Kerala social welfare pension amount row: BMW owner among beneficiaries

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 29 (IANS) A BMW car owner has also featured in the list of persons who receive the state government’s monthly Rs 1,600 social welfare pension in Kerala.

Earlier, this week, the state-owned Information Kerala Mission (IKM), published a report stating that at least 1,458 serving government officials including Gazetted officers, have been regularly receiving the Rs 1,600 monthly assistance.

In 2022, the CAG report also shed light on this monthly government assistance scam. The CAG report pointed out that the list includes over 9,000 ineligible people who took away Rs 39 crores in the three-year period starting in 2017.

The state government is also under pressure to release the full list of the monthly government assistance beneficiaries.

Meanwhile, the state Finance Minister K. Balagopal condemned the well-off beneficiaries and warned of strict action.

On Friday, the Congress-led UDF workers took to the streets and protested against the rampant corruption in the state and also criticised the CPI-M-led government.

On Thursday, the BJP Kerala president K. Surendran said the state government should release the list of serving government officials who have been receiving the state government's monthly Rs 1,600 social welfare pension fund.

As per the IKM estimates, a sum of Rs 23 lakh has been used to pay serving government officials this year. Among those who are currently getting the pension include school and college teachers, and the employees working in the health and other departments of the state government.

In Kerala, there are around six million (60 lakh) people who get a monthly social welfare pension and at times it is deposited in arrears too.

--IANS

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