Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging not to impose the bank payment system for disbursement of pensions under National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP).
CM Patnaik opposing Centre’s move to introduce Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) compliant system for disbursement of pensions under NSAP scheme said the payment through banks would cause unavoidable hardship to the beneficiaries.
“Any imposition of the system of bank payment will cause undue and unavoidable hardship to the vulnerable beneficiaries. I am sanguine you would appreciate the special circumstances of the State and not impose conditions on release of funds which may militate against the interest of the beneficiaries,” Naveen wrote in the letter to the PM.
Disbursement of pension in cash serves the purpose of beneficiaries in view of fragile nature of banking network and telecommunication prevailing in the State, the letter read.
It also clarified that NSAP guidelines clearly stated that disbursement of pension must be done as per the choice and convenience of the beneficiaries.
The State has conducted a study of the beneficiaries and found that pensioners are not willing to accept pension through banks and post offices, the letter added. He further apprised the PM that 4,376 Gram Panchayats in Odisha have no banking facilities. Even the existing banks are unable to bear the burden of large number of pensioners due to acute staff shortage.
Comments are closed.