Finance department approves ₹817 crore for March pensions

The Finance department has approved the social security pension payments for March. Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal announced this on Sunday. The government has set aside ₹817 crore for the payments. Starting Thursday, the pensions will be deposited into the bank accounts of 26 lakh pensioners. For those without bank accounts, pensions will be delivered to their homes via cooperative banks. More than 60 lakh people are eligible for these pensions, which amount to ₹1,600 a month for each recipient. Among them, about 8.46 lakh pensioners qualify for a Central share of their pensions. The state government has contributed ₹24.31 crore towards this Central share.