Bhubaneswar: The state government has once again moved to make Aadhaar mandatory to avail benefits under social security schemes — National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) and Madhu Babu Pension Yojana (MBPY) from February 2021.
Social Security & Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD) secretary Bhaskar Sarma has written to all Collectors, in this regard, Thursday.
As of date, the progress in Aadhaar verification in the state is 78 per cent under MBPY and 87 per cent under NSAP. However, Sarma said Aadhaar seeding and verification need to be 100 per cent for smooth disbursement pensions under the two schemes.
The district Collectors have been given one month’s time to provide Aadhaar to all the beneficiaries for disbursement of pension and to complete 100 per cent of Aadhaar seeding and verification of existing beneficiaries under both the schemes.
“The process of collecting Aadhaar details of the beneficiaries will be completed by January 31, 2021. Starting from February 2021, Aadhaar will be made mandatory for receiving pension,” Sarma wrote to the Collectors.
However, he said the state government has decided that an eligible beneficiary should not be denied pension for not having Aadhaar if he/she is alive and identifiable. It was the responsibility of the local administration to identify these cases and provide them with Aadhaar ID before the next phase of disbursement, he added.
Earlier, the government had sent a similar letter to the Collectors in August and later withdrew it.