PB: Campaign launched to weed out illegal old age pensioners

In an effort to keep a tab on the illegal beneficiaries of old age pensioners in various districts in Punjab, the state government today launched a special campaign to verify the age and residence proof of all such people.
While stating this here today, an official spokesman said that all cases of old age pension beneficiaries of villages and urban localities after January one, 2009 would be verified and instructions in this regard have been already issued to all Deputy Commissioners of the state.
Furthering on the details, the spokesman said that primary verification would be completed by village level officers for the proof of residence and age while Patwaris (revenue officials) would look into the income of the beneficiary.

He said that the list of such cases, not fulfilling the eligibility criteria for old age pension, would be displayed in panchayat ghar in the villages for inviting claims and objections.
Later, such claims and objections would be heard in gram sabha by an officer deputed by the Deputy Commissioner and preferably of the rank of Sub Divisional Officer (SDO), the spokesman added.