Bhubaneswar: The state govt has directed all district administrations to complete verification of 63,848 unverified applications under the Madhu Babu Pension Yojana (MBPY) by Tuesday.In a letter to all collectors and district magistrates, Suresh Kumar Vashishth, the principal secretary of the social security and empowerment of persons with disabilities (SSEPD) department, stated the state govt was focusing on ensuring that no eligible beneficiary was deprived of social security pension under the scheme. At present, 36,75,008 beneficiaries are covered under MBPY.The scheme covers senior citizens, differently-abled individuals and other vulnerable groups.According to the department, 63,848 online applications were yet to be verified as of Aug 12. Cuttack has the highest number of applications pending verification at 8,004, followed by Balasore with 7,190 and Mayurbhanj with 6,945. Nayagarh has 4,531 pending applications, while Jajpur and Sundargarh have 3,440 and 3,340, respectively. Bargarh has 3,159 pending applications and Jagatsinghpur 2,557.Among the other major districts, Bhadrak has 2,478 pending applications, Ganjam 2,435, Kendrapara 2,282, Puri 2,009 and Khurda 1,900. At the lower end, Deogarh has the fewest pending applications at 233, followed by Nuapada (309), Koraput (324), Kandhamal (341) and Rayagada (389). The district-wise statement shows 5,30,660 applications in the database considered for verification, of which, 4,66,812 had been verified, leaving 63,848 pending.Vashishth said verification would help identify and weed out ineligible applicants and thereby sanitise the pensioner database. Collectors have been asked to take up the exercise on a “mission mode” and ensure completion by Aug 18. The directive comes as the state seeks to ensure that eligible beneficiaries receive social security pensions while simultaneously improving the accuracy of the MBPY beneficiary database.Meanwhile, chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi during the Independence Day celebrations on Saturday, announced that another seven lakh beneficiaries will be added to the MBPY scheme.
