MARGAO
Senior citizens, the disabled and the widows can hopefully look forward to getting their DSSS pension on time by October as the new Social Welfare Minister Subhash Faldesai has not only promised to clear the four-month backlog within three months, but come out with a mechanism within five months wherein the doles automatically go into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
That’s not all. The Social Welfare Minister has further pointed out that the department field workers would visit the houses of the disabled and the infirm and work out arrangements to ensure the benefits reach the doorsteps of the beneficiaries.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of a function held at the Ravindra Bhavan, Margao, on Monday, Faldesai said the government has already sanctioned Rs 27 crore to pay the first installment of the DSSS benefits to the beneficiaries.
“In the next eight days, we will sanction the second instalment. The remaining two instalments will be cleared by next month, which will clear the backlog”, he said.
The minister said he has drawn up plans to work out a mechanism wherein the beneficiaries receive the benefits in the bank on a certain day of the month.
“The beneficiaries need not make the rounds of the banks again and again in the future,” he said.
Attributing the delay in disbursing the DSSS benefits to the 1.38 lakh beneficiaries to a host of reasons, including the intervening elections, Faldesai said the delay will now be a thing of the past.
Assuring that he is working on a scheme wherein field workers will go to the houses of the elderly above 80 years of age and the disabled to find out their physical condition, Faldesai said a mechanism is underway to get certification from the doctors, wherein this category of beneficiaries need not make trips to the banks for withdrawal of their money.
“This measure will mitigate the hardships of the elderly and the disabled. This will become a reality within 4-5 months”, he added.
