Thiruvananthapuram: Finding that 1458 government employees of the state, including gazetted, are receiving social welfare pension. The fraud was discovered during the inspection conducted by the Information Kerala Mission as per the instructions of the Finance Department. College Assistant Professors, including those receiving welfare pension, are receiving the pension.
Teachers including higher secondary students are also in the list of welfare pension recipients. The Finance Department has directed to recover the illegally received pension amount along with interest. Finance Minister KN Balagopal directed strict disciplinary action against the culprits.
Out of the 2 assistant professors who are getting pension in this way, one is working in a government college in Thiruvananthapuram district and the other is working in a government college in Palakkad district. 3 higher secondary teachers are getting pension. The health department has the highest number of welfare pensioners, 373. The Public Education Department is in second place – 224 people. 124 in the Medical Education Department, 114 in the Ayurveda (Indian System of Medicine) Department, 74 in the Animal Welfare Department and 47 in the Public Works Department are drawing welfare pension.
46 people in the Technical Education Department, 41 people in Homeopathy Department, 35 people each in the Agriculture and Revenue Departments, 34 people in Judiciary and Social Justice Department, 31 people in Insurance Medical Services Department, 27 people in Collegiate Education Department and 25 people in Homeopathy are getting welfare pension.
The number of pensioners in other departments and institutions is as follows: Sales Tax 14 each, Scheduled Caste Welfare 13, Rural Development, Police, PSC, Ayurvedic Medical Education 10 each, Cooperation 8, Legislature Secretariat, Vocational Training, Public Administration, Vocational Higher Secondary – 7 each, Forest – 9 , Soil Survey, Fisheries 6 each, Local Government, Road Transport, Industry and Commerce, Fire Force, Dairy Development, Public Distribution, Advocate General’s Office 4 each, Social Welfare, Registration, Museum, Printing, Food Safety, Excise, Archeology 3 each, Labour, Legal Metrology, Medical Examination Laboratory, Economics and Statistics, Law Colleges 2 each, NCC, Lotteries, Jail, Labor Court, Harbor Engineering, Electrical Inspectorate, Drugs Control, Winnoka Divisional Development, Coir Vakisanam 1 each.
The Finance Department has decided to continue the inspections at various levels. The Department of Finance has informed that it will continue to take steps to identify and exclude those who are ineligible and ensure proper distribution of pension to all those who are eligible.
