Relief for the elderly: Gone are the days of long queues for pensioners

Retired govt officials will now have a choice to draw funds from kiosks across the country.

ISLAMABAD:

Retired government officials will no longer have to wait for hours in painstaking queues to receive their pensions now.

As many as 2.1 million pensioners of the federal government will leave a sigh of relief from next month when they will have a choice to draw pension funds from some dedicated 6,000 kiosks across the country.

The federal government on Tuesday announced that a pension smartcard facility will be available to some 2.1 million pensioners aimed at reducing hardships of senior citizens of the country.

The smartcards – which will cost the government Rs1,500 per card – will be delivered free of charge, announced Finance Minister Saleem Mandviwalla while addressing a news conference. The total cost of the project is Rs3.2 billion that will be borne by taxpayers.

Mandviwalla said President Asif Ali Zardari had directed the finance ministry and the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra) to devise a mechanism to facilitate pensioners.

However, the pensioners will have to go to the Nadra office for verification purposes.

Meanwhile, Nadra Director General Gohar Ahmad Khan revealed that Nadra will charge 1.5% transaction cost of the withdrawn amount, which is half of the cost the Pakistan Post Office was currently charging. He said the project will be extended to commercial banks as well in due course.

While speaking about the implications of the government’s expansionary fiscal policies, Mandviwalla insisted that this year’s budget deficit will remain at 6.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or Rs1.54 trillion. Contrary to official estimates, independent economists have been projecting a gap of Rs2 trillion or 8.5% of GDP. Their assessment is based on calculations of massive power subsidies, bailout packages given to loss-making entities and tailor-made relief.

The finance minister defended the government’s decision of giving development funds in the middle of the fiscal year, arguing that these decisions were taken by the chief executive of the country (the prime minister) and were lawful.

Responding to a question, he said next month Pakistan will hold dialogue with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the sidelines of the spring meetings between the IMF and the World Bank scheduled to be held in Washington.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 13^th, 2013.