Members of the Karnataka State Pension Parishad will organise a people’s campaign on Thursday at Freedom Park demanding “universalisation” of pensions in the state.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Pension Parishad coordinator Nalini Shekhar said pensions for below poverty line (BPL) beneficiaries in the state had stopped since 2010.
“The entire pension system is full of confusions. In many cases, pension is being given to those who are dead, while beneficiaries who are alive are not getting their dues,” she said.
C R Venkatamma, 55, a resident of Chennapura, said the officials have declared pensioners alive as dead to stop providing pensions.
“Apart from this, they demand a number of documents. How are we expected to run around for documents at this age and face middlemen hunting for bribes?” she said, adding that she did not want Rs 400 per month as pension.
“We are not begging. We are only asking for the tax we have paid during our working days,” she added.
Nagalakshmi, a HIV victim and a widow for the last 11 years, claimed that she was not receiving any pension from the government. “I am demanding for pension since the day I was diagnosed with HIV. We need government’s support,” she said.
They demanded that beneficiaries should receive pension of at least Rs 2,000 or half of the person’s salary. Also, they said the age limit for women should be fixed at 50 years and for men at 55 years.
The participants will include the elderly, dalits, domestic workers, sex workers, construction workers and people living with HIV.
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