Bhubaneswar, May 1: Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena has assured pensioners, who have not got their dues for more than a year now, that the civic body was working on the problem and that they will get their money at the earliest.

As many as 1,454 pensioners under various state and central government schemes have not been getting their dues for more than a year now.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, which is responsible for handing over the money to beneficiaries, has not disbursed Rs 1.02 crore to eligible pensioners during this time, said sources.

"It is been a year-and-a-half since I get my pension from the government," said Chandrama Nayak, who lives in Dumduma and is yet to get Rs 10,700 from the civic body towards her pension.

The case of Anirudha Parida of BJB Nagar is similar. The civic body owes him Rs 11,000.

Parida said officials of the municipal corporation had recently come to him to verify his credentials and he now hopes to get his dues at the earliest. He said: "Some officials of the civic body visited me and asked to see my IDs and other documents. When I asked them what this was for, they said they were conducting of survey of people like me to clear the dues. Although they didn't give me a date, I am optimistic about getting my money now."

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said the municipal corporation had conducted a survey of the beneficiaries and come up with a separate list of pensioners, who had not received their dues for more than a year. "We will give top priority to the beneficiaries who haven't got their dues for a long time and expedite the process to provide them the pension as soon as possible," said Jena.

In the survey, the officials got information on the status of the pensioners, their family members and account numbers. An official said there were some discrepancies regarding the eligible beneficiaries since many people were drawing the pension despite not being eligible for it.

"We have received a number of complaints of ghost pensioners. We call them that because they are the ones who get the money but are not actually eligible for the scheme. In some cases, family members of the beneficiaries continue to receive the money even after the person is dead. The survey was necessary to correct these mistakes," said a civic body official.