Review Decision”: Union Minister Opposes Odisha’s Cash Pension Payments

Bhubaneswar: 

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday urged Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to reconsider the state government’s recent decision to hand over cash as pension to senior citizens, widows and persons with disabilities.

Mr Pradhan, who hails from Odisha, alleged that there have many instances of beneficiaries being exploited in the past due to corruption and manipulation by middlemen through cash payments and said the Odisha government’s decision to give cash to beneficiaries will “encourage corruption and malpractice” in the state.

Keeping in view our commitment to maintaining transparency and rooting out corruption, I urge you to continue the DBT mechanism for payment of pension to old age, widows and persons with disabilities in Odisha and review the decision of cash payment,” Mr Pradhan, the Union Education minister said in a letter to Mr Patnaik.

The senior BJP leader’s opposition to the cash distribution to old age beneficiaries came after the state government’s Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD) department asked all district collectors and commissioners of municipal corporations that the beneficiaries of the Madhu Babu Pension Yojana (MBPY) will receive pension in cash from June onwards.