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Haryana: BJP govt drastically reduced allocation for social security pensions: Congress
“No paucity of funds for welfare schemes. Adequate provision will be made to ensure uninterrupted disbursement, additional requirement to be met through supplementary grants”: Haryana social justice and empowerment minister.
The Congress on Tuesday attacked the BJP government in Haryana for drastically reducing the budgetary allocation for social security pensions including the Old Age Samman allowance for 2026-27 fiscal.
Quoting from budget documents, Congress general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP, Randeep Singh Surjewala at a briefing said that allocation for Old Age Samman allowance was decreased by about 40% from ₹6,700 crore (as per 2025-26 revised estimates) to ₹3,970 crore in the 2026-27 budget estimates presented by chief minister Nayab Singh Saini on Monday. “This shows that the BJP government is preparing for large scale deletions of beneficiaries of old age pensions,’’ the Congress leader said.
Surjewala, a former Haryana minister said that as per the budget documents the allocation for widows and destitute women has also been decreased by ₹685 crore. “In 2025– 26 revised estimates, the allocation under this head was ₹2,960 crore. In 2026-27 budget estimates, the allocation has been slashed to ₹2,275 crore. Similarly, pension for persons with disabilities has also been cut by ₹136 crore - from ₹651 crore in 2025 - 26 revised estimates to ₹515 crore in 2026- 27,” he said.
The MP said the budget for the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee accident assistance scheme has also been slashed by 86% from ₹1.50 crore in 2025- 26 revised estimates to a mere ₹20 lakh in 2026– 27 budget. The budget for the Chief Minister Maternity Scheme has also been reduced by 33% - from ₹30 crore in 2025- 26 budget estimates to ₹20 crore in 2026–27 budget estimates.
Haryana social justice and empowerment minister Krishan Bedi however rejected opposition’s claims of cuts in allocation for social security pensions, maintaining that the state government has not paucity of funds for welfare schemes.
Responding to concerns over reduced allocations in 2026-27 budget estimates, Bedi told HT the state government remains committed to protecting the interests of elderly beneficiaries, widows, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable sections.
“We will not leave any stone unturned. Adequate provisions would be made to ensure uninterrupted disbursement of pensions. Any additional requirement of funds would be met through supplementary grants during the next financial year,” Bedi said.
The Congress general secretary said that since the BJP government is unable to garner resources, it ends up inflating the budget estimates only to reduce it in the revised estimates.
“The BJP government presented a budget of ₹1,89,877 crore in 2024-25 only to reduce it to ₹1,80,314 crore in 2024-25 revised estimates. It actually ended up spending only ₹1,75,801 crore. Similarly, the outlay in 2025-26 budget estimate was ₹2,05,017 crore which was reduced to ₹2,02,017 crore in revised estimates,’’ Surjewala said.
Citing BJP’s Sankalp Patra (election manifesto) for 2024 assembly polls, Surjewala said that party had promised a monthly financial incentive of ₹2,100 to every woman in the state.
“However, of about 95 lakh women in Haryana, the Lado Lakshmi Scheme, which provides ₹2,100 every month has benefited only 9.22 lakh women. It is because the BJP government has imposed restrictive conditions like the requirement to undergo liveness detection every month to provide proof of being alive by completing face authentication through the Lado Lakshmi App,’’ the Congress MP said.
Surjewala said that women who still remain eligible will be denied as it is impossible to give proof of being alive every month and any default will lead to denial of benefit under the scheme.
