The process to disburse welfare pension to 66 lakh beneficiaries across Andhra Pradesh has started, officials said. More than 25 lakh beneficiaries received their pension on Wednesday, Principal Secretary for Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Sashibhushan Kumar said.

“District Collectors have made all arrangements for the smooth distribution of pensions to all pensioners from April 3 to 6, 2024,” he said in an official statement.

There was a delay in disbursal of pensions due to the Election Commission restricting the state government from engaging volunteers in the job in view of the Model Code of Conduct being in force for Assembly and Parliamentary elections in the state.

The ruling YSR Congress Party in the state and the opposition have accused each other over the issue of hardship faced by pensioners.

Kumar said the state government has released an amount of Rs 1,952 crore for disbursing pensions.

According to the principal secretary, 13,699 ward and village secretariats from a total of 14,994 have already begun the exercise of disbursing pension.

Kumar said district collectors have been directed to devise an action plan to ensure mandatory doorstep delivery of pension to the extremely vulnerable categories of beneficiaries, according to the statement.

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Volunteer System

The YSRCP government introduced a ward and village volunteer system in 2019 as a decentralised governance delivery mechanism. This system enables a volunteer, who oversees 50-60 households, to go to the threshold of the beneficiary to hand-deliver welfare pension.

However, on March 30, the Election Commission of India (ECI) issued orders banning volunteers from extending government schemes, welfare benefits and other related activities, which eventually brought the monthly pensions disbursal to a grinding halt, which otherwise would have been completed on April 1.

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However, this unforeseen consequence transformed into a major political slugfest between the ruling party and opposition coalition, who are striving to milk the development to their electoral advantage, and whose leaders are desperately trying to turn the tables on each other for the delay in pension disbursals.

The CM claimed lakhs of beneficiaries, who include the elderly, specially-abled, widows and people who could not feed themselves are suffering as they did not receive their pension on the first day of the month.