AP Widow Pension Update: Govt Approves New Beneficiaries, Starts from May 1

AP Widow Pension Update:
The Andhra Pradesh government has approved the release of 90,000 new social pensions under the widow category. This is the first time such approval has been granted after the new coalition government took office. The state launched a major review of pension beneficiaries. Many ineligible individuals were found receiving benefits.But the review also identified that several eligible people were not getting their rightful pensions.

AP Widow Pension Update:
The government has now cleared pensions for 89,788 new eligible widows under the spouse category. If a pension beneficiary dies, the pension is transferred to the surviving spouse. This new category, introduced in November last year, ensures that the wife of a deceased beneficiary starts receiving the pension from the following month.

Eligible women must submit their husband’s death certificate and Aadhaar card details at village or ward secretariats. These details will be accepted from April 25. If submitted by April 30, the pension will be released on May 1. Those submitting after April 30 will start receiving payments from June 1. Each approved pensioner will receive Rs. 4,000 per month. This move adds Rs. 35.91 crore per month to the state’s financial burden.

Many families continue to face issues. Employees who lost their jobs under the new government were not removed from the APCOS (AP Corporation of Outsourced Services) lists. As a result, their families are still marked ineligible for welfare schemes. Even families of contract and outsourced workers earning below Rs. 30,000 per month are not receiving pensions. The promise to restore these benefits remains unfulfilled.

In 2022, the previous government considered contract and outsourcing workers as government employees. Nearly 1.5 lakh families lost their social pensions because of this rule. The inclusion of their names on the same ration card was used as a reason to deny welfare benefits.

The coalition government removed many employees hired by the previous regime. They are now planning to eliminate APCOS and bring back agency-based hiring. Despite promises during elections to restore pensions for low-income workers, the affected individuals are still waiting. Those who lost jobs are demanding their names be removed from APCOS lists so that their families can qualify for government schemes again.

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