Kerala welfare pension row: Vet surgeon claims her request to cancel pension went unaddressed

Thiruvananthapuram: Shobha Chandra, a veterinary surgeon with the Directorate of Animal Husbandry, Kerala, has responded to the controversy surrounding welfare pensions, after being included in a list of employees who allegedly received undeserved welfare pension payments. Shobha, a differently-abled employee, clarified that she had applied for the cancellation of the pension when she secured the government job in 2018.

Shobha explained that after she started working, she sent a letter to cancel the pension, which she had been receiving at the time. “After my studies, when I was unemployed, I applied for and received a pension for the differently-abled. In 2018, when I got the job, I wrote to the Malayankeezhu Panchayat to cancel the pension I was receiving. At that time, I was receiving Rs 1,000 as pension. Later, when I started receiving my salary, I did not pay attention to this pension, thinking that since I had applied for cancellation, I would no longer receive it.” she said. 

Despite her application, Rs 13,000 was credited to her account till April 2019. 

Shobha stressed that she had no knowledge of the pension mustering process and was unaware the pension payments continued after her application for cancellation. “It was only after this controversy arose that I realised my application had not been cancelled, and the money was still in my account. I am earning a good salary now and no longer need this pension. I was unaware of the pension mustering process, and no one, including the panchayat member, informed me about it. I have all the documents to support my claim. I was very poor when I applied, and my parents were working as daily wage laborers to support the family. I have not committed any crime, and I am coming forward with that assurance,” added Shobha.

Recently the names of 74 individuals in the Animal Welfare Department, who had received social welfare pensions undeservedly, were released. Shobha Chandra, a native of Malayankeezhu, was among those on the list.