Patna, Apr 21 (PTI) The Bihar government has made advance payment of three months pension to 84.76 lakh beneficiaries,including widows, old age persons and differently abled, under social security pension scheme, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said on Tuesday.

The amount for March, April and May months has been credited in the bank accounts of the recipients in view of the coronavirus pandemic, he said in a statement.

The state government had made an announcement to this effect at the time of enforcement of lockdown in March end, Modi, who is also state's Finance minister, said. The centre and the state governments together give pension to each the beneficiaries at the rate of Rs 400 per month, he said.

A sum of Rs 721.3 crore has been paid for th purpose, Modi added. Giving detail, he said 66.59 lakh beneficiaries are old age persons, widows and differently abled while 18.16 lakh avail pension benefits under Mukhya Mantri Vridhjan Yojana.

Normally, the payment for the above three months used to be cleared by the end of June, but keeping in mind the situation arising out of coronavirus outbreak, the government decided to give the money beforehand to mitigate their problems, he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)