The Andhra Pradesh government led by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy will increase the monthly pension for old aged people and widows from Rs 2,500 to Rs 2,750 with effect from January.
The state cabinet which met here on Tuesday took a decision to this effect, benefitting 62.31 lakh pensioners, besides another 2.43 lakh new pensioners to be added in December.
State information minister Ch Srinivasa Venugopala Krishna told reporters that after Jagan came to power in 2019, the pension amount was hiked twice – from Rs 2,000 to Rs 2250 and later to Rs 2500. Now, it will go up to Rs 2,750 and by next year, it will go up to Rs 3,000 as promised in the election manifesto, he said.
The cabinet felt that the additional burden on the state government due to hike in pension would be Rs 130.44 crore per month, taking the overall expenditure to Rs 1,720 crore. With new pensioners joining the list, the expenditure would go up to Rs 1,786 crore.
Other decisions on the day include amendment to the Municipalities Act to conduct re-survey of lands, and setting up of Bapatla and Palnadu urban development authorities.
The Bapatla UDA will extend over 1301 sq.km. comprising two municipalities and 101 villages, while the Palnadu UDA will cover 7,281 sq.km. which includes 349 villages in 28 mandals of eight municipalities.
The cabinet approved the Andhra Pradesh pumped storage power promotion policy to encourage pumped storage hydro-electric projects. The companies setting up these projects would pay Rs 2 lakh per MW to the state government.
