After Aam Aadmi Party leader Bhagwant Mann was sworn in as Punjab Chief Minister on March 16, 2022, a few posts started making rounds on social media claiming that the new government has decided to cancel the pension of former Ministers and MLAs of Punjab.
The post read, “बड़ा फैसला पंजाब में पूर्व विधायकों व मंत्रियों की पेंशन बंद” (English Translation: Big decision, pension of former MLAs and ministers stopped in Punjab)
Here’s the link to the above post.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the post and found it to be misleading.
We ran a keyword search and found a tweet by Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann dated March 25, 2022, where he has announced the ‘one MLA one Pension’ formula. The tweet read, “Today, we have taken another big decision. The pension formula for Punjab’s MLAs will be changed. MLAs will now be eligible for only one pension. Thousands of crores of rupees which were being spent on MLA pensions will now be used to benefit the people of Punjab.”
Today, we have taken another big decision. The pension formula for Punjab’s MLAs will be changed. MLAs will now be eligible for only one pension.
Thousands of crores of rupees which were being spent on MLA pensions will now be used to benefit the people of Punjab. pic.twitter.com/AdeAmAnR7E
— Bhagwant Mann (@BhagwantMann) March 25, 2022
As per the tweet, an MLA is eligible for only one pension even if they have served for more than one term. “Ex-MLAs in Punjab, even if they have won twice, five times or ten times, they will now get a pension for one term only,” Mann said in the video message.
According to a report by NDTV, ‘An MLA gets a pension of around ₹ 75,000 per month for one term. Thereafter, an additional 66 per cent of the pension amount is given for each subsequent term’.
“Somebody gets ₹ 3.50 lakh and somebody gets ₹ 4.50 lakh and somebody gets ₹ 5.25 lakh as pension. It puts a financial burden of crores of rupees on the exchequer,” NDTV quoted Mann as saying.
Mann added that the full details of this decision to limit pensions to a single term would be released in the coming days. However, from the above information, it is clear that the post in circulation is misleading.
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