Odisha Collectors Must Complete Aadhaar Seeding of Beneficiaries by March 15

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has reminded the district collectors to complete the linkage of the Aadhaar number of beneficiaries under the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) and Madhu Babu Pension Yojana (MBPY) by March 15.

Failing this, the beneficiaries will not receive their pension from April 1.

In a letter, commissioner-cum-secretary, Social Security & Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (SSEPD) Bharkar Sarma said that Aadhaar seeding, which is about 91% in case of NSAP and about 73% in case of MBPY in Odisha, needs to be enhanced to 100% immediately to ensure complete transparency regarding these two schemes.

Hence, the beneficiaries whose Aadhaar verification/seeding is pending, will be asked to bring a copy of their Aadhaar card at the time of receiving their pension on January 15. Those who fail to bring the Aadhaar card on the said date will be offered another opportunity to do the same by February 15.

Beneficiaries having no Aadhaar card will be taken to the block office on January 15 where a team will be mobilized to collect their particulars for the issue of the Aadhaar card. A block-wise list of beneficiaries having no Aadhaar card will be prepared. The process of capturing Aadhaar particulars of these beneficiaries will be completed and provided to them by January 31.

The Aadhaar linking in respect of all beneficiaries will be completed by March 15. The pension of the beneficiaries under NSAP/MBPY will not be disbursed from April 1 if their Aadhaar link is not done, the letter stated.

At present, there are about 48 lakh beneficiaries under NSAP/MBPY in Odisha.