Reiterating that the DMK party came to power by giving false promises to the electorate, AIADMK MLA and former Revenue Minister R. B. Udayakumar said here on Wednesday that the Tamil Nadu government should immediately revoke issuance of Old Age Pension (OAP) to all eligible beneficiaries.
In a statement, he said that the AIADMK had given ₹4,200 crore as OAP under nine categories, including for the Sri Lankan Refugees in Tamil Nadu. From a paltry ₹20 per month, it was enhanced to ₹500 per month by the AIADMK and the late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa further enhanced the OAP to ₹1,000 per month.
When the DMK was in power in 2006-11, it gave ₹500 for 12 lakh people and allocated ₹1,200 crore towards this welfare scheme. After the AIADMK assumed office in 2011, the party extended the beneficiaries to 32 lakh and also gave ₹1,000 each thus earmarking ₹4,200 crore, he pointed out.
As the then minister in-charge of the department, Mr Udayakumar said that the officials had deleted or removed double entry after the Aadhaar was linked. Likewise, those who had died or names that were found fake were also removed.
When Edappadi K Palaniswami was the Chief Minister, the norms were also relaxed for accommodating genuine people under the OAP scheme, he said and added that persons with 40 per cent disability were considered for the monthly financial assistance, which was earlier given to those with 60 per cent disability. Those who lived with their sons, but were identified as economically weak too were included under this scheme, he added.
The objective of the OAP was to give an assistance to the elderly citizens to meet their basic needs every month, which the AIADMK did till the end of its rule.
When such was the level of implementation, the new DMK government, after coming to power by giving false promises, had now suspended issuance of OAP to the eligible population in Tamil Nadu. The continued silence of the Chief minister and the Minister concerned was shocking, Mr Udaykumar blamed and urged the government to immediately take action to disburse the OAP to the beneficiaries.
The statement also said that under the ‘Makkalai Thedi Arasu’ programme, an additional five lakh people were included in the OAP from across the 38 districts. Without coming out with any more lame excuses, the government should disburse the OAP to beneficiaries forthwith, he added.
