Reported by Mrinal Banik
Agartala: The Tripura government on Monday attributed the recent disruption in social pension disbursement to the implementation of a new centralised fund transfer mechanism, with Social Welfare and Social Education Minister Tinku Roy expressing hope that regular payments would resume from next month.
Addressing the issue amid complaints from beneficiaries over delayed pension payments, Roy said the introduction of the SNA-SPARSH system had led to temporary operational challenges.
SNA-SPARSH is a real-time fund release mechanism under which the central and state shares of welfare funds are transferred on a just-in-time basis directly to designated accounts. The system has been introduced to reduce the practice of keeping funds parked in intermediary accounts and to improve financial transparency and efficiency.
“Earlier, the state used to receive the Centre’s contribution several months in advance. Under the new arrangement, fund transfers take place in real time, and some technical issues have emerged during the transition. Efforts are underway to resolve these issues, and regular monthly payments are expected to resume from next month,” the minister said.
He said the state government is also creating and streamlining bank accounts to facilitate the new payment mechanism and ensure error-free implementation.
Responding to demands for an increase in social pension amounts, Roy said the scope for enhancing the pension remains limited because the state bears the majority of the financial burden.
According to the minister, beneficiaries currently receive Rs 2,000 per month, of which the central government contributes Rs 200 while the remaining Rs 1,800 is funded by the state government.
“Maintaining parity with states having larger financial resources is difficult. However, the government remains committed to providing maximum support to beneficiaries within its available resources,” he said.
The clarification comes after several social pension beneficiaries across Tripura reported that they had not received their monthly payments for the past few months and were uncertain about the reasons behind the delay.