Announcing the release of the pensions for one lakh elderly residents of the city, Delhi Finance Minister Atishi said on Friday that her government ensured the resumption of the pensions withheld by the Central Government for five months. Crediting Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for the resumption of the pensions, the Minister said true to his role as Delhi’s son he fought tirelessly for the rights of the elderly to ensure that they get what is due to them. Meanwhile, Delhi BJP staged a protest outside the Department of Social Welfare office in Lajpat Nagar on Friday. They claimed that the announcement by the AAP government is a victory for them.
Atishi said that four lakh elderly people of Delhi get an old age pension and out of these, the pension of one lakh elderly people is shared partly by the Delhi government and a part of it comes from the central government. “These one lakh elderly people had not been getting their pensions for the last 5 months,” Atishi claimed, adding that these people were not getting pensions because the part of the pension which comes from the central government was stopped by the BJP-ruled central government.
She shared, "These elderly people used to come to me often. They used to go to our different MLAs. These one lakh elderly people of Delhi were very upset for the last 5 months.
They felt that their son Arvind Kejriwal, who takes care of them, is in jail, there is no one to fight for them, that is why their pension is not being released."
Congratulating people for getting pension, the senior AAP leader said, "I want to congratulate these one lakh elderly people that the pension which was stopped since the month of April has started coming now. From yesterday itself, the Social Welfare Department of Delhi has started crediting this pension into the accounts of the elderly.
Till yesterday, about 90,000 pensions have been transferred and the remaining 10,000 pensions will be credited into the bank accounts of the elderly of Delhi today."
Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva said that any government's primary duty is to provide social pensions to the elderly and widows in a timely manner, but the Delhi government has halted these pensions. “The late former Chief Minister of Delhi, Madan Lal Khurana, introduced this scheme, but the Kejriwal government, with its double standards, has stopped these pensions for the last five months. This pension, which helps the elderly purchase their medicines and provides support in their old age, has been stopped by the Kejriwal government as part of dirty politics,” he said.
He added that after stopping the pensions for the last five months, when BJP has taken to the streets, Atishi has announced through a press conference that the elderly's pensions will be issued from today.
