Now in order to avail pension all the beneficiaries of Aasara pensions will have to open a bank account from June onward. Hyderabad district administration has decided to distribute Aasara pensions though bank accounts instead of handing over personally.
District collector K Nirmala directed officials to ensure that all the beneficiaries open bank accounts. She also directed district lead bank managers to make sure that all banks provide facility to open zero balance accounts for Aasara beneficiaries.
There are a total 1, 56,280 Aasara beneficiaries in Hyderabad district. Among them 53,292 are old age pensioners aged above 60 years. While widow pensioners are 80,273, there are 22,715 disabled persons.
During the disbursal of pensions aged people are suffering with lot many problems, many elderly had fainted and fallen ill while standing in queues. If the beneficiaries have a bank account the pension amount can be directly credited to their account, said an official. Till now Aasara pensions are being distributed by revenue officials in all mandals.