Allowance for 556 people suspended in Bangladesh, old age allowance matched at age 36 in Ghatail

News Desk –
Halima of Najunbagh village in Ghatail upazila of Tangail has been withdrawing old age allowance for the last ten years. However, according to the old age allowance policy, men should be 65 years and women should be 62 years old. According to his national identity card, he was born on March 3, 1982. Current age is 48. He has been on the old age allowance list since he was 36 years old. Halima said Abdur Rauf Gudu, the then member of Ward 2 of Digar Union, gave her an allowance card. Due to such inconsistency of age, the allowance of 558 elderly beneficiaries has been suspended in this upazila. The Upazila Social Service Officer signed the list on December 11 showing the age as unsuitable.

According to the Upazila Social Service Office, the total number of elderly beneficiaries in 14 unions and one municipality of Ghatail upazila is 12,793. The government introduced this allowance for the elderly from the 1996-97 financial year. This year, the MIS (Management Information System) activities are conducted by the Upazila Social Service Office under the direction of the Department of Social Services. Entrepreneurs and social workers of the Union Parishad cooperated in this work. This program has been launched simultaneously in 72 upazilas in the financial year 2018-19 and in the whole country in the financial year 2019-20. Beneficiaries appeared at the Union Parishad in their own body with allowance books and national identity cards. According to the organizers, if the beneficiary searches for the beneficiary’s book number, date of birth and national identity card number through online social service software, all the information comes to light. If the beneficiary is under 65 or 62 years of age, the software shows it as invalid. Rasulpur Union has not yet submitted any list out of 14 unions. As 13 unions and municipalities together are unfit for age, the allowance of 556 people has been stopped. The highest age discrepancy is 94 in the municipality and the lowest is 6 in Sandhanpur union. Other unions include Deulabari-29, Jamuria-53, Ghatail-29, Lokerpara-60, Anehla-61, Dighalkandi-54, Digar-37, Deogara-30, Sangrampur-14, Dhalapara-39, Sagardighi-9 and Laxmindar Union. John.

In this regard, Upazila Social Service Officer Asadul Islam said, allowance of 558 people has been suspended. They will be replaced by others in accordance with the policy. Now all our work is done online, so this kind of work is not likely to happen again. We are working in coordination with the election office.