Elderly forced into repeated rounds over fingerprint mismatch

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Hurdles in disbursing aid under the Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Yojana and schemes for widows and elderly women have left many senior beneficiaries distressed. Aadhaar verification failures, particularly fingerprint mismatches due to age, have resulted in denial of payments, forcing repeated visits to banks, Aadhaar centres, tehsil offices and post offices.

Submitting life certificates, completing Aadhaar linking and fulfilling documentation has become physically exhausting amid technical glitches and age-related limitations. Beneficiaries say welfare schemes meant for their support have turned into a source of hardship. Citizens have demanded doorstep payment through the postal department’s mobile app to ease the burden, but no concrete steps have followed. Ashok Doles, former member of the Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Committee, urged authorities to provide alternatives where biometric authentication fails and to release payments based on Aadhaar and original documents rather than launching new schemes without ensuring proper implementation. Social activist Kadar Shah questioned the continued neglect of senior citizens, noting that modest monthly aid coupled with frequent office visits severely impacts even bedridden beneficiaries. He called for bank or postal facilitation and home delivery of funds through an app-based system.