Hyderabad: Telangana govt will sanction new Cheyutha pensions to 4.5 lakh eligible beneficiaries as a Diwali gift, with chief minister A Revanth Reddy launching the distribution programme in Kodangal on Sunday. Panchayati raj, rural development and women and child welfare minister D Anasuya Seethakka will participate in the programme.The CM will hand over pension sanction documents to a few beneficiaries at the programme in his constituency. Subsequently, ministers, public representatives and officials will distribute the sanction documents to eligible beneficiaries across all districts in a phased manner. The newly sanctioned pensioners will receive their pension amounts from this month.Govt had initially planned to launch the new pensions from Dasara. However, the process was delayed due to the verification of more than six lakh applications received from across the state. A total of 6,00,917 applications were submitted between Aug 10 and Sept 15.The new pensions will cover eligible single women, widows, persons with disabilities, toddy tappers, weavers and filaria patients, among other categories. The chief minister had already accorded approval for sanctioning pensions to eligible applicants under the Cheyutha scheme.The Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) undertook the process of receiving applications, scrutinising them and identifying eligible beneficiaries. Applications were received through gram panchayats, MPDO offices, ward offices and municipal offices. MeeSeva centres in the Core Urban Region (CURE) were also permitted to receive applications from eligible rural beneficiaries temporarily residing in urban areas.The verification process involved checking applicants’ details against the integrated database, including land records, vehicle registrations, employee details and GST records relating to large business units. Field-level verification was subsequently carried out by designated officers at mandal and municipal levels.The concerned departments were also involved in verifying applications. The Excise Department examined applications submitted by toddy tappers, while the Handlooms and Textiles Department verified those of weavers. Senior officials were appointed as District-Level Monitoring Officers to conduct random checks and ensure accuracy in the selection of beneficiaries.Govt also conducted awareness campaigns involving local representatives, officials and civil society organisations to ensure that all eligible people were covered under the scheme.
