Haryana CM trashes opposition's claims of cancellation of old-age pensions of several beneficiaries

Chandigarh, Feb 27 (PTI) Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Friday refuted the opposition's claims regarding the alleged cancellation of old-age pensions of several beneficiaries in the state, calling them baseless, misleading, and politically motivated.

The opposition leaders have been spreading lies and confusion on the issue of elderly pensions in an attempt to gain cheap political mileage. They have been alleging that the government has stopped pensions and snatched away the rights of senior citizens, Saini said while trashing the allegations as baseless.

"Is spreading lies your only agenda? Can you not see that we have introduced a transparent system and stopped the loot that prevailed during your tenure?" Saini told the opposition benches.

Saini was replying to a debate on the motion of thanks to the governor's address in the state Assembly.

The opposition Congress and INLD has alleged that the old age pension of a number of beneficiaries have been discontinued.

Saini informed the House that in nearly 1.30 lakh cases, certain discrepancies related to age, income and other criteria were found.

However, these pensions have not been discontinued. Instead, the discrepancies are being verified and examined to ensure that only eligible beneficiaries receive the pension, he said.

Today, more than 20 lakh elderly citizens are receiving pensions in Haryana and the number of beneficiaries has gone up in recent years. If pensions had been cut, how would this number have increased, he asked.

During the INLD regime, he said the old-age pension was Rs 200, and during the long Congress tenure, it saw an increase of only Rs 700, while it is Rs 3,200 per month now, under the BJP regime, he said.

During the Congress regime, more than 50,000 ineligible persons were granted pensions. In 2011, an old-age pension scam came to light in which pensions were issued to individuals who were either ineligible or had already passed away, he said.

Referring to a media report published on July 4, 2011, he said at that time, the government had decided to transfer pensions directly into bank accounts. In 16 districts, 15,98,126 persons were receiving social security pensions.

However, when beneficiaries were asked to open bank accounts, only 11,44,098 accounts were opened, indicating that nearly 5 lakh pensions were allegedly being disbursed to fake beneficiaries, Saini added.

This figure was only for 16 districts; considering all 21 districts at that time, the number would have been even higher, he said.

We have fully streamlined and reformed the system, he said.

No eligible elderly person will be deprived of pension benefits. But those who are misleading the public by spreading falsehoods will have to answer before the people, he added.

Responding to other issues raised by the opposition while participating in discussion on Governor's Address this week, Saini said that no BPL ration cards have been cut by the government.

He further said that those citizens who are no longer on the BPL list have moved out due to improved living standards brought about by government welfare schemes.

The CM emphasised that Haryana government's welfare programmes have helped families improve their income and quality of life, allowing them to naturally rise above the poverty line.

No ration card was removed arbitrarily. Our focus has been on lifting people out of poverty, not penalizing them, he said.

Saini further said that citizens who had underreported income in the Parivar Pehchan Patra (family id) scheme were requested to correct their details.

Many voluntarily removed themselves from the BPL list. Additionally, fresh income verification was conducted, and households with annual incomes above Rs 1,80,000 were removed from the BPL category, he said.

On the farmers issue, Saini said that due to heavy rainfall in August-September 2025, several districts of Haryana witnessed flood-like conditions.

He personally visited the affected areas to assess the ground situation. To compensate farmers for damage to Kharif-2025 crops caused by heavy rainfall and waterlogging, the government opened the e-Kshatipurti portal until September 15.

He said that compensation amounting to Rs 116.15 crore has been released to 53,821 farmers.

Responding to opposition claims that many farmers did not receive compensation, he said an inquiry was conducted.

During the investigation, it was found that duplicate photographs of certain land parcels had been uploaded on the portal by patwaris (revenue officials), Saini added.

Due to this technical discrepancy, compensation amounting to Rs 370.52 crore for 1,50,583 farmers could not be approved, he said.

He described the matter as serious and said it is currently under government consideration. A final decision will be taken soon and appropriate action will be initiated regarding the remaining eligible farmers, the CM said. PTI SUN NB NB