The Hindu : New Delhi News : Capital’s 42 centurion citizens to get Rs 1,001 monthly pension now

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 02, 2007
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New Delhi

Capital’s 42 centurion citizens to get Rs 1,001 monthly pension now

Staff Reporter

Sheila Dikshit launches identity cards for senior citizens on World Elders’ Day

Photo: Anu Pushkarna

Seeking blessings: Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit with an elderly woman after distributing identity cards to senior citizens on the occasion of World Elders’ Day at Delhi Secretariat on Monday.

NEW DELHI: All of Delhi’s 42 centurion senior citizens or residents above 100 years of age would now get an enhanced monthly pension of Rs.1,001 instead of the Rs.600 pension being given to the other senior citizens, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit announced at a function organised at Delhi Secretariat here on Monday to celebrate World Elders’ Day.

Ms. Dikshit also announced that her Government was in the process of commissioning nine old age homes which would be handed over to non-government organisations for maintenance and that at least one recreation centre for senior citizens would be opened in each Assembly segment to expand the sphere of amenities for them.

The Chief Minister said the new pension rates had come into force from Monday. There are, she added, 942,860 senior citizens or people above 60 years of age in Delhi, of them 42 are centurions. Of these senior citizens, about 160,000 are being paid a monthly pension of Rs. 600. The Chief Minister also started the distribution of Senior Citizen Identity Card from the function by handing over such cards to 10 centurions who were present there. She said the Delhi Government was aware of the difficulties being faced by the elderly persons in getting their pension and so it had also been decided to release the pension through the electronic process.

Medical, travel facilities

She said the I-cards would make the senior citizens eligible for medical and travel facilities apart from other benefits. The one for centurion senior citizens would have a golden border to make it different from others. It was also announced that the identity cards would be personally handed over to all the senior citizens at their residence. Social Welfare Minister Yoganand Shastri said the Department of Social Welfare had prepared a data base of all senior citizens of Delhi for providing them better facilities and services in all spheres of life.

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