Fact check: No stoppage of pension for central govt employees aged 70+ years [truth here]

The Finance Ministry issued a memorandum this week, wherein it said that the government is going to release gratuity for dearness allowance to pensioners retiring January 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021. The ministry ordered to provide cash payment and gratuity along with Dearness Allowance (DA) benefits to retired central government employees. In an attempt to wreck the excitement around this great news, a false report claimed that the central government might be considering stopping pension for its employees after the age of 70-75 years.

The claim

A Bengali newspaper called Bartaman Patrika had published a report saying the central government is considering stoppage of pension for its retired employees after the age of 70-75 years. The report further claimed that central government pensioners would be paid a lump sum amount, which will only be 40-60 percent of their pension amount. In addition, there would also be no Dearness Relief on the same.

Naturally, the proposal drew a lot of backlash after it was picked up by other newspapers. Netizens also pointed out how this move would be unfair to pensioners who served in the central government.

Fact check

International Business Times reviewed the claims made in the report, which was dated 13 September, 2021, and later picked up by another English daily. The finance ministry, as recently as this week, poured water on all the claims made in the local reports, there was no mention of any proposal moved or under consideration to stop the pension for central government employees after the age of 70-75 years.

The PIB Fact Check also rubbished the reports and clarified that neither the Ministry of Finance nor the Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare are contemplating such a proposal.

"The claims made in these media reports are fake. It is clarified that the Ministry of Finance and Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare has neither moved nor contemplating any such proposal," PIB Fact Check wrote.

Based on these facts, IBTimes has arrived at the conclusion that reports about the stoppage of pension for central government pensioners after the age of 70 or 75 years are fake and baseless.