Rajiv Saizal said that about 5.34 lakh social security pensioners of the state have been released the pension in the first week of April for three months. It also includes about 1.25 lakh widows and people with specially-abled pensioners. He said that their monthly social security pension has been increased from Rs 850 to Rs 1,000 per month. He added that the visionary decisions taken by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur in view of the threat of COVID-19 have emerged as strong support towards the relief to all sections of the society.
In the situation arising due to the threat of coronavirus, the state government has been making all-out efforts to provide the best health care to the people besides ensuring that the needy and poor get relief well in time, said the Minister.