Old-age pensions restored: Atishi

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Atishi on Friday said the pensions of nearly one lakh elderly people in the national capital, which were stalled for five months, have been restored, while accusing the BJP-led Centre of holding it up by not contributing its share.

Delhi BJP leader Vijendra Gupta, however, claimed that it was the saffron party that had been raising the issue and the AAP dispensation had to bow down before it.

“The work of preparing pension documents for the elderly has been stopped in Delhi for the last six years. Old age pension was not given to even a single elderly person. The pension of one lakh elderly people was also stopped for the last one year. We were continuously fighting for this. BJP’s struggle bore fruit. The Kejriwal government had to bow down and the withheld pension was released,” Gupta wrote on X.

Atishi said four lakh elderly people in Delhi get pensions. Of these, the pension of one lakh people is paid for by the Delhi government and the Centre together. These one lakh were not getting their pensions for the last five months.