Dr Daljit Singh Cheeema demands pension be restored to all beneficiaries immediately
Chandigarh, July 21, 2020: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today condemned the Congress government for striking off 70,000 beneficiaries from the old age pension list and termed it as an anti-human step during a time of pandemic. It demanded that this decision be withdrawn immediately and pension of all 70,000 persons be restored forthwith.
In a statement here, former minister Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said it was shocking that the Congress government had struck off 70,000 aged persons from the old age pension list. He said the sole reason for doing this was that it did not want to increase the outlay under the old age pension scheme after raising the pension under the scheme by Rs 200 per month.
Dr Cheema said striking off 70,000 beneficiaries from the old age pension list during a time of pandemic was a cruel step and result in great hardship to senior citizens affected by this decision. He said it was unfortunate that instead of increasing the pension to Rs 2,500 per month as promised, the government was reducing the pension outlay. “If you cannot increase the pension as promised by you at least don’t snatch the meager support being given to the aged at a time like this”, Dr Cheema added.
The SAD leader said this was not the first time that the Congress government had discriminated against disadvantaged sections of society. He said earlier the government had deleted lakhs of blue cards which enabled the under privileged sections to avail of the ‘aata – daal’ scheme.