The discovery of nearly 2 lakh bogus pensioners in Tamil Nadu may help the government save a handsome sum of INR 20 crores every month!
A senior Tamil Nadu government official informed at a seminar that this discovery was made when the pension scheme accounts were linked with the Aadhaar card numbers.
Out of the 35 lakh beneficiaries who receive a sum of INR 1000 as pension, 92% of the accounts have now been linked to the Aadhaar card.
UIDAI deputy director general M V S Mari Reddy told TOI that Aadhaar’s reach is poor in at least 9 districts of the state.
A Tamil Nadu official in charge of social security schemes told TOI , “We experimented with various methods to make the issue of pension foolproof. We also tried smart cards but nothing worked like Aadhaar. Within a few months after linking of Aadhaar and pension accounts, we were able to detect 2 lakh bogus pensioners who were dead but somebody was still getting pension in their names.”
72% of the job cards issued under MGNREGA scheme in Tamil Nadu and a part of school scholarships are linked to the Aadhaar card.
Tamil Nadu, which was late to issue Aadhaar cards compared with other states, has been sluggish in 9 districts with Chennai on top of the list.
“Many rich and middle class people consider Aadhaar as an identity for the poor as they are dependent on government schemes. They have passport, EPIC and pan card as ID proof and are apathetic to get registered for Aadhaar,” TOI quoted Reddy. “We have similar problems in Mumbai too while in Delhi, it has reached 100% coverage,” the official was quoted.
