Kendrapara: Odisha Police have registered cases against 65 people for forging their age-proof documents to reap benefits of old-age pensions under social security schemes in Kendrapara district, officials said on Saturday. The 65 people are aged between 40 and 50 years, and all of them are from the Argala gram panchayat area.
They received old-age pensions from February to August this year on the basis of school certificates and other documents, which were later found to be fake. An FIR was lodged against them on Friday, Aul Block Development Officer (BDO) Minati Jagdeb said.
A case has been registered against them under sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Further investigation is underway, Aul police station inspector-in-charge Sabyasachi Satapathy said.
The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) is a central government-sponsored scheme that provides financial assistance to the elderly, widows and persons with disabilities in the form of social pensions, BDO Jagadeb said.
Madhu Babu Pension Yojana (MBPY) is an Odisha government scheme which provides pensions to persons above 60 years of age, widows (irrespective of age), AIDS patients and persons with disability.
As per the guidelines of NSAP and provisions of MBPY Rules 2008, gram panchayats and panchayat samiti will report every case of death of a pensioner immediately to the BDO or sub-collector concerned.
Further, annual verification of pensioners should be conducted by the competent authority to ascertain that the pensioner is alive and continues to fulfil all the conditions of eligibility. Pension will cease to be payable following the death of the pensioner, she added.
