Assistance to over 19,000 informal caregivers under Aswasakiranam project overdue by two years
While the dues of beneficiaries in Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Idukki, Wayanad, and Kasaragod were cleared till September 2022, those from the remaining nine districts have not received the allowance since August 2022
The paltry monthly assistance of ₹600 given to over 19,000 informal caregivers looking after bedridden persons under the Aswasakiranam project of the Kerala Social Security Mission (KSSM) is overdue by almost two years.
KSSM may need ₹21.80 crore to clear the dues till this March, according to the response to a petition filed by Right to Information (RTI) activist Raju Vazhakkala. While the dues of beneficiaries in Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Idukki, Wayanad, and Kasaragod were cleared till September 2022, those from the remaining nine districts have not received the allowance since August 2022.
Dues till 2022 were cleared using ₹15 crore allocated during the 2023-24 financial year. Payment under the Aswasakiranam project are issued as soon as funds are allocated by the government.
“While other social welfare pensions are fixed at ₹1,600 a month, assistance under the Aswasakiranam project is just one-third of it. Even that is now overdue to the tune of ₹14,000 per beneficiary. It will be a big relief to these marginalised sections if their dues are cleared before Onam, which is round the corner,” said Mr. Vazhakkala.
When the project was launched in 2010, the monthly allowance was fixed at an abysmally low ₹250. The number of beneficiaries under the project had since grown from 386 to 19,229.
Only those with an annual income not exceeding ₹22,375 in the Kochi Corporation area and ₹20,000 within the panchayat limits are considered eligible under the project. The project is applicable to caregivers of all bed-ridden patients.
The income limit is not applicable in the case of the mentally challenged. Those fully blind, bedridden with cancer and old age, and those with brittle bone disease are also covered under the project.
The beneficiaries should produce the below poverty line ration card and income certificate issued by the village officer in the name of the patient. A medical certificate issued by a government doctor in the prescribed form certifying the state of the patient is also mandatory. Beneficiaries of other welfare pensions are also eligible for the assistance under the project.
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Kochi
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Kerala
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wage and pension