Jairam Thakur said that during the previous government, more than 37,000 people were receiving benefits under the Sahara pension scheme. He alleged that the present government had declared more than 90 per cent of them ineligible for the pension.
He further alleged that many beneficiaries had even been shown as deceased in government records. “We frequently meet people who tell us that the government has declared them dead in order to stop their pension. Some of them are bedridden and completely incapacitated and cannot even perform their daily activities without assistance. The attitude of the Sukhu government towards such people is extremely unfortunate,” he said.
He said that helping needy people is the responsibility of the government, but the present government had completely failed in this regard. “Stopping the pension of eligible beneficiaries and declaring deserving people ineligible is a grave injustice that cannot be justified,” he said
