GUWAHATI, Aug 17 - President of the Assam Journalist and Literary Pensioners� Association DN Chakravartty, while congratulating all the writers, poets and journalists who have been selected for this year�s journalist and literary pension, has requested the State government and drew the personal attention of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to consider raising the quantum of the pension to Rs 20,000 from the meagre amount of Rs 8,000.
Chakravartty also urged the State government to bring down the number of recipients so that only the deserving get the pension.
�While augmenting the quantum of pension to Rs 20,000, the number of recipients should be limited to only 15. By strictly reducing the number of recipients, the government would be able to restrict the expenditure from the State exchequer to a reasonable level. Since every year a large number of people are being awarded these pensions, it will be difficult under the existing arrangements to restrict the award to the genuine and deserving persons and avoiding all kinds of political and other considerations,� he said.
