Ineligible membership in lottery welfare fund: CPM leader received benefits for a decade

Alappuzha: Reports suggest that a CPM leader here received benefits for 10 years by undeservedly taking membership in lottery workers welfare fund. V.B Ashokan, member of the CPM district committee and the lottery workers welfare board, continued to accept benefits from the fund despite neither being a lottery seller nor agent. He is the district secretary of lottery agents and sellers union (CITU) and is currently a welfare pensioner. 

Ashokan applied for pension after paying his contribution to the scheme until December 1, 2021. He submitted certificates from two Alappuazha lottery agencies, A-5590 and A-5131, as proof of being a lottery seller to the welfare fund office. As per rules, a member is required to buy and sell lottery tickets worth Rs 25,000 per month to retain membership. 

Efforts are underway across the state to revise the welfare fund list and remove ineligible persons. Amidst this, the senior CPM leader remains to be a pensioner on the list receiving benefits for 10 years now.

The welfare fund is conceived by the government with the aim of social as well as economic upliftment of lottery agents and sellers in the state. The government spends a sizeable amount to provide various benefits to the members of the welfare fund including bonus, marriage and maternity allowances.

Alappuzha district has the largest number of people enrolled in the welfare fund with no direct connection to lottery sales. There are about 10,500 members in total. Notices were sent to 3,800 people suspected of being ineligible and yet, it is estimated that there are still 3,000 ineligible people in the list from this district alone.

Over 15 middlemen connected with various trade unions have been found to have been unwarrantedly added to the welfare fund in the district. They siphon off Rs 2000 each from the Rs 6000 bonus offered to the members during Onam.

V.B Ashokan says that he was a lottery agent who has also done sales and that he is now a pensioner under the welfare fund due to having reached the retirement age.