Bhopal, January 3: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Wednesday has put on hold further payment of a monthly pension to people – detained during the Emergency under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) and Defence of India Rules (DIR). The Congress has stopped the pension of Rs 25,000, calling it an unnecessary expense.

The Congress government led by Nath stopped the Loknayak Jaiprakash Narayan Samman Nidhi Niyam pension, which was launched by the previous government. The move comes weeks after the Congress government came to power in December 2018. However, the opposition BJP has slammed the move and called this a political vendetta. Madhya Pradesh: Farmer Pronounced Punishment by Panchayat in Sheopur District For 'Accidentally Killing Cow', Family Ostracised.

The state government circular – released by December 29, 2018, and issued to all divisional commissioners and district collectors – says the process to distribute the honorarium needs to be changed to make it ‘accurate and transparent’. It also states that separate guidelines would be sent for physical verification of all beneficiaries soon.

The Congress government in its circular cited CAG reports stating that BJP allotted more amount than the budgetary allocation spent under the scheme, launched in 2008. It also noted that the concerned department finds it difficult to explain the anomaly to the Public Accounts Committee. The government further informed that the legislation (governing the scheme) has to be tabled again on the floor of the Assembly to reconcile the expenditure under the scheme.

With this new circular, there is no clarity to the beneficiaries whether they will receive the pension in January. The state is yet to set a time frame by which the verification of beneficiaries has to be completed.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 03, 2019 12:21 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).