AP govt to distribute pensions through village, ward secretariats during elections

VIJAYAWADA: With the Election Commission of India (ECI) issuing directions to the Andhra Pradesh Government to not utilise the services of volunteers for distribution of cash benefits under any scheme, including pensions, the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) has now come with an alternate solution.

The SERP officials have now asked beneficiaries to collect pensions from village and ward secretariats by producing their Aadhaar and biometric authentication.

The volunteers will not distribute the cash until the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) is in place. The directions from the ECI came at a time when the YSRCP Government was planning to distribute pensions through 2.66 lakh volunteers from April 3, 2024. The ECI was going by the directions of the Andhra Pradesh High Court which was dealing with a petition against against the usage of volunteers in distribution of Government schemes and continuous complaints against the volunteers influencing elections at grassroots level.

The ECI had then advised the Government to make alternative arrangements for distribution of benefits of ongoing schemes preferably through Direct Benefit Transfer or through regular Government employees.

The Government of Andhra Pradesh's Department of Rural Development (SERP) has circulated guidelines, directing the utilisation of service of all village/ward secretariat staff for pension disbursement.

The Complaints dated 23.02.2024 and 25.02.2024 filed by the Citizens for Democracy and subsequent orders dated 13.03.2024 of the Hon'ble High Court of Andhra Pradesh in the WP 6419/2024 titled Citizens for Democracy vs ECI. Having regard to continuous flow of complaints against volunteers, newspaper reports against volunteers influencing elections at grassroots level and in the spirit of the aforesaid order of Hon'ble High Court of AP in WP 6419/2024, the Commission has directed that:

(i) Volunteers shall be barred from distribution of cash benefits under any scheme (including pensions) to eligible beneficiaries.

(ii) Handheld devices (mobile/tablets/any other) provided to the volunteers be deposited with the DEOs till MCC period.

(iii) The Govt of Andhra Pradesh may be asked to make alternative arrangements for distribution of benefits of ongoing schemes to already selected benefits using DBT(electronic transfer) preferably or through other regular government employees.

(iv) Keeping in view of the above instructions it is decided to disburse the pensions through all Village/Ward Secretariat Staff during the coure of elections. The following guidelines for disbursement of pensions during the course of elections are issued.

Guidelines for disbursement of pensions through all Village/Ward Secretariat staff:

1. Pension disbursement through Volunteers has been disabled.

2. Pension disbursement will be done at the Village/Ward Secretariat office only by all the Village/Ward Secretariat staff.

3. The MPDOs/Municipal Commissioners will issue Authorization letter to the Panchayat Secretary and Welfare & Education Assistant in rural areas and Ward Administrative Secretaries and Ward Welfare Development Secretaries in urban areas for carrying cash from banks to their Village/Ward Secretariats. The Authorization letters with details of secretariat and amount are available in MPDO/MC login.

4. Copy of Authorization letters should be sent to the concerned Returning Officers.

5. The Panchayat Secretary and Welfare & Education Assistant in rural areas and Ward Administrative Secretaries and Ward Welfare Development Secretaries in urban areas will withdraw cash from bank and handover to the all the Village/Ward Secretariat staff.

6. The WEA/WWDS are directed to collect cash from all secretariat staff on closing of disbursement every day. The cash balance with WEA/WWDS should be informed to MPDOs/MC every day.

7. Logins will be provided to all Village/Ward Secretariat staff. They are directed to download the pension disbursement app in their mobile. Total secretariat pension list will be enabled to all the secretariat staff. The Digital Assistants are requested to provide Finger Print Scanner devices to secretariat staff.

8. Disbursement of pensions through Secretariat staff user manual will be provided for proper disbursement. The WEA/WWDS are directed to explain the disbursement process to all the Village/ward Secretariat staff.

9. The Secretariat staff will disburse the pension amount duly obtaining Aadhaar Authentication (Biometric/Iris/ Aadhaar Face).

10. In case of failure of Aadhaar Authentication, Real time Beneficiary Identification System (RBIS) mode pension will be disbursed by WEA/WWDS.

11. In respect of offline secretariats, Devices used for disbursement of pensions should be mapped in MPDO/MC login. All the Village/Ward Secretariat staffs are directed to download the data and disburse pensions duly obtaining the authentication.

12. No publicity shall be given while disbursement of pensions. Pension disbursement photos/videos shall be avoided.

13. While doing disbursement of pensions, Model Code of Conduct shall be adhered to and any deviation will be viewed seriously.

The Project Director, DRDAs are requested to communicate the circular to all the MPDOS/Municipal Commissioners and disburse the pensions duly following the Model Code of Conduct.

The MPDOs/Municipal Commissioners are requested to follow the above guidelines and disburse the pensions during the course of elections.