Maharashtra Government Re-Starts Pension For Prisoners During Emergency Era

Maharashtra Government Re-Starts Pension For Prisoners During Emergency Era

The Mahavikas Aghadi government had shut down the monthly pension scheme for those imprisoned during the Emergency. Now that the government has once again changed, Devendra Fadnavis has become the Deputy Chief Minister.

The decision to restart the scheme, which was started when Fadnavis was the chief minister, was taken at a cabinet meeting on Thursday. It was also approved to pay arrears to the persons whose scheme was approved from the period of closure of the scheme.

Emergency was declared in the country from June 25, 1975, to March 31, 1977. A proposal to honour the persons who had to undergo imprisonment during this period was proposed in the Cabinet meeting on January 2, 2018. Fadnavis was the Chief Minister at that time.

Meanwhile, it was decided to close this scheme, which was started during the Fadnavis government, after the Mahavikas Aghadi came to power. The Mahavikas Aghadi closed the scheme on July 31, 2020, citing that the economy was being affected due to the decline in state revenue due to the Corona crisis. Due to this, pensions were stopped for those who were imprisoned during the Emergency.

However, in the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis again decided to reintroduce a pension scheme for prisoners of emergency.

A monthly gratuity of Rs ten thousand will be given to the persons who have served imprisonment for more than one month during the Emergency period and Rs five thousand to their spouses thereafter. Also, Rs five thousand per month will be given to the persons who have served less than one month of imprisonment, and Rs two thousand 500 to their spouses thereafter.

The last date for submitting fresh applications to the Collector Office to avail of the benefit of this scheme will be October 31, 2022. For this, the persons who have been imprisoned during the Emergency period are required to submit the application along with the affidavit in the annexure prescribed by the Government Decision dated July 3, 2018, to the Collectorate.