New Delhi: More than 60,000 beneficiaries under the Delhi government’s Women’s Pension Scheme have been found to be ineligible after a large-scale verification exercise undertaken by the Women and Child Development (WCD).

“The verification revealed several instances where women no longer met the eligibility criteria but continued to receive the pension. These included remarried women claiming to be divorced, employed women drawing assistance despite a steady income and others who no longer resided at their registered addresses,” said an official, reported the Press Trust of India.

Under the pension scheme, widowed, divorced, separated and destitute women get financial assistance of Rs. 2,500 each month.

Officials said that a door-to-door verification drive launched in November last year revealed “widespread discrepancies” which led to the removal of 60,000 beneficiaries who have been found to be ineligible.

The verification drive was conducted by Anganwadi workers and covered around 4.25 lakh beneficiaries of the scheme.

“The verification drive has been completed in all districts and necessary corrections have been made to the database. Pension payments have been discontinued for those found ineligible and resumed for verified beneficiaries. At present, around 3.65 lakh women are receiving regular pension under the scheme,” said the official.

The scheme was first introduced in 2007-08 to provide a regular source of income to economically weak widows but over the years the amount under the scheme was increased and eligibility expanded to include other categories of women as well.

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