By Desaraju Surya
AMARAVATI: An estimated 9.7 lakh beneficiaries out of the total 62.94 lakh in Andhra Pradesh had to pay a bribe to receive their monthly NTR Bharosa pension in March.
Assuming each of these beneficiaries had to pay Rs 300 as bribe (to the government staffer hand-delivering the pension), the total bribe amount could be Rs 29.10 crore.
If the bribe was Rs 200 per head, the total would work out to Rs 19.40 crore.
This assumes significance as a whopping 15.7 per cent of people reported “corruption” in the delivery of social security pensions across the state in March.
Government data showed that while 14.5 per cent of people said their pensions were not being delivered at their doorstep, another 17.5 per cent complained about the bad behaviour of government staff delivering the dole.
These numbers came to light in the Public Perception Tracking (PPT) survey conducted via an Interactive Voice Response System (phone) call after the distribution of NTR Bharosa pensions in March. Feedback from the beneficiaries was also obtained through a QR (Quick Response) code.
The Chandrababu Naidu-led NDA government is distributing over Rs 2,293 crore every month to more than 62.94 lakh pensioners in different categories, with each beneficiary getting amounts ranging from Rs 4,000 to Rs 15,000.
Of the total pensioners, 86,447 took their pension at their nearest village or ward secretariat.
MG National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme workers numbering 23,831 were delivered pension at their work site.
Through IVRS, the government sought to know from the pensioners if they observed any corruption while taking pension, to which 15.7 per cent replied in the affirmative.
Kakinada district was ranked at the bottom on this parameter as only 78.6 per cent people said there was “no corruption” in pension distribution, implying 21.4 per cent reported graft.
In his native Chittoor district, where Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu took part in the pension distribution, 21.1 per cent people complained about corruption.
West Godavari and SPS Nellore were the other districts at the bottom, reporting over 21 per cent corruption in NTR Bharosa pension disbursement.
Palnadu topped the chart with 85.5 per cent people saying “no corruption”, followed by Prakasam, Konaseema, East Godavari and Satya Sai districts.
On (pension delivering) staff behaviour, about 22 per cent of pensioners in Tirupati, Bapatla, Visakhapatnam, Krishna and Nandyala districts expressed unhappiness.
These 22 per cent people complained about bad behaviour of the staff.
With over 83 per cent pensioners happy with the staff behaviour, Anakapalli, Parvatipuram Manyam and East Godavari districts took the top three slots.
More than 20 per cent beneficiaries were not being delivered pension at their doorstep on the first day of each month in YSR Kadapa, Visakhapatnam, Nandyala, Chittoor, Kakinada, Bapatla and West Godavari districts.
East Godavari is on top here with 88.40 per cent pensions door-delivered, followed by Parvatipuram Manyam and Konaseema districts.
Overall, East Godavari district has been ranked No. 1 in pension delivery, Parvatipuram Manyam No. 2 and Anakapalli No. 3.
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