Pensioners To Get Hike From July, Orders Issued

The Telangana government has issued orders to increase the social support pensions from June and effective from July.

With this as many as 39 lakh pensioners will be benefited.

While normal pensioners will now get Rs 2,016 (up from Rs 1,000 currently), the physically disabled will get Rs 3,016 (up from Rs 1,500).

The TRS had promised in the run-up to the December Telangana Assembly elections to hike the pensions if it returned to power, and this is a fulfillment of the promise, even if it has come only after six months of the TRS returning to power.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had announced the pension hike recently, and the government had made allocations for it in the vote-on-account budget. The decks have now been cleared by the government for the implementation of the hike.

The government has also reduced the age limit for pensioners to 57 years from the previous 65 years, another poll promise. With this, there will be another seven lakh new pensioners. It is estimated that a total of Rs 12,067 crore will be required for disbursing the increased amounts to all pensioners.