Patna: The Bihar Social Welfare Department will organise special block-level camps to restart old age pensions that were stopped due to technical problems, offering relief to nearly three lakh affected elderly citizens.
According to department officials, many beneficiaries under the Mukhyamantri Vridhajan Pension Yojana lost access to payments because of issues such as worn-out fingerprints, iris recognition problems, or mismatched name spellings between Aadhaar and bank records. These glitches have disrupted Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) processes, leaving several unable to receive their monthly entitlements.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar directed the department to address these cases promptly. The upcoming camps will provide on-the-spot solutions, including biometric updates and corrections to personal details, to ensure seamless pension disbursal.
The surge in such cases follows the government’s decision to raise the monthly pension from Rs 400 to Rs 1,100. The increase led to a sharp rise in applications, with the number of Mukhyamantri Vridhajan Pension Yojana beneficiaries climbing from 50 lakh to 50,63,557.
Other social security schemes in Bihar also serve large numbers of vulnerable citizens:
- Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension: 35,62,501 beneficiaries
- Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension: 6,35,553 beneficiaries
- Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension: 1,10,744 beneficiaries
- Lakshmibai Social Security Pension: 8,74,433 beneficiaries
- Bihar Disability Pension Scheme: 9,72,057 beneficiaries
