Pensioners in a fix due to non-submission of affidavit

KOZHIKODE: More than ten thousand beneficiaries of various social welfare pensions in the Kozhikode corporation are in a fix owing to non-submission of self-affidavit declaring that they are not availing benefits of any other service pension schemes.
The beneficiaries who have failed to submit the affidavit before December 5, have not received pension this month so far.
The beneficiaries have not submitted the affidavit due to lack of knowledge about it.
According to the corporation office, around 52,000 persons have been availing social welfare pensions including widow pension, agriculture pension, age old pensions, disability pension and pension for the unmarried in the corporation limit.
Of this, only 42,000 of them had submitted self-affidavit disclosing income and answering questions on other pensions. Around 10,000 of the applicants are yet to submit the affidavit.
Of the 42,000 applications, received at the corporation council section, data entry of around 3,000 applications was not made on the government website due to wrong information furnished by the applicants.
Councillor K T Beeran Koya of UDF said the government asked the pensioners to submit an affidavit by November 30, giving a short notice period, and later the date was extended till December 5. “The beneficiaries have started approaching councillors seeking help after they stopped getting monthly pensions,’’ he said adding that though councillors in many wards collected affidavits from beneficiaries by conducting camps, more than 10,000 are yet to submit it.
Council section secretary E M Raveendran said the corporation has already commenced the rectification of anomalies detected in around 3,000 applications.
Meanwhile, mayor Thottathil Raveendran said the civic body has decided to approach the government seeking extension of date so that all the beneficiaries of various social welfare pensions gets enough time to submit affidavit.