Demonetisation: CM writes to Jaitley; Odisha to give old-age pensions tomorrow

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wrote to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley about the plight of the poor due to demonetisation move, while the state government today said those entitled to old age pension, widow pension and others will get their dues tomorrow.
"The beneficiaries of the social security schemes will get old age pension, widow pension and disability allowance tomorrow," Finance Secretary T K Pande told PTI.
Around 35 lakh beneficiaries will get around Rs 140 crore as pension and allowance under different welfare schemes in cash from gram panchayat offices, he said.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister wrote to Jaitley seeking his intervention to mitigate alleviate the plight of the poor caused due to the demonetisation move.

"Seventy per cent Gram Panchayats with 1.65 crore people constituting 47 per cent of the rural population of the state do not have proper access to banking facilities," he wrote to Jaitley.
"People should be able to access the benefits and services such as old age pensions, wages under MGNREGA and scholarships without difficulty. Bank branches should provide the services relating to withdrawal of money and exchange of currency in rural areas in a hassle-free manner," Patnaik said.
Urging Jaitley to provide mobile banking services, he assured the Union Finance Minister that the state government will extend all support and provide the infrastructure required.