Bhubaneswar: The Department of Social Security & Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities has issued a directive to all Collectors in the state to verify the Elector’s Photo Identity Cards (EPICs) of new applicants seeking social security pensions.
This move comes in response to a surge in applications with allegedly tampered dates of birth on recently issued voter ID cards.
The Odisha government had recently enhanced the social security pension amount for persons with 80% disability or above and those aged 80 years and above to Rs 3,500.
Additionally, the minimum social security pension amount across both the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) and Madhu Babu Pension Yojana (MBPY) has been increased to Rs 1,000. This enhancement has led to a significant increase in demand for these benefits, prompting the government to take measures to ensure that only eligible applicants receive the pension.
To prevent the disbursement of pensions to ineligible applicants, Collectors have been instructed to insist on previous voter ID cards to assess if the age has been recently amended in the EPICs. This verification process aims to identify and prevent potential cases of age tampering or falsification.
By verifying the authenticity of EPICs, authorities can ensure that applicants’ ages are genuine and that they meet the eligibility criteria for the pension scheme.
