Rupees 2 crore to over 2000 dead beneficiaries; CAG flags anomalies in pension schemes

The CAG report found that local authorities in many jurisdictions had neglected to immediately record deaths, which had resulted in the overpayment of pensions to individuals who were no longer alive.

New Delhi: The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP), a centrally sponsored programme that provides social pensions to elderly, widowed and disabled people who fall under the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category, has been plagued by a number of anomalies, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

The report claims that even after their deaths, administrations in 26 states continued to pay out pensions to roughly 2,103 pensioners totalling rupees 2 crore. The research was carried out between 2017 and 2021.

The payment of the pension halts in accordance with NSAP criteria upon the death, migration, or BPL bar crossing of the beneficiaries. However, the report found that local authorities in many jurisdictions had neglected to immediately record deaths, which had resulted in the overpayment of pensions to individuals who were no longer alive.

The report stated that West Bengal, Gujarat, and Tripura are the three states with the largest amount of extra payments given to beneficiaries even after death, with 453 accounts totalling a combined total of 83.27 lakh, 11.83 lakh, and 1.83 lakh rupees in each case. The states with the lowest excess pension payments to “dead” recipients were Manipur, Mizoram, and Puducherry.

According to the report, over the specified age limit, the pension was given to beneficiaries in four states: Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram, and Jammu & Kashmir.

Referring to the NSAP recommendations, beneficiaries under the age of 80 for a number of sub-schemes, including IGNOAPS, IGNWPS, and IGNDPS, are to receive payments of rupees 200 and rupees 300 each month. Beneficiaries in their 80s will get 500 each month.

The scheme’s information, education, and communication (IEC) funds of about 2.83 crore were improperly used to promote other programmes. Similar to this, cash totalling 57.45 crore was taken from six states and union territories and used for other programmes.

According to CAG, the causes of these anomalies included the lack of proactive identification of beneficiaries, the failure to maintain a database of eligible beneficiaries, the failure to form special verification teams, the failure to conduct annual verifications, the absence of prescribed procedures for proactive identification of beneficiaries, the absence of IEC activities, among other factors.