Sangrur: Of Rs 26-cr dues, just Rs 2.26 lakh recovered from fake pensioners

Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, April 13

Despite the formation of special committees last year to serve recovery notices on fake pensioners, the district authorities have failed to recover dues worth Rs 26.63 crore from them.

There are a total of 12,573 fake pensioners in the entire district — the highest in the state so far. As of now, only 46 persons have deposited Rs 2.26 lakh.

According to the available information, the Lehra block has 3,038 fake pensioners, Dirba (1,668), Sangrur (1,130), Amargarh (1,121), Malerkotla (938), Bhawanigarh (913), Andana (807), Dhuri (544) and Sherpur 400, while the remaining are in Sunam (2,014).

Meanwhile, various political parties have made it a major issue with many coming forward and blaming the government.

Senior AAP leader Avtar Ealwal said, “If fake pensioners were enrolled, it is the fault of officials and not beneficiaries. We will not allow the harassment of the poor, who are getting recovery notices.” Of total 1.76 lakh pensioners in the district, 1.19 lakh are elderly, 30,515 widows, 9,513 dependent while the remaining are physically disabled. All of them are getting a monthly pension of Rs 750.

However, after several complaints about the enrolment of ineligible pensioners in the district, the authorities swung into action and detected 12,573 fake beneficiaries during a survey.

“The state government must recover the dues from its officials and stop harassing the poor,” said Sangrur BJP chief Randeep Deol.

Sangrur tops state with 12K defaulters

• There are a total of 12,573 fake pensioners in Sangrur district alone - the highest in the state. As of now, only 46 have deposited Rs2.26 lakh
• Lavleen Kaur, District Social Welfare Officer, said: “We are making all efforts to recover the dues. To date, 46 persons have deposited Rs2.26 lakh.”
• She said: “We are aware that the kin of several deceased persons have also received notices, but we need a death proof to withdraw them.”