‘Welfare pension arrears will be disbursed soon’; social security pension will be increased, says CM

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There are arrears in welfare pension benefits and the entire amount will be paid soon, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the assembly. The chief minister also said the government has a plan to increase the social security pension.

Five installments of social welfare pension of Rs1600 per month are pending. Pension is being paid accurately from March 2024 onwards. The arrears will be disbursed in two installments in financial year 2024-25 and in three installments in 2025-26. The chief minister also said that Rs 4250 crore is due as arrears.

The chief minister reiterated that the cause of the economic crisis in the state was the wrong approach of the central government and accused the center of cutting the tax allocation along with economic sanctions. Kerala's gains in population control and per capita income are detrimental to the state under the Finance Commission's new benchmarks. The chief minister also informed the house that there is an approach of reducing the tax share due to this. The chief minister said that the center is also reducing the loan taken by KIIFB from the annual debt limit, and the central government grants have reduced from Rs 31,068 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 12,068 crore in 2023-24.